Played a big game recently and a few rules queries raised themselves:

1) One player picked up the Poltergeist and later aquired the Hag also (DOH!!) We were unsure wether the Poltergeise should be discarded along with the rest of the followers due to the Hags curse. Some players stated yes due to the Poltergeist having the "Follower" keyword and others pointed out that on the Poltergeist card it stated that the only way the poltergeist could be got rid of was by crossing the river. We were benevolent and ruled in favour of discarding the critter, however some clarification on this for future games would be great. Personally I beleive the Poltergeist would stay due to the specific wording on it's card and that it is supposed to be a sort of hinderance.

2) Another intersting situation that cropped up. Player A (Wizard) was playing chess with death and so missing his turn, Player B (Dark Cultist) decided to cast the shatter spell on Player A at the point that his turn would have come up had he not been missing his turn. The query is even though you are missing a turn do you still have a theoretical start of your turn so allowing spells like shatter which can only be cast at the beginning of a another players turn to be cast. we ruled yes in this case to keep things moving. To complicate this more player B after having his Talisman shattered wanted to cast the Hydra spell in retaliation. Now, it was Players B turn though he was missing it but the spell description stated that the spell could be cast as required, we ruled that he couldn't as he was preoccupied with death and his chess game. This did bring up the question that whilst you were missing your turn then could you still cast 1 spell (as per rules) during another players turn?

3) Another interesting situation that reared itself. Is there a limit on how many Talismans you could aquire and have. A player managed to complete 2 warlock quests and find a talisman in the adventure deck so he had 3 talismans, I assume that is okay rules wise. We ended up having all 4 talisman cards taken and a character managed to complete another quest but with no Talismans to receive from the warlock. What happens here? we ruled that the character was teleported to the warlocks cave anyway only to be told that tough luck. In future I will house rule that the unfortunate character will receive a treasure from the dungeon instead. But some official clarification would be cool.

Was one helluva game, 8 hours to complete with 5 players. 4 deaths (3 by the reaper). legend.

Cheers.

GrimGuvna said:

Hag trumps Poltergeist.

GrimGuvna said:

Probably wouldn't have a start of turn if missing a turn, but overall, doesn't really change things, does it? You can Shatter him the start of his next turn, unless something bad happens to you in the meantime. Missing your turn doesn't hinder your ability to cast spells during another player's turn.

GrimGuvna said:

No limit, apart from carrying limit. If all Talismans from the purple deck are in use, getting a Talisman nets you nothing.

I've always played that the hag doesn't scare the poltergeist away.

otherwise I agree with Dam

Cheers for responses,

Out of interest where is the info about the Hag trumping the Poltergeist?

GrimGuvna said:

Dam's answer is correct.

This is the general ruling how it was clarified many times here in the Forum (unfortunately we have no updated FAQ to quote):

The Hag and Poltergeist are actually Followers and the effects that apply to Followers apply to them the same way EXCEPT THAT they can't be ditched or sacrificed voluntarily. You have to fulfill the conditions on the card to get rid of them.

This means that if you are instructed to lose Followers, you can't choose Hag and Poltergeist if you have other Followers available. But if you don't have any other Followers to lose, the Hag and Poltergeist are Followers anyway and you lose them (you MUST lose Followers).

Hag forces you to discard ALL Followers. Poltergeist is a Follower too and gets discarded.

You'll find many people telling they rule it differently, because in the past they used to consider Hag and Poltergeist as Events that turned into "followers", but not actual Followers. I did it too, but I had to re-think the way of play when FFG decided to use the Follower keyword in Revised 4th edition .

That clears things up nicely, cheers

Hi. Am new to this forum and to the game too. I also have a question to pose regarding poltergeist. Let's say i pick up a poltergeist while i am in the middle region, how do i get rid of it? If i were to pick it up while i am in the outer region, i could cross the river. Cheers

You ditch the poltergeist when you cross the sentinel, if I remember correctly.

frogemoth said:

You discard the poltergeist if you cross any river.

This also includes the river in the outer region, where the village or the city is.

So you can easily get rid of him

falcon said:

You can easily exit the middle region by crossing the river again where the sentinel is.

How about with characters with special abilities relating to followers? Can the Vampiress chomp down on the Hag or Poltergeist as an easy way of unburdening the pests (and gaining life!)? Can the Gladiator train them to fight with him in combat?

In spaces such as the Crags where you MUST roll for followers can you effectively ditch these unwanted followers with a lucky dice roll?

I assume that places such as the Vampire's Tower in the middle region where you may lose followers in place of life-points (or Adventure cards of similar ilk) are not valid means of dumping them as you are given a "choice" and so must lose a life regardless of the follower in your party, right?

exion said:

I think you can't do that.

The vampiress can freely choose to eat her followers, but you can only lose the hag or poltergeist if you are force to discard them

exion said:

Off course.

It's still a follower

exion said:

I think you mean the chasm?

Yes, you can lose them on the chasm space with a lucky dice roll

exion said:

Yes, you must choose a life for the hag and poltergeist, because you may not choose to offer them

thanks for the clarifications.
It sounds like for all intents and purposes, sometimes it's just easier to follow the original card's instructions...

Ok, one last question concerning Hags, Poltergeists and other unpleasant followers; if a player is killed or toadified and forced to drop their equipment and followers, if another character lands on the space to claim their prize would they be forced to pick up the unwanted follower or could they ignore it and leave it to congest the board?
Currently how I play the game is that landing on someones loot requires you to pick it all up, and then you disgard the overburdening equipment or unwanted followers, so in this situation you'd be forced to pick up the Hag, and then have to drop everyone else.

I have wondered if such followers would be considered events that must be encountered before you pick up loot...

exion said:

True, but this rule came up later on the forums by a member named: talismansilat

The reason for this is that it is too easy to get rid of those followers if you can always choose for them.

That's why this new rule came up, and it has change some things, that are not written on the card.

exion said:

Yes, they must pick up those unwanted followers. It goes the same way as they are drawed.

exion said:

The Hag is actually a sort of event. She has a encounter nr 1 number This goes also for the poltergeist etc

awesome. thanks again.

Hi Exion,

The rules has changes about negative followers.

see this topic for John's goodenough Clarification

Dam said:

I was going to say thanks, but there's a difference of opinion here. Is there a moderator/rules official or a date for the next FAQ?

If you have the Poltergeist as your Follower and then draw the Hag, you must take the Hag as your Follower and you MUST discard the Poltergeist. This is the official way to play this.

Elliott Eastoe.