Does the Sword Marshall PP AP feature recover BOTH uses of Inspiring Word?

[Ferghis]

So the warlord in our party picked the Sword Marshall paragon path. Among other things, the PP has the following feature.

Sword Marshall's Action (11th level): You can spend an action point to regain one warlord encounter power you have already used, instead of taking an extra action.

We were in a tough fight tonight. fighting Kua-Toa underwater. After using Inspiring words twice, we were still in need of healing. The question that arose when he decided to use that feature tonight was: can he use it to recover both uses of Inspiring Word?

Inspiring Word
You call out to a wounded ally and offer inspiring words of courage and determination that helps that ally heal.
Encounter (Special) Healing, Martial
Minor Action - Close burst 5 (10 at 11th level, 15 at 21st level)
Special: You can use this power twice per encounter, but only once per round. At 16th level, you can use inspiring word three times per encounter.
Target: You or one ally in the burst
Effect: The target can spend a healing surge and regain an additional 1d6 hit points.
The amount of additional hit points regained is 2d6 at 6th level, 3d6 at 11th level, 4d6 at 16th level, 5d6 at 21st level, and 6d6 at 26th level.

It certainly qualifies for the feature, since it is a warlord encounter power. It's not clear to me whether the Special line is recovered fully. The only way I resolved this in my own mind is: why not?

I'd love to hear if anyone has an opinion on the matter (and why), and even more if this has been commented by someone official.

 

[kaomera]

I'd love to hear if anyone has an opinion on the matter (and why), and even more if this has been commented by someone official.

The way it's worded it should qualify, and I think I'd suggest allowing both uses to be recovered, but I think it's a gray area. My thinking is that it could be abusive, but unless I see actual evidence that it is I'd prefer to err in favor of the players, since the monsters are easier to ignore when they complain it's unfair.

Oh, and to change the title of the post, hit the "go advanced" button when editing it.

 

[Dalamar]

Well, the Class Compendium entry for the Warlord (released last week) actually updates that to apply to Warlord encounter attack powers, so it can't apply to Inspiring Word at all.

 

[OSEZNO]

Well, the Class Compendium entry for the Warlord (released last week) actually updates that to apply to Warlord encounter attack powers, so it can't apply to Inspiring Word at all.

So the answer was yes. Now it's no.

 

[Mapache]

Somewhat apart from the recovery question, your Warlord should look at the fabulous Fight On feat, which grants an extra use of Inspiring Word every encounter.

 

[Nullzone]

Technically, I would hazard that the answer was always no, as Inspiring Word had that pesky little Special: line mucking with your recovery ability. Since specific beats general, and IW specifically says you can only use it 2/3/4 times an encounter, that strikes me as the end of it, no matter what recovery method you have.

 

[Ferghis]

Somewhat apart from the recovery question, your Warlord should look at the fabulous Fight On feat, which grants an extra use of Inspiring Word every encounter.

Thanks. I'll pass it on.

Technically, I would hazard that the answer was always no, as Inspiring Word had that pesky little Special: line mucking with your recovery ability. Since specific beats general, and IW specifically says you can only use it 2/3/4 times an encounter, that strikes me as the end of it, no matter what recovery method you have.

The somewhat immediate counter-argument is that that Special line is part of the power, and therefore is recovered along with it, since it doesn't say anywhere in the PP feature that some parts of the power are not recovered.

 

[Aegeri]

Actually there is already rules precedence for the special line not applying. Multiclass feats into Cleric or Warlord for example, let you use the inspiring word encounter power. Back at the start of 4E there was a massive debate if this let you use it twice per encounter. It of course turned out that you couldn't and could only use it ONCE. The MC feat didn't give you the entire power, just let you use it again and so it didn't matter the ordinary Warlord/Cleric could use it twice - you still only got it once. I would think that recovering inspiring word would only recover one use of the power - not the special line. Just like how a MC feat only lets you use it once, despite saying you gain the power.

 

[Ferghis]

Actually there is already rules precedence for the special line not applying. Multiclass feats into Cleric or Warlord for example, let you use the inspiring word encounter power.

True, but those specifically state that limitation. The PP feature quoted above did not limit the power recovered in any way. Since the instances you cite show that the folks at Wizards are capable of limiting how the power is used, that would support the interpretation that, since there were no such limitations expressed in this case, the power would be recovered normally, as it would be after a short rest.

I hope nobody minds this discussion for the sake of discussion. As others above have pointed out, the feature in question has been errata'd, and there is no question about it any longer.

 

[OSEZNO]

There is an argument that can be made that knowing that it was errata'd out is illustrative of the fact that it was possible and RAW before, but clearly not RAI.

However, I have some question about the way the special line is written:

Special: You can use this power twice per encounter, but only once per round. At 16th level, you can use inspiring word three times per encounter.

It does not say, you gain two uses of this power. It says you can use it twice per encounter. I question whether this means even if you regained the "use" of the power, if you could actually... use it.

If RAI is "you gain two uses of this power", then IMO it would recover both.
Since RAW seems to be "you can use this twice per encounter" (meaning twice and ONLY twice) then I would say it can be recovered, but not used, which may seem counter-intuitive, but fits the language.

As stated, the point is mostly irrelevant as it's all been errata'd out; it was probably not their intent for it to regain the use of such a power and it's probably easier than trying to figure out what they meant when they wrote the multiple use powers.

Edit: To the post about multiclass feats gaining the use of this power, it explicitly states "you can use this power once per day", there is no ruling for ignoring the special line or gaining one use of it, it is an explicit ruling and/or power/feat ability.

If you meant Hybrid, Hybrid also explicitly states "you gain this power... except you can use it only once per encounter."

Which, in my head, again supports my belief that regaining this power would be pointless because the its special usage limits its 'maximum' uses in addition to its available uses, or at most would regain one singular use (compared against the warlord power mentioned below)