Ability Rules Primer
Table of Contents

1. What Is An Ability?
2. What Is An Ability Made From?
 2a. Ability Type
 2b. Ability Targeting
  2b-i. Quantity Parameters
  2b-ii. Selection parameters
  2b-iii. Global Abilities
 2c. Ability Cooldowns
  2c-i. Single-Use and Multi-Use Weekly Abilities
 2d. What Is An Effect?
 2e. How Does An Ability Resolve?
  2e-i. Step One: Declaration
  2e-ii. Step Two: Targeting
  2e-iii. Step Three: Timing
  2e-iiii. Step Four: Hitting
  2e-iiiii. Step Five: Resolution
  2e-X. Step X?: Costs
 2f. How do multiple abilities resolve?
  2f-i. Earlier Timing Goes First
  2f-ii. Order of Declaration Goes First
  2f-iii. Invalidated Abilities Do Not Go Off
  2f-iiii. Simultaneous Effects Are Non-Interactive
  2f-iiiii. Triggers Don't Cancel Base Effects
  2f-iiiiii. Interception Effects
 2g. How do Pure Support abilities work?
 2h. On Meta-Abilities and Ability Interactions
3. Glossary



1. What Is An Ability?

Every battle mercenary comes with a writeup, which indicates what sort of capabilities, feats and equipment they have access to in battle. In addition, every mercenary also comes with at least one Ability, which grants the ability to modify the parameters of the match in some way that *must* be accepted by the voters - whether it's by granting that mercenary access to an ability they usually do not have, removing an enemy from battle, or anything in between. This brief primer discusses the components of an ability, and how it functions.

2. What Is An Ability Made From?

2a. Ability Type

Every Ability has a Type that indicates when it resolves, and how. Unless stated otherwise in the ability, all abilities of a given type function identically.

-Peacetime: Peacetime abilities are declared during the Peacetime phase, during the Ability Period. They usually interact with other teams, or permanently modify mercenaries in your own.
-Pre-Battle: Pre-Battle abilities resolve before a fight occurs, during Wartime's ability phase itself, the moment they are declared. They always go on recharge after such a declaration, and cannot be avoided.
-Start of Battle: Start of Battle abilities occur when the match begins, without fail, before any mercenary has a chance to act or do anything other than be present at the fight's terrain. A Start of Battle ability requires its user to be rostered to go off. Failure to do so causes it to go on a week of recharge. Additionally, their target must also be rostered. If they are not, this ability does not go on recharge, provided the ability's user is rostered.
-Mid-Battle: Mid-Battle abilities resolve after the beginning of the match. A common term used by them is 'when the teams first meet'. They are undodgeable and unavoidable, just like Start of Battle abilities, and have similar rostering prerequisites.
-Trigger: Trigger abilities activate automatically, in response to a condition being fulfilled. The leader cannot choose not to activate them - they always go off if the condition is met.
-Results: Results abilities activate during the Results phase, operating under a time limit just as Peacetime abilities do.
-Passive: An ability which does not need to be declared - it is always active, unless stated otherwise.
-On Purchase: An ability that must be declared once upon successfully purchasing a merc, within one in game week of the mercenary being purchased.  The ability will be randomized if this time is exceeded, and the choice may be remade any time during the week by posting the change on the week's Peacetime or Results topics, whichever is newest.

2b. Ability Targeting

All abilities have a target of some sort. The following is a list of possible targets an ability can have, and is exhaustive. All possible types of targeting an ability may have are covered here. Targeting is defined by a combination of two parameters: Quantity, and selection type.

2b-i. Quantity Parameters

The following list covers all possible quantity parameters. Note that quantity parameters are, by nature, exclusive. An ability can only have one of the following parameters. They are:

-Personal: Abilities of this type always affect the user, and only the user.
-Single Target: Abilities of this type will affect a single mercenary, who may be the user, but does not necessarily have to be.
-Multi-Target: Abilities of this type will affect multiple, discreet mercenaries, among which the user may be counted.
-Variable Target: Abilities of this type may affect one or multiple mercenaries, determined by the user at the time of declaration. As a consequence, they count as Single Target abilities if they target a single mercenary, and Multi-Target otherwise.
-Teamwide: Abilities of this type will hit every single applicable mercenary on a given team. They are distint from Multi-Target abilities, as a Teamwide ability may hit a single mercenary or fifty.

