Council of Elrond

Is it possible to play cards like A Friend or Three or Tempering Friendship with an Orc/Troll?

Short answer:

Yes


Explanation:

There are a number of rules in MEWH regarding the limitations of what hero resources can be played with an Orc/Troll.

A hero resource may not target an Orc or Troll character (e.g. Orc and Troll characters may not use Block, Escape, etc.).

A hero resource that requires a character with a specific skill may not use an Orc or Troll character to fulfill that requirement (e.g._Concealment, Many Turns and Doubling_s, etc.).

An Orc or Troll character may not tap to initiate an effect from a hero resource (e.g. Praise to Elbereth, Great Ship, etc.).

It’s also important to bring the definition of target, as per the CRF:

A target is an entity that an action is played out through. Enitities are only targets of an action if the action specifies those entities by number and type. Note that «the foo» counts as specifying one «foo.»

Neither A Friend or Three nor Tempering a) target the character making the influence check or the corruption check b) require a character with a specific skill or c) require a character to tap to initiate their effects. Instead, they a) target the check itself (not the character) b) don’t require any specific skill and c) don’t require a character to tap. That means that they can be played when making an influence check or corruption check with an Orc/Troll.

Here’s the text for both cards:

A FRIEND OR THREE
For every character in the influencing character's company, A Friend or Three gives a +1 modification to an influence check or to a corruption check made by a character in the same company

TEMPERING FRIENDSHIP
+4 to an influence attempt against a faction.

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ICE Rules Digest #38 upholds this interpretation, although it gives no further explanation:

ICE RULES DIGEST #38

02-02-1998 Author: Craig Ichabod O'Brien Source

QUERY 11

From: Anders Gabrielsson

Can a FW Orc/Troll company use hero resources to affect dice rolls? Specifically, can they use Tempering Friendship to get +4 to a faction influence roll? I don’t think this is forbidden by the rules regarding their use of hero resources, but I’m not sure.

That could be used.

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It is important to note that, because of the way they are worded, both A Friend or Three and Tempering Friendship are exceptions to what cards can Orcs/Trolls use when playing as FW. Most of the hero resource events can’t be played with them because they either target the character (e.g. And Forth He Hastened, Dodge ), require the character to tap to initiate an effect (e.g. Praise to Elbereth, Here, There, Yonder) or require a character with a specific skill (e.g. Look More Closely Later, Master of Wood, Water or Hill)

Note that this query not only upholds ICE Rules Digest #38 Q11, but also offers a detailed explanation that also extends to other cards other than Tempering Friendship. That’s the reason why this committe decided to take the time to elaborate.