Range and Targeting

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you target a power on a land where you know it won't do anything? For instance, target a land without Explorers with a "Push 1 Explorer" Power?
Yes. You can target a power on any land, as long as it satisfies the targeting and range restrictions. ("Do as much as you can" only refers to resolving a Power, not how you use it in the first place.)
Obvious reasons you might want to do this include Gathering Presence (if you're Shroud of Silent Mist) or placing Disease (if Scream Disease Into the Wind has been played on you). There are other less-likely cases too.
Tags: Targeting, Scream Disease Into the Wind, Mists Shift and Flow (Shroud of Silent Mist), Shroud of Silent Mist, 1 more...
Is a land adjacent to itself? Is it within Range 1 of itself? Can it be the nearest land to itself that meets a particular condition? Does Isolate change that?
No, yes, yes, and no. In particular:
  • A land is never adjacent to itself, not even in particularly unusual cases.
  • A land is always at exactly Range 0 of itself, and therefore "within Range 1," "within Range 2," etc.
  • If a land meets a particular condition (e.g., "with Dahan"), it's its own "nearest land" meeting that condition.
  • Isolating a land doesn't change any of these answers, since none require checking which other lands are adjacent.
For some practical examples:
  • It's impossible to Push a piece from a land to itself or Gather a piece from a land to itself, since those move to/from adjacent lands.
  • The threshold of "The Land Thrashes in Furious Pain" (Major Power) can't Repeat that Power on the original target land, since that land is not adjacent to itself.
  • The first threshold of "Explosive Eruption" (Volcano Looming High's left Innate Power) can deal damage in the target land (the land where the Power destroyed Presence). Also, the third and fourth thresholds of both deal damage in the target land.
  • During the Dahan Insurrection Scenario, if a City is destroyed in a land with Dahan, then "Military Response" adds a Town in that same land because there is no nearer land with Dahan.
  • "Exports Fuel Inward Growth" (The Kingdom of Scotland Level 6) adds Towns to a land with Towns/Cities even if there are no adjacent Towns/Cities (either "naturally" or due to Isolate).
    Tags: Isolate, Push, Gather, Range, 27 more...
Do Range buffs apply to Powers that affect "a land with your Presence" or "one of your lands"?
No. "A land with your Presence" specifies a requirement for the land you're affecting (similar to, eg, "a land with Dahan" or "a land with Blight"), not a numeric Range. While it is usually the same in practice as "a land at Range 0", when using effects that modify Range the distinction matters.
For powers like Punish Those Who Trespass or Firestorm that have a base effect with normal range and a further effect referring to "lands where you have presence", the range on the base effect can be extended, but the further part cannot.
For instance, if you reach all the thresholds of Punish Those Who Trespass and have extended range, you can use the base effect to deal damage in a distant land and use the further part to deal damage where you have presence (without extension).
(Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Range, Presence, Targeting, Reaching Grasp, 10 more...
Does Shadows of the Dahan <i>("...you may pay 1 Energy to target a land with Dahan regardless of the Power's Range")</i> let you ignore other targeting requirements?
No. Only Range - the number of lands distant - is ignored.
All other targeting requirements still apply. This includes source restrictions, so if, e.g., a Power must be targeted from a Sacred Site and you have none, Shadows of the Dahan won't let you use it, or if it needs to be targeted from a Jungle, you need Presence in a Jungle to use it. The same applies for target restrictions other than Range, like lands with Invaders, unblighted lands, or restrictions on the target terrain; these must also be obeyed.
(Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Range, Targeting, Shadows of the Dahan (Shadows Flicker Like Flame), Finder of Paths Unseen, 3 more...
Can you place Presence during Growth based on range from your Presence in the Ocean?
Yes, even though the Oceans are not a land at that time (since Growth is not a Power or Blight).
Once Presence is in the Ocean, it is treated normally until/unless the Ocean is no longer in play (because Ocean's Hungry Grasp loses all Presence on that board).
(Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Ocean's Hungry Grasp, Ocean In Play (Ocean's Hungry Grasp)
When a special rule grants a Range boost specifically for targeting lands with specific traits/contents, like "Shadows of the Dahan," does that apply to Range arrows within a Power's text?
No, that bonus is specifically for choosing the target of a land-targeting Power.
Use the Power as though the number in the "Range" box were increased or completely ignored (depending on the Range boost in question) and the extra target requirement were included in the "Target Land" box. In the case of Shadows of the Dahan, this means ignoring the Range number entirely (but not anything else in the "Range" box!) and adding "Dahan" to whatever else is already in the "Target Land" box.
This differs from general-purpose Range boosts, which apply to all Range arrows.
Though early printings of "Sky Stretches to Shore" use the word "targeting," the text of that Power has been revised to work like other Range-boosing Powers and is not subject to this restriction.
Tags: Range Boosts, Shadows of the Dahan (Shadows Flicker Like Flame), Shadows Flicker Like Flame, Encircle Aspect (Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves), 8 more...
When choosing Beasts to move with Flocking Red-Talons, which land do you measure Range from?
The target land. All text in land-targeting Powers is resolved in relation to the target land unless otherwise specified.
(Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Range, Flocking Red-Talons, Inspire the Release of Stolen Lands, Ravaged Undergrowth Slithers Back to Life, 8 more...