Endogenesis: 2nd Edition

Endogenesis: 2nd Edition Rulebook

Table of Contents

Components

Shards (100), Energy Markers (16), Player Aids (5), Bags (2), Health Markers (6), Max Health Markers (6), Prisms (16), Game Mat (1), Player Cards (5)
Realm of Knowledge: 60 cards — Skills (40; 30 Basic, 10 Ultimate), Artifacts (20)
Realm of Chaos: 40 cards — Monsters (15), Legendaries (9), Events (10), Distortions (6)
Realm of Wonder: 15 Wonder cards
Classes (6)

Endogenesis Game Modes

Standard — 2-3 players, 45-90 minutes. The complete, competitive Endogenesis experience: experience the full range of Endogenesis' mechanics and content. This mode can also support 4-5 players but only if all involved are very experienced. New groups of 4-5 players are encouraged to try the Tactical variant instead.

Chaos Royale — 1-2 players, 45-60 minutes (solo or co-op adventure against the tides of Chaos). Tactical — 3-5 players, 45-60 minutes (a faster, streamlined experience for new groups of players). Neither variant is available in the Tabletopia version of the rulebook.

Learning Endogenesis

The following pages cover the full range of mechanics, rules and details for the standard mode of play. For sections where there are differences in rules in a specific variant, an icon is included beside the header and a banner at the end briefly identifies said differences (Chaos Royale icon and Tactical icon). For sections where these banners are not included, it can be assumed that the rules and descriptions under those sections are applicable across all game modes.

About Standard Play

2-3 cosmic spirits vie for godhood in a battle against each other and the forces of chaos.

As a cosmic spirit, customize your power set using Skills gained from the otherworldly Realm of Knowledge, and use Shards earned by defeating enemies to grow your character by upgrading Skills or improving your Max Health. Be the first to collect 3 Prisms for absolute victory, or 2 Prisms for a conditional point-based victory!

Components Function

During setup, players receive a Player card with Health markers, starter Skills from the Realm of Knowledge, and Shards. Players will choose 2 Skills to keep, discard the rest, then draw 4 more cards. After setup is complete, players enter a customization phase where they'll choose which Skills to equip by putting them into play, and how to spend their Shards. Active Skills are played face-up, while Reaction Skills are played face-down.

Player card and Health markers track your Health. Shards are used to upgrade Skills or increase Max Health.

All other players are your enemies, but also joining the fray are Monsters from the Realm of Chaos. Prior to starting the game, cards are drawn from the Realm of Chaos until Monsters appear. Injuring or defeating Monsters is the primary way of gaining rewards like Shards and cards from the Realm of Knowledge, all of which are needed to further improve your characters.

Save for the first round, each round consists of a Draw Phase where players will draft cards from the Realm of Knowledge, and a Combat Phase where players take turns to perform actions. There are many types of actions, but turns typically involve discarding cards to gain Energy, and then using Skills by expending Energy.

Players will use Active Skills to attack their enemies, or to defend themselves with Reaction Skills. Skills typically can only be used once, and must be exhausted after use. All exhausted Skills are refreshed to their ready states when the active player ends their turn.

When slain, Legendary Monsters grant Prisms which are needed for victory. As players can perform multiple actions in any order during their turns, figuring out the optimal chain of actions with their Skills is key to maximizing character growth and becoming strong enough to defeat Legendary Monsters!

Skills (Card Anatomy)

A Skill card shows: Skill Category, Energy Cost, Skill Type, Skill Effect, Discard Energy Value (top right corner), Upgraded Stats, and Setup Markers (markers identifying a Starting card, a card used in Chaos Royale, and a card used in Tactical mode).

If the Skill cost has a *, this means that it's variable (e.g. the Skill cost reduces with Shard upgrades).

Icon Legend: Energy; Damage; Bonus Damage; Defence; Health; Shard; 2x Shards.

