I could deal with tactical edge, particularly since most of the conditions mentioned grant it

I think that may be too low of a bar

Its a higher bar than currently exsists, and importantly to me is easy to ajudicate

It is a good point about ease of adjudication.

One more addition could be to declare the use of the ability prior to the attack.

John

the current proposed (about 4 posts above) seems kind of cut and dry to me..

the one 4 above is "just tactical edege" and thats the one i like

i think your instead refering to "blind, fainted, stunned, unaware of your hostile intent, or has not yet had the opportunity to act"

and thats 5 different things and two of which can lead to lengthy discussions on what they mean

PLEASE try to keep combat simple!

I am normally in the corner of trying to keep combat simple but I also think TE is too low a bar. There is no other talent/spell in the game that auto kills so it shouldn't be that easy to use.

I think you should need to do *something* to set MP up. I would keep MP even if the options were blind and/or stunned ... there are enough ways to make somebody blind or stunned. I am also sympathetic to the idea that you could use it after feinting (gives a reason to actually use it).

I would not keep the talent if the only time you can use it is from "total surprise."

Any other ideas how to word MP, in a clear way, with a bar at least somewhat higher than TE?

Surprise, Blinded, and Deafened are all mechanical things which could work. Listing times you can use it that don't have a mechanical equivalent can be troublesome. You also have things like illumination (ie: total darkness) which could work too.

how about "affected by any negative condition"

So while under Recovery? Push? Strain? Prone?

John