My 10th topic ...wow ...I must be a very curious person.
At any rate, this question is more technical, but I feel it's important anyway, because it's come up in games before:
Is the hero/evil character’s toughness altered by enhancements played? For instance, if Jael played Buckler (0/2), would Jael still be vulnerable to murder? What if Gomer, having Mask of Worldliness, uses Murder against Jael, and Jael counters with Holy Ground, then Gomer counters with Treachery of Jezebel (and chooses to prevent)? Since Holy Ground is not actually discarded, is Jael still discarded via Murder (her defense is now 7 instead of 5)? And if not, could Gomer, still having initiative, then play 2kH to interrupt the battle before Murder’s effect is complete (that is, before Murder is considered to be no longer applicable and have failed) and play Hunger to reduce Jael’s defense to 1, thus enabling her to be the target of Murder? This could be important because otherwise, with a defense of 1, Jael would have initiative, and could thus play something like Freedom to win the battle. If Gomer cannot play 2kH to do this, can Gomer then choose a different target for Murder? More importantly, does Gomer have to [if possible] choose a different target for murder (since it does not say “may”)? Likewise, if, after an opponent plays a card like Murder, you play Christian Martyr (as a dominant, it interrupts everything in the battle and happens before anything else can) to discard your own Jael, would the opponent then be forced to choose one of their own heroes with toughness */5 or less (assuming you had no other heroes who qualified)?
Immensely grateful for your time and effort,
Ammian