Arkham Horror: The Card Game
352 questions players ask about Arkham Horror: The Card Game, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-28.
352 questions players ask about Arkham Horror: The Card Game, answered in plain words and graded by where the answer comes from. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-10-28.
Each player may take one mulligan during setup. Set aside any number of your five opening cards (none to all five), draw that many replacements, and only then shuffle the set-aside cards back into your deck, so you can't redraw them.
The rulebook answers this in "7. Draw Opening Hand".
Set it aside and draw a replacement. That applies to weaknesses in the first five cards and to any drawn as mulligan replacements. At the end of the step, all set-aside cards, weaknesses included, are shuffled back into your deck, so you start with a hand free of weaknesses.
The rulebook answers this in "Scenario Setup".
Before. Investigator setup, including opening hands and mulligans, comes first, and the scenario setup follows. A scenario instruction like The Devourer Below's "discard 2 random cards" past midnight is therefore applied to your finished opening hand. If a specific scenario says otherwise, follow the scenario.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Difficulty (level)".
Almost always just the chaos tokens in the bag, as listed in the campaign guide for each level. Easy and Standard share one side of each scenario reference card, and Hard and Expert use the other side. Player count needs no adjustment: per-investigator values and the extra encounter draws scale the game.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Tokens the campaign adds or removes stay that way until an instruction changes them again; the bag only resets with a new campaign. Bless and curse tokens are the exception: all of them leave the bag at the end of each scenario.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Add its regular player cards to your collection, which lets you run two copies of the core cards that come singly. Leave out its signature cards, its weaknesses, and its duplicate basic weaknesses (don't merge them into your weakness pool). The extra encounter cards aren't needed.
It depends on which core set you have. The original core set's starter decks share some cards, so one copy can only build certain pairs at once; that rulebook's starter-deck section lists the pairs that work. The current core rulebook says all five starter decks can be built at the same time. Either way, you can build your own level 0 decks instead.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Doom", and the rulebook agrees.
Yes to both. Every doom token in play (on the agenda, enemies like the Acolyte, locations, and player cards like Arcane Initiate) counts toward the doom threshold. When the agenda advances, all doom is removed from every card in play, not just from the agenda. The threshold is normally checked only in the Mythos phase.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It goes away with the enemy. Tokens on a card that leaves play are returned to the token pool; the doom doesn't move to the agenda and doesn't become clues. That's why killing doom-carrying enemies like Acolytes slows the agenda.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Being placed during setup is still entering play, so an "after this enters play" ability such as the Acolyte's 1 doom resolves.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Drawing Cards".
You don't lose. If you need to draw from your empty investigator deck, shuffle your discard pile into a new deck, finish the draw, then take 1 horror. When the encounter deck is empty, shuffle the encounter discard pile into a new encounter deck, with no penalty.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Doom", and the rulebook agrees.
No. The doom threshold is normally checked only in the Mythos phase, right after the round's doom is placed. Doom added at other times waits for that check. The exceptions are cards that say so: an effect that tells you to check the threshold right away (like Ancient Evils), or an agenda's own Forced ability that advances it when its condition is met.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Elimination", and the rulebook agrees.
It stays fixed for the whole scenario; it only changes mid-scenario if the lead investigator is eliminated, when the remaining players pick a new one. The group chooses a lead investigator again at the start of each scenario, so it can change between scenarios. In the Mythos phase the lead draws first, then the others in clockwise player order.
No to both. The Taboo List is an optional set of balance changes you can choose to use when building a deck. Errata is different: it corrects the printed card text itself rather than offering an optional variant.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Enemy Engagement".
No. Resources are unlimited, any number of enemies can be engaged with one investigator, and you can have any number of assets in play except as slots restrict them. The only other cap is the 8-card hand limit in the upkeep phase, which counts only cards in your hand.
They go back to the token pool with it, unless a card says otherwise. Doom on a defeated or discarded enemy stops counting toward the agenda, and clues on a defeated enemy don't drop at the location.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
Yes. You can investigate a location that has no clues left. You just won't discover a clue if you succeed. That matters for cards that reward a successful investigation itself, like Burglary (gain resources instead of discovering clues) and Scavenging.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Act Deck and Agenda Deck", and the rulebook agrees.
No, spending clues to advance the act is optional. The group can spend the required clues during any investigator's turn, it costs no action, and investigators can contribute from any location. Spent clues return to the token pool. If the act has an Objective, that text adds to or replaces these requirements (for example, only investigators at a certain location may contribute).
The rulebook answers this in "Move".
One move action takes you to one connecting location; reaching anything farther takes several moves. Connections follow the icons at the bottom of each location, and in some scenarios a location connects to another that doesn't connect back, so you can only travel that way in one direction (Blood on the Altar and Lost in Time and Space have examples).
No. Text on an agenda (or act) only applies while that card is current. It stops when the card flips, unless the next card repeats it. The next agenda's front text isn't active yet while the old one's back is resolving either.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Elimination", and the rulebook agrees.
No. The per-investigator symbol multiplies by the number of investigators who started the scenario, and that stays fixed when someone is eliminated or resigns. In the next scenario it's based on however many investigators start that one.
The act can't be advanced by spending clues. Its text, or another card, tells you how and when it advances.
The rulebook answers this in "The Investigation Phase".
Yes. Your three actions can be any mix of the basic actions in any order, including the same one three times (for example, investigating three times or attacking the same enemy repeatedly).
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Action Designators", and the rulebook agrees.
No. An ability with a bold Fight or Evade designator is that action, modified by the card, even when it's on an event you play. Playing Backstab is a Fight action and playing Blinding Light is an Evade action, and activating a .45 Automatic's Fight ability is a Fight action. None of them provoke attacks of opportunity. Playing a Fight event still costs just one action.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Attack of Opportunity".
Yes. Dynamite Blast deals damage but has no bold Fight designator, so playing it is an ordinary Play action and each ready engaged enemy attacks you first. Attacks of opportunity resolve after costs are paid but before the effect, so if they defeat you, the blast never goes off.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Attack of Opportunity".
No. Attacks of opportunity are provoked only when you take an action, and a free triggered ability costs no action, so using one doesn't provoke them.
Two unofficial relays of designer emails contradict each other and players are split; there is no printed ruling.
Disputed. In 2019 an emailed answer from FFG, relayed on BGG, said free and reaction abilities aren't actions, so Frozen in Fear adds nothing to them and Pay Day doesn't count them. A late-2022 ruling posted on ArkhamDB reverses this for abilities with a bold designator: Shortcut (2)'s move would cost an action under Frozen in Fear and would count for Pay Day. Shortcut (level 0) has no designator and is unaffected either way. Neither ruling is in the printed rules, so check the current FAQ.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. I've Got a Plan! is played with an action and its ability is a bold Fight, so playing it is a fight action and pays Frozen in Fear's extra action. Abilities that merely move you or investigate without a bold Move designator, such as Duke's investigate-and-move, are not Move actions.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Attack of Opportunity".
No. Fast cards cost no action and aren't played with the Play action, and attacks of opportunity are provoked only by actions. You can play Fast cards after your last action too, since a player window follows every action.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Attack of Opportunity".
No. Only the investigator taking the action provokes attacks of opportunity, from enemies engaged with them. The target of the action doesn't matter.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
Your first action each turn that an additional action can pay for uses it automatically, so if Leo leaves play after you've taken an action, you've already had his action. When an effect makes you lose actions, your normal actions go first, then additional ones.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Enemy Engagement".
Yes. After its attack of opportunity, an enemy in your threat area stays engaged and moves with you. To leave it behind, evade it first; evading doesn't move you. A Massive enemy never follows: it counts as engaged with everyone at its location but stays put when you leave.
The rulebook answers this in "Evade".
No. A card with a bold Evade designator follows the normal Evade rules unless it says otherwise, so it only targets enemies engaged with you. Engage the enemy first to pull it onto yourself, then evade it.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Attack of Opportunity", and the rulebook agrees.
Every action except Fight, Evade, and activating a Parley or Resign ability, so Engage, Move, Investigate, Play, Draw, Resource and other activate actions all provoke, from each ready enemy already engaged with you. The enemy you're engaging (an Aloof one, say) wasn't engaged with you yet, so it doesn't attack.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Aloof", and the rulebook agrees.
No. The Fight action lets you attack any enemy at your location: one engaged with you, one engaged with another investigator, or an unengaged (even exhausted) one. The only exception is an Aloof enemy, which can't be attacked while it is unengaged with everyone. If you fail an attack against an enemy engaged with someone else, that investigator takes the enemy's damage instead.
The rulebook answers this in "Evade".
No. Attacking changes neither an enemy's engagement nor its exhausted state. An enemy you evaded stays exhausted and unengaged at the location until it readies (normally in the upkeep phase), so you or a teammate can attack it safely in the meantime: it won't make attacks of opportunity or attack in the enemy phase.
The rulebook answers this in "The Upkeep Phase".
