The final battle is fought in "rounds". Some investigators have abilities usable once "per turn" (e.g. Mandy Thompson, Leo Anderson). Can these abilities be used at all in the final battle?

--Eric

From what I've gathered so far, yes, because they get a full upkeep turn at the start of each round.

Tox said:

I understand where you're coming from, but these aren't abilities that exhaust when they're used nor do they refresh during upkeep they're simply usable once per turn, and there are no turns in the final battle.

Eric

Ooooo...I like how you think, Pett. Take that, Mandy.

Wish I could be more help, but all I got is, "That's how we've been playing it since the first FAQ." An Upkeep Phase is an Upkeep Phase, and Special Abilities are refreshed during the Upkeep Phase.

A turn is a round. It's just another case of slippery wording.

jgt7771 said:

I re-read the Upkeep Phase section of the basic rulebook and it only talks about refreshing exhausted cards, nothing about per-turn abilities. I know everyone basically plays as if a round of the final battle were a turn, but I thought I'd bring it up since, well, I found it interesting. I guess I was hoping for some kind of "official" word. The "no per-turn abilities in final battle" interpretation does prevent certain cheese interactions between some investigators and Ancient Ones.

Eric

Tibs said:

Maybe. Certainly that isn't true when you're fighting monsters. You certainly can't use per-turn abilities once per round there.

Eric

pett said:

Isn't it a turn the amount of time between two consecutive Upkeep Phases? During the Final Battle, you have an Upkeep Phase, then Investigators attack, then the AO attacks, then you have another Upkeep. So you have a turn lasting a round of combat.

Although what you're suggesting could be a potentially awesome variant for those who like the added difficulty, the Rule Book states on page 22 that the Final Battle is divided into three rounds; The first round being 'Investigators Refresh.' During his round investigators "may refresh their cards, use any character abilities, and just their skill sliders as through it were the Upkeep Phase." I'm inclined to believe that this allows investigators to reuse/refresh their abilities, including everyone's favorite investigator to hate, Mandy.

McCracken said:

They certainly could use any upkeep abilities.

You know, despite the fact that I think a "rules lawyer-y" reading of the rule book supports a "no per-turn abilities during final battle" approach I think the spirit of the rules favor the opposite. I mean, unlike regular monster combat, rounds of final battle last enough time for exhausted cards to refresh, which is basically the same amount of time as a regular turn. Therefore it would seem logical that per-turn investigator abilities could also be used once per round of the final battle. So I'll keep playing it like everyone else: Go Mandy! I guess I was just hoping for an official clarification that this was correct.

Eric

Really the only way to get an "official" answer is to send your question to FFG via the rules questions support at the bottom of this page.

Musha Shukou said:

Thanks for the tip. Digusting avatar by the way,