Okay - this may well have been asked before but I have been unable to locate an answer.

Some monsters have Physical Resistance or Physical Immunity. Clearly an investigator cannot use any weapons against them in combat (unless the combat bonus is halved in the case of Physical Resistance). How then does the combat resolve without access to magical weapons? It seems to me that the investigator still uses his or her FIGHT Level - but surely this is also a measure of physical strength. Does the investigator use LORE instead (as when choosing to close a gate)? I need an answer that makes thematic sense here....or simply a word from the wise (or the more experienced).

Also...while I prattle on about thematic sense - since Spells have been committed to memory (cf. the encounter cards which result in spells 'burned from memory or the mind') does it not make more sense that these are only lost when SANITY is reduced to zero. (This would also provide a mechanism whereby physical items are only lost when STAMINA is reduced to zero). Missions and Tasks is a whole other story of course (conceivably, thematically these are presented as a list and are on paper/in a letter so are lost as items. If they have been committed to memory these would also be lost when SANITY is reduced to zero. They CAN be likened to learnig spells).

If this is all too much...perhaps I should just 'house rule' things - but I would be interested to know what others think.

Got the game for Christmas and just added Dunwich Expansion (which oddly was noticeably more expensive!!!) Can't imagine gaming life without them and am glad I googled for games reviews and hit upon Fantasy Flight and Board Game Geek in the run up to Christmas. My son and I are fans...

Don't bother house ruling just because it doesn't quite make sense thematically. It'll get messy, and if you really want some justification, well, ask us! I can think of many things! So hopefully my answers are both wise and thematic (as you asked )

Physically Immune monsters, such as the Hound of Tindalos or Formless Spawn, aren't really harmed by our ordinary weapons for one reason or another. Maybe they're from another dimension! Or perhaps they're wads of goo that the bullets or knives go right through. Yes, you still use fight, but don't always think of it as punches! Perhaps you draw down a curtain from the Witch House, and wrap up the Hound before it can get you. In an act of desparation, you throw the trapped beast out the window. While you didn't "kill" it, you retain the meomery of the beast (and thus, the trophy!), and the Hound is so disoriented (ever put a dog under the covers? It's kinda hilarious) that it returns to its own plane of existence. For the Formless Spawn, say you encounter it in the Graveyard or Black Cave. Using your physical strength, you trap the thing under a Sepulcher or pile of rocks, then roll a big stone on top of it, making sure it cannot escape! While some of the ooze sticks to you (monster trophy!), you know that not enough of it exists to cause you harm. And thus the formless spawn is no more!

Don't think of spells as memorized things. I think of them as in spellbooks, or jotted down somewhere, perhaps maybe even runes on a stone or a phrase on a napkin. That's how I justify giving them to other people, or them getting stolen in an encounter. Sure it says the spell is "burned in your mind," but you better write it down before you forget! Remember that crazy dream you had? It involved a clown or something, and your grandma was there smoking a pipe while flying a jet plane or something...and then Hitler showed up? It's kinda like that. Unless you write it down, you might just muddle up the details!

If you're carted off to the hospital, either you lose items of value because you couldn't pay for your treatment (and the hosptial took them as recompense), or you lost them in the scuffle with the Gug, and the ambulance didn't gather all your things. If you're being taken to the asylum because you're a blabbering mess? Maybe they took some things from you because they're too "dangerous" for you to keep while in their stay (or perhaps you can't pay there, either). Or you saw the Ghost, dropped your lantern, and ran, having a tree in the woods tear a hole in your pants so that you lost your powder of Ibn-Ghazi along the way! And then the nice men in white coats found you...

You'll be encountering Injury and Madness cards soon, so let me justify those, too: You sense that your tiems are too valuable to lose. While the Ghoul thrashes you, you pick up your dropped Tommy Gun and Strain your back. Or, after fighting a Cthonian and losing, the doctors diagnose you as having an injured hand. You can't pay for the surgery, so you thanks them, take some aspirin and a sling, and head back out to foil the Mythos. Madnesses arise from feigning sanity when the men in white coats approach you. The repressed insanity manifests iteself whenever you are in the graveyard, or face an undead monster. They say you have Necrophobia, but you're too focused on your objective to care...

I hope this helps! And yes, I, too, think of Tasks/Missions as lists, photographs, special badges, or whatever, depending on who gets the Mission/Task, and which one it is.

As I always say, I can't stop you from Houseruling things, but I think it would be silly to do so with those things. Especially when there are many justifiable reasons (both thematically AND game-play wise) to not house rule! And yeah, Dunwich is a bit of a rarity at the moment, so some places have it around the same price as the base set. Hope you have fun with the game, because we can tell you the game will certain have fun with you Oh! And as they like to say here: Welcome to the Carnival!

Many many thanks....it's the 14 year old geek in me (and I am 3x that age!) that needs the explanation...and it was my 14 year old son who said how do I fight if the monster is physically immune? (which got me thinking).

Love the carnival so far...

Elendil23 said:

No worries, mate! Sometimes I have trouble, especially since Fire Vampires have no horror rating. I knowthere are strange, crazy, or mind shattering things out there, but a vampire on fire should have some sanity damage! Then I had to reimagine it (especially since it was physically immune)!

