Limbo: Eternal War Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Getting Started
  • 1. Build Force
• Fate
  • Fate Cards
  • Enchants Cards
  • 2. Determine Initiative
  • 3. Select an Objective
  • 4. Set Up the Map
  • 5. Create Fate Pool
  • 6. Draw Starting Hands
  • 7. Select Starting Areas
  • 8. Place Initial Forces
• Playing the Game
  • 1. Preparation Phase (Skipped in the First Round)
    • (1) Reset Fate Pools
    • (2) Draw Cards
    • (3) Initiative Bid
    • (4) End of Preparation Phase
  • 2. Activations Phase
  • 2.1 Activating a Character or Squad
  • 2.2 Actions
  • 2.2.1 Attack
    • Threat Range
    • Range
    • Line of Sight
• Boons
  • Boosts
• Banes
  • Breaks
• Keywords
• Abilities
  • Reactions
  • Constants
  • Swifts
  • The Cards Are Always Right
  • Ally and Enemy
  • Named Abilities
  • Dice of Damage
  • Direct Dice of Damage

Components

• 1 Initiative token
• 16 Activation tokens
• 16 Focus tokens
• 8 Evade tokens
• 16 Guard tokens
• 8 Shield tokens
• 8 Immobilise tokens
• 8 Daze tokens
• 8 Attack of Opportunity tokens
• 8 Boost Attack / Defence / Speed tokens
• 8 Break Attack / Defence / Speed tokens
• 8 Stun tokens
• 8 Wound tokens
• Surface Map and Underground Map
• 1 Fate Panel
• 2 Lord Panels
• 20+ Unit Cards
• 6 Divinity Cards
• 100+ Fate Cards
• 20+ Upgrade Cards
• 30 Fate Crystals
• 12 Dice

Getting Started

1. Build Force

Each player in Limbo: Eternal War commands a force of characters they'll use to destroy their enemies and achieve objectives. Before commencing game proper, players must choose which characters will fight for them in the coming battle.

When building your own army, you must obey the following rules:

1. Your army must contain exactly 1 Lord.
2. Your army must not contain more Troop Squads than Heroes and Lords.

RANKS There are three ranks in the game: Lord, Hero, and Troop. Lord is the highest rank, followed by Hero, and finally Troop.

3. Your army must contain exactly 1 Divinity Card.

DIVINITY CARDS The eternal wars are fought behind the scenes by powerful divinities. Each army is dedicated to a specific divinity, represented by a divinity card. Divinity cards provide powerful benefits to your entire army. Any Fate abilities that appear on Divinity cards can be used by any character in your army, unless otherwise specified.

4. Your army cannot contain more than 1 of the same hero card or elite squad card, or more than 2 of any non-unique character or squad card.
5. Each character and squad in your army cannot have more than one Upgrade Card attached to them.

Character card anatomy: Cost, Health, Attack, Defence, Armour, Speed, Traits, Abilities, Skills; Rank, Name, Faction.

TRAITS Traits appear on character cards, they help to describe the character. Additionally, Fate cards may require certain traits to be used. A character can only use Fate cards that they meet the requirements for.

6. Your Fate deck must contain exactly 20 Fate Cards, and may contain no more than a single copy of any Fate card.
7. Before you play each game, determine an amount of recruitment points to spend on your army. We recommend 50, but feel free to experiment with more or less than this number. The total recruitment cost of your Lord, Heroes, Divinity, Troops, and Upgrades cannot exceed the agreed upon value.

UPGRADE CARDS Upgrade cards represent various enhancements to a character or squad's abilities, such as new equipment, magical powers, or even divine blessings. When a character or squad has an upgrade card attached to them, they can make use of the text on the upgrade card as if it was on that character or squad's card. Each character and squad cannot have more than one upgrade card attached to them.

Fate

Fate is an integral part of Limbo. It's used to pay for powerful abilities which can swing the battle in your favour. However, the more Fate that you use, the more that your opponent will be able to use too. Many abilities and Fate cards have a cost, represented by a number preceding the ability. In order to pay a Fate cost, you must "shift" Fate crystals from your pool. To do so, move a number of Fate crystals from your Fate pool equal to the cost of the ability into your opponent's "In Limbo" area. You can also use Fate crystals, on the activating character. Fate is also a useful way to gain VP to win the game.