Unless stated otherwise, no ability will target a Pure Support, except if they are accompanying a mercenary into battle as an assist.

2b-ii. Selection parameters

The following list covers all possible selection parameters. Note that it is possible for multiple selection parameters to be applicable to a single ability at the same time. They are:

-Ally Only: Abilities of this type only affect mercenaries on the same team as the user.
-Enemy Only: Abilities of this type only affect mercenaries on a team opposite to the user.
-Parameter Only: Only mercenaries fitting a certain classification (Heroic mercenaries, High Tier mercenaries, paid down mercenaries...) may be targeted by this ability.
-Free Targeting: Abilities of this type may be used on any mercenary who qualifies, ally or enemy.
-Preselected: Abilities of this type will hit only the targets the merc's leader designates.
-Random: Abilities of this type will hit a rolled mercenary, without the user being able to determine the target. They will only hit rosterable mercenaries by default, but may target Mercenaries who are Unrosterable at the time of declaration at the leader's choice.
-Pool of X: This ability will select a number of targets (either preselected or randomly rolled) and then determine its final target out of them.
-Post-Rosters: This ability will resolve against one of the mercenaries rostered for that day's battle. In other words, it cannot be avoided, as it will only affect targets already confirmed for the day's battle - merely resisted or blocked.

2b-iii. Global Abilities

In addition, there are two types of targeting parameters which combine quantity and selection. They are:

-Wartime Global: An effect that hits both teams participating in a given match, as a whole, or alters the conditions of the match itself.
-Peacetime Global: An effect that hits every single team in a pool, or in the entire game!

2c. Ability Cooldowns

Abilities cannot (in general) be used willy-nilly. After usage, a Mercenary must take some time to prepare them again. This is referred to as Recharge, or Cooldown. After using an ability, it may not be used again for the following X weeks, where X is equal to its Cooldown (so an ability with a Cooldown of 1 could not be used the following week). If an ability features wording to the effect of 'once every X weeks...', subtract 1 from X to determine an ability's cooldown. Abilities with no cooldown may be used every week, and if an ability is forcibly put on Cooldown by another ability before it can be used, then a week of that cooldown is considered to be served immediately (thus, if a forcible Cooldown of 2 was applied to an unused ability, it would be unusable during the following week, but could be used the week after).

2c-i. Single-Use and Multi-Use Weekly Abilities

Even when an ability has no cooldown, it may only be used once a day, unless it explicitly states otherwise. Such abilities are referred to elsewhere as 'Multi-Use' or 'Lightning Speed' abilities, and may have a cooldown attached to them - it simply does not apply until the next week begins.

2d. What Is An Effect?

Distinct from the ability's targeting (who it will hit), its type (when it will resolve), and cooldown (how long it will take until it can be used again) is an ability's Effect. This is the 'what' of the ability, determining its impact upon the match. For example, if an ability read 'Once every two weeks, give one preselected enemy a glass of milk', its effect would be interpreted as giving a single mercenary a glass of milk. Note that what happens afterward is not the ability's jurisdiction. Abilities only do what they say they do. Arguments for the mercenary dropping the milk, drinking it or taking any other action are all equally valid. The only invalid argument during a match topic would be to say that the mercenary who received the milk does not have it, assuming the ability resolved successfully.

2e. How Does An Ability Resolve?