Skill Types: Active Skill; Reaction Skill; Ultimate Active Skill.

Upgrading Skills

Skills can be upgraded by placing Shards on the space under the Skill. The potency of the card's effect is replaced by the values listed in the Upgraded Stats. Basic Skills can be upgraded with up to 4 Shards, and Ultimate Skills up to 6 Shards.

Fixed allocation: Once allocated to a slot, Shards cannot be moved around. (Unless forced to do so by the game!)
Replacing Skills: When an upgraded Skill is replaced, its allocated Shards are applied to the newly equipped Skill.

Monsters (Card Anatomy)

When Monsters come into play, their health is marked with Health and Max Health markers as specified by their Health values. Some Monsters have an Injury Threshold, which means that a Shard is awarded when a player damages them below the stated numbers. When the Monster is slain, rewards are given out as listed on the card (Shard, Prism, Realm of Knowledge card). More will be explained later under Arrival Action (see "Sequence of Play").

A Monster card shows: Monster Type, Health, Injury Thresholds, Monster Skills, and Kill rewards. Setup markers show whether the card is used in Chaos Royale or Tactical.

Setup Instructions (Tabletopia Version)

Find the "Setting up" board and follow its written instructions ("Do this before playing!"):
1. Each player draws 4 cards from Pile A into their hand.
2. Players choose 2 cards to keep and place the rest back on Pile A.
3. Each player draws 4 cards from Pile B into their hand.
4. Combine and shuffle Piles A, B and C to form the Realm of Knowledge deck and place it on the marked area on the game mat.
5. Place the above cards on top of the Realm of Chaos deck on the game mat and you're ready to begin!
All players start at 3 Max Health, as signified by the Health markers placed on the (3) circle on their health meters. All players have also been given 3 Shards, under the un-used Shards section. All players may now begin customizing their characters.

Customizing Your Character

Each player may now customize their character by equipping Skills and spending Shards.

Equipping Skills: Skills are equipped by placing them on the space in front of you. Active Skills are placed face-up, while Reaction Skills are hidden from other players and are placed face-down. You may equip a maximum of 3 Skills and 1 Ultimate Skill. An Ultimate Skill may only be equipped if you are already armed with 3 Skills. Reserve space in front of you for four Skill cards, and more space below the Skills for Shards, which are used to upgrade Skills.

Spending Shards: Shards are used to upgrade equipped Skills or your Health. To upgrade a Skill, place any number of Shards under the Skill card. (See "Skills > Upgrading Skills") To upgrade your Health, return any number of unused Shards to the bag and move both Health markers forward, once for each Shard returned. Upgrading your Health up to 10 costs 1 Shard per Health point. Once your Health reaches 10, upgrading will cost 2 Shards per Health point.

Wonders: On each Player card is a special marking for the 5, 10, and 15 Health point milestones. When you hit these milestones with your Max Health marker, you gain a Wonder card: draw 2 Wonder cards, choose one to keep and discard the other.

Customization Tip — for newer players, a good starting point is to do the following:

Equip the 2 Active Skills that you were given as starting cards.
Spend 2 Shards to upgrade your max Health to 5, which allows you to absorb more damage without dying and lets you acquire a Wonder card early on.
Equip the last Shard to an Active Skill that will maximize your early damage output.

Once all players are done customizing, the game may begin. Choose a player that will start first. In Endogenesis, the turn order does not rotate between rounds. The last two players within the round will receive a bonus (these can only be used/allocated during the player's turn):

2nd to last player: Draw an extra Realm of Knowledge card.
Last player: Gain an extra Shard.

(Chaos Royale and Tactical variants: the last two players of the round do not receive the extra Shard and Realm of Knowledge card bonuses.)

Winning the Game

For the standard mode of play, the game ends when a player collects 3 Prisms, or when two players collect 2 Prisms each. Prisms are acquired by slaying Legendary Monsters.

If the game ends with a player collecting 3 Prisms, that player wins the game.

