Lonnie Ritter
Feisty Mechanic

Здобуток. Ally

Ally.

Cost: 4.

Спритник
Health: 2. Sanity: 3.

You get +1 .

Exhaust Lonnie Ritter and spend 1 resource: Choose an Item asset controlled by an investigator at your location. Heal 1 damage from that asset and 1 horror from Lonnie Ritter.

David Hovey
Winifred Habbamock #9.
Lonnie Ritter

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)

  • Q: Does Lonnie Ritter require a damaged asset for her ability to work? Or is this a case of "doing as much as you can", so as long as you can heal Lonnie, you can still target a non-damaged item instead? A: Lonnie Ritter’s ability states: “ Exhaust Lonnie Ritter and spend 1 resource: Choose an Item asset controlled by an investigator at your location. Heal 1 damage from that asset and 1 horror from Lonnie Ritter.” It is true that the only costs of the ability are exhausting Lonnie and spending 1 resource, and the choosing and healing of an item are effects, not costs. However, whenever you see the word “choose” in an ability, there are a few additional rules to keep in mind. These rules can be found under the Target section of the Rules Reference.

    The term "choose" indicates that one or more targets must be chosen in order for an ability to resolve. The player resolving the ability must choose a game element (usually a card) that meets the targeting requirements of the ability. If an ability requires the choosing of a target, and there is no valid target (or not enough valid targets), the ability cannot be initiated.

    In other words, you cannot use Lonnie’s ability if there is no Item to target with its effect. The question remains—can you choose an item with no damage on it (or even, an item with no health value at all?) simply to heal 1 horror from Lonnie. Thankfully, the Rules Reference answers this question as well, in that same section:

    A card is not an eligible target for an ability if the resolution of that ability's effect could not change the target's state. (For example, an exhausted enemy could not be chosen as the target of an effect that reads, "choose and exhaust an enemy.")

    So there you have it—you must choose an eligible target in order to activate Lonnie’s ability, and an item that cannot be healed is not an eligible target. This is true even though healing 1 damage from the chosen item is an effect and not a cost, because the word “choose” indicates that one or more eligible targets must be chosen in order for the ability to correctly resolve, and a target can only be chosen if the ability’s effect has the potential to change its game state.

Last updated

Reviews

There are two elephants in the room to address here.

First, Lonnie is one heck of a large pile of soak. For the cost of a resource, you can heal one damage and one horror every round. The resources aren't hard to come by, and she's also a level 0, 5 health/sanity ally who says +1 in her card text, so you aren't even feeling like you're 'wasting' your ally slot for defense. Compare her to equally costed Beat Cop with one fewer sanity and an ability that you really hope you don't have to use! Lonnie can also provide the health healing for your fellow investigators provided they bring their own items for soaking damage. Also, note that 'choosing' is part of the ability and the lack of 'must' and 'then' in her ability text. If you just need the horror, it is totally legal to choose an item without damage - or even activate the ability with no available item at all.

Second, Lonnie isn't a mechanic. She's a tailor! She doesn't fix motorcycles and cars - she fixes shirts. AHCG has a small selection of items with health, mostly 2 health: Leather Coat, Trench Coat, Leather Jacket, and Robes of Endless Night

And some high level armor with 4 health: Bulletproof Vest and Armor of Ardennes

Plus a few more honorable mentions with 1 health, so not enough health to be healed: Bandolier, Fine Clothes, and the Spooky Spoilery Snuggy

Will we one day see Motorcycles as player cards? I hope so and expect it. The motorcycle is one of the most iconic cards from Arkham Horror, and both Tommy Muldoon and Daniela Reyes are big fans of them! Plus, it is confirmed that we will be seeing the new Vehicle trait in The Innsmouth Conspiracy, but the couple of revealed spoilers have shown scenario specific assets without health stats.

But until then, Lonnie is stuck mending coats, jackets, and dresses!

Death by Chocolate · 1440
Tony loves her. — MrGoldbee · 1443
It is really nice that there's finally another good L0 Rogue ally. She's also uniquely suited to helping Winifred Habbamock cope with deck-cycling horror (possibly also Parallel Skids with his 25 card deck). Also, the first Rogue ally with more than 2 sanity (which tends to be more of an issue for Rogues than damage). — Zinjanthropus · 227
Can carolyn fern play this? — Gran_Danés · 1
@Gran_Danés: Yes, Carolyn can play her. — Zinjanthropus · 227
I think, choosing an item without damage is illegal. From rule (Target part) "A card is not an eligible target for an ability if the resolution of that ability's effect could not change the target's state". — elkeinkrad · 485
As long as you heal something (item or lonnie), the games state is changed. — RocketKat · 7
RocketKat sadly that's not enough to make this a legal play. You need a valid target for Lonnie's ability, and an item asset without damage isn't a valid target. — Veronica212 · 294
It is a rules combination which requires an item with damage to heal. Target: "A card is not an eligible target for an ability if the resolution of that ability's effect could not change the target's state." Health: "An asset card without a health value is not considered to have a health of 0, cannot gain health, and cannot have damage assigned to it." — BrotherZagon · 7
Hmmm... @BrotherZagon, that is a pretty convincing point. Okay. I'm convinced that Lonnie can't just choose any item for this. However, this rule raises a new problem, which is that Well Prepared can't actually work since it involves 'choosing a target' but there will never be a legal target that has its game state changed by the ability! — Death by Chocolate · 1440
Bu — Lateralis · 7
Entering comments on mobile is tricky. I wanted to give my interpretation of the rules question around this card: it literally states that an item controlled by an investigator at the location of Lonnie Ritter needs to be chosen. That means what is written: any item. It doesn't have the 'an item with health' clause. When then evaluating the second part of the text box, one has only to try and fulfill as much as possible, that is to say heal a damage from the chosen item if possible and a horror from Lonnie if possible. — Lateralis · 7
This review is correct. You do NOT need an item to heal to activate this ability. Target :"If an ability requires the choosing of a target, and there is no valid target (or not enough valid targets), the ability cannot be initiated." Nowhere does it say that it "requires" the choosing of an item and it is not part of the cost so whether or not you have an item that may or may not be a valid target is completely inapplicable. — Vultureneck · 73
I have emailed Matt, and he says you DO need a damaged item asset. The faq will be added soon. — Cpt_nice · 77
Nevermind then, guess "Choose" implies "must" and "then" by itself. — Vultureneck · 73
In multiplayer, if you want more survivability, Zoey can take this card along with leather coat. — LeFricC'estChic · 86
In solo, though, you'll probably get a better use of your splash cards. — LeFricC'estChic · 86
where are Matt's faq? 3 years ago they were supposed to arrive soon — taras79 · 1
Also RocketKat Lonnie is not an item so can not be targeted . — Dugbo · 1

