Action Modifiers

Frequently Asked Questions

Adversaries

• If a Ravage caused by the Habsburg Mining Expedition (Level 1+) would add a Blight to a land with Blight and no Explorers/Towns, what happens if there are no pieces to Upgrade (e.g., because only Cities are participating in that Ravage)?
  Nothing — neither upgrade nor cascade.

  Avarice Rewarded doesn't check if an upgrade is possible before it replaces the cascade.
  Tags: Upgrade, Blight, Action Modifiers, Habsburg Mining Expedition, 0 more...
• When the Ravage Card is Salt Deposits, does Farmers Seek the Dahan for Aid cause it to Build in Mining lands, Ravage in Mining lands, or Build in non-Mining lands?
  Build in Mining lands.

  Which lands Salt Deposits matches is determined by the space it’s in on the Invader Board, so it’ll still match Mining lands in the Ravage space. Ceaseless Mining only affects the Build Step, so it doesn’t interact with Farmers Seek the Dahan for Aid, which is thus free to turn the Ravage into a Build.
  Tags: Action Modifiers, Ravage, Farmers Seek the Dahan for Aid, Habsburg Mining Expedition, 0 more...
• Against Russia 2: a damaged Explorer with a health bonus ends the turn Shroud of Silent Mists' lands. It should be destroyed when the health bonus wears off - is it saved?
  No. It's not in the context of an action, so Russia 2 doesn't apply.

  (This is a provisional answer - if further cases like this suggest that "Effects expire" needs to be an action, it could conceivably change, but that seems the less likely case.)
  Tags: Actions, Action Modifiers, Shroud of Silent Mist, Well-Prepared Explorers, 1 more...
• If Habsburg Mining Expedition Level 1+ would Ravage in a land with Disease, then an Event ignores Disease during Builds, does the Disease still prevent that Ravage?
  No, the Ravage happens normally.

  Ceaseless Mining makes modifiers to Disease (in this case, making Disease do nothing) apply to Ravages in addition to Builds.
  Tags: Disease, Action Modifiers, Lingering Plagues, Irregular Outbreaks, 1 more...

Aspects

• Can the Intensify Aspect create multiple marked Beasts with one use of Unearth a Beast of Wrathful Stone?
  No. While it can spend an Animal marker to add an additional Beasts token, the second token won't get marked.
  Tags: Action Modifiers, Element markers, Unearth a Beast of Wrathful Stone, Intensify Aspect (Shifting Memory of Ages), 0 more...
• Can the Intensify Aspect spend an Air marker to get an extra use of a Power?
  No, the Air marker lets Intensify use a Slow Power in the Fast Phase instead of the Slow Phase.
  Tags: Element markers, Action Modifiers, Speed (Fast/Slow), Intensify Aspect (Shifting Memory of Ages), 0 more...
• If an Action bases its effects around Invaders with a specific amount of Health (e.g., 3 Health worth of Invaders), what does it mean for that Action to affect +1 piece (e.g., for the Intensify Aspect)?
  Also affect any one piece that meets the original requirement. In the 3 Health worth of Invaders case, this means any one Invader with 3 Health or less.

  Health bonuses and penalties change which pieces can be affected, but Damage does not.
  Tags: Health, Action Modifiers, Dream of the Untouched Land, Radiant and Hallowed Grove (Towering Roots of the Jungle), 1 more...
• Can the Intensify Aspect add multiple token types with Hazards Spread Across the Island?
  No. Hazards Spread Across the Island can only add more of the chosen token you are adding, even if other tokens could have been chosen instead.

  Similarly, if a Power allows adding multiple token types in combinations you choose (e.g., Utter a Curse of Dread and Bone), Intensify can only add extras of token types that are already being added. And if you could add tokens in multiple places (e.g., Spill Bitterness into the Earth), you can only add extra tokens where you already added tokens of that type.
  Tags: Spirit tokens, Action Modifiers, Hazards Spread Across the Island, Utter a Curse of Dread and Bone, 5 more...
• If an action affects multiple lands, can the Intensify Aspect spend prepared Element markers to affect multiple lands?
  Yes, but it must spend separately for each land, and is still limited to one marker of each type for the whole action. It's thus uncommon to usefully increase the effect in multiple lands, but, e.g., Bloodwrack Plague could be boosted with an Animal marker to add an additional Disease in target land, an Earth marker to increase the Defend in one adjacent land, and (with threshold) a Fire marker to increase the Damage in a different adjacent land.
  Tags: Action Modifiers, Bloodwrack Plague, Intensify Aspect (Shifting Memory of Ages)
• What can the Intensify Aspect spend its Element markers on, aside from its Powers?
  Any other Spirit action that Shifting Memory of Ages is doing. However, almost all of the Spirit actions that the Intensify Aspect can usefully boost are either the use of one of their powers or a triggered action created by their powers (e.g., increasing the Damage from Vengeance of the Dead).