When it readies, which is normally during the upkeep phase. In the "ready all exhausted cards" step, an unengaged enemy that readies at a location with an investigator engages immediately. It does not move or attack at that moment; it engages whoever is at its own location (Prey or the lead investigator picks if there are several). If you've moved away by then, it stays put unless it is a Hunter.
The rulebook answers this in "Engage".
Yes, you can engage it, and no, it doesn't ready. The Engage action works on any enemy at your location that isn't already engaged with you, including exhausted enemies, Aloof enemies and enemies engaged with another investigator. An exhausted enemy you engage stays exhausted until something readies it.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Enemy Engagement".
Yes. A ready, unengaged enemy engages an investigator the moment they share a location, whether you move in, it moves in or it spawns there; there's no way to slip past it without evading or a card effect. The automatic engagement costs you no action. The Engage action exists for enemies that don't engage on their own: Aloof enemies, exhausted enemies, and enemies you want to pull off a teammate.
The rulebook answers this in "The Enemy Phase".
No. It engages right away but makes its normal attack only in the enemy phase, so you get the rest of the round to deal with it. It can still hit you sooner through an attack of opportunity, Retaliate, or a card effect that says it attacks.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
Only when you fail a skill test while attacking a ready Retaliate enemy. A failed evade, parley or other test is not an attack, so it doesn't trigger Retaliate; a successful attack doesn't either; and an exhausted enemy never retaliates.
The rulebook answers this in "Fight".
Both things happen. The damage from your failed attack goes to the investigator engaged with the enemy, as for any failed attack against an enemy engaged with someone else, and the Retaliate attack itself is made against you, the attacker.
The rulebook answers this in "Evade".
You can only take the Evade action against an enemy engaged with you, so an unengaged enemy at your location can't be evaded without a card that allows it. There is no limit on attempts, though: if an evade fails, you can spend another action and try again. Evade actions never provoke attacks of opportunity.
The rulebook answers this in "The Enemy Phase".
No. Exhausted Hunter enemies, and Hunters already at a location with an investigator, don't move in the enemy phase. Card effects that move an enemy (an agenda moving every Ghoul, for example) still move exhausted enemies unless they say otherwise.
The rulebook answers this in "Evade".
Not normally. An exhausted enemy makes no attacks of opportunity, doesn't attack in the enemy phase and can't retaliate. A few scenario cards can still make exhausted enemies attack, so follow the card if it says so.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Aloof".
No. An Aloof enemy doesn't engage on its own and can't be attacked while it is unengaged, so you need to engage it first (usually with the Engage action, which counts as one of your actions).
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Aloof only stops you from attacking the enemy while it's unengaged. A Parley ability on an enemy can be activated by any investigator at its location unless the ability itself demands engagement.
The rulebook answers this in "The Mythos Phase".
Not necessarily the investigator who drew it. Only an enemy with no Spawn instruction spawns engaged with the drawer. One with a Spawn instruction spawns at that location and then engages normally: its Prey instruction picks among the investigators there, and if it has no Prey the lead investigator chooses. That holds even if the drawer is at that location.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Enemy Cards".
No. An enemy with no Spawn instruction spawns engaged with the investigator who drew it, so there is no choice for Prey to settle. Prey only matters when an enemy could engage more than one investigator: after a Spawn instruction, when a Hunter moves, or when an exhausted enemy readies among several investigators.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. An unrevealed location is still in play, so an enemy can spawn there; spawning doesn't reveal it. Only an investigator entering a location reveals it.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It's discarded. It doesn't spawn elsewhere, and you don't draw a replacement encounter card (unless the card has surge).
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Every eligible location is tied at zero, so any of them qualifies (unrevealed ones included) and the investigator spawning the enemy chooses. An instruction like this only fails when no location in play can meet it at all.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
No. The enemy's printed Spawn instruction is used when the enemy is drawn. When an effect such as an agenda, Call to Order or Smite the Wicked tells you where to spawn it, that placement wins, though any restrictions in the effect itself still apply.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Enemy Cards".
It spawns as if you'd drawn it from the encounter deck: at the location its Spawn instruction names, or otherwise engaged with you (unless it is Aloof, in which case it spawns at your location unengaged).
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Prey only settles a choice when an enemy could engage (or move toward) more than one investigator. Once engaged, it stays engaged even if a better match arrives. Prey doesn't make an enemy move either; only Hunter does.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It won't engage anyone but its prey on its own; the "only" turns Prey from a tie-breaker into a restriction. Any investigator at its location can still take the Engage action to pull it into their threat area.
If every investigator has zero clues, they all tie for "most clues" and the lead investigator picks among them. Solo, you are the only option, so it engages you.
No. An enemy stays ready and engaged after being attacked, until it's defeated or evaded. Enemies exhaust when you evade them and after they attack in the enemy phase; exhausting after an attack doesn't disengage them. Cards that only disengage you, like Elusive, don't exhaust the enemy either, so it can re-engage you or someone else right away.
The rulebook answers this in "Evade".
No. Each Evade action targets one enemy. The others stay engaged and still make attacks of opportunity if you then take a provoking action such as moving. Cards like Survival Instinct can disengage you from the rest, but they don't exhaust them.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Dealing Damage/Horror".
Yes. Damage and horror from a single source are assigned together and then placed simultaneously, so the ally can take 1 of each before it is defeated. You can also split them, say damage on the ally and horror on yourself.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Dealing Damage/Horror".
No. An asset can't be assigned more damage than it takes to defeat it, or more horror than it takes to defeat it. Anything left over must go on your investigator (or another eligible asset).
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Guard Dog's reaction is a when reaction, so it resolves before the damage defeats the dog, and it deals 1 damage to the attacking enemy even when that damage is lethal. It deals 1 per attack that damages it, not 1 per point of damage.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Damage from cards you control counts as you defeating the enemy, so Roland's reaction and Evidence! both trigger when your ally or your Dynamite Blast finishes an enemy off.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Dealing Damage/Horror".
Yes. Taking damage or horror from any source follows the normal assignment rules, so allies and other assets with health or sanity can soak it. Direct damage or horror is the exception: it has to go on the card named, usually your investigator.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Defeat".
Yes, an asset is defeated as soon as its damage reaches its health or its horror reaches its sanity, and it goes to its owner's discard pile. The reverse isn't true: an ally discarded some other way (to make room in a slot, or by a card effect) has left play but wasn't defeated, so "when defeated" effects don't trigger.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Elimination".
They're placed at that location unengaged, keeping their state. Any that are ready immediately engage another investigator there (Prey or the lead investigator decides). Enemy attacks are resolved investigator by investigator in player order, so a freed enemy attacks its new target only if that investigator hasn't resolved their enemy attacks yet. One that already attacked is exhausted and won't attack again.
No to the first: a resigned investigator has already left the scenario, so only investigators still playing are defeated. And losing a scenario doesn't cause trauma by itself. You suffer trauma for being defeated by damage or horror, or when a resolution or card says so.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Elimination".
No. When you're eliminated, the game counts as ended for your weaknesses: any "when the game ends" abilities on your weaknesses in play resolve first (Cover Up's trauma, Hospital Debts' lost experience), and only then are they removed from the game.
For being dealt or taking damage, yes: an ability that cares about you taking damage includes damage assigned to assets you control (so Survival Knife triggers when your ally soaks the hit). But damage or horror on you means tokens on your investigator card only, so horror on your allies doesn't count.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
No. Chaos token effects resolve before the test's results are applied. If the token's damage or horror defeats you, you're eliminated on the spot and the attack never deals its damage.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Trauma".
No. You suffer one trauma and choose which kind.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. A Composure only redirects horror that would be placed on your investigator card, so you can assign horror to other assets first and send only what reaches you to it.
No. Each investigator draws a card first and resolves it, then gains 1 resource. If the draw is Paranoia, you lose your existing resources and then gain the new one.
No. Surge is a keyword a card either has or doesn't, so gaining it twice still means one extra encounter card. Surge only matters when the card is drawn; gaining it later does nothing. If the card defeats you, you're eliminated and don't draw the surge card.
The rulebook answers this in "The Mythos Phase".
No. In player order, starting with the lead investigator and going clockwise, each investigator draws one encounter card and fully resolves it (Revelation, spawning, surge) before the next investigator draws.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. You can never choose a weakness when you choose cards to discard from hand, whether for the upkeep hand limit or a "choose and discard" effect. It can leave your hand only through a random discard or an effect that makes you discard your entire hand. The hand limit is checked only in the upkeep phase, so holding more than 8 cards mid-round is fine.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Attack of Opportunity", and the rulebook agrees.
