Can Overlord, with the successful use of the Dark Charm spell, turn Staff of Greyhaven damage from range to damage? 
The developers' response is interesting, because the opinions of our community are categorically divided.

Could you please link or cite the developer response you're referring to?

@Zaltyre , I believe the OP meant that he is interested in dev’s response due to the split in the community.

@Dicering , hi! Glad someone actually asked it

I second Zaltyre here, what response is being referred to here? I'm not aware of any developer answers on this subject.

In that case, I don't know why you wouldn't be able to use the surge on the staff of greyhaven while dark charming a hero (assuming that's the weapon said hero has equipped).

E

The OL makes the attack with the hero using the hero's equipped weapon, so he would make all choices during the attack (including which surges to spend or other abilities to use).

EDIT: Sorry, missed the conversion ability. That too. Just like reach, the controlling player gets to use "non-surge" abilities, too.

I think the question is referring to the staffs ability to convert range to damage Zaltyre, which isn't surge related.

My guess would be yes they can. Same way they could use reach if tenhero had such a weapon equipped. Essentially they're both just innate abilities of the weapons.

2 hours ago, Rauhughes said:

I think the question is referring to the staffs ability to convert range to damage Zaltyre, which isn't surge related.

My guess would be yes they can. Same way they could use reach if tenhero had such a weapon equipped. Essentially they're both just innate abilities of the weapons.

I agree with this answer, and it is how we have always played it. This is a passive, always there, ability of the weapon. As mentioned by Rauhughes, if I use a weapon with Reach, I certainly get to use Reach, even if I am the OL Dark Charming the hero with it.

And if necessary, I can use the Surge ability of the weapon to add 2 Range, if that further enhances the ability of the weapon to do more damage.

I have to disagree here. The OL is definitely allowed to use the sure ability to add 2 range to that attack. However, the use of range to add damage to the attack through the top ability of Staff of Greyhaven requires a voluntary decision by the player. This is indicated by the " may " in the ability text: " After making an attack roll, you may convert up to 3 range to or up to 3 to range."

Previous rulings by FFG stated that the OL cannot use abilities of charmed heroes that include an element of choice indicated by "may" or or "use this card", etc.

References:

https://boardgamegeek.com/article/17159994#17159994

@Sadgit , yes, that is exactly why the discussion arose in the aforementioned community — the word “may” in the text of the ability that presumably can only be used by hero's original player, not by any currently controlling one.

Another question, though: can the player whose hero was Dark Charmed and is attacking with that staff decide to use the damage/range conversion ability of the staff to minimize damage or even cause the attack to miss completely due to insufficient range?

Based on previous rulings I think that the hero can decide if and how to use the top ability of the Staff of Greyhaven. A "you" in the text describing an ability still refers to the "owner" of the ability and as such the hero. Here are some FFG answers supporting my stance:

Red Scorpion may use her Heroic feat to force the OL to reroll his attack.
" Use when you are attacked to force the attacking monster to reroll some or all of the attack dice (you choose which dice). The new results must be applied."

A hero can use For the Cause.
"Exhaust this card when a monster declares an attack targeting you or a hero adjacent to you and spend any number of valor . For each valor spent, add 1 gray die to the target hero's defense pool."

Leoric's Hero ability is still in effect.
"Each monster within 3 spaces of you receives -1 on all attack rolls (to a minimum of 1)."

40 minutes ago, Dicering said:

Or maybe there is some other topic where developers can answer? Because I see that all my opponents, but I do not see the developers of the game.

The developers do not use the forums. You'll need to submit the question directly to them here .

Just a thought
If someone submit the question .. it could be usefull (for community and CRRG ;-) ) to post the answer here, once there is one.

I'd be very curious to see an official answer here as well. My understanding of the "may use" abilities while being charmed revolved mainly on not forcing the hero to exhaust/spend anything. That is, if you're using a hero to attack himself, the hero may still choose whether or not to use his shield.

As far as non-surge weapon abilities, though, I'm skeptical. Just about EVERY "non-surge" weapon ability is a "may", even Reach (you may attack targets up to 2 spaces away). Are you suggesting a dark charmed hero could say, "nah, you can't use my weapon's reach." ?

