I am still a little confused about the rules for recharging actions and talents. Consider the following scenario:

On his turn, Frederick the Facemelter, the party's Bright Wizard, is fighting a frightening daemon. Frederick has 3 recharge tokens left on his "Shielding Winds" card. It is his turn. He uses the party's talent card "I've Seen Worse" to pass the Fear check. The talent now has 4 recharge tokens on it. Frederick proceeds to unleash some sort of horrible pyroclasmic doom upon the daemon, who promptly explodes into little daemon giblets.

Frederick's turn ends.

1). I assume that Frederick removes a token from his "Shielding Winds" card. Hopefully, that is correct.

2). Does Frederick also remove a token from "I've Seen Worse" ?

Frederick's party finishes off the remaining cultists. Combat ends, and the GM grants the party a Rally Step.

3). How many tokens are removed from Frederick's "Shielding Winds" ?

4). How many tokens are removed from the party's "I've Seen Worse" ?

5). If one of Frederick's teammates is a Watchman, how does his career ability affect answers (3) and (4) ?

One of the reasons I'm confused is that the book lists "Remove a token from one recharging cards" as one of the things that happens during Rally Steps, but this seems to make no sense with regard to combat actions.

Frederick's turn ends.

1). I assume that Frederick removes a token from his "Shielding Winds" card. Hopefully, that is correct.

Yes

2). Does Frederick also remove a token from "I've Seen Worse" ?

No, talents exhausted on the party sheet only refresh through the use of fortune points, although I normally allow it to also refresh over "time" (ie out of combat)

Frederick's party finishes off the remaining cultists. Combat ends, and the GM grants the party a Rally Step.

3). How many tokens are removed from Frederick's "Shielding Winds" ?

If the combat has truly ended, then it essentially removes all tokens and the effect ends. If this Rally Step is merely a pause in the action (between enemy waves, for example), then a single token is removed.

4). How many tokens are removed from the party's "I've Seen Worse" ?

None unless party members spend fortune points to remove tokens

5). If one of Frederick's teammates is a Watchman, how does his career ability affect answers (3) and (4) ?

You probably wouldn't want it to be used on "shielding winds", since it would remove a token, thereby hastening the end. It would have no effect on "I've Seen Worse" because it is a "party talent" and not a talent an individual has recharging, which is what the ability specifies.

One of the reasons I'm confused is that the book lists "Remove a token from one recharging cards" as one of the things that happens during Rally Steps, but this seems to make no sense with regard to combat actions.

Removing a token is almost always good for combat actions, as it means that the action may be used again faster. The "problem" you are seeing is that a few actions (spells and blessings most often) use the recharge mechanism as a duration. When its a duration, removing tokens is a 'bad' thing.

A few examples:

Say an attack called "Dvang's Strike" has a recharge rating of 3. That means that 3 tokens are placed on the card when I successfully use it, and 1 token will be removed at the end of my turn. Since there are 2 tokens still on that action, I will have to wait through 2 of my turns (removing 1 token each turn) before I can use "Dvang's Strike" again. Having a Rally Step (or the watchman's ability) will reduce the tokens on the card, and allow me to use Dvang's Strike on an earlier turn.

A Rally Step is a momentary pause in the action, which does mean some time passes. Time passes, so actions can be used quicker and blessings/spells that have durations will expire faster, ie 1 recharge token is removed for the Rally Step.

Spot on, but to clarify point 2 (and 4), in the new Players guide, I believe it now also states that a token from an exhsuted party talent is removed at the end of the round (not a single players turn, note, "the round")

So although Frederick doesn't remove a token from "I've seen worse..." and players can remove them using fortune points, a token is removed from "I've seen Worse.." at the end of the round, acording to the latest rules.

Also note this slightly contradicts the FAQ which suggests the GM could allow a token to be removed during a rally step, but that suggestion isn't included in the new players guide...although it could be in the GMs guide, i don't have that product?

pumpkin said:

That would be a bit strange since the FAQ clarify that fortune points are needed to refresh party talents, but a GM can allow one token to be removed during rally steps.

But we have actually always played with that rule... removing one each round.

Personally, it makes sense to me to allow the removal of one per round from an exhausted party talent.

It sounds like FFG made more rules changes/additions in the new PG than they told us would be. I certainly hope all of these get put into an errata for those of us going by the Core Set books.

So, just to clarify:

* At the end of a combat encounter, all recharge tokens are removed from all the players' cards, including actions and talents (though excluding talents slotted to the party sheet)

* If a Rally Step occurs between combat waves, one token is removed from the players' cards

* A token is removed from the party-slotted talents at the end of each round of combat i.e., after all the players and monsters had their turn.

So far so good, but I still don't get a few things:

* What happens if a player uses a card during story mode, f.ex. Winning Smile ? When does it recharge ?

* When does the Watchman's career ability come into play ? At the end of every turn, at the end of every round, or only during a Rally Step ?

I'm concerned about the Watchman specifically, because it seems that he's either overpowered, or nearly useless, depending on how you interpret his career ability.

* What happens if a player uses a card during story mode, f.ex. Winning Smile ? When does it recharge ?

Then it depends on the GM, and the length of narrative time. Generally, it should probably be approximately once per event, although if an event takes a long 'game time', it could be more frequently. For example, a PC is in a conversation with an NPC at the party. I would allow the use of "Winning Smile" once during that conversation. Perhaps later in the evening, if the PC went back to speak with that same NPC, I would allow the use again. Should the PC engage a different NPC in conversation, I'd probably allow the use of "Winning Smile" with that NPC. Unless the PC was talking to the same NPC for *hours*, I wouldn't allow the use of the same action again vs that same NPC. In the end, though, it comes down to the GM's decision.

* When does the Watchman's career ability come into play ? At the end of every turn, at the end of every round, or only during a Rally Step ?

I'm concerned about the Watchman specifically, because it seems that he's either overpowered, or nearly useless, depending on how you interpret his career ability.

I don't have the card in front of me to verify, but I believe the Watchman's ability specifies that it reduces the Recharge during a Rally Step. So, it only happens during a Rally Step. A single combat can have several Rally Steps (depending on how it is designed). So it isn't overpowered, but it can be useful during long combats.

Bugmaster said:

Not according to the rules in the core books. Players HAVE to use fortune points to remove tokens from talents on the party sheet. GM can allow a token to be removed during a rally step, but it's worded somewhat like an optional rule. They even clarify this rule in the FAQ.

Removing a token from party talents at the end of each round is a house rule I guess many use, but it's not official... just to be clear on that.

I'm getting the all the new books tomorrow, so I'll report back if it has changed.

Gallows said:

It has changed, that's why I posted it...

P26 of the players guide now states that tokens from an exhausted party talent are now removed at the end of each round. The rally step rule is probably made redundant by this; it certainly isn't in the PG...

pumpkin said:

Ahh cheers. I misunderstood that then... sorry. Great news. I always had a feeling that the rule was somewhat misplaced, like they had several different ideas floating around and a few old ones got into the books by mistake.

Yep, only being able to recharge via fortune points had made it next to pointless putting exhaustable talents on the party sheet. With the new PG rules, it starts to become more worthwhile again