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GameplayReviewed subset

Short introductions to selected basics; the game itself holds the full rules.

Attacks of opportunity

When a warrior moves away from an adjacent enemy, each adjacent enemy gets a free attack that costs it no action points. Only melee weapons and bare hands make these attacks: an enemy holding a bow or other ranged weapon does not. The rule applies to player, AI and monster warriors alike, and a monster's natural weapon counts as melee. An opportunity attack rolls to hit with the same hit chance as any other attack. Armor alone never reduces a landed opportunity attack below 1 damage. A warrior with the Hold the Line feat gets 10% more hit chance on its opportunity attacks, and if such an attack hits and deals damage, the retreating warrior's move ends before it leaves its hex. The stopped warrior still pays the action points for that move and may spend what is left on actions other than moving. Jumping away from an adjacent enemy still provokes opportunity attacks, and if one kills or stops the jumper it does not land. This page does not cover the Riposte, Shield Bash or Mage Slayer reactions.

Attribute modifiers

The base attribute modifier is floor((value - 10) / 2). An attribute value of 10 gives a modifier of 0; 12 gives +1; 8 gives -1. This page covers the basic modifier only, not class-specific effects.

Healing at your base

Your own team's base is the only healing zone. A warrior standing on a tile of its own team's base at the start of its turn regains up to 4 HP, at no action point cost: the player base heals players and the AI base heals AI. Dead, respawning and already full-HP warriors are skipped. The base heal stacks with the Second Wind feat, whose regeneration runs first. A Healing Potion is the burst option; the base is the slow, free, position-dependent counterpart, so retreating to your own base is a real tactical option. This page does not cover undead or construct units.

Physical attack basics

Each attack action rolls fresh damage dice. Repeated attacks within one turn do not reuse the previous raw roll. Hit checks, defenses, critical hits and special effects are outside this short introduction.

Damage types and wet targets

Spell damage has a type: fire, cold, shock, magic, divine or physical, and the type decides how the damage is reduced. The Resist Fire, Resist Cold, Resist Shock and Resist Magic feats each cut damage of their type by a stable 50%, with no level ladder. A Fire, Cold or Shock Resist Ring cuts that element's damage by 25% and stacks with the matching feat. Divine damage has no resist feat or item; only Spellward reduces it. A target is wet while it is raining or while it stands on a water tile. Against a wet target, cold and shock damage is multiplied by 1.5 and fire damage is halved, after all resistance. Rain and water do not stack, so a wet target never takes more than 1.5 times or less than half. Burn damage over time is untyped and is not halved by being wet.

Day and night

Battles switch between day and night every 10 rounds, and every battle starts in the day. A round is one player team turn followed by one AI team turn, and a round is wholly day or night, never changing in the middle. Day adds no hit penalty. At night, melee attacks, including unarmed ones, have a 20% lower hit chance. Ranged attacks carry a 20% miss penalty by day and 40% at night. Between two warriors with 10 Dexterity and no feats, a melee attack hits 100% of the time by day and 80% at night, and a bow attack hits 80% by day and 60% at night. Hit chance never drops below 5%. A warrior with the Dark Vision feat ignores only the night penalty on attacks it makes, so its bow attacks keep the base ranged penalty. The Light spell's aura cancels the night penalty for attacks involving units inside it. A stealthed warrior is revealed by ending movement within 2 hexes of an enemy by day, but only within 1 hex at night. The Keen Eye feat reveals stealthed enemies within 3 hexes by day and 2 hexes at night. This page does not cover maps with a fixed time of day.

Death and respawn

When a warrior's HP drops to 0 it is killed, and it drops all of its equipment. It returns at its own base after a wait of one and a half times its level in turns, rounded up: a level-1 warrior waits 2 turns and a level-5 warrior waits 8. The Fast Respawn feat shortens the wait by 1 turn, but never below 1 turn. A warrior waiting to respawn cannot be attacked. It comes back with full HP and no equipment, its feat cooldowns are reset and its spell slots are refilled. Its career, level, experience, feats and attributes stay as they were before it fell. It returns on the first free tile of its team's 7-tile base, and when every base tile is taken it lands on the nearest free hex around the base. A warrior never respawns on a tree, rock or water hex, and it never shares a hex with another living warrior while a free hex exists. When the wait ends at the start of its team's turn, the warrior can act in that same turn. If every warrior on a side is respawning at once, that side's turn is skipped. This page does not cover monsters, revival spells, kill rewards or how a respawning team can still lose the battle.

Lingering ground zones

Some spells leave a zone on the battlefield: an effect painted onto map hexes rather than onto a warrior, which counts down by team turns. Silence, Entangling Thorns, Oil and Wall of Fire each last 3 turns by default. A zone counts down only at the start of its caster's team turn, so a 3-turn zone lasts exactly 3 of the caster's team turns and is erased at the start of the third one after the cast. Silence covers every hex within 2 of its target hex: units inside cannot cast spells, while movement, weapons, items and active feats still work, and leaving the zone restores spellcasting immediately. Entangling Thorns also covers an area of radius 2, and each step into, out of or across a thorn hex deals one pulse of 1d2 plus the caster's Wisdom modifier as physical damage, which armor can reduce. The thorns deal no damage when they are cast, add no extra action point cost and do not amplify fire. Oil coats the target hex and the ring of hexes around it, and each step onto or off an oil hex costs 1 extra action point. Fire damage on an oil hex is multiplied by 1.5, rounded half up. Wall of Fire raises a line of 5 hexes perpendicular to the line from the caster to the target, at least 3 hexes long at map edges. It burns a unit already standing on a wall hex when the wall forms, a unit that ends its turn standing on a wall hex and a unit that moves through one; ending a turn next to the wall is safe. Each burn deals 2d8 fire damage plus the caster's Intelligence modifier when that is positive. Evasion's area dodge and fire resistance apply, an oil hex under the wall amplifies the burn, and the caster is never burned by their own wall. When rain starts it washes out Oil and Wall of Fire, but Silence and Entangling Thorns survive it and can still be cast while it rains. This page does not cover Fire Tornado, Dimension Gates or other zone spells, feat bonuses to zone damage, whether a Shaman is hurt by their own thorns, or each spell's cost, range and level.

