Valkyrie and the Book of Diablerie

[Maiko]

Sounds like some kind of nordic death-metal band...

Anyway, during my last game, the AI controlled Valkyrie had her alignment switched to evil. She then obtained the Book of Diablerie (by stealing it from me). As she sacrificed followers, I saw the button for her to resurrect them, but she never did. I've never had the book as a Valkyrie before, so I don't know if it's possible to resurrect sacrificed followers. If it is, that'd mean pretty much unlimited spells for the Valkyrie. Sounds like a legitimate situation, however.

[Fulgur14]

Hm, should be possible, though the rules for what's considered "killing" a Follower is a bit wonky.

I happen to have a handy table here, updated through the Harbinger expansion:

My ideas about Follower death:
Note that this is complete list of Follower-affecting effects including things like Nether Realm and Deep Realms.

Clear kills (using the word):
Baba Yaga (W)
Cyclops (R)
Demon of Gluttony (Ha)
Falling Slab (DR)
Giant Beetle (Du)
Herald of Famine (Ha)
Hidden Chasm (H)
Horseman of Famine (Ha)
Narrow Path (H)
Shrine Priest (Dr)
Sluagh (W)
Soul Drinker (Du)
The First Sign (Ha)
The Fifth Omen - Death (Ha)
Vampire Prince (Du, BM)
Vampiric Dragon (Dr)

Character: Gladiator (Du)
Character: Magus (SP)

Werewolf

Space: Chasm
Space: Vampiric Dragon

Note: This also includes all situations where a Follower fights in your place and loses.

Probably kills (but not using the word):
Book of Diablerie (Du) - seems to be a sacrifice to dark forces
Ifrit Envoy (Fi) - Ifrits are destructive, so it can be supposed that the discarded Follower is killed
Hand of Midas (Dr) - being converted into gold is usually fatal
Hieromartyr (Fr) - It's discarded instead of losing a life.
Hydrochanter (NR) - discards Followers and takes a life from characters
Leper (R, Fi) - alternative is losing a life
Plague of Locusts (Ha) - it uses the word "consume"
Rock Face (H) - alternative is losing a life
Snake Pit (Du) - alternative is losing a life
Temple Drake (NR) - "demands a sacrifice" and alternative is losing a life
Temple of Varthrax (Dr) - alternative is losing a life
Varthrax War Council (Dr) - you discard a Follower to get a favor from a dragon. I guess the Follower doesn't survive...
Zombie Knight (DR) - says that it decays after being used in battle

Quest: Deliver (Discard) One Follower (R) - "If you would have your Talisman, then a price must be paid in blood."
Quest: Roll One Die to Accept A Quest (Fr) - because the 3) result is "Deliver (discard) 1 Follower", which is concepted as death on its own card.

Character: Dragon Priestess (Dr) - offering a Follower as a sacrifice should count as death
Character: Ghoul (T) - the raised Follower is "disintegrated" after being used in a battle
Character: Vampiress (H) - draining the life-force sounds fatal
Character: Warlord (Fi) - discards Followers to prevent the loss of life

Grim Reaper - duh.

Varthrax (Dragon Rage) - alternative is losing a life

Space: Lost City - alternative is losing a life
Space: Vampire's Tower - alternative is losing a life
Space: Warlock's Cave - going by the Quest card.

Note: any Firelands cards that BURN a Follower are conceptually kills, but they follow their own rules. A burned Follower should be definitely impossible to ressurect, but it's a question whether his death should be preventable.

Not kill:
Baba Yaga's Hut (W), Black Cat (BM), Deathstalker (SP, NR), False Prophet (SP), Gremlin (C), Haunt (R), Haunting Poltergeist (BM), Jester (R), Jinx (DR), Night Stalker (BM), Old Man of the Sea (Fi), Poltergeist (T), Vagabond (H) - Negative Followers should be generally discarded when their condition is met.
Beastmaster (H)
Centaur (Fr, W)
Champion of Light (BM)
Cursed by a Hag (T) - In addition to general negative Follower rule for discarding the Hag, the Followers you when you get the Hag have leave you, but don't die.
Cutbacks (C)
Disciple of Darkness (BM)
Dominate (R)
Fetch (W)
Fiend Slayer (R)
Genie (R)
Guardian Angel (SP)
Horse Thief (R, SP)
Jailer (C)
Keeper of the Vigil (BM)
Kraven (SP)
Laboratory (BM)
Lost Soul (BM)
Oathsworn Guide (SP)
Oathsworn Oracle (SP)
Oberon (W)
Prince (T)
Princess (T)
Reanimate (BM) - though if Ghoul would count, this might as well
Rejuvenation (W)
Treasure Hunter (H, Dr)
St. Josephine (R) - I presume "transcending" is not death.
Warhorse (R, SP, C) - though an argument could be made that an unsuccessful attack kills the Warhorse.
Wildlander (H)

Quest: Deliver (Discard) Two Followers (Fr) - flavor text concepts this as casting your Followers aside because they would betray you later.

Character: Necromancer (Fr) - thought might work like Ghoul as well.
Character: Ogre Chieftain (Fr)
Character: Pirate (DE)
Character: Tinkerer (C)

Space: Temple

Either:

Hate Monger (SP) and Werewolf (R): If you defeat your Follower, then it's clearly killed. But if you tie or lose, the Follower just leaves and is discarded.

[Astra]

The Book says "discard" a follower the valkyries ability on the other hand is refering to "killed" followers.

In DE every discarded follower trigers the Valkyrie ability even if the effect not mentions "killed" like on the Cyclops [www.talismanwiki.com]card.
But it's hard to say how the ability is supposed to work and if you should compare "discard" and "kill" in my opinion.

[sanityismyvanity]

I have been on the fence about this issue for a long time, but I think the cleanest solution would to be literal and only allow the Valkyrie to resurrect Followers that have been explicitly "killed" by something. As in, it specifically says "killed" or "kill" in the effect text. "discard" just shouldn't be enough, because you get into the grey area of one interpretation versus another and nobody ends up happy with the rulings.

If the Nomads felt strongly that a particular effect is indeed "killing" a Follower without explicitly stating so, they should change the text on the card to reflect it (ie Reaper, for example).

[Blinckx]

I add something to that too
If you use the book and sacrifice one of your follower and the valkyire ressurect him, you don't get the spell. I tried three times during a game ( i had the book, my opponent was the valkire ) and all the three times, the valkire was able to ressurect the follower i sacrifice but i got no spell