I am very confused about the way companions are supposed to work in Imperial Assault. In a broad sense, I understand what they are intended to do, however the RAW interpretation of things is beyond confusing, for me, when it comes to this: "A companion cannot interact and cannot use abilities on Class, Item, or Supply cards.".
I have seen that the discussion around this is mostly focused on the interpretation of "use", but the problem I have here is comparing the class decks of Jarrod Kelvin and Reactive Defenses to how a Junk Droid is supposed to function. The general consensus seems to be that a Junk Droid can not utilize the "Technical Support" special action, due to the aforementioned rule. What I understand from that interpretation, with the Junk Droid having the "Droid" tag and the "Card abilities can override the rules listed in this guide. Mission rules can override both card abilities and rules from this guide.", is that the Junk Droid has to have its speed increased by 1 (since it is an Imperial Figure and a droid, and the card overrules the RRG) and, in the same manner, it is forced to gain the special ability (behaving as if it is part of its card). With this interpretation, I don't see why the Junk Droid would not benefit fully from said card. However, I see how that can lead to infinite loops of arguments in the form of CLASS CARD gives BONUS, which overrides RRG, but RRG states that CLASS CARDS cannot be used by companions, so it shouldn't even be considered in the first place and I would be content with that explanation in the form of "It doesn't work because those bonuses would mean that the Junk Droid is using the card".
However things are not that simple. If we look at the Reactive Defenses "Shielded" card, we see that the companion gains the ability. The intent here is obvious - the card is meant for the companion to use, however, I feel like that alone is insufficient to exclude the Junk Droid from gaining the special action from "Technical Support" and here is the reason why: let's pretend that "Shielded" was meant for other units as well. It could have said "88-Z and Probe Droid gain:", as well as any other combination of units, or, if it was meant for any droids to use it, it could have stated "Imperial Droids gain:". What I mean to say is that the specificity is not RAW proof that the Junk Droid can not benefit from "Technical Support". The condition for a figure to benefit from "Shielded" is for it to be 88-Z and the condition for a figure to benefit from "Technical Support" is for it to be an Imperial Droid, which 88-Z and the Junk Droid fulfill respectively, so if 88-Z benefits from that card, then so should the other companion from his.
Now, another way of looking at it, which would bar the Junk Droid from using the special ability would be that, having the Junk Droid pay the cost of an action would mean it using the card. It is forced to gain the speed and the special action, which would not count as "using", but it would be "using" it, in order to spend an action and gain the benefit, which is not allowed. However, once again, Reactive Defenses proves problematic since "Shielded" uses the same wording. If we interpret it that way, it would mean that 88-Z would also simply gain the special action, but would be unable to actually use it, which is preposterous. It is clear beyond any doubt that 88-Z is meant to use the special action that the card provides him with, but that leaves me with no reconciliation other than saying "Well... since both Jarrod's cards and Reactive Defenses rely on companions, we can just make a special case for them", an option that I very much dislike as it is extremely muddy and confusing as to where we draw the line in the future.
As such, since both "Technical Support" and "Shielded" use the same wording of " Appropriate figures gain: Special action " and it is crystal clear the 88-Z is meant to use his special action, I can only reasonably conclude that the Junk Droid can also use "Technical Support" and, moreover, that the meaning of "use" from the rules governing companions does not encompass forced elements (meaning when a card states that a certain group of figures get modified in a certain way, with no option such as "may", it does not count as using, since it is not voluntary). Moreover, this would imply that the "gain" wording means that the specific aspect becomes part of the figure's description on its card and can, from then on, be utilized as an innate trait, unless external factors remove said effect or the figure is no longer qualified for the effect to be applied.
My biggest issue here is that it seems (from what I managed to find, at least), that the community at large would disagree with this ruling, and I am confused as to why. (As simply stating the rules for companions would lead to an argument about the meaning of "use", which, as I have previously discussed, is partially implied through the existence of Jarrod Kelvin and Reactive Defenses).
Please help me reach a reasonable conclusion here, as I'd love to have this matter settled for myself once and for all.
