I have ot say that I can't believe it took me this long to learn this great game. Now that I have, I am confused about a few things and would appreciate some help from any seasoned veterans out there.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me with the following questions:

1. "Traitor"? Is this just a trait that is only affected by other cards, like lord or knight? Or is it a keyword with an ability like "Renown" or "Deadly"? Some of the Traitor cards don't seem very playable at first glance.

2. "Reinforcements"? My only question about these events is; do they remain in play as a character permanently or do they go away at the end of the phase or turn?

3. When an effect says that a defending character's power is not counted in the challange, even if they are still defending, is this the same as the defender having zero Str and will that allow the attacker to take a bonus power?

Again thanks!

Jack54 said:

1. Yep, it's just another trait like Lord or Knight. It is used on cards that follow the mechanical theme of being good against their own house. In general they are not that great of cards in joust, but they do have their uses (like if you expect a lot of a particular house, or if you play them out of house so they can't hurt you, or if you a card that's good against multi-house cards like some of the kingdoms).

2. Yep, they stick around until some other effect removes them from play. Note that they go to the discard pile rather than the dead pile when they are killed.

3. If the only defender in a challenge does not count its strength due to some other effect, then the challenge will be unopposed (as long as the attacker had a strength of 1 or more; otherwise the challenge ends without resolution), and the attacker will claim a power.

Thank you very much for your help. Especially the part about the events going to the discard pile, I hadn't thought of that.

Jack54 said:

A friend of mine plays a lot of them, using "Joffrey's Herald" (Winter), that states: "kneel Joffrey's Herald and kneel 2 influence to chose a character or location. Until the end of the phase, that character or location gains a House Affiliation of your choice".

He can also put them into play without paying out-of-House penalty, using the plot "On Raven Wings" (Iron Throne)

It's very annoying

Ikaros said:

This doesn't work with all "Traitor" type cards. Some of them say "after you play (this card)...". If they do, putting them into play with "On Raven's Wings" won't work because they were not played.

ktom said:

Yes, obviously He uses the ones from Five Kings. Rabid wolf, Nightfire convert, Pilfering stowaway...