If the game ends with two players collecting 2 Prisms, both players compare scores based on the following and the player with the higher score wins the game:

Each Max Health from 0-10 = 1 point
Each Max Health from 11-15 = 2 points
Each Shard collected (equipped or otherwise) = 1 point

For sessions involving 4-5 players or where a shorter game is desired, the amount of Prisms required for one player to win can be reduced to 2.

Sequence of Play

Each round of Endogenesis consists of two phases:

The Draw Phase, where all players simultaneously draw cards from the Realm of Knowledge.
The Combat Phase, where players and the Monster will take turns to perform actions. Players take turns to perform actions; the Monster takes its turn last.

The Monster will always take its turn after the last player ends their turn, and the end of the Monster's turn indicates the end of the round.

For the first round of the game, the Draw Phase is skipped. Instead, flip the top card of the Realm of Chaos deck face-up, perform the Arrival Action (see below), then start directly from the Combat Phase.

Arrival

Over the course of the game, otherworldly Monsters, Events and Distortions invade your reality from the Realm of Chaos. These invasions are handled through the Arrival Action.

To perform the Arrival Action, shift the top face-up card of the Realm of Chaos deck onto the discard slot to the right, signifying that it is now in effect.

If the card is an Event, its effects occur immediately. Continue revealing more cards from the Realm of Chaos deck and placing them onto the discard slot.
If the card is a Distortion, shift it up to the labelled section of the Game Mat. Distortions trigger their effect at the end of each round. Continue revealing more cards from the Realm of Chaos deck and placing them onto the discard slot.
Only when the card is a Monster or Legendary Monster will the player stop revealing new cards.

When a Monster or Legendary Monster is drawn, do the following:

Based on the Monster's Health, place the Health and Max Health markers on the appropriate marked slots. (E.g. if the Monster has 8 Health, place both markers on 8, with the smaller Health marker on top of the Max Health marker.)
Many Monsters have Injury Thresholds that reward players for damaging them. Based on the numbers listed on the card, place 1 Shard on each of the corresponding numbers on the Health tracker. (E.g. if the thresholds are at 6 and 4 Health, place Shards on the slots numbered 6 and 4.) When a player damages the Monster and reduces their Health to equal or below any of these numbers, they collect the Shard as their reward.
If the Monster has an Initiative Skill, its effects occur at this point. For the very first round of the game, Initiative Skills do not trigger.

The final step of the Arrival Action is to flip the top card of the Realm of Chaos deck face-up. This allows all players to see what comes next when the Arrival Action occurs again. Then, the game may continue (or begin, if this is the first round of the game).

Over the course of the game, the Arrival Action must be performed whenever the current Monster or Legendary has been slain (its Health is reduced to 0). The player whose turn is active is suspended from taking any other actions during this period, until a new Monster or Legendary is drawn, after which that player's turn resumes.

Draw Phase (2nd round onwards)

All players (dead or alive) draw 3 cards from the Realm of Knowledge, and choose 1 card to discard. The discarded card can be from your hand or from the 3 drawn cards.

After cards have been dealt and discarded, the round moves to the Combat Phase.

Combat Phase

You — the starting player — begin your turn. You can choose to perform the following actions and they can be done multiple times during your turn in whatever order you deem optimal:

