Replace

Frequently Asked Questions

Aspects

• When the Intensify Aspect spends a Moon Marker when replacing a piece of type A with a piece of type B (e.g., replacing 1 Explorer with 1 Dahan with Call of the Dahan Ways), how many piece of type B will there be?
  One per piece of type A that was replaced. So in this case, if there were two Explorers present, there would then be two Dahan.
  Tags: Replace, Upgrade, Downgrade, Intensify Aspect (Shifting Memory of Ages), 7 more...

Definitions

• When does destroying a Town or City cause Fear?
  Always, regardless of how it's destroyed: directly via a Power that says to destroy one, from damage done by a Power, from damage done by Dahan counterattacking, due to a Spirit's special rules, from a Fear or Event card, etc. [p. 18]

  Fear from destruction is independent of any explicit Fear the Power does - e.g., Lightning's Shatter Homesteads reads "1 Fear. Destroy 1 Town." It will usually generate 2 Fear: 1 explicitly, and 1 for destroying a Town.

  Note that when you remove or replace a Town or City, it does NOT cause any automatic Fear. Removing Invaders happens most frequently via Fear Cards, and usually represents the Invaders fleeing, which doesn't make them any more afraid. Replacing an Invader represents some sort of transformation or change; if it's a scary change, the effect will explicitly specify how much Fear to do.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Destroy, Fear, Dahan, Ravage, 10 more...

Effect Rules

• What happens to Blight that is replaced with another piece?
  Any Blight replaced during play goes to wherever removed Blight goes: the Blight Card or Blight space.
  Tags: Replace, Blight, Transforming Aspect (Heart of the Wildfire), Ravaged Undergrowth Slithers Back to Life, 0 more...
• If multiple pieces would be upgraded or downgraded simultaneously (e.g., with the Lair Aspect), is it possible to upgrade or downgrade the same piece multiple times?
  No. Pick all of the pieces you want to replace first, then upgrade/downgrade them all at the same time.

  However, it is possible to upgrade/downgrade a piece multiple times if they are replaced as part of different instructions (e.g., downgrading the same Invader with two different thresholds of Lost in the Endless Dark) or with two different actions (e.g., different players downgrading pieces in the same land with Trade Suffers at Terror Level III). Also, the special rule granted by Serene Waters explicitly allows choosing the same piece twice even if the timing is ambiguous.
  Tags: Timing, Upgrade, Downgrade, Replace, 7 more...
• Is it possible to Remove, Replace, or Destroy an Incarna that is counting only at itself?
  Yes, with either Fragments of Yesteryear or thresholded Cast Down Into the Briny Deep. If you don’t have an easy way to get your Incarna back, using either of those Powers near your Incarna is not recommended.
  Tags: Destroy, Remove, Replace, Incarna, 2 more...
• When a piece is saved from destruction by an action and then replaced (e.g., by the Transforming Aspect of Heart of the Wildfire replacing a Town/City with Explorers), can the replaced piece(s) be affected by any Damage/Destroy instructions remaining in the original action?
  No, the original pieces were saved from destruction by that action, so they can't be chosen for further Damage or Destroy instructions even in their new form. The Transforming Aspect can't, e.g., deal 2 Damage to a Town with Heart of the Wildfire's "Firestorm" Innate Power, Push the resulting Explorers to another one of its lands with Blight, and then use remaining "Firestorm" Damage to harm them there.

  This protection remains even if another action was responsible for the replacement. For example, if Volcano Looming High uses "Explosive Eruption" against the Tsardom of Russia Level 2+, and it:

  • Destroys an Explorer with one of the early thresholds, which is saved from destruction by Russia's Level 2, "A Sense for Impending Disaster";
  • Adds Blight with the third threshold, flipping the "Thriving Communities" Blight Card; and
  • Replaces that saved Explorer with a Town due to "Thriving Communities";

  then the resulting Town is still safe from any remaining "Explosive Eruption" Damage from the fourth threshold.
  Tags: Destroy, Replace, Saved From Destruction, Transforming Aspect (Heart of the Wildfire), 5 more...
• What counts as "adding" a piece (e.g., adding an Invader for "Confounding Mists")?
  A new piece getting placed on the island.

  In the "Confounding Mists" case, this most commonly occurs due to a Build or Explore action, but can also happen due to Events, Adversary effects, or Scenarios.