EcnoTheNeato said:

I would lose some sanity if a flying dude on fire was coming towards me!

The picture is misleading. The Fire Vampire is the fire itself: the man pictured is its victim. So if your clothing suddenly caught fire, you'd be more focused on putting it out than to assume that it was a magical monster's doing (it could have been your lantern, a nearby candle, etc) and lose sanity.

Tibs said:

Oh, oops. Silly misinterpretation...

I have a question on physical immunity.

If a monster has physical immunity and encounters Lily Chen (who has martial arts as a skill), then does Lily still get the bonus die for having two free hands.

It doesn't make much sense, but the rules seem to support that she does because her die are not coming from a weapon or spell with the description physical.

jscott991 said:

Yes, Lily Chen can still fight monsters with physical immunity with martial arts as it is neither a physical or magical weapon. It might not make that much sense, but that's correct. If you put it this way, maybe along with her knowledge of martial arts, Lily has some magical abilities as well.

Base Fight isn't even affected by immunities. If someone has a high enough fight, they could stomp out the Fire Vampire. Lily Chen has the added +4 bonus, allowing her to stomp out the Vampire with style.

Zoey Samaras has, somehow, figured out how to harm the flaming space wasp with a kitchen knife.

She's wields the power of Jesus, Tibs. She can do anything!

Tibs said:

Wait, so being on fire will not cause you sanity damage? Huh?

Tibs said:

Well, flaming space wasps are a rare gourmet delicacy. Naturally she knows how to mince them.

I'd panic if my sleeve caught fire, but it's not incomprehensible so I wouldn't become a babbling psychopath. My though string would probably become, "OH CRAP OH CRAP OH CRAP I CAN'T FIND CLOTHES THAT FIT ME CRAP"

By the way—notice you haven't been on in a while Avi. Lost in Time and Space much?

mi-go hunter said:

It's not "magic", per se...Lily has powerful chi (qi). Anime is full of characters that can directly attack with chi, and cause all kinds of damage, both seen and unseen. "Ka-me-ha-me-HA!!!"

I know, I know...NERD. I is what I is.

Tibs said:

Oh no. Just lurkering :') I'm on almost every day at least once. It's just rules questions are usually answered before I'm on. So basically the only contributions I can make are sociable ones. There have been loads of posts lately. I've also been somewhat busy (reading, writing, and watching seasons of Buffy, and preparing for a move) so I haven't posted any more Fan Creations Scenarios for a while, but I've been plotting away with them and am still writing them (I think I'm on 14 now?) And of course, as far as the scenario design goes, that's been done for over a year on all of them ;') so. I'm kind of hoping to finish writing them in the next three or four months. So no. I have not been LiTaS. Just watching. Watching. Waaaatchiiiiiiing O_O

Avi_dreader said:

Avi, admitt it! You are the real Lurker at the (forum) Treshold! ::laughing:: at least, you looks more similar to a *Herald* rather that the official Lurker does ::shivering::

Avi_dreader said:

::shock::
::bigger shock::
::ultimate shock::

so, you like Gran Torino AND Buffy? what an exquisite split personality neurosys... ::laughing:: (please... give us back the OT section)

Julia said:

If he's the Lurker, I should at least be the King in Yellow.

Tibs said:

I definitely did not know that. Obviously I haven't read the story that used fire vampires, I just assumed it was a vampire who was somehow immune to burning and had lit himself on fire (which is scary enough in it's own right, really.)

mi-go hunter said:

I think it makes sense that an expert martial artist could hurt things that are immune to physical attacks even though she's (technically) unarmed. At least, it makes as much sense as anything else in this game. =P Those crazy Kung Fu types with their death touches and thousand-hand slaps and what-not. If anyone can crank magical mojo out of their bare hands, it's them.

Steve-O said:

*Takes out monster tile* It actually just looks like a wasp made of fire. **** vampires are just getting lazy now.

See, I always thought the wasp-like thing pictured was actually part of the fire vampires wing, and the fire vampire looked like a charred vampire with fiery wings. I haven't read about them yet, since I haven't finished all the Lovecraft tales. I figure why read the other stuff when I haven't read all of the "base stories" yet (almost there, thanks to a Christmas present. Though I also want to read the King in Yellow, too...)

Julia said:

Sure ;'D What's wrong with Gran Torino?

Yeah... That off-topic section sure was nice. I didn't feel as guilty (not very though, don't worry) making snarky and irrelevant remarks.

Mi-go Hunter, if you want to be The King in Yellow, you need to get a lot crazier ;') also, you should change your icon into something with more Yellow in it. I on the other hand, at least am (was, soon to be am again no doubt) actually Lurkering.

Avi_dreader said:

Nothing against GT (one of the best movies of the last couple of years) but... yeah, it doesn't matter. But the OT section was created with the forum or existed because the community had asked for it? In case we could ask again

Avi_dreader said:

Well, you got to be a lot more purple and amorphous to qualify as the Lurker.

mi-go hunter said:

Under the skin, under the skin ;')