The following steps cover how an ability goes from being activated to finalizing its effect. Note that the capitalized verbiage that appears in each section is NOT interchangeable with each other, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

2e-i. Step One: Declaration

To use an ability, it must be announced. This is done by posting text clearly and unambiguously announcing intent to use it during the appropriate game phase, <b>in BOLD</b>. For example, if I wished to use the ability Wait and Hope, which is marked as a Peacetime ability, I would have to use it during the Peacetime ability window by posting something like <b>I'm Waiting and Hoping for a miracle.</b> This passes 'clear unambiguous intent' checks by using a small, obvious variation of the ability name as part of a larger but still concise bold text. By contrast, something like <b>I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-Kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61!</b> would not be processed as an Ability Declaration, as the administrative staff is not made up of mind readers. Leaders are advised to be precise when Declaring ability usage. Any mistakes in phrasing will be treated as a mistake on the leader's part, not the admin team's (though we will try to be lenient and ask for clarification if any staff is around when an ability is declared if no clear intent can be determined). Triggers that activate will be Declared by admins or players, as appropriate.

2e-ii. Step Two: Targeting

Along with a Declaration of intent to use an ability, a target must be indicated in <b>BOLD</b>, if applicable. Some abilities acquire Targets automatically, and as such do not require a Target specified by the leader. For most abilities, Declaration and Targeting occur almost simultaneously, though NOT at the same time for the purposes of Ability resolution. For Preselected targeting abilities, Untargetable and Immune targets may not be selected.

2e-iii. Step Three: Timing

Once an ability is Declared and Targeted, it must reach its resolution point. For example, a Start of Battle ability will only resolve once the battle is about to begin, after rosters have been locked in.

2e-iiii. Step Four: Hitting

Once an ability has been Declared and a Target acquired, and its Resolution Timing has arrived, the target must be Hit by it. If the target is elligible to be Targeted by the ability, it may still remain unaffected by it - for example, if it has a % chance to fail. If the effect succeeds, then the target is considered to be Hit. Mercenaries who are Immune to a certain type of effect and are selected by a randomly-Targeting ability will not be considered Hit by the ability.

2e-iiiii. Step Five: Resolution

Once a target is confirmed to be Hit by the ability, the effect is applied to them, and the ability goes on cooldown, if applicable. At this point, the ability is said to have successfully Resolved. An ability may only Resolve successfully while failing to have any Effect on the target if this occurs due to a random chance of failure (whether by Hitting an Immune enemy, or due to an unlucky result on a percentile roll or similar) or invalidation due to another ability after Declaration and before a Hit is confirmed. Otherwise, only abilities that Hit their Target and apply Effect are said to have Resolved successfully. If an ability has not Resolved successfully, it is said to have Failed, with a capital F. As an example, if the target of a Start of Battle ability is not rostered, it has Failed. Failed abilities suffer no cooldown, they simply have no Effect.

2e-X. Step X?: Costs

If an ability has costs, these must be paid to resolve the ability, at the indicated time.  These may range from KOing an allied mercenary, to paying a sum of GP, to rendering an allied terrain unusable for a certain number of weeks. Unless stated otherwise, these costs must be paid when the ability is Declared and not afterward.

2f. How do multiple abilities resolve?

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, asssume all abilities resolve as follows when interacting with one another.

2f-i. Earlier Timing Goes First

Abilities that are declared earlier during the week resolve first. If a pre-battle and a start of battle ability are both declared, the pre-battle ability will resolve first.

2f-ii. Order of Declaration Goes First

If two abilities have equal timings, then the one that was declared first goes first, IF the ability is a Peacetime, Results or Pre-Battle ability. Triggers, Start of Battle, and Mid Battle abilities resolve simultaneously with abilities of the same type, provided they have the same starting point (so a Trigger would resolve at the same time as another Trigger, assuming they were both activated by the same ability - likewise, two Start of Battle abilities would resolve at the same time, and before any Mid-Battle abilities). [Kan note: Should SoB/MB removals 'go first' over other abilities of the same type? Introduce priority to the system, in other words. Should we use Order of Declaration for SoBs and MBs as well?]

2f-iii. Invalidated Abilities Do Not Go Off

If an as-yet unresolved ability is rendered impossible to resolve by another ability (for example, the user of a Start of Battle ability is KO'd, rendering them unable to be rostered), then the ability is not considered to successfully Resolve unless its text (or the invalidating ability's text) explicitly states otherwise. Start of Battle and Mid-Battle abilities will be considered Nullified in such circumstances, whereas other abilities, such as Pre-Battles, will incur full recharge.

