Munchkin Harry Potter Deluxe Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Setup
• Card Management
• Character Creation
• Starting and Finishing the Game
• Conflicts Between Cards and Rules
• When You May Take Actions
• Turn Phases
• Combat: Basic Rules
• Character Stats
• Treasures
• Combat
• Monsters
• Interfering With Combat
• Card Examples
• Example of Combat, With Numbers and Everything
• Monsters, Continued
• Death
• Curses
• Combining Other Munchkin Sets
• Super-Sized Munchkin
• Faster Play Rules

Setup

Each player will begin by choosing a House card. Because these cards are double-sided, it is possible for multiple players to choose the same House. Once all players have chosen, they should claim a player standee representing the same House. There are three different standees for each House. Pay attention when you play! You don't want to move another player up a level by mistake.

Divide the cards into the Door deck and the Treasure deck. Shuffle each deck. Deal four cards from each deck to each player. Place the rest of the cards in the appropriate spaces on the gameboard.

The numbered spaces on the board represent your Level (see p. 2). When your character goes up (or, ugh, down) in Level, move your colored standee accordingly. You can never go below Level 1, and once you kill a monster to reach Level 10, you win! It's perfectly fine for more than one player to be at the same Level.

Card Management

Door and Treasure Decks: Keep face-up discard piles for each deck in the matching "Discard" space on the game board. You may not look through the discards unless you play a card that allows you to! When a deck runs out, reshuffle its discards.

In Play: These are the cards on the table in front of you, showing your House, Role (if any), Allies adventuring with you and the Items you are carrying, equipped or not. Persistent Curses and some other cards also stay on the table after you play them. Cards in play are public information and must be visible to the other players.

Your Hand: Cards in your hand are not in play. They don't help you, but they can't be taken away except by cards that specifically affect "your hand." At the end of your turn, you may have no more than five cards in your hand (see Charity, p. 2).

Cards in play may not be returned to your hand – they must be discarded or traded if you want to get rid of them.

Character Creation

Everyone starts at Level 1 with special strengths as described by their House card. Characters may be either male or female. Your character's sex at the start of the game matches your own.

Look at your initial eight cards. If you have any Role (p. 2) or Proficiency cards of Rank 1 (see Proficiencies, p. 3), you may (if you like) play one of each type by placing it in front of you. If you have any usable Items or Ally cards (see Items and Ally, p. 3), you may play them by placing them in front of you. If you have any doubt about whether you should play a card, you could read on, or you could just go ahead and do it.

Starting and Finishing the Game

Decide who goes first by any method of your choosing. We suggest you roll the die, but it's up to you.

Play proceeds in turns, each with several phases (see Turn Phases, p. 2). When the first player finishes their turn, the player to their left takes a turn, and so on.

The first player to reach Level 10 wins . . . but you must reach Level 10 by killing a monster, unless a card specifically allows you to win another way.

Conflicts Between Cards and Rules

This rulesheet gives the general rules. Many cards add special rules, so in most cases when the rulesheet disagrees with a card, follow the card. However, ignore any card effect that might seem to contradict one of the rules listed below unless the card explicitly says it supersedes that rule!

1. Nothing can reduce a player below Level 1, although card effects might reduce a player's or a monster's combat strength (p. 3) below 1.
2. You go up a level after combat only if you kill a monster.
3. You cannot collect rewards for defeating a monster (e.g., Treasure, levels) in the middle of a combat. You must finish the fight before gaining any rewards.
4. You must kill a monster to reach Level 10.

Any other disputes should be settled by loud arguments, with the owner of the game having the last word. You could also read the Munchkin FAQ and errata pages at munchkin.sjgames.com, or start a discussion at forums.sjgames.com . . . unless it's more fun to argue.

When You May Take Actions

At any time:

• Discard a Role.
• Play a Go Up a Level or Ally.
• Play a Curse.

At any time . . . well, as long as you are not in combat:

• Trade an Item with another player (the other player may not be in combat, either).
• Change which Items you have equipped.
• Play a card that you have just received (some cards may be played even during combat; see above).

On your own turn:

• Play a new Role card (at any time).
• Sell Items for levels (except when you are in combat).
• Play an Item (most Items cannot be played during combat, but some One-Shot Items can; see One-Shot, p. 3).

Turn Phases

Your turn begins as soon as the previous player's turn ends. When your cards are arranged the way you want, go to phase 1.

(1) Unlock the Door: Draw one card from the Door deck and turn it face up.

If it's a monster, you must fight it (see Combat, p. 4-5). If the card is a Curse it applies to you immediately and is discarded, unless it has a persistent effect or you keep the card as a reminder of an upcoming effect (see Curses, p. 5).

