So, I'm in the middle of a game right now, and had the misfortune to draw The Merchant character. This is the first time we have run him. He sucks. My question is this:

The Merchant has the special ability to trade objects with other characters when he lands on their space. Does this mean he has to engage the other player in a barter, or can he just take a desired object without consulting the other player? In other words, does he have to -offer to trade- or can I -force the trade-?

I assume the other player has to agree to trade, but if the merchant doesn't need permission to trade, that greatly increases the Merchant's power. And frankly, the Merchant needs it.

Lars Gnomish said:

You take what you want, no questions asked (but need something to trade of course, can't just take an item; there is the Thief character for that ). You have Water Bottle, you land on a character with Solomon's Crown, trade. They can Evade you (by Spell, ability or Follower), but other than that, nothing they can do about it.

I was thinking about the merchant right now( again..)

so it is possible to buy, trade and sell your objects at the same time? It;s a little advanced against the thief..

Because the thief must choose if he use his ability or buy something..

John goodenough has mailed the following answer to Jon..

The Merchant can trade only one object in his turn in the village etc and he can buy and sell as much as he like..

can a merchant, after trading with a player,can attack the same player

GolddragoN said:

No, because you must choose if you want to use a ability or attack a player in pvp or encounter the space etc..

You cannot use a ability and attack a player afterwards.You cannot do both.

Thank you, i have a little question or two maybe

can a thieft who has in her possession her maximum items number,can steal a item from another character an drop it on the space is on it

or he must exange the item with one he possed and drop it

GolddragoN said:

I would say the thief needs to have space in his inventory before he uses the ability. He cant discard an item and then use his ability because discard items comes at the end of the turn if i remember right.

Msrushing said:

As usual, senility kicks in for you :

"A character may ditch any of his Followers or Objects at any
time by leaving them faceup in the space he occupies." (p. 16)

emphasis added

Trading in trophies takes place at the end of a turn.

so, if the thieft has his max item number, he cannot steal a items and drop it off because is not one of is items,

GolddragoN said:

indeed, you cannot do that..

So if you want to steal something, then you need room to carry that object.

But you can ditch a object before you gonna steal something form a player.

GolddragoN said:

Sorry but a question about Thief's Special Ability is Off Topic. It's not easy to find a discussion about a specific rule if we start discussion in a thread with a complete different title.

This time I disagree with Velhart.

The Rules allow a Character to acquire more than 4 Objects, but he cannot carry more than 4 without a specific Follower (Mule, Horse & Cart, etc...). Thief can steal an Object at any time, but if he has already 4 Objects he must decide which to keep and immediately ditch the remainder.

He can steal an Object and immediately ditch it on the space; or he may keep it and ditch another one if he likes, which is less annoying but it's the same. I don't see the reason why the Thief should have room BEFORE acquiring a new Object if he already has 4. If you defeat a Character and want an Object from him, shall you ditch an Object before choosing which one you take, in order to make room? Never heard of this. You take the Object and decide what to ditch on the space if you can't carry everything.

The_Warlock said:

I agree with The Warlock,

My mistake..

****, it can happens

Dam said:

Man I need to check up on my English. I haven't played him yet, but when I read his card, I assumed both parties had to agree to items to be traded. But the verb "trade" simply means "the action of buying and selling goods and services" which in no way implies that the other party has to agree. So yes, he can swap items without the other players agreement. Good stuff.

When my gaming group first played a game with the Merchant we had the same question about the 'trading'. The reason the debate came up was the wording of "trade". Since the 4th edition has no rules on inter-player trading (which is an option in other board games like Runebound), we took this to mean that the Merchant does have the ability to "trade" with a player, as in the two players discuss what they give each other. This idea was further emphasized, by the fact that the word "trade" was italicized. To us the word 'trade' seemed to imply voluntary .

The better wording would have been something like "exchange" or "When the Merchant lands on another player they can take one item of choice and give the other player any of your items."