Dune/docs/LEADER_SKILLS_RUNTIME.md

# Leader Skills first functional prototype

13 September 2026. This is **Prototyped**, with **Partial** rules coverage.
Normal mode starts and publication remain gated. The [source contract](LEADER_SKILLS_RULES.md)
contains all fourteen physical cards; the [capture interpretation](LEADER_SKILLS_CAPTURE.md)
records the fresh publisher/designer search requested by the user.

**2 October normal Banker checkpoint:** the separate fresh local `banker-income`
profile connects actual final-bank payment legs, one physical Banker phase
grant and automatic current Mentat collection. The full deck14
and existing lower Banker spending remain intact. Read-only public front-shield
counts explain unavailable currency; no collect action/confirmation is added.
Original earned-faction retention after death/capture/reassignment and per-payer
nonaggregation are explicit conservative LOCAL prototype choices, not answers
to the earlier pending custody/split questions or full-module certification.
Bounded verification is Partial / Development Verified: 6,487 offline tests,
140 focused cases, eighteen native source-to-Mentat cases, four legal budgets
and two preserved six-seat CLI/human-phone rooms pass; local HTTP remains
49/55 with six upstream503 failures. Full-module/deployed acceptance stays open; see the
[existing Banker normal-band contract](SPICE_BANKER_RUNTIME.md#normal-income-local-contract--2-october-2026).

**2 October native Mentat checkpoint:** explicit fresh
`--profile leader-skills --mentat-question` connects the existing private
normal-band question to supported Basic Ixian/Tleilaxu/CHOAM/Moritani starts.
Canonical exact/default weapon roles, target-owned fallback, posture and native
battle continuation use the existing controls and legal policies. Ordinary
activation still awaits the uniform-response UX decision; empty hands and
Advanced native/combined-module skills remain guarded. See
[native preview scope](MENTAT_QUESTION.md#native-skill-integration--2-october-2026).



## Connected boundary

The [Basic Tleilaxu follow-up](TLEILAXU_LEADER_SKILLS.md) adds the full-deck
Tleilaxu/base profile, response-driven own revival, native Rihani Face Dancer
exchanges and later Face Dance custody. Advanced foreign gholas stay gated.

The [Basic Moritani follow-up](MORITANI_LEADER_SKILLS.md) now connects Moritani
with base opponents and no other optional modules. It preserves all fourteen
cards and existing unfinished-effect boundaries. The older base-only scope
descriptions below are extended only by that explicit integration contract.

Genuine Basic or Advanced setup supports two through six base factions. Starting
Treachery Cards, including Harkonnen's extra card, precede simultaneous private
two-card skill offers. Every faction selects one physical skill and an eligible
own leader, returns the other card to the shuffled deck, and publicly assigns
the selected card before traitor choices. No reduced or duplicate skill deck is
substituted. The [No-Field follow-up](SMUGGLER_NO_FIELD.md) adds genuine CHOAM &
Richese setup for its bounded combination; remaining expansion/skill acceptance
and other optional modules remain separate work.

Human controls show each permitted card's normal and battle text, select its
leader, choose battle posture, and handle an optional own-leader revival draw.
An undrawn revival offer shows no preview; drawing obliges a selection. All four
AI profiles follow the same private offers and legal actions, prioritizing the
five battle disciplines during skill selection and hiding the assigned leader for battle. This
simple policy is not calibrated skill strategy.

Warmaster, Master of Assassins, Swordmaster of Ginaz, Killer Medic and
Prana-Bindu Adept apply +1 to another selected leader from a face-up native
trainer, or +3 to the surviving assigned leader. They use the physical card's
actual weapon or defense role, including a legally supplied Portable Snooper.
They do not grant +4 or change printed strength, leader bounty or Zoal's source
value. Existing traitor, explosion and Stone Burner precedence is preserved.
Cheap Hero receives the normal +1 through ordinary leader substitution; this
is a general-rule inference, without a separately located explicit skill FAQ.

A face-up assigned disc cannot enter a plan. Concealing it while selecting
another leader gives no skill bonus. Later Voice or card use can remove the
last alternative: the mandatory remaining skilled disc then moves behind the
shield automatically, without replaying battle powers. A surviving assignment
returns face up after battle. Death returns its physical card exactly once.
An own Ghola revival during unfinished battle preparation retains that stage
through the new private draw and public posture choice.

