Question about damage from Strain condition during attack: clarification on August’s update

[Aitor]

Hello, I have a question regarding the clarification of the Strain condition mentioned in August on the forum:

Quote

https://forums.atomicmassgames.com/topic/11514-gaining-strain-mid-action/

If Unit A performs a combat action against Unit B, which does not have the Strain condition before the combat action is executed, but then a character from Unit A applies the Strain condition to Unit B through their Combat Tree in step 8 of the attack, and Unit A wants to reposition in step 10 through their expertise results, would Unit B suffer 3 damage due to the Strain condition received during the attack from the Combat Tree? With the new clarification, it seems that they would not, since the condition was not present before the combat action was performed, even though it is added during the attack. However, we are unsure about this in our game group. Thank you.

[Negoldar]

52 minutes ago, Aitor said:

Hello, I have a question regarding the clarification of the Strain condition mentioned in August on the forum:

If Unit A performs a combat action against Unit B, which does not have the Strain condition before the combat action is executed, but then a character from Unit A applies the Strain condition to Unit B through their Combat Tree in step 8 of the attack, and Unit A wants to reposition in step 10 through their expertise results, would Unit B suffer 3 damage due to the Strain condition received during the attack from the Combat Tree? With the new clarification, it seems that they would not, since the condition was not present before the combat action was performed, even though it is added during the attack. However, we are unsure about this in our game group. Thank you.

Nothing in this description indicates anything that would cause Unit B to trigger Strained whether or not it gains the Strained during the attack. 

Is the situation described correctly?

[Aitor]

Sorry if anything was unclear before; I will try to explain the situation again. Unit A performs a combat action against Unit B, and during this attack, Unit A applies the Strain condition to Unit B through its Combat Tree. In the same attack, Unit B gains a repositioning through its expertise, so in step 10, Unit B uses this repositioning while having the Strain from the same attack. Would the Strain cause the effect of dealing 3 damage to Unit B when it performs the repositioning? I hope this clarifies the situation a bit more.

To clarify the response with examples of two different combat actions:

• Ashoka Jedi no More attacks IG11 using the Jar’Kai position, obtaining 4 successes, which allows him to inflict the Strain status on IG11. However, IG11 rolls two Expertise symbols on his defense roll, which allows him to reposition. By performing this repositioning, would IG11 suffer 3 damage from the strain of this combat action?
• On the other hand, if Ashoka Jedi no More attacks Lord Maul using the Jar’Kai position, obtaining 4 successes, which allows him to inflict the Strain status on Lord Maul, but Lord Maul rolls 3 Expertise symbols on his Dark Rage stance, which allows him to heal and jump, but he does not use the healing to remove the Strain status. Would Lord Maul still suffer 3 damage from jumping from the strain of this same combat action?

With August’s clarification, I am uncertain because the Strain is associated with the combat action, not before it, so wouldn’t he not suffer those 3 damage as the Strain does not trigger?

Thanks again!

[Thoras]

On 9/15/2024 at 4:12 PM, Aitor said:

Sorry if anything was unclear before; I will try to explain the situation again. Unit A performs a combat action against Unit B, and during this attack, Unit A applies the Strain condition to Unit B through its Combat Tree. In the same attack, Unit B gains a repositioning through its expertise, so in step 10, Unit B uses this repositioning while having the Strain from the same attack. Would the Strain cause the effect of dealing 3 damage to Unit B when it performs the repositioning? I hope this clarifies the situation a bit more.

If Unit B makes the advance granted by Reposition, yes.

Strained was applied in Step 8 of the attack and the reposition occurs in Step 10, so Strained was present both before/at the start of the advance granted by the reposition and at the end of that advance.

On 9/15/2024 at 4:12 PM, Aitor said:

Ashoka Jedi no More attacks IG11 using the Jar’Kai position, obtaining 4 successes, which allows him to inflict the Strain status on IG11. However, IG11 rolls two Expertise symbols on his defense roll, which allows him to reposition. By performing this repositioning, would IG11 suffer 3 damage from the strain of this combat action?

Yes, for the above reasons.

On 9/15/2024 at 4:12 PM, Aitor said:

On the other hand, if Ashoka Jedi no More attacks Lord Maul using the Jar’Kai position, obtaining 4 successes, which allows him to inflict the Strain status on Lord Maul, but Lord Maul rolls 3 Expertise symbols on his Dark Rage stance, which allows him to heal and jump, but he does not use the healing to remove the Strain status. Would Lord Maul still suffer 3 damage from jumping from the strain of this same combat action?

Yes, for the above reasons

On 9/15/2024 at 4:12 PM, Aitor said:

With August’s clarification, I am uncertain because the Strain is associated with the combat action, not before it, so wouldn’t he not suffer those 3 damage as the Strain does not trigger?

This sounds as though there is some confusion about what is triggering the strained. The Strained isn't connected to the combat action of the unit applying the strained, not in in terms of triggering it, just for when its applied. The key thing to understand with the current rulings on Strained is that Strained needs to be present at the start of its triggering event and the end of it. In your examples, that ends up true because its applied 2 steps before the triggering event is starting.