Here's the situation I'm imagining:

Suppose I'm using an ATA like, say, Asgardian. I have a team of just, say, Sif and Donald Blake. Sif has the Asgardian keyword and Donald does not, so I've only paid to allow Sif to have the ATA. But then Donald turns into Thor who has the Asgardian keyword. Thor did not pay for the ATA.

Thor doesn't get to use the ATA, does he?

I'd say no.

Thor does not get to use an ATA he did not pay for.

Nor can you pay to have it on Blake, hoping to AE into Thor, because Blake does not qualify for it.

I say yes.

It's too late to add the cost after the game begins, but the ATA must be used for all qualifying characters.

Thor qualifies.

I'm pretty sure it is OK for Thor to use the ATA.

I'm going to go with NO as well. I'm pretty sure you have to add the cost of an ATA to the force you start with. Any replacement characters wouldn't qualify for it. Just like you don't lose theme if your replacement character no longer has the keyword.

I love a consensus.

I'm still thinking "No." From an older similar thread.

But, this was shortly followed by:

Relevant Core Rulebook text:

If you don't pay for it, I would think you can't use it. If a character can replace from a piece lacking an ATA Keyword into one with that ATA Keyword, how would it work if they could gain access to that ATA? Since they didn't pay for it, but the cost must be added to your Force, do you need to specifically underbuild so your Points don't exceed the Force Limit? If gaining the ATA forces you to add those points to your build and you do go over the build total, does the Force now become illegal and do you automatically forfeit?

It just makes more sense that ATAs are assigned as Teams are built/revealed. If they didn't have it then, they can't get it later.

I say maybe. Is the game being played on a Tuesday or Thursday? If so then yes, otherwise no.



(I actually like Surfer13's answer as the most logical, barring errata)

Yeah. Now I'm confused as well. I'll just wait for the deputy ruling.

This is probably going to end up making as much sense as a game of 43-man squamish.

The last time this got some serious orange attention, it was to be taken to the deputy cave, and we haven't heard anything on the topic since. I'm really hoping it is part of the general "replacement character FAQ" that we've been promised and which I was hoping would be in the latest Player's Guide, but I guess not.

My own ruling, which I believe is fair, is this: You can pay extra "potential" points into your ATA at the start of the game. Then, if you transform non-Asgardian Donald Blake into Asgardian Thor, you will have already paid for him to have the ATA. If you do not pay for him, then he cannot make that transformation because then he would have an ATA he did not pay for and that would be illegal. Until we get an orange ruling, this is how it will be played at my venue.

I'm with Suttkus : now that you have to write down replacement characters on your team sheet, I see no reasons to not allow you to add an ATA on a sideboard character. If you pay the points for it. I would rule that you actually have to pay those points.

Not that my opinion matters much since I'm not a judge, but I'd say you should have to pay for its potential use, at the beginning of the game.

If you look at Feats, you'd pay for something like Auto Regen even if your figure might get slammed right past his Regen clicks, so you were essentially paying for a potential ability in that case as well.

I would like to see how this one works out, though. It's an odd case.

Yeah, the difference with Auto-Regen is that you CAN legally pay for it and assign it to a character at the start. You cannot legally assign the ATA (or pay for it) to a character that isn't currently on your force, barring a judge's ruling. This is definitely going to need a ruling.

I wonder about a similar case with Mind Control? If you have an Avengers ATA on your team and MC a character with the Avengers keyword, does he gain the abilities of the ATA while you control him?