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There is some disagreement about how these items interact.

Locket:

  • Gain 1 Sanity
  • Any time you take mental damage, take 1 less point of damage.
  • Lose 1 Sanity if you lose control of the Locket.

Meenlock:

  • Gain 2 Speed
  • When you take physical damage, you must apply it as mental damage instead.
  • Lose 2 Speed if you lose control of the Meenlock.
  • This omen can't be dropped, traded or stolen.

My friend thinks when you take physical damage it's converted to mental damage and reduced by 1. I think the reduction only applies if the original damage is mental. Is there an official rule for this?

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    In Betrayal at House on the Hill, the rules are infamously vague on many, many specific interactions. I don't know if Baldur's Gate is the same, but there's a very good chance that there is not an official statement on this.
    – Arcanist Lupus
    Commented Dec 31, 2018 at 21:18
  • 1
    "As mental damage instead" is short for "as if you were dealt mental damage instead". If you were dealt mental damage, the amount of damage would be reduced. Since you must apply the damage as if you were dealt mental damage, the amount of damage should be reduced. That's how I'd rule.
    – ikegami
    Commented Jan 1, 2019 at 9:48

2 Answers 2

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I agree with some of the previous comments here. Not everything is going to have an official ruling and even in the back of the original Betrayal at House on The Hill rules book it says:

...if the rules are not specified in the rulebook you and your group can decide what makes the game most fun.

Personally, I would take it at face value. Since they have both cards, they must convert physical damage to mental damage and by proxy minus one to any mental damage taken.

That's my preference but if your group comes to any different agreement go with that instead. The important thing is to have fun.

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I would have to agree with your friend, but because I don't know of official rulings on disagreements like these I can only base this on my own judgement.

The creators of Betrayal at Baldur's Gate, Wizards on the Coast, are also the creators of some of the editions of Dungeons and Dragons, a game which in my mind is known for heavily encouraging creative play. Because of this, I would say that unless explicitly stated that a combination is invalid or unacceptable, that using multiple items/omens to flip damage between mental and physical so that you can take advantage of another item/omen to reduce that damage is in the spirit of the game.

As Arcanist Lupus, the rules are "infamously vague" and roleplaying and creativity are required to make some rules, cards, and potential combinations work.

In my experience, consistency is helpful. Once you decide how you want to play that card, make it an established house rule with your friend so that the issue doesn't arise again.

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