Q: When a Character lands on the Ritual Master, do ALL Good and Neutral Characters have to lose one Life and put it on the Stranger card?

I hope not, but the card is not 100% clear. Generally a Stranger affects only the Character who lands on him/her, but perhaps this person does a ritual that drains Life from Good/Neutral Characters in all land and give it for evil's sake? An Evil Character drawing the Ritual Master won't lose a Life, but has no Lives to take too, if card works only on landing Characters.

There are also similar cards that work with other Alighments, Redeemer perhaps (don't want to check now after a quite long game).

The_Warlock said:

Yes that is the correct method when drawing the Ritual Master. Good and Neutral characters immediately lose 1 life and place it on the card. The first evil character to land there (or an evil character who draws the Redeemer) may take all the life counters there. The Redeemer and Renegade work in exactly the same manner!

Xmas wishes,

Ell.

Ps. We are playing a game on xmas day evening. Only good characters will be shuffled and dealt!

Thanks Ell, very clear now.

My friends were not convinced of this, but when I wrote the above post I've noticed that without automatic Life loss the card has no real purpose.

Merry Christmas to you and happy good-oriented Talisman game!

does it work that way: ?

We have 3 characters in game, good with 4 life, evil with 3 life, neutral with 2 life.

1. neutral character draws ritual master, all neutrals/good lose life. Good has now 3 life, neutral only 1.

2. Few turns later, good character visits ritual master and triggers him again. Good has now 2 life, netrual character is killed. (there are 4 life tokens on the card)

3. Few turns later, evil character visits ritual master and triggers him once again. Good is down to 1 life, there are 5 life tokens on the card total. Evil characters gains those 5 lives, ritual master descends to discard pile.

guciomir said:

The text of such cards has no mention of Characters landing on, except the Character that takes Lives as a reward. After Elliott's clarification, it seems clear to me that the loss of Life happens when card is drawn (no matter who draws it). After that, the Stranger is like a pool of Life counters available only to a specific Alignment.

Ah, never mind. Brain fart...

Good question from the warlock.

i thought the same as him.

i was also thinking that the ritual master will only steal a life when good and neutral characters will land on that card.

so, all good/ neutral characters will lose a life when a evil character will land on the ritual master?

thanks elliot

Velhart said:

Is an evil character able to take their lives immediately after drawing the Ritual Master?

Correction: Ah, Ell. already said that. OK, then

I have sent the question to John goodenough.

Nothing is said that all good/neutral characters must lose a life when a evil or other character lands on the card.

It simple says that good/neutral characters lose 1 life. and if you are evil, you can claim those lives on the card. something like that..

You sent a question, but did you receive the reply?

guciomir said:

Not yet.

But i will hear something soon..

Oke Guys..

I got a quick answer today from John Goodenough, and it was exactly as i expected.

Question

The good/neutral characters will only lose a life when they land on the ritual master card right?

A: Correct

Q: In other words: it will not effect all characters at the same moment when a evil character land on the Ritual master..?

A: An evil character landing on the Ritual Master has no effect on other characters: he simply gains any tokens on the Ritual Master card.

Velhart said:

The answer I gave earlier in this thread was only correct during the playtesting phase of the Sacred Pool. Sorry if this misled you guys after it was released. We are often told different things during playtest!!!

Ell.

What is the exact wording of the card? How did it look like during playtesting?

What if an evil character draws the Ritual Master?

Is he discarded with no effect? Or does he wait for a prey?

I would say you leave the card in play until at least one life have been placed on the card.

frogemoth said:

I agree

Velhart said:

I think that the Ritual Master/Redeemersimilar cards are less effective with this ruling, but since the chief game designer stated this I will play this way. In my game last evening I drew Redeemer as the Cleric and nothing happened. About 10 turns later the Ragnarok wiped out the board and the Redeemer had no effect on the Characters around (4 player game with only Dungeon board). A bit lame.

The_Warlock said:

That's possible indeed.

But Evil and neutral characters(redeemer) or good/ neutral(ritual master) or good/evil( renegade) shall try not to land on that card, so they must move the other way around.

This card is too cool, near the end of the game killed half of the players!!!