Vengeance of the Dead

Errata / Updates

Effect Rules

Core game, Branch & Claw, Promo, Jagged Earth - all printings
Errata / Clarification on which items are triggered actions -- Jagged Earth formalized how triggered actions work. The following earlier items are triggered actions ("after X, do Y") even though their wording doesn't use "after":
- Vengeance of the Dead (Major Power, core game);
- Ocean In Play (Ocean's Hungry Grasp special rule, core game);
- Sworn to Victory¹ (Thunderspeaker special rule, core game);
- Blazing Presence² (Heart of the Wildfire special rule, promo 1);
- Constant Raiding (Dahan Insurrection Scenario rule, core game);
- Military Response (Dahan Insurrection Scenario rule, core game).
The following items are also triggered actions ("after X, do Y") even though their wording doesn't use "after" (but practically speaking it doesn't matter much):
- Portents of Disaster (Minor Power - Branch & Claw);
- Forbidden Ground³ (Keeper of the Forbidden Wilds special rule - Branch & Claw);
- Deep Layers Exposed to the Surface (Stone's Unyielding Defiance special rule - Jagged Earth)
¹ = The trigger is "After a Ravage destroys 1 or more Dahan..." and does not involve Blight; see this FAQ entry for elaboration.
² = This rule used to say "When you add or move Presence...". More recent printings of the Spirit correctly say "After you add or move [Presence] after Setup...".
³ = Read as, "After one or more lands become a Sacred Site for you, Push all Dahan from those lands."
See Summary of Action rules for more details on how triggered actions work in general.
Adversary instructions saying "After Setup:" are not triggered actions, but just a specification of when that rule applies ("not during Setup"). We apologize for the wording overlap, and will be using "During Play:" or "Post-Setup:" moving forward.
Tags: Triggered Actions, Vengeance of the Dead, Portents of Disaster, Sworn to Victory (Thunderspeaker), 5 more...

Power Cards

Core game - 1st and 2nd printing
Errata for timing on Vengeance of the Dead -- The base (pre-threshold) effect text should read, "3 Fear. After each effect that destroys Town/City/Dahan in target land, 1 Damage per Town/City/Dahan destroyed."
What the Power does is identical, but the timing is different ("after" instead of "when"). This mostly only matters for Bringer of Dreams & Nightmares.
(Eg: A land has two Towns and a City with 1 Damage. Bringer of Dreams & Nightmares uses Vengeance of the Dead. Lightning's Swift Strike uses max level Thundering Destruction to destroy Town, Town, City. The rephrased version clearly does 3 "Damage" after the complete resolution of Thundering Destruction; the original version was ambiguous.)
Fixed in 3rd printing.
Tags: Damage, Timing, Vengeance of the Dead, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, 0 more...

Frequently Asked Questions

Effect Rules

If an Invader is saved from destruction (e.g., by the Tsardom of Russia Level 2+), does it count towards effects that check which pieces were destroyed?
No, since it wasn't actually destroyed.
Tags: Saved From Destruction, Tsardom of Russia, Never Heard From Again (Lure of the Deep Wilderness), Darkness Swallows the Unwary (Shadows Flicker Like Flame), 10 more...
If an Invader or Dahan is in a land where it has a Health bonus, takes Damage equal to its normal Health, and then gets moved into a land where it has no Health bonus, where is it actually destroyed? (E.g., for *Vengeance of the Dead*)
The Invader/Dahan is destroyed in the destination land.
There's no “in between” state where it loses its Health bonus for being out of the first land, but hasn’t yet arrived in the second land; it’s either in the first land and has a Health bonus or in the second land and doesn’t have a Health bonus.
Moving a damaged piece into a land where it has a Health penalty works similarly.
Tags: Health, Damage, Triggered Actions, Durable, 16 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...
Can a single Action cause a trigger to happen multiple times? Eg, if Heart of the Wildfire's Presence moves to multiple lands in one action, or if The Kingdom of Scotland Level 5+ cascades Blight from one Coastal land to another?
No. A single action invokes a triggered action exactly once or not at all. If the effects of a trigger are variable, it will say so in the trigger's effects (e.g., "Vengeance of the Dead" deals "1 Damage per (piece) destroyed" rather than a flat amount).
If Finder of Paths Unseen moves Heart of the Wildfire's Presence to many different lands, "in the land it goes to" is ambiguous and Wildfire's player chooses which land its "Blazing Presence" special rule applies to. If a since Ravage action adds Blight to two Coastal lands (by cascading), "Runoff and Bilgewater" (The Kingdom of Scotland Level 5) adds a single blight is to that board's Ocean; if the two lands were on different boards, "that board's Ocean" is ambiguous and the players choose which it applies to.
A single action can cause many separate triggers to fire, including separate triggers that come from the same Power Card — e.g., if "Vengeance of the Dead" is Repeated on a land, each use of the power sets up a separate trigger.
Tags: Triggered Actions, Blazing Presence (Heart of the Wildfire), Kingdom of Scotland, Vengeance of the Dead, 3 more...
If one of Shroud of Silent Mists lands is targeted with Vengeance of the Dead and Invaders have their Health boosted by an Event, when damaged Invaders die at the end of the turn when the health boost wears off, do you get the benefit of Vengeance of the Dead?
No.
The effect of Vengeance of the Dead (extra Damage when Towns/Cities are Destroyed) and the Health boost wear off at the same time in Time Passes, so you don't get the extra Damage. (Health bonuses also wear off during Time Passes, so you need Shroud of Silent Mists to prevent the healing for the Invaders to actually die.)
Similar comments apply to other effects that wear off at the end of the turn.
(Discussion elsewhere) Tags: Time Passes, Weave Together the Fabric of Place, Vengeance of the Dead, Infinite Vitality, 3 more...
If you deal damage in multiple lands with a single instruction, does the damage happen simultaneously? Against Russia level 2+, if one of those lands is Isolated, can you attempt to Push an Isolated Explorer and thus destroy it?
Damage instructions are simultaneous in all the lands where they apply. Russia's Sense for Impending Disaster effect requires you to Push an Explorer if you can (and generate 1 Fear); you cannot pick an Isolated Explorer as the one to Push if you have another choice.
This applies to any effect that deals damage in multiple lands at once.
Tags: Damage, Action Modifiers, Bloodwrack Plague, Fire and Flood, 12 more...

