Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

Good morning,

I was struggling to find old forum topics on Big item discarding scenarios because the search is limited to one word of 4 or more characters, so my apologies for starting a new thread.

I have 2 big items in play for whatever reason I am legally allowed to have more than 1 for. A card is played on me that makes this arrangement illegal... let's say I am cursed to lose my Dwarf race...

I am not the lowest level and more than one player is tied for the lowest level.

I know that I must choose one of my Big items to give to the lowest level.

Is the rule for doing this the following:

I choose which lowest level to give it to.
It must remain in play, therefore it cannot be put in their hand.

If the player I choose to give it to has a Big item and cannot legally play a 2nd Big item, do they have a choice between the one I give them and the one they currently carry?
If so, do they then have to discard one of the Big items or do they choose which player tied in levels with them to give it to?

or

Do I simply make a choice between the lowest level players that can legally carry a Big item? If none exist, simply discard it.

or

Is there another scenario I am missing?

Thank you for your time and patience. I didn't locate the answer in the FAQ and wonder if somehow I overlooked it.

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

Yes.

...then you cannot give it to that player, because the rule says you must give it to the lowest-Level player who can carry it.

This is the correct answer.

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

Another important issue, your Level doesn't matter. You are to give it to the lowest Level player who can receive it. Even if you're the lowest Level player, it doesn't matter. What does matter is whether one of the remaining players can receive the Big Item. So, the steps are:

1. Of the players who can receive it, determine which has the lowest Level among them. If no one is eligible to receive the Item, go to step 3.
2. Give it to eligible player determined in step 1. If there's a tie, you choose who gets the Item. Skip step 3.
3. Discard the Item.

Also, we give a hint on how to use Google to do a search for you here, and another tip is you could have searched for "big*" instead. That might net you more stuff you didn't need, but it gets around the 3-letter conundrum.

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

And even if that eligible player doesn't want the Big Item, he still has to take it, right?

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

Yes. He's welcome to find a legal way to get rid of the Item, however.

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

This conjures up an image of two players playing "hot potato" with the Huge Rock, lol.

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

Bear in mind, the circumstances which allow you to do this with a Big Item aren't driven by caprice. There are only so many Dwarf cards and Hirelings and Big Items to go around to force those circumstances to occur.

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

Thank you very much for the quick response. I didn't realize that it was simply the lowest level player among the other players. It is not the same rules as charity then. :-)

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

A good way to get around the limitations of a the forum search feature is to do a normal Google search and append the following to the end of your search string:

site:forums.sjgames.com

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

Wait, do you have to give the extra big item to someone else? Can't you just discard it? also, I think of my friends have been treating it like an item you can't use due to race or class, ie turn it upside down and not count it for bonuses. I take it this is wrong?

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

You can't ever just discard an Item you don't want (as said in the rules, "You cannot discard Item cards “just because.”"). The rules state also that you many only have one Big Item in play ("You may carry any number of small items, but only one Big one."). So, you can't turn Big Item sideways so you can have more than one in play unless you're a Dwarf (or have another reason you're allowed more than one Big Item) and can't use it. Finally, the rules explain what to do when one finds oneself in a position where one once could have carried more than one Big Item and now can't:

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

My bad, it seems that discarding section never clicked in my brain...weird...thanks!

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

Do you "stop being a Dwarf" immediately upon being cursed, or after you've figured out what your new race is? Supposing your "new" race is Dwarf, are you allowed to keep your extra Big items or did you already dispose of them?

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

I would hold that you don't lose your current race until a new one has been identified or you've determined that there isn't another one you can use. Assuming, of course, that you're referring to a curse that makes you lose your race and go through the discards to find a new one. In this scenario, you would not lose your second big item if you became a dwarf again as a result of the curse.

Now then, in the case where you just lose your race (due to curse, bad stuff, whatever) and wanted to play a new one afterwards (or potentially the same one again), I would hold that since losing your race and getting the new one are the result of separate actions that you would have to complete everything associated with losing the first race before you could apply the second. In this scenario, you would lose your second big item even if you once again became a dwarf.

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

I was working on a reply, and I have no clue where it went, since it clearly didn't go here. Anyway, it's a pretty straightforward formula:

1. Resolve the Curse's instructions.
2. Deal with the results of the curse.
3. Resume play normally.

So, in the case of Curse! Change Race, wait 'til you know what your new Race is before you start giving away your stuff. In the case of Curse! Lose Your Race, you would have to get rid of your stuff. Unless someone can show me where I was once more generous on this issue and had a good reason why. . .

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

I would be slightly more generous: if you're forced to lose your Dwarf race and you can replace it IMMEDIATELY, then the momentary glitch would not trigger the Big item discard rule. (I'd say the same thing if you had a Cheat! card that was looking for a home.)

And because I know this is going to come up, my ruling on this seems to contradict my ruling on Half-Breed/Super Munchkin, but the text on those cards clearly says to discard them if something makes you lose all your Races or Classes. (Or perhaps it's on the Curses in question; I'm away from my set and my database.) In this case, there's no grace period where you get a chance to make the situation legal again.

Re: Too many Big items - must get rid of one
 

As long as it's your turn, of course. Okay, I can get behind that. I've been hunting around because I have the sneaking suspicion that I have said what you just said before, I just can't seem to find it.