Horizons of Spirit Island

Frequently Asked Questions

Effect Rules

• When Repeating a Power that has choices, do you have to make the same choice the second time?
  No, when Repeating a Power, you can make different choices unless the Power explicitly says otherwise. This can include:

  • Choosing a different target
  • Choosing a different mode (e.g., gaining Energy with the first use of Gift of Searing Heat and then spending it with the second use)
  • Choosing not to pay for something you paid for the first time (e.g., not paying for a card with the second use of Exaltation of Tangled Growth)
    Tags: Repeat, Targeting, Gift of Searing Heat (Rising Heat of Stone and Sand), Exaltation of Tangled Growth (Fathomless Mud of the Swap), 0 more...

Fear and Fear Cards

• When a Fear Card lets each player do something in a land with Presence / a Sacred Site, must it be the Presence / Sacred Site of the Spirit they are playing?
  No, those Fear Cards check for any Presence / Sacred Site.

  When resolving the effects of a Fear Card, you're not making choices for your Spirit, which has no control over Fear effects. Rather, each player gets a choice so that the effects of the Fear Card scale properly with the number of players in the game.

  Nevertheless, "Each Spirit gains 1 Energy per Sacred Site they have in lands with Invaders." (e.g., Terror Level II of "Belief Takes Root") does specifically check each Spirit's Sacred Sites individually, because it explicitly says so.
  Tags: Presence, Fear Cards, Theological Strife, Belief Takes Root, 1 more...
• Are the effects of Fear Cards mandatory?
  Yes, the effects of Fear Cards are not under the control of the Spirits, and players only get to break ties between equally-effective ways of resolving the card.

  That being said, some effects give the players a bit more control:

  • If a choice is explicitly granted to the a player (e.g., "Each player chooses a different land"), then they may choose any valid land, even one where the Fear Card won't do anything.
  • If an effect is explicitly optional (e.g., "Each player may ..."), then a player may choose to do nothing.
  • In an effect lets a player choose a number (e.g., "Push up to 2 Explorers," "remove up to 3 Health worth of Invaders"), then they may choose 0 (effectively doing nothing) unless there's an explicit minimum.
    Tags: Fear Cards

General Play

• Are the low complexity spirits always supposed to use a Power Progression, or is this only for beginners?
  The Power Progressions are only intended for beginners.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Power Progression, Lightning's Swift Strike, River Surges in Sunlight, Vital Strength of the Earth, 6 more...

Power Cards

• When does the target Spirit choose when to use the Damage bonus of Gift of Furious Might?
  At the moment they do Damage. They don't have to "lock in" which Power gets the bonus in advance.

  This could be much later in the turn than the original Power use if the Power sets up a later condition for doing Damage (e.g., Vengeance of the Dead).
  Tags: Damage, Triggered Actions, Gift of Furious Might (Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot), Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot, 0 more...
• In "Veil the Night's Hunt," if there are fewer Invaders than Dahan, how much damage is done?
  If there are fewer Invaders than Dahan, each Invader takes 1 damage and the remaining damage is wasted.

  That is, the Damage must be dealt to different Invaders or it is wasted, rather than the Damage merely being spread as evenly as possible.
  Tags: Veil the Night's Hunt, Suffocating Shroud (Shroud of Silent Mists), The Fog Closes In (Shroud of Silent Mist), Shroud of Silent Mist, 1 more...
• If a Power deals Damage multiple times, can the Damage bonus from "Gift of Furious Might" be split across those instances of Damage?
  Yes, so long as all of the Damage is being done during the same use of the Power.

  For example, if a Spirit uses "Vigor of the Breaking Dawn" with its threshold and pushes Dahan into two different lands (dealing Damage in three lands), they could:

  • Deal +3 Damage in one land;
  • Deal +2 Damage in one land and +1 Damage in another land;
  • Get +1 Damage in each of the three lands.

  When using a Power like "Vengeance of the Dead" that deals Damage multiple times later in the turn in response to something else happening, the bonus applies only one of those times (though the bonus can still be split across multiple lands if you reached the threshold of "Vengeance of the Dead").
  Tags: Damage, Gift of Furious Might (Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot), Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot, Vengeance of the Dead, 0 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...
• 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...
• 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...

Spirits and Innate Powers

• 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...
• Can Eyes use its Dahan Trust the Watchers special rule to Gather Dahan when targeting a Spirit with Encompassing Ward?
  No. Even if all of target Spirit's Presence is in one land, the Power doesn't add Defend to the land, but rather grants the Spirit a new effect.
  Tags: Defend, Encompassing Ward, Dahan Trust the Watchers (Eyes Watch From the Trees), Eyes Watch From the Trees, 5 more...
• Can Powers target lands where it's impossible to resolve all of the effects (e.g., Spreading and Dreadful Mire targeting a land without Dahan)?
  Yes, Powers just need to be able to meet the conditions in the "Range" and "Target" boxes.

