Combat Encounter

*See also: Monsters, Tests*
A Combat Encounter is a type of encounter that occurs when the Investigator begins the Encounter Phase while on the same space as a monster. The investigator must encounter every monster that shares his space, one at a time. A new rule was introduced with the expansions: if there are both Normal Monsters and Epic Monsters on the space, the Normal Monsters must be encountered before the Epic Monster.

## Rules

When encountering a Monster, the investigator flips the Monster token facedown and reads the information on the back of the token, resolving any effects that could affect the combat encounter. He then resolves two tests from top to bottom, in most cases a Will test and then a Strength test, to determine the result of the Combat Encounter. In some case, other kinds of skill test will be featured; they are handled just like those 2 tests except they won't deal Sanity or Health damage unless specifically noted. The following are the rules for the normal Will/Strength test case:

The Encounter begins by making a  check, plus any modifiers for Horror checks, against the monster's Horror rating. If the player's result is lower than the monster's Horror, he suffers Sanity loss equal to the difference. If the check is equal to or greater than the rating, he suffers no damage. Some monsters use a different skill for this check, and some monsters have no result, in which case no check is rolled.

Then, the investigator rolls , plus any modifiers for Combat Encounters, against the monster's Damage rating. If this result is lower than the monster's, the player suffers Health damage equal to the difference. If the player's result is equal or greater than the rating, he suffers no damage. If the monster has no Damage rating, the player still rolls their check unless otherwise specified on the back of the Monster's token, but there is no possibility of Health loss.

The Monster loses Health equal to the number of successes rolled. Indicate this by placing Health tokens on the Monster token. The investigator and Monster lose Health **simultaneously**. When a Monster has lost Health equal to or greater than its toughness, the Monster is defeated and returned to the Monster cup. If the investigator did not defeat the Monster, it remains on his space along with any Health tokens on it.

If all monsters have been defeated after the Combat Encounter, the player has their Encounter Phase, just as they would if there had been no Monsters on his space, as long as the monster didn't have a special ability that prevents this. If there are one or more Monsters remaining on the space, that player skips the Encounter Phase, and play continues to the next Investigator.

### Examples

**A: Less Success than the Monster's Damage:** The investigator fights against a Ghoul which has **1** *Toughness* and     **2** *Damage*. The investigator rolls  and obtains only 1 success; as result the investigator lose  1 Health (e.g. according to monsters' stat, it deals two damage minus the number of investigator's success, thus 2 - 1 = 1), and the Ghoul die due to 1 (one) success, which means one damage.

**B: Success Equal to the Monster's Damage:** The investigator fights against a Goat Spawn which has **1** *Toughness* and     **2** *Damage*. The investigator rolls  and obtains 2 successes; as result the investigator won't take any damage, while the Goat Spawn will die due to 2 (two) successes rolled by the investigator.

### Notes

As with other kinds of tests, passing a Monster's / test constitutes rolling at least one success. For example:

*Monster's special effect states that "if the investigator fails the  test, he does not resolve the  test". Monster's Horror rating is 2 and the investigator rolled 1 success on  test. The investigator passes this test because he rolled at least one success, but still loses  1 Sanity since we subtract number of successes from Monster's Horror rating and apply this number as  Sanity loss. If the investigator is not defeated, he can now perform the  check as usual. On the other hand, if the Monster's special effect states that "if the investigator loses  Sanity from the  test, he does not resolve the  test", investigator will not resolve the  test since he lost  1 Sanity.*

### Rulings, clarifications, and reminders

* When an effect refers to "during Combat Encounter", that means when investigators resolve the skill tests printed on the Monster token.

* Handcuffs cannot be used while encountering a Colour Out of Space or a Ghost which do not have a  test, but can be used to defeat a Cultist of Nephren-Ka which has a  test in place of its  test. Presumably, that means in general, if a Monster has another skill icon in place of the  test indicator, while the investigator has to test the indicated skill in place of the skill it replaced, the test is still considered "the  test during a Combat Encounter" for other effects. Based on the ruling for Hank Samson's passive ability, this ruling doesn't extend to "the  test during a Combat Encounter".

## Ambush

*Main article: Ambush*
Occasionally, a Monster may attack an investigator at a time other than a typical Combat Encounter. This may occur as a result of a Mythos card, a Reckoning effect, or during the Encounter Phase. When an investigator is ambushed, they immediately draw one random Monster and resolve a Combat Encounter with it.

## Magical Resistance

Magical Resistance is an ability introduced in the Mountains of Madness expansion of Eldritch Horror. It is a property that certain Monsters may have. It will be indicated on their Monster tokens whether or not they have it.

A Monster with Magical Resistance prevents the Investigator from applying bonuses to his dice pool during a **Combat Encounter** from Magical possessions or Spells. Improvement tokens are not affected by Magical Resistance. Effects that allow the investigator to use "additional dice", reroll dice or manipulate dice results can be used as normal.

## Physical Resistance

Physical Resistance is an ability introduced in the Mountains of Madness expansion of Eldritch Horror. It is a property that certain Monsters may have. It will be indicated on their Monster tokens whether or not they have it.

A Monster with Physical Resistance prevents the Investigator from applying bonuses to his dice pool during a **Combat Encounter** except from Magical possessions or Spells. Improvement tokens are not affected by Physical Resistance. Effects that allow the investigator to use "additional dice", reroll dice or manipulate dice results can be used as normal.

## References

1. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Handcuffs on  *BoardGameGeek*.