Hey everyone, just had a quick question on the slann constellation rule. If I roll a one then the slann cannot cast spells that turn. Although if I plan to just forgo spells for summoning points that turn anyways does rolling a one not matter? Plain English if I roll a one on the constellation roll can I still get summoning points?
I always read it as no. You have to "sacrifice" spells for summoning points. If you can't cast, you can't give up the spells for points.
Yeah, it is not explicitly said, but by any logic, you cannot "forego a spell" (that's the definition in the rule, IIRC), if you cannot cast that spell in the first place.
I also think that's what they mean. Especially since the fluff text basically says that the Slann is distracted, and that's the reason why he cannot cast. If he is that distracted he probably cannot channel the magic into his mind to generate lizards from there either.
so there is no actual FAQ or Rule that explicitly states that you cannot convert the other two spells into Conj points. The exact wording on the Slann states that the attempt to change the constellation uses 1 spell, and that the slann cannot "CAST" any more spells. thus it is arguable that you are not casting a spell, you are forgoing casting a spell that you couldnt cast anyway and are instead generating Conjuration points. if this is accurate you would only have 2 spells to convert as the attempt (successful or not) eats up one spell by the wording "instead of casting one of its spells".
It isn't 100% clear and to be honest I would be fine with it either way. The summoning ability says "before he attempts to cast a spell" (translated by me, I have the German GHB, so might not be the exact working in English) so it is clear that he doesn't cast the spell to create summoning points. So you could argue that the ability is preventing him from casting the spell (which he doesn't) but not from spending the "spell slot" for summoning. You definitely need one "spell slot" to try and change the constellation and cannot use that one for summoning. So I guess it comes down to whether you want to take the fluff text into account (which IMO hints at the Slann not being able to do anything in the hero phase) or not. Fun fact: when we discussed how summoning could work before the GHB2018 was released, someone here (could have been me, I don't remember) suggested that we could create points by using a special spell that is cast but does nothing else. That way it would have been clearer since it would obey the normal magic rules.
only bad part about that is... what would it's casting value be and our summoning could then be dispelled.... and our upside (summoning) would have two downsides (costs us other spells, and the potential to not go off/be dispelled.)
Yeah it would become less of a no brainer. It would mean that Slann who summon would need casting buffs and so on. (And btw I think that the improved unbinding range is a bad idea by GW anyway and hurts magic in the game a lot)