Fate Cards

Fate cards are hidden tricks and surprises that have a variety of useful abilities. Just like other abilities in the game (Page x), Fate cards come in several varieties: Actives, Reactions, and Swifts. Using a Fate card is very similar to activating an ability. However, there are a couple of extra requirements on Fate cards. First, you must select a character that has the Traits required by the Fate card. Second, you must reveal the Fate card from your hand. After the ability on the Fate card has been resolved, it is (usually) placed into the discard pile.

Enchants Cards

Some Fate cards have an ability that "Enchants" a specific character. When a Fate card instructs you to "Enchant" a character, place the Fate card adjacent to the specified character's card (if it's a Squad, place a number reference token on it to match the squad member's number). When a Fate card is enchanting another character, ignore all game text on the Fate card except for the text printed in the Enchantment box on the card. You control all Fate cards you own, even if they are enchanting a character you don't control.

2. Determine Initiative

Once you have chosen your force it is time to determine who will be going first (This will be referred to as Initiative). One player will roll an attack die. On a 3, 4 or 5 that person will receive the initiative token. Otherwise, the other player receives it. Alternatively, you can use any other method to determine first player instead.

3. Select an Objective

Shuffle the objectives and reveal three at random. The second player selects an objective to remove from play. The first player then selects one of the remaining two objectives to be the objective for the game.

4. Set Up the Map

Each objective in the game is associated with one of the available maps. Set up the map that corresponds to the selected objective.

5. Create Fate Pool

Place 3 fate into each player's active pool, then place a fourth fate into the pool of the player with initiative.

6. Draw Starting Hands

Each player shuffles their deck and draws four cards, adding them to their hand.

7. Select Starting Areas

The player with initiative selects a starting area. The other player claims the leftover.

8. Place Initial Forces

Starting with the player with initiative each player selects one of their Activation cards and places all characters associated with that activation card onto the map. When placing these characters, they can only be placed in spaces which occupy the starting areas. If, for some reason, a character cannot be placed into one of the starting areas, place it so it is as close as possible. Repeat this process until all characters have been placed onto the map.

Once these 8 steps have been completed, the game is ready to begin.

Playing the Game

Each game of Limbo: Eternal War takes place over a series of rounds, which are further divided into three phases, Preparation Phase, Activations Phase, and Objectives Phase. Each of these phases is detailed over the following pages.

1. Preparation Phase (Skipped in the First Round)

The preparation phase consists of three steps, which are taken in the following order.

(1) Reset Fate Pools

Set the number of Fate tokens in each player's Fate pool to three. The player with the lowest VP receives a fourth fate. In the case of a tie, the player who currently doesn't have the initiative token receives a fourth fate.

(2) Draw Cards

Each player draws one card and adds it to their hand. Each player draws an additional card for each Altar they currently control.

Control Some map elements, such as Altars, require you to control them. In order to determine control of an objective or Altar, count the number of characters you control adjacent to the specified map element. The player with the highest number of characters adjacent to the specified map element controls it.

(3) Initiative Bid

The initiative bid is broken down into a few steps:

a) Each player secretly selects a number. They can do this by placing a corresponding number of Fate tokens from their pool into their hand (ensuring they obscure the rest. There are spare Fate tokens which can be used for this purpose). b) Each player simultaneously reveals their selected number. c) The player who selects a higher number takes the initiative token and shifts Fate to the pool of their opponent equal to the difference between the bids. In the case of a tie, the player who currently does not have the initiative tokens is considered to have won the bid, and takes the token.

(4) End of Preparation Phase

At this point, any Fate crystals in either player's "In Limbo" area are placed into their pool. This formalises the end of the Preparation Phase (any reactions that refer to the end of the preparation phase can now be triggered). After the Preparation Phase, the Activations Phase begins.

