Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Heal
Last Updated: 8/23/2016 (version 4.0.0)
Released: 7/26/2011

General Description
A heal ability can be used to remove the effects of a discard or an ability paired to a poison, disease, or paralyze ability. A heal ability can only target a character.

How to Play
When a character is healed, it is no longer poisoned, diseased, or paralyzed. Any ongoing effects tied to any of those conditions end immediately.
When a character is healed, any decrease of the character’s abilities is removed.
When a character is being discarded by a special ability, or by a game rule that has been triggered by a special ability, after special initiative is complete, its controller has initiative to use a heal ability before the discard completes. When this occurs, suspend the card causing the discard, additional abilities waiting to activate, and any triggers (currently active ongoing abilities remain active). The character’s controller may play an enhancement or activate an ability to heal the character being discarded. The enhancement played or ability activated must be able to heal the character being discarded.
A character to be discarded as a result of Battle Resolution can be healed (see Battle Resolution in the glossary).
When a character is healed from being discarded, it is placed in the territory of the player with permanent control, and the discard is not considered to have completed for the purposes of abilities or conditions that trigger based on a character or card being discarded.
A player has the option to play a healing enhancement during any turn, provided there is a character they control that is healable.
A healing enhancement played from hand must be played on a character of matching brigade, either in territory or a character currently being discarded.
Heal abilities target the characters that are to be healed.
All heal abilities are instantaneous.

Default Conditions
● A character is “healable” if it is being discarded, is poisoned, is diseased, or is paralyzed. If no other requirement is specified, targets must be “healable”.
● Characters cannot be healed once they are placed in a discard pile.

Special Conditions
● The ability to use healing cards outside of battle does not apply to characters with heal abilities, unless the character is Territory Class. The heal ability on a character without Territory Class can only be activated in battle.

Clarifications
● “Restore abilities” means “heal”.

This change removes any search of the discard pile - It also establishes better clarifications on when a heal ability can be used.