Speed (Fast/Slow)

Frequently Asked Questions

Aspects

• Can the Intensify Aspect spend an Air marker to get an extra use of a Power?
  No, the Air marker lets Intensify use a Slow Power in the Fast Phase instead of the Slow Phase.
  Tags: Element markers, Action Modifiers, Speed (Fast/Slow), Intensify Aspect (Shifting Memory of Ages), 0 more...
• With the aspect Wind for Lightning's Swift Strike, can you choose later which Power to make fast?
  Yes, you can choose at any point in the turn (usually during the Fast phase).
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Speed (Fast/Slow), Wind Aspect (Lightning's Swift Strike)

Blighted Island cards

• When exactly do you get the benefits from *Aid from Lesser Spirits*?
  The new power card enters play as soon as the Blight card is flipped and the Spirits choose who gets which Minor Power.

  You gain the elements on it immediately, and can use it for thresholds that same turn. You can also use the Power that turn, although if it is a Fast power and the Blight card flipped after the Fast phase you will not be able to use it this turn, unless something lets you use a Fast power as a Slow power.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Speed (Fast/Slow), Elements, Aid from Lesser Spirits

Event Cards

• If Sky Stretches to Shore has been used on you, and you reveal the "Outpaced" Event, can you change a Power's speed at that point so it interacts differently with Outpaced?
  Yes.
  

  Making a Slow Power Fast will NOT let you resolve it immediately - the Fast phase is done - but will let you keep it in play (perhaps for its elements) without paying Outpaced. Making a Fast Power Slow would let you discard it to gain Energy regardless of whether you used it during Fast, but you could not "resolve it now" unless you had not used it during the Fast phase already.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Speed (Fast/Slow), Sky Stretches to Shore, Outpaced

General Play

• How does "resolve powers in the order they're written" work for things like "If you have (elements), +1 Range"?
  Internal modifiers like this – a Power changing its own Speed, Range, or other targeting – are looked at when they're relevant (like during targeting), not during normal Power resolution. This is an exception to "do things strictly in order once using the Power".

  This is also the case for Powers like The Jungle Hungers, where a threshold modifies the instructions earlier in the Power. 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.

  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, 6 more...
• Can I pick the target land for a Slow power during the Slow Power phase?
  Yes, and that's the recommended way to do it. All targets for Powers (Fast or Slow) are chosen when the power is activated.

  During the Spirit phase, you play and pay for Power Cards and gain their elements, but you don't actually need to pick the targets at that point. You will find your first games go more smoothly if you trust that there will be a useful place to use your powers.

  If you plan a target at the beginning of the turn and then it is no longer a valid target, you have to pick a different target.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Targeting, Speed (Fast/Slow)

Power Cards

• If a Power on a Power Card has been modified, do those modifiers persist if the Power Card leaves play?
  No, any modifiers to a Power in play, whether modifying Speed, Range, Target, or Effect, are to the Power in play, not to the Power Card itself. If the Power Card leaves play, it does not retain those modifications, nor does it automatically re-gain them if it is played again that turn.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Action Modifiers, Speed (Fast/Slow), Range Boosts, Slip the Flow of Time (Fractured Days Split the Sky), 1 more...
• Can Gift of Strength or Powerstorm (both Fast powers) be used on a Slow power card?
  Yes. Gift of Strength targets a Spirit, not a Power Card. At any point during the turn, that Spirit may choose to Repeat a power card (of the specified Energy cost or lower), whether it is a fast power or a slow power.

  They need not choose which power card to Repeat until they actually use the ability. The repeated power activates with the same speed as the first use of the power. See the description of Repeat [p. 19]
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Repeat, Speed (Fast/Slow), Gift of Strength (Vital Strength of the Earth), Powerstorm, 0 more...
• Can Sky Stretches to Shore let you, during the Slow Phase, Repeat an already-used Fast Power? (Assuming you have a Repeat from somewhere, like Powerstorm or Gift of Strength.)
  Yes. Even after a Power is used, it stays in play, and can be modified - there's just usually little point in doing so. So the Fast Power can be made Slow¹ with Sky Stretches to Shore, then used via the Repeat.

