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I have a unit of 3 crisis suits and a Shas'el (Independent Character) who has joined them. Can I use 2 Markerlights to up the BS of all suits to 5?

The codex says: "This effect may be stacked, allowing a Ballistic Skill up to a maximum of 5" (p29). The thing is; the Shas'el has BS4, so one Markerlight gets him to 5, which is the limit. And I can't deduce from the wording whether I'm allowed to feed a unit that he's joined another Markerlight to get the BS of the others also to 5.

I'm thinking that it's allowed. If I wanted to, I could use 24 or more Markerlights on the Shas'el, it just won't increase his BS above 5

You're right, you can use two lights to make the unit BS 5, the second light just dosent affect the commander since he's BS 5 already.

Thank you.

In essence you could keep using markerlights beyond BS5 it just won't change your BS any more....

As nosferatu said, you may keep adding bs, but you may never get better than bs 5.

P18 of the little book, models can have BS6 or higher, so it depends on whether the 4e rules should take precedence.

The markelight is very specific in saying to a maximum of 5. And that's what this thread is about.

Kilkrazy wrote:P18 of the little book, models can have BS6 or higher, so it depends on whether the 4e rules should take precedence.

Tau have a specific, very specific rule stating they may not go above BS5. BS6+ existed in 4ed as well, it just didnt do anything...

They also have a very specific rule requiring a Target Priority test. Which did exist in 4th edition and did something. However it does not exist in 5th edition so we ignore it.

What I am saying is, when an old codex is used in a new edition of the rules, you have to look at what makes sense or doesn't make sense.

Under 4th edition it didn't make sense to have BS higher than 5 because there wasn't a To Hit chart for it, however there is in 5th edition. Consequently there's no reason why markerlights shouldn't raise BS to 6 or higher.

Apart from the rule they have stating that BS5 is as high as they can go.

While the reason for this cap may be gone, there is no reasno to assume you can remove a rule that still functions 100% perfectly.

(also, from memory didnt the to hit chart simply mention BS5+? as in autarchs and phoenix lords have BS >5 and had no problems playing in 4th...)

Kilkrazy:

Except that Target Priority tests in the Tau codex simply reference a rule in the BRB that, as of 5th, no longer exists. Markerlights reference no such rule. They're very specific in spelling it out in the codex itself. Page 29, under the Markerlights entry:

"To allow a unit which fires at the target to do so at +1 to its Ballistic Skill. This effect may be stacked, allowing a Ballistic Skill up to a maximum of 5."

This is in no way referencing the old maximum of BS5, it's simply putting a limitation on markerlights, which may not raise a unit's ballistic skill above 5.

I don't see the problem.

The markerlight rule says that the unit's BS may be modified up to 5. Not "the maximum," or "6," or "7," or "8," or "9," or "10." "up to a maximum of 5." Seems pretty clear to me. Where's the confusion?

Kilkrazy is just being a mod troll.

It is very clear, no more than BS5.

And 4th ed did have rules to deal with BS6+, they just hit on a 2+, same as BS5. Eldar Autarchs and Dark Eldar Archons come to mind as models with such stats (and DE are 3e ).

Gwar! wrote:DE are 3e

For now...

Actually, aren't DE still technically 2e?

SaintHazard wrote:Actually, aren't DE still technically 2e?

Not sure. I think you COULD use it with the 2nd ed rules (don't quote me on that), but the 2nd printing of the codex was released in 2001, 2 years after 3e came out iirc.

No, DE is a 3rd edition codex.

And no amount of "update" is going to change that.

Gwar! wrote:

SaintHazard wrote:Actually, aren't DE still technically 2e?

Not sure. I think you COULD use it with the 2nd ed rules (don't quote me on that), but the 2nd printing of the codex was released in 2001, 2 years after 3e came out iirc.

Fair enough. I'd forgotten that the second printing came out in third edition.

I wasn't playing back then, so these things are easy for me to forget.

The first printing was also 3rd ed, they were the 3rd ed launch army. The 2nd edition is the essentially fan reworking of the horrible, putrid mess of the first codex.