  Pieces that are pushed, gathered, brought, or otherwise moved then count as "moved," but not "added." Replacing one piece with another (or multiple others) counts as neither adding nor moving the new pieces; while the components representing that entity have changed, the entity itself is not a new arrival.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Replace, Push, Gather, Move, 36 more...
• Unlike for other Incarna, there is no way to bring back the Incarna of the Lair and Warrior Aspects. What happens if those Incarna get Destroyed/Removed/Replaced?
  They usually remain in the Incarna supply for the rest of the game, since there's normally no way to bring them back[†]. Letting this happen is generally not a good idea. Fortunately, it is effectively impossible to Destroy, Remove, or Replace an Incarna without deliberately trying to do so, since the owner can choose to count the Incarna as no piece other than itself, and very few effects Destroy, Remove, or Replace pieces in general.

  [†] As of the release of Nature Incarnate, the only way to restore these Incarna is via the optional high-tracking rules for Fragments of Yesteryear.
  Tags: Remove, Destroy, Replace, Incarna, 3 more...

General Play

• If you damage an Invader/Dahan and then replace it with another Invader/Dahan, does the new piece enter the game damaged?
  Yes. (Rulebook p. 18) When you replace a piece with another piece, the new piece comes in with whatever Damage the original piece had.
  

  For example, if you deal 2 Damage to a City and then replace it with a Town, that Town is immediately destroyed.

  If you replace a damaged piece with two or more pieces (as when "Dissolve the Bonds of Kinship" replaces a City with two Explorers), the damage gets divided between the new pieces as you choose (limited by the amount of Health each of the new pieces has). Similarly, if the piece had Strife tokens attached to it, the Strife tokens get divided between the new pieces as you choose.

  Note that if a piece is replaced as part of being saved from destruction (as is done by the Transforming Aspect), then Damage is cleared before the piece is replaced, so there's no Damage to divide. (Strife tokens are still divided normally, if relevant.)
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Damage, Replace, Strife, Crops Wither and Fade (Shadows Flicker Like Flame), 22 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...

Presence and Sacred Sites

• What happens to Presence when it gets removed or replaced?
  If it is removed or replaced during play, it goes to the destroyed Presence pile in the supply unless the particular effect says to put it elsewhere. From there, it can be restored by any effect that returns destroyed Presence to the island.

  Anything removed or replaced during setup is out of the game.

  As of the release of Nature Incarnate, only four Presence-removing/replacing effects send the Presence somewhere special: "Transform to a Murderous Darkness," "Call Forth Predators" (Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves special rule), and both Bargains remove replaced Presence from the game. (Though Bargains put the Presence on reminder cards, this is just to help players track how many times they made the Bargain; Bargains scale with the number of times they are made, not the number of Presence on the reminder card.)
  Tags: Replace, Presence, Remove, Bargain, 13 more...

Spirits and Innate Powers

• When can Sharp Fangs behind the Leaves use the Call Forth Predators special rule, turning a Presence into a Beast token?
  This can be used during the Spirit Phase, anytime during before, between, or after actions in Growth. It's possible to delay it to after gaining Energy from the top Presence track or even after playing Power Cards, though there's no particular benefit to waiting that long. Once players have started activating Fast Powers, it can no longer be used.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Replace, Sharp Fangs behind the Leaves, Call Forth Predators (Sharp Fangs Behind the Leaves)
• Can Fear/Event actions destroy Invaders in The Endless Dark?
  Yes. While Event and Fear Card actions generate Fear rather than removing Invaders, those actions are free to destroy, damage, replace, or otherwise harm the Invaders in any way that doesn't use the keyword "Remove" (other than downgrading Explorers, since that's defined as removing them).

  Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine has no such restrictions with its own Powers, and is free to Remove Invaders or Downgrade Explorers like normal.
  Tags: Remove, Replace, Damage, Destroy, 3 more...
• Can Towering Roots of the Jungle replace Presence with its Incarna even if its Incarna is already on the island?
  Yes. The Incarna leaves whichever land it was in and ends up where the Presence used to be.

  This doesn't count as adding or moving the Incarna.
  Tags: Replace, Incarna, Heart-Tree Guards the Land (Towering Roots of the Jungle), Towering Roots of the Jungle, 0 more...