The query about Treebeard and
Pippin, Just a Nuisance came up again in the Gemp lobby today, it seems to be a fairly popular question.
I gave my original response to this (No effect, because hobbit was stacked on Treebeard), but only because that is what Gemp does. The ruling Durin's Heir pointed out has me stumped:
"When a card uses the phrase "instead" or "instead of", the stated effect is replaced with a different effect. This does not mean that the original effect is prevented."
I have tried several different searches in the archives, but not found anything that fully addresses the question in my opinion. A similar example is whether
Faramir, BoQ can use his ability (Wound him to make a minion roaming) and take a burden instead with The One Ring. This is raised here:
http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/topic,1665.0.html but most of the discussion is about
Boromir, BoC, who is a different case.