Since this came up again in another thread, I came here to copy my email exchange with Grace. I discovered that I never posted my actual question to her here. Because 1) my question includes our interpretation of "OR" and 2) it seems some people are still confused by "or", I thought I would post the entire question/response here because Grace does confirm our thinking on the "OR" issue.
(My emphasis added, above, to point out the "or" part of the question.)
So, yes, OR means either/or up to the amount specified.
E.g., "remove 2 fear or damage" means you may do any of the following:
1) Remove 2 fear
2) Remove 1 fear and 1 damage
3) Remove 2 damage
4) Remove 1 fear
5) Remove 1 damage
6) Remove nothing
HTH!
FROM ME
Rules Question:
Journeys in Middle Earth: Some cards say you may prevent or discard x damage OR fear. (See, e.g., look, ranger cloak, Númenórean Sword,etc.) A handful of other cards say that you may prevent or discard x damage AND fear. (See, e.g., tookish apple cakes, butterbur biscuits, slip thorn, etc.) My question: when a card/mechanic says you may discard or prevent x damage AND fear, does that mean you may prevent x damage and x fear? E.g., if I can remove “2 damage and fear,” does that mean I can remove 2 damage and 2 fear? I believe so for a few reasons: 1) using the rule of statutory interpretation that says “when different language is used, assume different meaning is intended,” we can assume that when FFG uses “or” vs. “and” they intend to have them mean different things. 2) While the rulebook does not appear to address this directly, rule 77 (Rest X) defines a Rest X to mean that you may discard X damage “or” fear. It the explains that this means that you may discard and combination of fear and damage where the total number of cards discarded is less than or equal to X. Since this confirms that “or” means “any mix up to total,” it seems logical that the few times FFG used “and” they meant “up to X damage and up to X fear.” Thoughts? PS: See discussion at https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2189909/damage-and-fear-vs-...
FROM GRACE
Hello Graham,
Your thought process is correct, it is intentional that those upper level items and skills allow you to prevent or discard more damage and fear than the ones that specifically say damage OR fear. For example, if a hero is depleting the Butterbur Biscuits trinket, they would choose a hero in their space to become determined, discard up to 2 damage, and discard up to 2 fear.
Happy journeys!
Grace Holdinghaus
Game Developer
Fantasy Flight Games
Rules Question:
Journeys in Middle Earth: Some cards say you may prevent or discard x damage OR fear. (See, e.g., look, ranger cloak, Númenórean Sword,etc.) A handful of other cards say that you may prevent or discard x damage AND fear. (See, e.g., tookish apple cakes, butterbur biscuits, slip thorn, etc.) My question: when a card/mechanic says you may discard or prevent x damage AND fear, does that mean you may prevent x damage and x fear? E.g., if I can remove “2 damage and fear,” does that mean I can remove 2 damage and 2 fear? I believe so for a few reasons: 1) using the rule of statutory interpretation that says “when different language is used, assume different meaning is intended,” we can assume that when FFG uses “or” vs. “and” they intend to have them mean different things. 2) While the rulebook does not appear to address this directly, rule 77 (Rest X) defines a Rest X to mean that you may discard X damage “or” fear. It the explains that this means that you may discard and combination of fear and damage where the total number of cards discarded is less than or equal to X. Since this confirms that “or” means “any mix up to total,” it seems logical that the few times FFG used “and” they meant “up to X damage and up to X fear.” Thoughts? PS: See discussion at https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2189909/damage-and-fear-vs-...
FROM GRACE
Hello Graham,
Your thought process is correct, it is intentional that those upper level items and skills allow you to prevent or discard more damage and fear than the ones that specifically say damage OR fear. For example, if a hero is depleting the Butterbur Biscuits trinket, they would choose a hero in their space to become determined, discard up to 2 damage, and discard up to 2 fear.
Happy journeys!
Grace Holdinghaus
Game Developer
Fantasy Flight Games
(My emphasis added, above, to point out the "or" part of the question.)
So, yes, OR means either/or up to the amount specified.
E.g., "remove 2 fear or damage" means you may do any of the following:
1) Remove 2 fear
2) Remove 1 fear and 1 damage
3) Remove 2 damage
4) Remove 1 fear
5) Remove 1 damage
6) Remove nothing
HTH!