Basic Rules

Basic Rules PDF

THE WARLORD

In Warlord: Saga of the Storm™ you play the role of a powerful leader in the fantasy world of the Lands of the Accord and beyond. Your people are at war with your enemies, and you must crush your foes on the field of battle. There is no alternative. Your cards represent the party members, equipment, and tactics you have at your disposal as you pursue victory. In addition, the cards will unfold an epic fantasy that continually evolves.

VICTORY

This is war: your sole duty is to destroy the armies arrayed against you. Kill the soldiers, but more importantly, destroy the enemy Warlords! There is but one path to victory: vanquish. As soon as any player does not control a Warlord character, that player is out of the game. The last player in the game wins the fight.

CARD TYPES

There are three general types of cards in Warlord: Characters, items, and actions. Each of these card types is labeled in white just beneath the right corner of the illustration. Let's take a look at each of these card types and show you what the various bits on them mean. (Remember, in all cases, higher numbers are better.)

CHARACTERS

Characters are the folks who fight your battles for you. Your Warlord is a character card.

Card Name: This is the name or general description of the character.

Attack (ATK): The number in the axe blade reflects how easily the character can kill enemies. Some characters get more than one melee strike when attacking; these characters have two or more numbers separated by a slash.

Armor Class (AC): The number in the shield tells you how well protected a character is.

Level / Class / Alignment: This icon tells you what class a character is.

Starburst : Cleric (holy — or unholy — priest and healer)

Gauntlet : Fighter (soldier or warrior)

Glove : Rogue (thief, spy, or other shady profession)

Scroll : Wizard (magic user or other spellcaster)

Circle : Either multi-classed (the Card Text tells you what classes the character has) or classless (a noble, merchant, or other strange pursuit)

The number inside the icon tells you what level the character is, and therefore how powerful that character is within that class.

Finally, the icon's color tells you what alignment the character is. White indicates a good character, black indicates evil.

Traits: Bold-faced words at the top of the text box are traits, and have an impact on game play. Some characters have words that are not bold-faced - these are not traits, but simply give you more informa¬tion about the character.One or more traits on the character are his or her faction which of the seven major sides in the great war the character is loyal to. The seven factions are: the Deverenians, the Dwarves, the Elves, the Free Kingdoms, the Nothrog, The Chosen and the Mercenaries.

Game Text: The main portion of the text box contains any special abilities the character has.

Story Text: Text in italics at the bottom of the text box gives you some insight into the ongoing events of the Saga of the Storm.

Skill: The number in the gemstone is how skillful the character is. High skill helps you perform some actions, and dodge fireballs!

Hit Points: The number inside the red droplet tells you how many wounds it takes to kill the character. A single wound kills most characters.

Border Color: Each faction has a different border around the card; this does not affect game play.

ITEMS

Items are the special or magical equipment your army uses in its battles. Card Name: This is the name or general description of the item.

Attack and Armor Bonus: Some items affect a character's ATK and/or AC. If so, numbers appear in these locations; otherwise these spots are blank.

Requirements: The icon here matches the class of character allowed to equip the item.

Starburst : Cleric

Gauntlet : Fighter

Glove : Rogue

Scroll : Wizard

Circle : Either multi-classed (the item's Game Text tells you which classes) or classless (any class may use).

The number inside the icon tells you what level the item is; this affects how easily it may be equipped.

Traits: Bold-faced words at the top of the text box are traits. A character may not have two items equipped that share certain traits.

Game Text: The main portion of the text box contains any special abilities the item has. Story Text: This gives you more game world information on the item.

ACTION CARDS

Action cards are the special tactics used by the characters in your army. An action card can be an Order given during the Decree phase or a React that is played whenever it says it is triggered.

Card Name: The name of the action card.

Requirements: The icon here matches the class of character allowed to perform the action card.

Starburst : Cleric

Gauntlet : Fighter

Glove : Rogue

Scroll : Wizard

Circle : Either multi-classed (the card's Game Text tells you which classes) or classless (any class may use). All cleric and wizard action cards (including those that are multi-classed with cleric or wizard) are known as Spells.

The number inside the icon tells you what level the action card is; this affects which characters may perform it.

Game Text: The main portion of the text box contains the special effects created by the action card. Some even have more than one action — you must choose which to use.

Story Text: This gives you game world information.

The Fundamentals

THE GOLDEN RULE

Whenever the text on one of the cards specifically contradicts a game rule, the card takes precedence.