Example Preparation Phase Arielle and Jack are in the middle of the game. Arielle currently has the initiative token, and is on 13 VP. Jack is on 10 VP. Arielle doesn't control any Altars, while Jack controls one. During the Reset Fate Pools step, Arielle receives 3 Fate, and Jack, being on a lower VP value, receives 4. Next up, Arielle draws a single card and adds it to her hand. Jack draws two, because he currently controls an Altar. Finally, the time has come to bid for initiative. Arielle really wants to go first, but given that she currently holds initiative (which causes her to lose ties) AND Jack has more Fate in his pool, she decides it's not worth the risk and chooses to bid zero (secretly, of course). Jack expects that Arielle is going to bid one, and thus chooses to also bid one (given that he'll win the tie). The bids are revealed, and Jack takes the initiative token. He also shifts on Fate to Arielle's pool. Jack is a little sad that he had to give up his one Fate, but he's also happy to have the initiative for the round, so he gets over it pretty quickly.

2. Activations Phase

The activations phase is the main part of Limbo, and where most of the action, emotion, and heroics is focused in the game. The activation phase consists of the following steps:

(1) The player with initiative chooses to activate one of their ready characters or squads. If they have no remaining ready characters or squads, skip this step. (2) The player without initiative chooses to activate one of their ready characters or squads. If they have no remaining ready characters or squads, skip this step. (3) If neither player has ready characters or squads remaining, the Activations Phase ends and players proceed to the Objectives Phase. Otherwise, return to (1).

2.1 Activating a Character or Squad

Activations are the driving force of Limbo. When you activate a character or squad, those characters spring into action by moving, attacking, activating special abilities, grabbing objectives, and more. Activations can be broken down into the following steps:

(1) Select a character or squad to activate. If you activate a squad, you must then select a character in that squad to activate first. All members of a squad will activate as part of a single activation phase turn, but they are activated consecutively (one after another), not simultaneously (all at once). (2) The selected character takes up to two actions. These will be explained in detail shortly. Note that Heroes and Lords can also take a bonus Skill action (see Page 24). (3) If the character is part of a squad, and not all characters in the squad have activated, select an unactivated squad member to activate, and return to (2). Otherwise, proceed to (4). (4) Place an activation token on the selected character or squad's card. All Fate "In Limbo" is placed into the corresponding Fate pools. This ends the activation for that character or squad.

2.2 Actions

When you activate your characters, they'll be able to perform two actions. There are a wide range of actions available, detailed here.

• Attack
• Move
• Sidestep
• Skills
• Interact
• Active Ability Action

2.2.1 Attack

Attacking is the primary way to damage your opponent's characters and remove them from play. There are two types of attacks in the game: Melee Attacks, and Ranged Attacks. There are some slight differences between the two, which will be noted in the explanation below. Additionally, unlike other actions in Limbo, you cannot perform more than one Attack action during a specific character's activation (each member of a squad can attack, but no more than once each).

To attack, follow these steps:

(1) Declare which attack you will use. All characters have a melee attack (the leftmost number in their attack stat), and some characters have a ranged attack (the number directly following the / in the attack stat). Some characters also have special attacks that appear as part of other abilities, or there may be an Attack printed on a Fate or Equipment card. (2) Select a character who you threaten if performing a melee attack, or any character you have line of sight to if performing a ranged attack. Characters naturally threaten all spaces adjacent to them, but some characters may threaten more (such as those with Reach). (3) At this point, the attack is formally declared. Any reactions to an attack being declared occur now. (4) Players calculate the advantage total of the attack. Each source of advantage cancels and is cancelled by one source of disadvantage. If there are sources of advantage / disadvantage leftover after all cancellations, tally them up. This is number is called the Advantage or Disadvantage Total. An attack with an Advantage Total is called an Advantaged Attack. Likewise, an attack with a Disadvantage Total is called a Disadvantaged Attack. (5) The attacker now rolls dice equal to the attack value of the attack being used PLUS dice equal to the Advantage / Disadvantage Total. (6) Once the dice have been rolled, players have the opportunity to re-roll any of the dice using card abilities. If a die has been re-rolled, set it aside (re-rolled dice cannot be re-rolled again). If both players pass on the opportunities to re-roll, go to (7). (7) If the attack is Advantaged, the attacking player cancels dice equal to the Advantage Total. If the attack is Disadvantaged, the defending player cancels dice equal to the Disadvantage Total. (8) Now, the Attacker adds the total on all dice remaining in the attack. This is known as the Attack Total. (9) Any 5s rolled in the attack may now be used to trigger Critical hit effects (critical hit symbol). There is a basic critical hit effect available to all characters called: (critical hit symbol) Explode this die, which means, if any dice exploded, roll an extra dice, and add the numbers to the Attack Total. Any 5s rolled during this step do not trigger further critical effects. (10) Divide the Attack Total by the Defender's Defence + Armour (Defence Total). This is the number of Hits scored. Place an amount of damage equal to the number of Hits onto the defending character. (NOTE: You can also reference the Attack Table included on the back pages of this book to determine how many Hits are scored)

