How do you become a toad in Talisman?

Question

I played the board game Talisman the other night and in the rulebook there was mention of what happens when you become a toad, but no indication of how that occurs. I assumed that it was an effect from an event or dice roll (which it is in some cases), but a couple of the others had played where rolling a 1 multiple times during movement turned you into a toad. We played for several hours (not getting very far) and did not turn to a toad even once, which does not seem correct even if limited to event cards or encounters.

EDIT: The others who played before became toads more often, but am not sure if that was a house rule or an older edition rule. Whether via events or encounters I would expect it to have happened at least once over several hours. We also ended up with several Place cards occupying the draw-a-card spaces

So, is there something missing from the rulebook, or has 4th edition changed to 'encourage' more PvP?

Answer 1

It is hidden in the encounter section of the rules:

Other times the encounters are hostile and attack the character, or even turn him into a slimy Toad!

You will remain a toad for three turns, unless:

If a character is already a Toad and is turned into a Toad again (for example, as a result of the Random Spell), the character remains a Toad for three more turns starting from the second transformation.

Answer 2

There's plenty in the rules on what happens when you turn into a toad, but you have to look at specific encounters to see when it happens. Here are a few:

1. Adventure cards - The Witch Stranger will turn you into a toad for three turns if you roll a 1. While this is the only adventure card in the base pack that will do this, there may be others in expansions.

2. Spells - The Random Spell will turn the character it is cast on into a toad for three turns if they roll a 1. There are 2 'Random' Spell cards in the base pack, but other spells may do this in expansions.

3. Board Space Encounters - One of the options at the City board space is an encounter with an Enchantress who, just like the Witch Stranger can turn you into a toad for 3 turns.

Generally, there seem to be the highest number of ways to become a toad in the Woodland expansion.