Gain Energy: You may gain Energy by discarding cards in your hand. The amount of Energy gained is listed on the card's top right corner. Artifacts can be used and discarded to give Energy as well, often with a secondary effect attached. Collect Energy markers when you gain Energy to track their amount. All unused Energy is lost when you end your turn.
Use Skills: Expend Energy to use Active Skills, or Reaction Skills if the situation allows it. After using a Skill it is exhausted and cannot be used again in the current turn. Rotate the Skill card slightly diagonally to the right to signify that it is exhausted.
Equip Skills: Equip Skills by placing them on the space in front of you. Active Skills are placed face-up, while Reaction Skills are hidden and placed face-down.
- You may have a maximum of 3 basic Skills and 1 Ultimate Skill.
- An Ultimate Skill may only be equipped if you already have 3 Skills equipped.
- You may replace existing Skills with new ones. The replaced Skills are discarded, but you gain Energy based on the discarded Skills' values.
Upgrading: Your Shards can be used to upgrade Skills (see "Upgrading Skills") or your Max Health. Once your Health reaches 10, upgrading will cost 2 Shards per Health point.
Gain a Class: Play a Glyph of Ascension card (see "Artifacts") when you qualify for any of the Classes' requirements (see "Classes").
Playing Wonder cards: Unless otherwise specified, Wonder cards are played during your turn only.
Rest: If you end your turn without using a Skill or playing a Wonder card, your turn is considered a rested turn and you draw a Realm of Knowledge card into your hand.

The following events commonly occur during this phase:

a. Dealing/taking damage: If the Monster or a player takes damage, move their Health marker accordingly to reflect this change. Damage does not affect the Max Health marker. (Example: a player at 5 of 8 Health.)

b. Injury: If you damage a Monster and their Health hits or exceeds an Injury Threshold, you collect the Shard from the numbered thresholds. (Example: Injury Thresholds at 4 and 6.)

c. Slaying: If you kill a Monster, you collect rewards as specified on the Monster's card. If you kill another player, you gain a Shard and the slain player suffers certain penalties (see "Reward for Killing" and "Death"). The possible rewards from killing Monsters/players are Shards, Realm of Knowledge cards and Prisms.

d. Suspension: Occurs when the Monster in play is slain or has escaped. Your turn is suspended at this time: no actions may be performed and you must perform the Arrival Action. Once another Monster has appeared, you resume your turn.

End: You may choose to end your turn at any time. Upon ending your turn, you may not have more than 7 Realm of Knowledge cards in your hand — any excess must be discarded (this limit does not apply to Wonder cards). The next player in line begins their turn, and the cycle repeats.

Important things to note when ending your turn:

All leftover Energy is lost.
All players' exhausted Skills are refreshed.
All temporary effects like "mark" expire.

Monster's turn: The Monster takes its turn after the last player of the round ends their turn. During their turn, the Monster uses its Active Skill and then ends its turn. The round then ends: any "End of Round" effects occur (such as with Distortions), and a new round begins with the Draw Phase.

Chaos Royale: sequence of play and turn actions are similar, but slaying Legendary Monsters triggers a new Monster slot to open up. Tactical: sequence of play and actions during the Combat Phase contain many differences. (Neither variant is included in the Tabletopia rulebook.)

Acting & Inactive Characters

During the Combat Phase, when a player or Monster begins their turn, they are considered to be the acting character. There will only be one acting character at any point of time. While a player is managing his turn as the acting character, all other players and the Monster in play are considered to be inactive characters. Inactive characters may only use Reaction Skills if they are a target of incoming hostile Skills. Certain Wonder cards may also be played in this instance.

While players have a choice of whether or not to use their Reaction Skills, Monsters with Reaction Skills will use them by default, but only against the first hostile Active Skill that affects them during any given turn.

Using Skills

Active Skills can only be used during your turn. Energy is required to use Skills. The most common ways of gaining Energy is by discarding cards on hand or using Artifacts. Collect Energy markers when you gain Energy to track their amount.

Any unused Energy is lost when a turn ends. When a character's turn begins, all characters are assumed to start with zero Energy.

Using Reaction Skills

A Reaction Skill can be used any time in response to a hostile Skill by a player or Monster (including other Reaction Skills), as long as its conditions are satisfied. Reaction Skills have a wide variety of effects, but most provide Defence, which refers to the amount of damage that is absorbed by the Skill.