11 hours ago, Sadgit said:

Based on previous rulings I think that the hero can decide if and how to use the top ability of the Staff of Greyhaven. A "you" in the text describing an ability still refers to the "owner" of the ability and as such the hero. Here are some FFG answers supporting my stance:

Red Scorpion may use her Heroic feat to force the OL to reroll his attack.
" Use when you are attacked to force the attacking monster to reroll some or all of the attack dice (you choose which dice). The new results must be applied."

A hero can use For the Cause.
"Exhaust this card when a monster declares an attack targeting you or a hero adjacent to you and spend any number of valor . For each valor spent, add 1 gray die to the target hero's defense pool."

Leoric's Hero ability is still in effect.
"Each monster within 3 spaces of you receives -1 on all attack rolls (to a minimum of 1)."

All these examples are about abilities written on hero sheets or on their skills. There has been no ruling (that I know) about the use of weapon abilities during a Dark Charm attack, so I would say we don't know.

A weapon's ability is not a hero's ability: since a weapon can be passed around, "you" refers to the current controller of the weapon. During a Dark Charm attack, is it the hero or the OL? we don't know for sure, but since the OL controls the use of the surges, I think it would be more straightforward to rule that he also controls the other aspects of the weapon.

Also, since there is such a long list of what the OL cannot use during a Dark Charm attack and since weapon abilities are not included in the list, I would tend to think that he can use them.

@Zaltyre : I agree that the word "may" alone might not be good indicator for an active decision process. However, I think that it is clear that Reach does not involve an active decision of the hero but the first effect of the Staff of Greyhaven does. Therefore in accord with FFG rulings (which always focus on the decision aspect) the Reach ability is available to the OL whereas the Staff of Greyhaven ability is not. I will modify the corresponding passage in the CRRG. Thanks for pointing that out.

@Ispher : That'a an interesting aspect. To my knowledge there is no official ruling differentiating abilities printed on Hero sheets and Skill cards on the one side and abilities on equipment cards on the other side . All are just hero abilities. In respect to Dark Charm, I do not think that it matters what the ability is printed on. What matters is if there is an active decision process involved or not. Only passive abilities that are automatically applied to the attack may be used by the OL everything else is off limits. Although this quote is referencing a Skill card, my interpretation is that the emphasis is on the decision process:

Quote

Q: OL playes Dark Charm on a Treasure Hunter hero with the card " Sleight of Hand " already bought (" Sleight of Hand " : "While you have an Exotic or Bow weapon equipped, each of your attacks gains Pierce 2 (even while this card is exhausted). ") and equiped with a bow weapon. Does the attack done by the OL gains Pierce 2 ?

A: Yes, the attack gains Pierce 2. If a class card gives a passive effect that requires no decision , then it is applied. Any decision-making class cards fall back to the hero to determine whether they trigger or not. So passive cards like “ Sleight of Hand ” and “ Keen Edge ” would apply, but a passive card like “ Unstoppable ” that requires a choice leaves the choice up to the hero player.

In addition, Runic Knowledge is a Skill card that in the most recent ruling has been confirmed to work for charmed heroes. Although, there have been some FFG decisions on this card that have been revoked later on, the discussion was never centered on the usage of the surge on Runic Knowledge itself, but on the "suffer 1 fatigue" part of the effect (in general the OL is not allowed to use an ability of a hero that has an associated fatigue cost). For me this is strong evidence that the OL can use any hero abilities as along as these abilities

1. do not cost fatigue.
2. do not require a card to be exhausted.
3. do not require an active decision of the hero

I'm not disagreeing with the rulings you've cited, but I'm still not on board with the conclusion you've drawn. Without exception, the cases you've cited involve skills or abilities beyond the equipped weapon, where I agree the OL does not automatically have free reign. However, since he is making the attack, I'm convinced (still) that he gets to make all the decisions regarding the weapon and its abilities, provided he doesn't violate the restrictions of "Dark Charm" (exhaustion of cards, suffering of fatigue, etc). To illustrate my point, I'll provide some examples of what I think the OL can do with a Dark Charm attack which would (in my mind) be equivalent to using the range/damage conversion on the staff of greyhaven:

