Yesterday we had our first race through the Dragon Tower, with two Characters heading for the top at the same time (never happened before). I won because the leading Character was defeated on a Stairs space once and I used a Spell that allowed me to overtake him and get first to the Crown.

Q: When do you cast the Temporal Vortex (or Temporal Warp) Spell in the Dragon Tower?

The problem I see is the timing: Cast at the start of your turn, before you move. In the Dragon Tower you move at the end of the turn.

The same question could be asked for all movement related Spells, which are:

1) Cast at the start of your turn, before you move

Acquisition (BG)
Alchemy (BG)
Divination (BG)
Hex (BG)
Magic Portal (Du)
Mesmerism (BG)
Temporal Vortex (Du)
Temporal Warp (BG)
Water Walking (Re)
2) Cast at the start of any character’s turn, before he moves

Immobility (BG)
3) Cast instead of rolling the die for your move

Teleport (BG)
4) Cast instead of your normal move

Transference (Re)
5) Cast after you have rolled a die for your move

Speed (Re)
6) Cast after a character rolled a die for movement but before he moves

Black Ice (Fr)
Eyes of the Hawk (Hi)
7) Cast when you’ve just completed your move.

Barrier (Re)
Destruction (BG)
Displacement (Re)
Obliterate (Fr)

It's easy to rule out categories 3,5,6, because no die is rolled for movement. Category 4 (Transference) can be played at the end of the turn, when movement happens. Category 7 has Spells that could not be played (Barrier) or won't ever find a target in Inner Region (no faceup cards).

What about categories 1,2? Do you cast these Spells at the start of the turn, regardless of the "before you move" specification ? I think it's the only way to handle it. I only see a small issue with Magic Portal: if played at the start of the turn, will it allow movement immediately or only after encountering Dragon cards?

If the casting condition is not met, then I don't think you can cast the spell. Maybe you just can't cast these spells in the Tower.

zealot12 said:

That it's the only thing I'm afraid of, having won a game when I didn't deserve it.

I would like to receive some other opinion, but perhaps I should ask FFG Rules support.

The problem I see is the timing: Cast at the start of your turn, before you move. In the Dragon Tower you move at the end of the turn.

I dont see the problem. You cast the spell at the sart of your turn which is still before moving. You just draw cards first in the tower.

Bolithio said:

This was my conclusion too. The Spells in that category have that old school "before you move" specification, which has no purpose in this edition.

House Rule which fixes various issues including Spells!

Ascending the Dragon Tower

The die is not rolled for movement in the Dragon Tower. Instead, a character moves one space forward in the direction indicated by the arrow on the space. A character draws the number of cards from the Dragon King’s deck instructed by his space and encounters them. Note that a character draws a Dragon Card when he first enters the Dragon Tower.

Encountering Dragon Cards in the Dragon Tower follows all of the normal rules (cards must be resolved in order of their encounter number, Enemies with the same encounter number add their Strength and Craft together, etc.), except creatures cannot be affected by any Spell, nor may they be evaded. Characters may use dragon scales as normal. If a character is defeated or is instructed to miss his turn, he may not encounter any of the remaining cards on the space.

After a character has finished resolving the Dragon Cards he encounters, his turn immediately ends. On his next turn, he moves one space forward towards the Crown of Command, plus one additional space for each Enemy he killed during his previous turn. If a character is defeated on a stairway, he must move one space back towards the Plain of Peril.

Important: After a character ends his turn, all cards and tokens in the Dragon Tower are discarded.

When a character reaches the Crown of Command, he must confront the Dragon King (see “Confronting the Dragon King” on page 14).

Regards,

Ell.