  In this Spreading and Dreadful Mire example, the only targeting restriction is having Invaders. While some thresholds of the Power will push Dahan if possible, Fathomless Mud of the Swamp isn't required to target a land with pushable Dahan.
  Tags: Targeting, Spreading and Dreadful Mire (Fathomless Mud of the Swamp), Fathomless Mud of the Swamp
• 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 playing Fathomless Mud of the Swamp solo, can it gain 2 Power Cards with Exaltation of Tangled Growth?
  Yes. It can pay 1 Energy to gain a Power Card as “target Spirit,” and then can pay 2 Energy to gain a Power Card as “you.”
  Tags: Solo games, Exaltation of Tangled Growth (Fathomless Mud of the Swap), Fathomless Mud of the Swamp
• If Eyes Watch From the Trees uses the threshold of *The Trees and Stones Speak of War*, do they get to Gather a Dahan afterwards? If so, when?
  Yes, they may Gather 1 Dahan into the target land after the Power is 100% finished (including the threshold, even if the threshold Pushes out all of the Dahan).

  It works because The Trees and Stones Speak of War only adds Defend to a single land. (The threshold effect may then move some of that Defend around.)

  Note that Eyes' bonus Gather will not move any Defend with the Dahan. That's a special feature of The Trees and Stones Speak of War.
  Tags: Defend, Move, Dahan, The Trees and Stones Speak of War, 2 more...
• If Devouring Teeth Lurks Underfoot gets a Range bonus to Death Approaches from Beneath the Surface and targets a land at least Range 2 from its Presence, does it have to Gather Presence into that land?
  No, "Gather" can only bring in pieces from adjacent lands.

  If it used "Move" — e.g., "Move 1 Presence to the target land" — then it could happen at any Range, like Fathomless Mud of the Swamp's Spreading and Dreadful Mire.
  Tags: Targeting, Gather, Range Boosts, Death Approaches Beneath the Surface (Devouring Teeth Lurk Underfoot), 3 more...
• If Rising Heat of Stone and Sand has a Sacred Site in a land for targeting purposes due to "Entwined Power," do Invaders there have -1 Health from its "Blistering Heat" Special Rule?
  No, the Spirits can use each other's Presence for targeting only, not for any other purpose (even in the period of targeting).

  To expand on the situation, a land contains one Presence from Rising Heat of Stone and Sand, one Presence from another Spirit, and a Town with 1 Damage. "Entwined Power" is used between the two Spirits, and then Rising Heat uses a Power that requires a Sacred Site there for targeting. Even though targeting the Power is legal by "Entwined Power," the land only counts as a Sacred Site for Targeting, not for the Special Rule "Blistering Heat."
  Tags: Counts As, Rising Heat of Stone and Sand, Blistering Heat (Rising Heat of Stone and Sand), Entwined Power, 0 more...
• When Fathomless Mud of the Swamp uses Spreading and Dreadful Mire, does the moved Presence have to be Mud’s Presence?
  Yes, when one of your Actions moves Presence, it means your Presence unless otherwise specified. (This is explicitly stated in later printings of Mud.)
  Tags: Presence, Spreading and Dreadful Mire (Fathomless Mud of the Swamp), Fathomless Mud of the Swamp
• 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 Spreading and Dreadful Mire, does it matter if you don't have a Sacred Site in the origin land when you resolve the first threshold (e.g., because you targeted via Entwined Power)?
  No, "the origin sacred site" is just land you picked as the origin back when targeting the Power. There isn't a second check for if that land is still your sacred site.

  This only matters if you still have Presence in that land (e.g., because you and the Spirit you're entwined with each had exactly 1 Presence there); if none of the Presence there is yours, there is no Presence you can move.
  Tags: Sacred Sites, Spreading and Dreadful Mire (Fathomless Mud of the Swamp), Fathomless Mud of the Swamp, Entwined Power, 0 more...
• Can Fathomless Mud of the Swamp target the origin land of Spreading and Dreadful Mire, or does that fail because moving Presence is required?
  Yes, you can target the origin land: “this is required” is a reminder that if it’s possible to Move a Presence, you must, not that you must choose a target where moving Presence is possible.

  (Also, while it's rarely relevant, you can technically Move a piece from a land to that same land, so long as the wording of the Power doesn't exclude doing so. Thematically, it’s moving within that land.)
  Tags: Targeting, Move, Presence, Spreading and Dreadful Mire (Fathomless Mud of the Swamp), 1 more...