Timing issue for actions in battle

[Pordobolito]

There is a battle and the wizard that fights the monster quickly throws for ex. a +10 and a +5 to the monster and instantly throws the rest of his cards to charm it and get +3 treasures.

There was no time given for others to throw any cards such as "friendly" or whatever would make the monster go away.

Should he wait few seconds, after having charmed the monster, for others to throw their cards, like when you are ready to kill a monster, or is it like "first come, first served"?

Thanks in advance.

[smoothhands]

According to the printed rules, you are only required to wait for user input when the battle is on the verge of ending. Just based on that, you could do exactly what you said, though people could still play things like Wandering Monster and Trojan Horse, as those are both playable in that situation.

Having said that, there are cards like Annihilation that have a timing component to them. Annihilation, in your example, could be played on the original monster (though probably no one would use it before the enhancers are played, which is when you'd have to play it to get rid of the monster) or either of the enhancers...or the Wizard card!

The way we play is to allow the person to play all those cards in rapid succession UNLESS someone has a card that they would have reasonably wanted to play. If the Wizard has a combat strength of 3 and he throws out a level 20 monster and proceeds to buff it to hell, it's very reasonable to believe he's about to Charm it or use a Pollymorph Potion, so there should be enough time for people to process what was played before he can Charm. Maybe they want to do a Switcheroo for a level 1 monster? Maybe they want to use a Transferal Potion and fight it themselves? This is obviously subject to judgment based on the situation. The key idea though is that it's no fun to have to eye the table like a hawk and be ready to leap across at a moment's notice to throw down a card, only to get in a big fight over which card hit first.

I have no idea if this is the official ruling, but it seems like a pretty fair way of playing that leads to few arguments while still allowing clever strategies to be played like boosting+Charming for more treasure.

[thedag]

Originally Posted by Pordobolito

There is a battle and the wizard that fights the monster quickly throws for ex. a +10 and a +5 to the monster and instantly throws the rest of his cards to charm it and get +3 treasures.

There was no time given for others to throw any cards such as "friendly" or whatever would make the monster go away.

Should he wait few seconds, after having charmed the monster, for others to throw their cards, like when you are ready to kill a monster, or is it like "first come, first served"?

Thanks in advance.

difficult question for me so perhaps an offical ruling would be good to clarify for all of us (well ok just you and me!). My view is that it would depend on how it was done.

If the wizard seperated his enhancers then put them down and quickly threw his other cards down straight away without delay I would say players were not given fair chance and it should not be allowed. If it happens perhaps roll the dice to see if they are allowed to do it or not. (get each side of the argument to pick odd or even numbers then roll whoevers number comes up gets their way) better still make it clear at the start that it is not reasonable. If however the wizard threw the cards down and then declared he was charming and discarded his hand with a delay (even slight) that is reasonable in my view. perhaps not good when it happens to you but reasonable all the same. I certainly didn't feel good in one game when my son had a combat strength of almost 40 while on level two but hey sometimes it happens.

[Bogie1494]

Originally Posted by Pordobolito

There is a battle and the wizard that fights the monster quickly throws for ex. a +10 and a +5 to the monster and instantly throws the rest of his cards to charm it and get +3 treasures.

There was no time given for others to throw any cards such as "friendly" or whatever would make the monster go away.

Should he wait few seconds, after having charmed the monster, for others to throw their cards, like when you are ready to kill a monster, or is it like "first come, first served"?

Thanks in advance.

According to the rules

Originally Posted by Rules

When you kill a monster, you must wait a reasonable time, defined as about 2.6 seconds, for anyone else to speak up.

The 2.6seconds was a joke IIRC, but a good 15-20 seconds seems fair, longer if you've got a game going with beginners perhaps who are not as familiar with the cards.

I recently introduced Munchkin to my brother and waited one full minute for him to inspect his cards while I was in what would have been my winning the game combat. At 59.5s he realized what Polymorph potion could do and played it on the monster effectively saying nay to my win. And then the next round he Annihilated my monster after another 50s of consulting his cards.

[Andrew Hackard]

This situation comes up a lot, and the best answer we can provide is "Your group should reach a consensus on how fast is too fast." The spirit of the Munchkin rules discourages speed play, but plenty of people have fun in games where speed play is the norm. There is no official rule prohibiting someone from charming a monster (or using Magic Lamp or Pollymorph Potion) immediately after buffing that monster, in order to get more Treasure. However, someone who habitually does this paints a giant target on himself . . .

[thedag]

thanks andrew for the clarification. I enjoy games where I target one person because I somehow end up winning! but I don't tend to win if I play to win. go figure

[Kirt]

The wizard performed three separate actions. (Each enhancer and the charm).

Each of the enhancers could have been countered (by Annihilation, for example). So the wizard can't do them all at once.

The order has to be:
"I enhance the monster" (wait for any response)

"I enhance the monster" (wait for the response)

"I charm the monster."

There needs to be a pause between each action to allow other players to respond. How long that pause needs to be, as Andrew says, is something that should be defined by your gaming group.

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by Kirt

The order has to be:
"I enhance the monster" (wait for any response)

"I enhance the monster" (wait for the response)

I think it's OK to play two enhancers at once, actually, as long as you explain what you're doing.

[Kirt]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

I think it's OK to play two enhancers at once, actually, as long as you explain what you're doing.

I'm sure for general play it doesn't matter. In the rare, but possible, case that someone had a card saying something like "cancel a card just played" or "immediately after opponent plays" it could be important to establish order and give an opportunity to respond. So if someone is allowed to play two cards at once, I think it would be fair to give the person canceling the card his choice of which one to affect.

[Andrew Hackard]

An excellent point, Kirt.