Effect

An **effect** is the most basic building block of the Eldritch Horror mechanical system. Anything and everything that happens in the game, from text and icons printed on cards to timed events defined by the rules to the actions the investigators are able to perform, all of these are effects. Everything that happens in the game is part of one effect or another.

Resolving an effect means reading it, and following the instructions printed. When choosing to resolve an effect, an investigator has to resolve an effect as much as he can but not necessarily all of it. He can even choose to resolve an effect that has no effective outcome due to some restrictions, such as doing a Focus action while already having 2 Focus tokens or casting Mists of Releh after a Combat Encounter.

In the course of the game, only the currently showing face of a double-sided card is relevant. While a double-sided card is facedown, the effects of its front face are ignored and cannot be used. In some cases, effects from the card's front will be restated on the back of the card.

**Note**: a Spell effect is any game effect printed on a Spell card, front or back, including any  Reckoning effect listed.

## Resolve order

An effect that instructs multiple investigators to do something, for example the A Dark Power Mythos, will be resolved starting with the Lead Investigator and proceed clockwise one investigator at a time (and one Combat Encounter at a time if instructed to encounter multiple monsters).

The only effect that resolves simultaneously in the game is the damage application step at the end of a Combat Encounter's  test. If multiple effects would be resolved at the same time, the active investigator decides the order in which they are resolved. If one such effect causes him to gain an Asset, that Asset's passive effects can apply to any effects resolved afterward.

### Conflicts

If multiple effects would be resolved at the same time, the active player decides the order in which they are resolved.

When investigators make a decision as a group, the Lead Investigator makes the final decision.

## Ruling Precedence

The reference guide is the definitive source of rules information. If something in the reference guide contradicts the rulebook, the reference guide is correct. Effects on components (such as cards) sometimes contradict rules found in the rulebook or reference guide. In this situation, the component's effect is correct. Rulings in the FAQ take precedence over all other rulings.

Restrictive effects on cards are absolute. For example, an investigator's Detained Condition says, "You cannot move." That investigator cannot move or be moved by any action or effect.

A number of rulings have been issued through emails by FFG support, mainly from one of Eldritch Horror's designer, Nikki Valens. While some have been collected and put into the FAQ as proof, most haven't and therefore technically can't be considered official. Nevertheless, they may prove useful in the course of playing the game and help to understand the designers' intention when creating effects, and so have been included in the Wiki as a result.

In general, in order of precedence: FFG's rulings > FAQ > component's effects > reference guide > rulebook.

## Optional effects

Effects that say "or," "may," or "unless" offer the active investigator a choice.

* If an effect says, "may," it is giving the investigator an option which they choose to resolve or not.
* If an effect says, "or," it is giving the investigator two or more options to choose from.
* If an effect says, "unless," is it giving the investigator an option to resolve the effect following "unless." However, if they choose not to resolve that effect, they must resolve the effect preceding "unless" instead. Note that this is *not* considered choosing to resolve the effect preceding "unless", so if an effect says, "Become Delayed unless," or, "Gain a Detained Condition unless,"  Mark Harrigan is not affected by that effect, even if he chooses not to resolve the effect following "unless."

Each part of an optional effects is not considered requiring a payment. As such, there is no restriction to which part the investigator chooses and he can even choose an effect that is unresolvable (e.g. choose to discard 1 Clue on "Discard 1 Clue or 1 Sanity" even if he doesn't have any Clue and therefore nothing happens.)

## Payment/Cost

When an effect allows an investigator to do something to resolve an effect, that is a payment or cost.

Examples of effects that requires a cost:

* Effects that says "spend," such as "Spend  1 Sanity to gain 1  Clue." The cost is the part right after "spend" and before "to."
* Effects that says "may," such as "You may become Delayed to gain 1 Clue." The cost is the part right after "may" and before "to."
* Effects that says "unless," such as "Discard 1 Clue unless you become Delayed." The cost is the part right after "unless."

If an investigator has a Condition, since he can't choose to gain another copy of that Condition, he won't be able to gain the Condition as part of a payment for an effect. Even if he has a means to not gain that Condition, since he can't choose to do so in the first place, he can't pay the cost. Similarly, if the investigator is already Delayed, he can't choose to become Delayed to pay for an effect.

An investigator cannot *spend* Health or Sanity if doing so would cause him to be defeated (i.e., he cannot spend his last Health or Sanity). He can still *lose* his last Health or Sanity to pay for an effect. Effects that *prevent* the loss of Health or Sanity cannot be used when an investigator *spends* Health or Sanity. Effect that *replace* the loss of Health or Sanity such as  Marie Lambeau's passive ability can still be used.

If the investigator is unable or opt not to pay the cost, he is considered "choosing not to"; if he does, he is considered "choosing to". Therefore,  Mark Harrigan's passive ability won't prevent him from becoming Delayed to pay for an effect.