COMMANDING YOUR ARMY

The forces of your army are arrayed in a formation, which consists of a number of rows of characters, called ranks. Your first rank is closest to the other players' formations and is also called the "front rank". Ranks behind the first are numbered sequentially. There is no maximum number of ranks you may have in your formation. When counting the distance between characters, it is one rank from your front rank to the front rank of any other player's formation. Front ranks from different formations are in front of each other. All characters face the front ranks of all other players' formations, for determining the direction of forward and backward. Ranks in your formation are not allowed to have more characters than the rank in front of them, except your first rank, which may have any number of characters in it.

ILLEGAL RANKS

During a game, you may end up with a rank that has more characters than the one in front of it. Such a rank is called an Illegal Rank, and must be corrected immediately. If you have an illegal rank, you must adjust your formation by having characters "fall forward." Fixing an illegal rank in this way happens as soon as you have one, and interrupts the normal sequence of play. It takes place before any other action or effect, including the next step in a multi-step action, and is not an action itself. To fix ranks, fall characters forward one at a time from the illegal rank(s), in any order you prefer, until you have no more illegal ranks. Ready characters that fall become spent then move forward one rank. Spent characters that fall become stunned then move forward one rank. Stunned characters that fall simply move forward one rank. When you move a character, you may put the character on the far left, far right, or between any two characters in the rank. You may move a character even if doing so causes another rank to become illegal. When falling forward triggers a react (more on reacts below), you perform the react before fixing any other illegal ranks. Falling forward does not count as maneuvering (more on maneuvering below) but does count as moving. You may not put a character into play if it will create an illegal rank, unless you can perform a react or trigger an effect to make it legal. If the react or effect fails, the character is discarded.

MELEE STRIKES

Whenever one of your characters is going to perform a melee strike, choose any other character within one rank of your character to be the target of your melee strike. Roll a d20 and add the strike's ATK modifier to the result. If the total is equal to or greater than your target's AC, then you hit the target, and inflict a wound (place one wound token on the target).

The ATK modifier is the strike's base ATK, plus all ATK bonuses and penalties from items and other card effects. Most strikes use the character's Primary ATK as the base, which is their first (or only) ATK modifier. If a card effect sets a strike's ATK to a certain value, then that modifier is the base ATK (ex. "Perform a +3 melee strike"). Similarly, when performing an attack (more on attacking below), use the character's second ATK modifier for the second strike (and so on for any other strikes).

RANGED STRIKES

A ranged strike is a lot like a melee strike, except that a ranged strike shoots over one rank. For example, a character making a ranged strike from your 2nd rank targets a character in the 1st rank of another formation, and a ranged strike from your 1st rank targets a character in the 2nd rank of another formation. You may not target a character within one rank with a ranged strike.

Whenever one of your characters is going to perform a ranged strike, choose any other character two ranks away from your character to be the target of the strike. Roll a d20 and add the bonus of the ranged strike (usually the number before the words "ranged strike") to the result. If the total is equal to or greater than your target's AC, then you hit, and inflict a wound (place one wound token on the target).

A character's ATK bonus, and the number of melee strikes it has, does not affect ranged strikes.

WOUNDS, HIT POINTS & DYING

If the number of wounds on a character equals or exceeds its total hit points, it immediately dies. A character also dies if its level is reduced to 0 or less. Place the character and all of its equipped items and attached actions into its owner's discard pile. Any reacts performed in response to the death that reference the character's stats use the stats it had just prior to dying.

A character that is dying has the opportunity to react to being killed. However, if the character takes another wound or suffers further level-loss, he 'dies faster' and does not get to complete his react action. That is, it is possible to start the dying process anew even if the character is already dying. By contrast, if a character is dying and manages to remove a wound or increase his hit points or level, he still dies after all such reacts resolve. Once a character starts to die, the only way to prevent it is with a card effect that specifically reverses the character's death.

DIE ROLLS

Whenever you roll a twenty-sided die (a "d20"), there are two special results to watch out for: Critical Success and Critical Failure.

Critical Success – Whenever a character rolls a 20, that is a critical success. Whenever a roll is set (through a card effect) to a critical success, it is set to a 20. Critical successes may not be re-rolled or changed. When a character gets a critical success, they automatically succeed in whatever they are attempting, regardless of the target number or any modifiers.

Critical Failure – Whenever a character rolls a 1, that is a critical failure. Whenever a roll is set (through a card effect) to a critical failure, it is set to a 1. Critical failures may not be re-rolled or changed. When a character gets a critical failure, they automatically fail in whatever they are attempting, regardless of the target number or any modifiers.