1. Steel Broadsword - reroll a red power die

2. Steel Greatsword - reroll a power die

3. Dragontooth hammer - +1 for empty hand (if applicable)

4. Iron claws - extra die for empty hand (if applicable)

5. Winged Blade - change the result of a defense die rolled by the target

I do not have any example for a FFG ruling that deals with a hero ability printed on a weapon card. So, yes it could well be that you guys are right and the OL can make any decision for those abilities. Personally, I find it more likely that all hero abilities are equal in this respect. But I have been wrong before and maybe some are more equal than others
I guess you have to submit a question to FFG. Unfortunately, I do not get responses from them anymore since I published the CRRG. Maybe due to some weird IP reasons ...

On 28.4.2017 at 3:19 PM, any2cards said:

It is possible that this is just me being an old, stubborn man, but until I see a ruling from FFG to the contrary, I cannot agree with the thought process that the text on the card is somehow a "decision" to be made, and thus not available to an OL that has Dark Charmed the hero. It seems to me that the text references an ability of the weapon, and the OL can utilize it as he sees fit.

My thought process was the following:

The Staff of Greyhaven requires the controller to decide if he wants to convert damage to range or range to damage. For me this is an active process. In contrast, Reach just modifies a Melee attack so that is can target figures two spaces away instead of just one. Reach attacks can still hit adjacent targets just like standard Melee attacks. There is no active decision of the controller required to use or not to use the modification. It's like a passive.

For the record, Sadgit, I see your reasoning, and it makes sense. I just don't think it's how the attack works (but I've been wrong before, too.)

I'll submit the question (assuming it hasn't been already). I'll post an answer here whenever I get it.

"Great" - if "Reach" has the ability "may", then it works, but if "Sorcery 3" is written on the staff, it does not work.

It may already be enough to " pull the owl on the globe" with the help of yourself and the clones. And to draw here inventions from an unofficial faq?

PS: Actually these are my opponents, who are not interested in the opinion of developers, and who just came here to express their.

Sorry, Dicering, I did not really get that

5 hours ago, Dicering said:

"Great" - if "Reach" has the ability "may", then it works, but if "Sorcery 3" is written on the staff, it does not work.

It may already be enough to " pull the owl on the globe" with the help of yourself and the clones. And to draw here inventions from an unofficial faq?

PS: Actually these are my opponents, who are not interested in the opinion of developers, and who just came here to express their.

I'm with Sadgit. I'm not entirely sure what you're saying here.

It sounds like you're still confused and wanting an official answer from the developer. If so this is not the place to get it. The developers NEVER post here, and I doubt they ever even read this forum at all.

@Dicering , your native language is Russian, right? I can translate for you, if you want.

@ Everyone Else As far as I can tell, that is what he is trying to convey:

7 hours ago, Dicering said:

"Great" - if "Reach" has the ability "may", then it works, but if "Sorcery 3" is written on the staff, it does not work.

The word "Great" in quotation marks has some (I'd say a lot of) sarcastic tones. Then the OP provides his contradictory example: weapon A with "Reach" ability and weapon B with "Sorcery 3" ability. The former weapon has no "may" written on the card, therefore (by the OP's logic or by the one used in this thread) it can be used by the OL, and the latter (which is equivalent of the Staff of Greyhaven's ability, but technically is a different one) also has no "may" written on the card, although is a no-go for the OL. Anyhow, he seems to be puzzled about the difference in rulings on these two abilities.

7 hours ago, Dicering said:

It may already be enough to " pull the owl on the globe" with the help of yourself and the clones. And to draw here inventions from an unofficial faq?

That thing with the owl and the globe is a metaphor for the action of tailoring the facts to the desired result/conclusion which may or may not (but usually does) involve drastic disfiguring of the aforementioned facts in the process. No idea on the part of "yourself and clones" — maybe the OP was referring to some fake forum accounts (here? in the OP's community?), maybe not. Conjurer's image tokens don't fit into the picture. The word "invention" is used due to the OP's strong belief that uFAQ is basically a bunch of houserules. Don't know where the OP got that idea.

7 hours ago, Dicering said:

PS: Actually these are my opponents, who are not interested in the opinion of developers, and who just came here to express their.

That one seems to be pretty clear except who are "these". The clones?