Because the Player's Guide says so.

That's the best reasoning I can give you.

Sigh. That was the answer I was dreading. I do appreciate you finding something concrete in the Player's Guide, though.

They are not identical, though:

TRAITOR: Yellowjacket can use Outwit. He can use it normally, or he can choose a team ability possessed by an opposing character 6 or fewer squares away to which he can draw a clear line of fire and counter that team ability on all opposing characters.

SCHEME: Skrull Emperor can use Outwit. He can use it normally, or choose a keyword and counter the same power or ability possessed by all opposing characters 10 or fewer sqyares away that possess the chosen keyword.

As we see in the bolded part, Yellowjacket is specifically drawing LOF to a single opposing character... who happens to share a TA with some other characters and stuff happens as a result of that.


Meanwhile, Scheme makes no mention of any specific LOF; you aren't told exactly who LOF is drawn to so we must assume LOF is drawn to all of them.

But by that argument, that we must assume that LoF needs to be drawn unless otherwise specified, then LoF would be needed by Spider-Woman and Crispus Allen since there's no mention of LoF. but the general consensus is that they do not need it. Why?

Because those two powers specify that they target adjacent characters. Normal Outwit makes no mention of adjacency... it can certain be used against adjancent characters (nothing specifically prevents that), but since normal Outwit doesn't mention adjacency we draw LOF normally. Those two powers DO make an exception for adjacent characters.

So using these arguments made about christmas allen and Skrull Spiderwoman's special outwit, they could outwit an adjacent character's who is in hindering terrain and stealthed?

Yes since they only require adjacency and not LOF.

I feel that I should point out this PG entry:

My question to this is if Scheme makes no mention of LOF; why must we assume that LOF must be drawn to all targets , why can't we assume that LOF is not needed to all targets and that targets only need to be 10 or fewer squares away.

Because the Player's Guide tells us otherwise.

This is pretty ridiculous and arbitrary. It has been argued that for Spider-Woman and Crispus Allen, because they say that they need to be adjacent to their targets, that they don't need to draw a line of fire, as the "adjacency" acts as the ONLY stipulation for the outwit. This is grossly inconsistent. Adjacency is only a factor of RANGE. Yellowjacket's special must be within 6, and Emperor's within 10. Emperor has a range and no mention of LoF, so, based on the PG, we learn that no mention of LoF means LoF in every instance.

Spider-Woman doesn't mention Lof; only range (which ALL special outwits mention) is discussed. Doom has his "anywhere on the board", Reed Richards has 10, Emperor has 10, Yellowjacket has 6 and so on.

The "because the player's guide says so" explanation will work for a ruling, but doesn't do anything to create a consistent rule where player's wouldn't need to reference the PG.

I'm told that Crispus Allen outwits ALL of the powers on a target's entire dial. Does Spider-Woman outwit ALL of the powers on the dial of a chosen category like "speed" or "defense"?

Why can't there be a set of guidelines that governs all of these powers?

None of those powers mention LOF because they don't have to do so; Outwit does it for them:

Outwit
Once during your turn, give this character a free action to counter a power or a combat ability (other than a team ability) possessed by a single target opposing character until the beginning of your next turn. A character using this power must be within 10 squares of the target and have a clear line of fire to the target.


Now let's look at some of those specific differences between Outwtit and the special powers. Remember, if the special power doesn't address it, default to the original Outwit description.

YOUR POWERS WILL NOT SAVE YOU: Crispus Allen can use Outwit. He can use it normally, or he can counter all standard and named powers of up to two adjacent opposing characters.

So he can A) counter all non-special powers, B) can do this to two characters instead of one, and C) he can do this two adjacent characters (which, per the PG, we know does not require LOF). Otherwise, this works like normal Outwit.

TRAITOR: Yellowjacket can use Outwit. He can use it normally, or he can choose a team ability possessed by an opposing character 6 or fewer squares away to which he can draw a clear line of fire and counter that team ability on all opposing characters.

So he can A) only choose a character within 6 squares instead of 10 (LOF to this character is still needed because it does not specifically say that it is not needed) and B) he choose a TA to use this special Outwit on, not a power.

The remaining part of this special power follows as a result of choosing that one TA from that one character. He's not choosing/targetting any other characters.

SCHEME: Skrull Emperor can use Outwit. He can use it normally, or choose a keyword and counter the same power or ability possessed by all opposing characters 10 or fewer squares away that possess the chosen keyword.


This is essentially the Brilliant Tactician version of Outwit: choose a keyword, then target all opposing characters with that keyword and counter the same power or ability on all of them. And like Brilliant Tactician, LOF is still needed because we're not told otherwise.

AGENT PROVOCATEUR: Spider-Woman can use Outwit. When Spider-Woman uses Outwit, she can use it normally, or she can counter all powers of a choosen type (move, attack, damage or defense) of all adjacent characters.

She can A) counter all powers of a specific type rather than naming a specific power and B) she can do this to all adjacent characters (again, we know from the PG that this adjacency removes the need for LOF).

I don't mean to sound like a ranting lunatic and I really do appreciate everyone who responded. I guess I'm just frustrated that i can't always figure out the specifics of a special power on my own.

you're not the only one. for this reason we all have to stick together as a strong community, and help clix stay around for a ling time.

You should read my thread from last month about "Pulse wave and LOF on stealth characters" but I'm not going to start that up again.