To all the "lawyers" of X-wing.

Zeta Leader reads:

When attacking, if you are not stressed, you may receive 1 stress token to roll 1 additional attack die.

My question is, when exactly does the receive 1 stress token to roll 1 additional attack die part happen.

First off, the card says "when attacking", so you don't declare it at the start of Combat Phase or anything, strictly when performing an attack, ok, I get that.

But, do I get to roll the 2 "natural" (3 at R1) dice and then decide whether to suck up Stress to roll additional one?

Or, do I have to declare when picking-up my dice (about to roll), that I'm going to roll one more using this ability, gaining Stress in the process.

This wouldn't be of much importance, if not for Cool Hand EPT that I simply love running on ZL.

Here's why (Cool Hand's text for reference): When you receive a stress token, you may discard this card to assign 1 focus or evade token to your ship.

So, I'm rolling an extra die and get to use resulting Stress to grab Focus or Evade token (once).

And here's where the things get more interesting.

Normally, when going all Shiny and Chrome with ZL, I take TL as action, then during the actual shooting; add one Red for Stress, get Focus from Cool Hand and see what gets rolled. Let's call it an "insurance" scenario, kind of like poor man's Glitterstim.

Now, if I knew what I've rolled with the 2 (3 at R1) initial dice and only then got to decide about rolling an extra one via ZL's pilot abilty, this would change things a bit. This time, creating a "strategic" scenario.

My choice regarding the use of Cool Hand would be based on the result of initial dice. I might not want to burn my Cool Hand for Focus if I rolled natural Hits/Crits on them.

Say I'm fine with having the extra die rely only on TL for reroll/modification, which would still have a hefty 0.75 chance of success.

Or, I could decide to use Cool Hand to refill my Comm Relay during combat instead, knowing that the attack doesn't need that Focus boost.

So, based on your interpretation - which of the scenarios do I pick, is there a ruling already in for a similar timing case, that can be used as a precedent?

Or did I miss something that would make the case obvious altogether in the light of manual/FAQs?

Or, do I have to declare when picking-up my dice (about to roll), that I'm going to roll one more using this ability, gaining Stress in the process.

This.

Or, do I have to declare when picking-up my dice (about to roll), that I'm going to roll one more using this ability, gaining Stress in the process.

This.

Why exactly? This is what common sense is telling me as well, but the wording of the ability just doesn't sound very definitive on that, at least for me.

Because "attacking" is a defined sequence of events in X-Wing. The second step in that sequence is roll attack dice, which reads:

Roll Attack Dice: The attacker rolls a number of attack dice equal to its primary weapon value; if it is attacking with a secondary weapon, it rolls attack dice equal to the attack value on that weapon's Upgrade card instead.

• The attacker resolves any card abilities that allow him to roll additional or fewer attack dice.
• If attacking at Range 1 with its primary weapon, the attacker rolls one additional attack dice.
• All additions or subtractions to the number of attack dice being rolled occur before the player rolls the attack dice.

As you can see, it is at this step you must add Zeta Leaders ability. You don't get to choose after you have rolled; his ability must be resolved before you make the attack roll as you only get to make it once in the sequence. Re-rolling due to TL, Predator, etc. comes under the Modify Attack Dice step, which comes next. By then, it is too late to use ZL's ability.

related question...

can you add a dice via Oppertunist as well? to be rolling 4 (5) dice?

As they are both at the same step with the same criteria & penalty.....

Because "attacking" is a defined sequence of events in X-Wing. The second step in that sequence is roll attack dice, which reads:

Roll Attack Dice: The attacker rolls a number of attack dice equal to its primary weapon value; if it is attacking with a secondary weapon, it rolls attack dice equal to the attack value on that weapon's Upgrade card instead.

• The attacker resolves any card abilities that allow him to roll additional or fewer attack dice.

Ah, perfect quote. That leaves no room for speculation, thanks a lot!

