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I couldn't find anything on this, so I hope it's not duplicated.
Both UniversalHead's summary and the Flowchart indicate that an Elder Sign item can close and seal a gate. However, after reading and re-reading the rules, the card, and the FAQ, I came to the conclusion that it can only seal a gate.
Rules: Quote: Elder signs are a specific type of Unique Item that investigators can use to seal gates. ... and must have acquired an explored marker, just as if he were attempting to close the gate. ...
Card: Quote: Any Phase: When sealing a gate, ...
Both mention the sanity and stamina cost, that no skill checks need to be made, and no clue tokens need to be spent. Neither mentions closing the gate or removing the gate token. I take the no checks/clues as clarification that one need spend only the sanity/stamina, not that the Elder Sign closes the gate. [And the "Any Phase" should probably be "Encounter" on the card.]
The second excerpt from the rules above is what's causing me confusion. Obviously, the investigator must have an explored marker or he wouldn't have been able to close the gate and why does it mention attempting to close the gate when the gate would already be closed. But if the Elder Sign does close the gate, why isn't it mentioned in the "To use an elder sign, do the following:" list?
So, am I interpreting the Elder Sign incorrectly? Thanks in advance.
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Clay
United States
Alabama
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Elder Signs were a bit of an issue when the game first came out (At least as I understand it), but I believe the correct ruling is in the official faq. Basically what it does is automatically close and seal a gate, for the cost of 1 sanity and 1 stamina. You take the gate marker as per usual and then return the elder sign to the box. It's very simple in practice, but can be a bit wordy to get down in exact terms, hence all the confusion.
Hope this helps.
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Rauli Kettunen
Finland
Oulu
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macron wrote: Both mention the sanity and stamina cost, that no skill checks need to be made, and no clue tokens need to be spent.
I think the text on no Lore or Fight is meant there to show that closing and sealing take place auto with an ES, no rolling/luck required.
Quote: Neither mentions closing the gate or removing the gate token. I take the no checks/clues as clarification that one need spend only the sanity/stamina, not that the Elder Sign closes the gate. [And the "Any Phase" should probably be "Encounter" on the card.]
Any Phase because you can seal a gate either in the Arkham Encounter or OW Encounter phase (if you get a relevant OW encounter). As to removing the gate token, closing the gate is what removes it, so that relates to the first bit (above).
Quote: But if the Elder Sign does close the gate, why isn't it mentioned in the "To use an elder sign, do the following:" list?
I just think there was no need to duplicate the closing gates text from the previous page in the rules.
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The only reference in the FAQ to elder sign items is under the "camping" the Curiositie Shoppe.
I just noticed the example in the yellow box. There, under "To seal a gate using an elder sign", the 1st step says no roll is required to close the gate and the 2nd step is to claim the gate marker as a trophy.
Adding two words in the Elder Signs sub-section would avoid any confusion. The first sentence should read "Elder signs are ... use[d] to close and seal gates.".
BTW, I really dislike it when examples specify the rules rather than just clarifying them.
Thanks for the quick input. Case closed.
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