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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MrMyth" data-source="post: 5732258" data-attributes="member: 61155">Whoops - good catch! Yeah, the blindness only happens if you hit, that is definitely true.   When you sustain a power, you do what it tells you in the "sustain line" - that is all. If it does not tell you to persist an effect, by the rules, that effect should not persist.  As noted in my earlier post: We have three other powers in the PHB that involve taking the sustain action without having any effects to persist. We have an explicit example of that in the very first rules text about how sustain works.   No rules need to be changed. No imaginary effects need to be added in. Your interpretation is the only one that involves adding additional effects to the power.  Look, here are the full rules for Sustain, as found in the PHB:  Page 59:"If a power has a “Sustain” entry, you can keep that power active by taking a specified type of action (minor, move, or standard) during your turn. The “Sustain” entry tells you if a power has an effect that occurs when you take the action to sustain it. See “Durations,” page 278, for more about sustaining a power." Note: It does not refer to effects persisting automatically (unless they are listed as such in the sustain line). It instead refers to "keeping that power active". In the case of Crown of Stars, that means you can keep sustaining it. What is the result of sustaining it? Making an automatic attack, as that is what the power says you do.  You do not do anything outside of that. The power does not require a condition to exist in order to be sustained. Period.  But we do have an additional entry referenced, on page 278. What does that say?  "Sustained Durations: An effect that has a “sustain standard,” a “sustain move,” or a “sustain minor” duration lasts as long as you sustain it. Starting on the turn after you create an effect, you sustain the effect by taking the indicated action: a standard action, a move action, or a minor action. (You can sustain an effect once per turn.) Some effects do something, such as attack, when you sustain them. A power’s description indicates what happens when you sustain it or let it lapse. At the end of your turn, if you haven’t spent the required action to sustain the effect, the effect ends." This does match closer to your explanation. However, note that the initial rules covered all Sustain powers, while this is specific to sustain effects based on durations.  How do we know when an effect or condition has a duration based on being sustained? Because the sustain line references that effect. Note once more the key line: "A power’s description indicates what happens when you sustain it or let it lapse." I definitely understand how you are coming to the conclusions you have arrived at. But the key is to keep the two sections seperate (one, regarding sustaining powers in general, and another, regarding effects whose duration is based on being sustained).  Most powers involve both of them. Some, however, involve being able to sustain the power without that involving extending any durations. The initial Sustain entry gives at least one example of this, and we have three powers in the PHB - Radiant Pulse, Curse of the Dark Delirium, and Doom of Delban - which outright prove that one does not need to have an effect in play in order to use the sustain mechanic.  On that basis, the wording on Crown of Stars is fully mechanically supported as it is, and there is no reason to believe it does anything other than what it explicitly says it does in the power. Which is: Make an attack roll, and potentially blind the target until the end of your next turn. Following that, grant you the ability to make a free attack each round by sustaining the power. Again - the sustain allows the power itself to remain active, but does not involve extending any duration, since it does not say that it does so.  The sustain rules in general definitely could use a bit of cleaning up and some clarity as far as defining terms goes. (Don't get me started on the potential confusion caused by how the word "effect" is re-used in these cases.)  But even if somewhat clunky, they do still work, and do tell us how the power operates. And, aside from the mistake regarding the blinding effect, the latest CustServ answer seems to largely cover it correctly.</blockquote>

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