Editing Unique

[[File:LOTR-EN09S048.0_card.jpg|right|thumb|There is only one Lord of the Rings, although he does share his title with {{Card|Sauron, Dark Lord of Mordor}}.]]

'''Unique''' cards are indicated by a dot (•) to the left of the card title. This indicates that this is a unique persona, like [[Frodo]] or {{Card|Sting}} or the [[Balrog]], rather than something generic, like a dwarf guard or a crude goblin scimitar. You cannot play a card if a unique card with the same title is currently in play and active, or if a unique card with the same name is in the [[dead pile]]. If a card doesn't have a title with a dot, it is '''non-unique''', and has none of the limitations listed here.

The title of a card is at the top of the card on [[character]] and [[follower]] cards, and along the left edge on [[artifact]], [[possession]], [[condition]], and [[One Ring]] cards. If the card has a subtitle, it's in smaller text below the title (or across the horizonal center-line of the card, in the case of [[the One Ring]]). In conversation, subtitles are usually separated with a comma, so the card at the left is called "Sauron, the Lord of the Rings". Many unique cards have multiple different versions with different subtitles, but they are all considered the same unique persona. If Sauron, the Lord of the Rings is in play, then you can't also play Sauron, Dark Lord of Mordor at the same time. When building your deck, you can have four copies of any card with the same title, regardless of the subtitle. In the case of Sauron, your deck could have two copies of each of Sauron, the Lord of the Rings and Sauron, Dark Lord of Mordor, three copies of one and one of the other, four of just one of them, but not four each of both.

In a typical two-player game, your [[Free Peoples]] cards are never [[Active|active]] at the same time as your opponent's Free Peoples cards, and your [[Shadow Alignment|Shadow]] cards are never active at the same time as your opponent's Shadow cards. This means both players can have a copy of Frodo or Aragorn out at the same time, and both players can have copies of {{Card|Ithil Stone}} out at the same time. You never have to worry about any sort of uniqueness collision between different players' cards in a standard game.

If you have a spare copy of a unique companion or ally that is already in play, you may play that extra copy (for no [[Twilight]] cost) in your [[Fellowship Phase]] to heal that character as long as they have one [[wound]]. This is also based on titles: you can discard {{Card|Boromir, Lord of Gondor}} from your hand to heal a copy of {{Card|Boromir, Son of Denethor}} in play. Unlike some of Decipher's previous games, there's no simple way to replace a copy of a unique card in play with a different one from your hand, however, so most decks do not usually run multiple different versions of the same [[companion]], [[ally]], [[possession]], or [[artifact]] unless that card has some way of removing itself from play without permanently going to the dead pile.

Only [[companion]]s and [[Ally|allies]] can be sent to the [[dead pile]]. Other types of unique cards (particularly [[minion]]s) are sent to the [[discard pile]] even if they are killed, and thus can be played again if you draw another copy or [[Recursion|retrieve a copy from discard]]. Usually, a companion or ally being sent to the dead pile means that character can't be played again for the rest of the game, although cards like {{Card|Sent Back}} can bypass this for some characters, and a few cards like {{Card|Falls of Rauros}} can remove a character from the dead pile, allowing them to be played a second time.

All unique personas are exclusive to [[Free Peoples]] or [[Shadow Alignment|Shadow]], save for one. [[Palantir|The Palantír of Orthanc]] appears as two Shadow cards: {{Card|The Palantir of Orthanc}} and {{Card|The Palantir of Orthanc, Seventh Seeing-stone}}, as well as a Free Peoples card, {{Card|The Palantir of Orthanc, Recovered Seeing Stone}}. The Free Peoples card has a special rule allowing it to replace either Shadow card, and while the Free Peoples card is in play, the Shadow card can't be (re)played by that player's opponent.

 

 

Gollum and Sméagol are considered separate characters in this game for all purposes. A copy of Gollum in play does not prevent Sméagol from being played and vice versa. Gollum dying does not affect Sméagol, and a copy of Sméagol in the dead pile does not prevent Gollum from being played. This is intentional: Gollum ever works at cross-purposes with himself.

All cards with the same title (but not subtitle) are considered the same card for deck-building and uniqueness, with one single exception. {{Card|Orc Pursuer}} from [[Battle of Helm's Deep]] and {{Card|7C303}} from [[Return of the King]] were given the same title by accident, and are considered separate cards. You can have eight cards named "Orc Pursuer" in your deck, as long as they're four copies of each of the two versions.

The title of {{Card|Boromir, My Brother}} is "Boromir, My Brother" and not "Boromir". While subtitles are usually offset with a comma in conversation (and on this wiki), on the card itself the title and subtitle are in different places. No [[condition]] in this game has a subtitle. As a result, it's perfectly legal to play this condition representing Faramir mourning his brother's death alongside a cheerfully living {{Card|Boromir, Lord of Gondor}}. You can also run four copies of Boromir, My Brother with four copies total of any mix of versions of [[Boromir]].

|text=All cards that do not have a dot (•) before their card title are non-unique. This means that all players may have multiple copies of those cards in play at one time.</p>

<p>If you have multiple copies of a non-unique card in play, the effects of those copies are cumulative.}}

|text=When you have a unique companion or ally in your dead pile, you cannot play another copy of that card, or any other card with the same title. You may play another copy of a non-unique card that is in your dead pile.</p>

<p>If you have more than one copy of a unique companion in your dead pile, you can't play one of them from your dead pile.}}