Triggers and Suits

[Wraith328]

Hello,

I am new to Malifaux and  am teaching  myself this game with only the rulebook to guide me. I am sorry if this is a stupid question but 2 things are giving me  a hard time at this point:

1) How do you handle triggers where the given number also has assigned suit?

Example: Mei Feng: Tiger's Claw (Ml 6masks / Rst: Df / Rg: ml 1) The superheated condition is gained by a mask being in the duel total. Does that mean she automatically  gets this condition every time? Or do i need an additional mask in the total? It doesn't  make sense to have it singled  out as a trigger if is automatic does it?

2) How do you resolve abilities with stat and suit specifics ?

Example;  Moon shinobi have the stumble around drunk ability. Df/Wp (masks)?

I appreciate any insight on this matter. 

Thank you.

[Dogmantra]

Most of the time, Mei Feng can just get the burning automatically, however there are a few reasons the extra burning is a trigger:

There are some abilities that make you lose printed suits (Counterspell does so for Ca actions, and one of the possible results of Brewmaster's Binge ability makes you lose all printed suits), and so you might not necessarily automatically qualify.

There are some abilities that forbid you from declaring triggers, such as Som'er Teeth Jones's ability Quit Screwin Round, which prevents all models near him from declaring triggers. In this case it stops the burning but lets the attack go through.

Mei Feng has an upgrade, Seismic Claws, that adds two more triggers to Tiger Claw. If she took this upgrade, then she would have to choose which of the three triggers to use on each attack, because you're only allowed to declare one trigger per action.

Finally, it's very uncommon but there could be a time when you didn't want to inflict Burning, such as if you're fighting a Rail Golem, which gets benefits for being Burning. In that case you could still attack it without worrying about adding more Burning.

Also, some triggers have multiple suit requirements, such as Whirlwind on Viktoria of Ashes's Masamune Nihonto ability. In this case the trigger requires , and the attack has one mask built in. This means she only needs to get one mask on the flip (from a soulstone or the card that she flips), but if she were to lose the built in mask, it makes it a little harder, since she would need to get two masks from somewhere (e.g. a soulstone and the card that she flipped).

 

For your second question, those abilities are defensive triggers. So for example, whenever Moon Shinobi perform a Df or Wp duel, if they get masks then they can trigger the ability. They count as performing a Df or Wp duel whenever they flip a card and add that stat, so most of the time it will be against attacks. For example, if a Moon Shinobi flips a 4 against an attack, he could trigger Stumble Around Drunk. Some of these triggers specify after succeeding, which means they need to win the duel, others (like the Moon Shinobi) only specify after resolving, which means as long as they had the suit, they can use the trigger even if they lost. Like attacks, some models have a suit built into either their Df or Wp stat.

Edited October 7, 2015 by Dogmantra

[solkan]

If you're teaching yourself with the book, the answer to question #2 is from page 21 of the Core Rulebook, Triggers:

A Trigger that is associated with the Df or Wp stats is a Stat Trigger. These Triggers can be used whenever the character is performing a duel with the associated stat. Most often, these are defensive Triggers that allow a character to defend themselves in clever ways.

and then page 29 under Triggers.

A model's Stat Trigger is always listed with its Abilities, if it has any. Whenever the model is performing a Duel with the listed stat, the model may choose to use one of that stat's Triggers. Stat Triggers are most often associated with defensive stats.

If you're reading through the sequence for resolving a duel, when you get to "Declare One Trigger" step of the process, that's when a model with a Stat Trigger (and the matching suits in their duel total) can choose that trigger to declare.

 

[Fetid Strumpet]

I can't answer in regards to Mei Feng, as I don't have my book handy, however, I *think* what you're asking is similar to this example:

Bleeder Lash (Ml 6 / Rst: Df / Rng: 2 ) Target Suffers 2/4/5 damage.

     Death Mark: After Damaging....

 

In such a situation, yes the trigger is always available to use. The reason it isn't just a part of the weapon is simple, because there are mechanics that work on triggers, and because you can't declare multiple triggers at the same time. For example the above weapon in Madam Sybelle's weapon on her base card. The Death Mark is baked in, and essentially says if you take damage, you need to drop a card or that model doesn't get to count or take actions that score points for the rest of the game. The reason it isn't just inherent on the weapon would mean that it always worked, which means that if you took Madam Sybelle's upgrade Bleeding Tongue, which gives her two additional triggers, you could use a trigger from it and get the Death Mark effect at the same time. Currently, you can't, you can only declare 1 trigger. So if I attack you with the Bleeder Lash and get a crow on the card that I use to hit you, I can decide to take the trigger that will automatically kill you unless you discard 2 cards or two stones, or I can take the Death Mark, but I can't use both. So it limits weapons with triggers from getting out of hand.

Additionally, there are models in the game that deny the ability to use triggers. A good example is the 0 action on the Iron Zombies, as they all have an ability called lecture notes, which prevents an enemy model from using triggers until the end of the turn. Get hit by that ability and any trigger you have you can't use.

And again there are models which have abilities that take suits away. A good example of which is Sonnia and her Counterspell Aura, which takes the suits away from any Ca action that fits the requirements of the ability. So for example, Sonnia becomes totally immune to Lure, because lure requires 2 suits to make the ability work. Both are baked in to the Rotten Belle's attack action, but if Sonnia strips them both away, there is no way the belle can get both suits in the attack to make the ability work.

Does that make sense on why an ability is baked in to an attack, but requires you to declare the trigger if you want to use it?

 

2) In your example it is saying the Moon Shinobi have a defensive trigger that is useable when it is forced to use Df or Wp, and requires a mask to use. If the ability only said Df, then if you were attacked by an ability the you resisted with Wp you wouldn't be able to use the stumble around drunk trigger.

 

Make Sense?

[Wraith328]

Thank you for the help, everyone. 

I have a much better grasp on it now.