Familiar Alchemy Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• Populate Gardens
• Gameplay
• Turn Order
• Free Actions
• Main Actions
  • Channel
  • Harvest
  • Brew
• Additional Actions & Information
  • Transmutation
  • Familiar Channel
• Familiar Abilities
• Secateurs
• Running Out of Ingredients
• Ending the Game
  • Calculating Favour
  • Example Brew Scoring
  • Example Plant Scoring
• Q&A
• Glossary

Setup

1. Each player takes a Familiar Card, an Alchemical Notes Card and a set of coloured Tokens (Leaf, Flower, Fruit, Aether and Secateurs) to make their Supply. For a less complex game, use the side of the Familiar cards that have no ability text in the top right corner.

2. Choose a starting player. We recommend the person who most recently did some gardening!

3. For a 3-4 player game, randomly choose three Novice and two Artisan Brews, indicated by their card back, and place them in a row in the centre of your playspace, with the Novice Brews face up and the Artisan Brews face down. For a 2 player game, do the same, but with two Novice and one Artisan Brew.

4. Remove the remaining Brews from the game.

Populate Gardens

To populate the players' Private Gardens, follow these steps:

1. Lay all of the Plant Cards face up in your playspace.
2. Starting with the first player and moving clockwise, each player chooses one Plant.
3. Starting with the last player and moving anti-clockwise, each player chooses one Plant.
4. Starting with the first player and moving clockwise, each player chooses one Plant. Each player should have 3 Plants by the end of this step.
5. Each player places their chosen Plants face up in front of them. This is their Private Garden.

To populate the Communal Garden, follow these steps:

1. Check the remaining Plants in the playspace and remove any duplicates. If the total number of Plants remaining is equal to or less than the number of players, skip step 2.
2. Each player, beginning with the starting player, picks one Plant.
3. Place these Plants in the middle of the table. This is the Communal Garden.
4. Remove any remaining Plants from the game.

You are now ready to play!

Gameplay

Your objective throughout the game is to gain as much of Beira's Favour as you can. Favour can be gained from:

1. Contributing ingredients to Communal Brews. Harder to grow ingredients are worth more Favour!
2. Contributing 3 or more ingredients to the same Brew.
3. Contributing the final ingredient to a Brew.
4. Fully Grown Plants in your Private Garden at the end of the game.

Plants can be grown to produce ingredients for Brews, and then harvested to collect them. Your Familiar will also help you throughout the trial by storing your ingredients; providing a powerful, unique ability; and performing Transmutations with your spare ingredients for game changing effects.

Turn Order

Each game turn follows the same steps:

1. Tend the Communal Garden: Add one ingredient to one of the Plants in the Communal Garden, following the standard Plant growth rules (See: "Channel", Page 5).

2. One Main Action & One Transmutation. These can be done in any order!:

   • A: You must take one of three main actions - Channel, Harvest or Brew (See: "Main Actions", Pages 5-7).
   • B: You may perform a single Transmutation (See: "Transmutation", Page 8).

3. Pass clockwise to the next player.

Free Actions

Unless otherwise stated, these actions can be taken any time after tending the Communal Garden (but not during another Action) and do not affect the use of your other actions:

1. Familiar Ability: Use your Familiar's Ability, as described on their card or in the rulebook (See: "Familiar Abilities", Pages 9-10).

2. Rearrange Pouch: You may move any number of ingredients from your Pouch to your Familiar's Transmutation Slots. This is a one-way action, and ingredients in Transmutation Slots cannot be moved back to your Pouch. The padlock symbol is a reminder of this!

3. Empty Transmutation Slots: You may remove all ingredients from your Transmutation Slots and return them to your Supply.

Main Actions

Channel

Take any three ingredients from your Supply and add them to the matching nodes on the Plants in your Private Garden. Ingredients are added to Plants from the bottom of the card to the top, as if the Plant was growing! These ingredients don't need to be put on the same Plant.

In this example, as there is a branch to the right (1 and 2), this must be grown before further upward growth can be continued (3).

And always remember the golden rule: Branching growth before upward growth!

Harvest

1. Place your Secateurs Token onto the Plant you are harvesting in either your Private Garden or the Communal Garden (See: "Secateurs", Page 11).

2. Choose a Cutting Point on the Plant (a red dashed line).

3. Remove all ingredients from beyond that point, including any branching nodes that would no longer be supported.

4. Place these ingredients into your Familiar's Pouch and/or Transmutation Slots. Ingredients that have just been harvested and those currently in your Familiar's Pouch may be freely rearranged during this action.

