I was playing a game of Journey Down the Anduin, and Aragorn was defending against the Hill Troll with a copy of Blood of Numenor on him and a Steward of Gondor. The Hill Troll got a shadow effect that said that it got +2 attack. Aragorn had three damage already, and when he had triggered Blood of Numenor he had four resources left in his resource pool, giving him 6 defense against 8 attack. So, he would have died. But, I had a a copy of For Gondor! in my hand. Could I spend two out of the four resources to play For Gondor!, therefore giving Aragorn +1 defense, which is all he needs to survive? Or, does he lose 2 defense by spending two resources because of Blood of Numenor?

I guess my question is this: Does Blood of Numenor's effect happen immediately, counting all the resources that the hero has in his resource pool immediately and providing the extra defense based on that number, or can its effect be changed if you spend some of the resources that were there when the ability was triggered?

Thanks

I don't have an answer for you, but I wanted to add to the question. This also applies to something like Support of the Eagles. You can use Supprt of the Eagles to add an Eagle ally's atk or def to the attached hero. What happens if that ally is killed during combat, discarded via a shadow effect, etc.? This seems like the same kind of question. When a stat bonus is applied, is the effect dynamic (updating as the game field changes), or static (applied in full at the time of triggering, then unchanging regardless of following effects)?

He dies. Step 4 of the combat phase! In step 4 Aragorn would have only +3 defense.

He had 5 resources before the effect was triggered, leaving 4 in his resource pool, therefore giving him +4 defense. All he needs is +1 defense to survive. Maybe I didn't word that clearly. All the steps of combat have action windows in between and during, so I could play For Gondor!, which would give Aragorn the +1 defense needed, before step 4, where he would normally die.

So, no, Aragorn would not die, unless Blood of Numenor is a dynamic effect, where it changes as the game changes, which now goes back to my original question.

I am inclined to say that these effects are indeed dynamic, but I'll admit the wording on the cards does not support one interpretation or the other beyond the shadow of a doubt.

So Blood of Numenor would only grant you the number of resources currently available whenver you are called to do a calculation , not at the time that you originally triggered the effect. And for my own question about Support of the Eagles: the bonus would simply disappear if the chosen ally is discarded for any reason.

I guessed as much, but I didn't want to think so. I'm still not sure though… Maybe I could send something in to Caleb Grace? Do you think it's worth it?

Official response:

Blood of Numenor is a triggered effect that lasts until the end of the phase. The additional defense it provides is based on the number of resources in the attached hero's resource pool at the time it is triggered. So, if Aragorn had 5 resources in his pool when you triggered Blood of Numenor, he would get +4 defense until the end of the phase. If you paid 2 more resources from his pool to play For Gondor! after that, he would still have +4 defense from Blood of Numenor.
Cheers,
Caleb

Wow, yeah, I am just wrong almost all the time I wonder if that's true for Support of the Eagles in the scenario described above, then?

I'm guessing so, seeing as how it's worded pretty much the same way.

I was just asking Caleb about Lay of Nimrodel, and now he's saying that Blood of Numenor/Gondorian Fire/Lay of Nimrodel all are phase long effects that work similar to passive effects and get recalculated as needed. I'm going to show him the prior ruling, I'll post what I learn!

Ignore the part where Caleb yells at me, but here it is guys. New ruling for all of these cards.

When I asked if you had any prior rulings that you were referencing, this is what I was asking for. My current ruling does indeed contradict this previous one, but my current ruling is the correct one. We long ago established that encounter card effects that last until “the end of the phase” or “end of the round” must be recalculated when the board state changes, so it follows that it must be true for player card effects as well.

Just posting this here so that people don't have to search an unrelated topic for the ruling since the other topic got a bit derailed (thanks to me )

What?!?!

Times change fast this time of the years...