QUESTION

If I roll a " Critical Hit " while using a Pulse wave attack , is the Damage a 2 instead of the standard 1 ?

No, because the 1 damage dealt by PW is in the placeof the regular damage, which would have been increased by the crit.

From the PAC: Each hit character is dealt 1 damage instead of normal damage.

This is incorrect. A critical hit doesn’t change the damage value of a character it increases the damage dealt to each hit character by one. So you assign damage to each hit character and then that damage is increased by 1 (you could assign 0 damage to a character then a crit would make them take 1). There isn’t anything that states that damage dealt from attacks that deal damage “instead of normal damage” can’t be increased.

I'll be honest I'm keeping quiet because I'm not sure.

"12.3b Critical Hit
If the finalized attack roll was a [6][6] (die must actually show a [6]), all targets of the attack become hit, even if the attack would normally miss the target. This is called a critical hit. A critical hit increases the damage dealt by 1 to each hit target when dealing damage."
(Page 26)

"12.4b Normal Damage
Damage dealt from an attack using the attacker’s calculated damage value is called normal damage. Normal damage may be penetrating (but not unavoidable), or the damage may be divided up, but it is still normal damage.
Some attacks don’t deal normal damage and use the phrase “instead of normal damage.” You deal the specified amount of damage, or apply the specified effect, instead of dealing (or dividing) the attacker’s damage value to the target(s). If a multiple effects that do something “instead of normal damage” would apply, the active player chooses one to apply and the others are ignored "

So "instead of normal damage" replaces damage delt (with critical hits increase)
And if you say "Replace then modify" that applies only to combat values (which Damage Delt isn't)

"13.1 The Rule of Replace Then Modify
Whenever a combat value needs to be calculated, follow these steps in the order listed:
* Start with the printed value.
* Apply all replacement values that set the value to a specific number (i.e. – it becomes 6).
* Apply any replacements that multiply or divide that value (usually halving or doubling).
* Apply the sum of all modifiers (+ and -)
If there are multiple replacements of the same type, the active player decides the order. If the result of calculating any value (combat or otherwise) is less than zero, use zero instead."
(Page 30)

So why my immediate reaction was "yes sure it increase PW damage) I'mm not that certiant after checking.

Gensan, help?

You called? I answer.

Let's look at the "Calculate Damage" step:

So a Calculate Damage step for Normal Damage goes like follows:

1. Calculate attacker's damage value.
2. Assign damage value to hit targets.
3. Apply any modifiers to the assigned damage.
4. Damage Dealt is now determined.
5. Apply any modifiers to Damage Dealt. <-- Critical Hit adds here.
6. Move on to the Deal Damage step.

According to the rules above, anything that does another amount of damage "instead of normal damage" (like Pulse Wave) would instead go like the following:

1. Assign the effect's damage to hit targets.
2. Apply any modifiers to the assigned damage.
3. Damage Dealt is now determined.
4. Apply any modifiers to Damage Dealt. <-- Critical Hit adds here.
5. Move on to the Deal Damage step.

So a Critical Hit would still increase the damage of anything that deals a different amount of damage "instead of normal damage", such as:

- Blades/Claws/Fangs
- Energy Explosion
- Pulse Wave
- Ranged Object Attacks
- Quake
- Etc.

"Instead of normal damage" doesn't replace Damage Dealt, it just replaces the part where you calculate and assign the character's damage value.

Below this line is not relevant to the answer to this question.

Note that the steps for an effect that does something other than damage "instead of normal damage" (like Mind Control) would look like this:

1. Apply the effect to hit targets.
2. Resolve any knock back.
3. Resolve the attack.

Since there is no damage to assign, Damage Dealt is never calculated, the Deal Damage sequence never occurs, and the KNOCKBACK keyphrase does not work (though other knock back effects can still trigger).

I was unsure at first as well, so I don't blame you for not wanting to step in.

Extra post to point out that I found a recent character with an explicit "increase damage dealt" to damage that is dealt "instead of normal damage", backing up the interpretation that it works:



Note that opposing characters using B/C/F against Morgan Le Fay increase damage dealt by 1. B/C/F is an "instead of normal damage" effect, but would still be affected by the increase to Damage Dealt.

This is the same reason that critting with Energy Explosion does 3 damage, right?

Yes as Gensan wrote:

The underline is my edit.

Thanks (can't give rep because you're the least person I gave rep to.)

Well poop. At least I learned something today.

Don't forget possible knock back damage for a possibility of even more blood splatter.

Knockback damage is no longer a thing in post-2020 rules.

Ooookay, did they keep any rules from before. I'm kidding. Clearly, I'm out of touch with the new rules. So glad I no longer have any interest in venue play. I'm not even 100% sure why they still call it Heroclix at this point. They clearly wanted to make a new game but I guess they wanted to hang onto a few old players so they didn't outright do that.