Example Attack Arielle decides to use one of Charlotte's actions to perform an attack. She elects to use a basic melee attack (1). She checks to see which characters are in her threat range (2), and she spots a Berserker of Blood, ready for some pain. Now that the target has been confirmed to be legal, the attack is officially declared (3). As the attack is now declared, Arielle decides to spend Charlotte's Focus token to gain Advantage (find more on Focus at page 24). The Berserker of Blood is also currently being flanked, which gives Charlotte another Advantage. Jack decides to spend the Berserker of Blood's Focus token to cause Disadvantage. Both players have no other abilities to use. As there are two sources of Advantage and one source of Disadvantage, the Advantage Total is 1, and Charlotte is performing an advantaged attack (4). Charlotte has an Attack of 5 and an Advantage Total of 1, so she'll roll 6 dice in total (5). She rolls the following: 0, 1, 2, 2, 3 & 5. Neither player has any ability to re-roll these dice, so they pass this step (6). As the attack had an Advantage Total of 1, Arielle must now cancel 1 attack dice (7). Arielle makes a fairly easy choice and cancels the 0. Arielle totals up the numbers on her dice and reaches an Attack Total of 13 (8). She decides to use her 5 to trigger the basic explode effect, re-rolling the dice. She rolls a 3, and adds it to her attack total, for a total of 16 (9). The Berserker of Blood has a Defence of 3 and an Armour of 1, for a Defence Total of 4. 16 divided by 4 equals 4, so the Berserker of Blood takes 4 damage (10).

Threat Range

Characters in the game have naturally threaten each square adjacent to them. This is known as the character's threat range. If an enemy occupies a square within your character's threat range, that enemy is "threatened" by your character. Characters can only melee attack enemies that they threaten. In addition, if an enemy leaves your character's threat range using move points, or an enemy within your threat range performs a ranged attack, they provoke an Attack of Opportunity.

As mentioned above, certain actions in the game provoke Attacks of Opportunity (AoO). AoOs function exactly like regular attacks, except that you can only perform a basic melee attack as an AoO. Additionally, each character can only perform one AoO each round. Place an [AoO] token after such an attack on to signify that a character cannot make further AoO in a round.

Range

Many abilities in the game (including Ranged Attacks) involve range. To count range, count the number of spaces between the character and the target (ignore characters, difficult terrain, and hindering terrain). If the number of spaces is equal to or lower than the range, the ability can be used. The target of a ranged attack CAN be further away than the range of the attack. However, for every space the target is outside of range, the Attacker gets -1 Attack.

Example Arielle uses a Tiger Archer to attack Jack's Gouge with a ranged attack. She counts the range, and finds that it's 7. As the Tiger Archer has a Range of 6 on their attack, they'll receive -1 Attack if they shoot at him. If Gouge were 8 away, she would receive -2 Attack.