This card needs an FAQ.

Question 1: To be able to heal Lonnie Ritter, is it mandatory that you select an Item asset that has at least 1 damage on it? Or could you choose an Item like Lucky Cigarette case and get the 1 horror healing on Lonnie?

Question 2: same, but in reverse. Can you heal 1 damage from an asset that damage on it (ex: Leather Coat), even if Lonnie Ritter has no horror on her?

VanyelAshke · 178
Um not part of the cost, and no Then in the text. I think the answer to both is yes — NarkasisBroon · 10
That is interesting, I hadn't thought of that :-P — NarkasisBroon · 10
My instinct is that you would need an iten with damage on it, but LR would not necessarily need to have horror for the damage to be healed. — LivefromBenefitSt · 1051
I recall an FAQ, perhaps in Wini's pamphlet that came with her deck, that said it worked as you suggest; you can heal either without the other being damaged. — SGPrometheus · 809
If the effect may changes the target's state, you need to choose the target whose state could be changed; you may check rule at "target" section in RR. Thus, the answer of Q1 is no. — elkeinkrad · 485
oh, "no" is too ambiguous.. you need to select an item that has at least 1 damage on it. — elkeinkrad · 485
So then, to be crystal clear: — VanyelAshke · 178
So then, to be crystal clear: Question 1 answer is no. On page 20 of the Rules Reference guide, under "Target", it states that a target that is chosen must have their game state changed. So, Lonnie must choose an Item that has at least 1 point of damage on it. Can someone please confirm. — VanyelAshke · 178
What about Question 2: Can Lonnie choose to heal 1 damage from an item even if she has no horror to heal on herself? — VanyelAshke · 178
Yeah, I'd say healing an item with damage when there's no horror on LR is fine. That part isn't covered by the "target" rules, because it's the word "choose" that makes something a "target, so it seems to me that it just falls under the general "when resolving a triggered ability, you must resolve as much of that ability as you can". If LR can't heal horror, you can't resolve that part so you just don't. — bee123 · 31
Ok, so we agree that Lonnie can heal 1 damage from an item, even though she herself does not have any horror on herself to heal. But she cannot heal herself 1 without also healing 1 damage from an item, correct? To try to understand the ruling via flavour to make it more "logical": when Lonnie fixes something (heal 1 damage on Item), it restores her sanity (heal 1 sanity). She can't just heal horror on herself without fixing something. Am I understanding how Lonnie works now? — VanyelAshke · 178
Yep, that's how I'd say she works. If you want to think of it in flavour terms- it calms Lonnie down to fix something but she has to actually fix it. She doesn't find it relaxing in the same way to mess with something that isn't or can't be broken. But she can still fix stuff without needing to calm herself down in the process- it's her job , after all, and you're paying her a resource to do it :) — bee123 · 31
Rogues usually suffer with sanity issues, so it's unfortunate that she can't heal herself a horror. I've played a few scenarios with Lonnie + Item. It's finicky... you need to draw both cards and play them, and ideally you want to assemble the 2-card combo early. Then, you need to be able to take damage without dying. It happened to me where Tony Morgan assembled the combo 3/4 of the way into a scenario, and he still died, suffering a Mental trauma because the encounter deck kept beating him with horror, but there was no damage-taking opportunities present to be able to require mending for Lonnie. — VanyelAshke · 178
From a purely rules perspective I think that the answers to both are yes. This is because the only cost (what comes before the ":" ) is exhausting her and spending a resource. The rest is "resolve as much as possible", and since there is no "then" before the second sentence, she would resolve as much as possible. In the case of question 1 you couldn't heal the item but you could heal lonnie, and for question 2 you would just skip healing horror from lonnie. — jonklin · 514
Having no item to heal is still perfectly legal. Honestly, so many people are arguing whether or not it's legal based on whether the item is a valid target but they're ignoring the first bullet point in the rules reference. Target: "If an ability requires the choosing of a target, and there is no valid target (or not enough valid targets), the ability cannot be initiated." Nowhere does it say that choosing an item is required so it doesn't matter if it's a valid target or not, she'll still heal the horror. — Vultureneck · 73
The answer is 1: NO 2: YES. An item with no damage on it is not a valid target (game state won't change), and since there is the "choose" keyword, you cannot initiate the action ("target" rules). This is also on par with the flavour of the card : Lonnie will always be able to fix your stuff, but if there's nothing to fix, Lonnie won't gain sanity — NotSure · 22
@NotSure. I had to scroll back and forth multiple times, but (assuming I am getting your meaning) you are saying 1. YES, 2. NO — stm08007 · 1