|
|
| Welcome to Fantasy Adventures, the game of epic fantasy that brings the worlds of today's leading fantasy artists to life. In this game, you play a group of adventuring heroes seeking to enrich themselves and rid their land of fearsome monsters. You also take the part of the fearsome monsters against other players. All the aspects of classic epic fantasy are here: magical spells, powerful monsters, enchanted items, deadly traps, and valiant heroes. | |||
| Each player controls a party attempting to defeat terrible monsters and gain magical treasures. During each player's turn, however, they become the monster player, controlling the monsters that attack other players' heroes. The monster player selects the monsters and traps that other players' heroes find. These heroes must disarm traps, risk being surprised by monsters, and finally vanquish the monsters in battle. Combat is decided by an innovative system combining cards and dice. Heroes can cast spells and use items to help them defeat the monsters. Most heroes and monsters can increase their power with special abilities drawn from one of the four elemental powers (Earth, Air, Fire, or Water). Once a party has defeated all the monsters facing them, they can claim treasure that increases their power. The winner is the player with the most heroes and treasure remaining at the end of the game. Fantasy Adventures is a user friendly trading card game. All players have the opportunity to construct decks full of their favorite cards. Booster packs provide extra cards to enhance the power of these decks. Players who wish to avoid the process of deck construction can play with the pre-sorted starter deck. All starter decks contain the same cards and are designed to be balanced and playable right out of the box. This rule book contains all the rules you need to play Fantasy Adventures. The other book is a play book which contains supplemental information to assist you in learning and understanding the game. It includes a sample game, a background story based on the sample game, a complete glossary/index, and suggested variants for advanced play. Text appearing in bold indicates the first or most important use of a term that can be found in the glossary. |
|||
| --- | |||
| Cards | |||
| Each player plays from two decks: the Hero deck (cards with gold backs) and the Encounter deck (cards with blue backs). The Hero deck contains hero cards, which represent valiant adventurers who will fight on your behalf. The Encounter deck contains spell cards and item cards to assist your heroes and monster cards and trap cards to oppose other players' heroes. | |||
| Hero Cards Each hero card represents one hero. This diagram shows the layout of hero cards. A. Name B. Melee / Support Melee Value rates the hero's fighting skill. Higher numbers indicate better fighters. Heroes with a Support Value can assist other heroes in melee. Support Value appears after Melee Value. Heroes without a Support Value listed are considered to have Support Value of zero. C. Spell Casting Ability Heroes with a colored orb can cast spells. The color of the orb indicates the element of spells that the hero can cast proficiently. D. Trap Ability [trap icon] Heroes with a shield crossed by a spear are skilled at disarming traps. E. Art F. Special Abilities This box describes the special abilities of the hero. This box may also include a brief description of the hero. G. Uniqueness A hero with a cup symbol is a unique individual. No player is allowed to have more than one of each unique card in their deck. A non-unique hero represents a member of a generic class of heroes, such as a spearman or a druid. H. GP Value Gold Piece Value is used when constructing a deck and when determining the winner at the end of the game. I. Element Each hero has a symbol next to their GP Value that indicates the element from which they draw their strength. This element is also indicated by the color of the name box, GP Value box, and Melee/Support box. Elements affect play in many ways. For example, spell casters are skilled at casting spells of particular elements. Many spells and special abilities have different effects on heroes or monsters of different elements. The symbols and colors of the four elements are: Fire--red Water -- blue Air -- white Earth -- green |
|||
| --- | |||
| Encounter Cards | |||
| There are four types of cards in the Encounter deck: monsters, traps, items, and spells. Monsters and traps are played by the monster player to weaken and defeat other players' heroes. Items and spells are used by heroes to improve their abilities and defeat monsters. Monsters can never use items or cast spells, and heroes can never use traps. Some spells and special abilities do allow heroes to summon monsters for the use of the hero player. Monster cards have a layout similar to hero cards (see above). Monsters never have Support Value, trap ability, or spell casting ability, although their special abilities may resemble spells. Monster names can indicate a certain type of monster. For example, a "Lesser Demon" is a demon. Trap and Item cards share the same layout. Trap cards are identified by the word "Trap" in their names. Traps and items are the only cards that do not have an elemental affiliation. The background of their name box and GP Value box is gray. The layout of trap and item cards is shown in this diagram. [Insert Diagram 2 "Item/Trap Card"] A. Name B. Art C. Description This box describes the special ability that the hero gains by owning the item, or the effect that occurs if the trap is set off. D. GP Value GP Value is used when constructing a deck and when determining the winner. E. Uniqueness Cards with a cup are unique. No player is allowed to have more than one of each unique card in a deck. Spell cards are cards that are cast by heroes with the spell casting ability. Their layout is shown in this diagram. [Insert Diagram 3 "Spell Cards"] |
