Official Dragon Dice FAQ and Rules Clarifications Part One - Basic Mechanics & Combat (v1.0) (C)1995 TSR, Inc. & Double Exposure, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Permission to copy and distribute the information contained in this document is granted as long as this header is included. Compiled and Written by Vinny Salzillo, Double Exposure, Inc. Dragon Dice NetRep, TSR, Inc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The information contained in this document should be taken as an extension of the rules booklet contained in the Dragon Dice boxed set. Its purpose is to supplement the rules booklet by clarifying the most confusing parts of the game. This document will be updated on a regular basis as new questions are asked and new rules clarifications are necessary. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***SET-UP 1) Set Conflict Size A) Dragons brought to the table may be of any color, even a color that you cannot cast. Certainly, if you believe that a dragon brought to the table cannot be summoned by any of your opponents, that is good strategy. B) Dragons do NOT count towards the total size of your army. Even though a dragon is worth 5 points, it is a separate unit, and you set your conflict size independent of dragons. 2) Assemble Armies A) The rules state that the HOME and CAMPAIGN armies must consist of only one race each. This does NOT preclude these two armies from being the same race. For example if you are playing 2 races, it is perfectly acceptable for you to have your home army consist of race A, your campaign army consist of race A, and your horde to consist of race B. B) The very first unit(s) in the dead piles are the dragons. Dragons which are brought to the table are placed in EACH PLAYER'S dead unit area. There is no common pool for dragons, even though they can be cast by any player at the table from any dead unit area. C) At the beginning of the game, you divide your forces into ONLY 3 armies. You can NOT place any dice into reserves at the start of the game, nor can you place any dice into your dead unit area (other than your dragons). 3) Set Terrain A) At the beginning of the game, before it is determined who will go first, there are a number of proposed frontier dice equal to the number of players in the game. B) Until step 6, there is no particular face that needs to be showing on the terrain dice at this time. 4) Determine Player Sequence A) Cantrips rolled during maneuver rolls (including the initial maneuver roll) DO NOT COUNT. You cannot use magic at this stage of the game. B) In the event of a tie for maneuver points, the players who rolled equal maneuver points will REROLL their entire horde and face off. C) Since there is not yet any placement of armies, there is NO doubling of maneuvers for Dwarfs and Goblins. D) When the player who wins step 4 decides which terrain die will be the frontier die, he places that die in the center of the table, between all players. All other frontier dice are then removed from the entire game. They do not go in the dead unit area, and they do not remain on standby. They will have no effect on the remainder of this game. 5) Place Armies A) Each player MUST place the designated home army by his home terrain. Each player MUST place his horde at a HOME terrain die owned by ANOTHER player. B) A player CANNOT place two of his armies at the same terrain. If at any time during the course of a game, dice are moved to a terrain where friendly units exist already, those dice merge into one army. C) Once the home and horde armies are placed, the campaign army can be placed at any terrain die on the table where A) There are no more than 2 armies already stationed, and B) there are no friendly armies. D) In a two player game, there is NO flexibility. Player A's horde is placed opposite Player B's home, Player A's campaign is placed opposite Player B's campaign and Player B's horde is placed opposite Player A's home. 6) Determine Battle Distances A) Note that this step is performed AFTER the armies are placed. ***TURN SEQUENCE A) Marches are ALWAYS optional. Actions are ALWAYS optional. A player can also forfeit one or both of his marches altogether if he/she chooses. A player can decide to act without maneuvering, and a player can decide to maneuver without acting. B) Each army can ONLY march once in a given turn. This includes a maneuver attempt! If a player decides to perform a second march, he/she MUST choose a second army to act with. If he/she does not have a second army to act with, he/she CANNOT take a second march. C) If there is more than one player opposing the maneuver at a specific terrain die, only the HIGHEST counter-maneuver roll counts against the acting player. You DO NOT combine the maneuver points of defending players. D) All maneuver rolls are considered to be SIMULTANEOUS. E) Ties always go to the acting player (the one trying to maneuver). F) Cantrips DO NOT COUNT during ANY maneuver roll. ***MELEE A) The save roll forced by a melee attack that has done damage MUST be rolled. The only time you have no choice in the matter of rolling a save is when there is a possibility of a rout. B) The acting army can ONLY CHOOSE ONE army to attack. He/she CANNOT attack