Claus the Saint can draw! 5 cards. He dies. When the Ghost Town is in effect, is he still allowed to come back and use his ability?
2 Answers
Yes he can use his ability.
For reference the Ghost Town card reads:
During their turns, eliminated players return to the game as ghosts. They draw 3 cards instead of 2, and cannot die. At the end of their turn, they are eliminated again.
Note that it states that they are to draw cards, so the ghost's will enter at phase 1, the draw phase.
Clause "The Saint"'s special abillity is:
He draws one card more than the number of players, keeps 2 for himself, then gives 1 to each player.
From the answer to Q14 on the FAQ for the High Noon from the publisher dV Giochi:
Q14. How many cards Bill Noface and Pixie Pete draw when they enter in play as ghosts thanks to the Ghost Town?
A. Bill Noface enters in play with 5 cards, Pixie Pete with 3 cards.
We can see that a players special ability does not suffer from the Ghost Town card being put into play. However as Claus "The Saint" is not specified in any FAQ that I could find, we do not know if he should have gotten the advantage that the Ghost Town card gives ("adding an extra card to the ghost", and thus giving him 6 cards to draw. So that he would end up with 3 cards for himself.), but seeing that Pixie Pete starts with 3 cards and not 4 (His special ability +1 (for the "extra card" from the Ghost Town), we have to assume that Claus "The Saint" get neither benefits or drawbacks from the the Ghost Town card.
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Here, have an upvote to drop your new user restrictions. I've integrated your links, except for the ghost town link which was broken. Commented Sep 19, 2014 at 0:10
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Problem is the FAQ and cards frequently contradict each other. For example Q8 from the same FAQ says during ghost town you draw 3 cards. The ghost town card itself says you draw 3 cards both of which contradict what is on the character card. In this case if you have two different cards telling you what to draw, it should be the most related card, ghost town in this case, which determines the card draw. Otherwise it gets to the point where you don't know which cards to follow and which cards to not follow. The FAQ only looks at cards in a narrow fashion.– Joe WCommented Sep 19, 2014 at 2:10
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I do see how one can conclude that they contradict each other, but the cards especially and FAQ answers can't have all exceptions listed. For that reason the normal ruling is displayed on the card, and in the answers. The exceptions are listed separate, this is to make it easier to read and understand. So the answer in Q08 is how most players should play their card when Ghost Town is in play. However there are some characters that should be played different. This is clarified in Q14, it is not a contradiction, but a specification on how some specific characters should be played.– QumadCommented Sep 19, 2014 at 9:57
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So for those two characters you follow, Q14, ie. the Ghost Town card and Q08 does not overrule the characters special abilities. The reason for Clause "The Saint" not being mentioned in Q14 is that he is not part of that expansion. Note that the FAQ does answer questions on how to play specific characters when a specific card have come in to play.– QumadCommented Sep 19, 2014 at 9:59
It depends on the character ability and in the case of Claus the Saint and other characters with beginning of turn draw abilities those abilities will not work.
Ghost Town: during their turn, killed characters return in play as ghosts, with 3 cards. They cannot be killed but they leave the game immediately after their turn.
The Ghost Town card specifies that the player returns with 3 cards which overwrites Claus the Saint's ability (and any other character with a beginning of turn draw ability)
There are characters that can use their ability during Ghost Town and here is an example.
Suzy Lafayette = As soon as she has no cards in her hand, she draws a card from the draw pile. (4 life points)
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So in effect we should actually discard the ability cards when the characters die, because they cannot be played?– leonCommented Sep 14, 2014 at 16:20
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@leon No, some characters still have abilities that can be used, such as Rose Doolan, Slab the Killer, Suzy Lafayette, Vulture Sam and Willy the Kid. Plus there are more if you count in the expansions. Think of it as some characters are better during ghost town then others.– Joe WCommented Sep 14, 2014 at 16:28