Epic Win, but was it legal?

[evan]

Was playing a regular game of munchkin, I had some good cards, was level 9, about to win. Then came the curse of the hungry backpack against me, after 2 rounds i had no more cards in my hand. My wife's turn came up, she was level 9 by then and was facing a level 1 monster. My only saving chance was the iphone app, and the non-combat bonus it gave me was..... Take Me, Take Me. Forcing someone to take you into combat, if you are eligible. I was a level 9 elf, so I forced her to take me into combat and we won together, everyone left happy.

Then I was thinking, I believe the rules state you can only help in combat if someone is not able to win alone. She easily killed the level 1 monster. In the moment I thought eligible was because she was in combat alone and I had no curse to prevent me from combat.

tl;dr Can you use Take Me, Take Me to add yourself to a combat a player was already winning alone?

[snarky]

Originally Posted by evan

tl;dr Can you use Take Me, Take Me to add yourself to a combat a player was already winning alone?

I think it would depend on the exact wording of the Take Me, Take Me boon. You can't ask for a Helper if you're able to defeat the monster, and there are cards that force someone to accept you as a Helper if they need assistance, but those only affect the situation where the player can't defeat the Monster.

[Eben]

Originally Posted by evan

Take Me, Take Me. Forcing someone to take you into combat, if you are eligible.
tl;dr Can you use Take Me, Take Me to add yourself to a combat a player was already winning alone?

The keys words there are "if you are eligible." She cannot have a helper if she is winning. Not a legal win.

[Mister Ed]

What would have been epic is if you were able to convince the other players to pile on stuff to keep her from winning, THEN when she was losing, made her take your help. That would have been EXTREMELY Munchkinly. :-D

[Pleh]

Originally Posted by Eben

The keys words there are "if you are eligible." She cannot have a helper if she is winning. Not a legal win.

Actually, I'm not sure that makes him ineligible. The rules DO NOT say that you cannot have a helper if you are winning, they say that you cannot ask for help if you are winning.

Honestly, I think this needs more official ruling to determine what an eligible helper would be. If it were a game I was GMing, I would say that any person is eligible unless the other player already has help or unless there is a card specifically stating otherwise somehow.

[Mister Ed]

I think the issue is more what the exact wording of the rest of the boon was. I think that they WERE an eligible helper (it seems like almost anybody would be an eligible helper unless they were dead at the time, unless the boon defines it more specifically), but it all depends on what EXACTLY the boon forces the Munchkin in combat to do. Is it forcing their CHOICE of a helper? Or is it just forcing you into the combat with them?

So, yeah, needs an official ruling.

[Eben]

Originally Posted by Mister Ed

I think the issue is more what the exact wording of the rest of the boon was. I think that they WERE an eligible helper (it seems like almost anybody would be an eligible helper unless they were dead at the time, unless the boon defines it more specifically), but it all depends on what EXACTLY the boon forces the Munchkin in combat to do. Is it forcing their CHOICE of a helper? Or is it just forcing you into the combat with them?

So, yeah, needs an official ruling.

Official? Okay.

http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...ligible+helper

Originally Posted by scooterhill

3) if i can defeat a monster on my own, am i still elegible to ask for help?

a) this question is asked for 2 reasons. my wife plays munchkin with me as well and i wish to stay in her good graces and if we are both at level 9 can i ask her to join me in combat so that we both win and not just me? and

b) what if someone has the "pick me" card and they are a level 9 elf or can do bad stuff to both of use only if he to is in the battle, am i "elegible" to ask for help even if i don't need (want) assistance?

Originally Posted by MunchkinMan

Okay, first off, you're only eligible to ask for help if you're losing the combat. Secondly, the Helper doesn't get a Level for helping (unless he so happens to be an Elf), only rewards that you can actually transfer to the helping player. I.e., the promise to trade or give something to the player from what you have in play, or a share of the Treasure won from the Monster.

[MunchkinMan]

Officially: One is only eligible to receive help if one is losing combat. Since one can't ask for help when one is winning, one is not eligible to receive help when one is winning. So, unless the OP's wife was losing the combat, she was ineligible to receive help, and based on the reported wording of the boon (which, in name, matches a card that already exists and has the same effect and seems to have the same wording), it couldn't be used to force her to take someone else's help.

[Mister Ed]

Originally Posted by Eben

Official? Okay.

http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...ligible+helper

Those don't mention what makes one eligible TO help, but what makes one eligible to ASK for help, hence the confusion, since the OP seemed to be saying the boon referred specifically to being eligible TO help.

MunchkinMan, though, has now made it abundantly clear that that distinction is immaterial in any practical sense, so I will stop confusing myself with semantic trivialities and breathe a sigh of relief. ;-)