Vorpal Blade

[evikour]

The Vorpal Blade card gives you a +10 to anything that starts with a certain letter, lets say H for the exaple's sake. This " anything" includes monsters as well as items and monster enhancers?
And the letter H has to be the opening letter of the actual item/monster etc or anywhere in the title of the card?For example if Hot Pepper Sauce was played in a battle to help a monster would the player get the +10 of the Blade?
If Humongous was played on the monster would he get the +10?

Do the same restrictions apply to Gnome's ability to gain +1 for any not one shot items he uses starting with certain letters?

[MunchkinMan]

You're never fighting anything but Monsters, so the the Monster's name (or the first word in it) has to start with the letter. A Monster Enhancer does change the Monster's name, just like it says on the card, but one-shot Items played to the Monster side do not.

The Gnome's ability is the same: The first word in the name must start with the appropriate letter.

[evikour]

Lets say, for example, that I am fighting the Perfectly Ordinary Bunny Rabbit and the "bonus" letter of Vorpal Blade is A. No bonus if I fight it as it is, but if someone plays Ancient I am allowed to the +10?
The other way round: Perfectly Ordinary Bunny Rabbit and "bonus" letter is P. I get the +10 bonus, but if it becomes Ancient I lose it?
It's a little confusing...
(I guess the same question applies to Gnome using items with enhancers..)

[Dentarthurdent]

Originally Posted by MunchkinMan

You're never fighting anything but Monsters, so the the Monster's name (or the first word in it) has to start with the letter. A Monster Enhancer does change the Monster's name, just like it says on the card, but one-shot Items played to the Monster side do not.

The Gnome's ability is the same: The first word in the name must start with the appropriate letter.

I don't think this should be the case. I've just read a few (certainly not all) of the Monster Enhancers, and I don't see any reason to think the card affects the monster's name. Please explain your reasoning.

In my eyes, if I'm fighting, say, the Bipolar Bear, that's his name and it starts with a "B" (for "Bipolar", not "Bear" ;) ). If I'm fighting a Saber Toothed Bipolar Bear, he (she?) is still a Bipolar Bear. "Saber-Toothed" is just an adjective, not part of a new name. Otherwise, what determines the first letter of the name of a monster who has had more than one Enhancer played on it?

[evikour]

I was pretty much thinking about the same thing when I posted the question.
I thought that only the noun in the name of a monster/item is what counts. Bipolar Bear is a Bear. Biporal is an adjective put to describe the type of the Bear (as well as ancient,baby,enraged...) It is more rational to see it this way in terms of giving the "first letter" bonus.
I respect though the official answer..

[Dentarthurdent]

Originally Posted by evikour

I was pretty much thinking about the same thing when I posted the question.
I thought that only the noun in the name of a monster/item is what counts. Bipolar Bear is a Bear. Biporal is an adjective put to describe the type of the Bear (as well as ancient,baby,enraged...) It is more rational to see it this way in terms of giving the "first letter" bonus.
I respect though the official answer..

I really don't want to get caught up talking grammar, but...

I would consider the Bipolar Bear to be a "B" because "Bipolar" is the first word on the monster card, not because it's a noun. Remember, it's the name of the monster that is important, not the type of animal it is. If I had to fight a Bald Eagle or Blue Whale, those would be a "B", too. In all three examples, the name consists of an adjective and a noun. If the Blue Whale drank too much, I would not think it a new monster named Drunk Blue Whale. It's a Blue Whale that happens to be drunk is all.

Pot of Petunias would be a "P" for "Pot", btw. Don't tell me they're not dangerous.

Also, I would ignore any "A", "An" or "The" that start the title of a monster card, and go with the next word.

[MunchkinMan]

I've given an official ruling, which will stand until Andrew and I have time to discuss it. Given that this is the Munchkin 101 forum, where we typically try to avoid debate and opinions, and where we do want straightforward and knowledgeable answers, I'm closing the thread to prevent any further expansion.

[Andrew Hackard]

Monster Enhancers add adjectives (or adjectival phrases) to the name of the monster. They should be considered part of the name of the monster when that is relevant.

We are usually taught to discount articles (A, An, The) at the start of a title when compiling an alphabetical list, but as this is Munchkin 101, not Alphabetization 101, we're ignoring that. When a card refers to the first letter of a monster's name, it means the first letter of the first word, even if that word is an article.

This is the official and final ruling.