Like Active Skills, they require Energy to activate. However, because Reaction Skills are equipped face-down, their usage is different:

Upon deciding that you want to use a Reaction Skill, you first must reveal it by turning it face-up.
You then pay the Skill's Energy cost (by discarding cards or using Artifacts) and its effects occur.
After the effects are resolved, return the Reaction Skill to your hand.
You then immediately equip a Reaction Skill of your choice to the same slot, face-down and exhausted. It can be the same Reaction that was returned, or an entirely different one.

Reaction Skills have the following limitations:

Each player may use only one Reaction Skill against the effects of one incoming hostile Skill that affects them.
Reaction Skills cannot be played against hostile Skills with true strike. They also cannot be played against Events, Distortions or Wonders.
The effects of one Reaction Skill will only apply to the incoming Skill it's played against. This means that any "leftover" Defence will not apply to future attacks.

Skill Usage Limitations

One use per turn: After equipped Skills are used, they are exhausted, which means they cannot be used again in the current turn. The same applies to Monster's Skills — they will only be used once during the current character's turn. To track the exhausted Skills, rotate the Skill card slightly diagonally to the right after usage to signify that it is exhausted. All equipped Skills by players and Monsters are refreshed whenever a turn ends and another begins.

Newly equipped Skills are exhausted: When you equip a Skill, the equipped Skill enters the game in an exhausted state. This means that newly equipped Active Skills can only be used on your next turn, while Reaction Skills are available for use when the next character begins their turn.

Note that this also means that you may use each Reaction Skill equipped only once per character's turn. Using a Reaction Skill causes it to be replaced by another Reaction Skill (or by itself), thus it enters the game exhausted.

Here's an example to illustrate how this works:

During another player's turn, they use an Active Skill to deal damage to all enemies, including you.
You use a Reaction Skill to mitigate this damage. The Skill is returned to hand and you replace it with a new one.
The player continues his turn, this time dealing single-target damage to you.
You cannot use the newly equipped Reaction Skill due to it being equipped in an exhausted state. When the player's turn ends the new Reaction Skill will then be available for use.

Tactical: Skills can only be upgraded and equipped during the Preparation Phase of each round. (Not included in the Tabletopia rulebook.)

Monster Skills

Active: Takes effect when the Monster's turn begins. Some Monsters have Active Skills that involve drawing a card as part of its effect. The card drawn will always be from the Realm of Knowledge unless otherwise specified. Any cards the Monster draws are discarded when its turn ends.
Reaction: Takes effect automatically when the Monster is affected by a player's first hostile skill. Can only trigger once per character turn.
Initiative: Takes effect the moment the Monster is put into play.
Deathcry: Takes effect immediately when the Monster is slain. A Deathcry's effect begins only after all Skills that caused the Monster's death have been resolved, but before the Monster's kill reward is given out to the slayer.
Mercy: Attached to Monsters that are deemed to be particularly difficult. If no player has Max Health equal to or more than the amount stated, the Monster "leaves" — it is returned to the bottom of the Realm of Chaos deck. The current acting player then continues performing the Arrival Action.

Terminology

"Deal X damage": Unless the number or type of target is specified (e.g. to all enemies / to Monster), the damage dealt is directed to a single enemy of your choice.
"Reflect X damage": Ignores damage and deals it back to the attacker. You cannot reflect more damage than you originally received.
"Draw a card / Discard a card": Unless otherwise specified, the word "card" in these phrases generally refers to cards from the Realm of Knowledge.
"Restore X Health": Unless otherwise specified, using Skills/Wonders/Artifacts that restore Health will only restore Health to the user.
"Lose X Health": Health loss is different from being dealt damage. Cards with the use condition "...when you receive fatal damage" cannot be used if a Skill's health loss effect leads to your death.
"Refresh an exhausted Skill": Renders an exhausted Skill usable again in the current turn. Rotate the Skill card back upright to signify that it's been refreshed.
"Exhaust a Skill": Renders a Skill exhausted, making it unable to be used in the current turn.
"Mark an enemy": Apply the "mark" status on an enemy. Certain Mythic Skills have bonus effects against marked targets. The mark expires when the current character's turn ends.

