If Player A has a character in play that has an attachment on it, and Player B plays a card that allows him to take control of the character, does Player B also gain control of the attachment?

We could not find where card control was explicitly addressed in the rulebook (other than generically). This caused a debate recently when Player B took control of Player A's card + attachment and the attachment had an effect that sent it and the character to a domain as resources upon destruction rather than to the discard pile. Player B killed the creature and then Player A claimed that the two cards actually went to his domain because he actually still controlled the Attachment despite the fact that Player B controlled the character it was attached to.

Any insight on this is greatly appreciated. Also, is there a comprehensive rules doc somewhere that we can use to answer detailed questions like this?

this has always been my understanding of this. the more experienced players here will correct me if im wrong.

the attachment is still attached to the character but the control of it never changes. so the player that played the attachment is the one that decides if or when to use any attachment trigger effects.

say you take control of a character with shotgun attached, you wouldnt get to use the shotgun, but if you commited the character the other player still could.

but like with alhazred lamp, youd still get the icons even though you dont have control of the attachment, cause its still attached to your character. and that is constant once attached.

does that make sense??(if im even right to begin with)

It does make sense logistically, but, in the case of the Shotgun, it doesn't make much sense logically! The Character is carrying a shotgun that not only can he not use, but has a life of its own and can actually fire itself - even at the carrier! Of course, since when did anything Lovecraftian need to make any sense,?

but i just remembered i think attachments text actually become part of the characters textbox......but i cant find that in the rules or the errata. so im not so sure now....

Hellenback said:

Hellenback said:

The character, realizing that he is under some kind of mind control effect decides to kill himself.

Actually, there are several possible interpretations of what should happen. There has been an old ruling that, if you gain control of an attachment you get to reattach it - on one of your own characters no less. Doesn't make any sense if you gain control of a curse card though. So, concider the exact details of that ruling to be up in the air.

Still, I don't think the opposite is true. So, treat it as if you gained control of the character, but the attachment sticks to it, and keeps being controlled by the opponent.

PearlJamaholic said:

That's only true if the attachment reads something like "Attached character gains [keywords/subtypes/triggered effects].

Marius said:

so would it be possible to attach shotgun to an opponents character? that could be fun...

PearlJamaholic said:

The shotgun situation would be covered by Marius's second post. Shotgun states "While attached character is committed to a story, it gains: ' Action : Pay 1 to choose and wound a character committed to this story.'". In this case, the attachment is giving the character an addtional ability, regardless of who controls it. The controller of the character gets to choose when it's activated.

In the case of the original question, the attachment was Eat the Dead, which provides nothing to the character and instead has its own response. That response is still controlled by the controller of the attachment, not the controller of the character it's attached to.

Marius said:

So if the attachment text becomes part of the character text box, if the character text box is blanked, what's happens ? A character with a shotgun has his text box blanked he can't use no more the shotgun ??

JimBobRedneck said:

For me, for the Attachment there is two case :

1) The text of the attachment is : "Attach to a character " (the character can be one you control or not). So if I take control of an opponent character with shotgun I gain control of the shotgun too.

2) The text of the attachment is : "Attach to a character you control " (the character can be only one you control). So if I take control of opponent character with Eat the Dead, I control the character and the first part of the attachment has no more eligible target (since your opponent controls no more his character), so the effect of the Eat the Dead is ignored or the card is discarded because you have an impossible situation (a card which must be attached to a character you control on a character you don't control, like if you control in thesame time a villainous or Héroïque characters, see Faq, p.1 about choosing a target and eligible targets and p.3 gaining control and Heroic and Villainous )

I don't say I'm right. It's just logical to play it like that.

the faq actually answers this.

"Any time an attachment has a requirement that is
not met, it is immediately discarded from play.
For example, if an attachment had the requirement
“Attach to Servitor only,” and if the card to
which it was attached loses the Servitor subtype,
the attachment would leave play."

Exact ! Thanks, so in my second case, The attachment is discarded

I've been playing since the beginning, and I and anyone I've ever played with have always ruled that if you gain control of an opponent's character you also gain control of anything attached to it as well. To go any other way doesn't make much sense. Isn't that how it works in any other ccg? Otherwise, if you gain control of a character that has an attachment that only grants Icons (like Tommygun), would the character lose said Icons? No, I don't believe it would. In light of this discussion, I believe an new FAQ is in order. (It's overdue anyway, like, did all AOs lose Loyal or just the reprinted ones?)

