Slave question

rulebook wrote:

Slave: Some minions are identified as slaves to a specified clan. A slave cannot take a directed action if his controller doesn't control a ready member of the specified clan. Also, if a member of the specified clan controlled by the same Methuselah is blocked, the controller can lock the slave to cancel the combat and to unlock the acting vampire and have the slave enter combat with the blocking minion instead.

Q1) My tremere is blocked by a minion with a sniper rifle and I cancel the combat so my slave enters combat with that minion, can that minion use the sniper rifle to set the range to long?

I'm thinking no, since it's a new combat (the previous one is cancelled) and it wasn't the slave that got blocked. However the rule does state "instead"...

Q2) This one is silly, but I can read the rule this way... Can I (ab)use the slave trait at any point of a combat? Say after the blocking minion plays a IG against my poor tremere.

It should be no, but the way the rule is written, it's kinda ambiguous. The following teensy change would make it less ambiguous:

if when a member of the specified clan controlled by the same Methuselah is blocked, the controller can lock the slave to cancel the combat

So it defines when you can use the slave trait.

GreyB wrote:

Q1) My tremere is blocked by a minion with a sniper rifle and I cancel the combat so my slave enters combat with that minion, can that minion use the sniper rifle to set the range to long?

I'm thinking no, since it's a new combat (the previous one is cancelled) and it wasn't the slave that got blocked.

The slave combat isn't the "resulting" combat, and that's what Sniper Rifle cares about.

[LSJ 20011214]

LSJ wrote:

> Dawn Op: all damage in the "resulting combat" will be aggravated.
>
> Does it still count as the "resulting combat" if a slave is
> fighting in place of someone of the master clan?

No. Slave rule: "cancel the combat". [BL 3.9]

GreyB wrote:

Q2) This one is silly, but I can read the rule this way... Can I (ab)use the slave trait at any point of a combat? Say after the blocking minion plays a IG against my poor tremere.

No. You declare it when blocked, or not at all.

Quoting slightly more of the answer than necessary, because it makes more sense that way (due to the leave torpor nature of the action):

[LSJ 20080203]

LSJ wrote:

> I control Ian Forestal, a Tremere Antitribu, in torpor, and a ready
> Tupdog, a Tremere Anti slave.
>
> If Ian tries to rescue himself, and gets blocked, may I tap the Tupdog
> to prevent Ian from getting diablerized?

Yes.
groups.google.com/group/rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad/msg/52231ead130f0cd1

> If yes, may I require the blocking vampire's controller to declare
> whether or not the blocking vampire will actually diablerize, before I
> decide to jump in with the slave?

No. You invoke the slave rule when you declare that you're blocked.

Semi-interestingly, it looks like the Detailed Play Summary needs to be updated to cover slave combats.