No. Enemies exhaust only after their attack in the enemy phase. Attacks of opportunity, Retaliate and attacks caused by card effects leave them ready, unless the effect says to treat the attack as an enemy-phase attack.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
Only if it can still change the game state. "Lose X" can be chosen even with fewer than X, since you lose what you have, but "spend X" can't be chosen without X to spend. So with no clues, Hunting Shadow forces the damage. If neither option can be resolved, the treachery simply does nothing.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
Modifiers can push a value below zero, but for the comparison it counts as 0. So a negative chaos token can't make you fail by more than the test's difficulty, and a shroud lowered below 0 by Flashlight is treated as 0. A test with difficulty 0 therefore succeeds on anything except the auto-fail token.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Automatic Failure/Success".
By the full difficulty. On an automatic failure your total skill value counts as 0, so a test of difficulty 3 fails by 3 for "for each point you fail by" effects.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Automatic Failure/Success".
Yes to both. You always reveal a token, since some tokens carry effects of their own, and the auto-fail token fails the test whatever the difficulty.
The rulebook answers this in "Fight".
No. A failed attack just wastes the action, and you can try again with another one. You only get hurt if the enemy has Retaliate or a card or token effect says so. A failed attack against an enemy engaged with another investigator damages that investigator instead.
They take the damage your attack would have dealt: the base 1 plus weapon bonuses that don't depend on success. Bonuses worded "if you succeed", like Vicious Blow, don't apply. If the enemy also has Retaliate, it attacks you.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Each Flashlight (and Lantern) ability is its own Investigate action, and each investigation uses only one of them. You can't activate a second action ability while the first investigation is still resolving, so their shroud reductions never combine.
The rulebook answers this in "Modifying Skill Values for Skill Tests".
Neither. Committing a card from your hand is free and takes no action. It adds +1 for each matching or wild icon (a card with two matching icons gives +2) and is discarded after the test. Only skill cards resolve their text when committed; a committed asset or event contributes just its icons.
No. Icons only raise your skill value for the test. A successful attack deals 1 damage unless a weapon or card adds more, however far you beat the enemy's fight value.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. An asset or event is either committed for its icons (free, no text) or played for its effect (paying its cost), never both. Only skill cards resolve their text when committed.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
When success or failure is determined, after the chaos token is revealed. There's no snapshot: values are recalculated whenever the game state changes, so committing cards that shrink your hand, or a token effect that raises the shroud, changes the difficulty you're compared against. A tie succeeds.
The rulebook answers this in "Modifying Skill Values for Skill Tests".
You may commit any number of cards with matching or wild icons to your own test, subject to "Max 1 committed" limits. Each other investigator at your location may commit one card to it. Investigators elsewhere can't.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
They add together, and you resolve every revealed token's effects in the same test. Replacement happens only when a card says so, like Wendy Adams's ability.
The rulebook answers this in "The Enemy Phase".
No. An enemy attack, in the enemy phase or as an attack of opportunity, simply deals its printed damage and horror. Only cards like Dodge prevent or reduce it.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Only one copy of that card title can be committed to a single skill test, counting every investigator together. You and others can still commit any number of other cards, but if one Unexpected Courage is already committed, nobody can add a second.
You do. "You" on a committed skill card means its controller, the player who committed it, so you get the draw from Guts or Manual Dexterity. Effects that change the test's own outcome, like Deduction's extra clue, apply to the test, which means to the investigator performing it.
Right after the ability that revealed them finishes resolving. Only the tokens revealed in a skill test's own reveal step stay out until that test ends.
Most experienced players agree, citing the FAQ; the rulebook only covers wild icons when committing.
Yes. A wild icon matches any skill icon, both when committing to a test and when a card ability checks for a particular icon.
The rulebook answers this in "Modifying Skill Values for Skill Tests".
No. Only cards in your hand can be committed.
Both resolve as the test's results are applied, after success or failure is determined, and the investigator performing the test chooses the order.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Triggered Abilities".
Yes. A free triggered ability has no built-in limit: you can trigger it again and again in the same player window as long as you can pay its cost, so spending 3 resources on Physical Training gives +3. Only a limit printed on the card stops you. Reaction abilities, by contrast, can be used once per occurrence of their trigger.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Triggered Abilities".
Yes. Free triggered abilities and Fast events can be used in any player window within their stated timing, on anyone's turn, unless the card says otherwise (for example "Play only during your turn"). Fast assets are the exception: they can only be played in a player window during your own turn.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It depends on its play instruction. If it names a timing point ("Play after you fail a skill test"), play it right after that trigger, like a reaction; no player window is needed. If it names a period ("Play during your turn"), play it in any player window during that period. A Fast asset can be played in any player window on your own turn.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Activate Action".
Yes, if you're at the same location as that investigator. You can activate abilities on scenario cards at your location, and that includes encounter cards in the threat area of any investigator there, so you can help with a teammate's Internal Injury or parley with an enemy engaged with them. The current act and agenda can be used from anywhere.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Enemy Engagement".
Yes. Enemies and treacheries in your threat area are at your location and move with you, and other investigators at that location can interact with them. Clues on your investigator card, however, are not "at your location".
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
You can use assets already in play and commit cards to skill tests, since committing isn't playing. You can't play any asset or event, Fast ones included, because Fast only removes the action cost. Ward of Protection still works against it, since it cancels the revelation as Dissonant Voices is drawn, before it enters play.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Revelation Abilities".
No. Revelation abilities resolve only when the card is drawn. A weakness or treachery that is discarded from the top of your deck just goes to the discard pile, unless the discarding effect says otherwise.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Per investigator. A plain Limit applies to each investigator separately. Group limit means once for all investigators combined. Max caps all copies of a card title across every player for the stated period.
No. Shuffling only randomizes the cards still in the deck. A discard pile goes back in only when a card explicitly says so or when that deck runs out.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Effects".
No. Only a draw from an empty deck triggers the reshuffle and its 1 horror. Searches and discards just use whatever cards remain.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Drawing Cards".
No. Unless a card says "encounter card", drawing means drawing from your own investigator deck. When one ability draws several cards, they're drawn at once, so an "after you draw a card" reaction like Armitage's triggers once for that draw.
It depends on who's choosing. Additional costs apply whenever you perform the effect yourself, whatever its source: an action, an event like Shortcut moving another investigator, or an ability without a designator. They're skipped only when the move comes from a Forced effect or a mandatory instruction from the act, agenda or campaign guide.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Unless an effect says otherwise, you may look at the hidden faces of facedown cards attached to or beneath cards you control, so you choose from them knowingly.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Assets leave play when they're defeated, when an effect discards them, or when you replace them to make room in a full slot; there's no voluntary discard, even for an empty asset.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Triggered Abilities".
Yes. Each reaction card or ability can be used once per occurrence of its trigger, but different cards (including a second copy) can all respond, one at a time. The exception is an effect that changes the triggering condition itself, after which the original trigger is gone.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Ability".
No. Card abilities only interact with cards in play unless they name an out-of-play area, so "an asset you control" means one in play. If you have none, you take the alternative (Crypt Chill's 2 damage).
No. Being placed there during setup isn't entering it. The ability triggers each time an investigator moves into the location from elsewhere later in the game.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
No. "Heal X" with no target named heals your own investigator. Cards that can heal assets or other investigators say so, like Emergency Aid. And since St. Mary's ability is on a location, you have to be at St. Mary's Hospital to use it.
Yes. Engagement is the same whoever starts it, so these effects trigger when you take the Engage action and when an enemy spawns engaged with you. Massive enemies are the exception: they're only considered engaged and never actually engage you.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Constant Abilities".
No. You can't switch off a constant ability; it applies whenever its card is in play. Only triggered abilities and effects that say "may" are optional.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes, unless it is unique (marked with a star before its title). Only one copy of a unique card can be in play at a time across all investigators. Non-unique assets like Beat Cop can be doubled up, subject to slots. Uniqueness limits play, not deckbuilding.
Not while the first is in play: no two copies of a unique card can be in play at once, so you can't even start playing it. Once the first copy has left play, defeated or discarded, another copy can be played. You can still replace it with a different ally through the normal slot rules, and a copy in hand can always be committed for its icons.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. The starting Uses value isn't a maximum, so effects can keep adding to it unless the card sets a limit. The type still matters: supplies can't be added as ammo.
You pay only the card's printed cost. When an asset with Uses (X ammo/supplies/charges) enters play, take X tokens from the token pool, not from your own resources, and put them on it. Each use of the ability spends one. They are not resources: you can't spend them as money, and you can't refill them with the Resource action or with resources.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Not unless its text says so. An empty asset stays in play, still filling its slot, until you discard it to make room for something else or an effect removes it. You can refill it only with a card that adds that kind of use (Extra Ammunition for ammo, for example). Ammo, supplies, charges and secrets are different uses, so a card that adds one kind doesn't refill another.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Action Designators".
No. A weapon's ability with one action icon and a bold Fight is your Fight action, so one action means one attack with the weapon's bonuses. Only playing the weapon in the first place costs a separate action. You can fire it as often as you have actions and ammo. It doesn't exhaust unless its cost says so, and it doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Each weapon's Fight ability is a separate action, and an attack uses only one of them, so only that weapon's bonuses apply. You can still add constant bonuses (Beat Cop), committed cards and free triggered boosts like Physical Training to it.