2f-iiii. Simultaneous Effects Are Non-Interactive

If two effects resolve simultaneously, then neither will affect the other, even if one would cause the other's execution to not make any sense. For example, if a Start of Battle ability made a character fire their gun at an opponent, and another Start of Battle ability stole away their weapon, then they would simultaneously fire their gun and lose it, even though this does not make logical sense. If this seems like an unacceptable break from reality, call it 'Mercs Magic' and move on.

2f-iiiii. Triggers Don't Cancel Base Effects

If an ability fulfills a Trigger's condition for activation, the trigger cannot invalidate it unless its text explicitly says otherwise. For example, a Trigger that KO'd the first enemy to KO the Trigger user's allies would not prevent the KO that spawned it - the trigger would activate once the KO had Hit (IE, once it is guaranteed to KO its target if their are vulnerable to it), but before it had Resolved.

2f-iiiiii. Interception Effects

Some abilities in Mercenaries will allow a mercenary to take an ability or other effect for another mercenary. As listing every possible condition for Interception would be an impossible ordeal, assume the following statements are true unless otherwise stated in the ability.

-If an effect hits a narrowed range of targets, it will succeed on the intercepting mercenary as though they were the original target mercenary.
-If an effect Hits multiple mercenaries at the same time, but not the intercepting mercenary, the mercenary may choose which mercenary to intercept the effect for.
-However, if both the intercepting mercenary and the original mercenary are Hit by the same effect, the intercepting mercenary will not attempt to intercept the effect.
-A mercenary must be present when the effect occurs to intercept it.  For example if an ability intercepted a Start of Battle KO and the owner of the Intercepting ability was benched, the original mercenary would be hit by the effect, rather than being directed to the benched would-be Interceptor.
-If multiple interception effects would target the same ability use with the same timing, the leader who controls the interception effect may choose one of the effects to use to intercept. The others will not successfully Resolve, and not count as Declared for the week in the case of an ability.

2g. How do Pure Support abilities work?

Unless stated otherwise, Pure Support abilities are always used by the Battle Mercenary they are linked to. Likewise, abilities that affect a PS' abilities will affect the linked Mercenary instead. In other words, a PS can be substituted for their linked merc in all cases, except if an ability explicitly targets PSes.

2h. On Meta-Abilities and Ability Interactions

Abilities that modify other abilities always, with NO exception, target the mercenary the affected abilities belong to. Abilities cannot target each other, ever. Similarly, abilities which modify another Ability's Timing cannot affect abilities 'cross phase'. That is, an ability that is Declared during Peacetime, Wartime, or Results cannot be validly Declared during any other Phase, under any circumstance. The sole exception, IF it exists, is if an ability explicitly and clearly states that it will allow abilities to occur in a different phase.

3. Glossary

Though the way an ability functions is described in its full rules text, an ability's parameters and Effect are always defined by discreet codified game terms to a greater or lesser extent. The following is an incomplete list of terms.

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Week: A unit of game time consisting of all the phases in the game-- Peacetime, Wartime, Battles, and Results.  Typically takes a week in real time.

Enemy: References to 'enemy team' or 'enemy mercenary' refer specifically to the the directly opposing team (or, in the case of 'enemy mercenary', a member of the directly opposing team) during that week's Wartime.

Nullify: When something is said to nullify an ability use, the effects of the ability that was nullified do not take place, and the ability goes on a one-week cooldown. Example: A Start of Battle ability whose user is not rostered is Nullified.

Failure: Said of an ability that does not successfully Resolve, incurring no Cooldown. Example: A Start of Battle ability whose target is not rostered, while the user is, has Failed and does not go on CD.

Battle Write-Up (or Write-Up):  The blurb of text that is located at the top of a mercenary's wiki page, and the default blurb pasted into any fight topics posted.  If an ability refers to "the write-up" it refers to this.

Mercenary (Merc) - An individual character.

Alignment - A mercenary's classification of Heroic, Neutral, or Villainous.