Line of Sight

Most abilities and actions in the game can only affect characters within line of sight. When determining if a character has line of sight, draw an imaginary line from any one corner of a space the character occupies to any two adjacent corners of the target space. If the lines do not cross any blocking terrain or walls, the character has line of sight to the target space. If the lines cross the intersection between two different types of terrain, use the less prohibitive terrain to determine line of sight (Blocking Terrain and Walls are the most prohibitive, Characters and Hindering Terrain follow, and Open + Difficult Terrain are the least prohibitive).

Obstruction

When making attacks against non-adjacent enemies, characters and Hindering Terrain can make things difficult. For each character and space of Hindering Terrain the attack crosses, the Attacker gains Disadvantage.

Advantage and Disadvantage

There are various sources of advantage and disadvantage in the game. Some common examples of advantage include using Focus tokens while attacking and flanking. Some common examples of disadvantage include using Focus tokens while defending or attacking through obstructions. Advantage and disadvantage alter the way attacks are resolved, strengthening and weakening attacks respectively.

Flanking

Flanking is a situation that occurs when two allied characters threaten an enemy from opposite sides. To determine if a character is flanking, trace a line from the corner of one of your spaces to the corner of a space occupied by another character threatening the defender. If that line crosses straight through the defending character's space(s) (e.g. Goes through one side and exits on the opposite side), you gain Advantage and are Flanking the character. You can only flank characters that you threaten.

Bloodied

While a character has damage at least equal to half their health, they are considered Bloodied. Bloodied has no effect on its own, but other game effects may require a character to be bloodied in order to trigger.

Falling and Victory Points

As soon as a character has damage on them equal to their health, they fall. Remove that character from the map. Fallen characters are worth VP to the opposing player based on their Recruitment Cost. When calculating the points for squads, count the number of fallen squad members, then determine the Recruitment Cost for that many squad members. This is how many VP the squad is worth to the opposing player. Some other game effects may also cause characters to fall. If it is relevant for any game effect, effects that cause characters to fall place damage onto that character until there is damage equal to the falling character's health.

2.2.2 Move

Move, along with attack, form the most common actions in the game. When you perform a Move, you gain move points equal to your Speed. Note that you don't actually move any squares when you perform a move; instead, you gain move points which are then used to move. Moving from your current space into an adjacent space costs one move point. You don't have to spend all of your move points, you can spend part of move points, perfom an attack, then spend the rest move points, you have to be careful though because you may provoke an attack of opportunity. At the end of your activation, you lose all unspent move points. You cannot normally enter a space containing blocking terrain or an enemy character, nor can you pass through walls between spaces.

Terrain Types

Not all battlefields are simply smooth fields. Pits of lava, groves of trees, and more can be present on the battlefield. Each terrain type has a different impact on the game.

Difficult terrain represents areas which are difficult to move through at normal speed. Moving into a space containing hindering terrain costs an additional move point.

Hindering terrain represents areas which are difficult to move through, but also obstruct attacks. Moving into a space containing hindering terrain costs and additional move point. Each space of hindering terrain acts like a character when determining obstruction during attacks.

Blocking terrain represents areas which contain obstructions that are impossible to move through. You cannot enter spaces containing blocking terrain, nor can line of sight be drawn through blocking terrain.

Walls, like blocking terrain, are impossible to move and draw line of sight through. Unlike other types of terrain, walls occupy the borders of spaces.

Special terrain is explained within the rules of the objective.

Some abilities may allow a character to ignore Blocking Terrain or Characters while moving. Regardless of any such abilities, characters cannot end their activation occupying spaces with other characters or Blocking terrain. Larger characters also cannot end their movement in a way that they cover walls.

Charge

Before you have spent any movement points during an activation, you may declare that the active character will charge during the activation. When you declare a charge, the active character gains a bonus movement point each time it Moves this activation. During this activation, movement points can only be spent to move in a single direction (orthogonally or diagonally). Additionally, if the active character moves at least 3 spaces, it gains Advantage on the next attack it makes this activation. Note that you don't have to actually attack at all during a charge. For example, you could use it to move quickly in a straight line, towards an objective.

