Despair of the Heart vs Allies

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kober
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Despair of the Heart wrote:[...] Target character [...] makes a corruption check each time a character in his company becomes wounded [...]
Since allies are considered characters for the purpose of combat, is the passive condition on DotH triggered when an ally (in the same company) becomes wounded?
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Theo
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I would think not. Sure, allies can be wounded. However, being forced to make a corruption check from Despair of the Heart is not a purpose of combat, and it is this purpose for which a character entity is needed, in this case.
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CDavis7M
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There are many rulings that allies are characters for the combat purposes (an ally prevents a Wizard from playing River Horses, Narya untaps allies during combat but does not untap allies outside of combat). But also rulings about allies and corruption (they can't tap to support a corruption check).

It's a hard call but I think this ruling could be helpful:
Digest 80 wrote:>When in combat with a Were-Worm (where it says a character must be wounded
>to force a discard of an item). If an ally is wounded, must the party also
>discard an item? Judging by the latest rulings that allies are characters
>for the purposes of combat, we said yes. Were we correct?
I would say no. The exact rule is that allies may take actions that characters
can in combat (like taking a strike and tapping to give +1 prowess), and count
as characters for the play of cards that directly affect the attack.
So, it's more narrow than just "combat." It's a limited allowance that allies can take actions that characters can. Nothing about hazards treating allies as characters. Therefore, Despair of the Heart's effect would not activate upon wounding an ally.

The exact-exact rule is:
CRF - term - Ally wrote:Allies count as characters for the purposes of combat, including performing actions in combat that characters do (getting assigned strikes, tapping for +1 to prowess) and for the play of cards that directly affect the attack.
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Bandobras Took
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Triggering actions of other cards is not a purpose of combat.

Purposes of combat are anything mentioned in the rules under the section entitled "Combat."
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Konrad Klar
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While allies count as characters for some purposes, they do not cease to be allies and resources at any time.
They can (while counting as characters for some purposes) perform actions that character can do for the purposes, but still suffer limitations of allies and resources.
Allies do not make corruption checks, cannot be targeted by corruption cards, cannot be taken prisoner.
FW's resources cannot be targeted by resource events of opposite alignment.
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Theo
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What?! So much agreement... should this thread be stickied for posterity?
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