So the Galvanize ability says "Boost using [power/quality]. Apply that bonus to all hero Attack and Overcome actions until the start of your next turn.
My question is; if it takes an action to use this ability, how can you attack using it if it ends at the start of your next turn??
Galvanize is primarily meant as an ability that Boosts all the other heroes in a scene.
If you have a reaction that lets you attack, though, you can use the bonus with that.
I tend to interpret Reactions as not included in âActionsâ (I am aware thatâs one of the details that might be open for debate though).
With that, Galvanize is even more of a boost for âeverybody but yourselfâ (which is quite similar to Legacyâs Galvanize Power in the SOTM card game)
The Psychic Power Red zone ability âGiven timeâ used by an ally could give you more than one turn (and hurt you)
Reading the ability made me think of the old D&D4E hypothetical party of 1 barbarian and 5 warlords.
1 - Me attack!
2- I order you to attack!
3- My plan is for you to hit now.
4- I see an opening, go!
âŚ
As fjur already said, Reactions that attack can use the bonus. Another way is with Inspiring Totem (itâs a Red Zone Ability).
Inspiring Totem (I): When you use an ability action, you may also perform any one
basic action using your Mid die on the same roll.
Sadly, this would not let you take advantage of your own Galvanize, since it says that you act next in the turn order. Ergo, since your turn is next, Galvanize would wear off at the start of it.
true. sometimes goofy game mechanic combo rabbit trails donât lead anywhere
Is there a source for this ruling?
As far as I can see Jan is right: The Galvanize ability says âBoost using [power/quality]. Apply that bonus to all hero Attack and Overcome actions until the start of your next turn.â
As far as I can tell from the rulebook, reactions arenât actions and attacks launched by reactions arenât actions either.
Doing it with Inspiring Totem seems fine since that is explicitly creating an attack action.
âAttackâ by itself doesnât have any mechanical meaning at all, itâs a type of action. If a reaction tells you to Defend or Attack or whatever, itâs letting you take an action out of turn, with the modifier of only using one die rather than your usual pool - and Dive For Cover breaks even that rule. There are a few exotic villain reactions that donât even roll a die, providing a result for the action by using the value pf a mod youâre discarding or something.
Iâd certainly apply Galvanize to a reactive Attack. Donât think there are any Overcome-generating reactions, so thatâs not an issue.
I agree with @Chief_Lackey_Rich. Attacks (and Boosts, Overcomes, etc.) are by definition Actions. As proof, I point out that all the information on how to perform an Attack in Chapter 2 of the rulebook is presented under a heading entitled âActions.â Furthermore, right under that heading, the book states:
Letâs take a closer look at the actions available to the heroes: Attack, Boost, Hinder, Overcome, Defend, and Recover.
I should amend my previous post to note that itâs not just villain reactions that can include exotic reactions. For ex, the Training power source has Reactive Field, which deals damage back to an attacker, but crucially doesnât say youâre making an Attack (or any action) doing so. Galvanize wouldnât apply its bonus there because itâs not an Attack as such no matter how much the end result looks like one.
For added confusion, something like a Reactive Field reaction could be reacted to itself, but not if the reacting reaction triggers in response to an Attack instead of being one of the more universal reactions that can trigger when you take damage. The former ones are pretty frequently bypassed by damaging non-Attacks like some environmental twists, challenges, and some villain abilities. Even a âtrigger on damageâ reaction wonât work on âlose Healthâ tricks like the Inhibitor villain archetypeâs Overwhelming Syphon ability - but there are reactions that trigger from personal Zone changes that might go off from any of those, and can even go off in both directions, triggering when you heal, which is hilarious and I watched one of my PC heroes ping-pong between Zones seven times in one scene.
I donât really think it is that confusing - itâs mostly a matter of taking rules very literally, much like weâve seen in the SotM card game.
For example, Reactive field only triggers upon being attacked (which is not the same as taking damage or even more generally losing health) by a nearby enemy (so not by allies, nor by yourself).
And what it does is: it makes that attacker take damage (like, on their own account - which is not the same as being attacked by you).
Thus, reactive fields cannot cascade. They are not boosted nor hindered, because the owner of the reactive field isnât doing anything that would apply.
Narratively, I like to think of it as something rather passive: something in your presence/gear/preparation makes the attacker botch it and catch themselves a ricochet, break their fist on your jaw or something like that.
Ah, that makes sense. And the glossary describes Attack as âAn action used to deal damage.â.
I stand corrected, thanks.