5. Ingredients that you don't want or that cannot fit into your Familiar's Pouch or Transmutation Slots, must be evenly distributed to the other players in the game, starting clockwise. Skip players whose Pouch and Transmutation Slots are both already full. The receiving player decides whether to place this into their Pouch, Transmutation Slots, or discard it. Repeat until all of these ingredients have been used up or all player's Pouches and Transmutation Slots are full.

If you ever harvest an ingredient that is another player's colour (e.g. from a Plant in the Communal Garden), do not swap it for your own colour. It is added to your Pouch or Transmutation Slots as it is.

Brew

1. Place any number of ingredients from your Familiar's Pouch onto one of the Communal Brew Cards. Ingredients must be added in the order they appear on the Brew (from left to right). You cannot add ingredients to multiple Brews with one action.

2. If you add an ingredient of another player's colour to a Brew, it is treated as if they added it for all purposes, such as gaining Favour at the end of the game.

3. After any Communal Brew Card has been fulfilled, reveal the next face down Artisan Brew. These Brews have effects which may change how the game plays, or offer the chance to gain extra Favour.

[Page 7 illustration: an example of a Familiar's Pouch being brewed onto a Communal Brew card, with the Familiar card and Brew card shown.]

Additional Actions & Information

Transmutation

Your Familiar can perform Transmutations using various ingredient combinations. This can be done during your Main Action & Transmutation phase. Simply select your desired Transmutation from the Transmutation list, discard the required ingredients from your Transmutation Slots then perform the listed effect.

Key:

• Symbol key (as drawn): a cluster of four symbols showing Leaf, Flower, Fruit and Aether. Any of the ingredients shown in a cluster icon can be used in this slot.
• Symbol key (as drawn): a cluster of Flower, Fruit and Aether with an asterisk (*) on Aether. An * indicates that the ingredients used in the transmutation must not match. (e.g. A Fruit and Aether could be used, but two Fruit could not.)

Transmutations (each entry lists the icons as drawn, then the printed effect):

• Icons: three cluster symbols, each showing Leaf, Flower, Fruit and Aether. Familiar Channel (See: "Familiar Channel", Page 9).
• Icons: two cluster symbols, each showing Flower above Fruit and Aether (asterisk on Aether). Learn an additional Familiar's Ability. Place a Leaf Token in the Alchemical Notes box to show this transmutation has been used. (You can only use this Transmutation once.)
• Icons: one large Flower symbol and one cluster symbol showing Flower, Fruit and Aether. Upgrade any 3 ingredients in your pouch. (Leaf > Flower. Flower > Fruit. Fruit > Aether)
• Icons: one large Fruit symbol and one cluster symbol showing Flower, Fruit and Aether. Swap a plant in your Private Garden with one in the Communal Garden. (All ingredients and Secateurs on the Plants remain unchanged.)
• Icons: two large Aether symbols. Swap one ingredient on any Brew with one from your Supply.

Familiar Channel

Your Familiar is capable of helping you Channel growth into your Plants, often more than you could alone!

The Familiar Channel ability allows you to immediately perform a free Channel Action (See: "Channel", Page 5), but depending on the highest tier of ingredient used in the Transmutation, the number of ingredients you grow changes.

Number of Ingredients grown (as drawn): Leaf = 3, Flower = 4, Fruit = 5, Aether = 6.

For example: A Familiar Channel using two Leaves and one Fruit would allow for a Channel with 5 ingredients. Multiples of higher tier ingredients are not additive (e.g. 3 Aether would not allow you to Channel with 18 ingredients).

A Familiar Channel may not be used on Plants in the Communal Garden.

Familiar Abilities

Each Familiar has its own unique ability. These abilities are all considered Free Actions and can only be used once per turn.

Cu Sith (Overgrowth) Once per turn: When you perform a Harvest Action, you may duplicate one of the harvested ingredients and add it to your Pouch or Transmutation Slots.

Kelpie (Aqua Vitae) Once per turn: You may place a Leaf Token onto one Plant in your Private Garden. You may choose not to follow the branching growth rules for this placement (See: "Channel", Page 5).

Stoor Wurm (Mischief) Once per turn: You may change the colour of an ingredient in your Familiar's Pouch or on a Plant that is not in another player's Private Garden.

You may change the colour of this ingredient to your own, or that of any player's by requesting the ingredient from that player's Supply.

Will-O-The-Wisp (Fae Transmutation) You gain a unique Alchemical Transmutation:

Fae Transmutation (icons as drawn: three cluster symbols, each showing Leaf, Flower, Fruit and Aether): Once per turn, place any one ingredient from your Supply onto a Brew. You must still follow the standard brewing rules (See: "Brew", Page 7).