Hills, high ground and cliffs

Every hex has a height: water is level -1, ground is level 0, a hill is level 1 and high ground is level 2, the highest level there is. A normal step to a neighbouring hex costs the usual 1 action point whether it goes up one level, down one level or stays level. A step that changes the height by two or more levels is a cliff, and a warrior never walks it. A blocked step is refused before any action point is spent. To reach high ground from the ground, a warrior walks up through a hill. A player can deliberately drop a warrior two or more levels down onto a neighbouring lower hex. The drop costs the normal 1 action point and deals 10 damage for each level fallen: 20 for two levels and 30 for three. Fall damage ignores armor, shields and resistances. The game marks such a hex in orange with the damage it will cost, and the warrior drops only when that hex is clicked a second time. A warrior killed by a fall gives no gold or experience to anyone. Dropping away from an adjacent enemy still provokes an attack of opportunity. Computer-controlled warriors, monsters and pets never drop on purpose. A Shock Wave push can shove a target off a cliff, and the target then takes fall damage on top of the spell's damage. A push up a cliff fails and the target stays put. Jump, Fly, Shadow Step, Teleportation and Dimension Door ignore cliffs and never cause fall damage. A warrior cannot attack, shoot or cast a spell at a target two or more levels above it, while attacking downward is always allowed. That also stops healing an ally and chopping a tree or rock two or more levels above. Raven Swarm and the teleporting spells are not limited this way. An area spell aimed at a reachable hex still hits targets on higher hexes inside its area. A warrior with the Evasion feat adds 10% to its dodge roll against area spells when it stands higher than the caster, and a warrior without Evasion still cannot dodge them. The inspect panel shows the height of a warrior's hex. This page does not cover the hit bonus for attacking from higher ground, other spells that move warriors, spells that raise or lower the ground, or how each map lays out its hills.

Hitting, dodging and critical hits

A weapon attack against a defender with the same Dexterity modifier starts at a 100% chance to hit. Each point of the attacker's Dexterity modifier adds 10% to that chance, and each point of the defender's modifier takes 10% away as dodge. A Dexterity 6 attacker against a Dexterity 10 defender hits 80% of the time. Ranged weapons take a further 20% miss penalty in daytime. Attacking from higher ground adds 10% and attacking up at a higher defender takes 10% away, the same for any height difference. A blinded attacker loses 50% hit chance on melee and bow attacks. However the modifiers add up, the chance to hit never falls below 5% or rises above 100%. Every character has a flat 5% chance to land a critical hit, whatever its Dexterity. The Lucky Strike feat adds 5%, so its holder crits 10% of the time. A critical hit takes the top of the weapon's damage dice and adds a second roll of the same dice, then Strength is added as usual: a Longsword crit rolls 9 to 16 instead of 1 to 8. Armor and shields still reduce or block a critical hit as normal. Opportunity attacks against a retreating warrior, the Shield Bash counter and chopping trees or rocks never crit. A warrior wearing Gold Armor cannot be critically hit. This page does not cover night penalties, dual wielding, or other feats, songs and spells that change hit or critical chance.

Level cap and experience

The maximum warrior level is 12. Experience comes from kills only: a kill grants XP equal to the victim's level, and every other living warrior on the killer's side gains assist XP of half the victim's level, rounded up, minimum 1. Kills of summoned units pay half, and a friendly-fire kill pays nothing. Advancing from level N needs N XP, so level 1 to 2 needs 1 XP and level 11 to 12 needs 11 XP, and excess XP carries over into the next level. For example, a level-2 warrior reaches level 3 with two level-1 kills or one level-2 kill. On level-up, maximum HP rises by the career's HP per level plus the CON modifier (at least 1), and current HP keeps the same share of the new maximum, so a level-up is not a free heal. With manual upgrades a warrior gains one attribute point at levels 4, 8 and 12, and the Warrior career unlocks a feat at levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12. Individual feats, career choice and other careers' feat cadence are not covered here.

Standard party size

The standard battle has five warriors on each side. This count does not describe every special encounter or saved-party configuration.

Rain

Rain is a weather state that covers the whole battlefield. While the sky is clear, rain starts on its own with a 5% chance each round, and it lasts 3 to 6 rounds. The Wizard spell Call Storm can also start it, and starting rain again while it already rains only refreshes the duration. Rain is checked once per round, so it never starts or stops in the middle of a round. While it rains every combatant is wet: cold and shock damage received is multiplied by 1.5 and fire damage received is halved. Rain shuts off the Oil, Wall of Fire and Fire Tornado ground zones: they are cleared when rain starts and cannot form until it ends. Silence is not affected. Rain darkens the battlefield more than night does, and when it stops, the field returns to the current day or night look. This page does not cover maps where natural rain is turned off.

Equipment after respawn

In the normal respawn flow, the warrior returns without equipment or individual gold. The team's gold pool is unchanged by that return. This page does not cover respawn timing, revival abilities or kill rewards.

Sanctuary

Sanctuary is a status from a Cleric spell: temporary total damage prevention paired with a lock on voluntary offense. While it lasts, the warrior is protected from all incoming HP damage. That covers weapon, bow and unarmed attacks, attacks of opportunity, Cleave and Riposte, direct spell damage, area spell damage, persistent zone damage, and Burn, Poison, Setup Trap and caltrops damage. The damage is reduced to 0 before armor, shields, Evasion, resistances or any other reducer runs, so none of them uses up a charge or rolls a chance. In return the warrior cannot attack, cannot cast spells and cannot activate active feats. It may still move normally, spending action points as usual, use potions, scrolls and other consumable items, and buy from the shop. It keeps its passive feat benefits and passive defensive buffs, and allies can still heal it and give it buffs. Sanctuary lasts two of the warrior's own team turns: the count drops by one at the start of each of its team's turns, and when it reaches 0 the status ends and normal damage resumes. Casting Sanctuary again on a warrior that already has it sets the count back to two; it does not add turns or create a stronger state. Other defensive buffs, such as Mage Armor, stay on their own timers. A mind-controlled warrior under Sanctuary stays on the controller's side, but the controller cannot make it fight until Sanctuary expires. An area spell still resolves its whole area: a warrior under Sanctuary inside it takes 0 damage while the others take normal damage. This page does not cover which defence is checked first when Sanctuary, Taking Cover and Arcane Shield are all active, or the Sanctuary spell's cost and range.

