User Manual

When an investigator attempts to move out of an area
containing a monster, or ends his movement in such an
area, he must either fight the monster or evade it.
An investigator may attempt to evade a monster by mak-
ing an Evade check. An Evade check is a skill check
using the investigator’s Sneak value. The check is modi-
fied by the monster’s Awareness value, which is printed in
the upper-right corner of the monster marker’s movement
side. The difficulty of the Evade check is always 1 unless
the monster has a special ability that states otherwise.
If the investigator passes the Evade check, he evades the
monster and the player may continue his turn as normal,
whether continuing movement or interacting with the
area. If the investigator fails the check, the monster
immediately deals its combat damage to him and combat
with the monster begins (see “Combat,” later in these
rules).
Example: Ashcan Pete moves from the Merchant
District into Northside, where a Star Spawn is waiting
for him. Pete wants to continue moving to the Curiositie
Shoppe, so he must evade the Star Spawn. Pete’s current
Sneak is 4 and the Star Spawn’s Awareness is –1, so he
rolls three dice, hoping for at least one success. If he
passes the check, he has evaded the Star Spawn and may
continue moving. If he fails, the Star Spawn damages
him for 3 Stamina and he enters combat with it.
An investigator may remain in the same area as a monster
after evading it. He simply remains where he is and does
not have to enter combat with the monster this phase.
This allows an investigator to enter a gate in the same
location as evaded monsters. Such an investigator could
(if able) evade the monsters during the Movement Phase,
and enter the gate during the Arkham Encounters Phase.
Example: In the example above, if Pete successfully
evades the Star Spawn, he could choose to remain in the
Northside area without fighting it for now. However,
once the next Movement Phase takes place, he’ll have to
deal with the Star Spawn once more (by either evading it
again or fighting it).
If there is more than one monster in an area, the investi-
gator must evade each monster in turn, in any order he
chooses. If he fails to evade a monster, the monster deals
its combat damage to him and combat with the monster
begins. If he defeats the monster, he must still fight or
evade any monsters in the area that he has not yet either
fought or evaded. Regardless of whether or not any fur-
ther evade attempts succeed, the investigator’s move-
ment is finished as soon as he fails even one evade
check.
Example: If the Star Spawn in the example above was
also accompanied by a Shoggoth, Pete would need to
evade both of them to keep moving to the Curiositie
Shoppe. If Pete decides to evade the Star Spawn first
and fails the check, he can no longer move. Assuming he
wins the ensuing combat with the Star Spawn, he must
still either fight or evade the Shoggoth.
Sometimes monsters appear as the result of a location or
gate encounter. An investigator can evade these mon-
sters just like any others. However, these monsters never
remain on the board after the encounter is resolved. If an
investigator evades such a monster, immediately return
the marker to the monster cup.
Eventually, all investigators have to face their fears and
do battle with the mythos. Whenever an investigator
enters combat with a monster, resolve the following
steps, in order.
1. Horror Check
First, the alien nature of the mythos threatens to over-
whelm the investigator’s mind. This is represented by a
Horror check.
A Horror check is a skill check using the investigator’s
Will value. This value is modified by the monster’s horror
rating (found in the lower-left corner of its combat side).
The difficulty of this check is always 1 unless the monster
has a special ability that states otherwise.
If the investigator passes the check, nothing happens. If
he fails the check, the investigator loses the amount of
Sanity shown underneath the monster’s horror rating. The
player discards the appropriate number of Sanity tokens
from his investigator sheet. An investigator reduced to
zero Sanity tokens is driven insane (see page 16).
Example: Ashcan Pete failed to evade the Star Spawn,
so now he must make a Horror check. Pete’s Will is cur-
rently 3, but the Star Spawn’s horror rating is –3, so
Pete doesn’t get to roll any dice for the check and auto-
matically fails. Pete loses 2 Sanity, as shown underneath
the Star Spawn’s horror rating. Pete removes two Sanity
tokens from his sheet. If he had somehow managed to
succeed, nothing would have happened to him.
Whether he passes the check or not, an investigator only
needs to make one Horror check each time he does bat-
tle with a monster. If the investigator successfully
evades the monster in the first place, he never needs to
make a Horror check at all.
Combat
Evading Monsters
14
EVA D I N G MONSTERS
Example 1: Here, Amanda moves from the
Woods to the Uptown Streets, where the Dhole
is waiting for her. Amanda wishes to continue
moving to the Southside Streets, so she’ll have
to make an Evade check. Her Sneak is current-
ly 2, and the Dhole’s Awareness is –1, so
Amanda will roll 1 die, hoping for a success.
Example 1A: Should Amanda fail her Evade
check, the Dhole immediately deals its combat
damage to her, and she loses 4 Stamina. If she’s
still conscious, she then has to make a Horror
check, and if she survives that, she’ll have to
decide whether to fight the Dhole or try to flee
from it again. Even if Amanda defeats the Dhole
somehow, her movement is over at this point.
Example 1B: Should Amanda pass her Evade
check, she successfully slips past the Dhole, and
her movement can continue as normal. In the
illustration above, she continues on her way to
the Southside Streets.