Yet another Miserable question

[Fluffaluffacus]

Misery and how does it work! Well today, we have an amazing answer for you! 



We still don't fucking know ourselves.

So with that out of the way. Misery. There are so many different ways to interpret it. But how do we think it actually works till FAQ happen?

A) A model between Pandora, Candy, and a sorrow gains stunned. The model is surrounded by 3 misery abilities and they all proc, making the model's owner choose which misery to use. The other two become unusable for the rest of the activation due to their Once Per clause. 
B) A model between Pandora, Candy, and a sorrow gains stunned. The model is surrounded by 3 misery abilities and they all proc, making the model's owner choose which misery to use. The other two are still usable as they didn't get chosen to fully activate.
C) A model between Pandora, Candy, and a sorrow gains stunned. The model is surrounded by 3 misery abilities but the Pandora player chooses which one to use.
D) A model between Pandora, Candy, and a sorrow gains stunned. The model is surrounded by 3 misery abilities but something else happens that I can't think of and you smart gentleman and gentlewoman know more than I.

[thebarbalag]

This references a "must" option, however. See also Execute, where a model "...may discard a card or a Soulstone. If it does neither it is killed."

[Ogid]

46 minutes ago, katadder said:

Well only thing I can find in the rules relating to choices is attached. It also includes the choice of may but no alternate to not choose so make of it as you will.

The model making the choice may choose either option provided they have the capability to choose that option 

Ok, that may be useful, let's check some wordings:

Quote

Execute: The target may either discard a card or a Soulstone. If it does neither, it is Killed, ignoring Demise Abilities.

Execute has the exact same wording than Misery, word by word; and the last part heavily imply that discarding neither is an option.

Quote

Needle and Thread: When targeting a model with Staggered, this Action ignores any  to its duel and damage flips. Target suffers 1/2/4 damage and must either discard a card or until the End Phase, it cannot declare Actions printed on its Stat Card.

Needle and Thread also give an option, but in this case you cannot decline the offer, so it uses must.

EDIT:  Ninjed XDD

[Maniacal_cackle]

Thanks @katadder for citing relevant rules. Those sections are often missing from the discussions.

I think the most reasonable answer is that there's not a clear-cut answer within the rules. As such, it's a bit up to individual playgroups until we either get an official ruling or one method is demonstrated to break the game.

There's clearly at least two reasonable interpretations, and the debate has reached the point where people are arguing whether regular English conventions apply or Malifaux has a special English convention. Both are reasonable positions to take, but I don't see how one could expect any sort of resolution.

The issue is further complicated by the word "affect" having multiple different meanings in the auras section. Even if you allow for a no effect/movement/damage set of options for Misery, it doesn't preclude the first interpretation of affect (the continuous aura affecting models, and choosing applies when a model could experience several changes in game state) arriving at a similar outcome.

On the other hand, the second interpretation of affect (that it only applies once a model has experienced a change in game state) is also valid. Everyone is emphasising one interpretation of the word 'affect', ignoring the fact that there's two separate definitions for the word provided in the same paragraph.

[Maniacal_cackle]

@Ogid, even accepting that argument, it addresses the minor point of the word may. The bigger issue is the interpretation of when a model is 'affected' by an aura. There's two different definitions in the paragraph given.