Now i was a playtester, but i nver thought of this - i just want to verify in my own head (as other porbably already knwo is a chaotic crazy place)
Even when her talisman is in front of a hero, its still a Villain target right? So Tempest's squall hits it every turn, even when your trying to keep it out of Kismet's hands (and trust me, you want to now. ... +1 for every jinx in play is pretty brutal!)
Is it a character card? According to the ST glossary, character cards "do not have the same back as the rest of their deck, rather, they have a unique back that provides their extra rules". Sounds like the Talisman to me.
Chastise the talisman ocne it's flipped so Kismet never gets it back? Final Dive it into a villain when it gets lower than 4 hit point? That's not weird, that's awesome! But yeah, it's pretty much a second character card. jut one that takes up space in the deck and should probably be treated as such.
I think you're right that it is a character card, but I can't put it into my PDF as official until Christopher says the words. He verified that the Talisman stays a villain card when it's in front of a hero, but not whether or not the Talisman is a character card or not. That's the more interesting question, I think.
He very plainly stated in one of the playtester meetups that it IS a character card. Just look at the definition of a character card. There is literally no room for questioning it.
Then there literally should be no problem with getting that confirmation. ;) I just want to make sure I've heard it from the horse's mouth before I put it in my PDF.
I would say it stays - the wording on the card is to the effect of "When this is reduced to 0hp or fewer, flip it and restore it to 7hp, etc etc". It's still a target, and it's still the same target, being restored to full health. It's not like the Ennead, which stop becoming targets on flipping as they have no hp. There's an existing precedent for stuff staying in play on a target-which-flips-and-stays-a-target in the form of Baron Blade, who also flips and restores a bunch of health when he reaches 0hp.
I don't believe it counts as leaving play. That would have a lot of implications, Flipping villains would get rid of Twist the Ether, Bounties, Original Omnitron would greatly benefit from that.