If you draw any other card (Role, Proficiency, Monster Enhancer, etc.), you may either put it in your hand or play it immediately if you want to and it is legal to do so.

(2) Up to No Good/Loot The Room: If you fought a monster in phase 1, skip this phase and go to phase 3. If you did NOT draw a monster when you first Unlocked the Door, you have two choices: either Up to No Good or Loot The Room.

Up to No Good: You may play a monster from your hand and fight it, just as if you had found it when you Unlocked the Door. Don't play a monster you can't handle, unless you think you can get some help (see p. 4)!

Loot The Room: If you don't have a monster you want to fight, you draw a second card from the Door deck, face down, and place it in your hand. If it is a monster, you can save it for later, either to fight when you are Up to No Good or to join a combat by using a Wandering Monster card. If it is a Curse, save it to play on a player when the time is right! You can play a Role or Proficiency immediately, if you want, or save it in your hand for later.

(3) Charity: If you have more than five cards in your hand, you must play enough cards to get you to five or below. If you cannot, or do not want to, you must give the excess cards to the player with the lowest Level. If players are tied for lowest, divide the cards as evenly as possible, but it's up to you who gets the bigger set(s) of leftovers. If YOU are the lowest or tied for lowest, just discard the excess.

As soon as you are finished with Charity, the next player's turn begins.

Combat: Basic Rules

When you fight a monster, you compare your combat strength (your Level plus any bonuses or penalties) against the monster's combat strength (its Level plus any bonuses or penalties). If your combat strength is greater, you win! If it is tied or lower, the monster wins, and you must Run Away or suffer the Bad Stuff!

For the full explanation, see Combat, p. 4-5.

Character Stats

Each character, in addition to your House affiliation, is basically a collection of Allies, weapons, armor, and magic Items, and you have three key stats: Level, Role, and Proficiencies. For instance, you might describe your character as "a Level 8 Ravenclaw Head Boy with a Crystal Ball, Dress Robes, and accompanied by Hermione Granger."

Level: When the rules or cards refer to your Level, capitalized, they mean the number in the space where your player standee is. You gain a level when you kill a monster, or when a card says that you do. You can also sell Items to buy levels (see Items, p. 3).

You lose a level when a card says you do. Your Level can never go below 1.

Role: Characters may be Quidditch Captains, Head Boy/Girl, Prefect, or Inquisitorial Squad members. Each Role has special abilities, shown on the cards. You gain the abilities of a Role the moment you play its card in front of you, and lose them as soon as you discard that card.

Some Role abilities are powered by discards. Unless the card specifies, you may discard any card, in play or in your hand, to power a special ability.

You can discard a Role card at any time, even in combat: "I don't wanna be a Prefect anymore." You may play a new Role card at any time on your own turn, or as soon as you get it if it's not your turn.

Dual Role: You may not belong to more than one Role at once unless you play the Dual Role card. Like a Role card, a Dual Role card may be played whenever it is legal to play a Role, and as long as you have a Role card to attach it to. You cannot have more than one of the same Role cards in play at once.

If you play Dual Role with one Role, you get all the advantages of being that Role (the ability to equip Role-only Items, monsters with penalties against that Role suffer those penalties) and none of the disadvantages (monsters do not get bonuses because of your Role). If the Role has an ability that has a cost, however, you must still pay it – you aren't that special!

If you play Dual Role with two Role cards, you have all of the advantages and disadvantages of both Roles.

Proficiencies: There are 14 of these courses of study. The moment you play a Proficiency card you gain its advantages, and you lose them as soon as you lose or discard the card.

Each Proficiency has a Rank of 1, 2, 3, or 4. You may have any number of Proficiencies as long as their total Rank does not exceed your Level.

Proficiencies are treated like Roles. You can't trade them to other players, but you may play a Proficiency from your hand at any time you can legally use it. You may not play Proficiencies that you cannot legally use. But you may discard Proficiencies at any time and replace them with Proficiencies from your hand.

If your Level goes down to less than the total Rank of your Proficiencies, you must discard some Proficiencies so that their total Rank is once again less than or equal to your Level. When you die, you keep all the Proficiencies you have in play, just as you keep your Roles. Some Proficiencies require discards. You may discard any card, in play or in your hand, to activate a Proficiency.

Ally: You may have one Ally accompany your character. When you draw an Ally, either face-up or face-down, you may play it immediately or keep it in your hand to play later, at any time, even during combat. While in play, your Ally may grant you combat bonuses or special abilities. You can choose to play a new Ally and discard the old one whenever you like as well, but you may not trade an Ally away to another player.

Allies can be sacrificed to allow automatic escape for you from all monsters in a combat, by discarding the Ally instead of rolling to Run Away. If someone was helping you in combat, you can even decide whether or not your helper automatically escapes when you sacrifice an Ally. The choice is yours!