more than one army at the terrain at which he is acting. C) Only the army being attacked can counter-attack. Any third (or more) army at the terrain has NOTHING to do with this battle. D) If the defending army routs (more on routing later), it forfeits its counter-attack. E) If the defending army is able to counter-attack, and the acting army must roll saves, the acting army can indeed rout. At this point, the defending army will continue counter-attacking, if it chooses, until the acting army is no longer routed. F) In a charge action, both the attacker and the defender's rolls are considered to be SIMULTANEOUS. G) During a charge action, the defender CAN rout if he/she rolls more faces than saves. In this case, the melee results STILL COUNT against the attacking army. H) Even though the acting army in a charge action CANNOT save, its saves STILL must exceed its face icons, or it may rout! I) If a charging army eliminates the entire defending army, it CANNOT rout, because there is no army left to pursue it. The terrain die would stay in the same position if an army does not rout (by virtue of the fact that there is no opponent to pursue). J) Bonus army saves DO COUNT for a charging army, even though rolled saves do not count. So if the army has a save bonus, it may stop some incoming damage from the defending army. ***MISSILE A) You can choose ANY army in the game to shoot at, EXCEPT your own, if that army is in range. B) ALL armies are in range of the frontier die. Home dice are NEVER within range of each other, even in a multi-player game. C) Just as in melee, the target army MUST roll for saves if it suffers damage. D) The target (defending) army can rout ONLY if it is at the same terrain as the acting army. E) The acting army can NEVER rout during a missile action. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Look for Part Two - Magic, coming soon. Questions, Comments and Suggestions should be sent to: Vinny Salzillo - SalviusEA@eWorld.com or posted to the rec.games.trading-cards.misc newsgroup. Subject: [DD] Repost: Official DD FAQ & Rules Clarifications, Part 2 (1/2) From: salviusea@eworld.com (Vinny Salzillo) Date: Sun, 12 Nov 1995 19:01:43 +0100 Message-ID: Official Dragon Dice FAQ and Rules Clarifications Part Two - Magic (v1.0) (C)1995 TSR, Inc. & Double Exposure, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Permission to copy and distribute the information contained in this document is granted as long as this header is included. Compiled and Written by Vinny Salzillo, Double Exposure, Inc. Dragon Dice NetRep, TSR, Inc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The information contained in this document should be taken as an extension of the rules booklet contained in the Dragon Dice boxed set. Its purpose is to supplement the rules booklet by clarifying the most confusing parts of the game. This document will be updated on a regular basis as new questions are asked and new rules clarifications are necessary. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ***GENERAL RULES A) If the Magic symbol is showing on the terrain die of your acting army after your maneuver phase (or your lack of one if you choose not to take it), you MUST roll Magic if you want to take an action. You can choose not to take an action as per normal rules, however. If you own a terrain die (hence it is on its eighth face), you may choose to take a magic action. B) You may take a magic action EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO MAGE DICE. Face icons will count as magic points and will still get a terrain bonus. C) Your opponent has NO COUNTERATTACK for a magic action, even if all of your magic is focused on an opposing army at the same terrain. D) You do NOT have to spend all of the magic points you have rolled if you choose not to. You are always free to use only a portion of the points you spent. This is true even if you are casting black magic with which you have buried dead units. You are under no obligation to use the extra points you have earned by burying dead units. E) You MUST spend all of the points and allocate all of your spells to targets before any of them take effect. Any spell points left over after any effect has taken place (i.e. a lightning strike has been saved for) are LOST. F) All magic which is cast from a single magic action will happen SIMULTANEOUSLY. All magic which is directed at each single source will arrive there SIMULTANEOUSLY. G) Terrain color bonuses are ALWAYS taken into account last, since they double the actual points spent, not the points rolled. All units have the ability to cast two colors of magic. You choose which color each is going to cast BEFORE any terrain bonuses are applied. If there are any penalties or bonuses cast on the army or the terrain, they are taken out of the ICON RESULTS, not the magic choice. For example, let's say you have rolled 4 gold/red and 4 blue/green, and you are at coastland, and you have a -4 penalty to your roll. FIRST, you decide where the penalty will go. You can choose 2 from each of the 4 icons, or 4 of either set of icons, etc. THEN you decide which color any given magic will be. You might end up with 4 blue, or 4 green, or 4 gold, or 4 red (after the penalty), or