First, I want to say I am impressed with this game, and that creator guy (I missed his name…) was correct, I very much enjoy the way Absolute Zero plays.
First, I was wondering if there was a defined method for determining “AI” targets where ambiguity results. As an example, Grand Warlord Voss flipped with deal three energy damage to the highest HP hero target. In one case, three players (or so) may tie for the highest HP. How is the target defined? Do all take damage? Would damage be dealt to the first/last person in turn order? Would it be based on max HP? Or would it be determined via some random/custom rule?
Also (and getting back into “laywer mode” with this one), when a target is immune to damage (entirely or of a certain type), is that damage set to zero, or does the damage simply result in no HP reduction? An interesting case would be Legacy uses Heroic Interception to grant damage immunity to all other heroes. Citizen Hammer then deals three fire damage to all heroes. Absolute Zero has Isothermic Transducer. Is Zero dealt zero fire damage due to the immunity? Or is he dealt three fire damage (activating the Isothermic Transducer) while having the immunity cancel the HP reduction?
To the first question, the damage is taken by only one player. Each player can discuss who should take the damage or someone can volunteer to take it. But of course if you so choose you can always inforce your own rules as to which character would take the damage, such as assigning everyone to a number on a die.
As for the second question, I am not actually entirely sure. I’ve always played it where the damage would be zero, but only because that makes it a little more challenging.
Ah, I just now saw the online rulebook had stated that about ambiguity in choosing a target. I hadn’t seen it listed in the hardcopy so I wasn’t certain.
Welcome, TheJayMann. I was probably the one who told you that you might enjoy Absolute Zero. Long hair, beard, generally doing a million things at once? Yeah, that’s me.
Anyway, the rulebook does in fact cover what happens whenever there might be any question as to where damage goes. If three hero targets all tie for highest HP, then it’s up to the players to decide which hero takes it. Also, as a side note, the contents of the online rulebook are identical to the hardcopy rulebook.
As for the scenario in which damage is set to zero or not when heroes are immune to it, if a target it immune to damage, it cannot be dealt damage. Being dealt damage ALWAYS result in HP loss. If you didn’t lose any HP, then you didn’t take any damage. Therefore, in that specific case, Absolute Zero has not been dealt any fire damage, and his Isothermic Transducer does not fire off any cold damage. Feel free to follow up with any additional questions if this doesn’t make sense.
And the “Players decide” rule is awesome. While beating on the Baron last night, we were planning how to deal with a T-Rex when we realized that, if the Baron and a hero were tied for lowest HP, we could decide to have the T-Rex go after the Baron.
The “Players Adjudicate Ambiguity” rule is also one of my favorite, for that exact reason. It is also fantastic when a card or power would deal damage to “all non-Hero targets” or the like; for example, if voss has a bunch of minions in play, and a character can deal all non-hero targets 3 damage, the players can choose to blow up all of the minions before hitting Voss, since once the minions are destroyed, his damage reduction is eliminated.
