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Apologies if this has been discussed at length elsewhere which I've missed, but I’m looking for opinions on the wording of Chief Librarian Mephiston’s Lord of Death ability.

How would you interpret these two rules/abilities?

Assume your opponent has shot at your unit with a weapon that causes 3 Damage and passes their “to wound” roll.

Assume you’ve just failed your save.

1. Black Rage – “Roll a D6 every time this unit loses a wound. On a roll of 6 the damage is ignored”

To me, this seems fairly obvious that I would need to roll 3 6s to save my Death Company marine because the damage has to be applied before the unit “loses a wound”.

I would also assume that I’d roll a dice for every mortal wound allocated to the model.

2. Mephiston’s Lord of Death – Each time Mephiston suffers an unsaved wound or a mortal wound roll a D6. On a 5 or 6 the damage is ignored.”

This time the wording is slightly different.

Is there any merit in the argument that, in this case, one roll of 5 or 6 would ignore any damage caused by the weapon?

I’m unsure as to why it wouldn’t be worded similarly to Black Rage, i.e. “Roll a D6 every time Mephiston loses a wound.”

Is there a difference between “losing a wound” and “suffering an unsaved wound”?

Do you “suffer an unsaved wound” when you fail your saving throw (before damage is applied)? Or does “suffer an unsaved wound” mean exactly the same as “lose a wound”?

Honestly, I feel like I’m being a bit pedantic asking this type of question. I’m very much a “Rules as Intended” kinda guy, but I honestly am unsure of what the intention is with Mephiston’s ability.

I’d be interested to hear if there is a consensus of interpretations here.

I haven’t been through all the indices, so I’m sure there are other similar examples (Disgustingly Resilient, for example, seems straightforward being worded the same as Black Rage – “loses a wound”)

At the moment though, I don’t know what to do with Mephiston.

Thanks for any input

Do the same with Mephiston, roll 3 5+s .

For a d6 Mortal Wounds, which results in a 3, then 3 FNP rolls are needed FNP and same with Meph.

But for a Lascannon which results in 3 damage being applied, only 1 Meph roll is needed as an unsaved wound is determined before damage, but the DC needs to make 3 FNP rolls.

Combat flow:
Hit (Y/N)
Wound (Y/N)
Save (Y/N)
Meph (If above is N then this happens, if it fails proceed)
Damage determined
FNP (For each point of damage applied)

See the designers notes PDF that GW put out (from the Warhammer Community site).

It clarifies that these abilities always happen when the model is actually losing wounds (after damage has been determined).

Sorry to necro-post this but i found this one on google while searching an answer to an arguing i have with some mate

if a rule says "when loses a wound", it applies to mortal wound too?
i mean the Black Rage (when lose wound it ignores with 6+) [but also other similar abilities like, if i'm correct, Tau drones' Saviour Protocol (if i spell correctly the name...) that spells "when you lose wound"] is applied also to Mortal Wound, right?

it just is applied just before the "inflict wound" so if you receive 1 hit for 5 damage you roll 5 dice, as if you receive 5 hit for 1 damage
is that correct?

each-uisge wrote:
Sorry to necro-post this but i found this one on google while searching an answer to an arguing i have with some mate

if a rule says "when loses a wound", it applies to mortal wound too?
i mean the Black Rage (when lose wound it ignores with 6+) [but also other similar abilities like, if i'm correct, Tau drones' Saviour Protocol (if i spell correctly the name...) that spells "when you lose wound"] is applied also to Mortal Wound, right?

it just is applied just before the "inflict wound" so if you receive 1 hit for 5 damage you roll 5 dice, as if you receive 5 hit for 1 damage
is that correct?

Yes, the FAQ even brings this up.