  They generally can't spend Element Markers to boost the Powers of other Spirits, even if those Powers involving Shifting Memory of Ages making choices, since using a Power is the action of the Spirit targeting the Power, not the Spirit being targeted.

  To cover some of the more unusual cases:

  • Intensify can spend Element markers on actions granted to it by other Spirits to use at a later point in the turn, like adding a Disease with Scream Disease Into the Wind or doing Damage with Gift of the Sparking Sky.
  • Intensify can spend a Fire marker on a Ritual of Destroying Flame.
  • Intensify can't spend Element markers on benefits that aren't actions, like the ongoing defense from Bargains of Power and Protection.

  Tags: Action Modifiers, Element markers, Triggered Actions, Scream Disease Into the Wind, 4 more...
• Do the modifiers from Intensify carry over into Repeats?
  No, since they apply to actions (e.g., one use of a Power) rather than to Powers directly. However, since each Repeat is a new action, the marker limit resets for the Repeat.
  Tags: Repeat, Action Modifiers, Element markers, Intensify Aspect (Shifting Memory of Ages), 0 more...
• When the Intensify Aspect uses a Plant marker to increase the amount of destroyed Presence added with an action, can it only add one extra instead of two extra?
  Only if there's exactly one extra destroyed Presence to add. If there are two extra destroyed Presence, both must be added, even if you'd rather leave one of them destroyed.
  Tags: Presence, Element markers, Action Modifiers, Intensify Aspect (Shifting Memory of Ages), 0 more...

Effect Rules

• If two effects change when Dahan in a land do Damage (e.g., Words of Warning and Warn of Impending Conflict), which one takes precedence?
  Your choice. So in this example, the best outcome is usually applying Words of Warning first to make all Dahan do Damage at the same time as Invaders, and then using Warn of Impending Conflict to make some of those Dahan strike first. (If you applied them in the other order, then all Dahan would do Damage at the same time as Invaders, since Words of Warning would overwrite Warn of Impending Conflict.)

  Overwriting a timing change doesn't overwrite any other part of the effect. The Event Engage on Their Own Terms will still reduce Dahan Damage even if something else changes when Dahan do Damage.
  Tags: Timing, Ravage, Action Modifiers, Engage on Their Own Terms, 5 more...

Fear and Fear Cards

• How does Overseas Trade Seems Safer at Terror 2 ("Invaders do not Build Cities in Coastal Lands this turn") interact with effects that change what gets Built?
  Check if a City would be Built before any modifiers to how the Build action would work. Overseas Trade Seems Safer skips the Build entirely, and you resolve all "skip this Action" effects before any "modify this Action" effects.
  Tags: Skipping Actions, Action Modifiers, Overseas Trade Seems Safer, Fathomless Mud of the Swamp, 0 more...

General Play

• What's the timing of ongoing effects expiring?
  All "this turn" effects wear off at the same time. For now, assume all normal Time Passes activity (discard, lose elements, clear damage, ongoing effects expire) is simultaneous. Cards like Gift of Constancy (which modify discarding Powers) or Unquenchable Flames work because they explicitly specify a timing.

  Rules for non-standard things that happen during Time Passes (like Shroud of Silent Mist's Slow and Silent Death) can be done before or after effects wearing off unless otherwise specified.

  If it ever becomes clear that there really ought to be some sort of internal ordering to Time Passes, we'll call out that ordering in whatever expansion / FAQ it becomes relevant.
  Tags: Time Passes, Timing, Defend, Action Modifiers, 33 more...
• If an effect says that you may X to Y (e.g., paying Energy to gain a Power Card, Destroying Presence to skip an Event on a board), are you allowed to get the second half for free if you can't do the first half?
  No, the second half is gated behind paying the cost in the first half. Similarly, "you may Y by X" requires paying the cost in the second half to get the effect in the first half.