If the investigator chooses to pay the cost, he can still replace or prevent the actual cost from taking place; the cost is still considered to have been paid. Therefore, if the effect is "You may gain 1 Madness Condition to gain this Clue,"  Wendy Adams can choose to gain the Condition to gain the Clue, then use her passive ability to not gain that Condition instead.

Other effects like "do [X] or [Y]" or "resolve an effect of your choice" are not considered requiring a payment. As such, there is no restriction to which part the investigator chooses and he can even choose an effect that is unresolvable (e.g. choose to discard 1 Clue on "Discard 1 Clue or 1 Sanity" even if he doesn't have any Clue and therefore nothing happens.)

Payment doesn't work in reverse. If the effect is "Become Delayed unless you lose 1 Sanity", even if the investigator is already Delayed, he can still choose not to lose the Sanity. In that case, he resolves the effect preceding "unless" as much as possible, effectively nothing since an investigator can't be Delayed twice.

## Spend, lose, and prevent

These are game terms with specific meaning and therefore not considered the same as any other effect even if the results are similar.

While spending and losing both result in the loss of some components, they are not the same and have different rules. For example, losing Health or Sanity is involuntary and is typically the result of a consequence such as failing a test. Spending Health or Sanity (always preceded by "you may" or "he may") is voluntary and it made as part of payment for another effect. You can prevent the loss of Health or Sanity by using other effects, but you can't do so while spending Health or Sanity.

A replacement effect is not the same as an effect that "prevents" the loss of Health or Sanity. Other effects can even restrict effects that "prevent" the loss of Health and Sanity from resolving. On the other hand, a replacement effect replaces one effect with another, such as "spend 1 fewer Sanity" or "spend 1 Sanity in place of spending 1 Clue.", and so will work even with an effect that said "this loss of Health and/or Sanity cannot be prevented".

## Triggered effects

A triggered effect is resolved exactly once for each time it is triggered. For example, the Bank Loan effect triggers exactly once when an investigator performs the Acquire Assets action. As such, an investigator would not be able to resolve that effect more than once to add more than two successes to his test result.

A triggered effect is resolved after the triggering event has been resolved unless it is a replacement effect (e.g. "flip this card instead" or "you do not recover Sanity"). For example, Astral Travel's effect will only be triggered after the active investigator has moved one space and spent additional tickets to move additional spaces.

### "Once per round" timing conditions

Effects with a "once per round" restriction, for example  Joe Diamond's passive ability, cannot be used during setup, because setup occurs before the first round has begun. On the other hand,  Lily Chen's passive ability has no such restriction and does function during setup.

### "During" timing conditions

The condition of an effect "during X" with X as a Phase or an Encounter refers specifically to the effects of that phase or encounter **directly**.

* "During Combat Encounters" means when investigators resolve the skill tests printed on the Monster token; any effects not printed on the Monster token being encountered are not part of the Combat Encounter such as the Wither Spell's effect even though it is also triggered "during a Combat Encounter."

* "During Research Encounters" means when investigators resolve the effects of the encounter card; any effects not printed on the card being encountered are not part of the Research Encounter. Therefore,  Clues gained from other effects, such as  Mandy Thompson's passive ability, are not gained as part of the Research Encounter.

* "During the Action Phase" means before, after, or *during* any action performed by the owner of the component with the effect. An investigator can interrupt part of his action to move along a Local path or use Esteban Herrero. For example, he can use a Travel action to move from Lake Camp to Miskatonic Outpost, then move along the Local path to Antarctica, and finally spend a  Ship Ticket to move to Sydney.
	+ Effects that state "during the Action Phase" can be resolved even if an investigator's action is granted by  Charlie Kane's action ability. The active investigator is whichever investigator is currently performing his or her actions. An investigator will become the active investigator while performing his additional action from Charlie's ability, then Charlie will be the active investigator again until he finishes performing his actions.
	+ An investigator who begins the Action Phase Delayed rights their Investigator token but does not perform any actions. As such, they do not have an opportunity to resolve effects that state "during the Action Phase."

* "During the Encounter Phase" means before, after, or during the active investigator's encounter in the Encounter Phase. Once he has chosen to encounter the Monsters, that choice is locked and *all* consequences of the choice most be resolved. That means he can't use Mists of Releh or Byakhee's defeated effect to stop encountering more Monsters for example.

### "When" timing conditions

* "When you perform a Rest action" means at the same time as the investigator performs that action (not "before and after" like "during" timing conditions), and he decides the order in which they are resolved. Any Conditions with a "When you perform a Rest action" effect that he gains thereafter will not trigger until the next time he performs a Rest action.

* "Whenever you gain a  Clue during a Research Encounter" will trigger for *each* Clue the investigator gains as part of a Research Encounter. This is in contrast to losing Health or Sanity which counts as 1 trigger event (so that Flesh Ward and Instill Bravery would work as intended.)

* "When a Gate spawns" will trigger after the Gate has spawned, including spawning a Monster and resolving its "When this Monster is spawned" effect if it has one.

