I noticed a little gem in my list just now. Thought I would ask about it here to see if it's legal! My Skink Starpriest has an ability called "Serpent Staff" Witch makes one of my units have double damage on bites style attacks for one turn. My Kroxigors already have a 6+ ability that makes them deal mortal wounds with their jaws. So my question is....Will the serpent staff double the mortal wound count? Or do they not count as "damage"
Hmm, yeah I admit it would be a technicality. I would never really be able to pull it off with any reliability so maybe it won't matter too much. Just thought it would be an interesting quirk.
Might has to be checked by the manager at the workshop to see if it still counts. If true and luck is on side, I keep thinking if the roll off results in like 4 mortal wounds done, then that is doubled and maybe more luck is in and a few more is done. It can make a Bloodthirster cry as the damage stacks up pretty fast. But then it's mostly luck based pulling off deadly attacks, but when it does. It's a sweet moment.
I've read the rules a few times and both point to the serpent staff causing double wounds, be that normal or mortal so I would say it causes double mortal wounds so in if you roll a six and your opponent rolls 1 you will inflict 8 mortal wounds.
I think the Starpriest's ability can let you double the mortal wounds inflicted this way by Kroxigors. If you read the AoS rules, under the description of Mortal Wounds (4th page) it says Some attacks inflict mortal wounds. Do not make hit, wound or save rolls for a mortal wound – just allocate the wounds to models from the target unit as described above. So let's see what this "as descibed above means". From Making Attacks - 4. Determine Damage: Once all of the attacks made by a unit have been carried out, each successful attack inflicts a number of wounds equal to the Damage characteristic of the weapon. Most weapons have a Damage characteristic of 1, but some can inflict 2 or more [...]! It means a Mortal Wound IS NOT a single uncancellable damage, but an uncancellable wound which deals as many damages as indicated by its weapon's stats. So, in our case this Kroxigors' ability would deal a total damage equal to [(Your die roll) - (Your opponent's die roll)] x (Vice-like Jaws' damage characteristic). If no Starpriest has used his "Serpent Staff" ability that last parenthesis is equal to 1. On the contrary, if this ability is active, you have to double the damage characteristic, so put 2 instead of 1. Example 1: "Serpent staff" ability NOT activated, "Jaws like a Steel Trap" activated by a 6+ to Wound roll. Then you roll a 5 and your opponent a 3. The total amount of uncancellable Damage inflicted to the enemy model is [(5) - (3)] x (1) = 2. Example 2: "Serpent staff" ability activated, "Jaws like a Steel Trap" activated by a 6+ to Wound roll. Then you roll a 5 and your opponent a 3. The total amount of Damage inflicted to the enemy model is [(5) - (3)] x (1 x 2) = 4. That's my opinion.
Great! Thanks you for the in depth clarification Freddy With good luck I should be able to pull this off 50% of the time with my 3 Kroxs, and with 30 maximum wounds (unlikely I know, more likely to get 2)...I think it's going to be worth have some fun giving it a go A good bonus on an already meaty unit.
You are welcome, @Phoedinn ! And remember to keep at least a Skink near you Kroxis: just a Skink Handler can let your big-dinos to reroll To Wound rolls equal to 1... ... which means they have more possibility to put something under their teeth!