you might end up with a combination of any of these. FINALLY, you apply the bonus of the coastland terrain ONLY to the colors which it affects. So if you chose 4 blue, you now have 8 blue. If you chose 4 green, you now have 8 green. If you chose 2 of each, you now have 4 green and 4 blue. If you chose red or gold, you get NO terrain bonus. H) Cantrip icons rolled during a magic action count as normal magic and CAN be doubled by a terrain advantage. I) Black magic NEVER gets a terrain bonus. If there are no units in ANY dead pool, the black magic CANNOT be doubled under any circumstances. J) A player who is doubling black magic points may target any player in the game, but he/she does NOT tell that player which of his/her units to choose. The player who is doubling black magic DOES NOT HAVE TO double all of it. He/she can choose to double only a portion of the points which are eligible. For example, there are 5 points of black magic rolled. The caster can bury 3 unit points and end up with 8 points of black magic, or the caster can bury 5 unit points and end up with 10 points. The caster may NOT bury more units than the actual number of points he/she has rolled. K) In order to successfully double black magic, units MUST ACTUALLY BE BURIED!!! A caster who has a three-point unit in his/her dead unit area may not double just 2 points of black magic, hence leaving his three-point die unharmed. The effect of this would be NO extra points of black magic. The caster must bury ALL THREE POINTS of the three-point die, hence burying the die and doubling three points of black magic. In this same situation, if the caster has 2 points of black magic and throughout the game, there are no dice OTHER than three-point dice in ANY dead unit area, the caster CANNOT double any black magic. L) Assuming there are legal dice to be buried by the action mentioned above, a player who is targetted for the loss is under the same obligation to bury dice as he/she is to apply damage from a combat. In other words, if a player is targetted for 1 point of buried health units (to double one point of black magic), and that player has a one-unit die and a three-unit die in his/her dead unit area, he/she MUST bury the one-unit die (he/she cannot decide to apply the point to the three-unit die, hence having no effect). Also, if the same player is targetted for 3 points of buried health units, he/she MUST bury the three-point die, leaving the one-point die alone (he/she cannot decide to apply 1 point to the one-point die and 2 points to the three-point die, hence having no effect on the three-point die). Players who are targetted for a loss only have a choice when there is more than one LEGAL way to bury dice. M) A reserve army magic action may NEVER result in doubled points. This ALSO means that black magic CANNOT be doubled from a reserve army. N) Points spent on multiple castings of the same spell are always spent at the same time. Most (but not all) spells which have been cast multiple times from the same roll are considered to be more powerful versions of the same spell (i.e. two Hailstorms cast by the same roll result in the target army taking 2 points of damage and making ONE saving throw, NOT taking 1 point twice (hence having two saving throws). The spells and their specific effects are detailed below. (continued...) ***EARTH: GOLD MAGIC 1) Stoneskin (1 point): Add one automatic save to ANY target army until the beginning of YOUR next turn. A) This spell applies to an entire ARMY only. You may target any army in the game, including opponents (for example, in a multiplayer game). B) Multiple castings at the same time are cumulative. If you cast 3 Stoneskins on an army, that army has a +3 save. Future castings will ADD to the bonus, even if cast from a different player. The cumulative effect is, of course, only during the overlap period of the duration of the individual spells. C) Note that this spell applies to the RESULT, not to the ROLL. All other modifiers to the ROLL will come first, BEFORE this or any other RESULT modifier are applied. For example, let's take an army which is FROSTED (from the breath of a green dragon), and is taking 6 hits from a melee. The army has 3 Stoneskins cast on it. The army rolls 7 saves. FIRST you would halve the result for the frost, for a result of 3 (rounded DOWN). THEN you would add the 3 points for the Stoneskins, for a final result of *6*. If you had done it the other way around, you would have ended up with the incorrect result of 5 (10 halved). D) Any automatic saves which are in effect from this spell will protect the army if it charges, even though it cannot roll for saves. E) Just like other spells which affect an ARMY, this spell does NOT protect an individual UNIT in the army if it is the target of a Lightning Strike, Finger of Death, Turn to Stone (gold dragon breath) or Flame (red dragon breath). F) Stoneskin DOES affect the saving roll vs. dragon claws, jaws and tail, as well as the saving roll in response to a Hailstorm spell. 