Is it possible to ditch a lodestone? It is clear that on the turn you encounter the lodestone you must pick it up, but it is not clear to me if the only way to rid yourself of it is by taking it to the Alchemist in the City.

The text about discarding it at the Alchemist to gain one gold is the default action for the Alchemist. I thought this was trying to indicate that was the only way to get rid of it, but then I saw the Opal which also has the "discard to gain a gold" text.

Perhaps giving it to the Alchemist is the only way to get it off the board (discard), but you are free to ditch it whenever? What do you guys think? How do you play it?

I think that you can only get rid of it by visiting the alchemist, except if you are force to lose a random object.

The way our group plays it is that you cannot voluntarily just it or refuse to pick it up, however if you are The alchemist, have the alchemist follower or cast the alchemy spell you can turn it into gold through those methods. As well as any other method of getting rid of objects, we apply the same to the False Grail.

we also do similar with the followers that are not beneficial (Hag, Poltergeist, Vagabond) you cannot voluntarily just leave them behind, but you can eat them if your the vampiress, sacrifice them in the Vampires tower etc.

We play it that with any negative item (or follower, or anything else that comes up), you cannot voluntarily get rid of them other than the means said in the card. You MUST roll for followers in the Chasm, ergo, you can kill the Hag that way. You MAY sacrifice followers to the Vampire, ergo, you can’t kill the Hag that way.

We use the same logic for items. You MAY alchemise using the spell, follower, character, ergo, you can’t touch the lodestone that way. You MUST roll for items for Gust of Wind (or similar spell, event, etc…) ergo, that is a legitimate loss of the item. To prevent “munchkin” tactics, we have the house rule that you can’t shatter / Gust of Wind or otherwise screw yourself to get rid of the “cursed” item.

Rationale = Items (like the Lodestone) and followers (like the Hag) are meant to be a problem, not something easily gotten rid of. If the “why the board rule is there” thing isn’t enough for you and you need a roleplay equivalent = in AD&D classic = the character wielding the Cursed Sword -2 would always use it and resist any attempts to get rid of it. Hence why it’s cursed. It affects the mind.

Tons-Home-rules said:

Perfectly correct interpretation and ruling, IMO, but I remember an official answer about the False Grail from Frostmarch. They said it can be Alchemized with the Spell or the Alchemist (board or Follower).

I'm not recalling this because I like it, just in the hope that game designers read this and change their mind about that previous answer.

tjedgar said:

You can't sacrifice the Hag, poltergeist etc at the vampire tower, because you can choose to lose a life.

The_Warlock said:

I can't remember such a rule.

But it is logical that you can use the alchemist or alchemy spell on it..

Velhart said:

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp

Dam said:

The link does not work, but i receive already a mail from John Goodenough yesterday.

Lodestone ( Highlands)>>

Can you use the alchemist follower or the alchemy spell to turn the lodestone in gold.

A: Yes

__________

False Grail

Can you use the alchemist follower or the alchemy spell to turn the False grail in gold.

A: Yes

Velhart said:

What browser are you using, 'cos you seem to have trouble getting links to work IIRC? Right-click -> open in new window or open in new tab work fine for me (on FF).

Dam said:

I have open up the new window and it seems to work now.

thanks