Unless keyword

By kraftclub, in General Discussion

Reference guide definition of unless

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If an effect says, “unless,” is it giving you an option to resolve the effect following “unless.” However, if you choose not to resolve that effect, you must resolve the effect preceding “unless” instead.

Investigator that has an Amnesia condition, rolls for Plumb the Void , passes with 1 success and resolves effect on the back:

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Discard this card unless you gain an Amnesia Condition.

Now you can't have two Amnesia Conditions.

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An investigator cannot have multiple copies of the same Condition. If he would gain a Condition that he already has a copy of, he does not gain another copy of that Condition

There are now two schools of thought:

A. You have to discard Plumb the Void because you did not gain an Amnesia.

B. You can still pick and resolve "gain an Amnesia Condition" since the choice does not rely on actually getting it (like it could be blocked with Wendys ability). Even if you don't endup with a new Amnesia next to your Investigator, the "gain" was still resolved fully, thus Plumb if not discarded.

Which is it? I'm in the B camp by the way...

When in doubt, do the rule that makes the game harder. I would say that since you can't take an Amnesia condition, you must discard the card and you have a choice.

gaining does not have to end up with actually having the card at the end of it as there are things that can prevent it. that does not mean that the gain action wasn't executed fully. you would not protest taking "gain Amnesia" just for it to be canceled by Wendys ability. This is the same thing but comes from core game rules.

Edited by kraftclub

I think alternative A since the last wording in your third quote ends with "he does not gain another copy of that Condition" so you have not gained it.

Wendy's ability says instead so then you fulfill the condition with her special ability. So not quite the same thing.

13 hours ago, kraftclub said:

There are now two schools of thought:

A. You have to discard Plumb the Void because you did not gain an Amnesia.

B. You can still pick and resolve "gain an Amnesia Condition" since the choice does not rely on actually getting it (like it could be blocked with Wendys ability). Even if you don't endup with a new Amnesia next to your Investigator, the "gain" was still resolved fully, thus Plumb if not discarded.

The problem lies here:

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An investigator cannot have multiple copies of the same Condition. If he would gain a Condition that he already has a copy of, he does not gain another copy of that Condition

Your example is one of many situations which have proven that this rule wasn't worded clearly enough. Thus, it was corrected in the errata. This is the revised wording:

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An investigator cannot gain a copy of a Condition that he already has. An investigator cannot choose to gain a copy of a Condition that he already has.


If you have an Amnesia Condition you cannot choose to gain another Amnesia Condition and you can't satisfy the "unless you gain an an Amnesia Condition" clause.

Edited by tsuma534

All right, following Errata "A" it is...