Can I use multiple items and spells in one action?

Question

I was wondering if I could use multiple items and spells in one action. The rules say

Although an investigator cannot perform a component action from a single component more than once each round, he can perform component actions of different components.

So I guess the question is: "what is an component?"

I have a few combinations I would like to clarify:

Start action phase:

• Feed the Mind (ritual spell)
• Blessing of Isis (ritual spell)
• Dynamite (item - weapon)
• Holy water (item magical)
• Travel

End action phase

Start action phase:

• Blessing of Isis (ritual spell - I gain an Blessing)
• Holy water (I gain another condition)
• then flip my first received Blessing and resolve it(since I can not have two conditions) and put the last received Blessing in the back of the deck
• Travel

End action phase

Another question I was wondering about was "preventing". Bandages and Whiskey state you can prevent an investigator from losing health or sanity. It's not an action so I must (?) use this during the encounter phase but do I have to use it before the other investigator (or myself) starts the fight? (that seems weird). Or can I use it when an investigator on my spot loses a strength/will test even if it's not my encounter?

Same goes with the Flesh Ward spell, can I cast it during someone else's encounter phase to prevent them form taking damage? Example:

• John is on the same space as me
• John has 3 health and 4 sanity left and is on a space with a Goat Spawn and a Skeleton
• In the previous encounter John did one damage to the Goat Spawn (leaving it with one toughness) and none to the Skeleton
• This encounter John encounters the Goat Spawn first and rolls 1 success reducing the toughness of the Goat Spawn to 0.
• Does John still take one damage because his damage was lower than that of the Goat Spawn allthought John did kill it
• If John takes damage can I then use my Bandage/Whiskey/Flesh Ward spell on him negating the effects of losing health and sanity?
• John then rolls 4 success during the fight with the Skeleton and kills it.
• After the combat encounters John does a clue encounter in which he loses 1 health. Does the Bandage/Flesh Ward still work?

Or is it more like this

• John is on the same space as me
• John has 3 health and 4 sanity left and is on a space with a Goat Spawn and a Skeleton
• In the previous encounter John did one damage to the Goat Spawn (leaving it with one toughness) and none to the Skeleton
• I discard my Bandages and Whiskey so if John takes 2 damage or loses 2 sanity he actually won't. But I discard my cards none the less.
• To make sure John won't die I also cast my Flesh Ward on him with a success of three.
• This encounter John encounters the Goat Spawn first and rolls 1 success reducing the toughness of the Goat Spawn to 0.
• Does John still take one damage because his damage was lower than that of the Goat Spawn allthought John did kill it. Obviously my Bandages and Flesh Ward spell prevent him from actually taking the damage.
• John then rolls 4 success during the fight with the Skeleton and kills it.
• After the combat encounters John does a clue encounter in which he loses 1 health. Does the Bandage/Flesh Ward still work?

This game has so many variables to combine that it's hard to keep track of what is possible and what isn't.

Answer 1

In the action phase you can perform actions that are prefixed with the text Action: or Local action: on any of the cards that belong to your investigator. "Component" is just a very general term for all these cards. There are so many of them, it would be tedious to list them all. These are items, artifacts, your investigator card, and so on.

The rule you quoted at the top is the explanation of how to handle component actions in the framework that you can do only two things in a round and cannot do the same thing twice. For example if you have a reusable artifact with an action to damage a monster on your space, you could use it only once per round. After that you will have one more action left.

In your post I don't know what you meant by this bullet point list in the action phase:

• Feed the Mind (ritual spell)
• Blessing of Isis (ritual spell)
• Dynamite (item - weapon)
• Holy water (item magical)
• Travel

You can do any 2, and only 2 of these things in the same round.

As per preventing, you can use bandages to prevent damage right at the moment when the damage would be dealt. If the card says you can use it only in combat encounters, then you cannot use it while resolving a clue or other effect, it applies only in combat.

As for using something to help other players, you can only do that if the card says it's a local action or explicitly mentions. If it's a local action then you can only use it on players on the same space as yours.

Answer 2

From your list:

• Feed the Mind (ritual spell)
• Blessing of Isis (ritual spell)
• Dynamite (item - weapon)
• Holy water (item magical)
• Travel

Here is my take on it: You can do two distinct actions per turn. So, out of your list you have: two spells, two items, and one travel action. You can do any two of those. So, you could travel (one action) and cast a spell (second action). However, you could not cast Feed The Mind (one action) then cast (Blessing Of Isis) as this another "cast spell" action.

However, if during your combat your character did take some damage, they could still use the bandages to heal themselves. The bandages are then discarded. Even if your character only took one point of damage, the bandages are discarded and you lose the extra healing. In the same way, you can cast Flesh Ward during combat provided that you have not already done so as you can only cast it once per turn.

This is based on the first unwritten rule of cooperative games: if a rule can be interpreted in several ways, the right one is the least helpful to the players.