|||
| --- | |||
| Deck Building | |||
| All decks must follow these guidelines. If you are playing with just the starter deck, your deck has already been constructed to meet these rules. No deck may contain more than one copy of each unique card. Unique cards are marked with a cup in the lower right corner. The Encounter deck must contain at least 60 cards with a total GP Value no greater than 15000 GP. In this deck no more than 5000 GP may be spent on items. This gives a maximum average GP Value of 250. The Hero deck must contain at least 25 cards with a total GP Value no greater than 8000 GP. This gives a maximum average GP Value of 320. |
|||
| --- | |||
| Setup | |||
| Start by shuffling both of your decks. You should have a Hero deck of at least 25 hero cards and an Encounter deck of at least 60 Encounter cards. These decks remain separate at all times and have separate discard piles. If you are designing your own decks, both decks must follow the deck construction rules. Once all players have shuffled both of their decks, cut the decks of the player to your left and then draw ten cards from each of your decks. The ten Encounter cards will form your hand. The ten hero cards will be used to form your party. To build your party, discard two of the ten hero cards that you drew. Place the remaining eight cards face up in front of you as your party. Arrange your party into two horizontal rows of four heroes each. These rows of heroes are known as ranks. Each party has a front rank and a back rank. Neither rank can ever contain more than 4 heroes, and no player can ever have more than two ranks. If a party has only one rank, that rank counts as both front and back rank. [Insert diagram 4 "Party Layout" including discard piles] The location of each hero in the party's two ranks is that hero's position. The primary significance of a hero's position is that flying monsters are the only monsters that can attack the back rank. After you have arranged your party, you can grant up to three items from your hand to your heroes. To grant an item, place the item card underneath a hero in your party. That hero becomes the owner of that item and can use the special ability described on the item. All players roll one die to determine who goes first, rerolling ties. The player who rolls highest will be the first monster player. During his turn, the monster player selects the monsters and traps that other players' heroes will face and controls the monsters as they attack. All of one player's attacks as the monster player make up that player's player turn. When one player turn is over, play passes clockwise. A game turn occurs when every player has had a player turn. During his player turn, the monster player can attack as many other players as he likes. When a player is defending his heroes from the monsters and traps that were played on them, that player is the hero player. Players who are neither the monster player nor the hero player are non-involved players. | |||
| --- | |||
| Winning | |||
| The winner of the game is the player with the highest GP Value of cards in play after four game turns. Cards in play include undefeated heroes and items granted to undefeated heroes. Once all players have totaled their GP Value, each player announces the total and the player with the highest total wins the game. If two players tie, they are joint winners. If a player has no heroes left at the end of any player turn, that player is eliminated from the game. All his cards are removed from play. | |||
| --- | |||
| THE PLAYER TURN | |||
| The player turn is the framework in which all events occur. During a player turn, the monster player places monsters and traps on other players' parties in an attempt to defeat them. For brevity's sake, some cards refer to a player turn as a "turn." "Turn" is never used to represent a game turn. All cards that involve game turns specifically state "game turn." Each player turn consists of six stages: cards placement traps surprise combat recovery The trap and combat stages are made up of rounds. Within these two stages, new rounds occur until a certain condition is met. The trap, surprise, and combat stages make up one Encounter. In a multiplayer game, each player turn may contain multiple Encounters. |
|||
| --- | |||
