Cactus Game Design Message Boards

Quick question... For characters like Angel with a Secret Name (WA), Silly Women, Self, etc. with abilities given by */*, are the *s static or dynamic? That is, if the character enters play or is in battle or whatever do the numbers get recalculated if a silver brigade hero/EC enters or leaves play?

They change throughout battle.

That is correct.

I just realized you included Self in the question. I am not sure if Self is dynamic, it would depend on his wording. While X/* is dynamic, sometimes the specific way in which it's worded will cause it to behave in a way that looks static.

I see interesting things you can do with this... Say, is AwSN generic?

Yes. Not only that but the Warriors version has no special ability (*/* only sa's have been ruled to be identifiers--not sa's), so Window of Narrow Light would protect him from capture, conversion, and removal. Add in a little Altar of Incense and you have a guy protected from just about everything except return to hand/deck.

I just realized you included Self in the question. I am not sure if Self is dynamic, it would depend on his wording. While X/* is dynamic, sometimes the specific way in which it's worded will cause it to behave in a way that looks static.

Yeah, I think with AwaSN, SW, and Self I got all three of the */* characters.  I didn't actually think about hero abilities changing when I asked the question. Here is the wording on Self...

Self  SA:  Abilities (*/*) match the abilities of one of opponent’s Heroes in play. If that Hero leaves the field of play, abilities become 0/0.

It also has the "sa is an identifier" errata. The word "match" would strike me as a dynamic keyword (as opposed to the word "copy" or somesuch).

So--for completeness--if I played Self, matched my opponent's hero and then I played Plagued with Disease, would my Self get decreased 0/2?

Quote from: EmJayBee83 on July 14, 2012, 10:46:21 AM

Quote from: Minion of Jesus on July 14, 2012, 07:33:49 AM

I see interesting things you can do with this... Say, is AwSN generic?

Yes. Not only that but the Warriors version has no special ability (*/* only sa's have been ruled to be identifiers--not sa's), so Window of Narrow Light would protect him from capture, conversion, and removal. Add in a little Altar of Incense and you have a guy protected from just about everything except return to hand/deck.

 Thank you. I will remember this...

Angel with a Secret Name is Unique!

You may not play with multiples.  It is not a generic character.  It is the specific angel that came to Samson's parents and predicted his birth, and when they asked for his name, he said "Why do you ask after my name, seeing as it is secret?"

Let's just get that corrected right now.


As far as the X or *, yes it is dynamic.  So characters like Susanna and AwSN have their numbers change immediately whenever the number of characters their * or X refers to changes.  Note however that they refer to "In Play", and therefore set-aside characters would not count for these particular cards.  They would have to specifically mention set-aside for it to work there.

For Self, I would say that the abilities are also dynamic and change with the hero that was copied.  The wording suggests ongoing, but I'd get an Elder to confirm.

Fun fact: If the hero is set-aside, it has left the field of play (even if it was just Ambush the City or a set-aside enhancement).  Self dies.