Transport Gem

By Parathion, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

The use of this card (move a Lt. to any legal location on the overland map) is not connected with any of the steps in the game week or any other condition (beyond the one to place the card in the graveyard to use it).

Would it then be safe to assume that the OL can use the card anytime?

E.g. the heros chase away one or more Lt. from Tamalir to prevent a raze roll in the next week - OL uses the Gem to return one Lt. to the city immediately (or at the start of the new week), maintaining the siege tokens and granting a raze roll.

Creative use of the card or foul play?

I think that's a fair play. I hadn't thought about it before, but if the card doesn't say to use it when moving then your logic does make sense. It gets thrown in the GY afterwards, so it's not like you can do this willy-nilly.

Parathion said:

The use of this card (move a Lt. to any legal location on the overland map) is not connected with any of the steps in the game week or any other condition (beyond the one to place the card in the graveyard to use it).

Would it then be safe to assume that the OL can use the card anytime?

E.g. the heros chase away one or more Lt. from Tamalir to prevent a raze roll in the next week - OL uses the Gem to return one Lt. to the city immediately (or at the start of the new week), maintaining the siege tokens and granting a raze roll.

Creative use of the card or foul play?

Congratulation on your idea, but I could understand heroes calling a foul play...

It all depends what you mean with anytime. If anytime really means "absolutely anytime without restrictions", imagine the following scenario:

Heroes are in the midst of a Lieutenant battle. They have been wounded but have gotten rid of all the minions and have cornered the Lieutenant. Nanok is preparing to deliver the killing blow...

...And the Lieutenant activates the Gem of Transport, leaving the battleground just from under Nanok's nose, whose axe hits empty air! The Lieutenant teleports to Tamalir, where, fully healed, with a full new army of minions and cackling with glee, he immediately attacks the wounded heroes again!

Definitely a creative use of the Gem, but as a hero, I would be quite frustrated and I would certainly ask the OL, "Can you do that?!!" sorpresa.gif

Similar but not the same: we were playing through the RtL rumor Prince of Thieves yesterday, and (unfortunately I don't have the exact wording with me now) the special description of the boss mentions that you can remove him from the board for 15 threat, and that when you do so he returns at the start of the OL's next turn. There was a paragraph before it mentioning that the OL can open the door to the room for 20 threat at the start of his turn, but then there's a break and mention of the ability to remove the boss from the board. There was no indication of the timing of removing the boss as far as I or the heroes could tell.

We just decided that I could only do it on my (the OL's) turn, out of fairness (I was reaming them in general, too), but I'd be curious to know if there's any official word on this. Or even consensus.

Could you post the card description?

I recall we only have used it once during our (2) campaigns. We ruled it the OL had to use it in phase 3(OL actions) choosing a lieutenant then play the card using it as this ltnts move this week.(means the ltnt cant use it to besiege that week).

There is absolutely no timing trigger or description on the card, so using it only in phase 3 (and even replacing the standard Lt. action) seems somewhat arbitrary.

"Place this card in the graveyard to move one of your Lt.s to any legal location on the Terrinoth map, one time." (The 2nd sentence only talks about Quest items being left behind in the process.)

I heard about other groups in which that card was purchased with the start XP, then Alric was moved to Tamalir in week 1 and started sieging (or even attacking a very weak hero starting party).

@ Ispher: I definitely did not think about using the card in the midst of a dungeon or encounter, so "anytime" was meant as anytime when actions on the overland map take place (since the card also causes an action on the overland map). Even if your scenario was legal, it would hardly be game-breaking, given the one-shot nature of the card.

@ Cymbaline: When we played this rumor, we decided that the OL can remove the boss anytime during the turn of any player (yet not after an attack had been declared on him). Due to the hefty threat cost this isn´t something the OL can do very often.

Parathion said:

@ Ispher: I definitely did not think about using the card in the midst of a dungeon or encounter, so "anytime" was meant as anytime when actions on the overland map take place (since the card also causes an action on the overland map). Even if your scenario was legal, it would hardly be game-breaking, given the one-shot nature of the card.

I would tend to agree with that assessment. Cheesy perhaps, but not outright forbidden. I personally wouldn't use it that way, but that's me choosing not to do it. I also wouldn't lose sleep over it if a FAQ clarification came out overruling its use during an encounter.

Parathion said:

@ Cymbaline: When we played this rumor, we decided that the OL can remove the boss anytime during the turn of any player (yet not after an attack had been declared on him). Due to the hefty threat cost this isn´t something the OL can do very often.

Working solely with the description given, since I'm not immediately familiar with that encounter, I would agree that the OL could make him vanish during a hero turn. 15 Threat isn't exactly small change so it's not like the OL can afford to do this every time an attack is coming in.

For both of these questions I would also invoke the whole "no interrupting a single activity" bit that Guard has. Guard is officially designed to interrupt other people mid-stream, so if there's a time Guard could not be used I would also say these could not be used. ie: maybe you can teleport your LT or make that boss vanish as soon as a hero declares an attack, but you couldn't wait until damage was rolled before deciding to use it.