| I. Cards All players start each player turn by drawing cards until they have ten cards in their hand. The monster player draws two extra cards, up to a total of twelve cards. If a player has more than this number of cards at the beginning of the card stage, he does not draw any cards. There is no limit to the size of a player's hand. Immediately before drawing cards, the monster player can discard all of the cards in his hand and then draw twelve cards as normal. If a player runs out of cards in either deck, the player immediately shuffles the associated discard pile and uses those cards as their deck. | |||
| II. Placement During this stage, the monster player selects and places the monsters and traps that the other players' parties must face. The cards placed by the monster player on one party are known as an Encounter stack or stack. Each stack is resolved as a separate Encounter with trap, surprise and combat stages. To place a stack, the monster player takes any number of cards from his hand and places them face down in front of another player's party. The monster player chooses which parties receive Encounters and which cards are included in each stack. Monsters and traps played in a stack will attack the party they are played on. Items and spells can be played in a stack, but will have no effect. Each stack can contain only a limited total Melee Value of monsters. In the first game turn, the Melee Value of all monsters in one stack can total up to 9. This limit increases by 3 each game turn. For example, on the first game turn, you could play a Merloit (Melee Value 3), a Skulker (Melee Value 4), and a Dragonette (Melee Value 2) in one stack, for a total Melee Value of 9. Monsters brought into play after Placement by use of a special ability or spell are not counted toward these limits. GAME TURN 1 2 3 4 MELEE POINTS 9 12 15 18 PER ENCOUNTER If a stack includes any traps, they must be placed on the top of the stack. Traps should be arranged in the order desired by the monster player, as they will take effect in the order that they appear in the stack. Encounters which include traps are known as lair Encounters or lairs. Encounters without traps are known as wandering Encounters. Each Encounter is resolved by separate trap, surprise, and combat stages. Before any Encounters are resolved, the monster player selects the order in which all Encounters are to be resolved. Once the order has been declared, begin the trap stage of the first Encounter. Complete the trap, surprise, and combat stages of this Encounter and then begin the next Encounter with a new trap stage. Continue until all Encounters are resolved. While an Encounter is being resolved, the stacks played on other players are not involved in the current Encounter in any way. Defeat Monsters or heroes that lose a fight, are hit by various special abilities, or otherwise become incapacitated are defeated. Any hero or monster that is defeated is discarded. After the defeat but before the card is discarded, all applicable saves must be rolled and all players have the opportunity to heal that hero or monster. When a hero is discarded, all items owned by that hero are also discarded. | |||
| III. Traps The trap stage is the first step in the resolution of each Encounter. The trap stage consists of a separate trap round for each trap in the stack. This stage ends when the stack runs out of traps. At the beginning of each trap round, the monster player announces whether or not there are any traps in the stack. If there are no traps, play proceeds directly to the surprise stage. If there are traps, the hero player must select one hero from the front rank to enter the lair. That hero is known as the entering hero and will be responsible for disarming that trap. After the entering hero is chosen, the monster player reveals the top trap from this stack. The monster player must reveal all traps in the order that they were placed in the stack. If a trap is revealed that would have no effect even if it were triggered, that trap is immediately discarded with no effect and a new trap round begins. For example, if the trap's only possible effect is to make the entering hero lose an item and the entering hero has no items, the trap is discarded immediately after it is revealed. Once a trap is revealed, the hero player must roll one die to determine if the entering hero can disarm the trap. If the entering hero has the trap ability (represented by a shield crossed with a spear [insert trap icon] directly beneath the hero's Melee Value), the trap is disarmed on a roll of 1, 2, 3, or 4. If the hero does not have the trap ability, the trap is disarmed on a roll of 1 or 2. If this trap roll is successful, the trap card is discarded with no effect and a new trap round begins. If the disarm roll is unsuccessful, the effect listed on the trap card occurs immediately. After the trap effect has been resolved, discard the trap card. If a hero was defeated by the trap, the hero player has the option to retreat with normal penalties. If the hero player chooses not to retreat, a new trap round begins. Retreat If a hero was defeated during an Encounter, the hero player's party can retreat at the end of the surprise stage, trap round, or combat round in which the defeat occurred. If the hero player chooses to have his party retreat, the Encounter ends immediately after the retreat has been resolved. When a party retreats, the monster player's cards from the Encounter (including cards that have not yet been revealed) are discarded. As a penalty for retreating, the hero player of the retreating party can only grant one item during recovery and that party will lose an item or a hero. If the party owns any items, the monster player chooses one of these items and discards it. If the hero party has no items in play, the hero player must choose one hero to be discarded. | |||
