Abilities — Riftbound Rules

361.

An Ability is the structured rules and capabilities of Game Objects or Spells.

361.1.

An Ability has multiple structures. Passive Abilities Replacement Effects Activated Abilities Triggered Abilities Delayed Abilities

362.

A card can have more than one Ability and more than one type of Ability.

Related FAQ (2)

Some spells and abilities require choosing units, gear, or other things for them to affect. The rules say some of these choices are made when I put the spell or ability on the chain, but it seems like some of them can't be or shouldn't be. How do I know the difference?

Riftbound uses a set of contextual rules rather than specific words on cards to determine which choices are made as a card is played. When a spell or ability chooses something else to affect, the rules refer to those choices as “targets." Targets must be chosen as the spell or ability is placed on the chain, and they must still meet all targeting requirements as the spell or ability resolves. The next version of the rules will have more rigorous guidelines on which choices are targets, which we'll summarize here. For the most part, these rules don't change what choices are targets, they just spell it out more. An object or player mentioned in a spell or ability is a target if all of the following are true: 1. something publicly visible to all players; 2. that you and you alone choose; 3. that isn't part of a targeting restriction, cost, trigger condition, replacement effect, or an action that “must" be taken. This explanation sounds complicated, but in general, most things that are affected by a spell or ability are targets. For a more precise breakdown of what each of those entails, see the Appendix. There are two other choices that are not considered targets, but are made while putting something on the chain. Those are: 1. The location to which a unit will be played (normally either your base or a battlefield you control). 2. The destination or destinations for any spell or ability whose effect is moving one or more units, whether or not it mentions a destination by name.

What about triggered abilities with multiple targets, like Sona, Harmonious?

The same is true of triggered abilities with multiple targets. For triggered abilities, however, this causes some cards—Sona in particular—to work in unintended ways. Going forward, we'll put the words “up to" on most triggered abilities. In the meantime, several cards are receiving errata so that their triggered abilities behave intuitively. At the end of your turn, if I'm at a battlefield, ready up to 4 friendly runes.