Trees and rocks

Trees and rocks are scattered across every battle map, and each new battle places them anew. No warrior can walk onto a hex with a tree or a rock, so they decide which paths are open. A warrior can chop one for 2 action points, the same cost as an attack. The swing never misses and rolls the warrior's weapon damage, but it can never be a critical hit. A tree has 20 HP and a rock has 100 HP, so a tree falls after a few swings while a rock is usually better walked around. When a tree or rock is destroyed, its hex becomes open ground. Area spells hit them too: fire damage burns trees and physical damage breaks rocks, while a spell aimed at a single target never harms either. Chopping a tree counts as an attack, so it reveals a hidden warrior. This page does not cover the Taking Cover feat, spells that smash or raise the ground, or field constructions.

How a battle ends at turn start

Besides base capture, a battle can end at the start of either team's turn, before anything else in that turn happens. If the team about to move has no living warriors and none waiting to respawn, the other team wins at once. This check is made only at the start of a turn: a team that loses its last warrior during the enemy's turn does not lose until its own turn would have begun. A team whose warriors are all dead but still waiting to respawn also loses at the start of its turn if a living enemy warrior is standing on one of its base tiles. Goblins and other monsters are not team members and never count for either team: a monster standing on a team's base does not make that team lose while its warriors are respawning. A warrior under Mind Control counts for the team controlling it while the control lasts. If more than one ending could happen in the same turn cycle, the first one checked ends the battle: a base capture made during a move comes first, and a team with no warriors left at all is checked before a team whose warriors are only respawning. The battle log reports the end with a GAME OVER line and the reason. This page does not cover Boss Fight, where these rules change.

Turn order and action points

In the standard player-versus-AI battle, the player goes first, followed by the AI. Each turn every warrior starts with a base of 3 action points, and unspent action points do not carry over to the next turn (a Coiled Thread holder is the one exception). Moving 1 hex costs 1 action point, attacking an adjacent enemy costs 2, chopping a tree or rock costs 2, and buying an item at a store costs 1. Career levels raise the allotment: +1 at 6 and +1 at 12 levels outside the Rogue career, and +1 at 4, 8 and 12 Rogue levels, so a pure level-12 Warrior has 5 and a pure level-12 Rogue has 6. Gold is shared by the team: each side starts with 80 gold, a kill adds the victim's level × 10 gold to the killer's team (a level-1 kill pays 10 gold and a level-5 kill pays 50), and a death leaves the team pool unchanged. Feat, spell and other action-point bonuses are not covered here.

Base capture

A warrior can win by moving onto the opponent's base tile after the opposing team has no living warriors. Entering the base while a defender is still alive does not satisfy this win path. This page describes base capture only, not all terminal-result conditions.

Water and bridges

Water tiles are walkable terrain that is dangerous to stand on. A warrior can move onto, through and across water, and while it stands on a water tile it is wet: cold and shock damage it receives is multiplied by 1.5 and fire damage is halved. Bridges are the safe dry crossings, and a warrior standing on a bridge is not wet. The cost is where a warrior stops, not its path: wading through water during a move is free, and ending a turn on water is the exposure. A creature that covers several hexes is wet if any one of them is water. Rain and water do not stack. On an oiled, wet target, fire damage ends up at 0.75 times the normal amount. The battle log tags wet damage: (wet -50%) on fire and (wet +50%) on cold and shock. Stepping between water and ordinary ground is a normal 1 action point move. A warrior cannot climb from water straight onto a hill; it must go through ground first. Dropping from a hill into water deals 20 damage and from high ground 30, and that fall damage is not amplified by being wet. This page does not cover lava, or spells that flood or drain water.

Wild monsters

Every battle map has a camp of wild monsters that belongs to neither team: goblins on The Spindle's Stair and lizardmen in the Fire Dungeon, in both the 2D and the 3D version of each map. Monsters take their turn after both teams have moved. A monster that nobody has disturbed wanders near its home spot, never more than 3 hexes away, and leaves warriors alone. It wakes up when someone attacks it or when an enemy comes within 2 hexes, and waking one monster does not wake the others. An awake monster goes after the warriors who attacked it, however far away they are, and fights any enemy within 2 hexes, but it never crosses the map to hunt a warrior who left it alone. When no attacker is left and no enemy is near, it calms down and goes back to wandering. Killing a monster pays like any other kill: the killer's team gains 10 gold per monster level and the killer gains 1 experience point per level, so a level-2 Goblin Grunt is worth 20 gold and 2 experience. Monsters never gain experience or levels themselves. On The Spindle's Stair a dead monster comes back at its home spot at the next daybreak, and the longer the battle runs, the tougher the monsters that come back: from turn 20 each one returns as the first or the second rank with equal odds, and from turn 40 one in ten returns as the strongest rank, while a monster already on the map keeps its rank. The Fire Dungeon is always night, so a monster killed there stays dead. This page does not cover each monster's own abilities, Boss Fights, or creatures summoned by warriors.

CharactersReviewed subset

Short introductions to selected basics; the game itself holds the full rules.

Parties

A party is an ordered list of heroes, and each hero's place in the order is its spawn slot. A standard party saves at exactly 5 members and a boss party at exactly 1; a short party is refused naming the empty slot. The same character cannot appear twice in one party, but the same hero may sit in any number of saved parties, including both sides' active parties. You can author up to 16 parties of your own. The three shipped parties do not count against that cap and are read-only, so duplicate one to edit it. Each slot carries a role: vanguard, skirmisher, support, artillery or anchor. Roles have no mechanical effect. Party sharing and how the AI reads a party are not covered here.