No. A bonus written into a weapon's Fight ability applies only when you use that ability to attack. Other combat tests get constant bonuses (Beat Cop, for example), committed icons and free triggered abilities instead.
The rulebook answers this in "Fight".
No. A failed attack deals no damage to its target, so bonus damage does nothing. The one exception is a failed attack against an enemy engaged with another investigator, which hits that investigator with the attack's damage.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Constant Abilities".
It's always on while Beat Cop is in play, and exhausting doesn't switch it off. Constant abilities work regardless of exhaustion; exhausting only stops abilities that need exhausting as a cost. Discarding Beat Cop to deal 1 damage is a separate free ability you can use in any player window, for example right after attacking with its bonus. It must be in play to use; you can't discard it from your hand.
The rulebook answers this in "Play".
No. The printed cost is paid once to put the asset into play. After that, its abilities cost only what their own text lists (actions, exhausting, uses, resources).
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Activate Action".
No. You can only activate abilities on cards you control (plus encounter cards at your location and the current act and agenda). Lending an item needs a card that says so, such as Teamwork.
The rulebook answers this in "Slots".
Yes to both. You can always play an asset into a full slot by discarding an asset in that slot (the old ally goes to your discard pile, not back to your hand). The attack of opportunity from the Play action resolves after costs are paid but before the new ally enters play, so the old ally is still there to take its damage.
The rulebook answers this in "Modifying Skill Values for Skill Tests".
No. Icons only count on cards you commit from your hand to a test. Once an asset is in play, its icons do nothing; only its abilities matter (Beat Cop's +1 combat, for example).
A Permanent card starts every scenario in play, for the rest of the campaign once bought, and doesn't count toward your deck size, so buying one doesn't mean removing another card. The usual two-copies-by-title limit still applies.
The rulebook answers this in "Ready and Exhausted".
Yes, any ability that doesn't need exhausting as its cost. Exhausting is paid when you trigger an ability (before any test or attack of opportunity), and an exhausted card simply can't pay that cost again until it readies. So an exhausted weapon without an exhaust cost keeps attacking, and its constant bonuses keep working.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Defeat".
No. An enemy is defeated when its damage reaches its health (or a card says it's defeated). Moving it to the victory display another way earns its victory points, but "after you defeat an enemy" effects like Roland's don't trigger.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. A defeated ally goes to your discard pile and stays in your deck. Even a card removed from the game is only gone for that scenario; it returns to your deck for the next one unless the campaign guide or the card says it's removed permanently (exiled, killed, crossed off).
The rulebook answers this in "Winning and Losing".
No. Only that investigator leaves. The scenario continues for the others, and it ends with "no resolution" only when every investigator has resigned or been defeated.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Trauma".
Very little. Each scenario starts fresh: damage, horror, clues, resources, your hand and cards in play are all reset, and you shuffle your deck and draw a new opening hand. What carries over is what the campaign log records: unspent experience, trauma (each starts you with 1 damage or horror), weaknesses and story cards the resolutions add to your deck, and your purchased upgrades. Permanent cards begin play in your play area.
Several experienced players agree, citing a designer answer and the campaign guide; the Rules Reference wording alone is ambiguous.
You pay the difference in levels, with a minimum of 1. Level 0 to level 2 costs 2 XP, the same as buying the level 2 card outright, because a level 0 card's level is 0. The 1 XP minimum only means no purchase is ever free. The real discount comes from upgrading an already-upgraded card: level 2 to level 4 costs 2 instead of 4. You can skip levels.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Experience".
Yes, 1 XP. Every purchase costs experience equal to the card's level with a minimum of 1, so even a level 0 card costs 1, and you remove a card for each one you add to keep your deck size.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Experience".
Yes to both. Any card you have access to can be bought outright for its full level in XP; paying only the difference is an option when you replace a lower version. Keeping the level 0 copy alongside the upgrade is fine, since the two-copy limit counts all levels of a title together. Remove some card for each one you add.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Experience".
Yes. At the end of a scenario each investigator earns the full total of the victory display plus the resolution's bonuses, no matter who defeated which enemy or whether that investigator resigned or was defeated (trauma aside).
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
A location with Victory X counts only if it has no clues on it at the end of the scenario; it must also be revealed and in play. Just visiting it isn't enough. Clues dropped on it by a resigning or defeated investigator stop it from counting.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
No. Only a defeated enemy goes to the victory display. Discarding isn't defeating, so the enemy goes to the encounter discard pile and its victory points are lost.
Into the victory display, not the discard pile. Its victory points count toward the experience earned at the end of the scenario.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Elimination".
Yes. Resigning eliminates you, and an eliminated investigator places all their clues at their location. That's worth planning around, since clues dropped on a Victory location keep it out of the victory display.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Trauma".
Being defeated just eliminates you from the current scenario and usually gives 1 physical or mental trauma. You're killed or driven insane when your physical trauma reaches your printed health or your mental trauma your printed sanity, or when a resolution says so. Even then the campaign goes on: you pick a new investigator not yet used in this campaign and build them a new deck. You lose only if no investigators remain to choose from.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Joining or Leaving a Campaign".
No, by default. The new investigator starts like a newcomer to the campaign: a fresh deck, no experience, no trauma, and none of the previous investigator's story assets or campaign weaknesses. A campaign guide can override this for specific cards.
Several experienced players agree, citing a relayed designer answer; the Rules Reference only covers players joining or leaving.
Yes. Players can drop in and out between scenarios, so you can retire your investigator and bring in a new one using the rules for a player joining. The newcomer must be someone not yet used in the campaign and starts with no experience and no trauma.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
You can resign only through a card that offers a Resign ability, usually a location, sometimes the act or agenda. It's an optional action ability, so reaching such a location never forces you to leave. Each investigator resigns separately.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Experience".
No. There's no sideboard: removed cards go back to your collection, and putting one back later is a normal purchase at its full cost, minimum 1 XP even for a level 0 card.
Several experienced players agree; the Rules Reference only says trauma makes you start with damage or horror.
Yes. Trauma only sets how much damage or horror you start each scenario with; once placed, those are ordinary tokens that Thermos or First Aid can heal. The trauma itself is permanent, so they come back at the start of the next scenario.
Not normally. The standard rules start each campaign fresh, with new level 0 decks, no experience and no trauma. Carrying an investigator over (deck, weaknesses, unspent experience and trauma) is an optional variant described at the end of the Night of the Zealot campaign guide; use it only if your group wants to.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Between any two scenarios of a campaign, paying its experience cost up front from each investigator, as many as you can afford. Played on its own instead, it's a standalone game and nothing carries into a campaign.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Trauma".
Neither. Trauma is marked in the campaign log and takes effect from the next scenario, when you start with 1 damage per physical trauma and 1 horror per mental trauma. Your printed health and sanity stay the same. The exception: if your trauma reaches your printed health or sanity, you're killed or driven insane right away.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
You can start with any campaign, or play scenarios standalone. Every campaign stands on its own and is built to begin with fresh level 0 decks.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Collection".
Your collection is all the cards you own that decks are built from. Pick at random among the matching basic weaknesses there that aren't already in a deck, not from your own deck. A weakness gained this way stays in your deck for the rest of the campaign unless something removes it.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
As soon as you own them. Player cards from any product can go into any deck, in any campaign or scenario, bought with experience if they have a level.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Collection".
Yes. Any investigator can play any scenario, and your whole collection of player cards is open for deckbuilding whichever campaign you play. Story assets (cards with an encounter set icon and no level, like Lita Chantler) are the exception: they join a deck only when a scenario says so.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes, through Standalone Mode. You may spend experience on higher-level cards when building the deck. The first several points come free, and each further block adds a random basic weakness, so a more powerful deck carries more weaknesses. Check the current Rules Reference for the exact bands.
The designer answered this directly on BGG in 2018.
No, unless your investigator or campaign gives you starting experience. A new campaign deck uses only level 0 cards, and higher-level cards are bought with the experience you earn between scenarios.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Deckbuilding".
No. Investigator-specific cards and weaknesses are added exactly as the investigator's deckbuilding requirements list (normally one each), on top of the deck size. They have no level and aren't chosen through your deckbuilding options, so extra copies can't be added as ordinary cards. Signature cards are shuffled into your deck; they don't start in play or in hand.
The rulebook answers this in "Random Weakness".
Build one shared pool from the basic weaknesses in one copy of each product you own: one core set's basic weaknesses plus those from one copy of each expansion, whichever campaign you're playing. Don't add extra copies from a second core set. Every investigator draws from this pool once their deck is built. Signature weaknesses aren't basic weaknesses and never go in.
You keep it. The weakness drawn when you build your deck stays for the whole campaign unless a card removes it, and no new random weakness is added each scenario unless a card or the campaign guide tells you to take one.
