Just thought to ask about the new Venom Harness object that comes with the new Bane. I did read over the core rule booklet and the comprehensive one before posting this. Either source did not rectify my exact inquiry- or at least to my knowledge at the time, below this question is the object and the page where it interacts in the rule book. Stipulation of such "can use" is on page 28 of the core rule book; however, it does not specifically state that a character granted an ability with "can use" must use this power/ability. If I activate the Venom Harness is gaining Battle Fury optional or mandatory for the equipped character? The Venom Harness does specifically state can use rather than must or may.

s002 Venom Harness
Light Object
Points: 7
Equip: Friendly
Unequip: KO
EFFECT: FREE: This turn, this character can use Battle Fury and modifies its combat values except range +1. At the end of your turn, roll a d6. 1-3: Deal this character 1 unavoidable damage.

“CAN USE”
A character “can use” a specifi c power or ability if it is
visible through their combat dial slot (powers) or available
through a symbol printed on their base (abilities). Inherent
abilities, and special powers and trait abilities on a
HeroClix card, may also grant the use of powers or abilities
that a character “can use.”

If a special power lists a restriction on using a standard
power, you only “can use” that standard power if you meet
the restriction. Similarly, some effects allow a character to
choose a standard power (or more rarely, ability) to use
from among several choices. The chosen power or ability is
not something the character “can use” until it’s chosen.

If someone can help clarify this for me I would appreciate it. So, what I am trying to determine is can I use the Venom Harness to get the +1 to stats but not use Battle Fury?

No, if you give the FREE to get the stat boost,, you're using Battle Fury. I'll circle back to quote the appropriate sections unless someone else does.

I'm sure somebody's going to lecture me stating for this opinion, but I wish they'd just use "must use" for powers that aren't optional. Must use Battle Fury. Must use Earthbound/Neutralized. Ambiguity gone.

"Can use Battle Fury" implies option even if there isn't one. "Must use Battle Fury" leaves no room for interpretation, and no room for confusion.

Battlefury is a passive effect.

2017 rulebook page 10:
Battle Fury

It's not a bad idea on its own.

The problem is, if they did, we'd get more of these threads because new players would argue that 10 years of "can use" effects must be optional.

That ship has sailed.

"Must Use" is tough. What if my character "Must Use" Hypersonic Speed. Can I not move without it? If so, can I not carry any characters when doing so? I think the corner cases where "Can Use" gets confusing are much fewer than the many cases where people might find ambiguity in "Must Use."

Thank you all for the clarification, I do appreciate it. I plan on going over the passive abilities as well and am grateful for those who pointed those out to help clarify passive/active abilities.

I would rather they use "gains". You can gain keywords, keyphrases, symbols, effects, and abilities. Why not powers as well?

Some instances of "can use" are passive effects which essentially must be used, and some instances of "can use" are activated effects which are essentially optional. This particular effect is optional until activated and then what follows is passive.

"Gains" works for me. Has the same effect I'm looking for, but covers both optional and non-optional powers.

And in defense of my "must use", jjxandu, I would have only used it for non-optional powers - I.E. only for Battle Fury and Earthbound/Neutralized. Simply to remove any possibility of a player arguing that since "This says that I can use Battle Fury, then it must mean that I have the choice about whether or not I use Battle Fury, therefore, for this round, I will not use Battle Fury."

I remember it coming up often during the Batman era with the Suit of Sorrows. Many a tournament would be slowed a bit by the debate over whether or not "can use Battle Fury" meant that you could choose whether or not you had Battle Fury. It was always brought up that Battle Fury is non-optional, but the wording always led to debate when someone tried to taxi their character equipped with the Suit.

Heroclix Core Rule Book, Page 28
As confusing as it sounds... inside the Heroclix the game itself "can use" is not optional, text that says something like "you may" is optional.

I agree, It's hard to believe that Wizkids kept "can use" after all the rule changes they made recently... Before 2017, I thought it perphaps they could get rid of "can use", and keep all the other key phrases words like "has", "possess", "gains", etc; I was wrong. I don't think any other game in the world has done something this confusing, but I could be wrong again.

I do like how Wizkids is highlighting text by using bold, underline, and using capital letters in the game now. If Wizkids did this for every optional effect in the game, that would be a significant benefit for EVERYONE. All the new actions are in capital letters, why not list every "YOU MAY" game effect in capital letters too? Actions and "you may" effects are both optional, it make sense to me.

One of the biggest missed opportunities of the 2017 rules was the failure to toss "can use" in the trash. We're still struggling with a counterintuitive and contradictory mechanic that has to be clarified every single time we teach a new player. Change all future uses of "can use" to "must use" or "may use" depending on mandatory vs. passive effects and just add two lines to the dang rulebook! "All previous examples of the phrase 'Can use' should be regarded as 'May use', with the exception of Battle Fury, where 'Can Use' becomes 'Must Use'. I think that's less clunky than many of the many other awkward rules triage we've gotten over the years (i.e. Damage Depletion Modifier). I honestly wonder if the sole sticking point would be increased printing costs from using "May not use" instead of "can't use", which... heck, could be offset by using a symbol!

Would there be some outliers? Of course, it's WizKids. They haven't been concerned about breaking (or re-breaking) elements they consider "retired" (again, Damage Depletion Modifier); the whole point of the new rules was to make future design more streamlined. Wolverazio, you've been compiling a list of old figures affected by the new rules language: how many pieces would you say would actually be significantly impacted by that bolded sentence?

The difference between "can use" and "may use" is not difficult to understand though in the context of Heroclix. Is it the best use of the English language? Maybe not? I think it is fine, dictionary time:

Does it confuse new players? Maybe, not in my experience if you properly explain the rules language. Is it something you can learn in under 5 minutes? Yes.

And like Wolverazio said, that ship sailed a loooooong time ago if there was a desperate need to change the word. That would also be way more cause for confusion when playing with Golden and Modern together.

Can/may are both 3 letters though and make for nicer formatting and are, again, really not hard to understand in the context of Heroclix.

This is over-exaggerating things. I can't even imagine this being on a top 10 of missed opportunities.

In an unrelated topic with regards to HARDAC Batman his trait says to "Choose a character named Batman on my side line...." but, what if I have multiple Batman on my side line would I get to choose a power from each one.

No. Choose a character means choose a character. This should also have its own thread.