What a warrior is

The game separates identity (character) from progression (career) from capability (attributes). Each warrior is a named character with a race and six base attributes: STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS and CHA. STR, DEX, CON and INT default to 10, WIS defaults to 9 and CHA defaults to 8, and the Character Editor's attribute budget is 63. A character takes a career at each level-up; the editor sets that career path with one choice for each of levels 2 to 12. A warrior's starting equipment is a weapon and a shield only: armor is not a starting slot and must always be bought in the shop. Race attribute caps, individual careers and the full editor are not covered here.

RacesReviewed subset

Short introductions to selected basics; the game itself holds the full rules.

Akashan

Akashan warriors have INT and WIS 8–20, DEX and CHA 8–18, and STR and CON 6–16. Their racial feat, Spiritual Senses, lets spells critically hit at the weapon critical chance and ignores the night-specific miss penalty, at −1 to the effective CON modifier.

Bastani

Bastani warriors have STR and INT 8–20, DEX and CHA 8–18, and CON and WIS 6–16. Their racial feat, Gold Rider, makes each neutral monster a Bastani kills itself pay the team double gold.

Caelian

Caelian warriors have every attribute between 8 and 18. Their racial feat, Versatile, grants one extra selectable feat slot at level 1.

Playable races

Every warrior belongs to a race. Nine playable races ship: the four peoples Caelian, Tayan, Akashan and Skaldur, the Bastani, and the four peoples' Loom races, The Loom Caelian, The Loom Tayan, The Loom Akashan and The Loom Skaldur. Each Loom race is its people plus the Loom's Coiled Thread and light-blue eyes. A race sets upper and lower caps for each attribute, which the character editor clamps, and attaches a racial feat at level 1. Each playable race's caps and racial feats have their own article in this topic.

Skaldur caps and racial

Skaldur warriors have STR and CON 8–20, INT and CHA 8–18, and DEX and WIS 6–16. Their racial feat, Skuld Heart, grants +1 natural armor and 25% less cold and shock spell damage, and applies −1 to every WIS modifier.

Tayan

Tayan warriors have DEX and CHA 8–20, INT and WIS 8–18, and STR and CON 6–16. Their racial feat, Sylvan Fury, adds both the STR and the DEX modifier to weapon damage, at −1 to the effective CON modifier.

The Loom Akashan

The Loom Akashan keeps Akashan caps, INT and WIS 8–20, DEX and CHA 8–18, STR and CON 6–16, and has two racial feats: Spiritual Senses, spell critical hits at the weapon critical chance and no night-specific miss penalty at −1 to the effective CON modifier, and the Loom's Coiled Thread, which carries action points left unspent at the end of a turn into the next own turn, up to one and a half times base action points, rounded down.

The Loom Caelian

The Loom Caelian keeps Caelian caps, every attribute between 8 and 18, and has two racial feats: Versatile, one extra selectable feat slot at level 1, and the Loom's Coiled Thread, which carries action points left unspent at the end of a turn into the next own turn, up to one and a half times base action points, rounded down.

The Loom Skaldur

The Loom Skaldur keeps Skaldur caps, STR and CON 8–20, INT and CHA 8–18, DEX and WIS 6–16, and has two racial feats: Skuld Heart, +1 natural physical armor and 25% less cold and shock spell damage at −1 to every WIS modifier, and the Loom's Coiled Thread, which carries action points left unspent at the end of a turn into the next own turn, up to one and a half times base action points, rounded down.

The Loom Tayan

The Loom Tayan keeps Tayan caps, DEX and CHA 8–20, INT and WIS 8–18, STR and CON 6–16, and has two racial feats: Sylvan Fury, the STR and DEX modifiers both added to weapon and unarmed damage at −1 to the effective CON modifier, and the Loom's Coiled Thread, which carries action points left unspent at the end of a turn into the next own turn, up to one and a half times base action points, rounded down.

ClassesReviewed subset

Short introductions to selected basics; the game itself holds the full rules.

Bard

The Bard is a jack of all trades, grounded in creativity and Charisma. A Bard has 6 HP at level 1 and gains 6 HP per level. Bards wear light armor only and never carry a shield while they hold any Bard level. The career alone casts no spells: spell slots stay closed until the character owns an Inspiration feat, Arcane, Divine or Natural, up to two.

How careers work

A character takes a career at each level-up. The career defines base stat growth, and the character's attributes modify the result. Player careers have selectable feat slots at levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12. Each playable career has its own article in this topic. Individual feats are not covered here.

Cleric

The Cleric is the first caster driven by Wisdom, trading raw martial damage for divine reach. A Cleric has 8 HP at level 1 and gains 8 HP per level.

Engineer

The Engineer is a Renaissance tech-magic martial career. It has Wizard-level HP but can wear armor and carry shields, because its durability comes from equipment and field machines. The Engineer is feat-based, not a spellcaster. An Engineer has 6 HP at level 1 and gains 6 HP per level.

Ranger

The Ranger is a wilderness hunter who hunts with bow and blade, tougher than a Rogue and lighter than a Warrior. A Ranger has 8 HP at level 1 and gains 8 HP per level.

Rogue

The Rogue is a stealth and precision-strike specialist designed to survive by positioning rather than trading hits. A Rogue has 6 HP at level 1 and gains 6 HP per level.

Shaman

The Shaman is a nature-bound career that casts with Wisdom. A Shaman has 8 HP at level 1 and gains 8 HP per level. Shamans wear no armor of any tier, but they do carry Small and Medium shields; Large and Tower shields are refused. Shaman spells unlock in five tiers on the same cadence as the Cleric.

Warrior

The Warrior is the foundational combat career, a seasoned frontline fighter who excels in melee. A Warrior has 10 HP at level 1 and gains 10 HP per level. The default Warrior heroes are Iron Fist and Moonshot.

Wizard

The Wizard is a low-HP spellcaster: Wizards trade durability for magical reach, and they cannot wear armor and cannot bear shields. A Wizard has 6 HP at level 1 and gains 6 HP per level.

ItemsReviewed subset

Short introductions to selected basics; the game itself holds the full rules.

