Hi,
We have some questions about the Academy rules if that's OK.
Firstly, with the Guarding / Counterstriking - it says that the Pest can be ignored by the Guard and the Guard doesn't need to counterstrike it (and therefore doesn't lose its Guard marker) - and it highlights this clearly.
However - it then goes on to say "Using a counterstrike is always optional. A creature does not have to use its counterstrike". Which we interpret to mean that any creature who attacks a guard can be ignored.
In which case, we don't understand why Pests are highlighted the way they are. It makes no difference if they are a pest or not, and in fact the only thing the Pest trait gives them is the inability to become a guard.
Is this correct? Or have we read it wrong?
Secondly - just to clarify, if a Guarding creature chooses to not attack back, they do not lose their Guard marker, and can then go on to retain it indefinitely (so long as they do not do anything else), even across rounds?
Next - an Elusive Unavoidable Pest with Dodge - can I confirm that this can ignore the Guard completely, can ignore all Defence, and can avoid being hit by rolling a 5 or more on their D12? So these have no way of being defended against, and have a high probability of being untouchable (unless you have an unavoidable creature too)?
We have a few more but forgot to make a note of them so will ask them later when if they crop up again
Thank you for your time