From the FF Rulebook
Can a barrier be formed on two different elevations if the barrier crosses stairs? Based on this, Stairs satisfy the adjacency requirement for barrier tokens, so I think it should work. What say you?

I would say no. But its a sticky situation and I see your point.

The rule says the Barrier must be adjacent to another piece of Barrier.

Your quote regarding stairs says the squares are adjacent.

I may be blending rules from the 6+ different rule-books on this but the way I've ruled this is a character is adjacent but on different elevations when they are at the top of the stairs.

What does that mean? You can punch the person at the top of the stairs but you don't need to breakaway to move away from them.

One uses the adjacency rules while the other uses the elevation rules.

As I type this, though, I can see why you could be correct. I guess I thought (or remembered) the Barrier wording stated all pieces had to be at the same elevation.

Not much help, am I?

You can indeed place a Barrier on stairs (and down on the ground or up on the elevated), per the normal Barrier rules.

That line from the rule book says it all.

Do you recall the Barrier description EVER saying all pieces had to be at the same elevation?

Or maybe I was drunk...

Not off the top of my head, no. I can't say for certain, though.

But I do know that the Map FAQ (remember that beast?) used to have that bit about the top of the stairs being adjacent with the rest of the stairs for a loooooong time. Presumably, there was some confusion over where exactly stairs became elevated in the early days of the game, which I could see as being a lead-in for all kinds of weird rules questions. Maybe you are thinking of something based around that?

FWIW, I'm pretty sure normalview is correct, too.

Thanks guys. It seems like there is a some confusion around elevation and adjacency. Because stairs are involved, the tokens can be adjacent all the time while changing elevation. A unique situation.

I don't see how you can place a barrier onto a stair space because the stairs are not clear terrain. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Page 12: "Stairs and ladders are not hindering terrain."

Sure, stairs are not hindering terrain, therefore, grounded figures do not have to stop when they enter "stair terrain". But they are not clear terrain either.....they are "stair terrain" and you cannot place barriers on anything but clear terrain.

From the Fantastic Four Rulebook Glossary:

not only that but all terrain types have an outline, anything that does not have an outline is clear terrain.

Sorry, I'm not seeing why you would rule no breakaway was required in that situation.

Beyond what others have said, there is no such thing as "stair terrain".

There is clear, hindering, blocking, and water terrain. Then there are further modifiers like elevated terrain and indoor/outdoor terrain. By "modifiers" I mean that it is possible to have outdoor elevated blocking terrain or indoor grounded water terrain and such. There are even orange outlines on some of the maps that have special rules. But no "stair terrain".


As such, stairs are simply whatever terrain their outline indicates... and in every map that I know of, stairs are not outlined which makes them clear terrain.

By the by, you mean "wingless" or "non-flier", not "grounded". Grounded is simply the opposite of elevated and really has no bearing at all on whether or not a character would stop moving in hindering terrain.

There's a secret way to use barrier through a wall. But that's off topic