Able Bodied

Skill

Innate.

Survivor

While you control 2 or fewer Item assets, Able Bodied gains (while you control 1 or fewer Item assets, Able Bodied gains , instead).

Anna Steinbauer

The Circle Undone #38.

FAQs

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

Q: How does this skill work in combination with the ally Yaotl (which has an ability that gives you skill boost based on the number of matching icons on the top card of your discard pile)? A: The abilities on skill cards are only active while they are being committed to a skill test, unless otherwise specified. In this case Able Bodied will only have its printed icons while it is in your discard pile, hand, or any other state other than while it is being committed to a skill test. (This includes an effect that says something like "discard a card from your hand with at least X icons...")

Last updated 2/26/19

Reviews

Easy to control. Upping and downing the bonus is mostly up to you. 1 item in play typically means a pair of Track Shoes or a weapon. Characters who depend on the 0-cost items, Leather Coat or Cherished Keepsake wont be able to use this at all.

The characters who really shine with just one item in play include:

Anybody with a Fire Axe + Dark Horse build.
"Ashcan" Pete runs with just his puppy, he rarely needs many items.
Silas Marsh is often happy with just a weapon in hand, although Grisly Totem might have changed that.

Cautionary advice, the buff goes down to Unexpected Courage level as soon as you have just 2 items, so be exact with your deckbuilding when you decide to include Able Bodied, no unnecessary items!

If your deck has skills in it, this is not a bad one, it'll take some deckbuilding finesse to tell if you're better served by Manual Dexterity or Overpower though.

7/12/19

Tsuruki23 · 2522

The fact that Matt Newman included this card in the same set as Track Shoes is a sign that he wants to push our sanity even before we play the first scenario. Do you lean into Track Shoes, especially with its free tests that ask you to run Rabbit's Foot along with all the other "fail economy" cards? Or do you pack light and rely on your skills to pull you through? It's a tough call. That said I still think this card is still good at two icons- like steadfast you trade late game flexibility for early game power. If you don't happen to find the items you want to have in play, Able Bodied has you covered for a little while. — StyxTBeuford · 12985 7/12/19

This is simply not a good card. You basically have to build around it to get a good benefit from it(unless you happen to only be running one item anyway, which is rare.), and the benefit isn't strong enough to merit doing that.

6/15/20

Tilted Libra · 35

I think it's decent if the only items you're taking (at level 0) are the Meat Cleaver and Track Shoes (which I've done before). You'll always have at least 2 icons, 3 if you aren't set up yet, and combat and agility are both things that those decks usually like. It does usually get cut with XP, though. — Zinjanthropus · 227 6/15/20

It also turns out there aren't very many good *items* for Preston Fairmont, so I've made good use of this with him as well (with a board full of allies and conditions, and a deck full of events). — Thatwasademo · 57 6/17/20

It suffers from two major problems. One is that boosting combat is pointless without a weapon, and weapons are items, so any additional item- Keepsake/Rabbit’s Foot/Grisly Totem, or Flashlight/Old Keyring, or Track Shoes- kills pips. The other problem is that even with the 3 agility pips you’d probably be better off with 2 and some card draw from Manual Dexterity (and those gators also want Track Shoes at minimum). It’s very limited in its uses right now. — StyxTBeuford · 12985 6/21/20

This card is surprisingly good with Agnes. All she really needs for items is a meat cleaver, the rest can be spells. And you’re going to want those +3 fight or that agility if you don’t get your spells out immediately, or if you simply want to evade something and don’t have the opportunity. So it turns out physical fitness is vital to being a waitress, which makes sense. Those plates can be very heavy.

6/15/20

MrGoldbee · 1443

Meat Cleaver Agnes is definitely the deck that I left this in for the longest. I eventually upgraded into Crystalline Elder Sign, though, so that made it a bit worse. — Zinjanthropus · 227 6/15/20

I imagine it also works well in Patrice cause she doesn't need much setup and her mystic access allows her to avoid items. — Django · 5070 6/18/20

Eh, I actually slightly disagree. Patrice at minimum wants her Violin out, and if you add in any other item at all- Rosary, Fire Axe (which she is amazing with), Track Shoes, etc- this loses pips. — StyxTBeuford · 12985 6/21/20

"A player controls the cards located in his or her out-of-play game areas (such as the hand, deck, discard pile)."

So does this mean that your deck cannot contain more than 1 item? It would make more sence if the card's ability was: While ther are 2 item assets in your play area...

I was planning to include this into Silas' deck, however his innitial 2 items make this card already unuseful. But pure narative of Silas in my opinion is, that he IS able bodied. He is a sailor.

6/9/21

holandato · 2

This is a common jinx. They should have worded the rules more clear. Yes, you also control cards in the other areas, but card effects can always only interact with cards in play. (Unless of course, if the card says otherwise.) So don't worry, the card is playable. — Susumu · 363 6/9/21

In case you are wondering why this is the case it's in the rules reference guide under Ability. "Card abilities only interact with other cards that are in play, unless the ability specifically references an interaction with cards in an out-of-play area." — NarkasisBroon · 10 6/9/21