We've recently purchased the base game after watching some helpful tutorials on youtube and then reading the manual, but during play some of the cards gave us trouble. Appreciate clarifications.

Spell : Shivering (Cast and Exhaust to gain +6 to Combat Checks until the end of this combat )

What do they mean by end of this combat exactly? I'm assuming the bonus doesn't just land for one round of combat if monster doesn't die outright, but if I end my turn on location with 2 monsters, does the combat end after I kill the first one, or both of them?

Also, what is the difference between COMBAT CHECKS and FIGHT CHECKS? When does the latter happen?

Spell : Flesh Ward (Cast and Exhaust to ignore all Stamina loss being dealt to you from one source )

Does this last just one round of combat from individual monster or until I kill it/evade and end the combat?

Spell : Bind Monster (You must roll successes equal to monster's toughness)

Do they mean exactly equal or at least ?

Spell : Red Sign of Shudde M'ell (Cast & Exhaust to lower monster toughness by 1. … until end of turn.)

Does this effect disappear if next combat round I replace this spell with different weapon/spell, or do I have to "hold" this spell during the entire combat?

Spell : Find Gate (Immediately return to Arkham from Other Worlds.

I'm assuming the investigator does get the explored token when this spell is used?

Common Item : Dynamite (+8 to combat check)

Does dynamite work till end of combat or just for 1 round of combat? I'm guessing just round but making sure

and lastly

Unique Item: Holy Water (+6 to combat checks, magical weapon)

Is this also applied only to one round of combat?

Thank you, any help appreciated, love the game just want to make sure we understand all the rules.

Provided that you passed the Shrivelling spell check (or the spell check of any other handed combat bonus spell), you can use the spell for as many rounds as you need, in combat against the same monster , until the combat ends or you volunteer to un-equip the spell. You can't use the spell against multiple monsters, and in each round of final combat the spell must be re-cast.

When you get hit, once, with a stamina loss, Flesh Ward will prevent that loss. Further hits from the same originating source will not be stopped.

All Combat checks are Fight checks. Anytime an encounter says to make a fight check, you do not use things that give you combat bonuses (ie weapons). This includes the check to close a gate. The only time a Fight check becomes a combat check is against a monter, or when attacking the Ancient One (but when Ithaqua attacks you in final combat, you make a normal fight check). There are three encounters in the base game that require combat checks, so they're exceptions too. All of the above applies to Sneak vs Evade checks, Will vs Horror checks, and Lore vs Spell checks. Monsters utilize three of these specialty checks; spells utilize the fourth.

Bind Monster is meant to substitute a Spell Check for a normal Combat Check. So it works if you roll more than enough successes. Thematically, the spell shouldn't be less likely to kill a 1-toughness monster. Come to think of it, I can't recall anything that fails when you get more successes than some nominal amount.

Red Sign is a handed spell, so it quits working if you release it. If you were using it to dodge a nasty Nightmarish effect, then it won't matter if you release it after making the horror check.

Yes, Find Gate is designed to cut your OW explore time. You get an explored token.

You throw Dynamite, it explodes once , and deals +8 damage. Either this kills the monster or it doesn't. If it doesn't, you'd better have a backup plan and some spare stamina…

Same with Holy Water. One round only.

Hi there!

With order:

a) please refer to this thread here , reply n.1, "Duration of Combat check bonuses" and "How long do Combat bonuses last" for the answer on Shrivelling

b) combat checks are a subset of fight checks. Sometimes you're asked to pass a combat check (for example, when you fight a monster). In this case your combat value is equal to: your actual Fight + bonus to Fight that can be given by certain skills + combat bonus of the weapons you're using. Sometimes you're asked to check your Fight (for example, whenever you try to close a gate): in this case you use your actual Fight + Fight bonuses given by skills

c) Flesh ward: it's usable against one source . So, if a monster damages you, then you can use Flesh ward to ignore the Stamina loss. If during the next round of combat you're still damaged by the same monster, then you may not use the same Flesh Ward again (but you can cast it again in case you have a second copy of the spell)

d) Bind monster: the number of successes needed is equal to, or greater than, the monster's toughness. When it's said "equals to", it's usually referred to the minimum successes you have to roll to pass. If you roll some more, good for you, but no probs

e) Red Sign of Shudde M'ell: the spell has a little hand icon in the lower left corner. This means that if you want to have the bonus granted by the spell, you still have to devote one hand to it

f) Find gate: whenever on a card it's written "return to Arkham", you receive an explorer marker

g) Dynamite & Holy water: check the thread spotted out in a)

Hope this helps!

Interesting to notice, there was no Tibs answer when I answered. Spooky,

Thank you both, especially for that awesome link. Off to play

Oops. We've been exhausting spells per combat check. In other words, switching to a new spell (or something else) if that combat check doesn't take care of the monster.

We've yet to have a game where we weren't correcting something from last time, and every game we've had our noses in the rules or flowcharts. We're still having fun, but geez.

Thank you to the Elder Gawds who continually post answers to pretty frequent questions, sometimes with preternatural speed.

CrusherJoe said:

::laughter:: according to the forum's clock, both Tibs and I posted our answer before the question had been posted. Fascinating :-)

And yeah, there are many things to consider and remember. But you'll get accustomed to them very soon :-)

Happy gaming!