Harkonnen capture keeps the card attached to its original leader and publicly
shows the current captor. Only the captive's lower battle effect can apply;
neither faction receives its normal effect while captured. A surviving used
captive returns with the same card. Execution returns the card to the deck;
that unique formerly public card makes this skilled leader's identity inferable.
Other captures retain the existing privacy behavior. This narrow publicity
interpretation follows the physical component procedure, not an express
publisher instruction to announce a name.

## Missing and guarded work

[Battle-effects follow-up](LEADER_BATTLE_EFFECTS.md) connects both Rihani bands
and the lower Mentat, Bureaucrat and Sandmaster effects. A separate
[Mentat question preview](MENTAT_QUESTION.md) connects private naming/disclosure,
posture and saved history under an explicit private opt-in. The uniform mandatory
response step awaits the user's UX decision; ordinary activation remains disabled.
[Bureaucrat payment redirection](BUREAUCRAT_PAYMENTS.md) connects the ordinary
auction, shipment, Richese sale and paid-bribe families within its recorded
boundary. Other Bureaucrat payments and split funding remain incomplete.
[Banker normal income](SPICE_BANKER_RUNTIME.md#normal-income-local-contract--2-october-2026)
is connected only in its separate fresh classic `banker-income` profile;
ordinary/default and combined skill starts gain no new activation.
[Banker battle spending](SPICE_BANKER_RUNTIME.md) retains its separate
sealed funds and survivor strength. [Smuggler shipping](SMUGGLER_SHIPMENT.md)
connects its optional normal reserve bonus and the [owned No-Field companion](SMUGGLER_NO_FIELD.md).
[Diplomat defense](DIPLOMAT_DEFENSE.md) connects its normal band for a physical
Worthless card copying a canonical base Shield or Snooper. Its bounded lower
[retreat](LEADER_SKILLS_RULES.md#bounded-diplomat-retreat-interpretation) now moves
selected undialed normal/elite counters to an empty adjacent non-stronghold
after a surviving trained leader loses. Modified-defense inheritance remains
guarded. [Smuggler battle collection](SMUGGLER_BATTLE.md)
now connects reveal-bound, unmodified collection after survival, including
losers and captives. Modified strength and combined modules remain guarded.
Planetologist and Suk Graduate have the connected
prototypes described below.

Captured-card replacement entitlement remains unresolved. The prototype rejects
own-leader revival while its original skill is captured, before beginning a
paid revival or consuming the Ghola/special-Karama action. This is an explicit
unsupported boundary, not a ruling that the physical game forbids that revival.
Foreign gholas, other expansion rosters and combined optional modules remain gated.
The Basic Tleilaxu follow-up now tests response-driven automatic own revival
continuation; this does not certify Advanced foreign-ghola custody. The other source-contract timing questions also remain
open. Planetologist now has bounded movement and battle controls as described below.
Remaining normal-band payments, ordinary Mentat activation, modified Smuggler collection,
and the other guarded skill combinations still need connected effects. Diplomat
retreat is a bounded prototype, not a complete simultaneous-effect ruling.

## Planetologist follow-up

[Planetologist](PLANETOLOGIST_RULES.md) connects the explicit capped range bonus,
two-origin movement to one destination, Fremen cancellation/replacement and a
surviving skilled leader's +2 green-Special substitution with mandatory discard.
The movement panel and weapon selector expose those choices; all four AI profiles
can use the same physical action paths. Pending movement receipts survive JSON
continuation and revalidate source custody before a response is spent.

Six base factions remain the supported roster. Mixed BG origins are supported
where ordinary rules determine the destination stance. Enemy-only mixed arrival
still needs a combined flip response. Expansion faction/card/module combinations
and full integrated acceptance remain unfinished. The remaining bands and skill families are
listed above; this is partial prototype coverage.

## Suk Graduate follow-up

[Suk Graduate](SUK_GRADUATE_RULES.md) connects the mandatory one-counter
normal rescue and the surviving selected leader’s optional rescue of up to three
physical casualties. Normal and elite identity, original sector, paid support,
private hands and captured-leader return survive the saved continuation. Human
controls and all four AI profiles use the same server-projected legal choices.
Advanced Atreides awaits the loss-count ruling; expansion factions and combined
optional modules remain guarded.

