I've been reading up on Familiars in general and the Summoned Stones in particular, as I am playing through the first Quest of the Kindred Fire campaign with a Geomancer.
With the info being fragmented (core rulebook, FAQ official
and
unofficial, Lair of the Wyrm rules, online threads), I'm trying to wrap my head around the Summoned Stones as Targets.
Because Summoned Stones sit somewhere between the two "normal" types of Familiars (those treated as Heroes and those
not
treated as Heroes), it's a bit harder even.
However, and this is just more as a "What are other players' thoughts?" than an open question, if I strictly adhere to the
most relevant texts
, I do arrive at a conclusion.
The most relevant texts (with my emphasis):
-
The Summoned Stone card reads: "This familiar is treated as an
obstacle
, but may be targeted and affected by any
attack
..."
- My interpretation - Not treated as a Hero, expect as the target of an attack .
-
Road to Legend rules (Appendix I, Class Skills) read: "Although Summoned Stones are
not heroes or treated as hero figures
, they are still targeted by
monster actions
as if they were."
- My interpretation - Strengthens the premise that these Stones are not heroes or treated as hero figures. However, expands on the attack to include monster actions. Which means, that for instance for monster movement purposes, they are valid targets (with attribute scores of 0, when relevant).
With that preamble, on to my point.
A Monster Activation panel (see Road to Legend rules) includes a Special Effect at the top and the Action / Activation List at the bottom.
In one example, the Special Effect requires each
Hero
to immediately make a test, which a Summoned Stone would fail automatically.
My conclusion in this case, whether or not Summoned Stones are legal Targets within the context of the strict rules adherence (interpretation) outline above in bullets, is that the Stones are not legal targets for this (or any) Special Effect. Why? Because a Summoned Stone is an obstacle , not (treated as) a hero (figure). And the only exception is when determining targets for monster actions . A Special Effect is not a monster action, even when it triggers off of for example adjacency to monsters.
The only instance where I could see a Special Effect targeting a Stone, is when that Effect includes an Action keyword or symbol, or has the Attack keyword in its text.
My apologies for the long-ish post to come to a point that may be quite evident for some. Thinking through these niggly rules questions, and posting that thought process, helps me ground such rules questions more firmly in my mind. Especially when other players are so kind as to read my post and comment on its contents.