How does the Hand interact with things that add to skill (Altar of the Blessed, etc)?

Does:

1. The Hand's ability happen first then the Altar kick in resulting in Skill 1 characters?

2. The skill bonus apply first then the Hand resulting in Skill 0 characters?

3. The Hand's ability mean regardless of other factors everyone ends up skill 0 at that story?

4. The active player chooses the order meaning either 1or 2 depending on the order chosen?

Thanks,

Steve

Sorry I can't give you a definitive answer on this one.

The FAQ's explanation for (1.5) Multiple Lasting Effects suggests that the order shouldn't matter, but with a card like Hand of Aforgomon it could - depending on how you take it's meaning. And (1.7) Simultaneous Effects wouldn't generally apply, which does let the active player choose the order of resolution, as it's likely to just be Hand of Aforgomon resolving at the moment that he commits to the story - and thereafter both he (Hand of Aforgomon) and the other cards' effects (e.g. Altar of the Blessed) would already be in play and not 'resolving' as such, but just 'lasting'.

My personal interpretation is that Hand of Aforgomon overrides all skill bonuses (and reducers) and sets everyone at his story to zero.

Feel free to click the microscopic 'Rules Questions' link at the very bottom of this page to request an official ruling on this one.

For everyone else's benefit- I submitted the question for an official ruling and got an email response today from Damon Stone.

Paraphrasing his answer- the Hand of Aforgomon accounts for all skill modification effects. No matter what is added or removed from the skill, "is considered 0" will always have to be applied, essentially trumping/nullifying all other applied modifications.

Damon/FFG, thanks for being so responsive to your customers/players. Great service and I appreciate your response.

Steve