The rulebook answers this in "Deck Customization Rules".
Only the player cards you choose. The investigator card, signature cards, signature and basic weaknesses, and story assets or weaknesses added during the campaign all go on top. Every copy counts, so two copies each of 15 cards make 30.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Copy".
Yes. The unique star limits how many copies can be in play at once (one, across all players), not how many are in a deck. Copies are counted by title across levels, so the usual limit of two copies applies.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Asset Cards".
No. Player cards with an encounter set icon and no level are story assets (or story weaknesses). They join a deck only when a scenario's setup or resolution says so, and then they don't count toward your deck size.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Standalone Mode means playing one scenario outside a campaign, at any player count; a campaign starts at 0 XP solo or not. In Standalone Mode you pick an experience total to build with, taking an extra random basic weakness for each block of experience, as listed in the current Rules Reference. Building counts as buying, so rules like Myriad apply.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. If you have unlimited access to one of a multiclass card's classes, it doesn't count against a limited allowance for its other class. A multiclass card also never takes more than one limited slot, however many class icons it has.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Those slots allow only level 0 cards. You can spend XP to swap them for other level 0 off-class cards.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Every time, for every investigator. A Forced "after you enter" ability has no first-time limit; only wording like "after this location is revealed" would make it one-off.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
She must be in play under your control; "if you control Lita Chantler" doesn't reach into your deck or hand. The ability isn't a Fight, Evade, Parley or Resign action, so ready engaged enemies make attacks of opportunity first, and if they defeat you, the action never resolves.
Yes. Resolve the text in order: each investigator first discards a random card, then anyone left with no cards in hand is killed. A one-card hand is emptied by the discard and then fails the check.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Activate Action".
Be at the Parlor and use her Parley ability; you can only activate abilities on scenario cards at your location, so you can't parley from another room. If you succeed, you take control of her as an ally, following the normal ally slot rules.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Elimination".
Not by itself. During The Gathering she's a scenario card you control but don't own, so if her controller is eliminated she is removed from the game along with their other cards in play. She joins a deck only if the scenario resolution adds her, and then her abilities work only while she's in play, so you have to draw and play her like any other ally.
Only investigators in the Hallway can spend their clues toward it, and only at the end of the round. Investigators elsewhere don't need to be there, but their clues don't count.
No. Advancing Act 2 puts the Parlor, the Ghoul Priest and Lita Chantler into play, but nothing moves the investigators. You stay in the Hallway, so the Ghoul Priest spawning there engages you right away.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Being exhausted only stops Hunter movement in the enemy phase. An effect that moves enemies without saying "ready" moves exhausted ones too.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Read the Main Path's text: it is connected to every other Woods location, whatever the printed connection symbols show. Card text takes precedence over the symbols.
Yes. He is one of the scenario's unique Cultists, so if he isn't defeated he is logged under "Cultists Who Got Away" like the others. Non-unique Cultists like Acolytes are never logged.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
No. It's one or the other: 2 doom on the nearest Cultist already in play, or, if there isn't one, search the encounter deck and discard pile for a Cultist and draw it. A Cultist found this way gets only the doom its own text gives (1 for an Acolyte). Shuffle only the encounter deck afterwards.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Only the unique Cultist enemies (an asterisk before the name) count; ordinary Cultists like the Acolyte never do. There are six: five in the Cultist deck you draw from by spending clues, and the sixth (The Masked Hunter) enters play another way. You can get them into the victory display by defeating them in combat as well as through their Parley.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes, they're normal enemies: they spawn, engage, attack, and can be fought or evaded. Defeated cultists with Victory points go to the victory display. An Acolyte has no Victory points, so it goes to the discard pile and never counts toward the act.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
One. You spend a clue from your own pool as the cost of the test; if you succeed, the clue placed on the act comes from the token pool. If you fail, the spent clue is lost.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Jim only changes the Skull's modifier to 0, and Lucky! boosts your skill value. In both cases a Skull was still revealed, so Baseball Bat's discard still happens. Jim's ability also doesn't touch other tokens a Skull effect makes you reveal.
It discovers a clue from Roland's own location, so it does nothing if that location has no clues left. Where the enemy was doesn't matter: defeating an enemy at another location (with Dynamite Blast, say) still triggers it, and the clue comes from where Roland is.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
No. A Massive enemy is only considered engaged with each investigator at its location; it never actually engages you or enters your threat area, so there's no "after an enemy engages you" moment. Zoey's resource and her Cross trigger on real engagements, and again on the same enemy only if it disengages and engages her anew.
No. Wendy's Amulet only lets you play the top event of your discard pile. Committing a card to a skill test isn't playing it, so you can't commit events from your discard pile.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
It doesn't use one of her three actions: her reaction grants an extra action that is spent investigating right away. Because it's a real action, it provokes attacks of opportunity from ready engaged enemies, as a FAQ answer quoted by players confirms.
When you would discover clues at your location, you may discard that many clues from Cover Up instead; the location keeps its clues. It works with any clue discovery, including investigating, Working a Hunch or Roland's own ability, but there must be that many clues at the location to discover in the first place. If clues remain on Cover Up when the game ends, you suffer the mental trauma.
No. Her ability triggers after horror is placed on her, so the attack's damage and horror are fully applied first, and if that defeats her she's eliminated before she can react. (Guard Dog differs because its ability says "when".)
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
She gets one additional action each turn that can only be spent on an action ability of a Tome asset she has in play. She can take it at any point during her turn. It's a real action, so it provokes attacks of opportunity like any other. If she loses actions, her three normal actions go first.
He can play the revealed top card at 1 less cost, paying whatever playing it normally costs (an action unless it's Fast). Skill cards can't be played and his ability doesn't allow committing, so skills on top are stuck there (his signature card adds a way to commit). A weakness revealed on top is drawn right away by his Forced ability.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. His ability is a free trigger with no limit, so in one test he can exhaust several allies one after another. Each gives +1 plus +1 per matching skill icon on that ally.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
No. When the enemy is defeated and his reaction triggers, neither card is in the discard pile yet: Baseball Bat is discarded only after the whole attack resolves, and Guard Dog is defeated only after its own damage resolves.
No. Nothing lets her exchange cards beneath her once she's at the maximum, so choose what to put there carefully.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No to both. An attachment stays until it or Dayana leaves play, or an effect detaches it, so you can't attach a new Spell until the old one is gone. She only stops attached cards from being discarded; an event whose text removes itself from the game still leaves.
Spawning at a location counts as entering it, and enemies can't enter the Dream-Gate, so such an enemy has no legal spawn location and is discarded. When Luke plays an event as if at a connecting location, enemies engaged with him stay engaged and still make attacks of opportunity.
No. Her ability triggers after the attack, which resolves fully first, damage and horror included. If that defeats her, she's eliminated before she can react.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
Most players say yes: whenever her Elder Sign is cancelled or ignored she draws 1 card. A strict reading says a cancelled token never reaches the point where its effect applies. There's no official clarification.
One experienced player cites recent rulings on ArkhamDB; there is no official ruling on Preston specifically.
No, under current rulings. Abilities, constant ones included, don't work during setup unless they say so, so Preston's redirect isn't active when resources are added at setup.
Until the end of the round you may use your intellect instead of combat or agility on a test. If you do, the test becomes an intellect test, so only intellect and wild icons can be committed; combat or agility icons aren't converted. Choose before the test starts. It can only be played during your turn, so not in the Mythos phase.
Any enemy attack against an investigator at your location, yourself included, so attacks of opportunity, Retaliate attacks and enemy-phase attacks all qualify. Against a Massive enemy it cancels only the one attack, on one investigator; it doesn't exhaust the enemy.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It damages every enemy and investigator at the chosen location, which can be yours or a connecting one. You can pick an unrevealed location, but it doesn't reveal it and there won't be enemies there to hit. It isn't an attack, so it hits Aloof enemies too, without needing to engage them.
It needs the attacked enemy to be the only enemy engaged with you. An enemy engaged with someone else isn't engaged with you, so no bonus. A ready Massive enemy counts as engaged with you, so it qualifies if nothing else is engaged with you.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Not the level 0 version: it only stops non-Elite enemies from moving into the location, and spawning isn't moving. The upgraded Barricade (3) is the one that also stops spawns.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No token is revealed: a test that's automatically successful from the start skips the reveal step but goes through its other steps, so you can still commit cards. The enemy's attack is Toe to Toe's additional cost, so it resolves completely before your attack.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
To the whole ability, and across every copy and investigator. A max counts all copies by title for the whole group, so once anyone uses that ability, no Timeworn Brand can use it again that game.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
Yes, you can commit after paying for the bonus, and bonuses already gained stay. Committed cards leave your hand right away, so once you drop below 5 cards you can't activate it again during that test.
You draw and fully resolve the encounter card first, then discover 2 clues at your location, wherever you end up. Because of the "then", if you can't draw an encounter card, you get no clues.
