Discarding the Herald when AO awakens?

By Brine, in Arkham Horror Second Edition

Was it ever officially clarified if you still discard the herald when the Ancient One awakens (as per the King in Yellow rules)? It looks like the Dark Pharaoh is the only one with a lingering effect, but it is a pretty significant one.

The Dunwich Horror, Dagon and Hydra all have lingering effects as well.

I don't think there was an official statement but I think that since that statement has only ever been made in King in Yellow and never again in any of the "Herald Variant" write-ups that it is safe to ignore it.

Veet said:

I don't think there was an official statement but I think that since that statement has only ever been made in King in Yellow and never again in any of the "Herald Variant" write-ups that it is safe to ignore it.

So with Glaaki + Dagon, better bring a lot of Clues to the final combat or have Glaaki keep healing up (since if you don't toss Dagon, terror goes up from Glaaki's attack, triggering Dagon's discard clue or add a doomer)? Yig + Dark Pharaoh first Curses you, then keeps zapping you each Upkeep?

Well, Yig needs all the help they can get...

Dam brought up an interesting point that I never considered. Glaaki + Dagon makes it apparent that heralds are always removed from play when the Ancient One awakens. Some do have final battle effects, but they're applied the moment the AO awakens.

Any doubt in my mind to the intent of heralds and final combat has been settl

Tibs said:

Dam brought up an interesting point that I never considered. Glaaki + Dagon makes it apparent that heralds are always removed from play when the Ancient One awakens. Some do have final battle effects, but they're applied the moment the AO awakens.

Any doubt in my mind to the intent of heralds and final combat has been settl



Dam said:

So with Glaaki + Dagon, better bring a lot of Clues to the final combat or have Glaaki keep healing up (since if you don't toss Dagon, terror goes up from Glaaki's attack, triggering Dagon's discard clue or add a doomer)? Yig + Dark Pharaoh first Curses you, then keeps zapping you each Upkeep?

That's totally how I'd play that.

Veet said:

Dam said:

So with Glaaki + Dagon, better bring a lot of Clues to the final combat or have Glaaki keep healing up (since if you don't toss Dagon, terror goes up from Glaaki's attack, triggering Dagon's discard clue or add a doomer)? Yig + Dark Pharaoh first Curses you, then keeps zapping you each Upkeep?

That's totally how I'd play that.

Yep, same.

That can't be right. The King in Yellow rules say that its herald gets discarded, not because that's specific to the King in Yellow herald, but because "it has no further effect." But the designers clearly did not consider Glaaki, which as an attack, increases the terror level. So the herald would have an effect.

If you play that way with Dagon, then you have to play that way with King in Yellow and concede that its rules contained an oversight. But while its rules do contain an oversight, the rules do plainly say that the King in Yellow is discarded upon the AO awakening. The only way to satisfy these two discrepancies in a non-conflicting way and without ignoring any rules is to discard both heralds—and so it follows by example that all heralds must be discarded.

Not to mention, a herald 's purpose, by definition, is to signify that something that is coming. When the AO awakens, it has already come. Definitively, there is no more herald.

@Tibs

I don't agree with the logic here at all ;') I mean... The presumption that there is logic in the ruling as opposed to arbitrary thoughtless uses of language that are subject to revision (now there's an FFG pattern we've seen before).

I'm not saying I think you're necessarily wrong. But I don't think we can know one way or another what the intent is until there's an official ruling. Presuming there was an intent ;'D

Well, using convoluted logic to extrapolate rulings from minimal text is a pastime for me. Remember what field I'm in. Extrapolation off of minimal data points ain't great, but when you're in need of a conclusion, and you can't get more data, it's better than having nothing at all.

Nevertheless, my fallback statement, unless completely obliterated by a contrary ruling, will continue to be:

Tibs said:

A herald 's purpose, by definition, is to signify that something that is coming. When the AO awakens, it has already come. Definitively, there is no more herald.

Once again, the two entities that have seen evidence of an upcoming FAQ are divided on their opinions of what that phantom FAQ might say.

Tell me again, Tibs, how this FAQ is gonna be so awesome when (if) it happens. Tell me about the rabbits...

jgt7771 said:

Once again, the two entities that have seen evidence of an upcoming FAQ are divided on their opinions of what that phantom FAQ might say.

Tell me again, Tibs, how this FAQ is gonna be so awesome when (if) it happens. Tell me about the rabbits...

The rabbits will all have rabies! It'll be AWESOME!