2) Dust to Dust (2 points): Choose one health worh of any player's dead units to be buried. A) This spell is applied to DICE, not to players. You may target any dice you want in any player's dead unit area. The target player gets no choice. B) Multiple castings at the same time are cumulative. You may bury a three-unit die by casting 3 Dust to Dust spells simultaneously. C) There is no "damage" from Dust to Dust. If you do not have enough spell points to bury a large unit, you cannot wound it and add to the damage later. To bury a two or three point unit, you must cast 2 or three Dust to Dust spells. D) You may choose multiple dice from multiple players during the same magic action. If you apply 6 gold magic points to Dust to Dust spells, for example, you may bury a one-point unit from player A and a two-point unit from player B. E) Dust to Dust may NOT bury a dragon, even though it is kept in players' dead unit areas. 3) Path (3 points): Immediately move one of YOUR units (any size) from one terrain to another. A) Path can ONLY be used to move one of YOUR army units. It cannot move an opponent's unit. B) You may NOT move a dragon with this spell. C) You may not move units into or out of your reserves. D) You may not move units into or out of your dead unit area. E) You CAN move units to a terrain where you currently have NO units. Any units moved to this terrain form a new army. F) When multiple Path spells are cast from the same magic action, all dice move SIMULTANEOUSLY. You may move multiple dice to the same terrain, or to different terrains. G) There is no range rule for the Path spell. You may move units from any terrain in the game to any other terrain in the game. H) Dice which have moved via a Path spell can roll again during a player's turn if they attach to an army which will take an action during the second march. There is no restriction on how many times an individual die can roll when given the chance; the restriction applies to whole armies. 4) Transmute Rock to Mud (4 points): Subtract six from the maneuver rolls of ANY target army until the beginning of YOUR next turn. A) You may apply this spell to any army in the game, including your own. It MUST affect an ARMY; it does NOT affect a TERRAIN. B) You may apply this spell to a reserve army. C) Multiple castings of this spell are cumulative, whether they are cast simultaneously or at different times. if two different players cast this spell on the same army, the effect is cumulative during the overlap period. D) The penalty from this spell applies to the ACTUAL rolls, BEFORE any other bonuses. For example, a dwarf army in Highland rolls 7 maneuvers with a single Transmute Rock to Mud spell cast on it. FIRST you subtract 6 from the roll (making the net result of the roll a single point), and THEN you double the results (making the result of the roll *2*). E) This spell, like other spells which affect maneuvers (see below), applies to maneuver rolls which will count as saves for Coral Elves in Coastland and Lava Elves in Highland. FIRST you subtract the six from any maneuver icons rolled, and THEN you apply the remainder to the saves which were rolled. F) The exact effect of Wind Walk if combined with Transmute Rock to Mud is as follows: FIRST you apply the effect(s) of Transmute Rock to Mud ON THE ROLL ITSELF, and THEN you apply the Wind Walk. So in the above example of our Dwarf army in Highland, if the army rolls 7 maneuvers, FIRST you subtract 6 from the roll (making the net result of the roll a single point), THEN you add 6 to this result for the Wind Walk (since bonuses which add come before bonuses which multiply), and FINALLY you apply the terrain bonus for a total result of *14*. G) At first glance, it appears that the effect of a single Wind Walk immediately cancels out the effect of a single Transmute Rock to Mud. This is NOT true. Transmute Rock to Mud affects the ROLL, while Wind Walk affects the RESULT. See point I (below) for an example of why this is important. H) The exact effect of Wall of Fog if it is combined with Transmute Rock to Mud is as follows: FIRST you apply the effect(s) of Transmute Rock to Mud, and THEN you halve the result for Wall of Fog (note that Wall of Fog can not be cast multiple times on the same army). For example, if our same dwarf army in Highland rolls 9 maneuver points, and the army has both a Transmute Rock to Mud AND a Wall of Fog cast on it, FIRST you subtract 6, for a result of 3. THEN you apply the Wall of Fog, for a result of 1 (you round DOWN for the Wall of Fog spell). FINALLY, you double the result for the Highland bonus, for a total result of *2*. I) The exact effect of the combination of Transmute Rock to Mud, Wind Walk and Wall of Fog, when cast on our poor dwarf army is as follows: The dwarf army at Highland rolls 9 maneuver points. FIRST you subtract 6 for the Transmute Rock to Mud. This gives you a 3. THEN you halve the result for the Wall of Fog. This gives you a 1 (rounded down). THEN you add 6 to the result for the Wind Walk (we are now in the result calculation). This gives you a 7. FINALLY, you apply the terrain bonus. This gives you a final result of *14*. NOTE that if you had just made the Transmute Rock to Mud and the Windwalk cancel each other out (which is not correct; see point G above), the result would have instead been *8*. See the difference? J) This spell is in effect when an army is rolling for maneuvers in response to a Flash Flood spell. 