So I was looking over the various Ritual Dance action cards for the Wardancer, and they look very interesting, but I was confused by the Woven Mist and Viper's Dance cards. They both have, as the first success line: "[1 Success] You begin the dance."

Does this actually have any mechanical effect? I have no idea what it's supposed to mean.

The Wardancer is most effective when he has various Dance cards in play, which allows them to jump stances and reap various benefits. The cards that start the dance help provide an opening for such actions. You can just use the Wardancer cards as regular attacks, but you'll be missing out on the main benefits of the Wardancer career.

One of the mechanics of the Wardancer is to change stances quickly, you get the most out of the Ritual Dance cards when you frequently change stances. Woven Mist for example allows you to adjust your stance each time you remove a recharge token, meaning you can switch stances twice per turn while the card recharges. Viper's Dance allows you to increase your defense.

The "You begin the dance." is just a flavorful statement of success, as the main power of the Woven Mist and Shadow's Coil cards are the ongoing effect, not the hammer lines.

Also note that this is the reason for the relatively long recharge times on the Dance cards, and why extra successes/boons often allow the player to put extra recharge tokens on the cards - they are reaping a benefit as long as the card is charging, so it's to their advantage that the action recharges for as long as possible. The Way of the Sword cards have a few similar effects but the Ritual Dance cards take the idea to a whole new level.

Thanks! Lexicanum, haven't not played one or seen one in play, I don't have a complete grasp on how the Wardancer works, but I'd read through their various attack cards before I got to the Woven Mist and Viper's Dance, so I was already coming to an understanding of how having a lot of their cards in play, recharging, was helpful... I just didn't understand if the "You begin the dance" line was actually supposed to mean something in a mechanical sense. Thanks for clearing up that it doesn't.

I agree that it's flavorful, but I kind of think I'd prefer if it was left off, or at least also said that it doesn't have any other mechanical effect. If I have to choose between the two, I prefer clarity to flavor.

But anyway... the wardancer looks really interesting. When I get a chance to start a game, I now kind of hope that someone plays one. And failing that, I may have to see if I can talk a friend of mine into doing some mock PC on PC battles.