Secateurs

Your Secateurs Token must be placed onto a Plant during a Harvest Action. A Plant with any Secateurs on it may not have a Harvest Action performed on it until the token is removed. Your Secateurs are only removed when you harvest from another Plant. A Plant with Secateurs on it may still have Channel Actions used on it.

Running Out of Ingredients

If you ever run out of a certain type of ingredient, you have exhausted your alchemical power and will be unable to add those ingredients to a Plant node until you replenish your supplies. You will need to perform Transmutation Actions with tokens of the exhausted type, or empty them from your Transmutation Slots. This will return them to your Supply.

Ending the Game

The game ends immediately after all Communal Brews have been completed, even if this occurs in the middle of a player's turn.

Calculating Favour

Beira's new apprentice is the player who gains the most Favour. Favour is gained as follows:

Brewed Ingredients: You gain Favour for each ingredient of your colour on each Brew as shown here and highlighted on the Brew cards.

Base Favour per Ingredient (as drawn): Leaf = 1, Flower = 2, Fruit = 3, Aether = 5.

Basic Contribution: You gain +5 Favour for each Brew you contributed at least one ingredient to.

Outstanding Contribution: You gain +1 Favour for each of your ingredients on a Brew if you contributed three or more ingredients. e.g. if you have five ingredients on a Brew, you gain +5 Favour. These ingredients do not need to form an unbroken chain.

Submission Bonus: You gain +3 Favour for each Brew that is completed with an ingredient of your colour (this is already factored into the Favour shown on the Brew Cards).

Exceptional Botany: You gain +1 Favour for each ingredient on any fully grown Plants in your Private Garden. e.g. a fully grown Amaranthine Thistle would score +11 Favour.

Example Brew Scoring

In the example below (the Brew "Faerie's Incense"), four players have contributed to a Brew.

Brewed Ingredients: Purple +9, Orange +8, Black +6, White +4.

Basic Contribution: All four players would receive +5 Favour for contributing to the Brew.

Outstanding Contribution: The Purple player would receive +3 Favour for contributing three ingredients.

Submission Bonus: The Orange player would receive +3 Favour for finishing the Brew with an ingredient of their colour. This is already calculated in "Brewed Ingredients".

Example Plant Scoring

In this example, the Purple player would gain +11 Favour for their fully grown Violet Horncap, but +0 Favour for their incomplete Selkie's Tears.

Q&A

Q: Can I use Will O' The Wisp's ability twice per turn if the Unicorn's Might Brew is active? A: No. Each Familiar Ability can only be used once per turn. You could, however, use Will O' The Wisp's ability and another Transmutation. Normally Will O' The Wisp's ability counts as your Transmutation Action for the turn.

Q: When do you reveal the next Brew? A: Immediately at the end of the action that fulfils a face up Brew. Even if that is in the middle of a player's turn.

Q: Can I use the Kelpie's ability to place a Leaf anywhere on a Plant? A: No. You can ignore the branching growth rule, but the Leaf must still connect to a previously grown node on the Plant.

Q: If I harvest a branch of a Plant, do I need to re-grow it before I can continue upward growth? A: Yes! Branching growth before upward growth!

In this example, if the branch (1 and 2) had been harvested, the player would need to re-grow it before upward growth could be continued (3).

Q: When can I use a Familiar Ability learned from Transmutation? A: You can use learned abilities as soon as you gain them. Both of your Familiar Abilities can be used in the same turn, but each Familiar Ability can only be used once per turn.

Q: If I harvest a branch of a Plant, are all ingredients on the Plant above it also harvested? A: No. Only the ingredients on nodes that are supported by that branch are harvested.

In this example, the left branch of the Plant could be harvested alone, as it is not supporting any nodes above it.

Q: Can I upgrade the same ingredient multiple times with the Upgrade 3 Ingredients Transmutation? A: Yes! You can spread your upgrades across multiple ingredients, or upgrade the same ingredients multiple times. You could even upgrade a single Leaf into an Aether if you like.

Glossary

• Discard: Return the ingredients to their owner's Supply.
• Favour: Victory Points scored at the end of the game based on Brew contributions, bonuses and fully grown Plants.
• Ingredients: Leaf, Flower, Fruit and Aether Tokens (most common to least common).
• Nodes: The ingredient shaped icons on Plant Cards.
• Pouch: The five slots in the bottom left of your Familiar Card. Used to store ingredients.
• Supply: All of your ingredients which are not currently in play.
• Transmutation Slots: The three slots in the bottom right of your Familiar Card. These ingredients are used for Transmutations.
• Communal Garden: The Plant Cards in the centre of the playspace. Must be upkept by all players at the start of their turn. Cannot be Channelled. Can be Harvested by any player.