N18 Lightning Reflexes Question

[Bomhab]

Can a fighter who is seriously injured use their Lightning Reflexes skill when charged by an enemy?

Lightning Reflexes:
Can make a free Retreat (Basic) action when Engaged,
before an enemy makes any attack action or additional
actions.

Can only be used once per round, regardless of whether it
was successful or not. The fighter can still activate as normal
later if Ready.

Charge (Double)
Make a Move (Simple) action, adding D3” to the distance.
During a charge, the fighter can move within 1” of a Standing
(Active or Engaged) or Prone (Pinned or Seriously Injured)
enemy (or more than one if they wish), but if they do, they
must have sufficient movement to get into B2B with at least
one enemy, becoming Engaged. If not, they must stop 1”
away. The Charging model doesn't need to see the target
before charging.

If Engaged at the end of the action, the attacker must
immediately make a free Fight (Basic) action. If ending up
within 1” of a Seriously Injured enemy, they can make a free
Coup de Grace (Simple) action instead.

 

[Aulenback]

It looks as though what the skill does is make Retreat free, and change the timing. If that is the case, Retreat would still only be available to Standing and Engaged fighters, and Seriously Injured fighters then don't have it available. It would be free, but couldn't be used.

There are other skills that move when and how an action can be used. Overwatch is perhaps the best known. A seriously Injured fighter can also not make use of Overwatch, because they cannot make a Shoot action while Seriously Injured, even though Overwatch similarly changes the timing of that Shoot action to be during an opponent's activation.

 

[Bomhab]

Overwatch while Seriously Injured is not allowed because the fighter doesn't qualify for "Ready and Active" status and the Overwatch skill requires the player shoot but the Prone: Seriously Injured status states the fighter can never make attacks. There are skills which specifically override this limitation like the Piety skill Unshakable Conviction.

In the case of Lightning Reflexes, Retreat (Basic) action is granted when Engaged. Being Seriously Injured doesn't allow for the fighter to stand up and face the enemy but I'd argue it's the enemy's "Engaged" status/ Engaging via their charge action which triggers the SI fighter's ability to use the skill and subsequent action.

Using a thought experiment to clarify why Retreating is allowed:
Let's say an enemy melee fights and Seriously injures a fighter but doesn't Coup de Grace them for whatever reason (leave the kill for an ally for example). Let's say the Seriously injured fighter then uses their activation to try to crawl away and effectively retreat. Does that original enemy who caused the Serious Injury get to roll initiative for Reaction attacks based on the Retreat(Basic) rules or does the enemy have sit sit and watch the SI fighter crawl away?

It's a long shot but I wanna roll away from people who charge in and wanna curb stomp me

 

[Aulenback]

A Seriously Injured model cannot become Engaged, though they could still be Engaged if Engaged while becoming Seriously Injured. The text of Charge, quoted in the first post above, shows that. You end up either Engaged, or in contact with a Seriously Injured enemy, but not both.

The Cawdor skill is useful because it means that if you are brought to Seriously Injured during a Fight action (because you are Engaged), you will get Reaction Attacks, an then your opponent will not get a free Coup de Grace, despite now being within 1" of a SI fighter.

 

[Bomhab]

Your first sentence is the heart of my dilemma. While the SI fighter cannot “become engaged” (stand and prepare to fight), they can “be engaged” by an enemy who moves into base to base contact and performs additional actions against the SI fighter.

So then turning to the Lightning Reflexes definition it states the fighter can make the action “when engaged”. This is unclear as to whether the SI fighter must “become engaged” (which they can’t) or “be engaged” by the charging actions of the enemy.

The final paragraph of the charge definition also can be read wholly as the enemy’s choice of actions when engaged at the end of the Charge (double) action. There is no “or” separating the sentences. I read it as clarifying additional options for the charger in the event they are engaged with an SI fighter vs. a standing fighter.