change race/class during combat question

[budapest]

If I kick open the door while I'm a specific race/class and the monster I face has special bonuses verses that race/class, can I discard the race/class card and not face the consequences?

For example if I am a dwarf when I kick open the door and get 3,872 orcs can I just say "hey i'm not a dwarf!" and fight them as a human?

Also could I offer to help someone kill a monster and during combat play my elf card so I would go up a level when that monster was killed?

Thank in advance!

[Mister Ed]

You can discard Races or Classes at any time, so you COULD stop being a Dwarf to eliminate a Monster's bonus against you (if you had more than one Big item in play, you'd have to get rid of all but one as soon as you discarded the Dwarf card, of course).

However, you can only PLAY a Race or Class card during your turn, or right when you get the card. So the only way you could become an Elf while helping somebody in combat would be if you somehow acquired an Elf card during that combat. Not impossible, but unlikely.

[budapest]

Thank you for the clarification.

As a follow up, if I had a half-breed card and was a dwarf/halfling in the 3,876 orc case, I could discard the halfling card and then get the bonus "and none of it's disadvantages" ... and therefore not face the -5 modifier?

[Mister Ed]

That is correct.