It works on any non-Peril encounter card another investigator draws, enemies included, which you then resolve as if you'd drawn it (an enemy with a Spawn instruction still spawns where it says). It can't take another investigator's weakness: weaknesses are player cards until they start resolving, and Let Me Handle This! responds before that.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It only moves assets that are in play between investigators at your location; cards in hand can't be traded. A traded asset you don't own still goes to its owner's discard pile when it leaves play.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Two copies are fine: Vicious Blow has no "max 1" limit, so each adds +1 damage on a success. Another investigator at your location can commit it to your attack too. It needs a matching icon to be committed, though, so it can't go on a willpower attack like Shrivelling. It only affects the one skill test it's committed to, so One-Two Punch's second attack doesn't get it.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
You repeat only the skill test, not the action, so costs aren't paid again (no new action, ammo or supplies). Cards committed to the failed test and boosts that lasted "for this test" are gone. Modifiers that are part of the test itself carry over; per a relayed designer answer, that includes Drawing Thin's +2 difficulty.
Yes. If Lucky! brings a failed investigation within 2 of the difficulty, you can then play Look What I Found!. Remember the 0 floor applies after Lucky!'s +2. You can't play Look What I Found! without actually failing, though.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Fire Axe's +1 damage checks for an empty resource pool when damage is dealt, after the test, and Dark Horse is a constant effect that applies the moment you hit zero. Spend on Fire Axe's boost before the chaos token is revealed. If something gives you resources mid-test, you lose the bonus.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
Yes. These card effects aren't bound by the Evade action's "engaged with you" rule. Cunning Distraction automatically evades every enemy at your location, including Aloof ones and those engaged with other investigators. Stray Cat can evade an enemy you aren't engaged with.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. The Track Shoes test happens before the enemy would engage you. A Fast card played during it that starts its own skill test must wait until the Track Shoes test resolves, since skill tests can't be nested.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It doesn't exhaust anything: you disengage from each enemy engaged with you, but they stay ready and can re-engage or hunt you. It can move you to any revealed location with no enemies, connected or not. It's Fast, so it doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
In any player window, on anyone's turn and in any phase. Fast events without a timing restriction aren't limited to your own turn the way Fast assets are.
Most experienced players agree, citing a relayed designer answer; the Rules Reference does not settle it.
No. Victory X is part of the text box, which Mind Wipe blanks, so an enemy defeated while blanked goes to the discard pile. Mind Wipe doesn't blank its printed damage and horror, and since it's Fast it doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.
No. The "then" makes the reward depend on spawning an enemy engaged with you. If none turns up in the cards searched, nothing else happens.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Cancelling the attack just stops its damage and horror. The enemy stays engaged in your threat area and comes with you if you move, so evade it if you want to leave it behind.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Your play area, like any asset, unless its text says otherwise. Only weaknesses that tell you to put them in your threat area (Daisy's The Necronomicon, for example) go there, and an asset in your threat area still uses its slot, so The Necronomicon takes a hand slot.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. It says you gain 3 resources, so only the investigator who plays it gets them, and resources aren't supplies. Its Supply trait doesn't refill anything either; only cards that explicitly add supplies or ammo restock an asset's uses.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
To your discard pile, since it's your card, unless it says otherwise (some stay in your threat area). It stays part of your deck and can be drawn again after a reshuffle.
No. You can keep it in hand, but its text works from there (The Tower stops you committing cards), so you choose between living with that and paying to play it.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Discard cards from the top of the encounter deck until an enemy turns up. If the deck runs out without one, the search ends and Smite the Wicked is discarded with no further effect; the empty encounter deck is then refilled from its discard pile as usual. Once attached, Smite stays on the enemy wherever it moves, and the enemy otherwise acts normally, Hunter movement included.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It's discarded after a successful investigation at its location, not when the clues run out, so it stays on a location with no clues until someone investigates there successfully (you may do so just to clear it). A second copy drawn while one is already attached to your location is simply discarded, with no replacement draw.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Nothing limits them, so each copy applies its own effect (two Frozen in Fear make your first move, fight or evade each round cost 2 extra actions), and each Frozen in Fear makes its own willpower test at the end of your turn.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
If no location has clues, they all tie at zero for "most clues", so you choose where it goes. It only stops the Investigate action at that location: you can still move in and out, and abilities that discover clues without investigating there (like Roland's) still work.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It spawns engaged with you when you draw it and acts like any other enemy. When defeated it goes to your discard pile, since you own it, and it stays in your deck for the rest of the campaign, so you may meet it again after a reshuffle.
Most experienced players agree, citing the Rules Reference and a relayed designer answer; the Rules Reference text only covers action abilities.
Yes, if they're at your location. Weakness treacheries and enemies in your threat area are encounter cards at your location, and investigators there can use their abilities, so a teammate can pay their own resources onto your Hospital Debts. Weakness assets, like Daisy's The Necronomicon, are player cards you control, so only you can use them.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
It moves toward and engages only its bearer, ignoring everyone else. Other investigators can still engage it with the Engage action and attack it. An engaged Prey-only enemy doesn't hunt, and if its bearer is eliminated it stays in play unengaged.
Other investigators at your location can use its ability and pay their own resources onto it. You don't have to pay every round: use the ability whenever its text allows (it's limited per round), and what matters is how many resources are on it when the game ends.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes, every asset exhausts. But abilities that don't need exhausting as a cost, or the asset to be ready, like Fire Axe's, keep working while it's exhausted.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Only while agenda 1a is current. Its "each Criminal enemy gains Aloof" text applies to every Criminal enemy and ends the moment that agenda advances. From then on Criminals are normal enemies, and any ready one at an investigator's location engages right away. While Aloof they can still move (the Pit Boss hunts) and still engage you through their own Forced effects or your Engage action.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
He readies, engages that investigator (taking him off anyone else) and attacks right away. That works even though he's Aloof during agenda 1a, but it doesn't remove his Aloof, so once evaded he won't re-engage on his own.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
No. The agenda discards them rather than defeating them, so they go to the encounter discard pile without victory points.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Resolution 4 gives the physical trauma to every investigator, including those who resigned before the end, not just those who failed to get out.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Set him aside; he's a story asset the campaign brings in later. Once he's in play, remember that his ability can't be used to discard a weakness, since you can never choose to discard one.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Neither. It's Massive, so it never sits in a threat area: investigators who move away leave it behind, and when the agenda moves it toward its destination, investigators stay put and stop being engaged with it. Its "readies at the start of the enemy phase" text matters only if it was exhausted (by an evade, say), letting it attack anyway.
No. He's a scenario card with an encounter back, and the campaign guide doesn't add him to a deck, so he's used only in this scenario. Taking control of a story card never adds it to your deck unless a resolution says so.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Each Brood gets its own random location and moves one location toward it. The agenda's Forced effect moves them whether they're ready or exhausted and even if investigators are at their location, since it isn't Hunter movement. If a Brood's random location is where it already is, it stays put.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Only Broods of Yog-Sothoth require it: they can only be damaged by Esoteric Formula's attack, which always tests willpower. Other Abominations can be fought normally. Because only the Formula damages a Brood, most damage boosters (Vicious Blow, which can't be committed to a willpower test anyway) do nothing, though effects that repeat the Formula's own attack, like Double or Nothing, can.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Zero and negative even numbers are even, so they meet the "even" condition.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. It's five cards in total, in any mix of the other classes: all five from one class, or one from each, or anything in between.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Duke starts in play each game, and "the game" means one scenario. His abilities replace Pete's base skill with Duke's value, but it's still Pete fighting or investigating, so other modifiers, like Whippoorwill's -1, still apply.
It applies to any investigation of Orne Library started while you're there, Flashlight and Rite of Seeking included. With Duke it depends where you start: investigating from inside the Library pays the extra action even if Duke moves you out, while moving into the Library with Duke doesn't, because costs are fixed when you begin.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
Yes. The campaign log entry is shared, so anyone who can take the card may buy any identified version. Each upgrade must replace a level 0 Strange Solution in that investigator's deck, and different upgraded versions can be mixed.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It applies to every investigator at its location, engaged or not, and it works while Whippoorwill is exhausted. Two Whippoorwills give -2.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Indebted is your basic weakness; it simply starts each game in play instead of being shuffled into your deck, and doesn't count toward deck size. You normally know which weakness you drew; drawing it blind is a variant.
Players report an FFG FAQ entry that reversed an earlier ruling; the replies here agree, but the ruling itself isn't in our sources.
Under the current FAQ, every effect resolved as the test's results are applied happens twice: the action's success effects (so an attack's damage, weapon bonuses included) and committed skill cards' effects like Guts or Perception. An earlier ruling that excluded committed cards was reversed.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
Shadow-spawned travels to the void with the Hunting Horror and keeps its resources, which is how they build up; tokens on the Horror itself, like doom, are removed when it leaves play. While an agenda's back side resolves, neither that card's front nor the next agenda's front is active, so their Forced effects don't trigger then.