5) Summon Gold Dragon (6 points): Send a gold dragon to any terrain. A) This spell can only be cast if there is a gold dragon in the game. B) This spell applies to any gold dragon in the game, EVEN IF IT IS ALREADY SUMMONED. You may move a gold dragon from one terrain to another with this spell. C) You may NOT move a gold dragon to a reserve army or to a dead unit area. You may NOT retract a gold dragon with this spell back to your dead unit area. Once a gold dragon arrives in play, the only way to bring it back to the owning player's dead unit area is to KILL IT or wait for it to FLY AWAY. ***AIR: BLUE MAGIC 1) Hailstorm (1 point): Inflict one hit on ANY target army. It MAY roll saves. A) If you target one of YOUR armies, you DO NOT get a save. B) An opponent's army which is targetted by this spell has the OPTION of rolling saves. C) An army which is hit by a Hailstorm CAN NOT ROUT under any circumstances, even if it is at the same terrain as the casting army. D) The player whose army is targetted may choose which units are hit. The same rules which govern the choice of units in response to melee or missile hits applies here. The targetted player MUST remove applicable dice in response to the number of unsaved hits done, and may not apply the damage only to units which will not be affected unless there is no other option. E) When multiple Hailstorm spells are cast from the same magic action, they are CUMULATIVE, and ALL HIT SIMULTANEOUSLY. They may be applied to a single army or multiple armies. If applied to a single army, that army has ONLY ONE saving roll, which will be applied to all incoming Hailstorms. F) Hailstorms do NOT wound dice. If cast by two different armies in the same turn, they will have two separate effects, and will invoke two separate saving rolls. 2) Breath of Life (2 points): Restore one health worth of YOUR units from death to the casting army. A) Breath of Life DOES NOT APPLY to units which have been buried. Only units which are in the casting player's dead unit area may be brought to life in this fashion. B) Breath of Life may ONLY be used to bring units from the CASTING player's dead unit area. It cannot target other players' units. C) When multiple Breath of Life spells are cast from the same magic action, they are CUMULATIVE, and they are ALL applied at once. The casting player counts the total number of Breath of Life points available (every two blue magic points equals one Breath of Life point) and may resurrect that number of points in dead units. For example, 4 Breath of Life points can be used to resurrect a three-point unit and a one-point unit, or 2 two-point units, etc. D) Breath of Life CAN NOT bring a dragon into the game. Dragons are NOT considered dead units, even when they are in the dead unit area. E) Breath of Life CAN NOT be used to promote dice. F) Units which are brought back to life with this spell MUST be added to the army from which the spell was cast. If the spell is cast from the reserve army, the dead units which were brought back to life immediately go to the reserve army. Note that they can then be moved to another army during the Reinforce action of the player's turn. G) Breath of Life is NOT cumulative across a turn. For example, you may not cast two points of Breath of Life with one army and one point of Breath of Life with another army in order to resurrect a three-point unit. You may only combine Breath of Life points if they were cast simultaneously. 3) Lightning Strike (3 points): Inflict five hits on ANY target die. Target die MAY roll saves. (Dragon target is destroyed if it rolls belly up.) (Multiple strikes on a single unit are resolved one at a time.) A) This is one of the few spells which is NOT cumulative. By using 6 points of blue magic to cast two lightning strikes against a single die, you are NOT doing 10 points of damage. You are hitting the die for 5 points twice, and it gets two rolls for saves. Note that the effect of the first strike has no bearing on the effect of the second strike. For example, if you target a three-point unit, and it rolls 4 saves during the first strike, it begins the second strike with ALL THREE HIT POINTS, even if the two strikes were cast during the same magic action. B) Bonuses or penalties which affect the entire army or terrain DO NOT apply to the saving roll of the target die. These include Ash Storm and Stoneskin. HOWEVER, terrain bonuses DO apply, and maneuvers rolled count as saves for the Coral Elves and Lava Elves. Also, Frost (green dragon breath) halves the saving roll of the target die. 4) Wind Walk (4 points): ANY target army gains six automatic maneuver results until the beginning of YOUR next turn. A) See "Transmute Rock to Mud" for the specifics of how this spell interacts with the other maneuver spells. Note that this spell affects the RESULTS, not the ROLL. B) This spell, like other spells which affect maneuvers (see above), applies to maneuver rolls which will count as saves for Coral Elves in Coastland and Lava Elves in Highland. FIRST you add six to the maneuver results, and THEN you apply the total to the saves which were rolled. This works even if you did not roll a single maneuver icon. C) Wind Walk CAN target a reserve army (although there is no reason to want to do this with the current elements in the game). D) Multiple castings of this spell are cumulative, whether they are cast simultaneously or at different times. if two different players cast this spell on the same army, the effect is cumulative during the overlap period. 