Am I being too literal?

By ziggy2000, in 2. AGoT Rules Discussion

Posted at

New player here, lurking on rules forum to try to soak up as much knowledge as possible even if I have no idea what is being talked about sometimes. I recently acquired a number of cards and in pondering over them, I came up with a question on an older one from ACoA: Flaming Pitch Tower.

Limited Response: After you win a challenge by 4 or more total STR, kneel flaming-pitch tower to choose a character without attachments. Until the end of the phase, that character gets -4 STR and is killed if its STR is 0. (Limit 1 Limited Response per round.)

So (assuming the challenge and attachment criteria are met and barring other STR modifiers) what happens if you choose a character with, say STR 3? Doesn't that make the STR -1 and therefore not meet the "killed if its STR is 0" criterion? Or, as the subject says, am I being too literal with the text on the card? Is "killed if its strength is 0 or less " just assumed?

And, while we're at it, how about "Thundering Calvary" (QoD), since the card referred to in the text, Thundering Cavalry (note spelling), does not exist?

Thanks for putting up with noob questions!

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ziggy2000 said:

New player here, lurking on rules forum to try to soak up as much knowledge as possible even if I have no idea what is being talked about sometimes. I recently acquired a number of cards and in pondering over them, I came up with a question on an older one from ACoA: Flaming Pitch Tower.

Limited Response: After you win a challenge by 4 or more total STR, kneel flaming-pitch tower to choose a character without attachments. Until the end of the phase, that character gets -4 STR and is killed if its STR is 0. (Limit 1 Limited Response per round.)

So (assuming the challenge and attachment criteria are met and barring other STR modifiers) what happens if you choose a character with, say STR 3? Doesn't that make the STR -1 and therefore not meet the "killed if its STR is 0" criterion? Or, as the subject says, am I being too literal with the text on the card? Is "killed if its strength is 0 or less " just assumed?

And, while we're at it, how about "Thundering Calvary" (QoD), since the card referred to in the text, Thundering Cavalry (note spelling), does not exist?

Thanks for putting up with noob questions!

A character's STR cannot be reduced below zero. In your scenario, it reaches zero and dies.

Typos are a seemingly regular occurance. Some may read it to the letter as you describe, but I bet a TO would rule that the card works and the text applies as you would expect (without the typo!).

If you haven't already, check out the FAQ as I'm sure the negative STR issue is mentioned in there.

"… If a character's STR is ever lower than 0 after all effects are applied, its STR is rounded up to 0."

Posted at

ziggy2000 said:

New player here, lurking on rules forum to try to soak up as much knowledge as possible even if I have no idea what is being talked about sometimes. I recently acquired a number of cards and in pondering over them, I came up with a question on an older one from ACoA: Flaming Pitch Tower.

Limited Response: After you win a challenge by 4 or more total STR, kneel flaming-pitch tower to choose a character without attachments. Until the end of the phase, that character gets -4 STR and is killed if its STR is 0. (Limit 1 Limited Response per round.)

So (assuming the challenge and attachment criteria are met and barring other STR modifiers) what happens if you choose a character with, say STR 3? Doesn't that make the STR -1 and therefore not meet the "killed if its STR is 0" criterion? Or, as the subject says, am I being too literal with the text on the card? Is "killed if its strength is 0 or less " just assumed?

And, while we're at it, how about "Thundering Calvary" (QoD), since the card referred to in the text, Thundering Cavalry (note spelling), does not exist?

Thanks for putting up with noob questions!

The quick answer to your question is "yes, you are being too literal." :)

A more involved answer touches on the same issues that Slothgodfather mentioned; A character's STR is never considered lower than 0 (note however that this is after all effects are applied. No saying 3 - 4 = 0, +1 is 1. Rather, it would be 3 - 4 + 1 = 0)

As for the typo, yeah just assume that obvious spelling mistakes refer to what their supposed to.

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Thanks for the answers, that's what I figured they would be. I actually looked through the FAQ and didn't find anything on the STR rule… because it's right there in the coreset rules… duh to me…

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ziggy2000 said:

I actually looked through the FAQ and didn't find anything on the STR rule… because it's right there in the coreset rules…
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ktom said:

No "duh" there, really. You'd be surprised how often this happens. Everyone assumes they know the core rules, so they forget to check there when they have questions.

And not just newbies either. Experienced players too. Heck, maybe *especially* experienced players.

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~The Core Set had a rulebook inside?

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~This game has rules?

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I admit that sometimes I forget that the rulebook exists myself and have asked questions that are answered directly within it. I was a victim of relying too heavily on the FAQ as the entire rule book.

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Bomb said:

I admit that sometimes I forget that the rulebook exists myself and have asked questions that are answered directly within it. I was a victim of relying too heavily on the FAQ as the entire rule book.

I think that has happened to all of us. Embarassing when it does, though, isn't it?

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Ratatoskr said:

Bomb said:

I admit that sometimes I forget that the rulebook exists myself and have asked questions that are answered directly within it. I was a victim of relying too heavily on the FAQ as the entire rule book.

I think that has happened to all of us. Embarassing when it does, though, isn't it?

Ohh, yeah. Been there, done that, got the platemail.