Question about the focus familiar.

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Alandriakh
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Question about the focus familiar.

Post by Alandriakh »

It says that this is only used for determing range and line of sight but also to determine whether she counts as in combat or not. But that last part confuses me a bit, does that mean they can charge the focus familiar and the hits get then redirected to the sorceress?
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Lakissov
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Post by Lakissov »

no, that means that she can cast magic missiles when being in CC, because the familiar counts as not being there.

this should have been in the Rules section of the forums
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Post by Ehakir »

Lakissov is right; see the familiar as Neferata's cat, or a marker which determines where a tunneling team would pop up ;)
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Post by Thanee »

The familiar isn't a miniature that moves around. It is only placed during the Magic Phase and then removed, when it's over.

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Post by Mordru »

You can't attack power familiar or the other familiars in cc. They are magic items that provide certain abilities or bonuses. The only thing that can "attack" them will be items or spells that nullify magic items. They will be a prime target for Vaul's Unmaking for example.
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Kheirakh
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Post by Kheirakh »

What kind of line of sight the focus familiar uses if the sorceress is mounted on a monster?
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Post by Silverheimdall »

as you place the familiar on the table, it grants 360 line of sight, but is blocked by terrain and other units, still grants a massive bonus of targets.
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Post by Mordru »

This item is so useful for a level 4 its hard to imagine that it will not be on the table on an almost continual basis.
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Kinslayer
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Post by Kinslayer »

If the sorceress is charged, can you place the focus familiar next to her out of combat, and fire into the combat meaning she gets magic missiles etc to support her. Or do the normal rules apply for not being able to cast into friendly combat (even though its herself!)
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Kensou
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Post by Kensou »

the normal rules apply
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Post by Kinslayer »

ok, was just thinking how powerfull she could get if she could cast doombolt and chillwind into combats she was in with the familiar :) guess its not the case. Shes powerful enough with it anyway though.

If a unit charges her unit and hopes to break it, and a US5+ unit is sitting behind so you flee through it and are destroyed, she can use the familiar to blow that unit to bits thus saving her unit and herself.

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Post by Rabidnid »

Heartrender wrote:If the sorceress is charged, can you place the focus familiar next to her out of combat, and fire into the combat meaning she gets magic missiles etc to support her. Or do the normal rules apply for not being able to cast into friendly combat (even though its herself!)


That's pretty much exacty what it says in the description so yes
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Post by Tethlis »

The rules for the focus familiar specificallty say she can cast magic missiles into combat? I haven't seen the specific wording yet, but I doubt it overrides the rules for magic missiles. I think it still lets her cast magic missiles at viable targets, even though she herself is in combat.
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Post by Mordru »

Tethlis wrote:The rules for the focus familiar specificallty say she can cast magic missiles into combat? I haven't seen the specific wording yet, but I doubt it overrides the rules for magic missiles. I think it still lets her cast magic missiles at viable targets, even though she herself is in combat.


This is my understanding as well you still can't cast a spell into combat unless the spell says that it may be cast into combat. This will be true even if you model your focus familiar as a giant rat. ;)
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Post by Rork »

Moved to the rules forum.

A magic missile can't be cast into combat - the familiar won't change that.
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Post by tmr »

So I’m wondering if we are looking at this all wrong. The FF can be used to determine range and LOS, I get that simple but it also says and again the grammar use is interesting whether she counts as in combat or not.

So the premise is the sorceress can project herself out of combat or when a FF is used she is not part of combat?! Does that also mean that I can put a sorceress in the last rank of a unit to hide and no longer need to have her on the front rank?
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Post by Dggrj »

I think the wording is something like "... can use this point to determine range, LOS, and whether or not she counts as in combat when casting spells until the end of the turn."

i.e. no
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Post by Silverheimdall »

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Give her the Pendant of Kaeleth for survivability (against shooting mostly) and then pop the familiar while flanking a big infantry block. O:
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Post by Melinia »

tmr wrote:So the premise is the sorceress can project herself out of combat or when a FF is used she is not part of combat?! Does that also mean that I can put a sorceress in the last rank of a unit to hide and no longer need to have her on the front rank?


Off the top of my head, the reason that a Wizard can't cast spells while not in the front rank is a Basic Rule Book stipulation. i.e. the text doesn't say anything about Line of Sight. It just says, "You can't cast if you're not in the front rank."

So no, the Familiar will not allow you to cast from the back rank.
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Post by Mordru »

The language of the focus familiar determining whether the sorceress is in combat or not is simply establishing that the point of origin of the spell is considered to be the familiar therefore, even if the sorceress is in combat she will be able to cast things like magic missiles that require line of sight. Her line of sight will be determined from the familiar not from her postition. Unless there is no good location to place the familiar, the sorceress will be able to fire away with the magic missiles, etc... while in combat.
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Post by Obsidianichor »

The familiar is only used in the Magic Phase, so it could not be used to attack the sorceress. The entry says, "Place a marker at the start of each Dark Elf magic phase..."
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Post by B0yceb0y »

I love this item. I was testing out some items (dagger.familiar) in friendly games versus my friends new army of demons. Though he proxied a lot, it was fun having my sorceress run around a forest with khorne hounds trying to catch her. She still casted magic though at that point of the game it was useless as there was a lot of magic resistance.

How does the demon ward work? just...wondering...no point in a new topic?
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Post by Dggrj »

Melinia wrote:
tmr wrote:So the premise is the sorceress can project herself out of combat or when a FF is used she is not part of combat?! Does that also mean that I can put a sorceress in the last rank of a unit to hide and no longer need to have her on the front rank?


Off the top of my head, the reason that a Wizard can't cast spells while not in the front rank is a Basic Rule Book stipulation. i.e. the text doesn't say anything about Line of Sight. It just says, "You can't cast if you're not in the front rank."

So no, the Familiar will not allow you to cast from the back rank.
Furthermore you can't choose to put characters in the back rank. They can only end up there if they are A) Skaven or B) refusing a challenge. And characters (other than Skaven) can't do jack from the back row.
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Post by Aspiring executioner »

@b0yceb0y
The daemon ward works against everything just like an ordinary ward save instead of previously of only working against non-magical attacks.
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Post by tmr »

Thanks for all the claification... I do like the idea of planting a Sorc in the forest and having the FF pop out and do some damage.
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