I come here often to read posts and topics about rules that are unclear and things that elude me. One of my top concerns (especially with the recent string of Targ burn cards) is the style of STR modifying and burning. Since I'm no tournament level player or have the money to spend on cycles (or even a even a few chapter packs… broke college kid ftl), I browse CardgameDB, theorycraft, and play with my cousins. Of the houses we use, Stark SoW, Lannister Power Behind the Throne (I use this) and Targ Dragon/burn, Targ and Stark seem to win the most while I have to rely on getting Cersei (LotR) for Intrigue challenges.

In a recent game I played, she was burned with Poisoned Wine (Core) and Drogon's ability (Core). However, we were all faced with the dilemma about dupes and discards and Gilded Plate (Core). Our logic: she can't really be saved because STR modification is a terminal thing and would be killed if the STR is 0. If I were to pay the gold for Gilded Plate, she'd still have 0 STR and would therefore need to die, right? Same thing applies with dupes, if I discarded one to save her life, she would still have 0 STR. This got me thinking that burns cards and how effective they can be to single characters. Were we right in thinking this way? If so, doesn't this make burning overpowered in some cases burning through dupes? Maybe I don't have enough of a card pool to effectively counter it but I don't see how I can.

Any advice and comments would be welcome, thanks!

You are right about the uselessness of Gilded Plate and dupes against burn; it is even written in the FAQ that you cannot attempt a save against such an effect, unless the save itself also raises the character's STR or removes him from play.

As for how to deal with those effects in Lannister, the only solution I see is to hit them in intrigue, as hard and often as you can (I'm not a Lannister player, but it's a general strategy against burn decks).