Weather-stained Cloak

I'm not sure I understand this card : the damage can only be canceled during the quest phase or later, during another phase, as long as the character was comited to the quest at one point? Like if you deal archery damage to a character that was questing during the combat phase, this would still work?

No, you can only cancel damage taken while the character is committed to the quest - and, since characters aren't committed during the combat phase, no cancelling archery or combat damage.

OK, so it's a very quest specific card. Thanks!

I can see the utility but it feels crazy over-restricted.

Not only do you have to put it on a Ranger character but you also need to be playing a Quest that happens to have direct damage (probably from Treachery effects) and it's only shaving off one point. 

It's pretty effective against a few Quests but since I don't deck-build for specific Quests it's more or less useless to me. 

A cost of 0 is hard to argue against though.

A cost of 0 is hard to argue against though.

Gonna have to agree to disagree there. 

Sure, a cost of 0 is great. But it's not just a cost of 0, it's a draw off the top of your deck. You are going to get this card instead of something else.

Heck, just looking @ 0 cost Lore cards off the top of my head you have Daeron's Runes, Expert Treasure Hunter, Dark Knowledge and Love of Tales. Any of which are significantly more flexible draws in a deck made to work with them. And if you're willing to pay even 1 resource your options grow significantly. 

I'm not saying the card is useless--it absolutely has value in a few select quests. And if you don't need it you can always toss it for a Noldor ability or the in-sphere Protector of Lorien.

But my big problem with it is that unlike all the other cards I mentioned, its relative usefulness is outside of the players control (based on the encounter deck makeup) vs working actively with the player's deck and engines.

Again, this is purely the view of someone who doesn't build Quest-specific decks. If you are building a special deck for each Quest you go on then this is a fantastic card...for the 10 Quests it will ever hit the table for. 

EDIT:

Honestly, the more I think about this card the weirder it is. The Ranger restriction especially is weird to me. Why not Noldor? Surely such a corner-case card would fit better into those decks designed to throw away cards that aren't useful at the moment. 

If they have to make such Quest-dependent cards I wish they were a little more powerful. Maybe something like soaking 3 damage (MAYBE with a bump up to cost 1). Or heck, just giving it a power like: Action, discard this card from hand to do x (whatever--soak some damage, draw a card, place a progress, etc). That way you aren't so disappointing with it in a Quest where it isn't useful. 

DELETED POST--POSTED IN THE WRONG PAGE :/

If you have readying effects then you could both quest and defend against "X enemy makes an attack..."-type cards thus not restricting this to "deal x damage to exhausted characters"-type cards

Without knowing the cards of the cycle too well (or even at all) I think this card is meant for Ranger decks that tend to let undefended attacks go through on the questing Ranger hero, with or without readying effects. Combine it with some healing, a Burning Brand (for those you just can't let go undefended) and Self Preservation later on and you may be able to keep 1 or 2 enemies engaged without even bothering to attack them, all the while gaining those Ranger "engaged" bonuses.

EDIT: Keep in mind that I am far from saying "this card is good" but only point toward a specific scenario that such design might work. It could easily be a disaster as well. Still it is always fun to try and build a new idea and it is cards like this one that make it possible.

That's a very solid point, sir. Makes this card interesting!

That doesn't work, though, because the damage reduction effect is only available "While attached character is committed to the quest." By the time the combat phase rolls around, the quest phase has ended and no characters are now committed to the quest.

The whole point I was trying to make is that it also works on "X enemy makes an attack..."-type cards... 

In these cases the enemies do attack while you have characters committed to the quest.

I think this card was made more for the casual player or one who likes to build theme decks. It definitely feels like something a Ranger would be using on a quest... I like the card from that aspect. I've also come to see some value in 0 cost utility cards I can pitch for a discard effect, if needed.

Lately there seems to be a lot of enemies that "immediately attack X" - let the attack go undefended (if possible) to the Cloaked Ranger and reduce the damage, then heal. I agree it has a limited use, but it seems the main design point of Rangers was that they are constantly engaging the enemy, thus they are constantly soaking damage, so you need reduction and healing to sustain. Not very reliable, I know, as it needs more cards like Ent Draught to extend the health pool of the attached character, but is there.

The two limitations are what is killing this card - currently it is a niche card to soak Treachery damage and some immediate undefended attacks.