Is it possible to play cards like A Friend or Three or Tempering Friendship on a check being made by an Orc or Troll?In order to contribute to this thread please follow these rules:
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For reference, here is the text for the cards in question:
There are several rules in MEWH regarding the limitations of which hero resources can be played with an Orc or Troll: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.
It’s also important to keep in mind the definition of “target” in the CRF, which dictates that an entity is only the target of an effect if that effect is “played out through” the entity: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 Doublings, 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.).
Going back to the MEWH restrictions, neither A Friend or Three nor Tempering Friendship: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.»
1) target the character making the influence check or the corruption check,
2) require a character with a specific skill, or
3) require a character to tap to initiate their effects.
Instead, they:
1) target the check itself (not the character),
2) don’t require any specific skill, and
3) don’t require a character to tap.
This means that they can be played when making an influence check or corruption check with an Orc or Troll. And in fact, ICE Digest #38 upholds this line of reasoning (although it gives no further explanation):
It is important to note that, because of how they are worded, both A Friend or Three and Tempering Friendship should be considered exceptions compared to most resource cards, which usually do either target the character (e.g. And Forth He Hastened, Dodge, etc.), require the character to tap to initiate the resource’s effect (e.g. Praise to Elbereth, Here, There, Yonder, etc.), or require a character with a specific skill (e.g. Look More Closely Later, Master of Wood, Water or Hill, etc.).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.
