If a character equips a cursed item, gaining a curse token, then unequips it to use another item, then reequips it later, does the hero gain a second curse token?

Page 6 reads:

Some items possess great power, but come at a price.
These items have the Cursed trait. Any time a hero
equips a cursed item, he receives one curse token. In
addition, if the hero is killed, he must immediately either
discard or re-equip any cursed items he had equipped
when he died. He receives one curse token for each
cursed item that he re-equips, to replace the curse tokens
that were removed when he died (see Curse on page 8
for more information).

I read this as that the character only receives one curse token for initially equipping the cursed item, because it says "to replace the curse tokens that were removed when he died". I have a friend who reads it as, "Whenever you equip it, you add another curse token." I can see it being read either way, but would appreciate it greatly if we could get someone else's opinions on this rule. Thank you kindly.

Kard said:

Your friend is right. You are wrong (sorry to be blunt, but it is that simple).

Check the bolded sentence above. This is the primary curse rule mechanic. Any time you equip a cursed item you get a curse token. End of rule. Oh, wait, no there is a second mechanism too ( in addition... ). But the secondary mechanism is in addition to the primary and does not in any way invalidate it.

The part of the rule you are using is part of the secondary curse rule mechanic. It is contingent on the hero having just died as it is a follow on directly relating to the previous sentence. The secondary curse rule is that after a hero with an equipped cursed item dies, he is limited to either re-eqipping that cursed item (and hence getting a new curse token as per the primary mechanic) or discarding the weapon. He is not allowed to place the weapon in his backpack (if he could then he could delay equipping the weapon, and gaining the curse token, until he was sure he needed the extra beneifts of the weapon).

More importantly, the dying hero cannot simply "leave the item equipped" so that he can continue to gain its benefits while having no Curse tokens at all.

But Corbon is correct; you gain a Curse token whenever you equip a Cursed item. It would be impractical to keep track of which Curse tokens that you got 10 turns ago were from which Cursed items, anyway, so your interpretation (being Cursed only for the initial equip) isn't really playable in the general case, and would appear to have a loophole where as long as you don't have it equipped when you die, you can re-equip it afterwards and not have any Curse tokens at all.

The "to replace the curse tokens that were removed when he died" part is presumably there to remind you that Curse tokens, like all effect tokens, are removed upon death, and to explain why the re-equip after death is required.