I have a question involving the new JLSG Superman and Pulse Wave.

BIG BLUE BOY SCOUT: Superman can use Invincible. Once per attack, when a friendly character within 6 squares and line of fire would be hit by a ranged combat attack, you may place Superman adjacent to that character so that he blocks the line of fire from the attacker. If you do, modify Superman's defense value by +2 for this attack, and the attack targets him, instead, even if it would be illegal.

PULSE WAVE Give this character a ranged combat action even if it is
adjacent to an opposing character; the area of effect for this attack is half the character’s range value. Draw lines of fire to all other characters within the area of effect, including at least one opposing character; these lines of fire ignore all game effects except for walls, blocking and elevated terrain. Game effects possessed or used by characters with a line of fire drawn to them are ignored until the action has been resolved. If a line of fire is drawn to more than 1 character, this character’s damage value becomes 1 and is locked.

How would the interact? If Superman is outside the Pulse wave at the beginning of the action and jumps in does he still get to use his power? I would think not. Also would the friendly character now not be affected (effected?) by Pulse wave now?

I could see it working where Supes jumps into the Area of Effect and can turn a single-target PW into a multi-target PW, which could be useful, but I'm definitely curious to see how this is ruled.

Definitely some timing issues there.

I would say that Superman can be placed so that he blocks LoF as long as he was not in the radius of the pulse wave to begin with.

That being said he won't receive the +2 to defense, and it wouldn't protect the other figure due to the AoE.

Notice it says Ranged Combat ATTACK?

Remember Pulse Wave is a Ranged Combat ACTION.

I think you can figure out the rest.

Ranged Combat Actions result in a Ranged Combat Attack.

Ranged Combat Actions ALWAYS leads to a ranged Combat Attack...

You cannot block line of fire, so Superman cannot defend the guy. There's no timing issue involved, as the power simply cannot trigger.


Which is lame as hell, IMO.

Sorry for being glib earlier (even RP knows I ask questions of him constantly... I love learning new things).. it made the answer come quicker which was more my intent (:-P) but I know I know.. MUST PROVE SOMEONE WRONG ON THE INTERNET is more fun I guess haha

Glib-ness is what fuels the internet.

Yeah. It was ruled that Superman had to be able to block LoF or else he couldn't use that ability. Since Pulse Wave ignores characters for LoF, Supes doesn't get to leap in.

As an aside: I was just reading some golden age comics and the very first time (I think) he saves Lois is by jumping in front of her just as a firing squad begins shooting. It's such a cool and appropriate ability.

He's still one of the best Supermen figures in the game, but making the LoF-blocking a caveat for his power triggering rather than a limitation on figure placement only certainly puts a damper on things since it doesn't take much to justify sharpshooter or pulse wave.

my question
BIG BLUE BOY SCOUT: Superman can use Invincible. Once per attack, when a friendly character within 6 squares and line of fire would be hit by a ranged combat attack, you may place Superman adjacent to that character so that he blocks the line of fire from the attacker. If you do, modify Superman's defense value by +2 for this attack, and the attack targets him, instead, even if it would be illegal.

im sure there will be may questions regarding this ability. here is what i have so far

if character A targets character B with pulsewave, and assuming that superman is within 6 squares of the target and out of range of the pulse wave, does the pulse wave then only hit superman even if character b is within the PW range still. further since the power activated outside the pw range would the +2 defense still be in effect or ignored?

also

what happens in the event that character A is based with character B and uses sharpshooter ability to ranged attack character B and superman is within range and able to use BBBS, as he is unable to enter the LOF of character A. where would superman then be placed?





[email protected]
Jul 10

to me
Hello Justin,

1. The attack would only target Superman and his effects would not be ignored.

2. Superman's effect is optional. If he can not be placed per the rules of his effect, then he is not placed.

Heroclix Rules Team

Ummmmm

Several of us received the exact opposite ruling from the rules team. I'm not saying that you are being less than honest, but this would need to be confirmed since Pulse Wave ignores characters for Line of Fire....

meh, just posting what they sent. if anything i may have worded my question poorly but given that the attack roll is rolled prior to the attack i see it either way. since lines of fire are drawn prior to the attack roll i am guessing they figured that superman was replacing the target for the existing line of fire is all

But whether Superman was there or not, Pulse Wave flat out ignores characters when drawing LoF.

I guess you could make the argument that Pulse Wave stops ignoring game elements for LoF at some point, but that would run fairly contrary to every established ruling on PW, since the LoF is still drawn to a Stealthy (for example) character at that point in the game.

In short, I do not see it working as you quoted.