Message no. 1

From:	Rob Harris <rjharris@********.UIUC.EDU>
Subject:	Cool awnser from FASA
Date:	Wed, 15 Oct 1997 23:22:52 -0700

Wow, these guys are GOOD! I didn't even have to send my letter, they just
heard about our discussion, and fixed it! Listed below is the email I got
from Jim. (Sorry Loki, didn't mean to
butt in, they just found my email address first....)

----------Rob,

Normally I'd send this to Loki, but I couldn't find his address (I'm
working
at home), so I'm sending it to you (since you asked the question that got
the
ball rolling in the first place). Please see that the SRTCG Card List gets
this.
A friend at work told me that there was a great deal of controversy brewing
on the List about the Stim Patch answer I gave you yesterday, so I thought
that I'd "head it off at the pass".

I answered your question off the top of my head, late at night,
incorrectly,
and (apparently) without thinking clearly. Sorry about that. Please allow
me
to re-address the questions here:

We've been discussing the wording on the card a great deal in-house and I
managed to confuse myself! As you can imagine, there have been a lot of
questions pertaining to Stim Patch since the game came out. The card is
confusing, as the text alludes to something that, by rule, is not allowed.
The text says, "May be used to heal a Runner whose Body was just reduced to
0
or less".
As we all know by now, you aren't allowed to reduce a Runner's Body to
less
than 0. I think that the word choice on the card is more than a little
confusing...
...and this is what we've been discussing. The FAQ has already made it
clear
how Stim Patch works, and I'll quote it below. I should have looked at it
last night (I almost always review it before answering a question) but, for
some reason, I didn't.
The FAQ says: "A Stim patch heals 2 damage so if a Runner's Body is
reduced
to -1, it can be healed to 1. Two Stim Patches could bring a Runner from -3
to 1."

All of this is very confusing because you aren't really allowed to go
below
0 in the first place. Thus the problem: if you can't take damage past a
Body
of 0, then when a single 1/2 Runner encounters a Challenge like Manticore
(8/9 and all damage must be dealt to a single Runner), the Runner can
technica
lly only take 2 damage. However, this would allow Runners to use a Stim
Patch
to survive absolutely ridiculous amounts of damage and that's not supposed
to
happen.
What happens is that Stim Patch becomes an exception to the way damage is
dealt to Runners. In order to prevent the card from being abused, I think
Mike chose to add the "0 or less" qualification to Stim Patch. This not
only
allows Runners to heal damage in excess of their Body rating, it also
allows
them to take damage in excess of their Body rating. Normally this is not
possible, but it was necessary for this card. By allowing the extra damage,
it insures that Runners can't use a Stim Patch to survive attacks that they
just shouldn't survive (like the Manticore example above).

So...to re-address the other question you asked about Stim Patch:
If you have 2 Runners, each with a Body of 1 and each holding a Stim Patch,
and they come into combat with the "Hunting Gargoyles" (8/9), then they
both die. The Gargoyles do enough damage to trash them both and the 2 Stim
Patches aren't enough to heal even one Runner. Ouch! Sorry I answered this
incorrectly last night. I guess I should be more careful when addressing
questions in the wee hours...

One more thing. I don't know what the controversy was on the list about the
Stim Patch, but I suspect it was due to my contradicting the FAQ. Please
remember that NO answer received by e-mail is absolutely final and official
(no matter who it's from) and that ONLY the rulings that are on the
official
FAQ are considered final. We're human, we're busy and we're going to make
mistakes. That's why the FAQ is the final word.
If the List was debating my answer last night because it contradicted the
FAQ, then there was no reason for debate. The FAQ is the final word.
Period.
If a ruling is going to change, it will change there.
I hope that puts an end to any confusion I may have caused. I'll be more
careful in the future. I promise. Scout's honor.

Jim N.



> If you have two characters with each with 1 body and each with 1
stimpatch,
> and they combat a pack of Hunting Gargoyles (8/9), can they both use a
> stimpatch and both be alive (basically does one have to take all the
> 'additional' 6, past the 1 to kill each of them, and be out of stimpactch
> healing range)?

> They can both live.