If two characters are rolling against one another (ex. rolling for Initiative, see below) and both critically fail or succeed, then any modifiers are applied as if there were nothing spe¬cial about the 1 or 20. If two characters are rolling against one another and the results are identical, then both dice are re-rolled (with the exact same bonuses and penalties ap¬plied). If two characters are rolling against one another and one of them critically succeeds or fails, then that character wins or loses the roll, regardless of any modifiers.

READYING, SPENDING & STUNNING

Ready, spent, and stunned represent the orientation of each of your cards. Ready cards are upright to their owner's perspective; spent cards are rotated 90 degrees to the side; stunned cards are upside down to their owner's perspective.

When the game mechanics or card text requires you to spend a card, turn that card 90 degrees to signify that it has been spent. You may only spend a ready card; a spent or stunned card may not be spent again. When the game mechanics or card text requires you to stun a card, turn that card upside down (rotated 180 degrees, not turned face down). A stunned card may not be stunned again. A stunned card is also considered spent. Stunned characters may not perform any actions, including those on equipped items, but they may still be affected with actions by other characters. Actions printed on stunned items may not be performed, but all stat modifiers and other effects are still in effect.

BUILDING YOUR DECK

You may play with the decks as you purchased them or you may put together your own deck from any cards in your collection. When building your own deck, you must include a minimum of 50 cards. You may have no more than three copies of any given card. A single card type (character, action or item) cannot make up more than half of your deck (if you run a 50 card deck, you cannot have more than 25 cards of one card type). Count all cards in your deck, including your starting characters.

If a card has the Epic trait, you may not have more than one copy with that name in your deck. You may not have more than one character with the Warlord, Overlord, Daemonlord or Dragon Lord trait, though you may have one of each. You must include sufficient characters to make a legal starting army.

The Rules of War

PREPARING FOR BATTLE

To start each game, every player simultaneously presents the starting army from their deck. This consists of one character with the Warlord trait, three 1st-level characters, and two 2nd-level characters. The five non-Warlord characters must be of the same faction as the Warlord, and cannot include more than one copy of a particular Unique character. The three 1st-level characters are in the 1st rank, both 2nd-level characters are in the 2nd rank, and your Warlord is in the 3rd rank. This occurs before the first turn of the game. No actions may be performed at this time, although static text still takes effect.

Rank 1

Rank 2

Rank 3

PHASES

There are five phases in each turn of the game. In order, these are:

Ready Phase

Draw Phase

Initiative Phase

Decree Phase

End of Turn Phase

1st: Ready Phase

All players simultaneously turn their cards 90 degrees back toward the upright position. Spent cards become ready, and stunned cards become spent. 2nd: DrawPhase

Players may discard any cards from their hands that they wish. Then all players draw (one card after another) until they have a number of cards in their hand equal to their hand size. A player's standard hand size is 5 cards. If a player has more cards in their hand than their hand size, they do not need to discard any (they simply may not draw any during this phase).

3rd: Initiative Phase

Every player's Warlord simultaneously rolls for Initiative. The Warlord rolls a die and adds any appropriate bonuses (these may be generic die-roll bonuses or specific Initiative bonuses). The player whose Warlord rolls highest goes first in the Decree Phase, and play proceeds clockwise from that player. A Critical Success always wins (as stated in the Die Rolls section). If there is a tie for highest, only the tied Warlords reroll.

4th: Decree Phase

The Decree Phase is when everything happens! The game play goes around the table, with each player giving one Decree at a time until all players pass. The player who won initiative gives one (and only one) Decree. When that decree is done, the player to the left gives a Decree, and so on. The Decree phase continues, with each player giving one Decree in turn, until all players pass consecutively. When this happens, the Decree phase ends.

When it is your turn to give a Decree, you may do one of the following:

Put a character into play from your hand.

Have one of your characters perform an Order

Pass

PUT A CHARACTER INTO PLAY

As a Decree, you may take a character from your hand and add it to your army by putting it into play in your formation. You must place the character in a rank exactly equal to its level. A character may be placed on the far left, far right, or between two other characters in that rank. You may not put a character into play if it would result in an illegal rank, unless you can perform a react or trigger an effect to make it legal. If the react or effect fails, the character is discarded.

LOYALTY PENALTY

Characters of a different faction than your Warlord suffer a loyalty penalty. These characters enter play stunned. Characters with the Mercenary trait never suffer a loyalty penalty.

PERFORMING AN ORDER

When you want one of your characters to perform an Order, they may:

Perform an Attack.

Equip an item from your hand.

Maneuver.

Perform an Order from an action card in your hand.

Perform an Order that is already in play.

STANDARD ORDERS

Performing an attack, equipping an item and maneuvering are the three actions that any character may perform as an Order by paying the standard cost (without having the text of the action printed on the character).

