I was just reading through the "Example of a Challenge" on p.8 of the manual and now I have a question.

Some background on the challenge being explained: Varikas has a stamina of 4, his Before Combat ability is "You may take 1 exhaustion to make a magic attack", he began this battle with 3 exhaustion tokens, and he took an additional exhaustion to make his Before Combat magic attack. Then the manual says "Since Varikas has 4 exhaustion tokens on his Hero, he cannot use his special ability again this turn." Can anyone explain why they would say he can't use it again this turn? The Before Combat rules on p.6 say that a Hero's or Allies' Before Combat abilities can only be used once.

MuneMud said:

Special Abilities have not been completely clarified, even if you have a look at the current Runebound FAQ. The Varikas' example has an error, it clearly is an error, because a Hero's or Allies' Before Combat abilities can only be used once .

Special Abilities might be used multiple times though, unless specified otherwise. Perhaps in the example they wanted to highlight that an Ability can be "pumped", if it has a cost and no restrictions, and eventually forgot that Before Combat abilities are limited to one use.

In the FAQ they give following example: Spiritspeaker Mok can take 4 Exhaustion to discard 2 Wounds, thus using his Special Ability twice before Moving. Battlemage Jaes may do the same and enhance his damage in Melee or Magic, if he has enough Stamina to spend.

Looks like that abilities limited to "once per turn" use cannot be pumped (i.e. Red Scorpion and One Fist special Abilities); there's still discussion about Silhouette. May she attack in Ranged Phase, spend 2 Exhaustion to attack in the Melee Phase, then 2 more Exhaustion to attack in Magic Phase? My understanding is that a third attack can't be considered "in a second Phase", but the debate is still open.