| IV. Surprise The monster player now rolls one die to see if any monsters surprise the party. This is known as the surprise roll. All monsters with a Melee Value less than or equal to the surprise roll have achieved surprise. The monster player can select one monster that has achieved surprise to duel any one hero from the front rank. The monster player is not required to make a surprise duel even if surprise is achieved. A duel is a limited form of combat described in the nearby rule box. The monster that is participating in the surprise duel must be revealed, but all other cards in the Encounter remain face down. Once the duel is completed, the hero player has the option to retreat if any heroes were defeated during surprise. If the hero player chooses not to retreat, play continues with the combat stage. | |||
| Duel A duel is a means of resolving short one-on-one fights. Once either player announces that a duel is about to begin, no spells can be cast or non-automatic special abilities used until the duel is resolved. Spells or special abilities that have already been used remain in effect. For example, if the monster player chooses a flying monster to duel during the surprise phase, the hero player cannot protect his back rank by casting a Flying spell after the monster is revealed even though Flying is a protection spell and would normally be allowed at any point. After the duel is resolved, special abilities and spells can be used as normal. For example, protection spells cannot be used during a duel, but a Heal spell can be used to recover a hero who was defeated in a duel. To resolve a duel, each player rolls one die and adds it to their combatant's Melee Value. Each side then adds any applicable automatic special abilities of the combatants and automatic item special abilities of the hero. For example, a weapon that gives a hero +1 Melee would add to that hero's total in the duel. Bonuses that come from sources other than the combatants or items owned by the combatants do not apply during duels. For example, neither side can receive support bonuses, leadership bonuses, or Horde bonuses during duels. Once both players have computed their totals, the player with the higher total wins. The losing monster or hero is defeated. If they tie, the duel ends with no result. Undead monsters win if a tie is rolled when they duel. Hero special abilities or spells that normally affect monsters also apply to heroes that the hero is dueling. Monster special abilities that normally affect heroes also apply to monsters that the monster is dueling. | |||
| V. Combat The combat stage consists of a series of combat rounds. Each combat round is divided into four phases: Assignment, Ranged, Melee, and Action. After all four phases have been completed, a new combat round begins. This continues until the hero player retreats or all of the hero player's heroes or the monster player's monsters are defeated. Assignment Combat begins as the monster player chooses opponents for all the monsters in the Encounter. Each monster must be assigned to one hero. All monsters except flying monsters must be assigned to a hero in the front rank. The hero that a monster is assigned to is known as that monster's assigned hero. Multiple monsters can be assigned to the same hero. These monsters are collectively known as a Horde. In a Horde, one monster fights the hero and the other monsters assist. Thus, in each Horde, only one monster's Melee Value matters for the melee. The monster whose Melee Value is used is known as the meleeing monster. If the meleeing monster is defeated before melee is rolled (by Ranged attacks, for example), another monster from that Horde must immediately be declared as the new meleeing monster. A monster attacking alone is automatically considered a meleeing monster. The benefit gained from attacking in a Horde is that the meleeing monster gains a bonus to its Melee Value based on the size of the Horde. It gains +1 Melee for every two monsters in the Horde other than itself, rounded down. For example, a monster in a Horde of four monsters (including itself) receives +1 Melee because there are three monsters in the Horde apart from itself. Three divided by two is 1.5, which is rounded down to a bonus of +1. Monsters in Horde 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Melee Bonus -- -- +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 Each melee (consisting of one hero and either a monster or a Horde) is resolved separately. After the meleeing monsters are declared, the monster player must declare the order in which all melees will occur. In later Assignment rounds, the monster player must assign any monsters that do not have assignments, such as newly summoned monsters or monsters who defeated their hero in the previous round. Monsters