by woodnoggin
One of my latest hobbies is pondering Seafall's rules ambiguities. Today I got to thinking about Running out of Enmity. I'd love to hear how your group interprets this rule and deals with the situations described below.
The rules say:
Seafall rulebook, page 11 wrote:
If an action would require more enmity tokens than you have available to spend, you may not take that action. If, through an unplanned course of events, you are required to spend an enmity token you do not have, instead lose 1 glory per enmity token you cannot spend.
Where it says "action", does this only refer to guild actions or should it be interpreted more widely to mean anything you do in the game which involves spending enmity? What is meant by "an unplanned course of events"? I definitely take it to include Captain's Booke entries which instruct you to pay enmity but what about enmity payments you know about in advance but which depend on the results of a dice roll? (See example below.)
If an advisor requires you to spend enmity you don't have, can you activate them? Can you use their abilities? Technically, the rules only forbid you from taking "an action" that requires you to spend more enmity than you have available and activating advisors isn't an action.
Questions on specific advisors:
The Savage: "Give an extra enmity after a raid."
Can I activate this advisor if I only have 1 or 0 enmity remaining? Can I raid with this advisor activated if I only have 1 or 0 enmity remaining?
Box 4 spoilers:
[o]The Master Smuggler: "If you buy goods, they are free. Roll dice equal to the goods bought. For each blank and weak success, place an enmity token on a site you bought goods from."
Can I take more free goods than I have enmity remaining? Does subsequently rolling blank or weak successes on the dice count as "an unplanned course of events"?[/o]
Box 5 spoilers:
[o]The Holder of Secrets&The Seeker of Answers: "When Holder of Secrets/Seeker of Answers becomes your active advisor, you must take an advisor from a province's council room (if it doesn't have enmity on it). Place two enmity tokens on that council room."
Can I activate these advisors if I only have 1 or 0 enmity remaining?
The Ninth Initiate: "You may take a card from any treasure room that doesn't have enmity on it. Place four enmity on that treasure room. This is not a raid or endeavour."
Can I use this ability if I have 3 or fewer enmity remaining? It's not a raid or endeavour, but is it an "action" for purposes of the rules quoted above?[/o]
I'm of the opinion that the current enmity rules are a little too restrictive, so I'm inclined to allow all these abilities to be used regardless of the number of enmity tokens you have remaining. You're paying glory for the privilege, after all. That may well be a worthwhile sacrifice, depending on the circumstances, but I'd prefer to allow flexibility and give players more options. What do you think?