5) Summon Blue Dragon (6 points): Send a blue dragon to any terrain. A) See the rules for Gold Dragons. ***FIRE: RED MAGIC 1) Ash Storm (1 point): Subtract one from all armies' rolls at the target terrain until YOUR next turn. A) Ash Storm cannot be cast at a player's reserves. B) Ash Storm affects an entire terrain, including your dice if you have an army there. C) Multiple castings of this spell are cumulative, whether they are cast simultaneoously or at different times. if two different players cast this spell on the same terrain, the effect is cumulative during the overlap period. D) Note that Ash Storm affects the ROLL, not the RESULT. If an army of dwarves were rolling for maneuvers while in Highland with 3 Ash Storms cast on it, and they rolled 5 saves, FIRST the 3 Ash Storms would be subtracted, and THEN the 2 remaining saves would be doubled. E) If you are rolling an army and the result has multiple icons, YOU choose which icons are to be subtracted from the total roll. For example, we'll take our dwarf army at Highland with 3 Ash Storms. Assume they are being charged by an opponent, and make a roll. They roll 4 cantrips, 3 saves, 2 face icons and 4 axes (attacks). The player of these dwarves can now choose where the Ash Storms are to be applied, since they are subtracted from the ROLL as a whole. Note also that they are subtracted from the roll BEFORE any other modifiers take effect. So the player first would use his cantrips, and he/she can choose to apply the 3 Ash Storms here, perhaps knocking the cantrips down to 1 point, and taking no further penalty. Or he/she can choose to use all 4 cantrips, and subtract all 3 saves, inflicting maximum damage on the charging army. Or he/she can choose to remove 2 face icons and 1 axe, etc. F) Ash Storms CAN be used to avoid routing!!! If the army which is trying to save has 3 Ash Storms hanging over its terrain, and it rolls 4 face icons and 2 saves, the 3 Ash Storms CAN be applied to 3 of the face icons, hence avoiding a rout! 2) Spark of Life (2 points): Restore one health worth of dead to the casting army. A) See "Breath of Life" for a complete analysis of this identical spell. 3) Burning Hands (3 points): Double one unit's melee results until the beginning of YOUR next turn. A) Burning Hands is a spell which affects A SINGLE DIE, not an army. It CAN NOT be cast multiple times on the same die. If several Burning Hands spells are cast at the same time, they can be applied to multiple dice on the table. B) Burning Hands can affect any die in the game, including those in reserve armies, but they cannot affect dice which are in the dead unit area. C) In this case, Burning Hands applies to the RESULTS of an individual die. Since individual dice are taken into account before the army as a whole, the term is a bit of a misnomer. The spell actually affects the roll of the individual die before any other modifiers are applied. For example, let's take an army which is rolling for a melee; one of its three-point dice has a Burning Hands on it, and the terrain has 3 Ash Storms on it. The die with the Burning Hands spell rolls 4 melee hits. FIRST we double those hits, for a total result from that die of 8 melee hits (you treat it as if the die had actually rolled 8 icons). THEN we can subtract the 3 Ash Storms from the total roll of the army (including the roll of that super die). The net result would be 5 hits from that die plus whatever else the army has rolled. D) Burning Hands NEVER affects saving rolls. BUT it DOES affect retaliation hits from a defending army in either a skirmish or a charge. In the case of a charge, if the defending army rolls a face icon from a die with a Burning Hands spell, the player can choose that icon to be either 1 save or 2 melee hits. E) Burning Hands NEVER affects missile attacks. F) Burning Hands CAN NOT affect dragons. G) If the target die is moved by either a PATH spell or a reserve action, the Burning Hands bonus will follow that die wherever it goes until the spell expires. 4) Dancing Lights (4 points): ANY target army's missiles and magic results are halved until the beginning of YOUR next turn. (This spell may not be multiplied.) A) This is another spell which cannot be multiplied. Multiple castings on the same army have NO further effect. B) Results are always rounded DOWN. If the army which has a Dancing Lights on it rolls 9 missile hits, the result becomes 4. C) This spell affect cantrips as well as normal magic. If the affected army rolled 4 cantrips, the result would be 2 cantrips. D) Dancing Lights affects RESULTS, not ROLLS. Therefore, if an army were rolling a missile action and it rolled cantrips, you must FIRST halve the cantrips and THEN halve the missile results as well. E) If Dancing Lights is affecting an army which can benefit from the doubling of magic at a certain terrain, the doubling of magic is the LAST effect to take into account (since it is assumed that you are doubling SPENT magic points). If, for example, an army rolls 9 magic points, with a Burning Hands on it, FIRST you would halve it, rounding down as shown above. The new result would be 4. THEN you would double the magic for terrain color, if applicable, for a maximum magic production of *8* points. F) Dancing Lights DOES affect Bullseye icons, since they are assumed to be a "missile result". Since Dancing Lights affects RESULTS and not ROLLS, it would first halve the Bullseye icons, and THEN it would halve the remaining missile icons. 