I am having trouble figuring this out. If I draw a dungeon card that allows me to claim a gear card, can I use it right away? It says that gear can only be claimed during the quest or settlement stages.

Assuming I can use them right away (which I think is correct) if I'm playing the first quest then no matter how many gear cards I get, I can only have one equipped at a time since my heroes capacity is only one?

I've read it like 10 times and it's not computing. Thanks

Also I've only played twice so far and I was wondering that if you clear out a locations enemies, since you are not forced to travel to the next location, is there any deterrent from stalling and just taking rest actions and aid actions to heal all your wounds before you decide to move on?

I realize there's a nemesis lurking and I haven't done this but I'm hoping this tactic wouldn't work because it's lame. I remember when lotr lcg was new and people would stall until ffg implemented the 10 points per turn rule to force people to move through the quests.

The "Quest Stage" is the game play. So yes, you can get the get immediately.

You're also correct that no matter how many times you do that in the first quest you'll only be able to keep one per Hero.

Stalling probably is an option, but I think the Peril track would get you in the long run.

Thank you, for some reason I thought the quest phase was after the actual quest for some reason.

So one more question, anytime you draw a dungeon card with a treasure icon you can immediately grab gear and swap out an equipped piece of gear with one in the discard pile. What happens to all the gear at the end of the quest that's in the discard pile? Shuffled back into the the new gear deck? Thanks

Not quite. When you get a card with the "treasure" icon, you can either draw a card OR select any card from the discard. Once you chose one you can then swap it with one you already have if you need or want to.

Every time you start a quest the gear deck is randomized and the quest will tell you how many cards to deal, and if any specific quest gear cards go in.