## Local prototype entry and evidence

Create a new base-faction local lobby, select its seats and mark them ready.
Keep its browser cookie. Use the existing backup and atomic version-check tool:

```sh
node --import tsx tools/start-prototype.ts --profile leader-skills \
  --db PATH_TO_LOCAL_D1_SQLITE --room EIGHT_CHARACTER_CODE \
  --version CURRENT_LOBBY_VERSION --out /private/new-prototype-checkpoint
```

Only that fresh named lobby is initialized; every other room and all seats stay
intact. Refresh to continue through ordinary authenticated actions. No HTTP
endpoint dispatches the initializer; do not restart or reset the database.

Focused tests cover physical inventory, setup ordering, private views, all five
bonuses, Voice legality, capture and return, death, revival and JSON restoration.
SQLite tests use production room actions across restarted stores and concurrent
selection: one choice commits, the selected card has one owner, the rejected
card returns once, and private offers remain owner-only. The local prototype
writer is separately checked for stale/redeal rejection and preserved seats.

Two seeded four-player simulations (20260913 Basic; 20260914 Advanced) completed
through genuine setup in 265 and 211 accepted actions with no rejected bot
candidates. They used Easy, Medium, Hard and Brutal, checked physical skills and
forces, and restored JSON views at fourteen sampled boundaries in total.
These were first-batch runs before the later capture and Voice review fixes;
their private report fingerprints the exact files exercised. They do not prove
all fourteen effects, Harkonnen capture or every interaction was played.

A later Advanced run including Harkonnen (seed 20260915) completed in 360
accepted actions, four turns and ten sampled JSON restores, with no rejected
bot candidates. It exercised the current controller/Voice integration. Exact
captured-card outcomes are proved by the focused capture scenarios, rather
than inferred from this sample game's completion.

Browser room `REF6YHN7` was created normally with a human Atreides and Medium
Harkonnen, then initialized through the backed-up local tool. The human inspected
both effect bands, assigned Master of Assassins to Thufir Hawat, selected a
private traitor and reached Storm. Refresh retained that assignment, the AI's
Swordmaster on Feyd-Rautha, the same Snooper hand and the pending Storm dial.
Visual inspection caught two squeezed columns in the table sidebar; single-column
cards restore readable text. This was a focused desktop setup/recovery journey,
not a complete human game or mobile acceptance.

The second reported power outage stopped the development server. All 292 rooms
were present with a clean SQLite integrity/foreign-key check; the 291 opening
rooms matched their hashes. A new online backup preceded the necessary server
start. The same browser seat then restored both skills, Snooper, private Thufir
traitor, ten spice and its pending Storm decision. No database reset or old
game restoration was performed.

Checkpoint-wide check/build/HTTP results and the final source fingerprint are
recorded in the commit and private verification report. Full module and combined
game acceptance remain unfinished.

The [Sandmaster ground-movement follow-up](SANDMASTER_MOVEMENT.md) adds explicit
routes, optional collection, human/AI controls and saved cancellation. The
[worm-ride follow-up](SANDMASTER_WORM.md) adds native Fremen destination collection
and saved arrival reactions. Other special relocation and combined modules
remain unfinished.

## Basic Ixian integration

[Basic Ixians with Leader Skills](IX_LEADER_SKILLS.md) adds genuine starting-card
setup, per-origin cyborg range, Sandmaster HMS entry/exit, explicit Suk cyborg
rescue origins, Rihani-before-substitution and mandatory green-Special disposal.
Tleilaxu/base opponents are supported through the complete deck; Advanced and
other combinations remain separate. This supersedes earlier Ix admission gaps,
not the documented missing skill bands or unresolved Sandmaster eligibility
during native HMS relocation.

## Basic CHOAM ordinary action integration

[Basic CHOAM with Leader Skills](CHOAM_LEADER_SKILLS.md) connects ordinary
skill actions to the already available genuine setup. It retains the complete
fourteen-card skill and 35-card Treachery inventories, native card sales and
private own-revival replacement through interrupted market timing. Existing
Advanced/Richese setup admission remains, without extending this action profile
or certifying its separate effects.