Armor ladder and shield block

Armor reduces each physical weapon hit by a flat amount after the shield check, with a minimum of 1 damage on a landed hit. Damage reduction and shop cost: Fur 1 (20 gold), Leather 2 (30 gold), Chainmail 3 (40 gold), Lamellar 4 (60 gold), Plate 5 (80 gold), Gold Armor 5 (100 gold). Mid armor (Chainmail, Lamellar) costs −1 DEX and Heavy armor (Plate, Gold) costs −2 DEX without Armor Proficiency, and Wizards and Shamans cannot wear armor. Shield check first: the equipped shield's own block chance is Small 10%, Medium 20%, Large 30% or Tower 40%, and a blocked hit deals 0 damage. Worn armor then subtracts its damage reduction. Blunt weapons subtract their armor pierce (Pick 1, Mace 2, Great Hammer 3) from worn-armor damage reduction, floored at 0, so excess pierce adds no damage: Great Hammer's 3 against Leather's DR 2 removes exactly 2, and pierce is worth exactly 0 against an unarmored target.

Potions, berries and spell scrolls

Healing potions, Magic Berries and spell scrolls share one item pouch with a total cap of 6 charges per warrior, and using an item costs no action points. A Healing Potion costs 20 gold and restores 10 HP, never above maximum HP. A Magic Berry is not sold in the shop: the Magic Berries spell creates it, and it restores 1d4 plus the eater's WIS modifier, minimum 1. A spell scroll restores one spent spell slot of its level and works for caster classes only; scrolls of levels 1 to 5 cost 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 gold. A scroll that cannot be read, because the slots are full, the level is not unlocked or the reader is not a caster, is kept. Stun, Divine Chain and the revive lock block item use; a Sanctuary ward does not.

Resist rings

A character has two ring slots and may wear at most one ring of each name. Fire Resist Ring, Cold Resist Ring and Shock Resist Ring each cost 25 gold, are usable by every class, and reduce that element's typed spell damage by 25%. Worked example: raw cold spell damage of 20 becomes 15 with a Cold Resist Ring. This page is a short highlight, not a complete equipment catalogue.

Shields and who can carry them

There are four shields: the Small Shield blocks 10% of attacks and costs 10 gold, the Medium Shield 20% for 20 gold, the Large Shield 30% for 40 gold and the Tower Shield 40% for 60 gold. Every shop carries all four. The Small Shield may be carried by the Warrior, Cleric, Engineer, Rogue, Ranger and Shaman, the Medium Shield by the same careers except the Rogue, the Large Shield only by the Warrior, Cleric and Engineer, and the Tower Shield only by the Warrior and Engineer. The Tower Shield also requires the Shield Master feat, which only a Warrior, Cleric or Engineer can learn. A Cleric can learn Shield Master but can never carry the Tower Shield. Shield Master adds 10 percentage points to the block chance of any shield the warrior carries, so a Tower Shield then blocks 50%. A warrior with even one Wizard or Bard level cannot carry any shield, whatever its other careers allow. For any other mix of careers, a warrior may carry a shield if any one of its careers is allowed it, so a Rogue with a Warrior level can carry the Large Shield. A shield sits in the shield hand: equipping a two-handed weapon removes it, and a shield cannot be equipped while a two-handed weapon is held. The block roll comes before armor, and a blocked attack deals no damage. This page does not cover Shield Wall, Shield Bash, Shield Cover, Faithful Companion, how axes pierce shields, whether shields stop spells, or how the computer-controlled side buys shields.

Buying at the shop

All shops stock the same items, and stepping onto a shop tile opens the shop automatically. Buying costs the selected buyer 1 AP plus the item's gold price, and the gold comes from the team gold pool, not from the warrior. The shop groups rows into Weapons, Armor and Items tabs: shields and resist rings sit under Armor, potions and spell scrolls under Items, and search filters only the active tab. Several warriors may shop in the same turn if each buyer is standing on a shop tile and has AP. Equipped items cannot be bought again, and two-handed weapons clear the shield hand on equip: Large Sword, Great Hammer, Long Axe, Short Bow, Long Bow, Musket and Crossbow. A warrior may carry at most 3 weapons, counting shields and off-hand weapons but not potions, armor or scrolls, and the shop refuses a fourth before any gold or AP is spent. The Dagger, Short Sword, Pick and Hand Axe rows also offer Buy Offhand: it costs the item's gold plus 1 AP and puts the weapon in the shield hand, replacing any shield, and the main hand must hold a one-handed melee weapon. Only untransformed player and AI roster warriors can shop; the Red Dragon, monsters, companions and a werewolf-transformed warrior cannot. A row the buyer cannot use stays visible with its reason, such as too little AP or gold, an equipped item, a full item pouch, a class restriction or a missing feat.

Sword, bow and blunt ladders

Sword shop ladder (cost, damage dice): Dagger 10 gold 1–4, Short Sword 15 gold 1–6, Longsword 20 gold 1–8, Large Sword 30 gold 2–12. Bow shop ladder (cost, damage dice): Short Bow 10 gold 1–6, Long Bow 20 gold 1–8. Blunt shop ladder (cost, damage dice, armor pierce): Pick 20 gold 1–6 pierce 1, Mace 25 gold 1–8 pierce 2, Great Hammer 40 gold 2–12 pierce 3. A dagger costs 10 gold and every ordinary weapon attack costs 2 action points. Large Sword is two-handed and clears the shield hand on equip. Short Bow and Long Bow both reach 3 hexes, are two-handed and clear the shield hand on equip, and take the day baseline 20% bow miss penalty. Long Bow is large: characters with the Nimble Hand feat (any Rogue) cannot wield it; Short Bow stays available so Rogue archers still work. A blunt weapon subtracts its armor pierce from worn-armor damage reduction. Pick and Mace are one-handed and pair with a shield. Great Hammer is two-handed and clears the shield hand on equip. This is the sword, bow and blunt shop ladders only, not a complete weapon catalogue; class, feat, axe, musket, crossbow and offhand interactions are not covered.