If the scenario ends with him still in play, the token isn't added. If his controller resigns, he leaves play and the token is added. He doesn't stay in your deck; only the Necronomicon can be earned in this scenario.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Stalked in the Dark puts the Hunting Horror straight into your threat area, which puts it at your location; Barricade can't stop it since it's Elite. The Cultist token spawns it only "if able", so if it's already in play nothing else happens.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Each unrevealed train car connects only to its neighbours, and you can't enter one until every clue on the car to its left has been discovered. When an agenda tells you to discard clues controlled by investigators, it applies to all of them, not just those in the removed car.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Empty Location".
It doesn't take a slot: it's an Ally asset without the ally slot icon. And yes, a location with only a Passenger is empty, since an empty location means no enemies or investigators.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. It's a scenario weakness, not a basic weakness: setup sets every copy aside and scenario effects add them to decks.
No. Act objectives are mandatory and immediate unless they say "may", so the scenario resolves as soon as either condition is met and you can't collect both.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Treat them as if drawn from the encounter deck: Revelations and surge resolve, and an enemy without a spawn instruction engages you.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
Every card with that name is removed from all players' decks for the rest of the campaign. A relayed designer ruling says to treat it like an exiled card, so you refill your deck to its legal size with level 0 cards at no experience cost. If Duke is sacrificed, Ashcan Pete continues without him (or you may retire Pete).
Each investigator who wants to enter must personally have 2 clues; they aren't spent. You still have to move in from a connecting location. Clues on assets you control that you can spend, like Kate Winthrop's Flux Stabilizer, count.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Engaged enemies sit in your threat area and come with you to Another Dimension. Being sent back there is an encounter card effect, so its Forced horror triggers, but it isn't an action, so it provokes no attacks of opportunity.
Yes. Several locations with the same name can be in play together.
He's in play while he's at a location or in a threat area. You can remove him with the ability on his card or defeat him. He's Aloof, so you must engage him before attacking, but using his ability only requires being at his location. When an effect says he attacks you, he does so from wherever he is.
No. "Remove from the game" lasts only for the current scenario; he goes back into the deck afterward. If the investigator carrying him is killed or driven insane, the campaign guide has you give him to another investigator.
Yes. Tokens a scenario adds to the chaos bag stay for the rest of the campaign unless a later instruction removes them.
No. Resigned investigators have already left the scenario, so only investigators still in play are affected.
Her ability can add a wild icon to one committed card per investigator at her location each round, so several investigators can each get one on the same test; the card must already be committable (it needs a matching or wild icon of its own). Wild icons count as matching icons toward the six needed to discard The King in Yellow.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Doom: the threshold is per investigator, and clues the cultists collect are flipped to their doom side. Taking control of Mr. Peabody is mandatory when the act says so. He enters play under your control in your ally slot, so an existing ally must be discarded.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
She stays put: the Bystander with the fewest clues can have none, and if it's at her location she remains there. Clues on Bystander assets aren't clues at the location, so effects like Evidence! that discover clues at your location can't take them.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Revelation Abilities".
No. Revealing isn't drawing, so their Revelations don't trigger. You only check the revealed cards for what Hunted by Byakhee asks for, then shuffle the rest back into the encounter deck.
Through the story sides of flipped locations. Some deal damage to him and some don't, and replacing a location flips another of the same name, so you keep searching until you find enough damage. If you run short, recheck your setup.
For the whole group, at any player count. Hidden cards later in the campaign restrict only the investigator who holds them.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
You use its own investigate action, which is a normal investigation of the attached location, so committed cards and constant bonuses like Magnifying Glass apply. Success removes 1 doom instead of discovering clues, however many clues you'd have found. Effects that discover clues without investigating don't touch the doom.
Yes. Neutral cards are always available to her, in addition to cards of her current role, so she never needs to switch roles to play, commit or trigger them.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. It's an Item asset in play with nothing stopping it from leaving play, so Corrosion can discard it. If its investigator is killed, it is lost; nothing passes it on, though its campaign log entry stays.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
He stays in that player's deck unless the campaign guide removes him; "remove from the game" only lasts for the current scenario, so he can turn up again in later scenarios. Defeat him when he appears and check what the resolution says.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Discarding isn't defeating, so it doesn't advance the act; you'll need the other route. Strictly he goes to his bearer's discard pile. The Return to version changes this interaction, and many players apply that fix.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. The clue cost to enter is an additional cost paid as you move, so without the clues you can't make the move.
In the Mythos phase you place the round's doom on one agenda of your choice. Each agenda advances on its own when its threshold is met; you don't need both to be ready. The Skull token counts only doom on the agenda cards themselves.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
The restriction is on discovering clues, checked when the clue is discovered at the end of the test. Committing your whole hand, or playing your last card mid-test (Lucky!, say), leaves you empty-handed in time to discover it.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
Probably not. A ruling from the former lead designer, relayed by a player, says only investigators who succeeded at the Cloister's parley test may enter the unrevealed Abbey Tower; the others can take the test themselves. Another reply disagrees, and the ruling isn't printed.
Neither. Vengeance is tracked separately from Victory: it gives no experience and doesn't reduce it, so a card with Victory 2 and Vengeance 2 is worth 2 XP. When a resolution tells you to, you record the vengeance in the victory display as Yig's Fury in the campaign log.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Keep drawing from the exploration deck until you reveal a connecting location or a treachery, then shuffle the other locations back into the exploration deck. Surge always draws from the encounter deck, whichever deck the surging card came from.
It's permanent: it starts every later scenario in play until a card or the campaign guide removes it, and Medicine supplies can remove it only when the guide offers that option. Pit Viper poisons the investigator it dealt damage to, even if you assigned the damage to an ally.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
Each part is set up as a new scenario, so you start Part 2 fresh, without Part 1's damage, resources or cards in play. Decks can't be changed between the parts, though, so a card exiled in Part 1 leaves you a card short until you next buy cards.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Ability".
No. Card effects refer to cards in play unless they say otherwise, so the Relic must be in an investigator's play area to satisfy the objective.
Investigate the chosen location to avoid its penalty. If you end your turn without doing that, you take the horror and shuffle Call of the Unknown back into your deck, which also clears it from your threat area. Cards that cancel treacheries are worded so they can't stop it.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Those clues are just markers; you don't control them, so they can't be spent.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
It's the evasion version of Retaliate: when an investigator fails an attempt to evade an Alert enemy, it attacks them. Normally you can only evade enemies engaged with you, but card effects that let you evade an unengaged enemy can still trigger it.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
Most players resolve it once for the whole group rather than once per defeated investigator, which avoids looping the tallies: the defeated investigators read that section together.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Supplies belong to the investigator who bought them, so a replacement starts with none. They still take part in interludes and can buy supplies at the next resupply opportunity.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Whoever defeats the Heretic resolves its Forced effect and takes the Unfinished Business, whoever it was engaged with. Unfinished Business is a scenario card, so any investigator at your location can use its ability while it's in your threat area.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Five. The original setup could leave too few clues at low player counts, and FFG's errata, now in the revised campaign guide, raised it from four to five.
The prologue investigators have no decks, so ignore anything that would make them draw or interact with a deck, with no horror for an empty deck. They can't resign either, since the Entry Hall can't be entered in that scenario.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
Twilight Blade has two separate abilities: a Fight action that can use willpower, and a constant ability letting her play or commit events and skills beneath her as if they were in her hand, whenever she normally could. A relayed FFG email says Delay the Inevitable cancelling damage or horror does trigger Diana's reaction.
Yes. Remaining health is checked constantly, so an enemy whose health becomes 0 is defeated at once, engaged or not, even with no damage on it.
No. You include the card that grants them, and the bonded cards sit out of play until an effect brings them in.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
No. While an investigator resolves a Peril card, nobody else can play cards or trigger abilities, and that starts as soon as it's drawn, so other players' cancel cards can't touch it.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Doom".
Yes. Azathoth is in play, and doom on any card in play counts toward the threshold.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
An investigator in a vehicle is at the vehicle's location, so you can investigate, fight and take other actions without getting out; only leaving a running vehicle is forbidden. Malfunction blocks the vehicle's own action abilities (you can't start or stop it), but a car already running still moves through the act's Forced ability.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Choose X from 1 to 3, spend X clues per investigator, reveal X Leads cards and draw one of them. Only the drawn card resolves, since revealed cards' Revelations don't trigger, and the rest go back. You shuffle an encounter card in regardless of how many you revealed.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
At most 10 of each, however many products you own that include them. They don't carry over: all bless and curse tokens leave the bag at the end of each scenario.
The official Rules Reference covers this under "Dealing Damage/Horror".