  While this tends to be pretty obvious when the cost is paying Energy, it's less clear if the cost is performing some other effect, like discarding a card or removing Presence.

  While you must be able to pay the cost in order to get the bonus, ongoing effects can alter the final result of the cost being paid. For example, you can successfully pay the cost of "Destroy 2 Presence" even if Flowing and Silent Forms Dart By will end up saving that Presence from destruction if you do so. On the other hand, you can't attempt to pay the cost with Presence under Absolute Stasis, since that Presence only exists for Victory/Defeat – it doesn't exist as far as the Event is concerned.
  Tags: Action Modifiers, Flowing and Silent Forms Dart By, Absolute Stasis (Fractured Days Split the Sky), Turmoil's Touch (Wandering Voice Keens Delirium), 11 more...
• Is there an ordering or priority for action modifications? It seems weird that you can get a benefit from something being destroyed even if you save it from destruction.
  Yes:

  • First change quantity (eg: Pour Time Sideways);
  • Then do any canceling or replacement (eg: Flowing and Silent Forms Dart By / A Year of Perfect Stillness);
  • Finally do any other sort of additional or altered effects (eg: threshold on Instruments of Their Own Ruin).

  The practical upshot of this is mostly "you can't both prevent something from happening and do extra stuff because it's happening" - eg, if Volcano Looming High's Presence would be destroyed, but it's saved somehow, you don't get to deal damage.

  If a modifier cancels just part of something, modifiers to that part don't apply. Eg: Entrap the Forces of Corruption doesn't stop Blight from being added, but it does stop it from cascading, so another modifier which changed how cascades worked wouldn't apply.

  As before, if you have multiple modifiers with no clear order, you get to pick which happens first. For instance: you play Infestation of Venomous Spiders with threshold on a land with Dahan about to Ravage. A Fear Card says "Invaders do not Ravage in lands with Dahan". When that Ravage would happen, there are two different "skip this Ravage" modifiers. You get to decide which one to do first, so can choose it to be the Venomous Spiders. This wouldn't be true if the entire Ravage Step got skipped, or if the Ravage Card were changed to match different lands - those happen before you ever reach the individual Ravage Action – but as of JE, the only Fear cards that work this way are Explorers Are Reluctant and Immigration Slows, levels 2 and 3.

  This is an addition to published rules – the intent is that it will be included in the rulebook of a future expansion.
  Tags: Action Modifiers, Skipping Actions, Pour Time Sideways (Fractured Days Split the Sky), Flowing and Silent Forms Dart By, 19 more...

Invader Actions

• If an effect changes when Dahan deal Damage in Ravage (e.g., Words of Warning), is that Damage in addition to or instead of the normal Damage after Invaders?
  Instead of. Each Dahan only deals Damage once.
  Tags: Ravage, Timing, Action Modifiers, Engage on Their Own Terms, 5 more...

Power Cards

• If you do damage in multiple lands with a single instructions, does the damage happen simultaneously? Against Russia level 2+, if one of those lands is Isolated, can you attempt to Push an Isolated Explorer and thus destroy it?
  Damage instructions are simultaneous in all the lands where they apply. Russia's Sense for Impending Disaster effect requires you to Push an Explorer if you can (and generate 1 Fear); you cannot pick an Isolated Explorer as the one to Push if you have another choice.

  This applies to any effect that deals damage in multiple lands at once.
  Tags: Damage, Action Modifiers, Bloodwrack Plague, Fire and Flood, 12 more...
• If a Power on a Power Card has been modified, do those modifiers persist if the Power Card leaves play?
  No, any modifiers to a Power in play, whether modifying Speed, Range, Target, or Effect, are to the Power in play, not to the Power Card itself. If the Power Card leaves play, it does not retain those modifications, nor does it automatically re-gain them if it is played again that turn.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Action Modifiers, Speed (Fast/Slow), Range Boosts, Slip the Flow of Time (Fractured Days Split the Sky), 1 more...