Power Cards

If you Repeat Infestation of Venomous Spiders with threshold, does the "this Power" in the threshold refer to all uses of the Power that turn, granting Damage twice from each skip?
No, when you check what "this Power" does, it refers to one use of the Power, not every use that turn. Any Action skipped by one use of Infestation of Venomous Spiders will only cause Damage from that use's threshold, not from any Repeats.
Tags: Triggered Actions, Repeat, Infestation of Venomous Spiders, Focus the Land's Anguish, 8 more...
Can Vengeance of the Dead trigger itself? How about if it's Repeated?
It can't trigger itself. But if it's Repeated, the two different triggers can set each other off.
Example 1: You use Vengeance of the Dead on a land with many Towns which have each taken 1 Damage. If a Dahan dies there, Vengeance of the Dead will trigger and deal 1 damage (destroying a Town), but will not trigger further because it can't trigger itself.
Example 2: Same situation, but you've used Vengeance of the Dead twice via a Repeat. This sets up two triggered actions, call them A and B. If a Dahan dies there, trigger A will go off, destroying a Town (triggering B, destroying a Town), then trigger B will go off, destroying a Town (triggering A, destroying a Town). Neither branch can go further because triggers cannot trigger themselves, even indirectly.
(Discussion elsewhere) Tags: Repeat, Triggered Actions, Vengeance of the Dead
For Vengeance of the Dead, what counts as an "effect"? If a Power has multiple instructions that damage/destroy things, are those separate "effects"?
No. Using a Power is a single action ("effect" means "action"; terminology introduced in Jagged Earth), so Vengeance of the Dead is triggered (or not) after the whole thing resolves.
See the Summary of Action rules for more details.
(Discussion elsewhere) Tags: Actions, Triggered Actions, Vengeance of the Dead

Scenarios

In the Dahan Insurrection Scenario, what is the timing of Coordinated Insurrection (the uprising instead of a terror victory)? Can the Insurrection trigger actions - eg, Vengeance of the Dead?
The Insurrection replaces the normal Terror Victory, so happens after the first action where you reach Terror Level 4. Yes, the Insurrection can trigger actions, which can can help fulfill victory conditions.
The new wording would be "When you would win a Terror Victory (Level 4), instead: in each land with Dahan, Dahan deal damage as if fighting back after a Ravage. After completing these actions (and any triggered actions), if you do not meet the Scenario victory conditions, you lose."
Tags: Triggered Actions, Victory and Defeat, Dahan Insurrection, Vengeance of the Dead, 0 more...

Spirits and Innate Powers

If Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares uses "Mists of Oblivion," do they get the Power Card's bonus fear for destroying Towns/Cities? (Relatedly, can they trigger "Vengeance of the Dead"?)
No. No Towns/Cities are actually destroyed, so "Mists of Oblivion" grants no bonus Fear. And similarly, "Vengeance of the Dead" doesn't deal any Damage.
"To Dream a Thousand Deaths" only changes what happens when Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares would destroy/damage Invaders. It doesn't change what happens if an effect checks whether or not Invaders actually got destroyed.
(Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere) Tags: Fear, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, Mists of Oblivion, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), 5 more...
When Oceans are in play, can Invader or Dahan pieces remain in the Ocean if they avoid Drowning?
No, Invaders and Dahan are not allowed to exist in the Ocean long-term. If one manages to get there without being Drowned, move them to the closest legal land after finishing resolution of whatever got them there.
In the base game, the edge-case where this can happen is if Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares uses Vengeance of the Dead (with threshold) on the Ocean itself. A Town/City/Dahan is moved to the Ocean, triggering Ocean In Play which Drowns it. Drowning (destroying) it triggers Vengeance of the Dead. If Bringer deals VotD's "damage" in an adjacent land to "destroy" a Town or Explorer and Push it into the Ocean, Ocean In Play can't trigger again, because actions can't trigger themselves, even indirectly. So the Town/Explorer isn't Drowned.
In theory it can also happen if you use Infinite Vitality (with threshold) on the Ocean then Push Dahan into the Ocean, though that's usually a pointless play.
Tags: Triggered Actions, Pieces, Drowning (Ocean's Hungry Grasp), Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, 2 more...