2.2.3 Sidestep

Sidestepping represents a careful, defensive movement in combat. When a character sidesteps, place that character into an adjacent space as though the character had spent sufficient move points to move there. As this does not actually spend move points, characters cannot make attacks of opportunity against the sidestepping character. In fact, the main purpose of sidestepping is to avoid attacks of opportunity.

2.2.4 Skills

Each character in Limbo has a set of skills which they can use during combat. A character can use their skills multiple times per round, at the cost of one action each. However, many of the skills place a token on the character, and most tokens are limited to one per character.

Skills: Focus, Guard, Evade, Fly, Command, Shield, Channel.

Heroes, Lords and Skills

Heroes and Lords, being extremely powerful individuals, have the unique ability to use a skill, once each activation, without consuming an action.

Focus is the most common skill in Limbo. It represents a character concentrating harder on the fight at hand, allowing them to gain the upper hand. When a character uses the Focus skill, place one Focus token on their character card. When a character with a Focus token attacks or is attacked, the character may spend their Focus token to gain advantage (if attacking) or to give the attacker disadvantage (if defending). Focus is spent during step (3) in attack. Each character can have only a single Focus token.

Channel is a skill found primarily on spellcasters. It represents the character channeling the fabric of reality and attempting to bend their fate. When a character uses the Channel skill, place a Fate crystal onto that character. When paying Fate costs, you can spend Fate tokens from characters using the Fate ability or Fate card to pay costs. Instead of shifting the Fate, simply discard it from the character using the Fate ability or card. There is no upper limit on the number of Fate crystals that can be on a character.

Command is a skill found on leaders. It represents the character commanding their followers to perform great deeds. When a character uses the Command skill, choose another character of lower rank than the commanding character and within 3 and line of sight. That character receives a boost token of your choice.

Evade is found on many of the more dexterous characters in the game. It represents a character's nimbleness and agility, making them a difficult target. When a character uses the Evade skill, place an Evade token on their character card. While a character has an Evade token, they gain Evasive 2. Each character can have only a single Evade token. At the beginning of a character's activation, they discard their Evade token, if they have one.

Guard is a skill usually found on guardians. It represent's the character's increased efforts to protect those around them, and fend off attackers. When a character uses the Guard skill, place a Guard token on their character card. While a character is attacking, it gains Disadvantage for each non-defending character with a Guard token they are threatened by. Each character can have only a single Guard token. At the beginning of a character's activation, they discard their Guard token, if they have one.

Shield is a skill usually found on many of the more defensive, heavily armoured characters. It represents the character spending more effort than normal the defend themselves. While a character has a Shield token, reduce the number of Hits scored during attacks against them by 1. At the beginning of a character's activation or after an attack against a character resolves, they discard their Shield token, if they have one.

Fly is a skill found on characters with wings or other ways of floating. When a character uses the Fly skill, for the remainder of the current activation, they ignore all characters and terrain while moving. Additionally, characters cannot make attacks of opportunity during this movement.

2.2.5 Interact

Interact is an action which encompasses a wide range of possible tasks, such as talking with someone, lifting up an object, activating a magic portal, and more. The rules of each mission will specify if and how interact can be used during that mission.

2.2.6 Active Ability Action

Some Fate cards, Upgrade cards, and Character cards will have abilities printed on them with an Action symbol like these: (Active, Swift, Reaction and Passive-type symbols; see page 35). When a character uses such an ability, simply follow the text that follows in order to resolve the effect.

Special Attack Actions

Sometimes, Active Abilities will have the Attack keyword. Follow all of the instructions of the ability, performing an Attack as though you were using the Attack action. Remember, you cannot use an Attack action, including a Active Ability Attack action, if you've already spent an action to attack this activation. Occasionally, an Active Ability will include different stats for the attack. For example, an ability may be worded as follows:

Attack 6/4, Pierce 2, *Wound

In this case, use the base attack values stated in the Active Ability instead of your printed values. You can still be affected by Boosts, Breaks, and abilities that would affect your Attack. For example, if you had an Attack Break while performing the above attack, you would roll only 5 dice instead. You may still make use of keywords (such as Accurate, Pierce, etc; see Page 32-34) while performing Special Attack Actions.

