044 The Watcher
PONDER THE QUESTION...WHAT IF?: At the beginning of the game, roll a d6 and give The Watcher a number of What If? tokens equal to half the result. // POWER: Remove a What If? token. If you do, replace an adjacent friendly character with a character of equal or less points from your Sideline on its starting line. The replacement character must share a name with the replaced character.

My question is can the same name be the clix's real name? or only the name on the dial? I appreciate any and all help.

I feel rather confident that Real Name will not count for the purposes of Pondering the Question.

The Watcher's (errata) ability is already borderline insane. Consider that right now any of the (non-unique) FFFF Doom chases could simply keep a Watcher in the (metaphorical) Latverian Basement to pop back to via a Time Platform... and get replaced/healed to the starting click by sidelining a second version... I don't think we need them also having the option to morph into a different FFFF chase figures.

Backing up tidge here, the rules do differentiate between name and Real Name when talking about ID Cards:

So yeah, it has to match the name of the character, not the real name. There's a clear difference between the two, which means the effect would have to reference Real Name specifically if it wanted to use it.

While we're on the subject, who besides me feels like this errata is in error and should actually specify that the new figure comes in on the same click as the old one?

I'm ok with him bringing someone in top dial....it's the Watcher....
It's just the point cost!! 25 points for THAT is insane!! I think if you boosted the cost up substantially (say 100-150) then in 300-400 games that's a sizable investment in the build total. At 25 points it's kind of a no-brainer....

This is indeed an absolutely insane ability. Being able to replace any figure with exactly that same figure but back on top dial? With any other figure that happens to share a name and is equal or less points?

I would have made this strictly less points at minimum, that way you're at least trading down with each replacement and it removes the ability to just bring in the exact same figure on the same starting line again but at full health.

Additionally, much like other figures, you could add that the character that is brought in can't be replaced again and is scored immediately instead of when they're KO'd. These changes would bring him more in line with the Recruiter mechanic while still allowing broader use due to both using the character's name instead of a specific keyword and that it doesn't require a character to be KO'd first.

Essentially, I believe his ability should be this instead of what it was changed to be:

Making it come in on the same click as the replaced figure is a possible adjustment, but might not be necessary with the other changes I suggested. The modified version I created above, my own "WHAT IF...?" you might say, would be just fine at 25 points. It's still strong, but not overly so, and is also still worthy of being Unique. You still get 2 full figures out of one if you play your cards right, even if the second one is slightly worse.

Still, I feel that this is a figure that will see additional future errata and, eventually, a Silver Age Watch List or even Ban if the ability remains in its current form.

I knew the old rules explicitly prevented this, so I decided to check if the new rules did, too. And they do:

So you can't replace a character with itself.

That is somewhat reassuring.

This figure was hot garbage and now he's all a flutter with praise and one of the best SRs in the set because of the errata. If you're entire team has the same name but different figures, theoretically your opponent could score ZERO points.

I dig the flavor that he's bringing in another character from a different universe though, but scoring is gonna be rough with him around unless you whack him first. Personally I wouldve been content with the POWER portion becoming a FREE action and bringing in a fig on the same click with a different power set for the situation. This is better and worse all at the same time. At least he wont be a 3 dollar sr anytime soon cause that's exactly where he was headed.

How so? Replacement characters are scored as the greater of the two point values, so you can't get any victory point denial out of replacing characters.
You can delay their KO with the starting line reset, but if the opponent manages to KO someone, they will get points for it.

Who can keyword cheat the Watcher onto themes outside of Cosmic/Herald/Deity?

Well, he's under 50 points, so you can make him an Avenger.

And a Horseman of SR Apocalypse

Latveria

WOTR mary Jane for deity /asgardian figures onto Spider-Man family