Type - A mercenary's classification of Human, Beast, Robot, Undead, Otherworldly or Superhuman.  A mercenary with two or more types listed will be considered to be a valid target if an effect only allows certain types can target any of its types, and will be considered invalid in the case of an effect specifically bans any of its types.  In the case of a conflict, the first listed type takes precedence.

Gender - A mercenary's-- what do you think?  Male, Female, or Genderless.

Roster - The list of mercs chosen for battle that week.

Pure Support (PS) - A merc that cannot be rostered for battle. Must be attached to a mercenary on purchase (with identical rules to an On Purchase ability when doing so), and can only use its start of battles if the attached mercenary is rostered, but can be reattached every 5 weeks during Peacetime provided no abilities are on cooldown. If a PS uses an ability, for purposes of ability interactions it is considered to be used by the attached merc, but otherwise the PS is considered independent from the attached merc, and is not an eligible target unless an ability specifically notes so.  A PS cannot declare abilities if its linked merc is not rosterable.

Assist - A merc that fights alongside the merc they're assisting. Assists do not count towards the roster cap and will accompany their assisting merc in side topics and in-battle repositioning, however they are not considered "hit" by such abilities.  Assists default to 0/week mercenaries for ability purposes if not otherwise specified.  If an assist has an assist, they will also be considered to be assisting the assisted merc (assist soup).

Low Tier (LT) - The combat tier where only mercs with an upkeep of 1-3 can be rostered without fees.

Mid Tier (MT) - The combat tier where only mercs with an upkeep of 1-5 can be rostered without fees.

High Tier (HT) - The combat tier where any merc can be rostered without fees.

Removal - Any effect which removes a merc from the battle.   KOs, Possessions, Seductions, Kidnappings and Intimidations.  Removed mercenaries may receive EXP and still charge upkeep, but are not considered rosterable mercs, and all their abilities (including passives) are considered unusable for the rest of the week except where noted in the specific glossary entry or the mercs themselves. Mercenaries hit by Removal abilities CANNOT be rostered unless another ability explicitly says they can. [Kan Note: Should Possessions remain part of the Removal umbrella? The merc doesn't actually leave the battle, usually. They just switch sides. Same question for Subversions, below.]

KO - A KOd merc is unable to fight. They can't participate in battle or use abilities the week they are KOd.

Injured - An injured merc can't participate in battle or use abilities the week after they are injured.

Possession - A possessed merc's leader cannot roster them or use any of their abilities.  The player who possessed them can roster them as though they were their own mercenary and use any non-rechargeable abilities they have, as well as choose their customization.   Any abilities that were Targeted at the possessed merc before the possession will still resolve even if that shouldn't normally happen due to targeting constraints.  Any abilities already used by the merc will be cancelled without going on Recharge unless they were pre-battles (and may be declared again by the new leader if they're non-rechargeable).  They will return at the end of results.  Their passive will be considered to be in effect at the end of the week, however their original owner may not use their results abilities for their own team as they do not return until the end of results.  They may still receive EXP.

Seduction - A Removal where the mercenary will only be unable to be use abilities or be rostered for the phase they're seduced for (so a mercenary seduced during Wartime could use a Results ability, for example), rather than the rest of the week and does not interact with abilities that specifically mention KOs.

Kidnapping -  Similar to a seduction, but kidnapped mercenaries will be returned at the end of results unless otherwise stated.  Their passive will be in effect at the end of the week, however they may not use results abilities.

Intercept - A mercenary takes the effect of an ability in place of another mercenary.  More information on the standard rules for these effects can be found here in the Interception Effect rules reference. As always, conflicting ability text takes precedence.

Negative Effect - Any harmful effect that does not do Damage or Remove a merc.

Stolen Ability - An ability that has been "stolen" by another merc, such as with Yuffie's Ability Thief or Dark Samus's The Prime.  Such abilities will not recharge until they are returned (which occurs the beginning of the week after it is used or bought back-- it will recharge at the beginning of the week it is returned as it normally would) and cannot be affected by other abilities in any way while stolen.

