Behext

Behext Rulebook

Table of Contents

Initiate's Circle (Base Game) Contents

6 Battlemage play mats
6 Willpower markers
5 Player Guides
1st Caster token
Round Tracker and marker
4 Hex tokens
10 Enhancement tokens
100 Spell cards (main deck for Conjuring Wheel)
6 ten-card Battlemage decks: each including these 7 Core cards: 2 Turn Aside Right, 2 Turn Aside Left, 2 Deflect Across, 1 Draw Fire; and 3 unique Battlemage cards marked with their name and likeness
4 Mastery Packs (Do not open until instructed by the rules). Each new Circle of Magic unlocked in the Mastery Packs will reveal a new Battlemage, additional Spell cards, and new mechanics. See page 10-11 for details.

Object

Cast powerful Hexes, alter and strengthen them, while working to weaken other combatant's defenses in a pitched battle of arcane will. Avoid having Hexes detonate upon you by countering with Spell cards played from your hand and deflecting the Hexes back upon your opponents. When you cannot, you are BEHEXT - which results in you losing Willpower and the last player to send it to you (the Hexor) gaining Willpower.

After four Rounds, the player with the highest combined total of Willpower and Victory Points from Spell cards built into their deck, WINS the game.

A Non-Traditional Deck-Building Game

BEHEXT is not the typical "resource engine" driven deck-builder. It is a highly interactive game of arcane combat. As you build your deck, you are instead building the type of interactions you want to have with other players, based on preference and strategy. The Battlemages listed below hint at some of the play styles available.

Nor is BEHEXT a straight-forward game of "buying Victory Points," for all the Spells worth Victory Points are potentially dangerous to play. The chaos they infuse could well be turned against you, so you must weigh their value carefully.

Lastly, BEHEXT is a game where you do not need to wait for newly acquired cards to resurface before playing them. Purchased cards are available for immediate use - and therefore the critical card you need may be awaiting you in the Conjuring Wheel.

The Battlemages and their Magical Disciplines

The Initiate's Circle of BEHEXT includes six Battlemages, each dedicated to a different magical discipline, who vie amongst themselves for power and superiority. Their styles are reflected in their asymmetric, starting decks:

Aethermancer: Specialized in the summoning of new magics from the Conjuring Wheel with increased speed and ease.
Seether: An extremely aggressive style of magic, specialized in inflicting damage and reducing the Willpower of their opponents.
Silencer: A style that seeks to control and dominate through acts of denial; cancelling, minimizing and spoiling the magics of others.
Witherer: This discipline holds that an opponent can't cast what they do not have. Forcing others to discard removes their attacks - and their ability to defend.
Vitae: The Vitae focus their magics on spells that strengthen one's Willpower, heal, and add to their vitality.
Embered: Mages skilled in Burning weaker spell cards from their deck, optimizing and increasing the efficiency of their arsenals. (to BURN is to remove a card from the game)

That said, Battlemages are ultimately shaped by the magics they choose to wield. As a deck-building game, players will be adding to their starting decks over the course of the game with Spell cards from multiple influences. The arsenal you build will allow you to attack and defend in more interesting ways. From game to game, the newly Conjured cards will make each Battlemage wholly unique, so no two plays will ever be quite the same.

Base Game Set Up: The Initiate's Circle

Select a Battlemage

Players should choose a Battlemage with a style suited to their own. Alternatively, have players step out of their comfort zones by simply dealing mages out at random. Each player then takes a Willpower marker as well as the play mat and the corresponding starting deck of the mage they have chosen.

Note that each 10-card starting deck contains 7 Core cards, which are common to all mages, and 3 Discipline specific cards, most of which are improved versions of those in the main deck.

Set Up the Play Area

Place the play mat in front of you. On the Willpower track, place the Willpower marker on the number 5. This is your beginning Willpower. There is no upper limit, but you can never be forced below -5 Willpower. Keeping your Willpower high is key to winning the game.
Read through all your cards to familiarize yourself with them. Then, shuffle your 10-card deck and place it face-down on the upper left side of your play mat. This is your Draw deck.
Leave space around your play mat. As shown in Fig 1, all discarded cards will be placed sideways on the lower left, face-up. The upper right side will display any Charms you play with Standing Effects. Other cards you play during the Round will be kept face-up in the area to the lower right of your play mat. The cards remain visible to all players until discarded at the end of the Round.
Separate all the Hex and Enhancement tokens by type and place them to one side within easy reach. Fig 2.
Put the Round Tracker, Initiate's Circle side up, near the Hex tokens. Place the Round marker on the number 1.
Shuffle the main deck of Spell cards together into 4 roughly equal decks of cards. This should be about 25 cards each. The exact count is not important and will not impact game play.
Flip over the top card of each deck to create the Conjuring Wheel. Read the cards aloud to all players. Reading newly revealed cards will speed play during the game as well.
Choose a player to be the 1st Caster. (It can be the host of the game, or at random) They will take the 1st Caster Token.
Give the 1st Caster a Hex token.

