On page 18 of the Rule Book it shows the Sorceress casting the Immobility Spell on the Sentinel.

On the Immobility Spell card it says cast at the start of a Characters turn, before he moves.

Is this in conflict with the description shown on page 18 of the Rule Book. Also how do you cast this on a Character or Creature if you can only cast it at the start of your turn before you move?

alboy said:

Immobility Spell has been limited somehow, but I find it's better now. When it was "cast as required", it could generate nonsense situations when the turn ended up with a Character immobilized after many actions. Once I got Immobilized after attacking the Sentinel, casting Psionic Blast, receiving a Counterspell and cast ing a Counterspell to Counterspell the Counterspell.

Now this is over. The wording allows you to use the Spell only on Characters to make them lose a Turn (in my case, I would have lost a Turn but wouldn't have burned all my Spells), or on Creatures that are already face up on the Board (Sentinel included, as the example points out).

It is useful to avoid an unavoidable combat that you can't win, or to evade a nasty face up Enemy on a multi-draw card space to take the goodies guarded by it.

I asked this myself a while back, seems like people felt there was a miswording on the card, as the rulebook example is clearly an illegal use of the spell. Immobility is pretty much useless for Evading purposes now (as written) since you can't use it on a Enemy you just drew. Also, since you have to cast it before your move roll, it's guessing game if you manage to land on a nasty Enemy already face-up (at least that's how I interpret "before you move" spells). Only real use is IF you're on the Sentinel space and wanting to go up, at least you're guaranteed not to roll low enough to make your use of Immobility a waste.

I'm currently playing Immobility so that you can cast it on an Enemy you drew.

@ The_Warlock: I think that just serves you right, for hoarding all those spells. Gotta be pegged down a notch or two.

Dam said:

Well, it's illegal as written, but the move is correct. They shoud have said that the Sorceress casts Immobility just before moving, in order to evade the Sentinel. She rolled a six and knows she can pass the bridge.

Dam said:

You can cast Immobility after your die roll, so you won't waste it by all means. It's written "Cast at te start of a character's turn, before he moves". This makes it also useful against other Characters, because you can stop them from acquiring Objects/depleting a pool. etc...

The Spell is less powerful and tricky to use, but I find it still interesting.

Dam said:

Consider I was the Thief with the Wand, not a natural Spellcaster. The other players with Wizard, Prophetess and Druid were casting Spells like hell. They needed to be taken down a peg or two as well.

The_Warlock said:

This part I'm uncertain about. I read "before his move" as such that you need to do it before you even begin your movement part.

"Movement 1. – The player rolls a die and moves his character
that number of spaces around the board." (p. 8)

I see that as one continuous action (roll followed by the actual move) that can only be interrupted by things like the spell Speed .

Dam said:

But there are many spells which state "before you roll the die for your move" and Speed says "after you've rolled the die for your move" (same does Sage's 4th special ability). I won't see them as one single action. However, card text and special abilities/effects always prevail over the general rules.

I consider the general rules just when special abilities/effects are not clearly stated. In this case I read a specific instruction and follow it; if you like the Spell as it was, house rule it.

The_Warlock said:

Funny, are all my spell cards misprinted then, because I checked and NONE have "before you roll the die" on them. Teleport and Transference have movement related (instead of rolling and instead of normal move) wording on them. Everything that reads "before you move", has no mention of any dice rolls.

I find the wording on the card misleading apart from if it can be cast before you roll the dice or not.

The wording Creature for instance, there are no Creatures in the game as such, they are mostly called Enemy. So is a Creature anything you Battle with, how about Spirits? Also if there are more than one Creature on a space can you use Immobility on all Creatures on the space or just choose one of them?

alboy said:

Actually, Creatures are qualified on p. 10:

"A “creature” is any encounter (other than
a character) that attacks with Strength or
Craft. This may include Enemy cards and
also Events, Strangers, Places, Spells, and
board spaces."

Also, Immobility states "a creature", so only one. That was the way it was in th BI edition as well IIRC.

You are right, thanks for the information.

Dam said:

Looks like you permanently have your Talisman box with you to check cards; well, I checked it in the lunch break and found you were right.

I also noticed that the most frequent text is "Cast at the start of a character's turn, before he moves". Sometimes they forget to say "before he moves", for example in the Hex Spell. Hex Spell isn't very interesting if you can't put it on a space you're sure to avoid, so is Immobility if you're not sure to take advantage from the effect (like in the illegal example of Rulebook).

The conclusion of our rule speculation is, FFG messed things up with Spell wording. There's a lot of confusion due to Spell change; the Spells you were familiar with have now different interpretations. This is most evident with Immobility than others, but also Mesmerism, Acquisition and Shatter are now less useful if "before he moves" means "before he starts his movement phase". There's a big difference if a player attacks you and you deprive him of his Mercenary/Sword of Light before he completes the move in your space, and being forced to cast it at the beginning of his turn with no real chance of surprise. Still effective, but not that effective.

The_Warlock said:

Unemployment tends to do that (esp. since I'm posting at home) . Big question is if I feel like fishing through all the cards. Luckily I suppose, I keep the Spell cards in the Reaper box, everyhing else in the BI Talisman box, so Spells are quicker to get at.