Familiar Feat
Familiar Feat Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
110 cards
- 54 Creatures and Familiars, 21 Monsters, 4 Stone Golems, 1 Exhausted card
- Strength as a Creature, Tier, Effect, Cuddle value as a Familiar
- 21 Events
- 8 Characters
- 1 Castle card with a QR code (has no in-game purpose)
Setup
Embark on your first adventure at Level 1. To do this, take the Level 1 Character as well as the 3 Monsters and the 3 Events that show a star. Return all other Characters, Monsters, and Events to the box. You won't need them until Level 2 (see "On to Greater Adventures" below).
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Build the Creature deck: Sort the Creature cards by tier, 0 to IV. Set the Tier 0 cards aside for now. Begin the face-down deck with the 4 Stone Golems. Shuffle the Tier IV cards and the 3 Monsters together and place them on top of the Golems. Shuffle the 3 Events, then place 1 unseen on the deck. Shuffle the Tier III cards, place them on the deck, then place another one of the Events unseen on top. Shuffle the Tier II cards, place them on the deck, then place the third Event unseen on top. Finally, place the shuffled Tier I cards on top.
From top to bottom, the deck reads: Creatures I, Event, Creatures II, Event, Creatures III, Event, Creatures IV + Monsters, Stone Golems.
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Place the Creature deck in your play area. Reveal the top 5 cards and lay them in a Creature row next to the deck. Make sure that each Creature's Strength is in the upper half of its card, and that you can read any text in the middle of the cards the right-side up. These 5 Creatures are "in play."
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Place the Exhausted card above the row, leaving space to its left for a face-down pile and to its right for a face-up pile which will form during the adventure. This is the Exhausted area.
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Shuffle the Tier 0 Creatures and place them face down in front of you as your Team deck. These are the Familiars you will start your adventure with. Also place your Character in front of you.
You will also need some space for the Team discard pile and the Fled pile, which will form during the adventure.
The Adventure Begins
Your adventure takes place over several days. Each day, you try to persuade five Creatures to join your team by sending your Familiars, one after the other, to win them over with cuddles.
A. Your Day
Begin each day by refilling the Creature row to 5 face-up Creatures (skip this step on the first day). First, slide any remaining cards, along with any Familiars attached beneath them, toward the Creature deck to close the gaps. Then reveal and add cards from the Creature deck until five Creatures are face up in the row.
If you reveal an Event, which can first happen on Day 3, set it aside for now. Events do not occupy spaces in the Creature row. Continue revealing cards until the row is full, then resolve the Event.
Note: In Level 1, all Events are identical. They are resolved immediately (lightning-bolt) after the Creature row has been filled. Details about Events in the higher levels can be found under "On to Greater Adventures" below.
Then shuffle the Team discard pile to form a new face-down Team deck. Skip this step on the first day.
Now start sending Familiars from your Team deck to the Creatures, one at a time: Draw the top card of your Team deck into your hand and attach it beneath a Creature of your choice. Then draw another and attach it in the same way. Continue until the day ends.
- You must attach the card in your hand before drawing the next one.
- Attach each new Familiar at the bottom of the column that forms beneath your chosen Creature, leaving all Cuddle values visible.
- No more than five cards may be attached beneath each Creature.
Win Creatures over to your Team!
To reach the castle and drive the Monsters away, you must recruit as many Creatures as you can to your team as Familiars. Whether a Creature joins your team or not depends on the Familiars you have attached beneath it. When the total Cuddle value beneath a Creature equals or exceeds its Strength, it is recruited immediately and becomes a Familiar.
If the Creature has an effect, resolve that first. If the effect consists of several steps, perform them in order. Then rotate the Creature card 180 degrees and place it, along with all Familiars beneath it, face up in the Team discard pile.
Creature Effects:
- Exhaust: Take as many Familiars as the effect states from beneath this Creature and place them on the face-up pile in the Exhausted area.
- If not stated otherwise, you can choose which of the Familiars attached beneath the Creature you want to exhaust.
- If you must exhaust several Familiars, place them on the face-up pile in any order you choose. If fewer than the required number of Familiars are attached beneath the Creature, exhaust all of them.
- Exhaust the first = Exhaust the attached Familiar nearest this Creature.
- Exhaust the last = Exhaust the attached Familiar farthest from this Creature.
- Exhaust the highest = Exhaust one attached Familiar with the highest Cuddle value.
- Exhaust this = Exhaust this Creature itself. Place all Familiars beneath it in the Team discard pile.
- Revive: Draw as many Familiars as the effect states from the top of the face-down pile in the Exhausted area and place them in the Team discard pile.
- If you would revive a Familiar but the face-down pile is empty, first turn the face-up pile over (if there is one) and place it (without shuffling it) as the new face-down pile.
- Revive 2, then play 1 of them = Revive 2 Familiars, choose one of them and attach it beneath a Creature, then place the other in the Team discard pile.
Example: The total Cuddle value attached beneath the Creature with Strength 4 reaches its Strength. You immediately exhaust one Familiar because of the Creature's effect, then place the remaining cards in the Team discard pile.
Cuddle Abilities
Some higher-tier Familiars have special Cuddle abilities. These become active whenever this Familiar comes into play. (Ignore any effects printed upside-down in the middle of the card, however, as these effects were already triggered when it was recruited to the team.)
Cuddle Abilities of Familiars:
- Double: Double the total Cuddle value at the Creature this Familiar is beneath. Additional doubling abilities at this Creature have no effect.
- Copy: This is a copy of the Cuddle value and the Cuddle ability (if any) of the Familiar directly above it.
