The FAQ says that "A card may be used multiple times for the same effect unless it states otherwise." The question came up on whether or not Runewitch Astara could use her Before Combat ability to take 1 Stamina for each 1 Wound she wanted to deal with the successful magic attack. For example, could she choose to, Before Combat, take 4 Stamina to possibly deal 4 Wounds?

The FAQ goes on to say a "Before Combat" ability can only be used once per combat, but we weren't sure if that was just clarifying that she could only attempt this Magic check once (so she couldn't make three 'attempted' attacks at 1 Wound for 1 Stamina each) or if it really meant that she could only ever just take 1 Stamina to possibly deal 1 Wound.

It seems pretty powerful if she can indeed stack this, so it probably does not work that way, just wanted to make sure. Thanks!

Karui_Kage said:

Text is:

Before combat : You may take 1 Exhaustion to test Spirit (14). If you succeed, your enemy takes 1 Wound.

You take 1 Exhaustion to test Spirit with a target value of 14. You can't interpret it as Take 2 Exhaustion to test Spirit with same target value and deal 2 Wounds. The reason is that each Exhaustion you take require you to test Spirit (14).

The FAQ doesn't clarify anything IMO, it just makes things more confused. As you may know in the detailed Example of a Challenge (pg.8 of the Rulebook) there's a statement about Varikas not being able to use his (before combat) Special Ability again, because he has 4 Exhaustion (equal to Stamina). Looks like he could have done multiple Before Combat attacks, if he had enough Stamina to do it.

The statement "use Before Combat abilities only once" means that when you used one of this abilities it's over for the rest of the Challenge. You can't use the Ability, activate a Before Combat Item, and then use the Ability again (even with enough Stamina). But you should be able to use Before Combat Abilities repeteadly, if it's not stated otherwise. In the specific case of Astarra, you should roll once for every Exhaustion you take.

These are just my thoughts; Astarra will be powerful with a possible 4 Wounds BC damage deal with a single roll; 4 rolls is a little bit more risky. You may fail one or two even with a strong Spirit value. If she could only ever just take 1 Stamina to possibly deal 1 Wound, it's a bit lame. Astarra is not a very good Character and if she can't deal some strong damage BC she has little chances to survive. I tried many games with this limitation and it's almost impossible to proceed, as her MInd/Body/Life values are rather poor. You can't escape Challenges and you take all possible damage from Green Challenges, before you can counterattack. She needs that boost.