These orders may also be performed as part of another, larger action. If they are, then all of their standard costs or class, level and other requirements must be met, unless the larger action specifically ignores or overrides them. When performed in this manner, they are neither orders nor actions in themselves (since the larger action is, well, the action and might not even be an order).

PERFORM AN ATTACK

Order: Spend this character: Perform an attack.

An Attack consists of spending a character you control to perform a number of consecutive melee strikes. The exact number and order is based on the strikes listed in the character's ATK (the battle axe), plus any strikes gained through card effects.

All of these strikes must target opposing characters; you cannot use melee strikes from an attack to strike characters you control (but only an attack has this restriction).

While a character must always perform his first strike during an Attack, any strikes beyond the first do not have to be performed if the player chooses not to (i.e. you may stop at any time). Similarly, it is possible to gain additional strikes during an Attack and perform them as part of the action.

EQUIP AN ITEM FROM YOUR HAND

Order: Reveal an item card from your hand: Equip the item to this character.

A character may equip an item from your hand to enhance his or her abilities. Select a character you control to equip the item and put the card into play under the character. It is present within your army, but it has no effect on illegal ranks.

Most item cards have a class and/or trait restriction on them; only characters of that class and with the correct trait may equip these items. Other item cards have the classless symbol on them; if the card's text does not declare any restrictions, then any character may equip these. All item cards have a level; the character's level (including any modifiers for equipping the item) plus the number of the rank he currently occupies must be equal to or greater than the item's level. A character cannot equip an item if that character already has an item of the same name. If the character an item is equipped to leaves play, the item card is put into its owner's discard pile.

Some items have certain traits called Equip Locations (Armor, Arrow, Bow, Familiar, Gauntlet, Helm, Shield, Stance, Steed, Trap, and Weapon). When a character successfully equips an item with one or more of these traits, any items previously equipped that have the same equip location trait(s) are destroyed and placed in the discard pile. If a character has a special ability to equip more than one item with a certain trait (two Weapons, for example), then a new item only causes one of the previously equipped items to be destroyed (so equipping a third Weapon only destroys one other Weapon in our example). A character may not equip an item if it shares an Equip Location trait with a Cursed item that they currently have equipped.

MANEUVER

Order: Spend this character: Move this character forward or backward one rank, or to a different position in his current rank.

A character may maneuver in order to change his or her position within a formation. Maneuvering consists of spending a character you control to move him or her forward or backward one rank, or to change position within the current rank. If this results in an illegal rank, it must be immediately fixed as described under The Fundamentals>

When you move a character, you may put the character on the far left, far right, or between any two characters in the rank.

PERFORM AN ORDER FROM YOUR HAND

A character may perform an action card from your hand to generate an effect. Select a character you control to perform the action card and put the card into play. It takes up no space in the rank and file system and is not part of your army. A character may only perform action cards that say "Order:" as an order. Action cards that say "React:" are performed whenever the card says to be performed and are explained in more detail below.

Most action cards have a class and/or trait restriction on them; only characters of that class and with the correct trait may perform these action cards. Other action cards have the classless symbol on them; if the card's text does not declare any restrictions, then any character may perform these. All action cards have a level; the character's level (including any modifiers for performing the action) must be equal to or greater than the action's level.

Some action cards attach themselves to cards in play — if the card that it is attached to leaves play, the attached card is put into its owner's discard pile. Other action cards instruct you to do something with the card itself, such as removing it from the game or returning it to your hand; do so as soon as the rest of the action has taken effect. Otherwise, once the text of action card has taken effect (it will tell you what to do), the card is placed in your discard pile.

PERFORM AN ORDER ALREADY IN PLAY

A character may perform an Order that is already in play to generate an effect. Select a character you control to perform an action printed in their game text, printed in the game text of an attached action or an equipped non-stunned item, or granted by a trait or another card effect. A character may only perform abilities that say "Order:" as an order.

Some actions on item cards require that the item be spent or stunned as part of the cost of the action, instead of or in addition to spending the acting character. If it does not, then the action on the item may be used while the item is spent (but not stunned, obviously).

PASS

When you cannot give any more Decrees (or simply do not want to), you must Pass. If all players pass consecutively, the Decree phase ends immediately. If you pass but your opponent does not, then the phase does not end and you may still give decrees later. In other words, passing does not forfeit your right to do anything, but you do risk having the decree phase end if you are hoping to surprise your opponents. Passing is not a Decree.

5TH: END OF TURN PHASE

In Initiative order, each player ceases one of their on-going card effects that lasts "until end of turn" (bonuses are lost, penalties go away, etc.) until there are none still in effect. Then, again in Initiative order, each player performs one of their card effects that occur "at end of turn" until there are none still waiting to be handled. At this point, the turn ends, and a new turn begins.