  ¹ Effects reading "Use a Power as if it were (Fast/Slow)" should be interpreted as "Make a Power (Fast/Slow)", and would have been better phrased that way.
  (Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Repeat, Speed (Fast/Slow), Sky Stretches to Shore
• When you use a Power outside of its normal phase (eg, during the Invader Phase via the Rouse the Spirits event), if Repeats have been granted to you (eg, from Gift of Strength), can you use them then?
  Changed answer: No. Unlike Lightning's Boon or Sky Stretches to Shore, you're not actually changing the Power's speed, you're just using it (once) ignoring speed. Repeats can happen in the phase matching the Power's actual speed.

  The first-pass answer was "yes" based on the idea that these things changed the Power's speed, but that proved the wrong direction.

  Note that this only applies to granted Repeats, like from Gift of Twinned Days or the like. It does not apply to Powers which have "Repeat this Power" as one of their instructions; those can and must be Repeated immediately as an action triggered by the initial use. (After any other triggered actions.)
  (Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Repeat, Events, Timing, Changed rulings, 8 more...

Scenarios

• If an effect specifically happens in the Slow Phase, but isn't a Slow Power, how does it work in the Blitz Scenario?
  Exactly as written. Blitz still has a Slow Phase, even if nothing usually happens in it because all Slow Powers are Fast.
  Tags: Speed (Fast/Slow), Blitz, Absolute Stasis (Fractured Days Split the Sky), The Great River, 3 more...

Spirits and Innate Powers

• If all you can do with an innate power is change its Speed or Range (eg: either of Thunderspeaker's innates with 4 Air only), is that enough to target and use the Power?
  No, a power needs to have the potential to do something (not just modify its own attributes) in order to be targeted or used.

  This is usually irrelevant, but can occasionally be important (for, e.g., Scream Disease Into the Wind, or other "after using a power on a land..." effects.)

  It does not need to actually do something, as long as it has an instruction that could in theory modify the game state. Setting up a triggered action for the current Power only (eg: Lure's first innate) doesn't count, either; it's effectively an internal modifier as well, despite using a trigger for timing.
  Tags: Targeting, Resolving Powers, Range Boosts, Range, 4 more...
• How many Powers does Lightning's Swift Strike get to use as Fast?
  Lightning can use one Power as Fast for each Air (purple) Element in play. Since all of its starting cards have Air, this will often end up being all the Powers.

  Lightning's Innate Power, Thundering Destruction, is another Power that can be made Fast, so this can sometimes force a choice of which Power to leave as Slow.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Speed (Fast/Slow), Lightning's Swift Strike
• When is Swiftness of Lightning used to make Powers Fast?
  During the Fast phase.

  This is rarely relevant, but can matter for the Blitz Scenario: you can't "make a Power Fast" during the Spirit Phase to lower its cost by 1, only "make a Power Fast" during the Fast Phase to gain a 1-Energy rebate.
  Tags: Speed (Fast/Slow), Swiftness of Lightning (Lightning's Swift Strike), Blitz
• Can the Event card "Outpaced" be used to resolve a power that has been made fast by Lightning's Swift Strike's special rule?
  No. Once a power has been made Fast, it is Fast for the rest of the turn, including for Events like Outpaced.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Speed (Fast/Slow), Outpaced, Swiftness of Lightning (Lightning's Swift Strike)
• For Why Don't You And Them Fight, when do you need 3 Moons to make it Slow? The Fast phase, or the Slow phase?
  The Slow phase. The elements you had in the Fast phase are irrelevant; you check at the moment you're using the Power.
  (Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Speed (Fast/Slow), Why Don't You and Them Fight (Grinning Trickster Stirs Up Trouble)