Artifacts

Apart from Skills, the Realm of Knowledge also contains Artifacts. When used, most Artifacts provide Energy with a bonus effect, and are then discarded. An exception is the Glyph of Ascension, which can be used to acquire a Class (see "Classes"). The Glyph of Ascension can also be converted to Energy.

If a Monster or player uses a Skill that requires them to draw a card for its Energy value, and an Artifact is drawn, the Artifact's Energy value is considered to be the base Energy given by the Artifact. This means that the rest of the card text is ignored. (E.g. conditional bonus Energy, Health restoration effects and so on.)

While you're an inactive player, Artifacts can only be used if you're intending to use the Energy to activate Reaction Skills. They cannot be "overused" in a way that would leave you with more Energy than you need to use the Skill. For example, you cannot use 3 Demon Blood cards to gain 3 x 2 = 6 Energy, when your Reaction Skill only requires 2 Energy to activate.

Wonders

Acquisition

Wonder cards are extremely powerful single-use cards that can easily turn the tide of the game. Save for acquiring the Enigma class, Wonder cards can only be acquired when your Max Health hits the Health point milestones of 5, 10, and 15.

When you acquire a Wonder card this way, draw 2 cards from the Realm of Wonder, choose 1 to keep and discard the other. This only applies to drawing Wonder cards from reaching the Health checkpoints — for all other cases of drawing Wonder cards (such as acquiring Cosmic's Enigma Class), you simply draw the number of Wonder cards as stated.

Usage

Unless otherwise stated, you can only play Wonder cards when it's your turn during the Combat Phase. Discard them after use.

For all intents and purposes, a Wonder card does not count as a "card in hand." They do not count towards the hand limit of cards, nor are they taken into consideration for Skills or Wonder cards that account for the number of cards in hand.

Because Wonders are not Skills, Reaction Skills cannot be played in response to them.

Death

Your character dies when your Health reaches 0. When that happens, you remain dead until the start of your next turn, during which you'll revive to full Health but in a Weakened state.

While dead, Skills and Wonders have no effect on you. Events and Distortions still apply to you, save for effects that restore Health.

Weakened: While Weakened, all Shards you've allocated to upgrade your Skills are temporarily disabled. To signify this, place the lower half of your Skill cards over their allocated Shards, obscuring them. You can still perform any action you normally would, but when using your Skills, their effects are activated at their base, un-upgraded levels. While you may allocate Shards to upgrade your Skills, the Skills cannot utilize the Shard upgrades until after the Weakened penalty ends. The Weakened penalty expires at the start of your next turn, during which you slide the Skill cards upwards, revealing the allocated Shards once more.

The Weakened penalty cannot apply to a player two rounds in a row. If you're killed again while you're Weakened, you revive on your next turn without the Weakened penalty.

Chaos Royale: player death triggers a loss for all players. Tactical: the above death penalties do not apply — instead, all dead characters revive when a turn ends and another begins. (Not included in the Tabletopia rulebook.)

Reward for Killing

Killing a Monster: When a player kills a Monster, they collect rewards as listed on the Monster's card under "Kill".
Killing a player: When a player kills another player, the slayer is awarded 1 Shard.
Reward assignment: The reward for killing a character goes to the character who deals the killing blow. This includes inactive characters, who may also kill other characters if their Reaction or Wonder cards allow them to. (E.g. using Dispersion to deal lethal damage back at the attacker.)

Chaos Royale: as a solo/co-op mode, players cannot kill each other.

Skill Mechanics

Bonus & Variable Damage

In Endogenesis, certain Skills deal damage based on a condition. For example, Skills like Pulsar deal bonus damage when used against Monsters, while Blood Force deals a variable amount of damage based on how much Health the user has. Unless otherwise stated, bonus and variable damage will always be calculated at the point when the Skill is used. An example of an exception to this is Shadow Flare, which deals bonus damage after it's been ascertained that no Reaction Skills have been used in response to it.

