hi

i was wondering... when you fail a combat check against a nightgaunt and you are carried through the nearest gate, what happens to the nightgaunt?

does it

1. stay in its original street area

2 stop on the gate that you got taken through

3 go through the gate with you and then into the cup?

the rules are skimpy on this and the FAQ skirts round the issue

please help

thanks

The Nightgaunt stays right where it is. Just put the investigator into the OW connected to the nearest gate. If there is a tie for nearest, you get to choose.

Also, note that you are not delayed in this manner when you enter the Other World.

Another thing to look out for: if you fail a combat check against a Nightgaunt while in an Other World, it will send you back to Arkham as though you had moved out of the gate from the 2nd OW space. I've been lucky enough to use this to my advantage a couple times.

On a related note:

What happens when you are in Arkham and you fail a Combat Check against a Nightgaunt and there is no open gate?

This happened yesterday and we could not agree.

One suggestion was that instead the Nightgaunt drops you into Lost In Time And Space. The other suggestion is that since there is no open gate, you get a free kill. Take the Nightgaunt as a trophy.

What do you guys think?

Gamemaster said:

Lost in Time and Space . Whenever you are in the OW and cannot return to Arkham because there are no open gates, then off to LiTaS you go.

As an aside, Nightgaunt's special ability is only triggered when you LOSE the combat. So why would claiming it as a kill and gaining the trophy be a legit option? The ability is a "punishment" (though it can be benfecial often enough) so be punished for losing the battle and go to LiTaS. Otherwise, make sure you pass the combat check.

ColtsFan76 said:

I don't think you read his question carefully— he asked what happens if you're in Arkham and there's no open gate (an unusual situation to be sure). I would think you'd get a free kill as there is no open gate (although FFG might want to errata this). LITIS is not an open gate :')

Personally I don't think it would be a bad idea if you were delayed after entering the OW. We abused a nightgaunt mercilessly a few weeks ago, using it as a catapult to all the gates. It basically gives you a huge movement advantage if that's where you're headed anyway. It was funny at the time, but in retrospect I wouldn't want that to happen in the future. It was pretty cheesy.

On the other hand, nightgaunts are supposed to be somewhat helpful in the mythos, so I guess it makes sense that the ability can be a benefit. The mechanics are just weird.

Is there anything stopping you from just attempting to evade a nightgaunt, failing, and getting dumped into a portal before you even get to the Horror check

-Frank

Avi_dreader said:

No, I read the question carefully - twice, even - I just apparently had a disconnect in my brain. I swear both times I read he was in the OW .

If you are in Arkham , and fail the combat, the damage is "dealt" and since there is no place to go, you enter another round of combat. You would continue to battle until you won since the NG can not destroy you. Or you would have to attempt to flee.

Now, if you cannot beat the NG because you roll zero or one die and have no clues (basically can't produce two simultaneous hits) AND you can't muster enough dice to flee, then you are in a stalemate. There is no official answer what to do in those cases. My recommendation is take a "win" and a "loss" together: in other words, grab the trophy but end up unconscious as well. OR end the combat and you both stay in place. But, again, that is not official. I know we have asked this question before but I don't recall an answer.

Frank said:

You may do this. However, just realize whether you are attemtping to fail the evade or the combat, you must still roll teh dice. You cannot automaticaly fail be deciding not to toss the dice.

i would probably rule that if a stalemate is reached where you can't pass an evade check or a combat check against the night gaunt and there are no open gates then the investigator is simply 'delayed'. turn the counter on its side. leave the night gaunt there and see what happens next turn, which could be one of these:

1. a gate opens in the mythos phase. there by lifting the stalemate for the next turn

2. the investigator changes his skill sliders to help break the stalemate by suceeding at an evade check or a combat check.

optional house ruling if you like the ideas

1. (optional house rule) if the Nightgaunts symbol comes up on the movement portion of the next mythos card drawn then allow it to move to the sky or the next nearest investigator in a street area.(breaking the rule that would prohibit it from leaving a street containing an investigator)

2.(optional house rule) allow the investigator to move to any street area on his next move phase. (like a summoned shantak.)

For the Nightgaunt fight vs flee scenario: It seems a bit cheesy to automatically fail an evade check because your Speed is 0 and get flung through without a Horror check, whereas engaging in combat and failing the Combat Check to get flung through would require you to make a Horror check. But a literal reading of the rules would seem to support this. I suppose the first option is a bit like standing there with your eyes closed and banging a trash can lid loudly saying "I sure hope there aren't any monsters here who might attack me!," opening your eyes after feeling a wrenching sensation, and discovering you're alone in the Other World....

I still agree with your original ruling...even though you misread it...he would send you to LiTaS...reasioning for this ?!...in my little world the NG takes you to another world if you lose, it doesn't have to be one of the explorable but another unknown one (thus the reason you go LiTaS...you got no clue where you are...)

According to the "Answers from Kevin" thread:

4. If an investigator fails a combat check against a Nightgaunt while in Arkham and no gates are open, what happens? What about while in an Other World and no gates are open? (Note that this can occur if all gates have been closed but the investigators do not collectively have enough gate trophies to win.)

The combat immediately ends with no effect.

http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=5&efcid=1&efidt=895

I'm not currently looking at the monster piece, but I believe that Nightgaunts say that they throw investigators through gates only if the investigator fails a Combat check against the Nightgaunt. Not an Evade check. So, at a literal reading of the rules, if you attempt to evade a Nightgaunt, then fail, you must then attempt a Horror check. Only then may you attempt to fail the combat check to get thrown into the gate - which should be easy, if your will is high. Essentially, you have to make the sanity check in any circumstance.

Unless this has been clarified or errata'd elsewhere, that Nightgaunts do in fact throw you in on a failed Evade check. In which case, continue.

flamethrower49 said:

This reasoning would be highly problematic with the Dunwich Horror, whose cards have text that state "if you fail a Combat Check..." which means there is basically NO penalty at all to failing an Evade check. Both Dunny and the Nightgaunt do "special damage" which makes it hard to interpret the rulebook when it states that the monster automatically deals its combat damage to the Investigator when the Evade check is failed. If you interpret this special damageto be dealt only in the case of a failed Combat Check, then there's no penalty at all to failing an Evade check.