Keep Watch for New Incursions (Hearth Vigil)

Frequently Asked Questions

Adversaries
Effect Rules
Elements and Elemental Thresholds
  • Can the different thresholds of an innate power be used separately?
    No, the thresholds are all part of a single power. All effects must be used on the same target land (or same target Spirit), and you use the effects of every threshold you meet{1}, in the order they're printed{2}.
    For example, Lightning's Swift Strike's innate power of Thundering Destruction used with 5 Fire, 4 Air, and 1 Water can destroy two buildings in the same land, but it cannot destroy two buildings in different lands. Even the final threshold on Serpent Slumbering Beneath the Island's Serpent Rouses in Anger targets a single land, although it affects all lands on the board in addition to the one that it targets.
    One sort-of-exception: innate powers that say "Repeat this Power," like A Spread of Rampant Green's innate Creepers Tear into Mortar. When a power is Repeated, you use the power from the beginning, which means you can target a new land.
    {1} = You are allowed to pretend you have fewer Elements than you really do — e.g., to activate only the lower level of an innate — but that decision is made for the entire Power, not each threshold individually. Once you've chosen, you must activate every threshold those elements qualify for. Particularly, for Shadows Flicker Like Flames' innate power Darkness Swallows the Unwary, there is no set of elements which can activate the second threshold without also activating the first threshold. If you destroy 2 Explorers to earn fear, you must first gather an explorer (if able).
    {2} = Effects which modify Speed, Range, or targeting obviously apply when you check Speed / Range / targeting.
    (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Elements, Lightning's Swift Strike, A Spread of Rampant Green, Serpent Slumbering Beneath the Island, 15 more...
General Play
  • Do powers have to be resolved in order, or can you choose to do the effects in the order that's most convenient for you?
    Powers must be resolved in order from top to bottom. If a Power has thresholds, resolve all thresholds you hit, in the order they are listed (skipping over the ones you don't hit).
    There are a small number of exceptions:
    If a Power changes its own Speed, Range, or Targeting, those changes (and corresponding thresholds / costs) are checked when relevant during targeting, not during normal Power resolution. Examples:
    • "You may pay 1 Energy to make this Power Fast." ("Dry Wood Explodes in Smoldering Splinters")
    • "Increase this Power's Range to Range 1." ("Sap the Strength of Multitudes")
    • "This Power can target lands with Blight." ("Inspire the Release of Stolen Lands") – but note that the rest of this threshold effect still resolves at the end, like normal.
    (By the time you're resolving the rest of the Power text, it'd be too late for these modifiers to do anything!)
    If a threshold modifies how an earlier part of the Power resolves, that modifier applies at the sensible time. Examples:
    • "Do not destroy any Dahan." ("The Jungle Hungers")
    • "Damage from this Power may be dealt into adjacent lands." ("Vengeance of the Dead")
    Technically, every use of "Instead..." in an innate power works this way; it's pretty simple for human minds to understand the intent, but the formal specification is messier. Note that a "+" in a threshold effect (like "+2 Damage" in "Walls of Rock and Thorn") is not a modifier, but rather a new Damage instruction – this is occasionally relevant for timing purposes.
    If a Power specifies that something happens later, do it at that time (remembering that these ongoing effects expire when Time Passes unless specified otherwise). Examples:
    • "Once this turn, target Spirit may ..." ("Powerstorm")
    • "After the next time Invaders are destroying in target land: ..." ("Blood Draws Predators")
    • "At end of turn, ..." ("Gift of Constancy")
    "Repeat this Power" as a threshold also falls into this category, since it's short for "After resolving this Power and all Actions triggered by it, Repeat it."
    If a Power explicitly specifies to resolve part of a threshold earlier in power resolution, follow that order. Examples:
    • "+3 Fear, before the Terror Level check." ("Twisted Flowers Murmur Ultimatums")
    • "Before Pushing, Explorers and Towns/Cities do Damage to each other." ("Dissolve the Bonds of Kinship")
    • "First, Gather up to 3 Dahan." ("Wrap in Winds of Sunlight")
    Also related: A Power that is 100% internal modifiers doesn't do anything, so can't be targeted/used for things like "Scream Disease Into the Wind."
    Tags: Resolving Powers, Range Boosts, Speed (Fast/Slow), Targeting, 59 more...
Spirits and Innate Powers