When variable damage is redirected to another target, that damage will not be re-calculated. Here's an example of how it works:

Player A uses Pulsar to deal 1 damage to Player B and the Monster. Pulsar deals 2 bonus damage to Monsters, so the damage to the Monster is calculated as 1+2 = 3.
Player B uses Warp to redirect the incoming 1 damage of Pulsar to the Monster. While the target of that damage is now a Monster, the redirected damage is not recalculated, so the amount of redirected damage remains at 1.

Skill Effect Order

Skills will always resolve their effects in the order that they're written, and will take into account all previously resolved effects when checking for a condition. For example, Thorn Burst causes the user to lose 2 Health, then deals damage to two enemies, with bonus damage if the user is below 50% Health. In this case, the condition is checked for after the user loses 2 Health.

When exactly the conditional check occurs depends on what the check is for. For example:

If the Skill effect check is for calculating bonus or variable damage (e.g. bonus damage vs. Monster), it occurs instantly unless otherwise stated.
If the Skill effect checks for when a character dies (e.g. Annihilate), then it occurs after all the previous effects of the Skill (such as dealing damage), and after any Reaction Skills or Wonders interacting with the original Skill have been fully triggered.
If the Skill effect checks for if a Reaction Skill was used (e.g. Mindblast), then the check occurs after all characters have made their decision on whether to use a Reaction Skill.

Speed of Resolving Damage

There will be instances in Endogenesis where two or more characters deal enough damage to kill an enemy, thus requiring players to identify who exactly deals the killing blow. This is important, as it will decide who receives the kill reward. In cases like these, it is important to remember that damage dealt will always be resolved in the order in which Skills were used.

As such, the speed of damage that's been reflected or redirected will always be slower than the original source of said damage. Here's an example:

There are three players: A, B, C. Player A is the first player, while Player C is the last player of the round before the Monster takes its turn. The Monster has 6 Health.
During his turn, Player B uses a Skill that deals 3 damage to all enemies.
Being next in line to respond, Player C uses a Reaction Skill that redirects the damage she receives to the Monster.
The damage from Player B's Skill will resolve first, followed by Player C's Reaction Skill. Which means that in this case, Player C is considered to have dealt the killing blow and gets the kill reward.

In the above example, it is important to note that if the Monster had 3 Health instead of 6, then Player B's initial 3 damage would have been enough to kill the Monster, which means he'll be awarded the kill reward instead.

Skill Effects

Mark: Certain Mythic Skills have the effect of marking enemies, allowing subsequent Mythic Skills to trigger bonus effects when used against a marked target. The mark status expires when one turn ends and another begins. For example: if a player uses an Active Skill to mark all other characters, the mark effect ends as soon as that player ends their turn.
True Strike: Skills with this effect cannot be responded to with any Reaction Skill. Certain reactive Wonder cards can still be used. Monsters use Reaction Skills automatically, and while they cannot do so against Skills with true strike, they will still react if attacked in the same turn by another hostile Skill without true strike.

Action Order

There will be instances in Endogenesis where multiple characters are attempting to perform actions simultaneously, thus requiring that the actions be resolved in a specified order. This is important as the order of actions resolved can greatly affect the result of the overall interaction.

In cases where the order of actions is a factor, characters are given priority based on how soon their turn is coming up. Here's an example of how this works:

There are four players: A, B, C, D. Player A is the first player of the round, while Player D is the last player of the round before the Monster takes its turn.
During his turn, Player B uses a Skill that deals damage to all enemies, which includes Players A, C, D and the Monster. Players A and C intend to use a Reaction Skill, while the Monster has a Reaction Skill and will thus use it by default.
Because Player C's turn occurs right after Player B's, Player C has the highest priority to decide whether or not to use his Skill, and he does so. After Player C's Reaction Skill's effects are resolved, the Monster's reaction is handled next, followed by Player A's Reaction Skill.

