Q: Can an investigator who entered the Other World during the Movement Phase because of the Nightgaunt’s combat ability immediately cast Find Gate and return to Arkham, experiencing no Other World encounters?

A: Yes.

The Professor said:

SIGH.

Q: Why wouldn’t an investigator take out a Bank Loan, give all of his items and money to other investigators, and then default deliberately on the loan?

A: Although an investigator can gain a Bank Loan and give all of his money and items to another investigator, he cannot deliberately default on the loan. When a player is rolling for his Bank Loan during the Upkeep Phase, if he rolls a 4–6, he does not have the option to lose the Bank Loan. An investigator may not wish be without any money or items for an uncertain amount of time.

This makes sense, and it reduces the exploitability of the Bank Loan.

Julia,

I'm sorry, my dear…but, you can see that I'm not impressed with their Monster Surges vs. Kate's Ability interpretation, so let me know what you think of how I'll play it (not surprisingly, of course, how quite a few folks will play it).

Cheers,

Joe

eiterorm said:

O_o… I always played it like that, and it's still super exploitable ;'D

The only thing that makes it somewhat less potent is that trading is now movement phase only (still, it's very exploitable if you're willing to sacrifice a turn or two of your game for 40-50 dollars, which usually comes back to you anyway, in the form of an elder sign and other time saving items).

The Professor said:

The Professor said:

P.S. Happy birthday, Prof :')

Julia said:

Well, you may notice a slight change to the A.H.F.C.L. rules page ;')

Avi_dreader said:

I said it reduces the exploitability, not that it removes the exploitability. ;-] I've always played with the rule that trading can only happen during the movement phase. I can't see why it would make much of a difference for the Bank Loan exploitation, though.

And spending the first few turns rushing for the bank, taking out a Bank Loan and dumping all your possessions on another investigator sounds rather boring to me. I won't play like that even if it provides my team with 40 dollars.

Thanks, Avi (I'm writing it here instead of the other thread dealing with Monster Surges and Kate). as to the Nightgaunt…I completely agree with both you and Julia. Nightgaunts will now stay for me (they hadn't in the past), but once you're thrown into a gate, your turn is over. There's NO WAY someone is getting a free pass in the Other World. Ever!

Oh, and it's not my birthday (which was back in October), but thanks for the well-wishes. I am, however, "pinning-on" Lieutenant Colonel at the end of the week, as I'm a reservist in the Air Force.

Avi_dreader said:

Arcane Insight?

The Professor said:

Sure! As soon as I realize the subject of your asking ::laughter:: must be in another thread, gonna search for it right now

Avi_dreader said:

Absolutely. Now as soon as you have a Nightgaunt in play, not only you can use it as a teleporter for the nearest gate (saving Sanity by simply failing the Evade check) but you can also use it to avoid ANY encounter in the OW ::disgusted::

Plus, I still don't understand how is possible to cast a Movement phase spell after your movement is over

Avi_dreader said:

Football Club - Liverpool?

At least, I've seen all your names acknowledged :-)

The Professor said:

Thanks for supporting :-)

eiterorm said:

My house rule to prevent the bank loan exploit (and make bank loans more evil in general) is that if you cannot lose at least $10 worth of items when you default, you lose any further items/money you gain on subsequent turns until you have lost at least $10 worth. I keep track of it by putting the bank loan in the "exhausted" position beside the character with the items which have been lost underneath it.

Also, is it just me or does this not make any sense:

Q: When you are losing Stamina or Sanity to gain power, using the Upkeep function of a Blood or Soul pact, is it a cost or a loss?
A: It is a loss.

You are burning stamina / sanity to buy power tokens. I don't see why Michael / Harvey should be able to do it for free, or why getting drunk should help (the Lurker likes a nice bottle of whiskey, maybe?)

Perhaps it should have been a cost, but it's OK as a loss. Harvey and Michael are only getting one free token per use, and since you're not allowed to gain Power Tokens in final combat, they can't use them to permanently reduce sanity or stamina loss and survive indefinitely against certain AOs.

The only issue I see is that if you have some item that says, "prevent all sanity or stamina loss," then you can set the loss amount arbitrarily high. If it was a cost, you'd be limited by your current amount of sanity/stamina, even if you could prevent it all.

Tibs said:

I didn't even consider that- so Obsidian Statue = unlimited power.

Hah, and here I was just citing this as an example of an unproblematic ruling. I guess it would be easier if it was a cost, but I think the "can't choose to pay more than you have in order to gain a benefit" rule can be generalizable to losses too (see, for example, FAQ p. 14). Otherwise you wouldn't even need the statue; you can just say "I lose 10000 stamina and am knocked unconscious. …Do power tokens come in larger denominations than this?"

I'd rather not generalize it to losses. That way you could make the case that a character with 3 sanity is unaffected by something that forces him to lose 4 sanity.

Rather, we should just simply apply the limitation specifically to this case.

Tibs said:

Or, you know, just play that it is a cost- given that that solves the issues with it and actually makes sense thematically…

Tibs said:

Not necessarily; if a full effect is impossible, it can still have the largest possible partial effect. The only thing it would preclude is choosing an impossible effect as a "cost-like" prerequisite. Unfortunately, looking over the wiki, I notice that even this does seem to be in slight tension with such encounters as "A man is being thrown violently by an unseen force. If you help, lose 3 Stamina as you suffer the same fate. Even if you are knocked unconscious, the man, David Packard, remembers your bravery." So, never mind, I think.

(Still not seeing the thematic issue, though. Spending items, trophies, or sanity is a cost because the transaction or spell won't be completed without the investment of items or mental force. Blood and soul pacts are underspecified, though--is the Lurker really paying you for each pint of blood that hits the altar, or, like David Packard, is he just rewarding you for your loyalty and service, as measured by how hard you're willing to stab yourself? It doesn't seem to me that there's a decisive thematic interpretation one way or another.)

hi gain all

had a truly horrific year last year but dragged my blasted soul back here this morning to find you all…and the fabled FAQ. Was a long time coming on from the initial idea and effort made in the old forums for which i and others scoured compiling the initial lists. I can remember suggesting the compilation thread back there, when we were being overloaded with unanswered and unanswerable questions. Not seen the long developed fruits yet, came by here first to join the party. Good to be back with friends