Official Rules Team Rulings 08/08/08

LSJ has released the comprehensive Rules Team Rulings for 2008/08/08 in the Usenet Newsgroup. They look like this:

As always, changes contained herein do not go into effect for santioned tournaments for 30 days. (So these become active on September 07, 2008.)

Errata:
Lesser Boon is played when the block would succeed, and instead makes the action resolve as if unblocked. (And so effects that depend on the successful block don't see the block as successful -- Forced Awakening, Change of Target, Venenation, &c.)

Errata:
If a unique weapon is retrieved by Horrid Reality, it won't contest any other copies of that equipment in play.

Reversal:
Bauble cannot be burned if the target equipment isn't in play, by the general targeting rule [1.6.1.4].

Reversal:
An action that requires a Discipline (or clan or sect or capacity) will fizzle if the acting vampire no longer meets the requirements (just as it would fizzle if the acting minion ceased being ready, or if a required equipment was lost, like a Bomb).

Ruling:
Influence phase has two parts: the main part and the end part.

The main part is the "general" influence part, in which a Methuselah spends her influence and plays most other influence-phase effects (effects that don't specify the "end of the influence phase").

The end part is the "gain control" part, in which a Methuselah gains control of the sufficiently-influenced minions in the uncontrolled region. Effects that are applied "at the end of the influence phase" are played in this second part.

Note that some effects can bring a vampire out at other times. The timing given in card text, not "does this effect bring a vampire out?", determines the timing. For example:

• Gather can bring out a vampire in the first part (the general part).
  
• Tomb of Rameses III can bring the vampire out in the second part (end part).
  
• Undue Influence can bring the vampire out in the minion phase.

Some effects check to see if a minion entered play "during" an influence phase. These effects will notice a vampire coming into play in either part (so they'll notice a vampire coming out via the normal means, Tomb, or Gather, but not Undue Influence). For example:

• Hermana Hambrienta Mayor/Menor
  
• Legendary Vampire
  
• Paulo de Castille
  
• Proxy Kissed
  
• Sonja Blue
  
• Static Virtue
  

Ruling:
Some actions target more than one thing, some without the ability to individually control the selection, like Edged Illusion or Jaroslav Pascek's special ability. If one or more of the targets cannot be targeted (because of Trophy: Safe Passage, Sleep Unseen, or Reality, for example), the action can still be taken, and it will simply have no effect on the things it cannot target (and have the normal effect on the allowable targets).

Each of the actual targets is considered a target, which means that effects like Hide's "the action fails" or Talley's "+1 intercept" can be used if any one (or more) of the targets would be enough to enable the effect.

If one of the multiple targets becomes ineligible during the course of the action, then it's handled just as if it had always been ineligible. The action resolves on the remaining targets as above.