1. I play Poltergeist so I can move Talia away from a monster; this way if she uses her guard action she can't move within range of him. Does Talia get to use her guard action and move before I move her with Poltergeist?

2. If a monster with knockback deals a killing blow to a hero with Divine Retribution, can it use the knockback to move the hero out of range of monsters before the Divine Retribution takes place?

Thanks.

McRae said:

1) Tahlia can use her Guard order at any point during the OL's turn, but I'm not sure if she can do it in the middle of the OL resolving a card. Based on the rules for Gaurd in JitD, I don't see a reason why Tahlia couldn't do this but I could be wrong.

2) I think there was a debate about this a while back actually. It basically hinges on the timing of damage vs wounds and the description of Knockback. IMO, the RAW supports that the OL can use Knockback to move the DR Hero 3 spaces away before DR is triggered by the killing of the Hero from the attack. The reason for this is:

A) The description of Knockback in the JitD rulebook says: "After inflicting at least 1 damage (before applying the effects of armor) to a figure with a Knockback attack, the attacker may immediately move each affected target figure up to three spaces away from its current location." That's damage not wounds.

AND

B) The trigger for DR is when a Hero dies as a result of a killing blow, which means the Hero's last wound counter is removed. Heroes take wounds after applying the effects of armor .

So put those together, and to me at least its pretty clear that things happen in this order:

1) The Hero is hit with a Knockback attack that deals at least 1 damage (ie it doesn't miss)

2) The Hero is moved up to 3 spaces

3) The Hero takes the number of Wounds equal to the Damage of the attack minus the Hero's Armor Rating (factor in things like shields, etc here)

4) The Hero loses their last Wound token, and dies.

5) Divine Retribution is triggered.

EDIT: Found the original debate

Thanks for the clarification. Basically for the Talia thing, I ruled that my friend could move Talia if he wanted after I declared I was playing the card, but once I started actually moving the figures around the board, he couldn't move her until I was completely finished with all the Poltergeist movements.

I believe Tahlia can interrupt at any time, however, you get to rewind your action after that. It's debatable as to what exactly would be the rollback point IMO (could you undo playing the card? Or just the last poltergeist movement?)...

FAQ page 5:

"Guard orders can interrupt the overlord at any time. However, each action should be resolved in its entirety once it’s been begun. (For example, although you can interrupt the overlord if he declares an attack, if you choose not to the attack is resolved in its entirety before you have another chance to use your Guard order. You can’t wait to see if the attack missed or not before deciding to Guard.)

So, for Dark Charm, once the overlord has played the card you must immediately decide whether to interrupt it with a Guard order. If you choose not to, the overlord proceeds to roll dice and you must wait for the card (and its attack, if any) to be completely resolved."

Not directly about the Poltergeist card, but I think this definitely supports McRae's ruling.