Spirits and Innate Powers

• Can *Gift of Furious Might* be used on Rising Heat of Stone and Sand to increase the damage from *Gift of Searing Heat*?
  Yes. Gift of Furious Might lets a Spirit boost the Damage of one of its Powers by +3. Gift of Searing Heat is one of Rising Heat's Powers (even though it's working with/through another Spirit) so it qualifies.
  Tags: Damage, Action Modifiers, Gift of Searing Heat (Rising Heat of Stone and Sand), Gift of Furious Might (Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot), 2 more...
• Does the Damage bonus from Gift of Furious Might persist when the affected Power is Repeated?
  No, the bonus only increases one instance of dealing Damage, rather than boosting one Power for the entire turn. (This is more clear starting in the second printing.)
  Tags: Repeat, Action Modifiers, Gift of Furious Might (Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot), Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot, 0 more...
• If *Gift of Searing Heat* is used on Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot, and Devouring Teeth chooses to do 1 Damage, does it get the +1 Damage bonus from its Territorial Aggression special rule?
  No. Territorial Aggression affects only Powers belonging to Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot. Gift of Searing Heat belongs to a different Spirit, even though it is letting Devouring Teeth do something.
  Tags: Damage, Action Modifiers, Gift of Searing Heat (Rising Heat of Stone and Sand), Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot, 1 more...
• When Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine faces the Tsardom of Russia Level 2+, can Breath abuct lone Explorers by doing Damage to them or directly destroying them?
  Yes, it can and must, even if it'd rather let the Explorer flee to get 1 Fear.

  Terror Stalks the Land abducts lone Invaders if Breath would attempt to damage or destroy them, while A Sense for Impending Disaster only makes an Explorer flee if that Explorer would actually otherwise be destroyed.
  Tags: Action Modifiers, Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine, Terror Stalks the Land (Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine), Tsardom of Russia, 0 more...
• When Volcano uses Explosive Eruption vs Russia 2+, can it Push 1 Explorer from the origin land (when it does damage by destroying Presence) then destroy that Explorer using the thresholds of the innate which deal damage to nearby lands? Does it Push the Explorer again?
  No, and no. Powers can't destroy Invaders that were saved from destruction earlier in that same action, so the runaway Explorer is safe. And all the damage is part of a single action, so you only Push them (and generate Fear) once.

  The damage from destroying your Presence is part of the same action because the Special Rule says "When you destroy your Presence..." - it modifies how other actions work while they're happening.
  Tags: Destroy, Saved From Destruction, Action Modifiers, Explosive Eruption (Volcano Looming High), 2 more...
• When *Gift of Furious Might* boosts Damage that's limited in some way - like the first level of Rising Heat's innate, which only damages Explorers - is the bonus damage also limited?
  Yes.

  This is true for all sorts of limitations - type of piece that can be damaged, number of pieces that can be damaged (Veil the Night's Hunt / Tempest of Leaves and Branches), etc.
  Tags: Damage, Action Modifiers, Gift of Furious Might (Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot), Scorch With Waves of Heat (Rising Heat of Stone and Sand), 3 more...
• Are there any Powers that use the words "Push" or "Gather" that Gift of Wind-Sped Steps can't make Fast?
  Not in Horizons of Spirit Island.

  In the Jagged Earth expansion, it can't affect Gather the Scattered Light of Stars — while that Power Card has "Gather" in its name, it doesn't have a Push/Gather instruction as part of its effect. (Other expansions have similar effects that check for specific instructions.)
  Tags: Gather, Push, Action Modifiers, Checking for instructions, 4 more...
• When the Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony) Level 2+ would Build a City in an Inland Fathomless Mud Sacred Site, how many Explorers get Built?
  One or two Explorers, your choice.

  If you choose to apply Offer No Firm Foundations first, it switches the Build from a City to an Explorer, so More Rural Than Urban doesn’t apply. On the other hand, if you choose to apply More Rural Than Urban first, it switches the Build from a City to two Towns, which Offer No Firm Foundations then switches to two Explorers.
  Tags: Build, Action Modifiers, Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony), Offer No Firm Foundations (Fathomless Mud of the Swamp), 1 more...
• When Volcano uses Explosive Eruption, it deals damage both via destroying its Presence and the Innate Power. Does Badlands apply twice?
  No, because the damage from destroying its Presence isn't a separate action.

  The Special Rule says, "When your Presence is destroyed...", which means the damage is done as part of whatever action destroyed your Presence.