Miscellany

REACTS

Some actions have the word "React:" in them. Reacts are slightly different from Orders. They do not occur in the standard sequence that Orders do, and they do not cost you your opportunity to give a Decree. A React will tell you exactly when to perform it.

A single react may only be performed once in response to a single 'trigger', regardless if that react is an action printed on a character or item in play, gained from an attached action card, granted by a trait or another card effect, or rep¬resented by a card in your hand (though multiple copies of the same card may be performed). If more than one player wants to perform a react in response to the same trigger, start with the player who won initiative this turn and proceed clockwise around the table. After each react has been performed, the sequence of play returns to the original trigger and, if the trigger is still valid for other reacts, the next player has an opportunity to perform one. If a player wants to perform more than one react in response to a single trigger, he must give the other players an opportunity to perform a react after each one of his own.

Performing a React action card functions like an Order action card (putting the card into play, meeting the class and level requirements, etc – see above) except for the difference in when they are performed.

SPENDING

Some actions require that the character spend as part of the cost of the action (usually, the action says "Spend Order:" or "Spend React:"). If it does not require spending, then a character may perform the action while spent and, if ready, does not become spent by performing it.

BONUSES AND DURATIONS

All on-going effects on a card (including but not limited to bonuses and penalties to ATK, AC, Skill, HP or level, and changes to traits, classes, alignment or abilities) last until end of turn unless they say otherwise. When a card leaves play, all permanent and on-going effects on it end (i.e. all wounds are removed).

If the duration of an on-going effect depends on the pres¬ence of a card (ex. "while this character remains spent") or the use of an ability (ex. "until this action is performed again"), then the effect ends if either the card leaves play or the ability is lost.

SKILL CHECKS AND SAVES

Some actions require a character to make a skill check or a save against a certain Difficulty Class ("DC"). To do this, roll a d20 and add the character's skill. If the character has a bonus or penalty to the check or save, add that to the result as well. If the total is equal to or greater than the DC, then the character succeeds with the check or save. The action that generated the check or save will describe the effects of success or failure. You may not voluntarily fail.

ACTIONS

An action is an order or a react - note that melee and ranged strikes are not actions by themselves.

All actions have a Cost which must be fulfilled. The first part of the cost is the Order, Spend Order, React, or Spend React that is to the left of the first colon. The rest of the cost (if any) is printed between the first and second co¬lons. If the action is a react, then the cost includes a trigger (the timing of the react). The cost might have payment and targeting instructions as well. All parts of the cost must be fulfilled, and the payment instructions may only be fulfilled by/with cards you control.

All actions have an Effect. Unless the action says otherwise, it is not necessary that all the parts of an effect occur. Do as much as possible and ignore the rest. Any variables that are part of an effect are set when the effect is generated and do not change even if their source does (i.e. An effect based on a character's stat such as level, skill or alignment will not change if the stat does, even if the character leaves play).

ILLEGAL ACTIONS

An illegal action is one that cannot be performed, which is determined before the action is declared. If it is not possible to pay all of the costs of the action, or meet all of its class, level and similar requirements, then it is illegal. If there is no valid target for the action, then it is illegal.

As an exception to this rule, it is possible to declare such an action, then perform a react or trigger an on-going or static effect that makes it legal. The action may not be performed if such a fix is not possible (you cannot start an illegal action and then let it fail), and it fails if the fix itself does not succeed.

ZERO EFFECT

If performing an action will have no actual effect on the game, then it is illegal. That is, an action may not be performed if it will not produce any change beyond its cost. Triggering a react or another effect is not considered to be an effect of the triggering action.

STEPS OF AN ACTION

Declare the action and who is performing it.

Pay the costs of the action (this might include targeting).

Generate the effects of the action (this might also include targeting).

Resolve the action.

STEPS OF A STRIKE

Choose the target of the strike.

Make the strike roll.

Determine if the result of the roll is a hit or miss.

If the strike hit, inflict a wound on the target.

Resolve the strike.

CANCELED STRIKES AND ACTIONS

When a strike or action is canceled, its effect immediately stops - skip to the end of it, ignoring any steps not already taken. The strike or action is still considered performed (unsuccessfully). Its costs remain paid, and any effect it already had also remains. The acting character (and any targets) may still respond to its resolution.

Canceling the equipping of an item causes the item to be discarded. Canceling an action that would put a character into play causes the character to be discarded. Unless another effect says otherwise, a canceled action card is also discarded. Canceling an action with a limit on the number of times it can be performed still counts against that limit.

