Additional Requirements

[Aesop]

Some abilities have a AR: on them listed after the ability with something like "discard a soulstone". I don't have an example of this sitting in front of me or I would quote it. Other abilities has similar listings without the AR: such as Hamelin's Obedience Spell (CC: 13M / Rst: WP/ Rg: 12) Sacrifice a friendly model within 6". Target non-master model immediately takes a charge or (1) action controlled by this models controller.

What's the difference between spells with the AR: and spells without them? Does the AR denote that the add'l req must be satisfied to even attempt the spell while the non-AR stuff, like sacrificing the model, only needs to be done if the spell is successfully cast and not resisted?

thanks.

[Omenbringer]

Pages 46-47 of the new Malifaux 1.5 edition book spells out Additional Requirements and how they work with Cast actions.

In short though the Additional Requirements must be paid prior to the target having to resist. If they can't be paid then the spell immediately fails (though still uses the AP for the attempt).

Edited April 29, 2013 by Omenbringer

[Aesop]

So if it doesn't explicitly state "Additional Requirement" or "AR:", such as in the case of the Hamelin spell quoted in my original post, that portion, sacrificing a friendly model, only takes effect during the execution of the spell, ie after the spell is successfully cast and not resisted?

[Omenbringer]

I would treat the Sacrifice as an Additional Requirement despite not having it clearly spelled out in the description. Reasons for this are:

1. The Sacrifice verbage is in the same location an AR would be located.
   
2. Cast actions are not opposed duels but generate a simple resist duel. Everything the Caster is going to do to the spell has to completed prior to the Target attempting to resist (if applicable).

The formal AR designation in spells is a bit of a recent (and somewhat inconsistent) addition to the game. A lot of spells dont have them despite possessing additional requirements in their descriptions.

[Tokaji]

So just to kind of tag onto this, what if there is no resist? Does the AR happen even if the casting fails? Because that would be the one differentiation I would make between the AR and non-AR spells.

[Aesop]

Ok, on pg 52 and 53 of the mini rulebook it lays it out:

1) Declare spell and target, check range and check if capable to meet add'l requirements (don't meet them yet, just check if you can)

2) Flip starting duel total (CA > CC)

3) Cheat

4) Determine final duel total

5) Meet add'l requirements

6) Opponent's resist

Additional requirements are defined as "These requirements are found in the first sentence of the Spell's description and inclde: the caster suffereng Wd, Sacrificing/discardings Counters or Solstones, sacrificing/killing friendly models (or the casting model), or other requirements indicated as "AR: [requirement]."

So based on that, there's not really any distinction between spells that list AR: [requirement] and those that just have a requirement in the first sentence.

---------- Post added at 11:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:18 PM ----------

So just to kind of tag onto this, what if there is no resist? Does the AR happen even if the casting fails? Because that would be the one differentiation I would make between the AR and non-AR spells.

No, it doesn't. You only need to meet the AR if you successfully cast the spell.

[Adran]

Adding AR to a spell to clarify if it was an additional requirement only started in Book 3.

Models from prior to book 3 can have spells with additional requirements, they just aren't spelled out in the spell description in the same way, so as you have listed the Hamelin spell, The sacrifice a friendly modle is an additional requirement.

To Succesfully cast a spell you have to at least equal the casting cost of the spell and pay any additional requirements. If you don't mange either of these 2 things, then the spell has failed to cast and does not require resisting. If you suceed in both then the spell can be resisted if it has a resist, and then assumign the resist fails the spell effects take place. If the Resist succeeds, then the rest of the spell effects don't happen but you have still had to pay the costs.

Lets take Colettes spell Discharge Soulstone. I can't remember the exact numbers but it is somethign like this

CC 15 rst Df Range 8 Discard 1 soulstone Target model suffers 2/3/4 Damage.

Colette declares a target for the spell. She will then Flip a card and add that to her Ca to see if she has reached the CC. She then decided if she wants to pay the additinonal cost of discardign the soulstone.

As long as she has reached 15 and discarded the soulstone the target has to make the resist duel.

If they sucessfully resist then, nothign happens, if the sucedd then the damage flip occurs.

At the Cast point Colette could look at her total, and decide that the total of 15 she has reached is quite low, and Her target has a high defence so they will easily resist the spell. She can then choose not to disacrd the soulstone and her spell will fail to cast. The defending model does not need to resist, but Colette did not have to discard a soulstone.

For a spell Like Reanimator whic has an additional cost of discarding corpse counters, you only need to discard the corpse counters after you have reached the casting total. Since there is no resist you know that you will suceed once you have reached the total and discarded the corpse counters.