SpellsReviewed subset

Short introductions to selected basics; the game itself holds the full rules.

Elemental riders: Burn, Freeze and Shock Weaken

Fire, cold and shock damaging spells each have a 20% per-hit baseline chance to apply a short debuff to a surviving target. The target's CON modifier adjusts that chance by minus 10 percentage points per point, and the final chance is clamped between 5% and 100%. A rider rolls after the damage pipeline, only when the hit dealt damage and the target survived; magic damage and spells without a damage type never apply one. Burn, from fire: the target loses 2 HP at the start of each of its own-team turns for 2 turns, and a new Burn resets it to the full 2 turns. Freeze, from cold: the target has 2 fewer AP on its next own-team turn only, never below 1 AP, and a repeat Freeze does not stack. Shock Weaken, from shock: the target takes minus 4 STR for weapon and unarmed damage that uses STR, until its next own-team turn ends; it does not affect spell damage, AP, hit chance, armor or shields. The Pyromancer's Brand, Cryomancer's Grip and Storm Capacitor feats raise the matching rider chance to 30, 40, 50 or 60% as the higher of the caster's Wizard and Shaman levels reaches 1, 4, 8 and 12, before the CON adjustment. Riders end when a warrior dies and do not carry over to respawn.

Spell levels and slots

Spell-level access is computed per spellcasting class, not by total character level: a character who takes Wizard for the first time at level 8 is Wizard level 1 for spell access. Wizard, Cleric and Shaman unlock spell level 1 at career level 1, level 2 at 3, level 3 at 6, level 4 at 9 and level 5 at 12. A Bard with an Inspiration feat reaches spell level 1 at Bard level 1, level 2 at 5 and level 3 at 10, never level 4 or 5. Each level gained on an active spellcasting path gives one spell to learn on that path, and learned spells stay with the character. Wizard, Cleric and Shaman share one slot table: 2 level-1 slots at career level 1, rising to 4, 3, 3, 3 and 1 slots of spell levels 1 to 5 at career level 12. The casting attribute's modifier (INT for Wizard, WIS for Cleric and Shaman, CHA for Bard Inspiration) adds one slot per level, or removes one, starting at spell level 1 and covering as many unlocked levels as the modifier's size. For example, INT 16 (modifier +3) gives a level-6 Wizard one extra slot at spell levels 1, 2 and 3. A penalty never drops an unlocked level below 1 slot. Slots are kept in pools by casting attribute: INT, one shared WIS pool for Cleric and Shaman, and CHA, and a spell refuses to cast when its own pool is empty even if another pool has room.

Spellcasting basics

Spells do not roll hit chance and cannot miss. Critical hits do not apply to spells. Every catalogue spell costs 3 action points to cast. A level-1 Wizard has 2 level-1 spell slots before any Intelligence bonus. Damaging spells roll their damage range, then add the caster's attribute modifier when the spell uses that bonus. Resistance is the default mitigation layer for spell damage: most spells skip the physical-armor reduction layer, and typed resistance can reduce the damage instead. A spell with an explicit physical component still has that part reduced by the target's physical damage reduction, such as worn armor. Individual spell lists, feat riders and shield spells are not covered here.

Summoned creatures and the limit of three

Each warrior may have at most 3 living creatures summoned by its own spells at once. The limit counts each caster's own summons, not its whole side's. A summoned creature that dies, is dispelled or expires frees its place at once. At 3, every summoning spell is refused before any AP or spell slot is spent, and the spell menu greys it out with the reason Summon limit reached (3/3). The refusal is enforced when the spell is cast, not only in the menu, so it binds the computer-controlled side too. A companion granted by a feat, such as a Ranger's wolf, never takes one of the three places and is never refused. Constructions such as the Wooden Mantlet, Field Hospital, Cannon, Powder Keg and Regeneration Totem are not summons and take no place. A decoy does not count either. A caster may have only 1 living Ent Elder at a time, and that Elder also takes one of the three places. A Wizard with the Necromancy feat, which needs 15 Intelligence, does not count the undead it summons toward the three and is never refused an undead summon by the limit. Its other summons still take places and are still refused at three, and a Wizard without the feat is limited on undead like anyone else. When a caster dies, every creature it owns leaves the battle the same turn, including creatures summoned by its own summons, and their removal gives no gold or experience. The same happens when a summoned creature that summons others is killed: a killed Ent Elder takes its mushrooms with it and a killed Skeleton Lich its Peasants. An Engineer's fixed constructions do not leave with it. This page does not cover the Attack Drone, what each summoning spell does, what killing a summoned creature is worth, or how the computer-controlled side decides to summon.

FeatsReviewed subset

Short introductions to selected basics; the game itself holds the full rules.

Backstab and the rear arc

Backstab is a passive feat that only a Rogue with at least 13 Dexterity can learn. A melee attack made from the target's rear arc deals a bonus of one six-sided die plus the attacker's Dexterity modifier, and the bonus is never below 0. The bonus is the same at every level. A bow attack never gets it. The bonus is added once and is not doubled by a critical hit. Which hexes form the rear arc depends on the way the target faces. A target facing away from the viewer has the 2 hexes below it as its rear arc, and a target facing the viewer has the 2 hexes above it. A target seen in profile has only 1 rear hex, the one directly behind it: the east hex when it faces left and the west hex when it faces right. The diagonal hexes of a target in profile, and the east and west hexes of a target facing toward or away from the viewer, are its sides, not its back. Monsters and pets have a facing too and follow the same rule. A unit does not turn toward its attacker when it is hit, so a second attack from the same place still lands from behind. This page does not cover Stealth, Shadow Step, Mage Slayer, how a unit's facing is drawn on the map, or how the computer-controlled side moves behind its targets.

Earning feats

Feats let the player shape a character's identity beyond raw stats. The Warrior career grants a feat at levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12: 6 picks across the climb from level 1 to 12. Versatile holders, such as the default Caelian and Loom Caelian warriors, get a bonus slot at level 1 that comes before the six cadence slots, so they can select 7 feats in total. With auto-upgrade on, the next feat in the warrior's default feat path is learned automatically when it can be; otherwise the slot stays pending until the player picks a feat in battle. A feat can only be learned if every prerequisite holds, such as a minimum attribute value: Power Attack needs STR 13. A learned feat is never taken away when an attribute later drops below its threshold. Other careers' feat levels and individual feat effects are not covered here.