CANCELING AN ACTION'S COST

If the cost of an action is prevented (healing a wound be¬fore it is suffered, killing a character before they are spent, etc), then the cost is not paid and the action is canceled. This is different than 'undoing' the cost of an action (ready¬ing a character after they are spent, returning a character to play that was killed, etc.), which does not 'unpay' the cost and has no effect on the action.

LEAVING PLAY

If the character performing a strike or action leaves play for any reason other than the strike or action itself (ex. he is killed during a react), then the strike or action is canceled. On the other hand, if the source of the action being performed leaves play (ex. the item is destroyed or the ac¬tion card is shuffled into your deck), the action continues as long as the cost has been paid and other requirements met.

TARGETING

All melee and ranged strikes target. Most actions target. On-going effects may target at the time they are generated by an action, but do not continually do so. Static effects target if they produce a strike or check. Basically, only actions and strikes target and only while being performed.

An action only targets a character or other card if it says it does (i.e. "Target an opposing character within one rank"). Also, if any part of an action targets a character, then the action is considered to target the character (i.e. "Order: Perform a +0 ranged strike." - the target of the strike is also the target of the order). Unless the action states otherwise, only cards that are in play may be targeted by an action.

MASS TARGETING

When performing an action that targets all of the characters (or items or actions) in a certain group (such as all characters in your army or in an opposing front rank, or all items with a certain trait), target each of the characters in the group one-by-one until they are all targeted. Each character may not be a target of the action more than once. If there are any characters in the group that cannot be targeted by the action (due to other card effects), simply leave them un targeted and unaffected.

The action then affects each character in the order that they were targeted.

MULTI-TARGETING

Similar to mass targeting, but the action specifies a limited number of cards to target. Select each target one-by-one until that number has been reached. Again, each card may not be a target of the action more than once, and the action affects each card in the order they were targeted.

REDIRECTION

In order to change the target of a strike or action to another target, the new target must be a legal choice as a target (based on distance, orientation, etc.). In other words, the controller of the strike or action must have been able to choose the new target originally.

A character (or other card) that has had a strike or action successfully redirected to a new target is no longer (and is considered to never have been) a target of the strike or action. For this reason, redirection has little effect on Mass Targeting actions – the action will simply target the character anew. Similarly, the character performing a Multi-Targeting action may simply choose to target the character again.

ACTIONS VS. ON-GOING OR STATIC EFFECT

Sometimes, players have both an action and an on-going or static effect that are triggered by the same event. When this occurs, all the actions are performed first, then the on-going and static effects are handled. These effects are handled just like reacts in most respects, such as resolving in Initiative order and rechecking the validity of the trigger before occurring.

MULTI-CLASS

Multi-Class Actions and Items - There are two kinds of multi-class action and item cards:

• A card with the oval class symbol indicating its level and static text indicating its multiple classes.

• A card with static text indicating that it is also a different class and level than what is printed in the class symbol.

A multi-class card is always all of the class-level pairs. It can be performed, scribed, equipped, etc by any character that meets one of the class-level requirements. If a character meets more than one of the class-level requirements, any additional effect that is specific to that class-level pair will apply.

When a multi-class card is targeted or affected by a card effect that does not differentiate levels by their classes, the level and class printed in the class symbol are used (ex. an action that destroys a level 6 or lower item will look only at the class symbol, not the static text, to determine if it works).

Multi-Class Characters - A character with the oval class symbol indicating his level and static text indicating his multiple classes is a multi-class character. He is always all of the classes. When performing an action or resolving a static or ongoing effect, he does not do so as one of them, but all.

Some characters have the ability to perform action cards or equip items of a class that they do not have. Whenever such a character performs an action, check to see if it qualifies for this ability. If so, treat him like a multi-class character - he has his normal class(es) and level plus the class(es) indicated in the ability - but only for the purpose of that action.

ADJACENCY

A character is adjacent to another character if they are next to each other in the same rank. A rank is adjacent to the ranks in front of and behind it. Every player's front rank is adjacent to every other player's front rank.

DECK ETIQUETTE

If an action instructs you to search your deck, or reveal or retrieve cards from your deck, then you must shuffle your deck afterwards. However, if the card was simply taken from the top of the deck (i.e. "Reveal the top card. If it's a spell, put it in your hand.") or the action states what to do with all of the cards (i.e. "Reveal the top three cards. Put them back in any order."), then you do not shuffle. If the action requires that it be a specific card or that the card be of a specific type (a Dwarf, a Weapon, etc.), then you must reveal the card to your opponents.

If you run out of cards in your deck, there is no penalty, but you do not reshuffle your discard pile into your deck.

