I have performed a few searches and came up empty, so figured I would ask here. Do you have to declare Deadly, and how much/who has it, when you attack? I could swear I read somewhere that you did.

I would think yes, mostly as a courtesy, since your opponent shouldn't be required to read tiny text, upside down and backwards…

You do not have to. Most players will do so, as a courtesy, but this is not required. And if you have trouble seeing the cards, just ask before you declare defenders: "Any deadly?" Your opponent is obligated to tell you at that point.

I generally will tell my opponent if a character has deadly the first time i use it in a challenge thats relevant. After that if he forgets then tough.

I declare it if I want the unopposed challenge more than I want to kill a character. Otherwise, it's on them to ask. But when asked, I answer honestly. There was a guy my buddy was playing at DOIAF2012 who just said "military" and then knelt his characters. When asked "how much STR," he just said "the cards are on the table." His board was a total mess which made answering that question nearly impossible, particularly with Greyjoy's penchant for STR manipulation shenanigans. Yeah, frak that guy.

Grimwalker said:

That might be worth calling a judge over - that's bordering on unsportsmanlike play, in my view. I definitely don't think a player should be required to disclose which actions he/she might have available (e.g., "I have 8 strength, and can raise it to 14 with these locations" is more information than I would give), but if a player asks a question about the current game state, I think it's unsportsmanlike not to answer.

If the players board was a mess, it may have been deliberately a mess, which furthers my suspicion that play was unsportsmanlike.

clique84 said:

Deadly doesn't function like stealth, it doesn't have targets. Think of it more like having the other keywords like Renown, Immune to Events, Intimidate, etc. When you make a challenge, do you also declare each keyword your characters have? Not typically. You absolutely have the choice to declare all of them, but it's not "declaring" in the game-mechanic… it's just stating what you are using. Stealth is declared as part of the game mechanic, so the only option to not declare stealth is to not stealth any of the opponent's characters. However, the other keywords will simply come into effect at the appropriate time. When you win the challenge, you claim renown. Did you feel complelled to tell your opponent you were attacking with 5 guys with renown? Probably not. But you do mention it when it comes time to claiming that power. Deadly should be thought of like that as well.

Like others mentioned, I normally mention I have deadly when I want to put the opponent more on the defensive and let the challenge go UO. But I don't always. Most of the players in our meta are just in the habit of asking their attacker if there is any deadly currently in the challenge, just to be safe.

Any discussion around the expectation of declaring keywords and the like is subjective and probably better asked on the GD forum. The objective answer of, "you aren't required to declare it" is definitely correct.

I just stumbled across this while searching for something else, but I gotta say: I've just started playing and have only played thus far with a friend, but WOW is this different than the manner in which we play/would ever think about playing. We remind each other of every effect on the table and point things out if we think the other is failing to see something that's "there to be seen".

I totally fail to see any value/fun in winning a game (of any type, really) because somebody forgot/did not see some plainly available piece of information. "I won because she forgot all my knights were +1 STR this turn" or, indeed "I won because he forgot my dude was deadly". That's, like, pretty much the exact opposite of satisfying/fun to me.

Don't let the tone of the thread fool you. The vast majority of players do not act like tools. If you kneel your best character to defend, they usually say "you did see he's Deadly, right?"

If they say "I attack with these three" and you ask "what's the STR?," they'll usually say something along the lines of "currently 8" which would include all passives, but not potential pumping effects that have yet to be triggered. (That said, always check their math; people make mistakes.)

Most people are good sports about these things and tend to play the game together rather than trying to use distraction, slight-of-hand, or misdirection to win. Of course, these is always SOME guy who....

I believe in being truthful about revealed information when asked a question because this game can certainly be difficult to keep track of multiple constant and lasting effects that have triggered or have been given to cards in play. It's also very easy to forget the effects of a revealed plot and attachments to house cards.

There is no reason to be a bad sport and deny a player this kind of information if they are your cards. I've had The Long Winter attached to my opponents house card completely forgetting that The Long Winter hits all characters with that attached house cards affiliation. I totally didn't realize that was how the effect worked and because his house card matched 75% of my characters, I was basically hit with the burn on the attachment as well. It's an example where it's easy to overlook some of the STR math and sometimes a confirmation from an opponent just makes the game more enjoyable and easier to play.

Lying about revealed information (including number of cards in hand and in shadows) is cheating. However, I agree that being open about it (reminding the other players of effects even when they don't ask) makes for a more relaxed and friendly game. In a tournament game, I won't always be open, but you can depend on me to be truthful about what I have on the table.