Evasion

Evasion is a passive feat that a warrior of any career can learn from level 1 with at least 13 Dexterity. It works only against area damage spells; a single-target spell never rolls it. It does nothing against melee, ranged or unarmed attacks, attacks of opportunity, the Riposte counter or monster natural weapons. Against an area damage spell the warrior rolls a dodge chance made of its Dexterity dodge modifier plus 10% from the feat. Standing on higher ground than the caster adds another 10%. The chance never falls below 5% or rises above 95%. A successful dodge halves the damage, rounded down, before resistance is applied. A failed dodge leaves the damage unchanged. Evasion changes only the damage number: any status effect the spell applies keeps its normal duration. It is always on, and the feat menu shows no Enable or Disable button for it. This page does not cover the Combat Defense brace or other feats that change dodge or damage.

Executioner

Executioner is a passive feat for the Warrior career only, learnable from level 1 with at least 13 Strength. While the target's hit points are below a quarter of its maximum, the attacker's physical attacks deal extra damage equal to 1 plus the attacker's Strength modifier, never less than 1. At exactly a quarter there is no bonus. A warrior with 16 Strength deals 4 extra damage. The bonus is the same at level 1 and level 12. It applies to weapon and unarmed attacks, melee or bow; spell damage never gets it. It stacks with Power Attack and critical hits, and the flat bonus is added on top of the critical-hit dice. When fighting with two weapons, the off-hand swing gets the full bonus too if the target is still below a quarter when it lands. It has no switch and sets aside no action points. This page does not cover Last Stand, Wound or other feats that add damage.

Toggles, cooldowns and permanent feats

Some active feats are toggleable: the character panel shows an Enabled or Disabled button beside them, and a newly learned one starts enabled. A disabled feat contributes zero effect and releases any reserved AP. A toggleable feat may reserve AP while it is enabled, lowering that warrior's AP per turn; switching it on or off takes effect at the next turn start, not this turn. Some active feats start a cooldown after a successful use, counted on the warrior's own team turns: Shadow Step's cooldown is 3. Racial and career-locked feats, such as Versatile, Sylvan Fury and Nimble Hand, are permanent and cannot be switched off. Individual feat effects are not covered here.

Last Stand

Last Stand is a passive feat for the Warrior and Ranger careers, learnable from level 1 with at least 13 Strength. While the attacker's own hit points are below a quarter of its maximum, its physical attacks deal extra damage equal to 1 plus its Strength modifier, never less than 1. At exactly a quarter there is no bonus. A warrior with 16 Strength deals 4 extra damage. The bonus does not grow with level. The defender's health does not matter. It applies to weapon and unarmed attacks, melee or bow; spell damage never gets it. It stacks with Power Attack, Executioner and critical hits, and the flat bonus is added on top of the critical-hit dice. When fighting with two weapons, the off-hand swing gets the full bonus too if the attacker is still below a quarter when it lands. It has no switch and sets aside no action points. This page does not cover Executioner's own rules or other feats that add damage.

Lucky Strike

Lucky Strike is a passive feat for every career, learnable from level 1 with no attribute requirement. It adds 5% to the critical hit chance on top of the flat 5% baseline that everyone has. Any carrier has a 10% critical hit chance. It applies to melee, ranged and unarmed attacks. It also applies to the Mage Slayer swing. An attack of opportunity on a moving enemy and the Shield Bash counter never land a critical hit, so Lucky Strike does not help them. Nothing can critically hit a Gold Armor wearer, so Lucky Strike adds nothing against one. It has no switch and sets aside no action points. This page does not cover Duelist's Critical, Hunter's Mark, Precise Attack, spell critical hits, the Riposte counter or how critical damage is rolled.

Power Attack

Power Attack is a feat that a warrior of any career can learn from level 1 with at least 13 Strength. It is a toggle that sets aside no action points and has no cooldown. While it is on, an attack with the main weapon deals extra damage: one die with as many sides as the attacker's Strength modifier. With a Strength modifier of 1 the die always adds 1, and with a modifier of 0 or less it adds nothing. The same die applies to main-hand melee attacks and to shots from the main ranged weapon, a bow, crossbow or musket. The crossbow and the musket add no Strength modifier to their own damage, but they still add this die. While it is on, every attack with the main weapon also has 20 percentage points less chance to hit, whatever the Strength modifier. The usual lowest and highest hit chances still apply. Precise Attack makes the die roll its highest number. Monsters and companions that fight with a natural weapon count it as their main weapon. It does not apply to the off-hand swing of a warrior fighting with two weapons, to an unarmed attack with no weapon, or to attacks on constructions, rocks and trees. Turning it off removes both the extra damage and the hit penalty until it is turned on again. This page does not cover the Flaming Sword spell, other damage bonuses, or when the computer-controlled side turns Power Attack on.

Second Wind

Second Wind is a passive feat that a warrior of any career can learn from level 1 with at least 13 Constitution. At the start of each of its own turns the warrior regains exactly 1 hit point, never going above its maximum. That is one heal per turn of its own team, not a heal on the enemy's turns. Nothing happens while the warrior is dead, respawning or already at full health. Undead and constructs never regain hit points from it. It is always on: it has no switch to turn it off, sets aside no action points and has no cooldown. A warrior standing on its own base heals from Second Wind first and from the base second. The battle log mentions Second Wind only when it actually heals. Warriors on both sides, player and computer-controlled, heal this way at the start of their turns. This page does not cover other healing feats, healing spells or potions.