that already have assignments cannot be reassigned until they defeat their hero or that hero becomes otherwise ineligible for attack. If a hero already has a monster assigned to him, no monsters can be assigned to that hero unless he is the only available hero; this is the only way that monsters can be added to a Horde that is already assigned to a hero. Flipping Whenever a hero casts a spell or uses a non-automatic special ability, whether it is a hero special ability or item special ability, that hero becomes flipped. Represent a flipped hero by turning their card 180 degrees so that they are in the same position but upside down with respect to other heroes. Flipped heroes cannot perform any action that would flip them. All heroes unflip at the end of each combat round. Ranged Some items and other special abilities provide Ranged attacks. These are indicated by the words "Ranged attack" either as a distinct phrase (for example, "Ranged attack at +1") or within a phrase that provides a Ranged attack (for example, "Spell caster can make a Ranged attack..."). Heroes with Ranged attacks use them during this phase. A Ranged attack is not considered a special ability and does not flip the firing hero. The hero player must announce a monster as the target for each available Ranged attack. Multiple Ranged attacks can target the same monster. Once all targets are declared, the hero player must declare the order to roll these attacks. After all targets are declared and ordered, roll each Ranged attack separately. Unless otherwise specified, Ranged attacks hit their target on a die roll equal to or less than the firing hero's Melee Value. The only modifiers to Melee Value that apply to this roll are bonuses that specifically apply to Ranged attacks. For example, support bonuses, leadership bonuses, and most weapons do not add to Ranged attacks. All monsters that are hit by a Ranged attack must save or be defeated. To save, the monster player must roll equal to or less than the monster's Melee Value. If one monster is hit by more than one Ranged attack in the same round, it rolls only one save, but at -1 for each hit after the first. An unmodified save roll of "1" always saves a monster from defeat from Ranged attacks. Spells Spells are cards that can only be used by heroes with the spell casting ability, shown by a colored orb [insert orb icon] beneath the Melee Value. To cast a spell, you must flip a hero with the spell casting ability and discard the appropriate spell card. If the flipped spell caster is skilled at casting spells of this spell's element, the spell takes effect immediately. If not, the casting player must roll one die and consult this chart to determine if the spell takes effect: 1-3 Spell takes effect as normal 4-5 Spell has no effect and is returned to hand 6 Spell has no effect and is discarded Whatever the result, the spell caster remains flipped. Spells that are returned to a player's hand can be attempted again in the same round by any unflipped spell caster. Some spells can be cast by the heroes of the hero player at any time during the player turn. These spells are marked as protection spells by a broken orb [insert protection symbol] above their GP Values. Some spells can be cast by the heroes of the hero player only during the Action phase of a combat round. These spells are marked as offensive spells by a complete orb [insert offensive symbol] above their GP Values. The third type of spell is the anytime spell, whose text begins with "Anytime: ". Anytime spells are the only spells that can be cast by the heroes of any player, even the monster player or non-involved players. Anytime spells still must be cast by a hero in the casting player's party, and the caster is still flipped. Anytime spells are the only spells that can target heroes in other parties or monsters attacking other parties. Melee The melee phase consists of a series of melees. A melee is a fight between one monster or Horde and one hero. Each melee is resolved separately. Before any melees are resolved, the hero player must declare which heroes are receiving support this round. Support is provided by heroes with Support Values. A hero with a Support Value can only support one hero, and that hero must be adjacent to and in the same rank as the supporting hero. Heroes with monsters assigned to them cannot provide support. Support increases the Melee Value of the supported hero by the Support Value of the supporting hero. After supports are declared, all melees are resolved in the order that the monster player announced during Assignment. To resolve an attack, each side rolls one die, known as the melee die. Each side then adds this die roll to their Melee Value and then adds any bonuses from special abilities, support, or Horde bonuses. The monster player uses the Melee Value of the meleeing monster and the hero player uses the Melee Value of the hero being attacked. The side with the higher total value wins. If the hero wins, the hero player chooses one monster assigned to that hero and that monster is defeated. This monster does not have to be the meleeing monster. If the meleeing monster wins, the assigned hero is defeated. If the melee results in a tie, both combatants