So after C-3PO (SR30) dropped from Fantasy Flight Games, I had a few questions that I wanted to ask the community at large to see how their interpretation of the card would be regarding certain instances in the game.
A Question of Abilities
My original thread over on Facebook exploded quite a bit after I asked my three questions:
First question: Can you resolve the chosen die as a Special? Say Force Speed (SR55) is showing Focus, can you use C-3PO to resolve it as Special instead?
Second question: Does his ability allow you to choose any symbol in the game, or just symbols that are on the chosen die? For example, I choose Han Solo (AW46), who’s showing his 2-Ranged, can I use C-3PO to resolve a Shield symbol instead, even though his die doesn’t have that on any of his sides?
Third question: I have Han Solo showing his 3-damage side that costs a resource to resolve, what happens when I use C-3PO on his die and select say resources, would I be required to pay 1 to resolve it?
On all three questions, I was pretty sure I was correct in how I would have ruled them, but I wanted to see what the others had thought. The first question was probably the easiest of the three to answer, as the card is pretty straight forward that it resolves the die, just as a different symbol. In my example, even if you had 3 Focus showing, you’d still only be able to resolve the special one time as die values do not help or hinder specials so far that we know.
Question two was the one that I was the most concerned about, as his wording doesn’t say to choose another symbol present on the die. If you do not have a special on the die, obviously it wouldn’t help you to resolve that die to a special side, and I’m sure they will clarify this in a FAQ about not being able to resolve it to a special where no special text is showing for a die. Some of the best things you will be able to do is to make that 3-Focus on One with the Force (AW42) to a needed 3 damage if you don’t have other dice to resolve, or three shields etc etc etc.
Question three was also a little bit on the “duh” side of things, but I wanted to make sure it was clarified as some of the easiest rules sometimes can lead to complications when you have multiple interactions. Everyone seemed to agree that yes, you would get to resolve but you would still need to pay. If I would take a guess, that’s how it’s intended to be run.
Now that we have the questions out of the way let’s talk about a little strategy with old Dot Matrix here… I mean C-3PO.
Strategies
First, he’s a support, so he’s got to be played out first and doesn’t get to roll with your normal characters (now I’d have loved a “C-3PO” upgrade card that only applies to Chewbacca (SR43) but I digress). This can be a good and bad thing, as if you are building your deck around trying to claim the battlefield ASAP, he’s going to be the first thing you roll out so you can use his action effect when you get another die into your pool. His effect on die symbols will make a huge impact, especially since he’s just a 1-cost support. You could easily splash a single or double copy of him in any red hero deck, and you’ll be happy that you can manipulate your dice around to get whatever you need in the moment. Perfect example that I had happen to me over the weekend is when I had a One with the Force roll onto it’s 2-Focus side and I didn’t have any other dice in my pool, and had already rolled the other ones in, this would turn that “worthless” die into resources, shields, discard, disrupt, melee damage, or ranged damage.
Another strategy to try, how about we roll in a Poe Dameron (AW29) and Rey (AW38). Poe, of course, is ranged-based and rolls in a 2-Ranged, and Rey rolls in her standard melee of 1. Well, if someone has Hunker Down (AW164) on them, and is showing 2 shields, you wouldn’t be able to get rid of the upgrade with just those dice. Add in C-3PO and it looks like you are able to get those shields off as well as getting the annoying Hunker Down upgrade off them as well.
The other benefit of C-3PO is that his die itself really isn’t that hateful at all. He can roll see what he gets, and if he doesn’t like it, see what else you can get to go with it. Then resolve if you need to change some stuff, as his ability is just an action. That’s what a helpful droid should be.
One final note, you should expect to see supports like C-3PO in the games after Spirit of Rebellion releases. With there being limited support removal so far, it will be hard to combat against!
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