Life's Balance Tilts

Frequently Asked Questions

Adversaries

• Against The Tsardom of Russia Level 2: a damaged Explorer with a Health bonus ends the turn in a way where it won't heal (e.g., in Shroud of Silent Mists' lands). It should be destroyed when the health bonus wears off – is it saved?
  No. Effects wearing off in Time Passes isn't an action, so "A Sense for Impending Disaster" doesn't save the Explorer.

  (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, Rulings Under Examination, Heal, 9 more...

Definitions

• When instructed to discard a card, which cards can you choose from? Where do those cards go?
  "Discard a card" without any other qualifiers means "put a Power Card from your hand into your discard pile." This most commonly occurs as part of paying for a Choice Event, but can also appear as a cost or detrimental effect.

  Some effects (most notably, the standard effects of Time Passes) discard Power Cards from play because they interact with a specific card that's in play or with cards in play in general. In that case, put the Power Card(s) from play into your discard pile. You can't discard a Power Card from play unless otherwise instructed to do so.

  If instructed to discard a card not controlled by a player, the card goes to that deck's discard pile. This most commonly occurs when gaining a Power Card, discarding the top card of the Event Deck on Turn 1, and when discarding a Minor Power as a randomizer.
  Tags: Discarding Powers as a randomizer, Choice Events, Turmoil's Touch (Wandering Voice Keens Delirium), Wandering Voice Keens Delirium, 19 more...
• When you "Remove 3 Health worth of Invaders," can you Remove 3 damaged Towns?
  No, the Health of an Invader doesn't change when it takes Damage. Damaged Towns still count for 2 Health each.

  A few effects (e.g., Kingdom of England Level 5, or some Event/Fear cards) modify Health, which does affect how many Invaders you can Remove. But Damage does not reduce Health. (Health is simply the total amount of Damage it takes to destroy something.)
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Damage, Health, Seek Safety, Belief Takes Root, 16 more...

Effect Rules

• When an effect does multiple things "on each board," can each thing happen in a different land?
  Yes in principle, but most such effects specify otherwise.

  By default, as long as you're resolving everything on a particular board, you can split the effect. For example, "On Each Board: Remove 1 Beasts. Add 1 Disease" (part of the first choice of the "Life's Balance Tilts" Event) can remove a Beasts token from one land and add a Disease token to a different land on the same board. And similarly, "On Each Board: Push up to 2 Dahan" (part of the first choice of the "Hard-Working Settlers" Event) can Push 2 Dahan from different lands on the same board.

  Nevertheless, many of these effects specify that they happen in a single land on the board, which means that they can't be split. For example, if "On Each Board: Gather 1 or 2 Dahan into a land with Dahan Setup Symbols." (the "Return to Old Pillars" Dahan Event) moves two Dahan, it must move them into the same single land, since the Dahan are gathered into "a land" (singular).
  Tags: Fear Cards, Events, Seek Company, Distracted by Local Troubles, 35 more...

Event Cards

• When Event cards ask you to discard the top major or minor power and do something on each board, do you discard just one card overall or one per board?
  You discard one card for each board and follow the instructions on that board.

  This affects 'Missionaries Arrive', 'New Species Spread', 'War Touches the Island's Shores', and 'Years of Little Rain'.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Missionaries Arrive, New Species Spread, War Touches the Island's Shores, Years of Little Rain, 2 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, 38 more...

Power Cards

• If you have a choice between destroying a normal Beasts token and a Beasts token marked by Unearth a Beast of Wrathful Stone, can you pick the marked Beasts? If so, what happens?
  Yes, you can pick the marked Beasts, and it's generally advantageous to do so: if it would be destroyed, removed, or replaced, skip those effects.

  It won't count as destroyed, removed, or replaced for effects that scale off the number of Beasts that leave the board, like A Dreadful Tide of Scurrying Flesh or Pent-Up Calamity.
  Tags: Destroy, Remove, Replace, Unearth a Beast of Wrathful Stone, 12 more...

Spirits and Innate Powers

• If an effect changes the Health of all pieces that meet a particular condition, does that affect pieces in The Endless Dark?
  Yes, so long as it checks the traits of the piece itself (e.g., what type it is, how much Strife it has) rather than the traits of the land it’s in (e.g., if Blight is present, if at least 3+ Invaders are present).
  Tags: Health, Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine, The Endless Dark (Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine), Kingdom of England, 9 more...