Probability Control how it is currently being played at my venue is game breaking. I wanted to clarify the intent and how Probability Control should work.

Currently, every player that has probability control and is within range & line of site of an attacker, is able to use probability control. So, if someone runs a team of 7, 4 with probability control on dial, then they could potentially use probability control 7 times (4 on dial and 3 theme team) in a single turn.

The wording on the WW80th PAC says: "Once per turn, you may reroll a target character's attack roll or break away roll. A targeted character must be within range and line of fire, minimum range 6".

The way I interpret this is *you* the player may reroll a target character's attack roll once per turn. So you could use it once total per turn, not once per character on your team with probability.


Looking back, once upon a time (2012) the rules read " Once per turn, this character may reroll..." This wording looks obvious that multiple characters and utilize probability control on a single turn. Why did they change the wording if the intent wasn't to reduce probability control to once per turn?

I've only been playing for a few months, and honestly this is a make or break for me. Running 500pt teams with several layers of Probability Control is just toxic, and ties up the game.

How should Probability Control be interpreted? Please provide resources and references to rule books/changes etc.

But your take doesn't really make sense. Sure, it says 'you' can reroll once per turn, but the fact that the power states within range and line of fire means you're talking about using the character's power once per turn, not you personally.

And yeah, that does make a lot of rerolls, but after a guy rerolls four times and finally hits WW only to have her SS out of it, maybe he'll just decide to go a different route with his build

Someone locally was able to ping a section of the core rulebook that states:

"Even if an effect is worded to say "you," it's always the character with that power or ability that's the one "using" it, not the player.

I will agree, I was never a fan of Themed Team Prob Control - as you can rarely do anything to prevent it from being used against your attacker.

Placement is your friend - as is Barrier and long range.

I believe you may only use 1 free power per turn unless otherwise stated (I'm not sure if that applies to Themed Team Prob).

But to your point, yes, Probability control is the strongest power in the game. It's the best defensive ability, and was second only in offense to pulsewave (which might change now).

We house rule it to "once on your turn, once not on your turn" - for each instance of prob. We also generally limit prob to 3 per team, and don't play themed prob.

But - I encourage YOU to play by the real rules and ask for suggestions on how to beat that strategy.

I can't say that I've ever been a fan of TTPC. I totally get how powerful it can be to force a re-roll, and why folks would love it... I just don't think it is a necessary part of the game.

Frankly: even regular Probability Control is too excessive for my taste. HeroClix was designed as a game around taking actions and the fact that PC exists completely outside that concept ought to have been a dead giveaway that it wasn't healthy for the game.

That isn't true, and PC is also not FREE. PC is not an action of any kind, and you can only activate a given effect via FREE once per turn, but you can give a character multiple different FREE actions each turn.

I know it's not a ruling answer, but perhaps it might be of use.

Sometimes it helps to draw out probs. What I mean is by having multiple decent threats on your team, you can attack with one, get prob'd a few times, attack with another piece, get prob'd a few times -- and hopefully the third attack can get by without being prob'd.

If you only have one good attacker on your team, the opponent is going to reserve all their probs for that attack. And having to hit the 7 or 8 or 9 -- possibly 8 times in a row, is pretty darn right impossible.

So it's often good to try to make the opponent spend their probs up before you go in for the most important hit.

Also, like others pointed out, sometimes you can place your attacker in a spot where you can see your target, but your opponent's pieces can't see your attacker to prob him. That is where having a larger than 6 (minimum range on prob) range helps, or having improved targeting characters (so you can hide behind your own pieces) or something else may help here.

I know this isn't pertaining to the ruling, but hopefully this advice can help.

Great suggestions. Thank you for offering this advice after the initial question was answered.