Archwraith666 said:

i think we got most things figured out with whats already in the faq.

tommygun says 'attached character gains:' but you would not gain control of the attachment. but the text affects the character its attached to. so if the opponent has something like sac a support card or something they could still pick tommygun even though its on a character you now control.

say you take control of a character with a mi-go braincase. when that character is destoried you dont get to search your deck for copies, since you dont own the attachment.

I looked up the card:

-- Agency --
Shotgun
-------
Type : Support
Cost : 1
Subtype : Attachment. Weapon.
Game Text: Attach to a character. While attached character is committed to a story, it gains "Action: Pay 1 to choose and wound a character committed to this story."
Flavor text:
Illustrator: John Goodenough
Collector's Info: CS F14

It says "Attach to a character" not "a character you control" so the shotgun will be fine, once the control changes.

Also, the wounding part becomes part of the textbox, so even though the controller of the shotgun remains the same, the controller of the character has control of the ability.

Archwraith666 said:

Just the reprinted ones. Loyal didn't make much sense in a "1x Core Set" kind of setup. Note that there are some reprinted cards that kept their Loyal though.

Just my 2 cents thoughts :

There is actually very few attachement that says "attach to one of your character" most of them are "attach to A character" nothing prevents you from giving a shotgun to one of your opponent characters.
So if someone take control of a character with an attachement that can be attached to any character, even if he doesn't gain control of the attachement, it has very few effect in game since almost all attachement give power to the character, not the controler and the attachement won't be discarded since no requirement aren't met.

If you don't take control of attachements (i think you'd take control of them since having cards attached is part of the status of a card, and a card status doesn't change when you take control of it, except for the commited part), eat the dead would be discarded if you take control of the character since the requirement "attach it to a character YOU CONTROL" is no longer met.

But anyway, ressources being "out of play", even if you took control of the attachments and so, could legitimately use it's effect, you would put the character and eat the dead in the "out of play" area of its OWNER, so you would give the other player 2 ressources, tho you would probably have to choose to which domains he'll attach them.


That's the way i see it : )

I still believe that we need a new FAQ entry on attachments as I'm sure we are all in agreement. I have a further question though... when a character with an attachment becomes exhausted, does the attachment exhaust with him or no? Understand that most people play that it does as usually this has no real game effect. But some cards exhaust support cards, and some attachment cards (attachments are support cards) must exhaust independant of it's character to work. So, when the character becomes exhausted, does the attached attachment become exhausted too, or no? I have ruled that it does not, but nowhere is this covered in any rules document that I could find.

Another question about Repo Man (agency, AAD F41) and Infernal Obsession (Hastur, AAD F51).

I play Hastur, my opponent Agency.

I play Infernal obsession and take control of Marshall Greene.
Then, it's the turn of my opponent, he plays Repo Man, commit it and gain the combat struggle. He applies its effect and take control of the Infernal Obsession and then, what ??
1) My opponent moves Infernal Obsession into his play area and attach it immediately to an elligible target (an hastur character for example) and gain control of it, and Marshall Greene returns under his control too (because Infernal Obsession is no more attached to him) ?
or
2) My opponent moves Infernal Obsession into his play area, before he can attach it Marshall Greene returns under his control (so the card change control again) and we must discard Infernal Obsession ("If control changes again, discard Infernal Obsession from play").

3) The faq says "If that card is an attachment, immediately attach it to an eligible card you control. (If you cannot, then you may not take control of the attachment.)". So it means my opponent could only attach Infernal Obsession to a character he controls ?

It's a question about timing : Infernal Obsession should be discarded if with Repo Man my opponent take control of it ?

Thanks

Repo Man
--------
Type : Character
Coût : 2
Skill : 2
Icones : C
Sous-type : Government.
Descriptif : If you win a C struggle at a story to which Repo Man is committed, instead of the normal struggle effects, take control of a support card controlled by the losing player.
Citation : "If you had paid, I wouldn't be here."
Illustrateur : Régis Moulun
Info Collectionneur : AAD F41

•Infernal Obsession
-------------------
Type : Support
Coût : 3
Sous-type : Madness. Attachment.
Descriptif : Attach to a non-Ancient One character. While attached, you gain control of attached character. (If control changes again, discard Infernal Obsession from play.)
Flavor text :
Illustrateur : Linda Tso
Info Collectionneur : AAD F51

It's a tricky one. Gaining control of the Obsession, per FAQ forces you to move it to one of your own characters. This likely causes control to change, and per lingering effect this will cause Obsession to be discarded.

Ok thanks Marius, we have played it like that (discarding the Obsession).