GENERAL VS. SPECIFIC

Whenever the two card effects contradict each other, the one that is more specific or that imposes a negative condition takes precedence. If they are equally specific, the one that went into effect first takes precedence.

If a react may be performed in response to more than one trigger, then it always responds to the most specific trigger possible (ex. "After a strike or action targets this character: Cancel the strike or action" always responds to and cancels the strike, even though the strike is part of an action).

PLANAR

The positive and negative energies surrounding characters from the Astral and Ethereal planes of existence make striking them in combat an extremely difficult proposition. When performing a melee or ranged strike against a Planar character, an odd die roll (the 'natural' roll, before any bonuses or penalties are added to the result) is a miss, even if the strike's total is equal to or greater than the target's AC.

A strike performed as part of a spell's effect ignores these rules and hits Planar characters normally.

SUMMONED CHARACTERS

A character created by a card effect, (an action card or a facedown card that is given a character's stats) is a "summoned" character. It has the same alignment as the character that performed the action to create it, if the action does not specify one. Conversely, the summoned character is factionless, unless the action specifies one. Another player's card that is put into play as a character under your control by your card effect, or a character put into play from your collection, is also a summoned character, though the alignment and faction remain as printed if it is a character card. The stats, alignment and faction of a summoned character are permanent effects, unless the action specifies a duration. Once a summoned character leaves play, the card reverts back to what it normally is; any connection to the character it was while in play is gone.

UNIQUE

Some cards have the Unique trait. You may not bring a Unique card into play, by any means, if you already control another one with that name in play.

FEATS

Feats are special skill-based actions that a character may perform if he has the appropriate trait. When a feat is performed, the character makes a skill check, adding to the roll both his skill and any specific feat bonus (i.e. a character with +3 skill and Riposte +5 would add +8 to any Riposte check). If a character gains a Feat trait from more than one source, such as a pair of items, the bonuses are simply added together.

Performing an action that requires a feat-based check does not count against the number of times per turn that a feat may be performed, nor does it require that the character have the feat trait.

THE FEATS:

Charisma — React: Once per turn, after another character you control within one rank makes a die roll: Succeed with a Charisma check (DC 20) to force the character to re-roll the triggering die roll.

Defend — React: Once per turn, after an adjacent character you control is targeted with a strike or action: Succeed with a Defend check (DC 20) to redirect the strike or action to this character, if possible.

Magic Resistance — React: Once per turn, after this charac¬ter is targeted with a spell: Succeed with a Magic Resistance check (DC 20) to cancel the spell.

Marksmanship — React: Once per turn, before this character targets a non-spell ranged strike: Succeed with a Marksmanship check (DC 20) to either allow the strike to target an additional rank away, or gain +5 to the die roll, or have the strike inflict an additional wound.

Medicine — Order: Once per turn, target a wounded character in this rank: Succeed with a Medicine check (DC 20) to remove one wound from the target.

Powerattack — React: Once per turn, before this character makes a melee strike roll: Succeed with a Powerattack check (DC 20) to have the strike inflict an additional wound.

Riding — Order: Once per turn, target a spent or stunned Steed equipped to this character: Succeed with a Riding check (DC 20) to ready the target.

Riposte — React: Once per turn, after target character performs a melee strike against this character: Succeed with a Riposte check (DC 20) to perform a melee strike against the target. (This strike may not be redirected.)

Scribe — Order: Once per turn, reveal a spell in your hand that this character may cast when ready: Succeed with a Scribe check (DC 20) to attach the spell to this character. This character may later detach the spell to cast it. If the Scribe check fails, discard the spell.

Stealth — 2 abilities:

Order: Once per turn: If this character is ready in the front rank of your formation, succeed with a Stealth check (DC 20) to spend and move him into the front rank of another formation.

React: After this character is targeted with a strike: Succeed with a Stealth check (DC 20) to cancel the strike. This action may be performed a number of times per turn equal to the character's level while in another formation plus once per turn while in your formation.

IN ANOTHER FORMATION

It is possible to move a character into another player's formation. The only way to do this is with an action that specifically moves the character into the other formation (ex. Stealth); maneuvering and other typical movement actions cannot be used to do so. If any of your characters are ever beyond the last occupied rank of another formation, they are all immediately moved into the last occupied rank of that formation, in their current orientation. If at any time there are no characters you do not control in another formation, then all of your characters in that formation return to your front rank, in their current orientation. If at any time there are no characters you control in your own formation, then all of your characters in other formations return to your front rank, in their current orientation. Your characters do not affect the legality of the ranks of other formations. You may move characters you control from the front rank of another formation into your front rank with normal forward movement (but for another player to do so, they must follow the restrictions above).

