Soulstone Pool at the Start of the Encounter

[Therril_83]

I would guess this has been covered, but I cannot find anything really related so I'm posting this to either get it clarified or to get a link to an already cleared thread.

This question relates to Guild crews with Guild Hounds and to The Dreamer-crews, perhaps others that I may have missed.

I know the Max Soulstone Pool is only to be considered when building a crew, during the encounter there is no maximum. But when you take Guild Hounds in a guild crew you get one bonus soulstone for each two hounds you hired. The wording reads "at the start of the encounter" but also states that "the Soulstone Pool's maximum number of Soulstones remains unchanged".

So the wording "at the start" is really what makes it confusing. It could be just before it starts, or just after.

The same goes for Dreamer-crews, who get one bonus soulstone per nightmare model hired, up to max 5. Wording is the same, except that the second part about maximum isn't there.

Basically the question is, can you go beyond 8 stones with either of these abilities? Can you hire four hounds and save 8 stones to star the game with 10ss pool? and can the Dreamer really start the game with 13 stones?

Guild Kennes: Guild Crews receive one additional Soulstone in their Soulstone Pool at the start of the Encounter for every two Guild Hounds hired. The Soulstone Pool's maximum number of Soulstones remains unchanged.

Master of Dreams: A Crew containing this Master gains one Soulstone to the Crew's Soulstone Pool at the start of the Encounter for each Nightmare it hired, up to a maximum of five. A Crew containing this Master may not hire Mercenaries in Scraps.

[Calmdown]

The soulstone cache cannot go above 8 before the game begins, and that includes those two abilities.

So, if you have two guild hounds, any stones above 7 in your initial cache would be wasted.

If you run the Dreamer and have 5 nightmares, any stones above 3 in your initial cache would be wasted. Thankfully

Note that abilities that gain you soulstones during the game, such as Drain Souls, can take you above 8. These rules only apply before the game begins.

[Therril_83]

I thought as much, it seemed a very strange way to get around the maximum pool limit. But I do think they are worded quite strangely and I can see why my recent dreamer opponent made the argument (and I allowed it, as I didn't know much about dreamer and he sounded like he knew his stuff. No hard feelings either, as I won it =P )

[TimeLapse]

So on the same wave langth you could start the game with 8ss and then on turn one drain souls to get 9 or more

[Therril_83]

yes, or have Ronin use Sepoku to net you two stones without losing Wp for the whole crew. But you would still be paying 5-6ss for two, or possibly you could get down to 2-3 for 1 via drain soul on cheaper minions, but at the cost of Wp.