The card's effect is "When defending in combat, you cannot be stunned or dealt more than 1 damage from a single attack"

Would you apply this effect when the holder fails an evade check and takes damage? If you interpret the card strictly the effect should NOT go off because it's not during combat, but I (as the Keeper) am inclined to allow the effect to go off anyway, both thematically and for the sake of Harvey's delicate help.

What do you folks think?

This came up in one of our sessions too.

We ruled that failing av evade test is not the same as a monster attack, so Harvey takes full damage.

We came to the exact same conclusion in my gaming group.

I don't see why evading would not be considered a phase of combat in this regard. The keeper isn't making an active move with the monster at that point in time, but nonetheless the monster is performing an attack. You're not randomly being hit with damage as a result of a failed roll; you're failing to sneak past a big nasty thing and it wounds you as a result.

9-Jack-9 said:

You can paint it the color you like but text is really clear "when defending in combat", when harvey tries to move, he is trying to escape, not to defend. So not only he isn't in combat (there are 2 clear combat phases in the game) but also he is not defending.