I don't play burn very often so I never really thought about this occuring but….

Can someone declare a character as an attacker if they have 0 strength? The siutation was that someone attacked with a 0 strength character with the Deadly keyword. The opponent chose to unoppose and therefore the person who did the attack got one power for winning an unopposed challenge.

Is this legal? I'm not too sure and I couldn't find it in the FAQ or rule book.

Thanks!

A character with zero STR can indeed be declared as an attacker, however if he is declared alone, and the attacker does not buff his STR to something greater than zero at some point prior to resolution, then the challenge will fizzle if no defenders are declared. 0 attacking STR + no defenders = no challenge. Though keep in mind that the attacker can wait til after the defender declaration window is past to do their STR buff.

BARF said:

However, as dcdennis also said, if the attacker doesn't increase the character's STR before the end of the challenge, his total attacking challenge STR is going to be 0. The rules say that you cannot win a challenge with a total attacking STR of 0, so unless the defender is afraid of a STR increase, there may not be much reason to defend (and fall into that Deadly trap).

Here's where things skew from you example, though. The rules also say that an extra, bonus power is awarded when the attacker wins a challenge that was unopposed (defined as one in which the defending player counts 0 STR). Since "unopposed" power is only awarded when a player wins an unopposed challenge, the guy with the 0-STR, deadly attacker should not have gotten the 1 power for unopposed because he didn't win the challenge.

So, if the guy who attacked with the 0-STR deadly character thought he was forcing you into a choice of either killing a defending character or letting him take one free power for unopposed, he was mistaken. He can't get that power without winning the challenge - which he can't do without giving the character STR. The defending player simply ignores the challenge - hoping that the attacker cannot bump the STR - and laughs when the only thing the attacker accomplished was to kneel his own 0-STR character.

Woo two correct rulings in one day! I'm on a roll! Brb, gotta go buy a powerball ticket and a winFORlife scratcher.

Thanks for the ruling you guys. I thought it felt weird when I let him get a power.

Props to dcdennis for the first reply and of course, many thanks to ktom.

However, should the 0 STR Deadly character be attacking with another character (whose STR is at least 1), then the challenge could be won.