hi there, I just started playing and I am a bit confused on the ways you can become devoured. I understand the one where you get devoured if you lose all you sanity and stamina at the same time but the second listed right after that in the rule book on page 17 makes no sense. It says that If an investigator’s maximum sanity or maximum stamina is reduced to 0, that investigator is devoured. I don't get it...how is this different than going insane or becoming unconscious? Please help. Thank you:)

~Todd

Think about it like this: the sanity and the stamina numbers printed on each investigator card are the maximums for that particular investigator. If some game effect were to reduce that number to zero, there would be no way to recover from that. So, for instance if your investigator's maximum sanity was somehow reduced to 0, even if you went to Arkham Asylum, you couldn't receive any sanity because you can't receive sanity above your maximum, which is 0.

This is different from having your sanity to zero, because that doesn't impact your maximum sanity. You can reload at the Asylum (or pick up a madness) and get right back into the game.

Hopefully this helps. It always sounds really clear and coherent in my head.

Damage to sanity and stamina during the game is usually temporary, but when it affects your maximums, it is permanent. Treat those stats as your physical and mental capacities. When you receive reductions to your maximum sanity or stamina , you immediately discard sanity or stamina to match your new maximum. Later, if you receive any healing you will not be able to recover more stamina or sanity than your new maximum.In general, you cannot have more sanity/ stamina than your maximum. If by chance your maximum sanity or stamina is lowered to zero as a result of several reductions over the course of the game, you will be devoured, since you will not be able to get any healing for a stat that has been reduced to zero.

E.g., Chtulhu's slumber ability effectively lowers maximum sanity and stamina by 1, meaning that all investigators in a game against him have one less sanity and stamina.

You can also get bonuses to your maximum sanity and stamina(for instance, having Duke as an ally will increase your maximum sanity by one).

It's also worth mentioning that there are very few effects that reduce your maximums. It's an uncommon enough occurrence that pretty much the only time you'll ever die from it is in final combat with Cthulhu.

And just to clarify: . Being knocked unconscious or driven insane doesn't kill your investigator, unless he was reduced to zero stamina and zero sanity simultaneously.These conditions don't affect your maximums.

Unconscious and insane investigators in Arkham regain 1 point of stamina or sanity for free at the Arkham Asylum/St. Mary's Hospital.Similarly, unconscious and insane investigators in other worlds are sent to the Lost in Time and Space box, regaining 1 point of sanity or stamina for free(depending on which of their stats was reduced to zero)

If however an investigator is knocked unconscious or driven insane(that is, his current stamina or sanity is reduced to zero) during the final battle with the Ancient One, he is devoured.

By the way, this is not really clear to me-do you always lose sanity or stamina if your maximum stats are reduced? For example: your current stamina is 2 and max stamina is 5, if your maximum stamina is lowered at this point, do you lose 1 stamina?

zealot12 said:

Don't know whether this has been clarified or not.. I've always played this way: whenever your maximum stats are reduced, you immediately lose a point even in the "current" stat only if you're at your former maximum. Id est, let's say you have 5 max stamina, 5 current stamina and you lose one point of maximum stamina, then immediately your current stamina drops to 4. If you have 5 max stamina, 3 actual stamina and you lose a point of maximum stamina, unless it's clearly stated that you have to reduce immediately even your current stamina, you still have 3 point of current stamina.

For similar reason, whenever your maximum is increased, unless clearly stated (like in some personal stories, for example) you never gain a point in the current stat (let's say you give some food to a tiny puppy in the woods; Duke joins you and you gain a point of maximum sanity. In order to have even your current stat being increased, you need to recover in some ways the missing point).

Don't know whether I'm right or not (probably I'm not), but anyway this is the way I've always played

Yeah, that's my understanding too. Otherwise, Lily Chen wouldn't have that peculiar "healing" trick of hers (not that this is necessarily a bad thing).

"Maximum" and "current" are independent, except of course for the case where lowering your maximum would make the maximum lower than your current. This can't happen so you have to adjust your current down to the new maximum.

I want to play too!

Your Sanity and Stamina are like glasses of water: a blue glass and a red glass. When you lose Sanity, you pick up your blue glass and pour out a unit of water. When you gain Sanity, you pour water back into your blue glass. If your blue glass is ever empty, you "go insane"...but then you go back to the Asylum, and get one unit of water back into your blue glass. (Or take a Madness card and get a full glass, but that's not really important right now.)

When you lose a point to your Maximum Sanity, you're not pouring out water...you're actually picking up a glass cutter and reducing the size of your blue glass. Now it holds less water. And if your Maximum Sanity is reduced to zero, you have effectively cut your blue glass into useless shards that cannot hold any water. This is more than "going insane"; you have lost your blue glass...lost your mind entirely, and you have been devoured as a result.

Welcome to the Carnival, toolbox75!

jgt7771 said:

I use sippy cups to prevent too much from pouring out.

Thanks guys! you are great! I don't know how I didn't understand that in the first place...silly me. I look forward to chatting with you in the future.