Retainers & Damage Prevention Q
L. Scott Johnson
>The section on Retainers & Combat starts on page 43 of the new rulebook.
>At the top of page 44, in a little grey box, it says, "Once the retainer
>has been chosen as the victim, the damage cannot be circumvented with dodge
>cards or any other intervention (other than damage prevention cards)."
>I have a question about that last bit. Can a vampire, using fortitude (or
>Sideslip), prevent damage to a retainer? Can a retainer use a flak jacket?
No and no. Damage to retainers cab be prevented by damage prevention
cards, but only by such cards "that say they can prevent damage to retainers"
(WotC rep quote). Just another example of how WotC jumps through impossible
hoops to avoid correcting mistakes. This rule, even it it were applicable
with the current cardset, would fall under the Golden Rule of CardText -
cards break the rules. Any card that said it prevented damage to retainers
would not need for the rule to be printed in the rulebook - 'cuz it's
right there on the card!
>BTW, I noticed that they changed the Resplendent Protector to only prevent
>damage to the employing vampire.
This was always true, if not explicitly spelled out.
Damage to retainers cannot be prevented in any way (other than removing
the strike resolution phase with Combat: Ends). This is true despite
WotC's claim (in the rulebook) to the contrary.
It may not be true with the next expansion, of course, if they print a
card to justify their mistake in the rulebook.
--
L. Scott Johnson (sjoh...@math.sc.edu) | A titanic intellect...
http://www.math.sc.edu/~sjohnson | In a world full of icebergs.
Graphics Specialist and V:tES Rulemonger. |