I played my Jon Osterman: Dr. Manhattan for the first time ever today, running him at 800 points on a 1200 point Watchmen force (I won, by the way, taking down an army of Supermen and a Supergirl).

One problem came up.

Under the rules of "Dr. Manhattan as Part of a Force," it states that "When Dr. Manhattan uses Energy Explosion, instead of dealing damage normally, a hit character is dealt damage equal to twice the number of Dr. Manhattan's combat dials that have not yet been defeated (2, 4, or 6 damage)."

This was, of course, written before the revamp to Energy Explosion that makes Area of Effect damage work off the number of printed bolts on a base.

For a reminder, here is the text for Energy Explosion:

When this character is given a ranged combat action and deals damage, an area of effect may include all untargeted characters that are adjacent to one or more hit targets assigned at least 1 damage. Hit targets are dealt damage normally, other hit characters are dealt 1 damage for each printed [Lightning Bolt Symbol] on this character’s base.

Take, for instance, the top of his mid-dial, the Distant one. It has Energy Explosion with 2 printed bolts and a base damage of 8.

Situation:

Dr. Manhattan goes to fire on a target, using Energy Explosion to catch another opposing character in the Area of Effect.

What happens under the 2014 rules?

1: Jon nukes the target for 8, which is his base damage; splash damage is 2, since he's on mid-dial with 2 printed bolts.

2: Jon nukes the target for 8, which is his base damage; splash damage is 4 per the Force Rules wording above.

3: Jon nukes the target for 4 per the Force Rules wording above; splash damage is 4 per the Force Rules wording above as well.

4: Jon nukes the target for 4 per the Force Rules wording above; splash damage is 2, since he's on mid-dial with 2 printed bolts.

Bonus questions! How would Enhancement even hope to affect any of this? How would a Critical Hit?

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

I would say 4 is the answer, but really there just needs to be a PG entry for this.

Enhancement would have no effect. A crit hit would add 1 because it adds to the damage dealt, not the damage value. That's why crit hits can up the damage on PW and Blades.

Edit: I can also see #3 being the answer and that would make sense as well. I'm sure its a low priority, but maybe it will get an update in the next PG.

You follow the rules on his card and rules sheet. The answer is scenario 3.

I'm thinking 2.

Edit : make that 3.

Option 3 is the correct one.