Stealth

Stealth is an active feat that a Rogue or Ranger with at least 13 Dexterity can learn. Using it costs 2 AP and hides the warrior from its enemies for 3 turns. Once used, it cannot be used again for 2 turns. Enemies skip a hidden warrior when they choose targets. Its own team still sees it, half transparent, while enemies get no map sprite, no Inspect target and no sidebar badge for it until it is revealed. A computer opponent driven by an AI model is not told about a hidden enemy either, but a side always knows where its own hidden warriors are. Stealth ends at once when the warrior attacks or casts a spell. It also ends when the warrior ends a move within 2 hexes of a living enemy by day, or within 1 hex at night. An enemy with the Keen Eye feat reveals a hidden warrior that ends its own team's turn within 3 hexes of it by day, or within 2 hexes at night. At the start of the warrior's own turn the time left counts down, and Stealth fades when it runs out. An attack made on the same turn the warrior is revealed is a guaranteed critical hit, with a melee weapon or a bow. Against a target wearing Gold Armor, which is immune to critical hits, the warrior is still revealed and the attack goes ahead without the critical hit. A bow shot from Stealth reveals the archer whether it hits or misses. This page does not cover Camouflage, Slip Away, Shadow Step, Backstab, the Light spell, the Invisible Cloak spell or Precise Attack.

Fighting with two weapons

Any warrior can fight with two weapons by carrying a dagger, short sword, pick or hand axe in the off hand while the main hand holds a one-handed melee weapon. No feat is needed to carry the second weapon or to swing it. The Arch Staff can only be held in the main hand. The off-hand weapon takes the shield hand, so it cannot be carried together with a shield, and equipping a shield or a two-handed main weapon removes it. After a normal melee attack against an adjacent target that is still alive, the off-hand weapon makes a free second swing. The whole attack costs the usual 2 action points, and the second swing adds none. The two swings roll to hit separately, and each can miss, be blocked or kill on its own. Without the Dual Weapon Strike feat, carrying two weapons lowers the main swing's hit chance by 40 percentage points and the off-hand swing's by 60. The feat shrinks both penalties as the warrior levels up: the main swing loses 30, 20, 10 and then 0 points from levels 1, 4, 8 and 12, and the off-hand swing loses 50, 40, 30 and then 20. The off-hand penalty never fully clears. The feat needs a Dexterity of 13 and any class can take it. The off-hand swing deals its own weapon's damage plus half the attacker's damage modifier, rounded down, and it never lands a critical hit. Armor and shield piercing come from the weapon making each swing, so a pick or hand axe in the off hand pierces on its own swing. The free swing comes only with a normal attack, not with attacks of opportunity, ripostes or special feat attacks. Chopping a tree or rock works the same way: if the object survives the first chop, the off-hand weapon chops it again. This page does not cover which other feats, spells and weapon effects add to either swing, a lone-blade style that needs an empty off hand, or how the computer-controlled side decides to buy a second weapon.

MapsReviewed subset

Short introductions to selected basics; the game itself holds the full rules.

Fire Dungeon

A volcanic underworld and dragon lair, crossed by a river of lava instead of water. The board is 23 × 22 hexes around a 21 × 20 battlefield. The lava river covers 46 hexes, corner to corner. Step onto lava and you start to Burn, again at the start of each of your turns there. Bridges stay dry.

Fire Dungeon 3D

The Fire Dungeon as the Dragon Forge, a sealed volcanic cavern for the Red Dragon confrontation. It is a development map. Permanent night, lit by warm forge light, with no sun or moon. Turn the camera 360° and tilt it 20–45. Lava, bridges, shops, bases and combat values match the 2D map.

Spindle Stair 3D

The same battlefield as a siege in 3D: the Unbidden assault the cliff-top approach while the Augur's Hand holds the plateau. It is a development map. Turn the camera 360°, tilt it 20–45 and zoom 16–43. Warm daylight, a cool night, magical glow and campfire light. Same layout and rules as the 2D map: water, bridges, elevation and base capture all match.

The Spindle's Stair

The cliff plateau approach to the wizard tower, the Spindle. The Unbidden must break the Augur's Hand to seek the tower's entrance. The board is 23 × 22 hexes around a 21 × 20 battlefield. The Skein, a river of 46 hexes, runs corner to corner. You can walk it, but it is dangerous. 3 dry, safe bridge crossings span it. Each side has a fixed cliff ledge: climb up from your side, with a sheer drop to the river.

BossesReviewed subset

Short introductions to selected basics; the game itself holds the full rules.

How a Boss Fight ends

A Boss Fight puts one Red Dragon against one five-warrior team. The team wins when the Red Dragon's HP reaches 0, and the battle log reads: The Red Dragon has fallen! The team loses when no team warrior is alive, whether or not any are waiting to respawn. Base capture is off in a Boss Fight.

Setting up a Boss Fight

The main menu has two separate choices: Play Mode decides who controls each side, and Game Mode decides what is on the field. Choosing a Game Mode never turns off a Play Mode. Party Battle is the default Game Mode, with two teams of five warriors and the usual ways to win. In a Boss Fight, either the AI has the boss, which is the default, or the player has the boss. The boss-side choice is a dropdown that appears only when Boss Fight is selected. The other side fields its five warriors. The main menu then shows one dragon card for the boss side and five cards for the team. The map choice stays free, so a Boss Fight does not force the Fire Dungeon. The Red Dragon cannot use the shop, and neither can monsters, pets or a warrior with a natural weapon, such as a werewolf. Ordinary team warriors shop as they do in a Party Battle. Companions and inspecting units work as usual. In the character editor the boss side is shown greyed out: its warriors stay visible but cannot be added, removed or edited, and the tooltip reads: Boss Fight — this side is the Red Dragon. The saved warriors on that side are not rewritten. This page does not cover how a Boss Fight ends, the team's starting level, or how the computer plays either side.

The Red Dragon

The Red Dragon is the boss of a Boss Fight. It spawns fully formed at level 24, as Warrior 12 plus Wizard 12, although the warrior level cap stays 12. It has 312 maximum HP, STR 22, DEX 10, CON 20, INT 18, WIS 12 and CHA 8, and 6 AP per turn, 7 while hasted. Its natural attack deals 2d8 plus STR. It has no equipment and cannot equip any, and its body covers a 7-hex disc. Its feats and spells are not covered here.

Not covered hereNot published

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