  (If it were instead a triggered action, it would say "After your Presence is destroyed".)
  Tags: Actions, Action Modifiers, Badlands, Explosive Eruption (Volcano Looming High), 2 more...
• Can Gift of Wind-Sped Steps affect a Power which *might* Gather or Push something, like Devouring Teeth's innate power Death Approaches From Beneath the Surface?
  Yes. Gift of Wind-Sped Steps can make Fast any Power with "Gather" or "Push" in the text effects, even if the Gather/Push is conditional or optional.
  Tags: Gather, Push, Action Modifiers, Gift of Wind-Sped Steps (Sun-Bright Whirlwind), 1 more...
• When using Dances Up Earthquakes' third growth option, can you pick the same impending card twice? Can you gain extra Energy onto one impending card and less Energy onto another impending card?
  No and yes, respectively. You first choose which 0-2 cards you're going to affect and then separately decide which of the chosen cards (if any) will gain +1 Energy and which (if any) will gain -1 Energy when you gain Energy later that Spirit Phase.
  Tags: Growth, Action Modifiers, Rhythmic Power Builds to a Cataclysmic Crescendo (Dances Up Earthquakes), Begin a Dance of Decades (Dances Up Earthquakes), 1 more...
• Against Tsardom of Russia Level 2+, if Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares uses a Power that would destroy Explorers, can it get the bonus Fear from Russia?
  Yes. Both Russia's Level 2 and To Dream a Thousand Deaths modify what happens when you destroy the Explorers; you get to choose which one to use.

  If not using the Violence Aspect, you could choose to use To Dream a Thousand Deaths if for some reason you didn't want the Fear.

  This interaction is a change from the normal modifier rules specifically for Russia + Bringer. In general, pieces can't be saved from destruction (as Russia Level 2 does) when Bringer would directly destroy or Damage them, since Bringer never directly destroys or Damages anything other than its own Presence.
  Tags: Action Modifiers, Saved From Destruction, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), Tsardom of Russia, 1 more...
• What is the timing of specifying a new Presence-track Element for Starlight?
  As soon as it's revealed, even mid-action. Its panel should read "When you reveal a (star)", not "After you reveal a (star)". This rarely matters, but is also more consistent with how other Presence-track elements work.

  (Technically as written, if you revealed multiple stars in the same action, you would only cover one of them, which is why the change above matters.)
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Elements, Timing, Triggered Actions, Action Modifiers, 2 more...
• Can Vengeance as a Burning Plague let the Habsburg Mining Expedition Ravage in Mining lands with Disease in order to earn Fear?
  Yes.

  The Terror of a Slowly Unfolding Plague modifies how Disease works, so Ceaseless Mining lets it apply to Ravages in Mining lands.
  Tags: Disease, Action Modifiers, Vengeance as a Burning Plague, The Terror of a Slowly Unfolding Plague (Vengeance as a Burning Plague), 1 more...
• Does the event Lingering Plagues *("....Ignore Disease during Builds this Invader Phase")* stop Vengeance from gaining Fear by letting Builds happen where there's Disease?
  No, Vengeance may still gain the Fear. Lingering Plagues should be read as "Disease doesn't prevent Builds this Invader Phase" - it modifies the same thing ("When Disease would prevent a Build") as The Terror of a Slowly Unfolding Plague, so you can choose to apply the latter first.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Action Modifiers, Disease, Build, Lingering Plagues, 3 more...
• As Volcano, when destroying your own Presence for Explosive Eruption, can that Presence be saved (by, e.g., Flowing and Silent Forms Dart By)?
  Yes, but not usefully. It doesn't count towards the eruption thresholds (because they check the # of Presence actually destroyed) or for Collapse In a Blast of Lava and Steam (because "destroy" gets replaced with "push" before the rule "when your Presence is destroyed, deal damage" kicks in).

  Prior to the ruling that cancellation/replacement always happens before changes/additions, you could decide on the ordering, and apply Collapse In a Blast of Lava and Steam's damage before Flowing and Silent Forms Dart By's substitution. but this is no longer true.
  Tags: Saved From Destruction, Action Modifiers, Presence, Destroy, 4 more...
• Can Dances Up Earthquakes use its third growth option to delay an impending card from being played even if there's no Energy on that card to remove?
  Yes. That growth option doesn't immediately change the amount of Energy on the impending card — it changes how much Energy will be gained onto that card later in the Spirit Phase. It's possible to delay a 1-cost card with 0 Energy on it by gaining 1 fewer Energy onto it that turn.
  Tags: Growth, Action Modifiers, Rhythmic Power Builds to a Cataclysmic Crescendo (Dances Up Earthquakes), Begin a Dance of Decades (Dances Up Earthquakes), 1 more...