survive this melee. Undead monsters are an exception to this rule; undead win ties when they are the meleeing monster. After a melee is resolved, the next melee (in the order declared by the monster player during Assignment) begins. The melee phase ends once all melees have been resolved. Special abilities Special abilities of monsters, heroes, and items do something beyond the normal rules. For example, some heroes can throw fireballs, some monsters can heal themselves, and some items can improve an hero's Melee Value. Whenever a hero uses a non-automatic special ability, whether it is a hero special ability or item special ability, that hero must be flipped. Special abilities take precedence over any rules that they directly contradict. For example, Byron's special includes the phrase "...he is not flipped by the first spell he casts each round..." This means that he ignores the normal flipping rules when he casts his first spell, but still must discard the spell as normal and follow any instructions that appear on the spell card. If he casts a second spell in the same round, he is flipped as normal. There are three types of special abilities: normal, anytime, and automatic. Spells have effects similar to special abilities, but are not considered special abilities. Normal special abilities can only be activated during the Action Phase of the Combat Round unless otherwise specified. Item and hero special abilities must be activated by the hero player. They can normally be used once per turn and must target monsters attacking their party. Monster special abilities must be activated by the monster player. They can normally be used once per turn and must target the party that the monster is assigned to. Note that most monsters do not remain in play for more than one turn, so most monster special abilities effectively have only one use. All normal special abilities contain the word "can" in their text. Automatic special abilities are always in effect. They require no activation and must be used whenever they apply. Automatic special abilities never contain the word "can." Anytime special abilities begin with the word "Anytime:" and contain the word "can." They can be used by any player, even the monster player or a noninvolved player. They can be used at any time and can target any target. Most anytime special abilities specify a time when they can be used and target they can be used against. For example, a non-involved player could use the anytime special of one of his heroes during another player's player turn. This hero special ability could be used against a monster attacking another player's party. The monster player could then respond with an anytime spell from one of his heroes' items, which could target a hero in the non-involved player's party. Monster anytime special abilities must be used directly from your hand without playing the monster in an Encounter. Some monster anytime special abilities allow a monster to join an attack out of turn. When this form of special ability is used, the monster card is added to the Encounter as if it was just summoned (see special abilities). When any other monster anytime special ability is used, the effect occurs and then the monster is immediately discarded. The monster is being used solely for its special ability; all traits of the monster except for the special ability are ignored. Monster anytime special abilities cannot be used when the monster is already in play; they can only be played directly from the hand. Actions During the action phase, offensive spells and normal special abilities of monsters, heroes, and items can be used. These effects require an action to be used. Each player gets actions in the sequence described below. Use of a special ability that requires a die roll counts as an action even if the die roll fails. Players can always pass their opportunity to use an action. The hero player receives the first action. This can be a hero special ability, an item special ability, a offensive spell, or a pass. The hero player selects one to use or passes. The effect of the chosen action is resolved. The monster player receives the next action, and can use a monster special ability or pass. This effect is resolved and the hero player receives another action. Use of actions alternates in this manner until one player passes. Once this occurs, the other player receives one more action. The action phase ends after this action is resolved. Protection spells and automatic or anytime special abilities that can be used during the action phase must be used between actions. Each player should allow the other player the opportunity to use these specials and spells after each action. Using one of these effects does not count as taking an action. After the action phase is over, all heroes who flipped for spell or special ability use are unflipped. If any heroes were defeated this round, the hero player has the option to retreat. If the hero retreats, resolve the effects of the retreat and the Encounter ends. If the heroes do not retreat, either a new combat round begins or the Encounter ends, depending on the following conditions: If all the heroes are defeated, this monsters used in this Encounter are discarded