Manipulation - An ability that directly influences the way a mercenary thinks in some way.  Only the first declared ability (pre-battles take priority over start of battles) will work on a mercenary each wartime, and any further manipulation attempts directed at the mercenary will result in Failure. [Kan Note: Removed the 'this applies to just this one ability' thing because this should honestly just be standard to all influencing effects.]

Rechargeable Ability - Blanket statement referring to abilities that incur a recharge when used.  This recharge does not necessarily have to be incurred by the ability itself-- for example a multipart ability that gives recharge to one of the components when used would be considered rechargeable.  Rechargeable abilities can never be used by possessed mercenaries.

Limited Use Ability - An ability that can only be used a certain number of times before becoming permanently unavailable.  Such abilities can never be used by anyone but the player who owns the mercenary for any reason, even if rechargeable abilities are allowed, and cannot be duplicated in any way.

Must - If there is a condition to declaring an ability or using any sort of action that uses the terminology must, and the player is not able to meet the must criteria, the action cannot be used.  If a condition using the wording must is imposed upon a merc after declaration of an ability (either within the ability text itself or due to another ability or effect), and at some point after the declaration of the ability the merc is rendered unable to perform the action for any reason, the ability will still function, however.

Customization - A list of merc-specific options that can be chosen each week during the ability phase. Customization is not considered an ability, though certain abilities will interact with Customization lists.

Attacker - A player who declares on another player during Wartime.

Defender - A player who is declared on during Wartime.

Defer - The Attacker making the decision to let the Defender use abilities first.

Terrain - The battlefield a match takes place on each week. Chosen by secret bid of GP after during Roster selection, with the Defender getting a +3 bonus.

GP - Player currency used to hire mercs, bid on terrain, etc.

Infrastructure (Infra)- How much GP you earn each day in Results.

Upkeep - How much GP you pay a merc you own each week in Results (upkeep does not apply the week a merc is hired)

Real Income (RI) - A player's Infrastructure minus the total upkeep of all of their mercs.

Transformation - An ability that alters a mercenary's battle writeup in a qualitative (as opposed to quantitative, such as editing preexisting parameters) way, unlocking new abilities or powers seen in their games, in a temporary fashion. Examples are Ryu (Street Fighter)'s Evil Ryu ability, or Bowser's Giga Bowser ability. More specifically, Transformations alter the merc itself, as opposed to their equipment (i. e., Joanna Dark acquiring a Farsight rifle is not a Transformation - Sora gaining access to Final Form is, however). Distinguished from Form Switch abilities by the fact they denote their changes in bold, indicating it is a temporary effect. It should be noted that vehicle swaps (or gaining a vehicle) doesn't count as a Transformation (for example, Id deciding to pilot Weltall Id is a Vehicle Swap/Gain effect, but not a Transformation). It is a separate, distinct kind of effect.

Form Switch - Any ability that replaces a Mercenary's default battle writeup for another, such as Turok's 'I. AM TUROK' peacetime ability, or Killer7's Smith Syndicate. Can be distinguished from Transformation abilities (below) by how they change the writeup without adding any bold (AKA temporary) text to it. Abilities that switch the vehicle a merc is using (such as Liquid Snake's I'll Crush You Into Dust, or Fox McCloud's How'd You Like The New Perspective) can also be Form Switch abilities, while simultaneously being Vehicle abilities.

Vehicle Swap/Gain - Any ability that grants the mercenary a vehicle, or replaces their current vehicle for a new one. Examples include Cloud's Fenrir ability, and Fox McCloud's How'd You Like The New Perspective ability.

Meta-Ability - Any ability that affects other abilities directly (by altering their parameters, for example). An example is Nilin's Custom Combos ability.

Damaging - Any ability that deals damage to its target, whether unquantifiable (the damage of a given attack) or objective (reducing maximum HP by 50%).

Positive Effect - Any beneficial effect not covered by other Glossary terms.

Intimidation - An ability that prevents a battle mercenary or combat-capable Pure Support from joining the week's battle, though they may still use abilities.

Subversion - Any ability that removes a Mercenary for their team and converts them into a third party. Unless stated otherwise, Subverted mercenaries must always be rostered for that week's battle.