Fyreslayers Designer Commentary Prayer Q&A

[Forrix]

So one of the question and answers in the recent Fyreslayers Designer Commentary seemed to directly violate the RAW of prayers and have strong implications for prayers systems in both Blades of Khorne and Fyreslayers. I'll cover it below, bear in mind that the Designer's commentary is not an actual errata.

 

Q: Is there a difference between knowing a prayer and being allowed to attempt it? For example, the Magmic Empowerment 'Ash-beard' says the general "knows" 2 prayers from the Zharrgrim Blessings table instead of 1. Contrast this wording with the artefact 'Volatile Brazier', which says the bearer can "attempt to summon" 2 magmic invocations in the same turn. Does Ash-beard just allow the Priest to know 2 prayers but still only attempt 1 of them in each hero phase?

A: Yes

 

My issue with this is that Zharrgrim Blessings have the rules for chanting a prayer written in them. The first sentence for every blessing is as follows:

 

"At the start of your hero phase, 1 friendly model that knows this prayer can chant it."

 

My understanding of this wording is that if a model knows the prayer they can attempt it. The only limitation is in the paragraph above the blessings table that states "Each Zharrgrim Blessing can only be changed once per turn, regardless of how many Priests know that prayer".

 

Based on these wording I find it very clear that if a model knows two Zharrgrim Blessings they can attempt both of them provided they are different blessings and no other model has attempted one of them that turn.

 

However, the designer's commentary says this is not the case as knowing a prayer is not the same as being able to attempt it. To my understanding this ignores the first sentence of each Zharrgrim Blessing. Is there something I'm missing or does this require an errata? 

 

My understanding is also that this could be used to prevent a Runesmiter or Runemaster from casting both their warscroll prayer and a Zharrgrim Blessing each turn. It effectively removes that first sentence from the Blessings as well as from the warscroll prayers and replaces them with a new universal rule that says a model can only attempt a prayer once. 

 

I feel like both the person asking the question and answering it are considering Magmic Invocations to be prayers though at no point due the rules refer to Magmic Invocations as such. The reason the Volatile Brazier uses that terminology is because the rules state 

 

"A Fyreslayers priest cannot attempt to summon more than one magmic Invocation in the same turn (even if they are different models)".

 

What do you guys think?

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Forrix
removed space in title

[Forrix]

22 hours ago, King Taloren said:

This is more just pointing out that prayers are very similar to magic in that you have a limited number you can use regardless of how many your characters/units/heroes knows.

Nagash can know every spell his wizards have on the table but it doesn’t mean he can cast them all.

All this does is limit the number of prayers to the same as all other factions with priests and prayers. One summon, one allegiance prayer and one warscroll prayer. (The exception is of course the artifact that allow more than one.)

Yeah, my issue with that is they're doing that without an errata. There is zero support for that in the actual rules of the game. An FAQ just clarifies things, it doesn't change the written rules of the game (difference between errata and designer's commentary). I guess my real question is what to do when the rules team issues an official FAQ that is directly contradicted by the rules of the game?

That said, I did want to make sure I didn't miss something hence my writing out my reasoning. To be blunt, this FAQ answer seems to be hastily written by someone isn't familiar with the rules in the battletome. By its reasoning Magmic Invocations are prayers even though that's not the case in the book. It could also be reasoned then that Judgements are prayers too even though again, the Blades of Khorne battletome treats them differently, i.e. specific wording for Judgement rolls as opposed to prayer rolls.

Balance wise, it mostly makes sense (it does significantly worsen that command trait though prayers are already very strong).

[King Taloren]

This is more just pointing out that prayers are very similar to magic in that you have a limited number you can use regardless of how many your characters/units/heroes knows.

Nagash can know every spell his wizards have on the table but it doesn’t mean he can cast them all.

All this does is limit the number of prayers to the same as all other factions with priests and prayers. One summon, one allegiance prayer and one warscroll prayer. (The exception is of course the artifact that allow more than one.)

Edited May 16, 2019 by King Taloren