If only I wasn't similtaneously so lazy about doing proper research and so overthinking about the card's text.

slasher956 - I'd say nope, because both ZL and Opportunist require the ship to be stress-free when declaring to add a die.

So you could choose either, but not double-stress after performing both, unlike doing nested actions (PTL+EI, etc.).

My logic would be that while you can choose the order for resolving effects triggered by the same opportunity, you still can't perform them simultaneously. Thus the stress from one of those, prevents the other from being used at all.

related question...

can you add a dice via Oppertunist as well? to be rolling 4 (5) dice?

As they are both at the same step with the same criteria & penalty.....

I would think you couldn't, has you would have to resolve one of them first. And the minute you've resolved one of them, you're stressed and so cannot activate the other one. ZL effectively has built-in opportunist. Saves your 4 points!

if attacking focused Kanan, who declares first? initiative order?

if attacking focused Kanan, who declares first? initiative order?

If in doubt, initiative order is the way to resolve timing conflicts. So it is in this case.

related question...

can you add a dice via Oppertunist as well? to be rolling 4 (5) dice?

As they are both at the same step with the same criteria & penalty.....

I would think you couldn't, has you would have to resolve one of them first. And the minute you've resolved one of them, you're stressed and so cannot activate the other one. ZL effectively has built-in opportunist. Saves your 4 points!

You might be able to do it and get 2 stress token like it happens with the nested actions example in the FAQ.

related question...

can you add a dice via Oppertunist as well? to be rolling 4 (5) dice?

As they are both at the same step with the same criteria & penalty.....

I would think you couldn't, has you would have to resolve one of them first. And the minute you've resolved one of them, you're stressed and so cannot activate the other one. ZL effectively has built-in opportunist. Saves your 4 points!

You might be able to do it and get 2 stress token like it happens with the nested actions example in the FAQ.

Nope, they're not nested. Nested actions work because they say 'Do blah (which triggers 'Do blah then gain a stress token'). Then gain a stress token.'

This isn't the same at all. This is two things both of which say 'At this trigger, if unstressed, gain a stress to do blah.' They have to be resolved in some kind of order, and the first one makes you stressed in order to do it, so the second one fails. There's nowhere for them to nest.

related question...

can you add a dice via Oppertunist as well? to be rolling 4 (5) dice?

As they are both at the same step with the same criteria & penalty.....

I would think you couldn't, has you would have to resolve one of them first. And the minute you've resolved one of them, you're stressed and so cannot activate the other one. ZL effectively has built-in opportunist. Saves your 4 points!

You might be able to do it and get 2 stress token like it happens with the nested actions example in the FAQ.

Nope, they're not nested. Nested actions work because they say 'Do blah (which triggers 'Do blah then gain a stress token'). Then gain a stress token.'

This isn't the same at all. This is two things both of which say 'At this trigger, if unstressed, gain a stress to do blah.' They have to be resolved in some kind of order, and the first one makes you stressed in order to do it, so the second one fails. There's nowhere for them to nest.

Thats probably the case, although, I will not be surprised if a saw an FAQ in the future permitting it.

After all, double stressing your ship to get to roll 4 or 5 attack dice is not that overpowered IMO.

It's definitely the case, and I'd be surprised to see an FAQ allowing it.

They might errata one or both cards to allow it (the most obvious way being to remove the requirement not to be stressed), but an FAQ going directly against the established rules shouldn't happen. Not that that's stopped it in the past.

It wouldn't be overpowered, but then, a lot of things that are not within the rules would not be overpowered. It doesn't make them rules legal.

Indeed. FFG have pointedly not changed card text or rules mechanics if there is any way around it.

Both effects also specifically say "receive 1 stress token to......" not "do XYZ. Then receive 1 stress token", so you can't even use Yorr or similar to boost it up.

I tend to find that if you want a cheap EPT for Zeta Leader, Wired is a better call than Cool Hand - it's not one-use, and you don't specifically have to do anything to trigger it.