(Fig 1 shows the play mat layout: Starting / Draw deck, Willpower marker, Battlemage play mat, Standing Effect area, Discard area, Played Cards area. Fig 2 shows the set up for a 4-player game: the 4 Spell card decks of the Conjuring Wheel, 1st Caster token, Hex and Enhancement tokens by type, Round Tracker and Round marker.)

Spell Cards - Types and Iconography

Spell cards in BEHEXT come in 5 types, each identifiable by color and iconography. The Player Guide lists all the icons for easy reference, but full details are outlined below.

Standard Deflections

These blue cards are the most prevalent in the game. The primary use of a Standard Deflection is to pass the Hex to an opponent. All Deflections are marked with a passing direction icon on the bottom of the card, indicating which opponents you may target.

Therefore, playing a Deflection is both defensive - and offensive as you target a new player. Many Standard Deflections also have effect text. Importantly, the effects of a Standard Deflections trigger only once, when first played.

Passing Direction Icons

Left: Pass the Hex to the player seated on your immediate Left.
Right: Pass the Hex to the player seated on your immediate Right.
Left / Right: Choose to pass the Hex to the player seated on your immediate Left or Right.
Any player: Pass the Hex to any player of your choice.
Across: This pass varies by player count.
- With 4 or more players, pass the Hex to a player of your choice who is NOT seated to your immediate Left or Right.
- In a 3-player game, pass the Hex to a player of your choice.
Reflect Back: Pass the Hex back to the player who targeted you.
X: This pass has special rules for passing listed in the text of the card. Follow the instructions on the card.

Card anatomy (Standard Deflection example, "Restore")

Conjuring Power: The amount of purchasing power the card gives when discarded.
Card Name & Symbol.
Effect Text (Restore: "Gain 1 Willpower if below 5 Willpower.").
Conjure Cost: The amount of Conjuring Power required to purchase this card.
Passing Direction Icon.

Enhanced Deflections

Enhanced Deflections are purple cards with a hexagon icon at their center. These Spell cards also deflect the Hex, passing the Hex token to an opponent. However, the effect text permanently changes the Hex it is played upon. This change is marked by adding an Enhancement token, of the type indicated on the card, to the Hex. These effects travel with the Hex token forming a Hex Stack. All tokens in the stack are cumulative.

Of course, the enduring nature of these effects mean that they may come back to haunt you, as you are just as likely to be targeted by them. Spells that increase the chaos, and potential danger to you, come with an added benefit - Victory Points. The more dangerous, the more valuable the cards become in your personal deck. These points will add to your end score at the game's conclusion.

Card anatomy (Enhanced Deflection example, "Boost": "+1 Damage.")

Enhancement token: Find this token and add it to the Hex. It forms a Hex Stack, which is passed as one.
Victory Points: An incentive to buy more dangerous cards.

Spell Cards - Types and Iconography (cont.)

Disruptions

Disruptions are typically played to disrupt your opponent's plans. These yellow cards are marked with a Disrupt icon.

Disruptions may be played even when it is not your turn. The power of a Disruption card is that it can be played to cancel or alter other Spell cards as they are played. Or to interrupt a turn with a Disrupt effect before that player takes action. Follow the text on the card.

Note: Disruptions may NOT be played in the Ready phase, a phase in which Charms are occassionally put into play. However, Charms played at other times during a Round can be targeted by Disruptions.

Example, "Null" (Conjuring Power 0, Cost 2): Cancel the last card played. They may play another card from their hand instead.

Charms

Charms are green cards marked with a Charm icon. This icon serves as a reminder to play this card immediately the moment it comes into your hand.

Many Charms are also marked with the Standing Effect icon: This means that the card's effect is in force for the rest of the Round, making Charms potentially very powerful.

Admittedly, some have negative effects to the owning player, making one question their value. However, these are worth Victory Points at the end of the game. How to deal with them before then becomes the operative strategy.

You will notice the Conjuring Power on these cards is gold and bears chains around the value. This is BINDING Conjuring Power, which occurs on cards of many types - and on ALL Charms and Behext cards. Binding means that the card cannot be used to conjure new cards during the Caster's phase, but ONLY in the Gathering phase at the end of the Round. (See Gathering phase for more details.)

