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Lets say I have Longstrike in my army, and I have both XV8 Bodyguards and Drones within 3". And lets say that I get hit with an attack that if the wound roll is a 6+, then the target gets d3 mortal wounds.

A drones savior protocols are clear to me, on a 2+ the wounding attack is converted to a mortal wound and the attack sequence ends.... no mortal wounds because after the wound is converted to a MW... we end it.

Sworn protectors... the bodyguard becomes the target, and the wound becomes a MW. But because I have NO.... "And the attack sequence ends" do I then suffer the d3 mortal wounds on the bodyguard? Or does in face the attack sequence also end, and it was just never clarified like the drones savior protocols?

Sworn Protectors and Saviour Protocols happen at very different times.

Sworn Protectors happens when the CHARACTER would actually lose the wound, it's more a "Feel No Pain" effect than a bodyguard rule.

The additional D3 Mortal Wounds still happen to the CHARACTER model, you then roll for each of those wounds to try and transfer them to the Bodyguards.

Which makes sworn protectors fairly bad.

How about this sequence.

Longstrike, who is the warlord, gets hit with a haywire cannon, which rolls a 6. So now we have to deal with at least 1 mortal wound.

When does the bodyguard have a 2+ change to suck the mortal wound away?

1. After longstrike gets the wound, but before rolling for his strength of belief 5+ FNP?
2. After longstrike gets the wound, and fails his strength of belief FNP?

I believe, unfortunately, your opponent will usually get to decide...! Thanks to the sequencing rules.

First, let's address what would usually limit this. From the Shooting phase rules:
"Some models have rules that give them a chance to ignore wounds. If a model has more than one such rule, you can only use one of those rules each time the model loses a wound (including wounds lost due to mortal wounds)."
It's important to note here that while Strength of Belief states the wound is ignored, Sworn Protectors does not - it transfers the wound to another unit instead. So, although BCB is kind of in the right ballpark in saying it has a sort of "Feel No Pain" vibe to it, it's vital to recognise that it's actually a completely different rule. So on that basis, it is possible for both rules to trigger without contradicting this limit.

Next, though, note that both rules have the same trigger - when the Longstrike loses the wound (not "would lose a wound", which would change things). That means they have the same timing, so sequencing comes into play - the order is determined by the player whose turn it is. As you're taking wounds, let's face it, that's normally going to be your opponent's turn - unless somehow they managed to charge and not kill you in one turn, or you charged them, but come on, this is Tau.


...although it's not what you asked, I found these in the FAQ and figured they might be useful to know too:

Q: If an attack inflicts mortal wounds on the target, and the attack is subsequently allocated to a Drones unit as a result of the Saviour Protocols ability, what happens to those mortal wounds inflicted?
A: They are cancelled. All damage and mortal wounds inflicted as the result of that attack is reduced to the mortal wound inflicted by the Saviour Protocols ability on that Drones unit.

Q: If an attack inflicts mortal wounds on a unit as a result of a hit roll, and the attack sequence ends before it successfully wounds the target (e.g. the Hellfire Shells Stratagem or an attack made with a shokk attack gun with a Strength characteristic of 11+ that fails to wound the target), can I allocate the mortal wounds to a Drones unit with the Saviour Protocols ability?
A: No. As the attack sequence has ended before the target has been wounded, there is no wound to allocate to the Drones unit. Therefore the target suffers the mortal wounds as normal.

 Sazzlefrats wrote:
Which makes sworn protectors fairly bad.

How about this sequence.

Longstrike, who is the warlord, gets hit with a haywire cannon, which rolls a 6. So now we have to deal with at least 1 mortal wound.

When does the bodyguard have a 2+ change to suck the mortal wound away?

1. After longstrike gets the wound, but before rolling for his strength of belief 5+ FNP?
2. After longstrike gets the wound, and fails his strength of belief FNP?

It all depends on the interpretation of "Some models have rules that give them a chance to ignore wounds. If a model has more than one such rule, you can only use one of those rules each time the model loses a wound (including wounds lost due to mortal wounds)."

Does "Some models have rules" mean that you only count the rules the model has, thus you can take the Sworn Protectors roll after the Strength of Belief roll? Or is the presence of the Bodyguards enough to count as "more than one such rule", thus requiring you to pick one or the other?

This was an unanswered question in 8th edition and I don't think it's answered in the Errata thus far.

 Sazzlefrats wrote:
Which makes sworn protectors fairly bad.

How about this sequence.

Longstrike, who is the warlord, gets hit with a haywire cannon, which rolls a 6. So now we have to deal with at least 1 mortal wound.

When does the bodyguard have a 2+ change to suck the mortal wound away?

1. After longstrike gets the wound, but before rolling for his strength of belief 5+ FNP?
2. After longstrike gets the wound, and fails his strength of belief FNP?

Saviour Protocols for the Drones says "if the wound roll is successful, you can roll one D6; on a 2+..." etc.

So you have to use Saviour Protocols at the time "the wound roll is successful"

 DeathReaper wrote:

 Sazzlefrats wrote:
Which makes sworn protectors fairly bad.

How about this sequence.

Longstrike, who is the warlord, gets hit with a haywire cannon, which rolls a 6. So now we have to deal with at least 1 mortal wound.

When does the bodyguard have a 2+ change to suck the mortal wound away?

1. After longstrike gets the wound, but before rolling for his strength of belief 5+ FNP?
2. After longstrike gets the wound, and fails his strength of belief FNP?

Saviour Protocols for the Drones says "if the wound roll is successful, you can roll one D6; on a 2+..." etc.

So you have to use Saviour Protocols at the time "the wound roll is successful"

He's not talking about SP in this example.

Yeap we've moved on to Sworn Protector, it looks like two chances at FNP, from two different models, not a situation where one model has two different FNP abilities, but its possible with Shadowsuns guardian drone to get two FNPs, which in that case you can only do the FNP once.


Also for the thought on sequencing, the oppoentnent wouldn't get to choose when I use my own abilities, wouldn't be... they go first or second on abiliites, and then I go on one, and alternate?

If the wound roll is successful the drone would intercept on 2+ with SP, if you roll a 1 longstrike would lose a wound, and the bodyguards would be able to intercept that on 2+ with sworn protectors. There is no sequencing. SP triggers when the wound roll is successful, and sworn protectors triggers when the character loses a wound.

 Sazzlefrats wrote:
Yeap we've moved on to Sworn Protector, it looks like two chances at FNP, from two different models, not a situation where one model has two different FNP abilities, but its possible with Shadowsuns guardian drone to get two FNPs, which in that case you can only do the FNP once.

This is why I mention it's important that we realise that Sworn Protectors is not an FNP-style roll. Its only similarity is that it's triggered on a wound roll, but the effect is not to ignore the wound - it's to transfer it.
The bodyguards then have to suffer that wound - therefore, it has not been ignored.

Also for the thought on sequencing, the oppoentnent wouldn't get to choose when I use my own abilities, wouldn't be... they go first or second on abiliites, and then I go on one, and alternate?

Nope, there are a couple of cases covered under rare rules where the order is more defined (for instance, fighting first in combat), but without anything overriding it - sequencing comes near the start of the rules (page 6 in the free PDF version) and tells us that:
"While playing Warhammer 40,000, you’ll occasionally find that two or more rules are to be resolved at the same time – e.g. ‘at the start of the battle round’ or ‘at the end of the Fight phase’. When this happens during the battle, the player whose turn it is chooses the order."

It should also be noted that Longstrike cannot use Saviour Protocols since he is not a Battlesuit or Infantry model.