3. Objectives Phase

Once all characters have taken actions in a round, the game enters the Objectives Phase, where progress towards victory conditions is checked, and a victor may be declared. During the objectives phase, perform the following steps:

(1) Resolve any text on the Objective card that resolves "At the start of the Objectives Phase". (2) The player with the most Fate in their pool scores VP equal to the difference in Fate between the pools. (3) If a player's Lord has fallen, that player is eliminated from the game. If a player is the only remaining player in the game, they win. If all remaining players are eliminated simultaneously, the player with the most VP wins the game. In the rare event of a tie, the player who currently has initiative is the winner. If a winner was not determined from this step, go to (4). (4) If either player has reached 50 VP, the player with the highest total VP wins the game. In the case of a tie, the player who currently has initiative is the winner. If a winner was not determined from this step, go to (5). (5) Remove all Boosts, Breaks, Activation Tokens and AoO Tokens from characters. (6) This step formalises the end of the Objectives Phase. Play will now return to the Preparation Phase.

Boons

Characters in Limbo can have a variety of status conditions on them. Status conditions that provide positive effects are known as Boons.

Many of the Boons in the game have already been covered in the Skills section. They include:

• Focus
• Evade
• Guard
• Evade
• Boost (See below)

Boosts

Boosts are usually granted by the Command skill. Boosts come in three forms: Attack, Defence, and Speed. Some abilities will specify which kind of Boost token to give to the character. Others may say "Any", in which case you make the decision upon resolving the ability. Finally, some abilities may Boost All, in which case the character receives a Boost token for each of its stats. Boost tokens increase the base value of the associated stat by 1. Each character can have multiple Boost tokens, but no more than one of each type. At the end of each round, all Boost tokens are discarded.

Boost Attack / Defence / Speed tokens.

Banes

Poisonous fangs, powerful blows, and spells can cause all sorts of lasting problems for characters. These status conditions, which provide negative effects, are known as Banes. Generally, Banes are given as part of an attack ability or critical hit Effect.

Daze represents a character being distracted from combat. When a character receives a Daze token, discard any Focus tokens they have. When a character with a Daze token attacks/is attacked, the attacker gains disadvantage/advantage. Then, the Daze token is discarded. Each character can have only a single Daze token.

Immobilise represents a character being unable to move for some reason, such as being stuck to the ground, grabbed by an enemy, or having their legs wounded. Characters with Immobilise cannot voluntarily leave their space. Thus, they cannot spend move points to move, or use the Sidestep action. Additionally, a character with an Immobilise token cannot use the Evasive keyword. Each character can have only a single Immobilise token. At the end of your activation, discard any Immobilise token on your character.

Stun: While Daze may represent a slight disorientation, Stun represents a combatant being severely struck and unable to act properly. There are several effects that occur as part of stun: (1) When a character receives a Stun token, discard all Boons from the character. (2) A character with a Stun token cannot spend Move points, Attack, or perform actions, except for the following: discard a Stun token from this character at the cost of one action. (3) A character with a Stun token cannot use the Evasive keyword. Each character can have only a single Stun token.

Wound represents a variety of different situations, such as bleeding, burning, or poison. At the beginning of a character's activation, if they have a Wound token, they take 1 damage and roll a die. On a 3, 4, or 5, the Wound is discarded. Each character can have only a single Wound token.

Breaks

Breaks are the exact opposite of Boosts. Like Boosts, they come in three forms: Attack, Defence, and Speed. Some abilities will specify which kind of Break token to give to the character. Others won't, in which case you make the decision upon resolving the ability. Break tokens decrease the base value of the associated stat by 1. Each character can have multiple Break tokens, but no more than one of each type. At the end of each round, all Break tokens are discarded.

Break Attack / Defence / Speed tokens.

Keywords

Many of the characters in the game have abilities that appear in the form of Keywords. These Keyword have various effects on the game that generally allow the characters to perform better in combat.

Accuracy represents a character being particular skilled at aiming for weak spots on the enemy. When a character with Accuracy is attacking, add their Accuracy value to the Attack Total.