- Exhaust 1, then Revive 1 Immediately: Exhaust any one Familiar in play, then Revive one Familiar.
- Move 1 Immediately: Take any one Familiar in play and attach it beneath a Creature. The card limit must still be observed.
- Does not count towards card limit: This Familiar does not count toward the maximum of five cards attached beneath a Creature.
Note: If due to an immediate Cuddle ability the Strength of more than one Creature is reached or exceeded, finish that immediate Cuddle ability first. Then resolve these Creatures in the order in which the Strength at each of them was reached or exceeded.
The Monsters Wait in the Castle…
The Tier IV cards represent the Creatures in the castle and among them are three Monsters. Monsters are Creatures with one key difference: When you equal or exceed a Monster's Strength, instead of recruiting it to your team, drive it away immediately by placing it beside the Fled pile. Place the Familiars that are attached beneath it in the Team discard pile as usual (provided the Monster has no effect that says otherwise).
When you have driven away the third Monster, the castle is free and you win the adventure!
The last 4 cards in the Creature deck are special Creatures called Stone Golems. They work like any other Creatures, but have infinite Strength and thus never leave play and cannot be recruited to your team.
B. End of the Day
The day ends when all cards are gone from the Creature row. Then place the remainder of the Team deck in the Team discard pile.
The day also ends when the Team deck runs out and you therefore have no more Familiars to attach beneath the Creatures in play. In this case, one Familiar flees from every Creature in play – for each Creature, choose one attached card and place it face up in the Fled pile. Cards in the Fled pile generally remain there for the rest of the adventure.
Important: If there is a Creature with no Familiar beneath it that can flee, you immediately lose the adventure!
Once all required Familiars have fled, night sets in. At night, you check again at each Creature whether the attached total Cuddle value now equals or exceeds its Strength. Resolve each Creature that this applies to in any order and following the usual rules (recruiting it, or driving it away if it's a Monster). Then the night ends and you begin the next day.
Example: The day ends because the Team deck ran out. One Familiar flees from each Creature. After the Familiar flees from the Creature on the right, the total Cuddle value of the remaining Familiars equals its Strength. And as night sets in, you recruit that Creature to your team after all.
End of the Adventure
You win the adventure once you drive the final Monster out of the castle. Grab the Castle card with the QR code from the box and celebrate with all your Familiars before the next adventure begins.
You lose the adventure when the Team deck runs out and there is at least one Creature in play from which you cannot make a Familiar flee. The castle remains in the Monsters' hands for now, and you must begin the adventure again from the start.
On to Greater Adventures: Levels 2 to 8
Have you completed the first adventure? Further levels now await you, with new Events and stronger Monsters.
At the start of the Setup, choose a Character. The higher its Level, the more challenging the adventure. The banner on the left of the Character card shows three difficulty icons. For each icon shown, choose one Monster and one Event bearing that icon, either at random or by choice. These 3 Monsters and 3 Events replace the ones previously used in the Creature deck. Return all unused Monsters, Events, and Characters to the box.
Example: You choose the Level 3 Character. For each of its 3 icons, take one Monster and one Event bearing that icon.
Then prepare the Creature deck as usual.
Special Rules for the Monsters
Each Monster has a difficulty. Make sure that you add Monsters of the correct difficulty to the Creature deck for the chosen Level.
Monsters with a star for their Strength have special conditions that must be met to drive them away. These conditions are described on the Monster cards.
Please note the following additional rules and details:
- If a condition requires you to attach more than five Familiars beneath a Monster, the card limit is suspended for this Monster so you can meet the condition.
- Most Monsters also have effects that you must resolve when you drive them away.
- Some Monsters with infinite Strength flee after a specified number of days. Start counting on the day the Monster enters play. When the number of days has been reached, resolve the Monster at the end of that day, after the night is over, as though you had driven it away.
- TMNT: You drive this Monster away with exactly 4 Familiars whose Cuddle values increase from one to the next, top to bottom. The gaps between successive values may be any size.
- Two-headed Giant: These two Monster cards may only be included in the game together. They can therefore only be selected when preparing Levels 7 and 8. When you have driven away one of the two Monsters, the other retains its Strength of 22 for the rest of the adventure.
Special Rules for the Events
Each Event has a difficulty. Make sure that you use Events of the correct difficulty in the Creature deck for the chosen Level.
Events with a lightning-bolt symbol are resolved as soon as the Creature row has been fully filled. Then return the Event to the box.
Events with an hourglass symbol affect the entire day. Unless otherwise stated, they are in effect till the end of the night, at which point they must be returned to the box.
Reminder: Whenever an Event talks about Creatures, this includes Monsters!
Please note the following additional details for the following Events:
- Flexibility: After forming your new Team deck, draw 2 cards from it instead of 1. Whenever you play a card from your hand, immediately draw another. If there are no cards left in the Team deck, play the last card from your hand. Then the deck is considered empty.
- Catch Your Breath: If any Familiars from the previous day were still attached beneath the removed Creature, place them in the Team discard pile.
- Closing Ranks: When the necessary Strength is reached at one of the two cards, leave that card in play till the Strength at the other card is reached too. As soon as this happens, return Closing Ranks to the box and resolve both Creatures as usual (in any order). Otherwise, return Closing Ranks to the box when the night ends as usual and leave both Creatures in play (the only exception are Monsters with infinite Strength who have reached their printed number of days and therefore flee afterwards).
- Space Requirement and Insecurity: Immediately return this card to the box as soon as the affected Creature is recruited to your team or, if it's a Monster, is driven away.
- Giving Up: If you have no Familiars in play, this Event has no effect.