Radiation Poisoning

[Teetengee]

This may be a little premature, but does anyone know whether the radiation poisoning rule works like a or b.
a. on a 6 it does 2 wounds.

b. on a 6 it does 2 more wounds (3 total).

[BassWave]

I believe its 3 total. The special rule activates after the target is wounded on a 6. Therefore you cause a regular wound, then 2 more wounds when the rule activates.

[Athrawes]

I don't know. my gut says it's option A, that it only causes 2 wounds. If it were option B, it would say that rolls of 6 to wound cause an additional two wounds. But it doesn't say additional, so going by rules as written, it could only ever cause two wounds on a 6.

[BassWave]

By that logic, wouldn't it be written as "to wound rolls of 6 causes 1 additional wound"?

[Jarl of Wulfen]

Lets wait for the codex in case it was a typo/misprint? :-)

[Athrawes]

By that logic, wouldn't it be written as "to wound rolls of 6 causes 1 additional wound"?

 

It could have been, but that would have been unnecessary. All the wounds are resolved together. It doesn't specify that two wounds happen after the first wound.

 

Look at it this way. During the roll to wound against a toughness 3 target, there are three possible outcomes:

 

1.  Roll of 1, 2, or 3: Fail to wound
2. Roll of 4 or 5: cause a wound.
3. Roll of 6: cause two wounds

 

When you look at it that way (which is the way the game is designed), it couldn't ever be three wounds. As it is written, rolls of 6 cause two wounds, when without that rule, rolls of six would normally cause only one.

 

Basically, the way it is written implies that instead of causing the standard one wound, on rolls of 6 it causes two.

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Yeah I agree with Athrawes' interpretation. A 6 causes two wounds, not two additional wounds.

 

Depending on the toughness of the target, a 6 might not even cause a wound, and the rule description says nothing about causing wounds, just rolling 6. Kinda like rending, but two wounds instead of ap2

[BassWave]

I just wish GW would be clearer on its rules writing. Hopefully a FAQ will come out the day of codex release in order to clarify.

[Athrawes]

Yeah I agree with Athrawes' interpretation. A 6 causes two wounds, not two additional wounds.

 

Depending on the toughness of the target, a 6 might not even cause a wound, and the rule description says nothing about causing wounds, just rolling 6. Kinda like rending, but two wounds instead of ap2

 

That is a great point that I hadn't noticed. The rule specifies that a roll of 6 to wound causes two wound regardless of the target's toughness.

 

So it is a bit like rending in that a roll of 6 will wound no matter what. Cool.

[Annatar Giftbringer]

Compare it with the taser effect, which clearly says 2 additional hits.

 

To make things interesting, what would happen if a weapon is both sniper and rad poisoning, such as the radium jezzail? Would the two wounds from rad also get the sniper effect of ap 2 upon rolling a 6? (Not precision shot, since it triggers from to hit, not to wound.)

[Vel'Cona]

Wow that's a scary one.  I'd say that is an intentional combo effect from the radium jezzail, to make it at least moderately competitive with the taser lance.  That said, if you want shooty walkers the Ironstriders are WAY better in this case.

 

In either case, I'm confident in GW's ability to roll out a week one FAQ, since they've managed those for several of the recent codex releases IIRC.