Deadly represents a character's extremely dangerous attacks. Characters with Deadly tend to have below average Attack stats. However, while attacking, characters with Deadly multiply their Hits by their Deadly Value (after all other modifiers, such as from Shield tokens). So if a character with Deadly 2 scores 3 Hits, they'll place 6 wounds onto their target.

Evasive represents a character's ability to avoid taking damage. When a character with Evasive is defending, subtract their Evasive value from the Attack Total. Note that a character with a Stun Token is treated as though they have Evasive 0.

Huge represents a character's sheer size. Characters with Huge ignore small characters as well as difficult and hindering terrain while moving. When determining line of sight, Huge characters act as Blocking terrain. Huge characters reduce all Push and Pull values affecting them by 2.

Displacement: Huge characters are able to end their movement in spaces containing small characters. When they do so, those characters in those squares are displaced. The player who doesn't control the huge character places each displaced character, one at a time and in an order of their choosing, into the closest unoccupied spaces to the Huge character. This may mean that the displaced characters actually end up in spaces not adjacent to the Huge character.

Immune: Characters with Immune aren't susceptible to many of the conditions that would normally affect characters. Characters with Immune cannot receive Banes for any reason. Additionally, characters with Immune cannot be flanked.

Limited Range: A character with limited range can make ranged attacks, but these attacks cannot extend beyond their range. This represents a ranged weapon that has a finite range (e.g. Gouge's Infernal Hook can only extend so far).

Pierce represents weapons that are particularly effective at breaking through armour. While a character with Pierce is attacking, reduce the defending character's Armour by the attacking character's Pierce value. Note that this cannot take Armour to below 0.

Pull drags characters towards the character using the Keyword. When a character pulls a target, the player who controls the pulling character moves the target a number of spaces equal to the pull value. Each space must decrease the range between the target and the pulling character.

Push forces characters away from the character using the Keyword. When a character pushes a target, the player who controls the pushing character moves the target a number of spaces equal to the push value. Each space must increase the range between the target and the pulling character.

Reach represents characters with longer weapons, or other methods to attack characters further away. Characters with Reach threaten all spaces with X (X = Reach value) instead of just adjacent characters.

Recover represents all manner of healing or regeneration. When a character Recovers, roll a number of dice equal to the Recover value. Add up the results, then divide the total by the recovering character's defence. Remove that much damage from the recovering character.

Abilities

Characters (and Fate cards) have several types of abilities that may appear. One of these, the Active Ability, has already been covered. The others are detailed below:

Reactions

Reaction abilities always have a "When" clause that specifies when the ability can be activated. Each Reaction ability can be triggered multiple times each round, and can be triggered whenever the condition is met. However, you cannot trigger the same reaction from the same source multiple times in response to a single triggering condition.

Constants

Constant abilities require no specific activation, and are generally always in effect. Some may contain a "While" clause, which specifies a condition which must be met in order for the constant ability to be active.

Swifts

Swift abilities are like Active Abilities, except that they don't consume any actions to use. However, each Swift ability can only be activated once each activation, and only during the activation of the character using the Swift ability.

The Cards Are Always Right

Some abilities or cards may change the way rules work, or violate a rule in this book. If the text of any card would contradict the rules, the text of the card should be followed.

Ally and Enemy

Characters controlled by the same player are considered allies to each other. Characters controlled by opposing players are considered enemies to each other.

Named Abilities

All Fate cards and abilities in the game have names. Abilities that have the same name do not stack with each other, and only one ability/Fate card of a given name can be activated as a reaction. For example, if you had two abilities each named "Counterstrike", and the triggering condition was met for both, you could only trigger one in response to a given condition.

Dice of Damage

Some abilities will contain the phrase "Dice of damage". To deal dice of damage, roll the specified number of dice, total the numbers, and divide the total by the target's Defence Total (Defence + Armour). The target takes the specified amount of damage.

Direct Dice of Damage

Direct dice of damage are identical to dice of damage, with the exception that the target's Armour value is ignored when calculating the Defence Total.