and this Encounter ends. If all the monsters are defeated, the heroes are victorious and this Encounter ends. If the hero player did not choose to retreat and neither side was totally defeated, a new combat round begins. If the current Encounter ends, the next Encounter (in the order declared by the monster player during the placement stage) begins. If no Encounters remain, the recovery stage begins. Items To use an item, it must be granted to a hero. To grant an item, take it from your hand and give it to a specific hero in your party. That hero becomes the owner of that item. Items owned by a hero should be placed face up beneath the hero so that the name of the item is visible to all players. All players can examine the item and read its special. That item can be used by only that hero. Unless otherwise stated, item specials only effect the owner of that item. Ownership of an item is permanent; once an item is granted to a hero, the only way this ownership can be canceled is if the item is discarded. Scrolls are a special class of items that are discarded after they are used. Heroes do not flip when they use a scroll. Heroes can not use scrolls when flipped. There is no limit to the total number of items that a hero can have, but each hero can only have one item of each class. A class of items is defined by a noun in the name of an item. For example, "Orlow's Infernal Ring" is a ring; a "Dwarven Shield" is a shield. In addition, some classes are organized into groups. Any cards that uses one of the words listed below refers to all items of that group. No hero can have more than one item from each of the following groups: Swords (sword, blade, or scimitar) Melee Weapons (sword, blade, scimitar, mace, or axe) Ranged Weapons (bow or crossbow) Rods (staff or wand) Armor (armor or coat) Helms (helm, mask, or crest) Necklaces (scarab, charm, pendant, or ankh) Future expansion sets may add new classes of items into these groups, and may lead to the creation of new groups. Details will be provided with each expansion. |
|||
| VI. Recovery After combat is over, players can grant items and rearrange their parties. Any hero player whose party was attacked and did not retreat from combat can grant as many items as they have in their hand. Players whose party retreated from an Encounter or who had no Encounters assigned to them, including the monster player, can grant one item. All players can rearrange their heroes' positions any way they like as long as all heroes remain in a legal position. No party can ever have more than two ranks. No party can ever have more than four heroes in any one rank. | |||
| SPECIAL ABILITIES Bonuses Effects that provide a bonus to a roll, such as "+1 to all saves" or "+1 Melee," always work in the favor of the controlling player. The controlling player can decide whether to add or subtract this number to any die roll as is most advantageous to him. Effects that provide a penalty to a roll, such as "-1 to all saves" or "-1 Melee," always work against the controlling player. If the controlling player is the hero player, the monster player can decide whether to add or subtract this number to any die roll as is most advantageous to him. If the controlling player is the monster player, the hero player can select how to use the number. If the controlling player is a non-involved player, the player to his right can select how to use the number. Dependent Effects Some effects occur "on" two numbers separated by a hyphen. This indicates that you must roll one die and achieve a result within that range to cause the stated effect. For example, a "Heal on 1-3" would require you to roll one die, and the heal only occurs if you roll 1, 2 or 3. Rolling the die counts as using that special ability; heroes that attempt to use a dependent effect and fail the roll are considered to have used that ability. For example, heroes who fail in a roll to use a normal special ability are still flipped. Cards that list an effect that occurs "on a 1" require you to roll exactly 1 on one die to achieve the effect. Fear Heroes stricken with fear cannot do anything. They are turned over so the back of the card shows. They cannot use items, cast spells, use special abilities (even automatic special abilities), or give support. They are not considered to be in play. This means they do not count as a hero in the front rank to prevent monsters from attacking the back rank. They can only be attacked or targeted by special abilities if there are no other heroes available. If they are attacked or targeted, the fear ends. Otherwise, the fear ends at the end of the combat stage. Monsters stricken with fear are discarded (they run away). Flying Flying monsters can attack heroes in the back rank. Flying monsters cannot attack non-flying heroes in the back rank if the party contains any flying heroes. If all flying heroes are defeated or otherwise removed from play, flying monsters can attack the back rank as normal. Healing Healing occurs immediately after defeat but before the defeated hero or monster is discarded. Healing prevents a defeated hero (or monster, when specifically allowed) from being discarded. Treat the hero (or monster) as if it was never defeated. For