Dragos and Hidden Strength

[Scott Whittaker]

I agree with your semantic argument. Yes, wouldn't it be nice for some
official input once every eon or so.
Still, Dragos is broken regardless of this sensible interpretation.
Sean Whittaker

[pd...@aol.com]

James Engman wrote:
"What happens if Dragos gets a Fortitude Master and uses Hidden Strength?
Can he prevent as much damage as he wants without burning any blood, or
can he only prevent one damage since he isn't burning blood anyway? Since
"X" is the cost of the card, does he get to select the cost?"

Dragos's special ability says:

"Dragos does not have to burn blood to play combat cards."

This is a fairly ambiguous statement, but if I were going to argue
semantics, which I am, I would state the following:

It says that Dragos "does not _have_ to burn blood" to play combat cards,
which would lead me to believe that Dragos is only exempt from paying
blood that he _has_ to or _must_ pay. Thus Dragos is exempt from paying
the blood cost for any combat card that has a required blood cost, like
Skin of Steel (1), Claws of the Dead (1), or Body Arsenal (2). Normally a
vampire _has_ to pay this cost, but Dragos does not _have_ to pay these
costs. On the other hand, for any combat card that has a blood cost of X
(like Hidden Strength), or additional benefits by paying an additional X
in blood (like Lightning Reflexes or Eldritch Glimmer), a regular vampire
does not _have_ to pay this X to use this card. Thus, if Dragos does not
_have_ to pay X, and he does not, X=0. If he wants to pay for X, he must
pay blood to do so, just like any other vampire. Dragos is only exempt
from paying blood costs that he is _required_ to pay, not blood costs that
he has the _option_ of paying.

Consequently, if Dragos play the above mentioned Hidden Strength, if he
chooses to pay no blood to use the card, he will only prevent 1 point of
damage, just like everyone else. If he wants to prevent more damage, he
then must choose to pay X blood to stop X+1 damage. The same holds for
Lightning Reflexes or Eldritch Glimmer, where as he is not required to pay
X blood, he is not exempt from paying its cost if he chooses to do so, so
by paying zero blood for X, he gets zero benefit for X.

How about some input from the WotC Net guy?\
Peter D Bakija
PD...@aol.com

"And the license said you had to stick around
until I was dead.
But if you're tired of looking at my face
I guess I already am."
-Liz Phair

[David Hyatt]

Scott Whittaker <whit...@unixg.ubc.ca> writes:

It is interesting to note that with Hidden Strength the X is in the
blood drop. With Eldritch Glimmer, the writers of the card were
careful NOT to do this.

I would assume that Dragos can play Hidden Strength to prevent any
amount of damage for free, simply because the X is the cost of the
card.

With Eldritch Glimmer, he would have to pay X, since it has nothing
to do with the cost of the card.

[L. Scott Johnson]

ro...@dgii.com (James Puzzo) writes:
>P.S. The mere fact that there is such confusion should point to the
> fact that errata is necessary.

A ruling (about what a card "costs") is necessary.

Errata isn't necessary unless the designers want to have Dragos' pay
cost for a card like Hidden strength *and* they make the (obvious,
IMHO) ruling that the X in Hidden Strength the cost.

Or, if they want Dragos to be exempt from the X in Quickness *and*
they rule (obviosuly, IMHO) that quickness' X isn't part of the cost.

This whole thing would go away nicely if we could get a ruling, but
without a Net.Rep who reads the group, rulings are hard to come by.

--
L. Scott Johnson (sjoh...@math.sc.edu) | Only XT users know that
http://www.math.sc.edu/cgi-bin/sjohnson/home | Jan 1, 1980 was a Tuesday.
Graphics Specialist and V:tES Rulemonger. |

[Pheersum]

James Engman wrote:
> What happens if Dragos gets a Fortitude Master and uses Hidden
> Strength? Can he prevent as much damage as he wants without burning
> any blood, or can he only prevent one damage since he isn't burning

> blood anyway? Since "X" is the cost of the card, does he get to select

> the cost? Dragos's special ability says:
> "Dragos does not have to burn blood to play combat cards."

My take on this vampire is that he does not have to pay to get the basic
effect of the card to take place, but that he may pay blood for an
effect directly proportional to the payment of blood. He would pay for
Hidden Strength if he desires to prevent 3 damage.
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