Healing Guides

[0-hr]

The Spirit Tempest (Shaman) path feature "Spirit Guides" (PHB2, p.135) reads

... any ally adjacent to or within a conjuration or a zone...

Does "any ally" mean "any one ally" or does it mean "all allies"?

I would assume it meant everyone, but the ability is an extension of Healing Spirit Power (p. 120) which is very specifically just one ally.

 

[Flipguarder]

From the context and the sentence structure it seems very clear to me that "any ally" means "any one ally:. They would say all allies if they meant that.

 

[0-hr]

And to others I'm sure exactly the opposite is "very clear".

Are there other examples with similar wording where the meaning is more explicit?

 

[Flipguarder]

"Healing Guides (11th level): When you restore
hit points with your healing spirit power, any ally
adjacent to or within a conjuration or a zone that you
created with a shaman power or a shaman paragon
path power also regains hit points as if he or she were
adjacent to your spirit companion."

The fact of the matter is that both uses of "ally" ( in the beginning, then in pronoun form) are in the singular. Again, if they meant "all" the would say it like this.


"Healing Guides (11th level): When you restore
hit points with your healing spirit power, all allies
adjacent to or within a conjuration or a zone that you
created with a shaman power or a shaman paragon
path power also regains hit points as if they were
adjacent to your spirit companion."

There is no way (from what I can see) to interpret that feature as though it affects more than one ally at a time. It very specifically says "any" when it could just as easily said "all"

 

[Kordeth]

The fact of the matter is that both uses of "ally" ( in the beginning, then in pronoun form) are in the singular. Again, if they meant "all" the would say it like this.

All descriptions of targeted effects in 4E are in the singular. Compare, for example, blinding barrage: Hit: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage, and the target is blinded until the end of your next turn. It's singular, even though the power affects multiple creatures.

Compare also bloody path: "You can move your speed. Every enemy that can make an opportunity attack against you as a result of this movement attacks itself with its opportunity attack, rather than you. Any enemy that can make an opportunity attack against you during this movement must do so. It cannot refrain from making the attack to avoid harming itself."

Would you say that power means only one monster must attack you?

The word "any" means "one, some, or all, indiscriminately." If it meant one ally, it would say one ally.

 

[Kordeth]

Are there other examples with similar wording where the meaning is more explicit?

Searchable pdfs are a wonderful thing. In addition to bloody path I already quoted, here's a few more, all from PHB 1:

Garrote Grip (rogue 15): Hit: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage, and you grab the target. Until the target escapes, you have cover, and any melee attack or ranged attack that misses you hits the target instead.

Minions of Malbolge (warlock 19): Effect: You conjure flames in the shape of diabolic imps that appear at your feet. You gain 25 temporary hit points. Any enemy that enters a square adjacent to you takes 2d10 fire damage and is pushed 3 squares. This effect applies once per creature per round. It ends when you have no temporary hit points remaining.

Sunder armor (warlord 7): Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage. Until the end of your next turn, any attack roll against the target can score a critical hit on a roll of 18–20.

It's pretty clear in all of these contacts that "any" is a collective noun, and refers to, well, any qualifying effect.

 

[Flipguarder]

First off blinding barrage is a power, this is a path feature. The fact that it targets multiple creatures is precedent to believe the effect that happens on an effect is present on multiple targets.

As for bloody path it says "Every enemy" indicating that it targets multiple people. This has no such precedent.

Yes "any" can mean multiple. But all other issues like the one presented have other words or phrases if they mean more than one.

 

[On Puget Sound]

Bank Robber : "Everone on the floor! Anyone who moves dies!" Does he mean he will only kill one person who moves? If you're the second person to move, are you safe? Of course not, he means he will kill any and all people who move.

Football rules: "The quarterback may pass the ball to any eligible receiver." Can he pass the ball to more than one person? Of course not, he only has one ball to pass.

English is funny that way. "Any" is indeterminate. Even "anyone" does not always mean "any ONE".

 

[Erisea]

It doesn't matter; Healing Guides means that any ally that meets the conditions can be treated "as if he or she were adjacent to your spirit" for Healing Spirit. Whether this power means one ally or all allies, Healing Spirit still specifies "one ally adjacent to your spirit", so even if all of your allies were adjacent to your spirit or in a zone and counted "as if" adjacent to your spirit, only one gets the heal.

If there are other abilities that modify Healing Spirit to allow multiple targets to regain hit points if adjacent to your spirit (I don't know if there are, I don't play a shaman), then it becomes important, and I would rule that the any here would be inclusive.

 

[0-hr]

I just read through the abilities again and came to that same conclusion. "Any ally" does indeed mean "All allies". All allies are potential beneficiaries of Healing Spirit - and Healing Spirit then specifies that you choose one of those potential beneficiaries to actually be healed.