Characters may perform action cards while in another formation. Characters may equip items while in another formation, but do not add the number of their current rank to their level.

GLOSSARY

Action: Any Order or React, including the "Spend" versions.

Card Effect: Either the effect generated by an action printed on a card or the static effect of a character or item. The standard orders (when performed by themselves) are not card effects.

Charges: When a card with the Charges trait begins in play or enters play, place a number of Charge tokens on the card equal to the printed value. Any card may gain Charges regardless of having the trait.

Cursed: A character gains the Cursed trait while he has one or more Cursed items equipped. A character may not equip an item if it shares an Equip Location trait with a Cursed item that they currently have equipped.

Draw a card: Taking a card from the deck (not necessarily the top of your deck) and putting it into the hand. If instructed to draw a card, simply take the top card.

In front: A character is in front of another character if he is in a lower-numbered rank in the same formation or in any rank in another formation.

Collection: Your collection is made up of all the cards you own, but excludes the ones you put into the deck you are currently playing. When a card from your collection leaves play, it is returned to your collection. It is still considered killed, destroyed, put into your hand, etc - whatever action or effect caused it to leave play is fulfilled.

In play: Characters, items, action cards, and their wounds, charges, and so on are all put into play by various actions. Everything that is in play stays there until a rule or effect tells you to put it somewhere else (i.e. characters die, items are destroyed, action cards resolve, wounds are healed, etc).

Killed with a Strike or Action: A character is considered killed by a strike or an action if the wound (or level reduc¬tion) inflicted by it is the one that killed the character.

Multi-Faction: A character with more than one faction trait is a multi-faction character. He is always all of the factions. He is considered to be the same faction as another character (and not considered to be a different faction) as long as they share one of the factions.

On-Going Effect: A 'continuing' card effect that is generated by an action. The duration of an on-going effect is set when the action is performed. It may last as little as the duration of another action, or as long as the rest of the game.

Rank Requirements: When a card effect puts a character into play in a specific location, the character ignores his normal level-based rank requirements. Unless the card effect says otherwise, the character still cannot enter play in another player's formation or if it would create an illegal rank.1. 2.

Ready (a card): Change a card's orientation from spent to ready. This occurs every turn during the ready phase, or it may be part of a card effect. If the latter and the card is stunned, it will change from stunned to ready (it does not merely unstun).

Banish(ed): When a card is banished, it is placed in a pile similar to but separate from the discard pile. Only card effects that specifically reference the banished location can affect a card once it has been banished.

Retrieve a card: Taking a card from the deck or discard pile and moving it to another location, such as the hand, in play, the discard pile, or the top or bottom of the deck. (Shuffling, by itself, is not retrieving a card.)

Save: A type of skill check, always with an additional descriptor such as poison or magic.

Spell: All cleric and wizard action cards (including those that are multi-classed with cleric or wizard) are spells.

Static Effect: An 'always on' card effect that is not gener¬ated by an action, but is part of the game text of a character or item.

Stats: A character's ATK, AC, Skill, HP, class, level and alignment. Strike: Either a melee or a ranged strike. A card effect that does not specify a type is referring to both.

Subclass: One of twelve traits that enhance a character's class: Cantor, Druid, Seer, Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger, Assassin, Bard, Scout, Illusionist, Necromancer, and Summoner.

This (Character, Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard): Within a card's game text, this phrase refers to the character performing the action or equipped with the item. Similarly, self-referential game text does not affect other characters with the same name.

Unstun (a card): Change a card's orientation from stunned to spent. This occurs every turn during the ready phase, or it may be part of a card effect.

Warlord: The leader of your army. If you do not control a character with the Warlord trait, you and all of the cards you own and all of your card effects (but not wounds) are immediately removed from the game. If a character with the Warlord trait is put into play during the game, then he loses that trait.

Wound: Permanent damage received by a character. Keep track of each wound a character receives. If the number of wounds equals or exceeds the character's hit points, the character dies. Any game text that refers to "wounds" generically (ex. "Before a character suffers wounds") applies to a single wound as well.

X: Within a card's game text, every use of "X" refers to the same numeric value – determined the first time it is used (ex. "Kill a level X character: Move forward X ranks" would move the character performing the action forward a num¬ber of ranks equal to the level of the character sacrificed).

Your (Army, Character, Deck, Discard Pile, Formation, Hand): Within a card's game text, this phrase refers to the army, deck, discard pile, or hand of the player controlling the card effect. Your Characters are the characters you control, they make up Your Army and they start play in Your Formation.