My Parasite is taxied by R Saturn Girl who, during the move action, copies his Superman Enemy Team. Parasite gains Outwit, and uses it on Hawk's Charge. On my opponent's turn, he uses T.O. Morrow to target Saturn Girl with his RCE. I switch Sat Grl's Team to Mystics (from my V Circe) to gain the retaliation click. Parasite looses outwit at the end of that action (right?). On my turn I want to use Outwit again (without moving the pair), but how can I declare a free action (to switch Sat Grl's team back) when I don't have the power on the dial that requires the free action?

From what I understand, under current rules this can be done, but why?

My computer won't load the Indy rulebook for some reason. I was hoping to find the answer in the definition of a free action, but I don't have that available.

PAC / FAQ information:

Legion of Super Heroes: Members of the Legion of Super Heroes team act as wild cards. They can use
any team ability that any friendly figure on the battle map possesses. They may use this ability once each
action.

Superman Enemy: If two friendly members of the Superman Enemy team are adjacent, the character with
the highest point value gains Outwit. If that character already possesses Outwit, this team ability does not
work. This team ability ceases to function at the end of an action in which the two Superman Enemy team
members are no longer adjacent.

OUTWIT (optional):Once during your turn,as a free action,this character may counter a power
on a target opposing character.Treat the target as if it does not have the countered power.That power
remains countered until the beginning of your next turn.This character must be within 10 squares of
the target and have a clear line of fire to the target.Instead of a power,you may choose to counter
an opposing flying character’s ability to soar;in this case,lower the soaring character to hovering
mode. If this character loses Outwit or is KOd, the countered power returns immediately.

Free-Actions are actions that don't receive an action token.

So all you do is declare you are copying SE TA to use Outwit.

The changing of Wildcard TA's being tied to an action simply means you cannot use 2 TA's at the same time.

You cannot use both SHIELD and Hydra TA's to get a +1 to damage and a +1 to hit. If you declare Hydra and give the +1 to hit - the adjacent character then rolls and hits doing damage. There is no moment between where you can say, I switch to SHIELD and now give myself an action...

Same on the defensive side. You say you're using Skrull TA when your opponent decides to attack you. He makes the roll and attacks and hits you - you can't then declare, I switch to Mystic.

On your own turn, this doesn't come into play. You can use JLA to fly over to hindering terrain and then declare Batman to gain Stealth - since each is a separate action.

Don't know if that makes sense or not - but I tried...

thanks for replying, but I understand what you explained already. I know the whole 1 team ability per action thing. It's there to prevent rampant abuse. (i used to think you could use two at a time back in the day, and my black cat getting carried by human torch ruled the skies, then i was called on it and learned the truth)

I guess my real question is: can free actions can be used just to change teams? beacuse otherwise, how does a wild card copying SE TA get that TA before the outwit free action (if they don't move or attack)? (i realised saturn girl is a bad example, because she can just use her perplex [a free action] and change her TA in the process, but like hellboy, or a doombot.)

Yes, free actions can be used just to change teams. You can use as many free actions -on your turn- as you want. So switch TA all day long.
On your opponent's turn, switching TA is still a free action, but is apparently tied to 'reactions'. Why, I'm not precisely sure of right now. Don't have the books before me, but that's how I've always seen it done.

Saturn Girl could be on a click w/o Perplex...

Changing team affiliation for wildcard figures is not an action of any kind . . .

To back up Gentlegamer here, declaring a wild card affiliation is not an action, does not require an action to be done, and can be done at any time except in the middle of an action. There is no requirement for an action to be taken for you to change/declare a wild card's affiliation.

Think of it this way - you can change to SupesEnemy TA to give outwit to a partner in the same way you can change to JLA to move for free. The action hasn't been taken yet in either case, but the TA is changed in anticipation of doing so.

Many players declare they're switching their wild cards to BatsAlly at the end of their turns, for example, to cover them during their opponent's turn, but that's technically not necessary. You can change a wild card's affiliation at any time.

Thank you TheSpirit. That was the answer I was looking for. I thought there had to be some kind of action already taking place to change TA's, like: I'm taking a move action, so now I can change my TA to JLA. And that just didn't make sense with the Supes Enemy Team. I think I was looking too far into the "one TA per action" thing. Since it can be done at any time, that makes things a lot clearer.

Thanks for posting everyone. I have to learn not to nit-pick the rules so much.

Here's a logic loop to puzzle over.

I have a Saturn Girl next to a Intergang Medic and a Batman in the background. Saturn Girl is in hindering terrain. I declare Supes Enemy and Outwit Charge on a threatining opponent figure.

On my oponents next turn, he wants to shoot Saturn Girl with a ranged attack. I could swicth to Batman Ally and prevent him from drawing a LoS, but it would cancel the Outwit. If he declares a ranged attack on Saturn Girl and I do switch to BA, the action is illegal and therefor didn't happen. Is the outwit gone, or is it still there as the action "never happened"?

Why would that cancel the Outwit? You need to have LOS ot use Outwit, but you don't need to maintain it.

Outwit is gone. Even though the action never really happened, you did change TAs.

If Outwit is cancelled, countered, or lost for any reason, the power countered by that Outwit immediately returns.

By changing TAs, the Outwit is no longer on the figure's dial (or lost). Therefore, the effects end immediately.

Oh, my bad. I read that wrong and thought you used SA ability to use outwit on your target.

I thought the judges had ruled (or maybe there was no concensus yet) that you could not bait and switch a Wildcarder into giving up Superman Enemy Outwit. From what I remembered quite a few judges ruled or were of the opinion that if an attack is never conducted against the Wildcarder, then it resets back to the Wildcarder keeping Superman Enemy and Outwit active.

And boy, is that going to be a tough thread to find...

Exactly my point.

Since the ranged attack couldn't happen, and the opponent gets to (has to) change his action, why would the wildcarder not get the same benefit?

I love paradoxes...they give me such headaches.