## Wording

### "Resolve twice"

* When an effect triggers every  Reckoning effect twice such as Rising Terror, the effect will first resolve all  Reckoning effects, then it will resolve all  Reckoning effects again. For example, if there is a Zombie on the game board and Rising Terror is in play, the Zombie will first turn into a Zombie Horde, then that Horde will potentially advance  Doom.

### "Of your choice"

* When resolving the "impair 3 skills of his choice" effect of The Messenger, an investigator could choose the same skill multiple times unless doing so would violate the Impairment rules (e.g. choose to impair a skill 2 times when its value is at 2). Presumably this ruling also extends to other effects in the format "impair/improve X skills of his choice" like Temptation or Righteous.
* When resolving the "resolves 2 effects of his choice" effect of The Coming Storm, an investigator must choose 2 different effects. The effects are resolved in the order that they are written on the card. Presumably this ruling also extends to other effects in the format "resolve X effects of his choice" like Weakness to Strength.
* When resolving the "resolve an effect of his choice" effect of Blight or No Time To Be Alone, an investigator can choose an effect even if he can't resolve all or any part of it; he only has to resolve as much of that effect as possible. There is no restriction to which effect the investigator chooses. Presumably this ruling also extends to other effects in the format "resolve X effects of his choice" or "resolve X of the following effects" like The Messenger or Righteous.

### "Equal to"

* When resolving the "if there are [tokens] on this card equal to" effect of Tasks or Mysteries, treat it as "if there are [tokens] on this card equal to or greater than".

### Encounters

* If an effect grants an investigator an additional encounter option, then similar to location encounters and token encounters, he must encounter all Monsters on his space first. Then, if there are no Monsters on his space, he may resolve that effect as his additional encounter. Effects that grant encounter options includes wording like "as an encounter" (e.g. The True Name) or "choose to encounter" (e.g. Clairvoyance).
	+ Some effect may allow an investigator to bypass the requirement that investigators must encounter all Monsters first. They may say "as if there are no Monsters on your space" (e.g. Mists of Releh) or "ignoring Monsters on your space" (e.g. Clairvoyance).
	+ Effects that grant an investigator an additional encounter option finish resolving *before* he resolves that encounter. Therefore, any other effect that triggers due to those effects will also have been resolved completely before the encounters take place.
* If an effect says "instead of resolving an encounter," such as the Detained Condition, this can be resolved even on a space containing a Monster.

### "That"

* Replacement effects can't be used to resolve effects that require putting a specific token on a component, which is denoted by the word "that". For example, the Occult Research Mystery states that "After an investigator resolves a Research Encounter, he may spend  1 Clue he gained from that encounter and place that Clue on this card." If the active investigator has The Silver Key, he can't use its effect to put a Clue from the Clue pool on the Mystery instead of spending the Clue gained from the encounter.

## References

1. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Effect definition on  *BoardGameGeek*.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Official answer from Nikki Valens for Resolve definition on  *BoardGameGeek*.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Official answer from Nikki Valens for Spell resolve definition on  *BoardGameGeek*.
4. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Focus on  *BoardGameGeek*.
5. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Mists of Releh on  *BoardGameGeek*.
6. ↑ FAQ p. 7.
7. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Double-sided card on *FFG forum*.
8. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Effect resolve order on  *BoardGameGeek*.
9. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Gaining Assets on  *BoardGameGeek*.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Reference Guide p. 4.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Reference Guide p. 1.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 FAQ p. 3.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Official answer from Nikki Valens for Blight on  *BoardGameGeek*.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Official answer from Dane Beltrami for No Time To Be Alone on  *BoardGameGeek*.
15. ↑ FAQ p. 1.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 FAQ p. 8.
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Reference Guide p. 7.
18. ↑ FAQ p. 13.
19. ↑ FAQ p. 5.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Official answer from Nikki Valens for Effect terminology on  *BoardGameGeek*.
21. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Trigger timing on  *BoardGameGeek*.
22. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for During Combat Encounter timing on  *BoardGameGeek*.
23. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for "during the Action Phase" on  *BoardGameGeek*.
24. ↑ FAQ p. 10.
25. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for During Action Phase timing on  *BoardGameGeek*.
26. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Charlie Kane on  *BoardGameGeek*.
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 FAQ p. 9.
28. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for During Encounter Phase timing on  *BoardGameGeek*.
29. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Asenath Waite on  *BoardGameGeek*.
30. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Resolving twice on  *BoardGameGeek*.
31. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for The Messenger on  *BoardGameGeek*.
32. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Resolving Effects on  *BoardGameGeek*.
33. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Equal to on  *BoardGameGeek*.
34. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Clairvoyance on  *BoardGameGeek*.
35. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for Clairvoyance timing on  *BoardGameGeek*.
36. ↑ Official answer from Nikki Valens for The Silver Key and Mysteries on  *BoardGameGeek*.