I keep coming across references to taking control of others characters / or to characters you do not control. However, I can't find anything about this in the rules.

If I take control of an opponents character (for example with Seductive Promise) I assume this means that I can now use that character, perform challenges with it etc.

Does it stay with the opponents played cards or move over to mine?

If I lose a military challenge, can I choose it as the character to be killed - on the other hand, can the opponent who owns and initially played the card choose it as the card they kill when losing a military challenge even if they are no longer in control of it.

Who counts the strength of controlled cards for dominance?

When playing the "condemned by the realm" plot card, does this only refer to a character which you played but another now controls? or can you simpyl use it to kill someone else's character?

Sorry for the barrage of questions, but hopefully someone can help me out?

Mighty Jim said:

From what I've read and gotten feedback on these forums on this topic, you control the character like he is your own.

Mighty Jim said:

I don't know if there is any mechanic in the game that differentiates where the card is physically located on your game table. We always move "controlled" characters from in front of our opponents to in front of the "controller" though for ease of remembering.

Mighty Jim said:

You can choose when that character attacks or defends and choose it pay the cost of losing a military challenge. Your opponent cannot since they aren't in control of that card. I am unsure of which player's dead pile that character goes into once it is killed though...

Mighty Jim said:

Whoever controls the character counts the strength for dominance (assuming it is standing, of course...).

Mighty Jim said:

You choose an opponent. They choose to kill a character they do not control. Really not a great plot card in duels, since you are essentially letting your opponent kill a character of yours. More useful in multiplayer games where a mutual enemy has a very powerful character that you and another opponent both want killed.

The way I understand it, the only difference between a character you played and a character you take control of, is when cards are returned to an owner's hand.

Once the game begins, there is very little emphasis placed on who owns the card. Ownership (ie, the cards you bring to the game) really only indicates that the cards always start in your out-of-play areas (deck, hand, discard pile, dead pile, Shadows area) and always return to your out-of-play areas when they leave play. Mostly, you only have access to cards you own, so control and ownership are pretty much the same thing during the game. You need a specific "take control" effect to break that "owns = controls" relationship.

When you do "take control" of a card during a game, it becomes "your" card. When it is in play under your control, it is the same as any other card that is under your control. It's yours for challenges, Dominance, claim, effects that say "your," effects that don't say "your opponent's" and everything else that happens within the game. And, on the flip side, it is NOT your opponent's for anything that happens within the game. They effectively have no access to it (other than the normal access they have to target cards you control) until it leaves play.

When you take control of a card that you did not bring to the game, it acts in all ways as if you had brought it to the game with the following 2 exceptions:

1. When it leaves play, it goes back to its owner's hand, deck, discard pile, dead pile, or Shadows area - depending on where it is sent when it leaves play

2. If the card you take control of is unique, you cannot play a duplicate on it. Along the same lines, if the card you take control of is unique, the opponent from whom you took it cannot play another copy until they regain control of it.