This order also applies to other aspects of the game where there are simultaneous actions that conflict (e.g. multiple players using Wonder cards).

Discards

If any of the Realm of Chaos, Realm of Knowledge or Realm of Wonder decks are emptied, shuffle their respective discard piles, and use them as the new deck in play.

Chaos Royale: shuffling the discard piles to replenish empty decks only applies to the Standard mode of play.

Classes

Acquisition

To acquire a Class, use a Glyph of Ascension during your turn. This can only be done when you fulfill the requirements of your desired Class, and at least 1 Prism has been acquired by any player. Check Class cards for their respective requirements. When acquired, place the Class card face-up on the space beside your Skills. The "Reward" is a one-time bonus that you gain upon acquiring the Class, and the "Passive" is an ongoing bonus that you now possess for the rest of the game. You cannot gain a Class that's already been acquired by another player.

Limitations

Once acquired, the Class is yours forever — you may not change or discard your Class. Furthermore, while you may still change your equipped Skills, you may not equip new Skills that would violate the requirements of the Class. For example: if you acquire the Class "Enigma," you may not equip non-Cosmic Skills for the rest of the game. If an effect during the game forces a player to discard an equipped Skill, their Class is still retained — but any Skill equipped to the empty slot must still adhere to the requirements of the Class.

Formless Class

The Formless Class is a special Class that can be acquired when you have 3 Basic Skills + 1 Ultimate Skill from different Skill categories, allowing you to gain the bonuses of the Class associated to the Skill Category of your Ultimate Skill. Once acquired, it is subject to the following limitations:

You can replace Skills with new ones from hand, but your 4 equipped Skills must always be from different categories.
The Skill category of your Ultimate Skill is fixed for the rest of the game. (E.g. if you acquire Formless with a Mythic Ultimate Skill, you can only ever use Mythic Ultimate Skills.)

Tactical: Classes are disabled, with all Glyph of Ascension cards removed from the Realm of Knowledge.

Events and Distortions

Event cards produce one-off effects when drawn. After their effects are resolved, they are discarded.

Distortion cards produce an effect that triggers at the end of every round for as long as the Distortion is active. When drawn, place them onto the Distortion slot on the board. When new Distortions are drawn later during the game, place them over all previous Distortions — the new Distortion's effect now replaces the previous one.

Tactical: all Events and Distortions are removed from the Realm of Chaos.

Frequently Asked Questions

For Skills that affect all/multiple targets, can I choose not to attack a specified enemy? No. Skill effects must be followed to the letter as much as possible.

When the Doppelganger (a Monster) kills another player with its Reaction, who gets the kill reward? The Monster is considered the slayer in this case, so no one gets the reward.

What if Il Diablo draws an Artifact for its active ability? Artifacts don't have an associated Skill Category, so no bonus damage will be calculated in this case.

Can you use Skills with Health loss effects if doing so will lead to your death? Yes. However, take note that the death will trigger the end of your turn immediately. And suicide does not award you a Shard!

Can you use Warp to redirect a Monster's Deathcry back to itself? No. Deathcries trigger after the Monster is dead, which means they're not a valid target after the Deathcry occurs.

What happens if you draw the Reckoning event into a Legendary Monster with Mercy, and the Mercy ability triggers? The Reckoning health buff only applies to the Legendary Monster of that instance. So if it leaves due to Mercy triggering, the buff is lost.

If you refresh an exhausted Skill, do you need to pay Energy for activating the Skill again? Yes. Whenever you use any Skill multiple times in a turn, you need to pay its associated Energy cost for each usage.

If Chaos Storm reveals a Monster with a Mercy Skill, does that take effect? No, Chaos Storm only looks for the Monster's Active Skills and activates them.