Hey all, here's how I've been playing Combat, and I think it's right.

I'll use Leo as an example. At this point he'll have the following:

• Hired Muscle Asset (+1 Strength; re-roll one die in a Strength test).

• .45 Automatic (+3 Strength in Combat Checks).

• Whip (+1 Strength in Combat; re-roll one Strength die in a Combat Encounter).

The rules say you can only have the "plus" benefit of one Weapon in a Combat check, but I don't see anything about other cards (Allies, Trinkets, etc.) factoring into that.

So Leo's Strength (3) + Hired Muscle (1) + .45 Automatic (3) gives him an effective base Strength of 7 for the Strength test in a Combat Encounter.

Plus, he'd have two chances to re-roll on failed dice: one from the Hired Muscle, one from the Whip.

One review I saw said you can only use one Asset card in such tests, but A) that doesn't make sense to me and B) I don't see any note of that in the rules or reference guide. Maybe I missed something, but I don't think so.

Any thoughts?

Page 11 of the reference guide book under Tests says:

He may use one effect that provides a bonus (for example "Gain +3 of will"). If multiple effects provides a bonus, he only uses the highest bonus.

In your example Leo's strength would be 6, not 7. And yes, you'd have two chances to reroll: One from the hired muscle and the other chance from your whip.

I agree with A. Not being able to stack allies with your gun doesn't make much sense to me. However I'm afraid the rules are against it;

An investigator can use only one card effect that provides a skill bonus during each test (for example, an Asset that reads “Gain +1”). If he has multiple card effects that provide a bonus, he uses the highest bonus.

See http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/96288-tests-using-one-effect-that-provides-a-bonus/?p=945649 for more details.

Thanks both, I guess that's pretty clear. Still sucks, and doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever. I'd be tempted to use that rule anyway (only for Allies).

So that means if you have a +1 Will from one Ally, and a Whip that does +1 Strength and you're in a Combat Encounter that needs both a Will test and a Strength test, you can only use one of those bonuses? Lame-o!

Yes, you can use both because the bonus they provide are for different tests..You could use your +1 will ally when rolling the will test and + 1 strength of the whip to the fight test. Because they are DIFFERENT tests.

Good point Nainphy, my frustration with the rule has clouded my sight!

I still don't understand the nixing of an Ally's Strength (or Will) bonus with a Weapon bonus though - what, do they have to get out of the way entirely when the Sword is swung, for example?

There are plenty of rules in a RPG game (eg. Dungeons and Dragons) or in another boad games that doesn't make sense. But the rules are there to balance the game. You don't need to agree. But you need to understand they are there for a reason, to balance the game. See the ally as a brawl fighter. If he's in the middle of the combat you won't fire a weapon because he's near the monster and you can hit him. So you let him by your side and you fire the weapon at range so you don't hit him. ^^

Yeah, that's the point. Not generating chains of cards creating investigators able to nuke any monster in rather a short time. Even though I can understand why you feel frustrated, I'd encourage you in playing literally for a while, the overall balance of combat encounters in EH is good.

Hired muscle is just a guy I brought to help me punch people. He doesn't get his own weapon. So if I have a gun and all he has are his fists, he's a bit redundant.

"Look, Hired Muscled Dude, hows about you use the shotgun and I'll use the rifle. That way we'll finish off the monster in no time." <- sadly none of our characters are that smart

Fenyx. i already thought about that. THOUGH, i was just trying to imagine the scene using the rules.

It may not thematically make sense, but I think they were trying to avoid making Hired Muscle too OP. Remember, weapons only help you in combat. The strength bonus from hired muscle helps you with ANY strength test you run into.