Talons of Lightning

Frequently Asked Questions

Definitions
Elements and Elemental Thresholds
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...
Power Cards
  • If I get a Range boost, what Ranges does it affect?
    Anything that's your action, has a printed Range arrow, is not itself a Range boost, and obeys other restrictions (e.g., if the bonus is restricted to Powers or merely targeting Powers).
    So not just the arrow under "Target Land" on most Power Cards, but also, e.g., Range arrows in the text of Powers (e.g., "Unrelenting Growth") and Range arrows in Spirit Phase actions (like "Move a Presence 1" as a Presence-track ability). Obviously, Power Cards that boost Range won't be able to help with Spirit Phase actions, because Power Cards are used too late in the turn for that.
    • They do not affect Gather or Push, because there is no Range arrow. (And the definition of those keywords involves "an adjacent land".)
    • They do not affect "Your land" or "lands with your Presence" because there is no Range arrow. (And that wording is about what is in the land, not how far away the land is.)
    • They do not affect Ranges on other players' Powers (even if targeting you), because they are not your actions.
    It also doesn't boost the Range at which Flame Markers make lands vulnerable to damage/destruction in Rituals of the Destroying Flame.
    The original wording of "Sky Stretches to Shore," if read strictly, would cause it to work a little differently (only affecting targeting, not Range arrows in the text of Powers), but for the sake of consistency with other Powers that boost Range, it boosts all Range arrows.
    (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Range Boosts, Range, Reaching Grasp, Flow Like Water, Reach Like Air, 14 more...
Range and Targeting
  • 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...