5) Summon Red Dragon (6 points): Send a red dragon to any terrain. A) See the rules for Gold Dragons. ***WATER: GREEN MAGIC 1) Watery Double (1 point): Give ONE automatic save to any target army until the END of YOUR NEXT turn. A) See "Stoneskin" for a complete analysis of this identical spell (note: the only difference is the time that the spell expires). 2) Wall of Ice (2 points): Give any army three automatic saves until the beginning of YOUR next turn. A) See "Stoneskin" for a complete analysis of this identical spell (note: the only difference is the amount of saves applied for the casting cost). 3) Wall of Fog (3 points): Halve (rounding down) all maneuver rolls at the target terrain, and all missile fire into or out of it, until the beginning of YOUR next turn. (This spell may NOT be multiplied.) A) See "Transmute Rock to Mud" for the specifics of how this spell interacts with the other maneuver spells. Note that this spell affects the ROLL, not the RESULTS. B) For maneuvers, Wall of Fog affects a TERRAIN, NOT an individual army. It cannot be cast on reserve armies. It WILL affect YOUR army as well if it is stationed at a terrain which is affected by Wall of Fog. For missile actions, it is the LAST modifier to be used on the given result (see point F below). C) Multiple castings of this spell on the same terrain will have NO ADDED EFFECT. D) This spell, like other spells which affect maneuvers (see above), applies to maneuver rolls which will count as saves for Coral Elves in Coastland and Lava Elves in Highland. FIRST you halve maneuvers rolled, and THEN you apply the remainder to the saves which were rolled. E) Note that Wall of Fog affects both offense and defense at the target terrain. Not only are the results of a missile attack which originates from the terrain halved (and rounded DOWN), the results of any missile action which targets the terrain are halved as well (and rounded DOWN). F) When applying the penalty to missile fire, remember that it is the LAST modifier to be taken into account for the army which is taking the action. For example, an army of Coral Elves are taking a missile action into a terrain which has a Wall of Fog cast on it. The terrain from which they are firing has 4 Ash Storms on it. The army rolls 13 hits. FIRST, you would subtract the 4 Ash Storms for a net result of 9. THEN you would halve the damage as it enters the target terrain for a final result of *4* hits. Likewise, if the Elves ALSO had a Wall of Fog cast on THEIR terrain, the following would happen: FIRST, you would subtract the 4 Ash Storms for a net result of 9. THEN you would halve the damage as it exits the originating terrain, for a net result of 4. FINALLY, you would halve the result AGAIN as it enters the target terrain for a final result of *2* hits. 4) Flash Flood (4 points): Reduce ANY target terrain die one step. Any army at the terrain can negate this effect by immediately rolling at least eight maneuver results. (This spell may not be multiplied.) A) Unlike Lightning Strike, you cannot cast this spell more than once at the same terrain during the same magic action. So there can be a maximum of ONE attempt to turn each terrain die per magic action. You MAY spend 8 magic points and try to move TWO terrain dice during the same action. B) All maneuver penalties and bonuses are in effect for the defensive roll(s). This is detailed above in Transmute Rock to Mud, Wind Walk and Wall of Fog. C) Just as any maneuver attempt, the attempts of armies at the target terrain to prevent the reduction of the terrain die are NOT cumulative. ONLY the army with the most number of maneuvers rolled will count, and ONLY if it rolled eight or more maneuvers. These counter-attempts are ALWAYS optional. Terrain bonuses for dwarves and goblins are in effect, as normal. D) Flash Flood has NO effect if cast at a terrain die which is showing a 1 as its face. E) The effects of the successful reduction of a terrain die are immediate. If an opponent's army owned that die, it no longer owns it, and cannot make use of the eighth face icon, etc. F) Flash Flood is the ONLY way that a player can affect a terrain die multiple times in the same turn. He/she may first cast Flash Flood at a terrain with his first march (magic action) and THEN can attempt to maneuver that die with the army which is stationed there during his/her second march. 