Follow Up: Lightning Reflexes

[dsatow]

Sorry, just to clarify:(items in BOLD are the requests for clarification)

 

Lagman the superhero, Dex 8, DCV 7, +12 Lightning Reflexes for all actions other than Recovery is fighting the ominous Waiter Dex 18.

 

They both go on the same segment.  Lagman has been hit previously with the Waiter's "Wrong Orders" stun only attack and is down to 10 stun.

 

On Dex 20, Lagman decides to do a recovery but needs to wait till Dex 8.  Is his DCV 7?

On Dex 18, the Waiter decides to strike at Lagman.  He hits and does 8 stun past defenses.  Lagman hasn't declared a recovery yet so the recovery action isn't spoiled, correct?  Does the Waiter know Lagman is or isn't taking a recovery at Dex 8?

On Dex 17, Lagman decides he'd rather shoot at Waiter than take the recovery.  Since Lagman hasn't declared his action, is this valid?

 

[Steve Long]

1. A character can’t declare that he’s taking a Recovery as his action until his DEX arrives in the initiative countdown. (As discussed in previous answers, he may have to tell the GM what he intends to do earlier, because he has to explain why he’s not using his Lightning Reflexes, but that’s not a formal declaration of his action under the rules.) Therefore, absent any other situational modifiers, he remains at full DCV until he declares his Recovery — at which point, his DCV is halved (see 6E2 37, 129). So, in this example, Lagman has DCV 7 until DEX 8 comes up in the countdown and he declares that he’s Recovering.

 

2a. Until a character declares that he’s taking a Recovery, he isn’t taking one yet. Therefore, the rules for taking a Recovery as an action (such as the Recovery being spoiled if the character takes damage) don’t yet apply. So, in this example, Lagman’s Recovery won’t be spoiled by taking damage prior to when he declares his Recovery on DEX 8.

 

2b. Generally speaking, unless a character’s conduct give his intended action away, another character has no way of discerning what action he intends to take. This applies to any action, whether it be taking a Recovery, turning left in a car chase, or deciding to attack Lazer this Phase instead of Mechassassin. But of course, this is a dynamic situation, so it may fall to the GM to rule on what another character can determine about a character’s intended actions.

 

3. Yes. Unless a more specific rule states otherwise (e.g., the rules on declaring a Dive For Cover on 6E2 85), a character who’s planning to declare a particular action on his DEX in the initiative countdown may change his mind and do something else when his chance to take an action arrives. One benefit to acting later in a Segment is that a character gets to see what’s happened so far in that Segment and react accordingly.