example, healed heroes do not discard their items. All healing special abilities and spells can be used immediately after a hero (or monster) is defeated, regardless of the normal timing rules. Immune Heroes or monsters who are immune to a certain type of effect cannot be defeated by effects of that type. For example, a monster that is immune to Fire cannot be defeated by any Fire spell or special ability and cannot be defeated by Fire heroes or monsters in melee. This monster could still be defeated by a Water hero who was benefiting from a Fire spell. Lair only Monsters or spells that say "Lair only" can only be used in Encounters which contain traps. Leadership A leadership bonus is any automatic special ability that improves any aspect of other heroes, items or monsters. For example, one common leadership special ability gives other heroes in the same party +1 Melee if they are of the same element as the hero with the special ability. Mulitplayer only Some abilities can only be used when three or more players remain in the game. OR/AND When multiple special abilities can be generated by the same source, the special abilities are separated by either an OR or an AND. AND separates two special abilities that can both occur in the same round. In most cases, at least one of these special abilities is automatic. If these abilities are both normal special abilities, they both take effect together as one action and only flip the hero once per use. OR separates two special abilities that cannot both be used in the same round. If they are automatic special abilities, the controlling player must choose which one takes effect when both special abilities apply. If they are normal special abilities, using either one flips the hero as normal and thus only one of these abilities can be used each round. Save Heroes or monsters who are defeated can be saved from defeat. Saves come from sources such as armor, special abilities, or spells. Like healing, a successful save prevents the card from being discarded. The card is treated as if it was not defeated. Saves differ from healing in that saves are normally generated by cards that are already in play and these cards are usually not discarded after being used. For example, heroes wearing armor, helms, or shields receive an armor save any time that they are defeated for as long as they own the item. Some special abilities provide a bonus to saves, phrased as "+1 to saves" or "roll saves at +1." These do not provide the character with a save, but merely increase their chances at making any save they do receive. Most saves indicate what numbers must be rolled on one die in order to save. If a save does not indicate what numbers must be rolled to save, you must roll equal to or less than the Melee Value of the hero or monster being saved. In these cases, bonuses to Melee Value from leadership, items or other sources do not add to the save; only the basic Melee Value of the hero or monster is considered, although this can be augmented by bonuses specific to saves. Summon Summoning brings new monsters or heroes into play. Unless otherwise specified, summoned monsters are drawn from the Encounter deck. Draw cards until a monster of the appropriate type is drawn, discarding all other cards. If a monster summons another monster, the new monster must attack the same party, but not necessarily the same hero, as the monster which summoned it. Monsters summoned to join an attack being made by another player are controlled by the other player for that Encounter and are then returned to the original player's discard pile. Heroes cannot be summoned to join a party unless there is an open position in the party. Summoned heroes can be placed in any open position of the hero player's choice, as long as this does not place more than four heroes into one rank or create a third rank. Cards summoned or otherwise brought into play during a combat round are not considered to be in play until the beginning of the next combat round. At that time, new monsters will be assigned to heroes. Until that time, all summoned cards are set beside the appropriate party. While out of play in this manner, they cannot be targeted or affected by any effects and cannot use their special abilities. Undead All undead automatically win ties when they are the meleeing monster. Undead are identified by the word "undead" in their name or in bold in their special abilities box. Vs. Some automatic special abilities work only against certain groups, such as heroes of a certain element, monsters of a certain Melee Value, or a specific type of monster such as undead or demons. These effects are indicated by "vs.", such as "+1 Melee vs. undead." Vs. special abilities only apply when meleeing an opponent of that group. For example, a hero with "+1 Melee vs. demons" does not receive this +1 if a demon is assigned to him but is not the meleeing monster. All monsters that are part of a general group (such as undead, demons, or devils) contain the name of the group either in their own name (for example, "Lesser Devil") or in their special abilities text in bold. Wandering only Monsters or spells that say "Wandering only" can only be used in Encounters which do not contain traps. |
|||