Yes. Normal assignment rules apply: you may put less on it than its remaining health and send the rest elsewhere, but never more than its remaining health.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
Probably not. Most players read "loses surge" as lasting while the card resolves, so it doesn't surge. A minority reads the effects in order (lose surge, then gain it again). There's no official ruling.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
They don't use an ally slot: they have the Ally trait but no slot icon. They aren't put into play or decks at setup; the campaign tells you when each comes in. Per the campaign guide's Partner rules, effects can't discard them from play; they leave only when defeated.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Each part is played like its own scenario: investigators and decks reset, you take trauma and can spend experience between parts, and the victory display is handled as the guide instructs. Damage and horror recorded on partner assets carry forward. A bonus for "beginning" a scenario applies only to its first part.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
They stay in your deck, across parts and scenarios, until drawn and resolved; resolving a Tekeli-li card returns it to the Tekeli-li deck. If you must take one and the Tekeli-li deck is empty, that part of the effect does nothing.
Yes, per a relayed FFG rules answer: a seal controlled by an investigator counts as at that investigator's location. Seals are an exception to the general rule that tokens on cards aren't "at" a location.
Probably not. Both are additional costs to leave, so most players let you choose the order: take Through the Ice's test first, and if you fail, the move is cancelled and you never pay Zero Visibility's action. One player argues Zero Visibility's action is paid as soon as you start the move.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
No, per FFG's consistent rulings: it doesn't actually become their turn, so abilities and Fast cards limited to "your turn" can't be used. Abilities that simply grant an extra action, like Riot Whistle's, don't work during that action either.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Following the rulings on Fence, the event counts as Fast as you declare playing it: no action cost, no attacks of opportunity, and playable in any player window its own text allows.
Scout Ahead is one action that moves you up to three times, so it finishes before anything else; there's no player window between moves. Eon Chart is Fast to trigger, but the actions it grants are real actions, so a move taken through it provokes attacks of opportunity.
Once per scenario. "The game" means a single scenario.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Concealed enemies are in the shadows: they don't attack in the enemy phase or make attacks of opportunity unless an effect says so, and once exposed they act normally. To expose a mini-card by attacking or evading it, you test against the location's shroud, not the hidden enemy's stats.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. An enemy in the shadows is in play, just not at a location, and it keeps its ready state, so its Forced abilities trigger normally.
Players mostly agree on these readings, but some are disputed and there is no single official ruling covering them.
Breaking and Entering can: "automatically evade an enemy at this location" is the kind of auto-evade the Concealed rules let you use to expose a mini-card instead. String of Curses can't, because it first has you choose a non-Elite enemy, and a concealed mini-card isn't an enemy. Some players argue any auto-evade should work, so this is disputed.
Players disagree and there is no official ruling; this is the better-supported reading.
Most players read the map legend as letting you pass through a red location without stopping there until it's unlocked. Each path you use still marks 1 time, including paths through red locations.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
More than normal carries over, because the prelude's resolution tells you to skip steps 1-8 of setup for the next scenario. The asset you keep stays in play exactly as it was, and the chaos bag stays as it is, bless and curse tokens included, since assembling the bag is one of the skipped steps.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Despite its name, The Final Evening doesn't let you skip setup, so Fate of the Vale is set up normally and nothing extra carries over.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
When you'd draw an encounter card, reveal cards from the bottom of The Abyss until one with an encounter back appears and draw that one; the others go back on top. Where the act has you reveal several and choose one to draw, revealing a weakness doesn't draw it, so you can pick something else. Only the drawn card resolves.
There. The location nearest to the most investigators can be their own, so if everyone is together she spawns at their location. If they're split, add up each location's distance to every investigator and pick the lowest; if locations tie, you choose.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Only when the campaign guide or a scenario says so. "Take control" usually puts the Resident into play for that scenario only; most have an enemy on the back and never join decks. A few have player card backs, and if you're told to add one to your deck, it stays for the campaign.
It depends on the prelude. The act cards of the first two preludes stop investigators from taking damage or horror or being defeated; the third has no such protection.
Yes. Daisy controls it and it's an Item asset, so Fungal Rot can attach and blank its text except traits. It still takes a hand slot, and it still can't leave play while it has horror on it, since that restriction came from its already-resolved Revelation.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. Per an FFG rules response players relayed, the attack or evasion that flips the card to its Enraged side can't also damage it, trigger the Enraged side's "after you evade" damage, or exhaust it.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Any location whose flood level can still rise: unflooded or partially flooded locations that nothing prevents from flooding. If Cthulhu's own location can still be flooded, he stays put.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No. You look at the revealed sides to choose, but don't resolve their "when revealed" text; that only applies when a location is actually put into play and turned to its revealed side. The cards you don't take go back on the bottom.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. They combine freely with Chapter 2 core player cards. Encounter sets the campaign borrows from the Chapter 1 core can be swapped using the official conversion table or print-and-play copies.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
It can be defeated for good in The Grand Vault, once the central location has been opened.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Start it as a fresh campaign with new decks, no experience and a new chaos bag. Its setup only lists changes: do the original setup from the campaign guide and apply the swaps. The new player cards simply join your collection.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Set aside the whole Curse of the Rougarou encounter set (Monstrous Transformation, The Rougarou and the rest) as setup instructs; the scenario brings them in later. Played as a side story in a campaign, use the campaign's current chaos bag as is. The standalone token list applies only in standalone play.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
As soon as the damage it has taken this phase reaches its per-investigator threshold, not at the end of the phase. Damage from one attack or effect is all applied first, then it moves. It isn't limited to once per phase: further damage that phase can trigger it again. It moves all the way to its destination one location at a time, so effects at each location it passes trigger.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
The clue cost to engage is paid by the investigators as a group, from any location. It's a cost of engaging, so effects that damage it without engaging or attacking, like Dynamite Blast, skip it.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes. Neither is a cost to leave. You lose what resources you have, or discard a skill card if you have one, and leave anyway.
When The Rougarou is exhausted at your location, after you evade it or after it attacks in the enemy phase. The Net's ability is a free trigger, so it can be used in a player window outside your turn, and it stays attached when the Rougarou moves.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Yes, there's no limit. Each copy's Forced effect discards it when The Rougarou takes damage, so a single damage clears them all.
The rulebook answers this in "The Enemy Phase".
It attacks each investigator at its location right away, as its text says, then acts like a normal enemy: a ready one engages an investigator there. That card-driven attack doesn't exhaust it (only enemy-phase attacks do), so it can attack again in the enemy phase.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
You must be at Flooded Square. It automatically evades a non-Elite enemy at the location counter-clockwise from it, engaged with anyone or no one, which exhausts and disengages that enemy. You don't move.
Most experienced players agree, though a few read it differently; there is no official ruling.
He can't be engaged and doesn't attack normally; he attacks only through card effects like the agenda or the Elder Thing token. You may fight him as if he were at your location, but he isn't actually at any location, so Dynamite Blast, which targets a location, can't hit him.
No. Each investigator must choose a different mask.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Spending clues is an extra source of damage, not the only one; normal attacks hurt it too. It can't be defeated by damage, so damage beyond its health stays on it, and having no remaining health is what the act checks.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No experience is earned or spent in it, and it can't be played as a side story in a regular campaign. Build decks with the standard standalone rules, each table using different investigators.
Yes. Brotherhood enemies in the victory display are out of play, so the agenda doesn't move them, and they keep their victory points whether or not their tasks were finished; only those still at a location or in a threat area are affected. A defeated enemy with a story back goes to the victory display and you resolve its story side.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
Once per cultist card. A group limit applies to each card for all investigators together, so each cultist can use it once, while "Max" would cap every copy combined.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
You move only to orthogonally adjacent locations, not diagonally, as the agenda explains. In epic multiplayer each group can play at its own difficulty with its own chaos bag.
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
The act spawns them directly, so they're never drawn and their Revelations don't trigger. The action abilities on locations like Water Tower aren't Fight, Evade, Parley or Resign actions, so they do provoke attacks of opportunity.
The designer answered this directly on BGG in 2021.
Not by the designer's intent: choose either the damage or the horror he was dealt, and deal that much damage to a non-Innocent enemy at his location. So 2 damage and 1 horror lets you deal 2 (or 1), not 3. The designer noted the core team could still rule otherwise. His ability can never damage Innocent enemies like Arkham Officers.
“when you use his ability, you choose which amount to count - the damage or the horror. You then deal an amount of damage back equal to that amount.”
— NSKory, designer
The designer answered this directly on BGG in 2022.
By the card's wording it isn't defeated, so it doesn't go to the victory display. The designer said that was an oversight and that you should award yourselves the 2 extra experience as if it had.
“Go ahead and award yourself 2 extra experience for completing the scenario with clues. That was definitely the intent!”
— NSKory, designer
Several experienced players agree; there is no official ruling.
No engagement is needed: parley only requires being at its location, and it doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity. A card-driven attack like Violent Outburst's doesn't exhaust the enemy; only enemy-phase attacks do.
No. When the resolution sends you back to replay, you never reach the end of the scenario, so no experience is earned or spent and after-scenario effects don't apply.