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For context, here's the triggers and requirements for all three Thaumaturge implements which grant reactions:
Trigger The target of your Exploit Vulnerability would damage you or an ally within 15 feet of you.
Requirements You're holding your amulet implement and are benefiting from Exploit Vulnerability.
Trigger The target of your Exploit Vulnerability uses a concentrate, manipulate, or move action, or leaves a square during a move action it's using.
Requirements You're holding your weapon implement and are benefiting from Exploit Vulnerability against a creature. The creature must be within your reach if you're wielding a melee weapon, or within 10 feet if you're wielding a ranged weapon.
Trigger The target of your Exploit Vulnerability makes a Strike or Casts a Spell that would affect you or one of your allies.
Requirements You are holding your bell implement, and the triggering creature is within 30 feet of you.
So for Amulet and Weapon, the Requirement includes Holding the specific Implement and that you are "Benefiting from Exploit Vulnerability".
For Bell, the Requirement is "Holding the Bell and triggering creature is within 30 ft". Not "benefiting from from EV".Now, what does "Benefiting from Exploit Vulnerability" mean?
As a GM, I'd probably could Critical Success, Success, and Failure on the EV roll as "benefiting", since each of those allow the player to use some combination of Mortal Weakness and/or Personal Anthesis, and don't impart any penalties.
Critical Failure grants no positive effects and imposes a negative condition. Therefore, I'd consider this result to not be "benefiting" the Thaumaturge.
So after a critically failed EV roll, a Thaumaturge would still be able to use the Bell reaction, but not the other two. Because they have a target of Exploit Vulnerability and aren't required to be Benefiting from EV.
I don't think this discrepancy between the three reaction-based Implements should exist, which begs the question: Which wording, and therefore RAW, is correct?
My guess is probably the Weapon and Amulet wording is correct and Bell should include "Benefiting from Exploit Vulnerability" in its requirements.
I would point out, however, that the Bell Implement is the only one of the three reaction Implements that has a saving throw.
That is, the Amulet Implement always lets you reduce the damage.
The Weapon Implement always lets you get the upscale attack of opportunity.
The Bell Implement.... puts a short duration debuff on the target if they fail their saving throw. So you have to have targeted them with Exploit Vulnerability, they have to use a Strike or Cast a Spell, and they have to be within 30 feet. And then they get a save.
So perhaps it was not included for balance reasons.
I've made the argument before that your target is still your target even if you critically fail the Exploit Vulnerability roll.
Most people don't use that ruling in their games though.
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I've made the argument before that your target is still your target even if you critically fail the Exploit Vulnerability roll.
Most people don't use that ruling in their games though.
It seems like in that post, most people were taking issue with considering "becoming able to use Implement Reactions" as "benefiting" from EV, even on a critical failure.
I don't consider the Thaumaturge to be benefiting on a critical failure.I'm merely pointing out the quirk in different requirements, which feels strange and leads to weird technicalities.
It is related because that scenario of targeting an enemy with Exploit Vulnerability and then critically failing the roll is the only scenario where the difference in wording has any impact.
If you only fail the roll, then you are benefiting from EV even though it isn't listed as a requirement for the Bell's reaction. The Bell does still have the requirement that the target of the Bell's reaction be the current target of EV.
So like I mentioned in the other thread, Bell implement, of all of the implements, is the one that has the best argument that you do in fact 'benefit' from Exploit Vulnerability even if you critically fail the roll. Because it doesn't require you to benefit from EV in order to benefit from EV...