Merchant Character

[GrimGuvna]

I find the Merchant a highly intriguing and an enjoyable challenge in Talisman, but when using him in DE thus far I have noticed a problem concerning his special abilities in the village.

His special ability reads as follows:

When you visit the Village, Market, or Market Day you may also discard one of your own Objects to take any one Object from the Purchase deck. You may also sell any of your Objects for 1 gold each and Magic Objects for 3 gold each.

In DE when you visit one of the mentioned locations, the option to sell or trade appears but when you use one of the options to sell or trade, thats it! the options disappear and you then choose one of the normal static locations, end o turn.

What I believe should be happening is that the Merchant gets free usage of his ability to both Trade one of his objects and Sell in the same turn before or after visiting the healer/mystic/bsmith. This is implied by the usage of the word "also" and not "either/or" in the description above. This should also apply to market and market day.

For example: The Merchant lands on the village with 2 gold. He decides to sell an extra Talisman for 3G giving him 5G total. He then visits the Blacksmith purchasing a Helmet and axe spending his 5G. He then trades his helmet for a suit of Armour from the purchase deck before ending his turn.

The village is an important aide to survival for the merchant, especially in the early game, where he can get a weapon and Armour for relatively little effort and aquire gold to pay off nasties intent on mangling him before he can become powerful enough to take on challenges head on. As it stands in DE his most useful ability is blunted which makes the merchant play weaker than he actually is.

Also I have noticed that his Fate Points are incorrect. They should be 4 and not 2. Another crucial asset of survival for the merchant in the early game.

With regards to his ability to pay off Monsters and Dragons, I noticed that he could not pay off the Pit Lord during a game which is an Enemy - Monster. He should have been able to do so.

I hope this helps with the ongoing development :)

All the best

[jaxon]

I just tried the Lord of the Pit and I did get the evade option, were you out of gold perhaps?

The Fate amount is a bug, so we'll fix that.

With regards to your other point at the village/market/market day, it seems like a fair thing to allow. I'm not as much of a Talisman expert as some people on here, but it seems reasonable to me. It is a wording issue, and could be taken either way.

[Hexxen]

I completely agree with eveything Blackwych has said and I fully endorse his suggestion that the Developers should aim to re-programme the game mechanic to allow the Merchant character to function exacttly as has been suggested by Blackwych. good work.

[GrimGuvna]

Thanks Carl!

It's good to be involved :)

Ill try out the Pit Lord thing and see if it happens again.

Cheers Muchley

[GrimGuvna]

Just bumping this back to the forefront as I have noticed that as of the 20th Feb update the Merchants special village options have not yet been fixed.

If they are a work in progress then apologies for the impatience.

Looking forward to the 25th!

[Artaterxes]

Yes, agreed. For consistency, I have interpreted the rules as follows:

The Merchant's trade and sell abilities "activate" when the Merchant encounters the space instructions. That means, in my opinion, that any time before or after he encounters the space instructions, the trade and sell abilities should always be accessible. The only restriction should be that he can only trade ONE object per turn.

This is in contrast to special abilities which "activate" when encountering characters, which must be used in *substitution* of the default encounter (battle). Abilities which activate when encountering cards or space instructions should be available *in addition* to the instructions, unless they specifically replace them.

Granted, most abilities DO replace the encounter (e.g. evade INSTEAD of battle), but some specifically say they may be used in addition (e.g. the Merchant may ALSO trade, etc.), same as the Thief. So yeah I think this ability should be accessible at any time during your encountering of the space instructions. (But not if you still have cards to encounter).

[GrimGuvna]

Couldn't have put it better meself :)

[GrimGuvna]

Bumpety Bump. :)

Village/Market and Market day options for Merchant still require fixing.

[GrimGuvna]

Still an issue Gents!

This is a significant game ability for the merchant. It's been nerfed for ages.

This is of course if you are still in agreement with my initial concerns.

Best regards as always :)

[GrimGuvna]

I now have confirmation from FFG that the Merchant character plays as I origionally stated in my initial post above. Here is a copy of the reply from FFG:

Hello Anthony,

Thank you for the question!

The key word in the Merchant’s ability is “also”. This means that you can use this ability in addition to whatever else you are doing at the Village, Market, or Market Day. So the answer is yes, you can choose to discard 1 of your Objects for 1 in the purchase deck, sell 1 of your Objects for gold, and also visit the Blacksmith, Healer, or Mystic.

I hope that helps!

Samuel Bailey
Creative Content Developer
Fantasy Flight Games
[e-mail]

Please could the necessary fix be incorporated in the next update.

Many thanks

[Tyr]

Fair enough, should be in the next update

[GrimGuvna]

Thanks for the partial fix for the Merchant bodacious Nomad dudes.

However, the options to sell and trade dissapear after a visit to one of the village locations instead of remaining an option untill end turn is selected.

This would allow the Merchant for example sell a magic item for 3 gold first then buy a sword at blacksmith and finally trade it up for an axe.

Naturally this should also apply to Market and Market day.

Thanks for listening

[GrimGuvna]

FAO Carl and gang.

Thanks for the update as of 13 Jan but the Merchants ability in the village Market and Market day is again yet to be fully fixed.

As it stands we can use the option to both sell and trade an item up until you use a location (ie Blacksmith, Healer or Mystic), then after that the options disappear. The options to trade and sell should remain until you click on the End Turn option.

It is frustrating not being able to use a character the way it is intended especially when it is a character you generally enjoy using.

Please could you fix this asap. The initial request for this is nearly 1 year ago.

Regards

[JustMaeBee]

Blackwych eredeti hozzászólása:

As it stands we can use the option to both sell and trade an item up until you use a location (ie Blacksmith, Healer or Mystic), then after that the options disappear. The options to trade and sell should remain until you click on the End Turn option.

Yeah, I'm wrong.

[GrimGuvna]

limruc eredeti hozzászólása:

Blackwych eredeti hozzászólása:

As it stands we can use the option to both sell and trade an item up until you use a location (ie Blacksmith, Healer or Mystic), then after that the options disappear. The options to trade and sell should remain until you click on the End Turn option.

Sounds like it's working right to me. You shouldn't be able to buy a sword at the blacksmith and then trade it for an axe in the same turn.

This issue was referred to Fanasy Flight for official clarification which was provided as shown further up in this thread. All that is left is for this to be correctly implemented into the Digital edition.

[Artaterxes]

Blackwych eredeti hozzászólása:

This issue was referred to Fanasy Flight for official clarification which was provided as shown further up in this thread. All that is left is for this to be correctly implemented into the Digital edition.

Indeed...The Merchant doesn't encounter his space when he trades or sells, so he should be able to use his ability at any time... You're not allowed to "encounter your space" multiple times. In the same way you can't pray twice at the chapel, you can't visit the blacksmith, use an ability, and visit the blacksmith again. You have to encounter the space once (meaning buy everything in one transaction).

But the Merchant isn't "encountering the space" when he trades or sells. So I believe he should be able to use his abilities an unlimited number of times, whether it's before visiting the blacksmith, after, or both before and after. He buys a sword from the blacksmith, then convinces someone else in the Village that it's a good trade for an axe or water bottle or even a raft. :)

At least that's my understanding...