I just had a random thought that came from another thread about heroes running across the board when consuming to many stamina potions.

Here are my questions about searching and drinking potions:

1. When a hero searches a point during the quest does he/she have to wait till the next turn to equip it to be able to use it?
2. If there hero doesn't have to wait, is he/she then limited to the number of stamina potions they can drink in one turn? (Yes, I'm partially referring to D1e and only drinking 1 pot at a time, rule)

I only ask cause it seems that my heroes have been abusing this possible loop-hole. I completely understand that when a hero trades an item to another, they have to bag it till next turn but wondered if this applied to searched items as well???

Coldmoonrising said:

1. My understanding is that potions, as they lack the equipment icons, do not need to be equipped.

2. No.

Hmm… page 11 of the rules: "Cards that do not contain at least one of these icons can be equipped without restriction. These cards remain faceup near the Hero sheet and can be used as specified on the card."

That leads me to wonder if search icons have to wait to be used till their next turn.

Coldmoonrising said:

Hmm, I hadn't caught that "equipped without restriction" line.

I'm not sure it's made a difference in any of our games, but it's good to know.

 I was curious about this as well, but after some reading am very certain that potions do not require equipping, and can be used immediately after acquiring.

"Each hero can carry any number of Shop Item, Class, and Search cards he chooses. However, the number of these cards that a hero may equip is limited. Hero players indicate which items are not equipped by flipping them facedown or placing them under their Hero sheet. Any Shop Item or Class cards (such as starting equipment) can only be used while a hero has that card equipped."

The bolded part implies that while Shop Items and Class cards can only be used while equipped, Search cards can be used while un-equipped, thus giving no reason to equip them. Also, unequipped search items (which would be flipped down) would be very confusing anyways, as they are also flipped down when used.

Not all Search cards are items, so that bolded statement wouldn't apply to them in general.  They do provide a mechanic other than flipping, which would avoid any confusion -- "… or placing them under their Hero sheet."  Generally speaking potions are items, and items need to be equipped to be used.  Search cards are explicitly mentioned in the Equipment section, which contains this rule (emphasis mine) -- "Cards that do not contain at least one of these icons can be equipped without restriction."

While we are on the subject of Equipping when and how can you equip items? For instance can you equip different items during a quest?and if so what restricts how often you can equip unequip items?

Equipping items are on your turn checklist as Step 2. If you find items during a search that require equipping, you can equip them at that time.