Hi, Diana Stanley's ability reads: "If you would suffer 2 or more Horror, suffer 1 fewer Horror instead."

Does this also apply when she suffers 2 or more facedown horror?

iirc (and i may be wrong; it's been a while) the rules state no such thing. I would read this card very literally and discard any assumptions. Ie, this doesn't work on facedown horror. I recommend asking the creators though what their intentions are. Then we could have an official ruling.

edit: note that when anything just says "horror", it implies face-up horror.

I would argue that it affects face up and face down Horror. My reasoning is that in the Streets of Arkham rules FAQ (Page 3), when clarifying the Righteous card, it says that:

"when an effect is caused by suffering Damage or Horror, it occurs regardless of whether the Damage or Horror suffered is facedown or faceup."

which I would includes Diana's ability.

Great find SDW740, I think that that text settles it. And Diana surely needs that ability with her Will of 2 and Sanity of 6.

This is the best indicator I could find: Learn to Play, p.13:

Quote

Negating Damage & Horror

Some effects cause an investigator to suffer multiple Damage or Horror at the same time but allow him to resolve a skill test to negate some or all of the Damage or Horror. To do so, the investigator tests the indicated skill. He prevents one Damage or one Horror for each success result rolled.

From experience, the damage/horror that would be dealt but can be negated is not dependent on being facedown or faceup. I submit, that facedown/up are subsets of damage and horror, and that Diana Stanley's ability affects both.

As an aside, this is very nearly her 2nd ability in Eldritch Horror:

The Monster's horror is the primary way in which you receive horror in EH. In both, it compensates for her low Sanity and Will.

Whether faceup or facedown, Damage counts as Damage and Horror counts as Horror. The trick is 'how' you suffer one less.

Just follow the rule in Damage & Horror, Rules Reference Guide, page 7: "When an effect allows an investigator to discard a Damage or Horror, he may discard a faceup card of his choice or a random facedown card." This applies to all choices when a card is faceup (choice) or facedown (random) in other areas of the game.

She has a really good special ability for discarding a particular faceup Horror that you just don't want to suffer. :)

Hello Phoenix_FFG,

So you are saying that you would be allowed to look at the (face-up) Horror cards before "suffering one fewer"? In Diane's ability there is no mention of discarding horror, so I have taken it just to mean that you draw one card less.

37 minutes ago, Bartheus said:

Hello Phoenix_FFG,

So you are saying that you would be allowed to look at the (face-up) Horror cards before "suffering one fewer"? In Diane's ability there is no mention of discarding horror, so I have taken it just to mean that you draw one card less.

Actually, you are exactly correct, coming back to this (I wrote it while starting up at work and probably should have waited), I've come to a conclusion about the wrong situation. My apologies.

All Damage is Damage and all Horror is Horror whether faceup (which is the norm when drawing from the appropriate deck) or facedown (when indicated by the app). The Rules Reference Guide states at the beginning of Damage & Horror:

"Many game effects cause investigators to suffer Damage or Horror. When an effect causes an investigator to suffer Damage or Horror, he claims the top card of the Damage deck or Horror deck, respectively.

=> All Damage and Horror are claimed faceup unless the effect causing the Damage or Horror specifies otherwise."

I should have just answered the original question with "Yes, this ability also applies when she suffers 2 or more facedown Horror. She would simply be dealt/draw one less card, whether it's faceup Horror or facedown Horror."