I just bought the core set and had some questions come up during our first few games:

1) Do attachments that require kneeling work if the character is already kneeled? For example, I have Lightbringer attached on a character and he kneels to defend. If he gets killed, or I choose to kill him, is the attachment considered already kneeled and hence, unusable? In other words, do attachments kneel simultaneously when their master cards are knelt?

2) Are plots done in order or simultaneously? I played The Power of Blood and one of my opponents played Valar Morghulis. Do my nobles die if he has first initiative, or is my plot ability already in effect?

3) Should I assume that unless an effect says "cannot be saved", characters are always saveable? So if I have Jon Snow with a duplicate on him, the Valar Morghulis plot effect would do nothing to him (I lose the duplicate card of course, to save him).

4) Does Vigilant characters you control have to be participating in a winning challenge, or could some other winning characters of yours cause them to stand?

5) What is the psychology and timing of playing actions? I've read the FAQ and seen the flowcharts, but to be more specific:

The Challenge phase is beginning with my opponent being the first player. I have Arya Stark in play and I want to use her ability to steal the stealth trait away for herself. My opponent has an event that he could use to kill Arya (or any of my characters for that matter), but he doesnt want to waste it if he doesnt have to. So this is what happens:

Challenge phase began...

brief pause while he is surveying his characters and looking at his hand, with an occasional glance at me....

I assume he is not going to do an action and is about to declare a challenge, thus the "player action" box is closing.

I say "Arya uses her ability..."

He says, " But wait, I use this event to kill her"

"But it looked like you were about to declare a challenge..."

"No, I was just thinking."

If I wait until he declares the challenge, it is too late since we have both passed the first "player action" box in the flowchart. On the other hand, if I ask him "Are you doing any actions before the challenge?", does that not give him the advantage of knowing I am about to do something?

Thanks in advance for any help!

1) attachments do not kneel when their attached charcater kneels.

2) right now i can't give you specfics as i'm a little tired, but power fo blood can protect from valar (what i can't rember if 1st player is important here or not as they would normally determine order of plots)

3) correct

4) vigiliant does not have to be participating.

5) There is always a player action window before a challenge is declared. You might want to get into the habit of always asking if the other player has any actions before challenges even if you do not have one (that way you won't tip anything). Also, if you had waited (not sure if it would have helped) you would have had a chance to use arya before he declared stealth (barring him having stealth, then before you declare defenders)

hope this helped.

2) Plot phase timing can be a little tricky because there are essentially two kinds of plots; constant effects and passive effects. A constant effect is an effect that is "always on." So from the minute the plot is revealed, it's factored into all game situations. A passive effect is one that only activates when specific activating text/play restrictions are met. This is especially tricky in the plot phase because the "specific activating play restriction" for man plots is revealing the plot itself! In the specific example you mention (Power of Blood vs. Valar Morghulis), Power of Blood is a constant effect. You can tell because the wording simply says "Noble characters cannot be killed." There is no requirement or other play restriction mentioned, so as soon as this plot is revealed (and until it goes to the used pile), Noble characters cannot be killed. On the other hand, Valar Morghulis is a passive effect. You can tell because the wording of that plot says "WHEN REVEALED, kill all characters in play." This doesn't mean that as long as this plot is revealed, all characters are continuously killed; rather it means that after the player takes the action of revealing the plot, the text passively kills all characters. Since the action is only taken once, the killing only happens once.

Sorry if all that is a little more than you wanted or needed to know. I detailed it, though, because the rule of thumb is that all constant effects are considered active when you resolve the passive effects of plots. So in this case, it doesn't matter who the First Player is because the constant effect from Power of Blood is active when you resolve the passive killing of all characters for Valar. That is why Power of Blood will protect Nobles from Valar.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when multiple passive plots are revealed at the same time, they would technically resolve their passive effects at the same time. Since that cannot happen in the real world, the passive effects are said to conflict. When passive effects conflict, the First Player decides the order that they resolve in. So if Valar, Summoning Season, Mutual Enemies and Power of Blood (for example) were all revealed at the same time, Power of Blood would be considered "active" immediately since it is a constant effect, but the First Player would decide the order of the other three; it doesn't automatically start with the First Player and go clockwise if the First Player doesn't want it to. Choosing the order in which conflicting passive effects resolve is one of the benefits of being First Player.

5) The important thing to note is that in the Player Action windows, the First Player always has the option to take the first action. As the second player wanting to use Arya, you actually cannot announce your intention to do so until the First Player passes on his opportunity. And the First Player cannot actually declare his/her first challenge until ALL players have passed on the opportunity to take actions. So as Lars says, in the situation you describe it is best to ask the First Player outright "do you pass on pre-challenge actions?" before using Arya. If they say "yes," then the whole "wait, I wasn't done yet" doesn't hold water.

The long and short is that if you are following the rules on passing action opportunities by getting into the habit of asking people if they pass on their action opportunity, there is no possibility for the First Player to do the "psych-out" you describe.

Fantastic answers! That really clears it up. I even learned something new: the first player decides passive plot order. I always assumed it was clockwise from the first player.

The timing thing I understand now. I'll get into the habit of asking about player actions even if I have none.