mi-go hunter said:

It's true. Sanity cost is still a cost. If you can't pay the cost, you can't cast the spell.

you can get 11 sanity on a character without lurker.. perhaps higher?

7 .. basic from harvey walters
+1 .. changed, kingsport
+1 .. duke, ally
+1 .. blessings of nodens
+1 .. third eye, king in yellow
=11 sanity.

succeeded personal story removes sanity cost by one.
=12 doom tokens can be removed.
lily chen succeeds with her personal story
=13 doom tokens can be removed (and azathoth does not awaken) ..

just one more sanity!

anyhow, cancelling the ancient ones entire attack won't give a free round to attack, will it?

(if lily chen succeeds with her personal story you remove one doom token and he does not awaken. thus a if we can get a character to 13 sanity, cast call ancient one and have lily ready to succeeded her story.. you should win.. RIGHT?)

if one is devoured when azathoth awakens, then tommy muldoons personal story would seal the deal. this might be a stretch however..

It's a fun exercise, but you'd still lose. Awakening Azathoth loses the game.

Tibs said:

nu-uh! Lily Chen's personal story specifically states that if he awakens, he does not awaken..

Taurmindo said:

Ooo, snap! You fell right into his trap Tibs ;'D

That's a really bizarre hypothetical scenario though. What would happen, would Azathoth's doom track be brought to one?

Avi_dreader said:

i think the proper way to do is continue playing with the doom tokens left (1) as if the game just started. the real question is if bringing him to 0 doom tokens using the call ancient one actually kills him or just as earlier; makes you continue the game with fewer doom tokens, this time without any.

Oh, I did fall for that. Well there's no way that it means "continue the game with Azathoth at 1." The point of the spell is to go to final combat. If you're choosing to use Chen's ability, then that should override the doom removal of the spell, since Azathoth does not remain awake.

Tibs said:

Rules as written! Rules as written! ;'D

No way. I refuse to admit that you can yank multiple doom tokens off of Azathoth by casting a spell. God, just when I think Call Ancient One has caused all the trouble it's going to, someone comes forth with yet another abuse.

Tibs said:

::Laughter:: there's a reason why I just flat out banned it for the Fan Creation League.

You have to admit it's a **** good abuse though ;'D

i'd like to claim that this was the intended use for the spell. they've just hidden it well. why else include this kind of weird spell?

Well, I gave it some thought, and realized that stripping X doom tokens off Azathoth isn't too much worse than stripping X off another Ancient One and then fighting it.

Some points:

• With AOs other than Azathoth, the game will be in final combat, so that's decidedly harder than pre-combat (where there's a chance to win by sealing)
• With other AOs, if casting CAO drives you insane, you're devoured as the AO awakens. That doesn't apply here because Azathoth hasn't awakened
• Lily Chen's personal story can be passed only once
• Call Ancient One can only be successfully cast one time
• Lily's ability says that Azathoth hasn't awakened after all. Shouldn't this mean that the spell hasn't fulfilled its conditions? Since Azathoth is not awake, shouldn't the doom tokens remain in place? This of course would negate this whole tactic.

Stupid spell.

well, first he awakens and then he does not awaken. if he wouldn't even awaken at all the personal story should not be able to trigger, but since it does, he should be considered awaken for an instant but then.. un-awaken (!) again. so i'd figure the spell gets resolved first, then the personal story. additionally, timing issues are resolved in favor of the investigators.

but, i do agree, this whole scenario is bizarre and the spell is stupid. but if i just can get that extra sanity i'm going to go all out to try to get it, and then i'm going to report it to the statistics if i ever manage to succeed!

Should this extremely unlike situation come up, I'd applaud someone's luck, as well as their thinking.

Then promptly say "no."

Tibs said:

Judging from this issue that Call Ancient One creates, I say it's better that this card be removed from the deck and shredded promptly. Always thought that this spell was broken anyhow.

Tibs said:

Ashcan Pete can just buy it back again. or some other force reshuffling of deck effect could lead to the spell being placed high in the stack and acquired again. it's not returned to the box on a success..

When I first started playing the game, I thought elder signs were discarded after use. So I sent Pete to purchase it from the Curiositie Shoppe again... and again... and again.

The fun was over once I read the card carefully.

mi-go hunter said:

Whatever, you can still break the game pretty easily with Pete. Just go shopping with one dollar until you find an Elder Sign. Then get him money the next turn to buy the Elder Sign. Repeat process. Win.

Or! Have fun with the King in Yellow, or de Vermis Mysteriis. You'll close all the gates in no time...

EcnoTheNeato said:

Heh. That combo never occurred to me. Something like it was possible when it was legal to cast find gate on a first turn move in another world. White Ship, Daisy, and Find gate ;') Now there was a brutal combo... It still wasn't a sure thing though. It required a few of the high frequency gates to be sealed first, or it was somewhat risky.

EcnoTheNeato said:

Pete + King in Yellow + Credit Rating = nearly unlimited supply of clues for free.

Heh, I must try this combination out if I ever get the chance.

Well, it's much easier to pick Pete and wind up with one of those books than it is to pick Pete, have him also get Credit Rating, and also wind up with those books But yes, Credit Rating makes this even easier. But hey, it IS right next to the bank, though!

Taurmindo said:

Agnes Baker can cast from stamina as well as sanity.

There's an encounter in Devil's Hopyard in Dunwich that gives you +3 stamina and can explicitly raise you over your normal maximum.

Two goes at that encounter (using Enchanted Jewelry, Food, Dragon's Eye, Leo Anderson, and so on to keep the increased stamina safe and raise the odds of getting that encounter) and that's enough to cast a cost 14 spell and still be standing (on 1 sanity and 1 stamina) afterwards.

There's a relationship card that allows you to share sanity costs with your partner, too.

Getting a 14-cast seems like an interesting challenge. Too bad Azathoth doesn't care...