Villain Card clarification

Other Games SotM Game Engine
21

The question asked in the FAQ in the rule book reads

"If my hero can use more than one power per turn, can I use the same power twice? What if I have multiple copies of the same power in play"

the answer printed says

"...you may thus only activate one of the two instances of the power during your power phase"

since the question specifically calls out that in this instance the player has the ability to use two powers, the answer has to be about that special case, otherwise the FAQ isn't actually answering the question.

22

That FAQ is really confusing. 

I think this FAQ is trying to answer 2 different situations:
A) " If my hero can use more than one power per turn, can I use the same power twice?" i.e: "If I have something that allow me to activate 2 powers in a turn, and I have a single copy of a card that grants me a power, can I activate that power twice?" Answer: NO.

B) "What if I have multiple copies of the same power in play?" i.e: "In a normal turn in which I can only activate one power, if I have 2 copies of the same card that grant me a power, can I activate the 2 cards as a single power activation?" Answer: NO.

Why did they combine this two cases in the same FAQ? no clue.

Actually, the printed answer says:

Since you are limited to activating one power per turn, you may thus only activate one of  the two instances of the power during your power phase.

So that setence is only related to situation B. At last, this is the only way I can read this FAQ in a way that makes sense for me.

So to ilustrate this with an example, and for other new comers like me which are confused with that FAQ, this how I am going to play this:

I will use the Wraith as the test subject, and specifically her two cards "Infrared Eyepiece" (Equipment, not limited, that grants her a power) and "Utility Belt" (Equipment, limited, that reads "You may use an additional power during your power phase")

1.- If the Wraith has one "Infrared Eyepiece" in play, and no "Utility Belt": she can only activate the power in the "Infrared Eyepiece" once (DUH)

2.- If the Wraith has 2 copies of "Infrared Eyepiece" in play, and no "Utility Belt": she can only activate the power once (one activation in one "infrared Eyepiece" card).

3.- If she has 1 copy of "Infrared Eyepiece" in play, and she has one "Utility Belt" in play: she can only activate the power once (one activation in the only "Infrared Eyepiece" card) (of course, she can activate another additional power from a different card)

4.- If she has 2 copies of  "Infrared Eyepiece" in play, and she has one "Utility Belt" in play: she can activate the power twice (one activation for each of the cards) (finally!)

I think this is the general consensus. Of course, @Melonball, if you think the game is too easy, you can do this in a different way… Good luck!

("And yes, Wraith, the example is over, you can pick up your wear and leave. Hum… You don't need to look at me like that. Yes, I will call Legacy the next time I need something like this. Glups")
 

23

I had been playing the way you described until I read the infernal relics FAQ that made no sense.  

The middle sentence totally confirms that each card is its own power,  but the last sentence undoes that clarity.  

To put another way, if the answer was "you can only use the same power twice if you have multiple instances of a card in play and the means to use 2 powers in the same turn" I feel they could have just said that as opposed to the convoluted wording. 

 

24

I think if we have an existing unambiguous interpretation, we probably shouldn't let a ambiguous FAQ entry confuse us, especially when the first two lines support the interpretation we had been using.

Also, there were a number of problems with the IR rulebook. I wouldn't be surprised if this answer was rushed or from a weird non-final revision.

25

 

I don't recall for sure, but I believe the printers printed the wrong file.

26

That would explain why The Ennead is listed as The Operative and the double-printing on the last two pages.

27

I hate to do thread necromancy, but has there ever been an official ruling on this?

28

Yes, here: https://greaterthangames.com/comment/1156#comment-1156

From a thread conveniently called "Duplicate Powers", (which I just wanted to note for the next time the forum moves and all the cross-linking gets invalidated again).

29

Not to be a meany pants, but that doesn't look like an official ruling, it's people like us discussing the rules...it brings no clarity to the infernal relics broke ass FAQ

30

You were looking for a ruling on the duplicate powers issue, right?  (Not the original villain character card discussion).

The post I linked to is from one of the creators saying first that having two copies of the same power does not make one power use doubly effective.  Then he says that if you can use multiple powers, you can use each instance of the same power.  Is there some other element of this you wanted clarification on?

31

Nope, this was user error on my part, I missed the admin tag this morning.  My apologies :)