Help with timing

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by TheHuntsman

so then there is no designated reaction time from when he plays dowsing rod to when he can play magic lamp for us to interact at all?

I was specifically addressing the part of your question about what happens after the Magic Lamp is played. The timing of Wand of Dowsing is more complex and I didn't realize that was the main thrust of your question.

First: you can't play two cards at once unless that is part of the rule on one or both cards (Cheat! and Wandering Monster are the main examples). In your example, he would have to play Cleric and then as a separate action play Wand of Dowsing. Those actions can be very close together, but they cannot be the SAME action. At a minimum, he must pull one card at a time from his hand.

If you're afraid of this situation, you need to make him lose his Cleric class before the Wand of Dowsing hits the table.

Here's my most recent ruling on this precise subject:

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

Playing Wand of Dowsing and retrieving a card are two halves of a single action, not two separate actions. Any cards played on the munchkin who is dowsing take effect when the dowsing is completed, not during that process.

Playing the card you pull from the discards is a separate action and takes place after the resolution of the Wand of Dowsing action and any cards played during that action, UNLESS the card that you pull is a "play immediately" card such as Hoard! or Divine Intervention. The "play immediately" instruction supersedes the usual sequence and takes effect immediately after the card is retrieved, before any other cards have a chance to act.

Originally Posted by TheHuntsman

this discussion started because I read a moderator say that someone can play a lose a class card during using dowsing rod and pulling divine intervention.

This is an older ruling and has recently been overruled. I think it's time to add Wand of Dowsing timing questions to the FAQ...