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Frankenstein's character ability doesn't specify when it can be used to recover one of his character-specific skills. It's formatted exactly like the 'saving throw' abilities, all of which can be used during checks, so it's very plausible to me that you could use it during a check.

If so, that means you can get back Obey! (the successes one, not the discount one) from the discard pile exactly when you need it to pass a check. That's pretty powerful, and he already has an increased hand size (presumably) to make room for all the character-specific skills he has to carry, so it feels like that might not be intended.

Are you supposed to be able to use that ability during a check?



Vaguely related question: If (for example) Lovecraft uses the last durability on his Serenity stack during a check, those cards aren't actually discarded until the end of the check. That means he can still discard a Serenity card from that stack to turn curses into successes for that check, right?


Another vaguely related sub-question: Can you use a character ability more than one time per check? For example, can the doctor discard 4 stamina cards for 2 stars? More importantly, can Lovecraft discard 3 serenity cards after drawing 2 curses for 6 successes? If it's once per ability per check, how does that work with Ferdinand's ability that restarts the check? If he has more stealth cards to discard can he keep trying again, considering it's technically a new check each time?

A response in my BGG thread pointed out that trading item stacks to another character is in a similar situation -- it isn't an action, and doesn't specify when the ability can be used. So, potentially, it could be done during action resolution.

He and I agree that the answer is most likely no, but: can you trade items during the resolution of a check?

It would have very limited use if you can, because in general anybody who could trade a relevant item into a check could just get involved in the check at the beginning. (It is only useful to trade items at the very beginning of the check, because after the item step you won't be able to use them. You could use it to sneak items from non-involved characters into red-bordered checks, that's about it.)

Another similar question pertaining to Keelan's ability:

It seems self-evident that you can use it mid-check to use an ability that could normally be used mid-check, like It seems equally self-evident that you cannot use it mid-check to use an action ability like

Assuming that's correct, it doesn't have a timing restriction of it's own, but it inherits the timing restriction of the card you wish to use. Does it also inherit the timing restriction of the botany card you're using to satisfy the "If you could use a botany card" requirement? That is, if I'm in a space with a Fortiflore and my only fortiflore card is , and I've just drawn the cards for a check and want to use can I do that? Or is it the case that, because I couldn't use my Fortiflore card right now (can't take actions during other actions), I don't fulfill the "If you could use a botany card" requirement during a check?

I'm correct about my basic premise, right?

That is:

There's three basic kinds of ability, all of which can be activated on cards in your hand, inventory, sachel & journal, terrain card, and attached events.

- White Box Actions can't ever be initiated in the middle of another White Box Action.
- Brown Box Abilities can be activated during a matching White Box Action.
- Any ability not in a box has no inherent timing restrictions. Abilities with printed timing restrictions, like Forewarned is Forearmed, use that restriction. Abilities with no printed timing restrictions whatsoever, like can be used literally whenever you want.

I would say you have to be at a time when both could be used. Obviously the ability you're triggering has to be applicable otherwise, why trigger it? But it says "IF you could use a botany card" so you actually have to be able to use the ability you're trading on. So, if you're on a card with Fortiflore you couldn't use the Vampolina ability mid-action, since you wouldn't be able to use the Fortiflore ability at that moment.

I think that "if you can use a botany card" simply means "If there is a plant on your terrain that is also shown on any botany card you have".
I can see the reasoning behind the stricter "use" interpretation, but I think the simpler one makes sense too.
We can analyse the precise wording, but I would be best if the designers could tell us the original intent...

PS: As for the abilities without timing restrictions, I think that using them "literally whenever you want" could lead to some strange/breaking cases if we really tried to find them - though that's really just an unsupported gut feeling of mine.

I'm pretty sure you're right. I think the stricter one causes bigger problems than I first thought.

Doesn't that make it pretty much impossible to use the brown box abilities on botany cards with it?

If I have the Fragonia card that gives a hunt success, that card would only allow me to use Keelan's ability during hunt checks on Fragonia spaces. But the only other effect that I can use during hunts (I think) is that Vampolina effect -- swapping to a botany card that helps with different kinds of checks, or provides a resource, or is an action won't help me.

Likewise, in order to usefully use that card in place of another botany card, I would need another botany card that could be used during hunt checks. A hunt discount when I could take an action, or a hunt discount when I could use a resource, or a hunt discount during some other kind of check won't help me.

So there'd actually be no way to use it with Brown Box abilities unless you happened to have 2 that can be used on the same kind of check from different plants. There might be one or two such pairs? I'm not sure.



That's my gut feeling as well but I can't think of any for the handful of free-timing abilities I know.