Well, a friend and I have started yet another Road to Legend campaign, and as always, more questions arise. Any answers (official or non) to the following would be greatly appreciated. If they are official, a source would also be super fantastic!

1. We had some questions on the Taunt skill. Namely, exactly how is it meant to work?

1A. Is Taunt 'activated' when a monster first activates (before moving/attacking) or only when the monster is about to attack someone (regardless of move)?

1B. If it's when the monster attacks, can Taunt be activated to 'pull' a melee monster away from their original target if they have move left to do so? IE: If a monster begins next to one hero but three spaces from the Taunting hero, can I activate Taunt to force it to move 3 and attack my taunter?

1C. Can the Overlord purposely 'waste' movement by moving back and forth over the same spaces to avoid this pull? In one area there was a encounter with some Razorwings. I had Nara the Fang in a tree with Taunt. Silhouette was nearby and the Overlord wanted to attack her. The Master Razorwing in question had 8 move, and could move directly to Silhouette in 4 and attack. That would allow Nara to use Taunt though, pulling him away. Instead, he had the Razorwing do a 'loop' up where he was to waste movement, then go to Silhouette and attack. As he was now out of Movement Points, I could not use Taunt to pull. Is that legal?

2. I am 99% sure that I have this one right, but my friend wanted it confirmed. When "Guide" is purchased, does this mean that the Heros can reduce a trail with 1 die on it to 0 (100% chance of no encounter)? I am almost certain that they can, but there was some question.

3. What exactly counts as Obstacles for the purpose of Acrobat? I believe there is a full list somewhere, but wasn't sure where the sources were for it. All I could find was the partial list in the FAQ, but I am sure that doesn't include everything. Most importantly, is Rubble an obstacle that Acrobat allows you to move through? We played it last night as if it were not, but I thought about it later and am wondering if we did that wrong.

3A. Does Acrobat prevent certain traps from working on the Hero who has it? Will a Pit Trap still work, since Acrobat can ignore pits? What about a Crushing Block, assuming that Acrobat ignores Rubble?

I think there were some more, but these were the most immediate ones. Thanks for any responses!

From what i have read on the forums (read: non-official) "Taunt" cannot "pull" a monster. The monster has to be able to make a legal attack from where he is.

I will let others pipe in on the other 2 questions...

Karui_Kage said:

1a. Taunt is activated (or declared for better language) when you declare an attack. No it doesn't pull or force to move for any reason at all. If he can attack the taunt character having LOS to him, or via breath, or via blast or in any way make an attack that it can affect the taunt player he must do so. Even using stuff like crack shot (a leader in a dungeon), sniper upgrade or in any way attack him. That inludes though the use of breath instead of a normal range attack for dragons for example if it means you can attack him with a breath but not a ranged attack. Meaning simple that if their is a way to attack him from your CURRENT potision you must do so. Taunt is really not that game breaking as it seems and i would know about that since i play as an OL against a party with a taunting Tahlia which is the worst player for the OL to have taunt on it.

1b. There is no PULL what so ever in taunt and if you are playing like that then i feel pitty for the OL and you should change it immediately.

1c. Irrelevant as 1b is false

Karui_Kage said:

2. Yap it says also in the card don't know why you want confirmation on that. It's no big deal though.

Karui_Kage said:

3. Everything that blocks or hinders movement is an obstacle including rumbble, mud and all props that need 2 MP or more to enter in. So if it prevents movement or hinders it then it is an obstacle. Including pits. That is why it is the most essential skill in RTL. You can also pick up glyps and money markers that monster are standing in them. So more fun also.

3A. No acrobat as wind pact as earth pact and all skills like that don't prevent the trap or the damage done from them. You can move through them but the traps still do damage and their effects are not negated.

Drglord said:

Drglord did a good job on the first two questions. One extra comment on Taunt. It really is very straitforward, although many people seem to have teh same questions. It seems as though they all have preconceptions rather than just ready the skill - perhaps there are other (RPG?) games with Taunt skills that work differently? Anyway...
Taunt
When an enemy figure within 5 spaces of you declares an attack , but before dice are rolled, you may force the figure to target you with that attack if it is able to do so .
The timing is clear - when an attack is declared. No other time.
The action is clear - force a change of target, if possible . Nothing about moving, forced or otherwise.
Note to KK, this isn't a personal criticism. It seems like every second forum visitor has trouble with this one, and they all have about the same completely wrong and completely unfounded (AFAICS) questions. I just can't figure out why...

Right, on to Acrobat...
What Drglord answered was a rough approximation of the effect, but both technically incorrect and will create errors in a few relatively uncommon cases.
Putting aside Walls and doors, which fit Drglord's description but I am sure he did not mean to include, a number of other things can block or hinder movement that are not obstacles (boulders, crushing walls, probably cages from SoB are examples) and there are also obstacles that do not affect movement in any way (fog, lava, corrupted terrain are all examples).

Obstacles are clearly defined in the expansion rules they came in (at least before RtL). If you look at those rules (DJitD pg16-17, WoD pg4-5, AoD pg7) there is a heading 'Props/New Props' followed by a sub-heading 'Obstacles', then all the obstacles are defined, then there is other sub headings 'other props', 'traps' etc.
Everything defined under the subheading Obstacle is an obstacle, everything not defined under that subheading is not an obstacle.
Unfortunately FFG abandoned this clear and definitive labelling method from RtL onwards in favour of a lumped together "Obstacles and Props" section. It really is hard to think of a more idiotic format change in any sort of ruleset anywhere! This meant that new props introduced in RtL and in ToI did not have any formal definition as obstacles, and this is where the FAQ list comes from - those are all new props introduced in RtL or ToI and did not previously have any formal definition.
That FAQ entry will have to grow in the next FAQ because FFG have repeated this incompetence in SoB, so there is no clear definition.

As for acrobat affecting traps, not really. The actual trap effects written on the card do not come form the obstacles directly, they come from the trap - and acrobat does not help against traps, only obstacles. One of the effects of many traps is to leave behind an obstacle, after the trap has taken effect. The acrobat will be able to move off that obstacle without suffering the effects of that obstacle, once the traps has been completed, but will still suffer all effects listed in the trap card.

It is pretty simple really, just read the Acrobat card and apply it exactly.
Acrobat
You may move through enemy figures. In addition, you may enter and move through obstacles (but not other props, such as scything blades or boulders) without effect. You may not end your movement or make an attack from a space occupied by either another figure or an obstacle that blocks movement.

Doors and walls i kinda expected to be ruled out. And crushing walls are walls And are they any boulders in RTL? Hmm they may be. Anyway i just found it better to make that distiction rather than say all the props name which are quite a few now with the heavy addition of RTL props. (sarcopaghus, bone heap and all that stuff) Also trees are considered obstacles if you were wondering.

Drglord said:

Traps actually.

This thread has a link to a compiled list of obstacles and props I made. Be sure to read the comments, as there were some controversial entries on it. I purposefully ignored logic when making the list, and marked anything that had been called an obstacle, whether in the FAQ or a rulebook, as an obstacle.

Because of the inconsistencies it creates (such as not being able to fly over deep water) the list should probably be read as a guide and then have some common sense applied to it. Unfortunately until FFG speaks up and answers this incredibly frequent question, it's as technically correct as a list can get.

James McMurray said:

Definitely read the comments, because it is not technically correct.

How so? I only list items that are specifically referred to in the rules , FAQ, or GLOAQ as props or obstacles. Unless they've changed the rules (I haven't updated the list as the FAQ changes), or you're claiming that the rules don't matter, then it's most definitely technically correct.