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The Four Condition Kinds

Every condition in the game is one of four kinds, and the writ editor colors each kind so a rule can be read at a glance. Two kinds decide whether a rule fires; two decide whom it strikes first. Learn the four colors and you can read any writ in the Reach.

Filter — narrow the targets​

A Filter asks a question of every candidate target and keeps only those that answer yes. Narrows the targets the rule may reach; the rule is skipped if none are left.

Examples: HP Below 50% Back Row Not Targeted By Ally Target Is Cleric

Heal Light + HP Below 50% fires only when someone is actually below half — and never over-mends a healthy squad.

Gate — ask about yourself​

A Gate asks one yes-or-no question about the acting soldier or the field, not about any target. A no skips the rule outright.

Examples: Own HP Below 25% Own AP 2 Or More First Action Own Squad HP Below 50%

Gates write personality: a soldier who fights differently when hurt, opens every battle with a war-cry, or saves their last AP for the retreat.

Prefer — favor, but settle​

A Prefer asks the same kind of question a Filter does — but sorts the targets instead of pruning them. Ones that match are struck first; the rest stay eligible. A Prefer can never empty a rule's targets, so it can never stop a rule from firing.

Examples: Prioritize Wounded Prioritize Back Row Prioritize Untargeted Prioritize Focus Fire

The difference is the whole point: Back Row (filter) skips the rule when every enemy is up front; Prioritize Back Row (prefer) shoots the front line instead. One is a requirement, the other a taste.

Prioritize — rank by a measure​

A Prioritize ranks the targets by a measure — highest or lowest of something — and the rule strikes the top of the ranking.

Examples: Lowest HP Highest Magic Defense Highest Initiative Lowest Evasion

How they compose​

Within one rule, the conditions work in a fixed frame:

  1. Filters and Gates decide whether a rule fires. Under And each filter narrows what the next one sees; under Or any one match is enough, and one passing gate carries the rule alone.
  2. Prefers and Prioritizes decide whom it strikes first — in the order you listed them. The first sorts the targets; each later one breaks the ties the one before it left.
  3. The weakest takes what remains. After all your stated preferences, any final tie goes to the target with the least health.

So a rule reading Sniper Shot · Back Row · Lowest HP means: only if someone hides in the back rank; among them, the nearest to falling. Every writ in the game is just stacks of that sentence-shape, in the order you chose. The full catalog of conditions — all of them, by drawer — is in the condition reference.