NO-book 21

[Rusty Radiator]

The Footnote at the bottom of Section 30 says "it appears the thief got away with your item"

I don't think he does, because you are considered at that time to be in possession of it. For proof compare Section 318, where you don't have Kai Alchemy- it says "you toss the stolen item back"

Logically speaking, if you have to toss it back you must have it beforehand, so when the thief does a runner in 30 you must get to keep it.

Does that make sense?

[Snowshadow]

May 25, 2012 19:29:00 GMT Rusty Radiator said:

The Footnote at the bottom of Section 30 says "it appears the thief got away with your item"

I don't think he does, because you are considered at that time to be in possession of it. For proof compare Section 318, where you don't have Kai Alchemy- it says "you toss the stolen item back"

Logically speaking, if you have to toss it back you must have it beforehand, so when the thief does a runner in 30 you must get to keep it.

Does that make sense?

I've wrestled with this one for years, always wanted to get the Item and the Gold Crown.

At Section 83 the Thief has possession of the Item BEFORE you are given the three options; you attempt to grab the Item and he begins shouting (presumably you both have your hands around the Item at this point).

If you have neither Kai Alchemy or Bardmanship you merely grab the Item back (GM vs Thief in a struggle, pretty obvious who wins) but of course the crowd think it is you who are the Theif so you are forced to let him have it. You lose the Item.

Bardmanship is the only option for you to get the Item back; letting go briefly to mimic & slap the Thief causes such surprise that you can get the item back.

Kai Alchemy requires the casting of a Spell, without going into detail I've always assumed Magi Magic was vocal and Left/Right handed magic requires somantic gestures (some have hinted that Mongoose's Banedon in Flight from the Dark is 'correctly' casting Lightning Hand with his LEFT hand whereas the original versions have Banedon using his RIGHT hand). Anyway the point is I assume to cast the spell you must LET GO. Your intentions are of course to grab the item back after the desired effect but the Thief escapes before you can do that.

So Bardmanship gets the Item back (only way).
Kai Alchemy - Item is lost but you are paid 1GC compensation.
Neither Discipline - item lost.

I was going to mention aboout the non-existant price list at 156 (to buy, not sell) of Book 22 The Buccaneers of Shadaki but I see someone has put prices in - where did the figures come from? Have I got an unusual copy?

[Rusty Radiator]

It's a tricky one, because the initial paragraph does not explicitly state if you are physically wresting the item off him, thus causing him to scream 'that you are robbing him'. I think that is the logical assumption, this is further supported by 318 saying "you toss the stolen item back". However this is contradicted by 286 which says you "snatch back the item" AFTER having used your ability.
Poor attention to continuity by JD, I fear.....

[johntfs]

See one thing I never got was why you didn't just cast Mind Charm.

[Rusty Radiator]

There is no plot/continuity reason; I remember thinking exactly the same thing.

I would hazard to guess a gameplay reason though- there are already SO many uses of Kai Alchemy that it is already, hands down, the most essential discipline in books 13 through 28....! I imagine JD had to go back through, culling as many applications of it as possible. Maybe it should have tickboxes for the basic spells, like Weaponmastery?