From the Redhorn Gate:
Freezing Cold (Treachery):
When Revealed: The first player attaches this card to a hero he controls. Counts as a Condition Attachment with the text: "Attached hero gets -2 and cannot commit to a quest. If attached hero has more than 1 copy of Freezing Cold attached, discard attached hero from play."
On stage 3B of this quest, you must discard characters if they ever have a willpower of 0. My question is about the order in which stat modifiers are calculated and whether effects are able to reduce a stat below 0 . This has ramifications for whether or not a hero will be discarded on this particular quest.
Let's say, for example, Dain (1 WP) has Freezing Cold (-2 WP). But he also has Dunedain Quest (+1 WP). Here are possible ways to calculate:
a) calculate negative effects first. 1 WP - 2 WP = -1, + 1 WP = 0. Discard.
b) Calculate negative effects first, but no effect may reduce a stat below 0. 1 WP - 2 WP = 0 (can't fall below 0). + 1 WP = 1. Safe.
c) Calculate positive effects first. 1 WP + 1 = 2 WP, -2 = 0. Discard.
(a) and © have the same effect, suggesting that it doesn't matter which way you calculate. I assume that (b) is incorrect, and that stats can indeed fall below 0. But in gameplay, would negative stats be effectively treated as 0? In the case of Freezing Cold, the hero can't commit to the quest anyway, so it doesn't matter. But if he had -1 willpower and COULD commit to the quest, do game mechanics actually allow him to subtract from the questing power of the party? In that vein, what happens if a 1-threat location like Warg Lair has multiple copies of Power in the Earth on it? Can we reduce its threat to -1 or -2? And if so, does that essentially work as positive questing power for the heroes?
Thanks for replies!