5) Summon Green Dragon (6 points): Send a green dragon to any terrain. A) See the rules for Gold Dragons. DEATH: BLACK MAGIC 1) Reanimate Dead (1 point): Return a dead one-health unit to the casting army. (Multiple castings reanimate multiple one-health units.) A) Reanimate Dead DOES NOT APPLY to units which have been buried. Only units which are in the casting player's dead unit area may be brought to life in this fashion. B) Reanimate Dead may ONLY be used to bring units from the CASTING player's dead unit area. It cannot target other players' units. C) Unlike Breath of Life and Spark of Life, when multiple Reanimate Dead spells are cast from the same magic action, they are NOT CUMULATIVE, and they CAN ONLY BE APPLIED TO SINGLE-POINT UNITS!!! The casting player counts the total number of Reanimate Dead points availableand may resurrect that number of one-point dead units. This spell may NEVER be used to resurrect units greater than one-point units. In fact, goblins are the only race in the game which cannot resurrect two-point and higher units, which is why you see so many goblin armies consisting entirely of one-point dice! D) Reanimate Dead CAN NOT be used to promote dice. E) Units which are brought back to life with this spell MUST be added to the army from which the spell was cast. If the spell is cast from the reserve army, the dead units which were brought back to life immediately go to the reserve army. Note that they can then be moved to another army during the Reinforce action of the player's turn. 2) Palsy (2 points): ANY target army suffers a penalty of -1 to ALL of its rolls until the beginning of YOUR next turn. A) Unlike Ash Storm, this spell affects an ARMY, not a terrain. Therefore, it can be cast at any army in the game, including reserve armies. B) Multiple castings of this spell are cumulative, whether they are cast simultaneously or at different times. if two different players cast this spell on the same army, the effect is cumulative during the overlap period. C) Note that Palsy affects the ROLL, not the RESULT. If an army of dwarves with 3 Palsies cast on them were rolling for maneuvers while in Highland, and they rolled 5 saves, FIRST the 3 Palsies would be subtracted, and THEN the 2 remaining saves would be doubled. D) If you are rolling an army and the result has multiple icons, YOU choose which icons are to be subtracted from the total roll. For example, we'll take our dwarf army with 3 palsies at Highland. Assume they are being charged by an opponent, and make a roll. They roll 4 cantrips, 3 saves, 2 face icons and 4 axes (attacks). The player of these dwarves can now choose where the Palsies are to be applied, since they are subtracted from the ROLL as a whole. Note also that they are subtracted from the roll BEFORE any other modifiers take effect. So the player first would use his cantrips, and he/she can choose to apply the 3 Palsies here, perhaps knocking the cantrips down to 1 point, and taking no further penalty. Or he/she can choose to use all 4 cantrips, and subtract all 3 saves, inflicting maximum damage on the charging army. Or he/she can choose to remove 2 face icons and 1 axe, etc. E) Palsies CAN be used to avoid routing!!! If the army which is trying to save has 3 Palsies on it, and it rolls 4 face icons and 2 saves, the 3 Palsies CAN be applied to 3 of the face icons, hence avoiding a rout! 3) Finger of Death (3 points): Inflict one hit on a target unit. Target may not roll saves. A) Note that unlike Hailstorm, Finger of Death targets a single die of the caster's choice, NOT an army. Also, the target die gets NO possibility of saving, since there is no effect in the game which allows an individual die to have automatic saves. Even if the die is the only die left in an army with several Stoneskins on it, those saves will NOT apply. B) When multiple Finger of Death spells are cast from the same magic action, they are CUMULATIVE, and ALL HIT SIMULTANEOUSLY. They may be applied to a single die or multiple dice. If applied to a single die, the total damage must equal or exceed the die's hit points to kill it. F) Finger of Death spells do NOT wound dice. If cast by two different armies in the same turn, they will have two separate effects; you may not cast 1 Finger of Death at a three-point die and then kill it with 2 Finger of Death spells cast from a different army. Neither spell would have any effect on that three-point die. 4) Open Grave (5 points): Until the beginning of YOUR next turn, all units killed in ONE target army YOU control go to your reserves rather than to the dead unit area. (Multiple castings affect multiple armies.) A) Note that this spell targets AN ARMY YOU CONTROL. If you cast it more than once at the same army, it has NO ADDITIONAL EFFECT. You CAN NOT cast it at an opposing army, and under no circumstances can Open Grave be used to post enemy units to your reserves or to any other players' reserves. B) Open Grave may be cast on more than one army you control in the same magic action. C) You CAN cast Open Grave on your reserve army. If you do this, all effects which would normally kill dice in your reserves (for example, lightning strikes or Finger of Death spells from an opponent) are IGNORED. 5) Summon Black Dragon (6 points): Send a black dragon to any terrain. A) See the rules for Gold Dragons. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Look for Part Three - Dragons, Icons & Bonuses, coming soon. Questions, Comments and Suggestions should be sent to: Vinny Salzillo - SalviusEA@eWorld.com or posted to the rec.games.trading-cards.misc newsgroup.