Examples: "Poison" (Binding Conjuring Power 4, Cost 1, 3 Victory Points): When you become the Intended, lose 1 Willpower. "Rirrom" (Binding Conjuring Power 1, Cost 3, 1 Victory Point): Draw a card. Hexes you pass cannot be immediately returned to you.

Behext

Red cards, marked with the Behext symbol, are cards that can ONLY be played when the Hex detonates upon you and you become Behext.

Many of the cards reduce or reverse damage being done to your Willpower. Other Behext cards may add to the damage done to you, but are worth Victory Points to tempt you to place them into your deck. They also provide a healthy amount of BINDING Conjuring Power for The Gathering phase, whereas more beneficial cards will negatively impact your Conjuring Power at the end of the Round. In either case, the cards may NOT be played until the Hex detonates upon you. They require patience - as you must play a card to pass the Hex if you legally can.

Negative Conjuring Power counts against your total.

Examples: "Reversal" (Conjuring Power -2, Cost 2): Reverse scoring so that you gain Willpower and the Hexor loses Willpower. "Curse" (Binding Conjuring Power 2, Cost 1, 3 Victory Points): Lose two additional Willpower when you are Hexed.

Playing the Game

BEHEXT is played in a series of rounds. Each round begins with the 1st Caster placing a Hex token into play in front of an opponent and ends when all Hexes in play have detonated. The Initiate Circle game is four Rounds long.

Round Begins

READY Phase

All players draw a hand of 5 cards from their personal Draw deck. ** If at any time you need to draw a card from your deck and it runs out, shuffle your discard pile to form a new Draw deck.
All players place any Charms from their hand immediately into play. **NOTE: Disrupt cards CANNOT be played in the Ready or Clean Up phases of the game.

Allow a moment for players to look at their hand, read their cards and signal they are ready.
The 1st Caster chooses an opponent and places a Hex token in front of them. No card needs to be played to select the first Intended target.

CASTER'S Phase - Player Turn

A player with a Hex token in front of them is called "The Intended." It is your turn to play whenever you become The Intended.

You MUST play a card from your hand to deflect the Hex away from you if you legally can, but first you are given the opportunity to CONJURE (purchase) a new Spell.

CONJURE: (optional) You may Conjure a Spell card from the Conjuring Wheel into your hand. a. To do so, you must discard one or more cards from your hand for its Conjuring Power. At least one card MUST be discarded to Conjure. Cards with BINDING cannot be used. b. Optionally, you may also sacrifice one Willpower to add +1 to your Conjuring Power. Only one Willpower may be sacrificed in this way for a given Conjuring. Using this sacrifice, even discarding a "0" Conjuring Power card would allow a purchase of a Conjure Cost "1" card. c. Select one of the four Spell cards from the Conjuring Wheel with a Conjuring Cost equal to or less than your total Conjuring Power and place the card directly into your hand. Only one Spell card may be Conjured during a player's turn and any extra Conjuring Power is lost. d. If the Conjured card is a Charm, play it immediately. e. Flip the next card on the pile face-up so that the Conjuring Wheel always has four Spell cards revealed.

Conjuring Example

Melodee wants to buy DEMAND, which has a Conjure Cost of 2. Their hand currently holds four cards.

Draw Fire has no Conjuring Power.
Spike has "1" Conjuring Power, but it is BINDING and cannot be used until the Gathering phase.
Turn Aside Left and Deflect Across can generate "1" Conjuring Power each.

Melodee could:

Discard Turn Aside Left and Deflect Across.
OR Discard just one of the cards and pay 1 Willpower.

Either option would generate the 2 Conjuring Power needed to pay for DEMAND.

Melodee decides that keeping Turn Aside Left is important. They discard the Deflect Across and sacrifice 1 Willpower. The DEMAND card goes into their hand immediately.

Any of these four cards could now be played to the Hex in front of them.

Caster's Phase - Player Turn (cont.)

Conjuring Etiquette

Don't wait until your turn to consider whether you will be Conjuring and/or which card you'll want to purchase. Read the cards on the Conjuring Wheel beforehand and adjust your plans as the card pool changes each turn. This will speed the game immensely and make for a much better play experience for everyone.

DEFLECT: You must now play a Deflection or Enhanced Deflection card (even a newly Conjured one) from your hand to pass the Hex.

If you have none, or if you cannot legally play the cards you hold due to an effect in play, proceed to step 8, BEHEXT phase. Remember: If you can pass the Hex, you must pass the Hex.

You are now considered the current "Caster". Play the card face-up into your Played Cards area, leaving it viewable until the Clean Up phase.

