Ok I think I know the answer to this but I wanted your opinion.

Ten nub is firing a HLC at a target in the AoE of E'than's ability.

He rolls a critical and 3 blanks.

The critical gets turned to a hit as part of the attack. Can he use E'than ability to change back to a crit? I think he can as the HLC doesn't normally count as a "modification".

Alternately, if he rolls 4 blanks in the same scenario and then he rerolls using a target lock and gets 1 hit can he upgrade that to a crit? I think this counts as two modifications so he probably can't.

Rerolls are different than modifiers, so to answer the second part first, the blanks are rerolled with the TL, then one hit can be changed to a crit.

The first part is a little cloudier, but I believe the proper order would be to change the crit to a hit, then Ethan changes one hit to a crit.

Ok I think I know the answer to this but I wanted your opinion.

Ten nub is firing a HLC at a target in the AoE of E'than's ability.

He rolls a critical and 3 blanks.

The critical gets turned to a hit as part of the attack. Can he use E'than ability to change back to a crit? I think he can as the HLC doesn't normally count as a "modification".

Alternately, if he rolls 4 blanks in the same scenario and then he rerolls using a target lock and gets 1 hit can he upgrade that to a crit? I think this counts as two modifications so he probably can't.

The Heavy Laser Cannon modification occurs "immediately after rolling attack dice." After the [KABOOM] is changed to a [bang], your opponent gets the opportunity to modify your dice, then in your own "modify dice" step, you can use Etahn's ability to change a [bang] to a [KABOOM].

I'm not sure where this idea that a modification is the same as a reroll came from (for the purposes of the no double reroll rule), but it shows up everywhere.

Rerolls are different than modifiers, so to answer the second part first, the blanks are rerolled with the TL, then one hit can be changed to a crit.

Further, if the Target Lock reroll yields any [KABOOM]s, you do not change them to [bang]s.

Rerolls are different than modifiers, so to answer the second part first, the blanks are rerolled with the TL, then one hit can be changed to a crit.

Further, if the Target Lock reroll yields any [KABOOM]s, you do not change them to [bang]s.

Yes, thank you for adding that!

I'm not sure where this idea that a modification is the same as a reroll (for the purposes of the no double reroll rule), but it shows up everywhere.

I think it is a matter of people viewing TLs as a kind of modification and the two terms then becoming conflated and seen as synonymous.

I used Ten and Etahn on Sunday and the same situation arose. HLC changed the crit to a hit, Etahn changed it back. All very legit and very cool.

"Etahn's here - crits for everybody!"

Same thing happens when you equip a Merc Copilot. HLC resolves immediately after dice are rolled, then you can modify them as you want.

The part about, say, a target lock, is new to me.
So basically, if your initial roll is [hit], [crit], [blank], you change it to 2 hits and a blank. Afterwards, you can TL the blank, get a crit, and keep it.

Correct?

Very correct. It was clarified in the last FAQ. Only the first roll gets changed from crits to hits, after that anything can happen.

As I mentioned upthread, the unusual part of Heavy Laser Cannon's dice modification is that it resolves at the end of the "roll dice" step instead of your "modify dice" step. Let's say, for example, that your B-wing with Heavy Laser Cannon is attacking a Lambda shuttle with Sensor Jammer, and the target is within Etahn's arc. You do not have any tokens and you roll [crit] [eye] [eye] [blank]. HLC turns the [crit] into a [hit]. Your opponent gets to modify your dice before you do, so his sensor jammer turns the [hit] into [eye]. Since you have no tokens, your attack is over; go buy a new set of dice because these are awful.

If you had a focus token on the same roll, the following steps would occur:

• HLC turns [crit] to [hit]
• Sensor jammer turns [hit] to [eye]
• Focus turns [eye] [eye] [eye] to [hit] [hit] [hit]
• Etahn turns [hit] to [crit]

Congratulations. You have just ruined that shuttle's day.

Then, Shuttle rolls an evade and loses two shields... Meh... Shuttle now gets to shoot back with three dice at a target without a focus token for defense.

As I mentioned upthread, the unusual part of Heavy Laser Cannon's die modification is that it resolves at the end of the "roll dice" step instead of your "modify dice" step.

That's important. The trigger does not refer to the physical action of rolling dice. (1) It refers to the roll attack dice step of the combat sequence. Immediately after that step, you change ...

(1) Else it would trigger on rerolls.

This is good to know. More than once, my gorup has edited their HLC rolls before converting crits to hits. Thanks all!

The key word is "immediately". Any time that appears on a card, it takes precedence over anything else first.

Now I'm left wanting a Sensor Hammer upgrade card.

The key word is "immediately". Any time that appears on a card, it takes precedence over anything else first.

There's no consensus regarding the word "immediately". There is at least one combination of abilities where the opposite is true: The non-immediate Vader resolves first and the immediate gunner second. "Immediately takes precedence" is not a general rule.

I'm not sure where this idea that a modification is the same as a reroll (for the purposes of the no double reroll rule), but it shows up everywhere.

I think it's because they're both part of the "modify dice" step. I got into the early habit of calling any time when you change the result on one die manually a "conversion" because of this. For example, if I roll a crit on the initial roll of an HLC, it "converts" to a hit.

Very correct. It was clarified in the last FAQ. Only the first roll gets changed from crits to hits, after that anything can happen.

Wowsers! That is awesome. HLC and TL are best friends.