Name the target, choosing one if the card provides a choice.

NOTE: Disrupts can cancel or change a Spell card effect. The time to cancel or change a Deflection is when the Caster names a target. This way, effects from playing their card (step 6) don't resolve and then have to be reversed after the fact.

NOTE: If at any time more than one player wishes to act at the same time, start with the 1st Caster and proceed, in order, clockwise around the table.
RESOLVE EFFECTS: Resolve any effects from the card. If an effect would have you draw a card, play any Charms you draw immediately.
PASS THE HEX: The target you named becomes "The Intended" as you pass the Hex token to them.

Repeat steps 4 through 7 until The Intended player has no cards in hand or has no cards that may legally be played. When this occurs, proceed to step 8, BEHEXT phase.

Behext Phase

When a player cannot play a card to deflect the Hex...

The Hex detonates and the player who could not pass it away becomes BEHEXT.
If The Intended holds a red BEHEXT card in their hand, they MUST play one of them and resolve the effect. This is the only time a BEHEXT Spell can be played.

Example: Jonathan is BEHEXT and MUST play one of their two BEHEXT cards. Luckily, they can reverse the scoring and earn Willpower by playing REVERSAL. If they only had CURSE in their hand, they would have been forced to play it and lost 2 additional Willpower.
Willpower Exchange: The Hexor (most recent Caster) gains 1 Willpower and the BEHEXT player loses 1 Willpower. These totals can be changed by various Spells and effects. Adjust each player's Willpower markers accordingly.
Recover: Any player who has not been Behext AND has played only one (or fewer) Deflections (Standard or Enhanced) into their play area gains 2 Willpower. It is unwise to let players sit long without being attacked if you wish to avoid giving them this Willpower gain.

The Gathering Phase

Advance the Round marker by one space on the tracker. a. If the marker crosses the line, into the 5th space, the Initiate Circle game is over. Proceed to End Game Scoring. Note: This means that there is no Gathering phase in the final Round. b. If the marker has not crossed the line, proceed with the Gathering phase.
The Gathering: Starting with the 1st Caster, and proceeding clockwise, each player has a last opportunity to Conjure one Spell card from the Conjuring Wheel this Round. a. If you have cards remaining in your hand, total their Conjuring Power. b. Add the Conjuring Power of any Charms you have in play.

NOTE: Cards with BINDING Conjuring Power (in hand and/or Charms) MAY be used to Conjure in the Gathering phase.

c. If you have no cards in hand and no Charms, you may not Conjure a last card this round. d. You may optionally add +1 Conjuring Power by sacrificing a Willpower, so long as you had cards in hand or Charms in play. e. Conjure a Spell card from the Conjuring Wheel with a Conjuring Cost equal to or less than your Conjuring Power. Only one Spell card may be Conjured and all remaining Conjuring Power is lost. f. The Conjured card is placed on top of your personal deck. g. Flip the next card on the pile face-up so that the Conjuring Wheel always has four Spell cards revealed. h. Repeat these steps, in a clockwise direction, until all players have had an opportunity to Conjure once.

Gathering Example

At the end of the Round, Greg has three cards left in hand, with a total of 3 Conjuring power (0 + 1 + 2 = 3). They also have 2 Charms in play, which total to 1 Willpower (3 and -2 = 1). (BINDING Conjuring Power may be used in The Gathering.) That is 4 Conjuring Power total. The Turn Aside Left and Deflect Across cards were played this round but are not used for The Gathering.

With 4 Conjuring Power, Greg is one shy to purchase Marked Man (Cost 5, "Draw 3 cards."). So, they choose to sacrifice 1 WP to gain the extra +1 power they need.

The newly purchased Marked Man is placed face-down onto the top of their Draw deck, where it will be the first card placed in Greg's hand next Round.

Clean Up Phase

Remove all Hex tokens from the play area and place them back, by type, to their holding area on the table.
Simultaneously, players now place all Charms, all cards from their Played Cards area, and all remaining cards from their hand, face-up, into their discard pile.
Advance the 1st Caster token, clockwise, to the next player around the table.
Give one standard Hex token to the new 1st Caster.
Burn the top Spell card from each pile in the Conjuring Wheel and remove them from the game. Reveal the next Spell card in each pile and read them aloud to all players to prepare them for the next round.

BURN: In all instances in the game, the term "BURN" means that the card is removed from the game. Place the cards to one side of the table or back in the box.

Game Over / End Game Scoring

After 4 rounds of play have been completed, the Initiate's Circle game is over.

Each player calculates their score:

1 Victory Point for each Willpower currently marked on your play mat.
Plus the total Victory Point amount printed on the Spell cards in your deck (in any area, Played, Discarded, etc)

The player with the highest total Victory Points is the winner.

Tie Breakers

The player with the highest Willpower.
The deck with the highest total Conjuring Cost of all the cards combined.
The deck with the fewest Core cards.

Mastery Packs

Within just a few plays, players will begin to identify Spell cards by sight, without having to read each one everytime they are revealed. This will greatly diminish play time. It will also allow the full game to be introduced in stages.

Each new Circle of Magic unlocked in the Mastery Packs will reveal a new Battlemage, additional Spell cards, and new mechanics.

For the best experience, open these packs when instructed by the rules, in order.

Inside each box are the components and full rules for the added content.

Round Summary

Round Begins

READY Phase:

All players draw a hand of 5 cards from their personal deck.
All players place any Charms from their hand (Green cards) immediately into play.
The 1st Caster chooses a target and places a Hex token in front of them.

CASTERS Phase - Player Turns: When you have a Hex token in front of you, you are The Intended. It is now your turn to play.

CONJURE: (optional) You may Conjure a Spell card from the Conjuring Wheel into your hand. a. Discard (at least) one or more cards from your hand for their Conjuring Power. b. Optionally, you may also sacrifice one Willpower to add +1 to your Conjuring Power. c. Select one of the four Spell cards from the Conjuring Wheel with a Conjuring Cost equal to or less than your total Conjuring Power and place the card directly into your hand. Only one Spell card may be Conjured and any extra Conjuring Power is lost. d. If the Conjured card is a Charm, play it immediately. e. Flip the next card on the pile face-up so that the Conjuring Wheel always has four Spell cards revealed.
DEFLECT: You must now play a Deflection or Enhanced Deflection card (even a newly Conjured one) from your hand to pass the Hex. If you have none, or if you cannot legally play the cards you have due to an effect in play, proceed to step 8, BEHEXT phase. Announce your target. (this is when Disrupts of that Spell are played) Place the card face-up into your Played Cards area, leaving it viewable until the Clean Up phase.
RESOLVE EFFECTS: Resolve any effects from the card. If an effect would have you draw a card, play any Charms you draw immediately.
PASS THE HEX: Pass the Hex token to the new Intended target.

Repeat steps 4 through 7 until the Intended player has no cards in hand or has no cards that may legally be played.

BEHEXT Phase: 8. The Hex detonates and the player who could not pass it away becomes BEHEXT. 9. If the Intended holds a (red) BEHEXT card in their hand, they must play ONE of them and resolve the effect. 10. Willpower Exchange: Default - The Hexor (most recent caster) gains 1 Willpower, the BEHEXT player loses 1 Willpower. Adjust each player's Willpower markers accordingly. 11. Recover: Any player who has not been Behext AND has only played one or fewer Deflections (Standard or Enhanced) into their play area gains 2 Willpower.

THE GATHERING Phase: 12. Advance the Round Marker by one space. a. If the marker crosses the line, into the 5th space, the Initiate Circle game is over. Proceed to End Game Scoring. b. If the marker has not crossed the line, proceed with The Gathering phase. 13. The Gathering: Starting with the 1st Caster, and proceeding clockwise, each player has a last opportunity to Conjure one Spell card from the Conjuring Wheel. a. If you have cards remaining in your hand, total their Conjuring Power. b. Add the Conjuring Power of any Charms you have in play. (BINDING Conjuring Power may be used in the Gathering phase.) c. If you have no cards in hand and no Charms, you may not Conjure a last card this round. d. You may optionally add +1 Conjuring Power by sacrificing a Willpower, so long as you have a card in hand and/or a Charm in play. e. Conjure a Spell card from the Conjuring Wheel with a Conjuring Cost equal to or less than your Conjuring Power. Only one card may be Conjured and all remaining Conjuring Power is lost. f. The Conjured card is placed on top of your personal deck. g. Flip the next card on the pile on the Conjuring Wheel face-up so that it always has four Spell cards revealed. h. Repeat these steps, in a clockwise direction, until all players have had an opportunity to Conjure once.

CLEAN UP Phase: 14. Remove all Hex tokens from the play area and place them back, by type, to their holding area on the table. 15. Discard all Charms, all cards from the Played Area, and all remaining cards from your hand into your discard pile. 16. Advance the 1st Caster token, clockwise, to the next player around the table. 17. Give one standard Hex token to the new First Caster. 18. Burn the top Spell card from each pile in the Conjuring Wheel and remove them from the game. Reveal the next Spell card in each pile and read them aloud to all players, then begin a new Round.