Treasures

Treasure cards include permanent and "One-Shot" Item cards, as well as some special cards not considered Items. Any Treasure card may be played as soon as you get it, or at any time on your own turn except during combat (unless the rules below or the card itself says otherwise).

Items: Most Treasures are Items. All Items have a Gold value. "No Value" is equivalent to zero Gold Pieces, and these cards are still considered Items.

All Items you have in play are considered "carried." Items that are currently giving you a bonus or some other benefit are "equipped." You should indicate Items that are not equipped by turning the cards sideways. You may not alter the status of your Items during a combat or while running away, so make sure you are happy with a what you have equipped before entering combat.

Anyone can carry any Item, but there are limits to what you have equipped and are actively using. Some Items have icons to identify their types. A Character may equip only:

• one Headgear
• one Armor
• one pair of Footgear
• up to two "1 Hand" Items
• or one "2 Hands" Item

. . . unless you have a card that lets you ignore these limits, such as an Ally or Cheat!, or unless one of the cards says otherwise. If you are carrying two Headgear cards, for instance, you can equip only one of them at a time.

You cannot discard Item cards "just because." You may sell Items for a level, trade Items with other players, or give an Item to another player who wants it (see below). You may discard Items to activate special abilities. And a Curse or a monster's Bad Stuff (see p. 5) may force you to get rid of something!

Trading: You may trade Items (but no other cards) with other players.

You may only trade Items from the table – not from your hand. You may trade at any time except when you or your trading partner are in combat – in fact, the best time to trade is when it's not your turn. Any Item you receive in a trade must remain in play.

You may also give Items away without a trade, to bribe other players – "I'll give you my Quidditch Robes if you won't help Bob fight that dragon!" You may show your hand to others. Like we could stop you.

"One-Shot" Items: A Treasure card that says "Usable once only" is considered a One-Shot Item. Most of these are used during combat to strengthen the players or the monsters, and may be played from your hand or from the table. Some have other effects, however, so read the card carefully! Discard these cards as soon as the combat is over or their effect is resolved.

One-Shot Items with a Gold Piece value may be sold for levels, just like other Items.

Other Treasures: Other Treasure cards (like Go Up a Level cards) are not Items. Most of these cards say when they can be played, and whether they stay in play or are discarded. Go Up a Level cards may be played on yourself or any other player at any time, even during combat. Discard them once they are played. Exception: You cannot play a Go Up a Level card to give a player the winning level, unless specifically noted otherwise!

An Ally may be played at any time, on any turn. You cannot give an Ally an Item to carry while you are in combat, however.

Selling Items for Levels: At any point during your turn except during combat or Running Away, you may discard Items worth a total of at least 1,000 Gold Pieces and immediately go up one level. ("No Value" cards are the same as zero Gold Pieces.) If you sell Items worth 1,100 Gold Pieces total, you don't get change. But if you can manage 2,000 worth, you can go up two levels at once, and so on. You may sell Items from your hand as well as those you are carrying. You may not sell Items to go to Level 10.

Combat

A monster enters combat against you if you find it when you Unlock the Door or play it from your hand when you are Up to No Good.

To resolve combat, simply compare the monster's combat strength to yours. Your combat strength is equal to your Level plus any bonuses or penalties you receive from Proficiencies, Role abilities, Items, Allies, and Curses. You and the other players may play One-Shot Items or use House abilities to help or harm you in combat. Your combat strength can be negative, if you get hit by a Curse or suffer some other penalty.

A monster's combat strength is its Level, plus or minus any modifiers it has from its powers or cards played on it. Some Door cards may also be played into a combat, such as monster enhancers (see below).

If the monster's combat strength is equal to yours, or greater, you lose the combat and must Run Away (See Running Away and Bad Stuff, p. 5). If your combat strength is greater than the monster's, you kill it and go up a level (two levels for some big monsters). You'll also get the number of Treasures shown on its card.

Sometimes a card will let you defeat a monster without killing it. This is still "winning," but you don't get a level. Unless the card says otherwise, you don't get the Treasures, either.

If you kill a monster (or monsters!), discard them and any other cards played, and claim your rewards. Note: someone may play a hostile card on you, or use a special power, just as you think you have won. When you are about to kill a monster, you must wait a reasonable time, defined as about 2.6 seconds, for anyone else to speak up. After that, you have really killed the monster, and you really get the level(s) and Treasures, though they can still whine and argue.

Monsters

Monster Enhancers: Certain cards, called monster enhancers, raise or lower the combat strength of individual monsters. (Penalties to monsters are still considered enhancers.) They also affect the number of Treasures the monsters are worth. Monster enhancers may be played by any player during any combat.

All enhancers on a single monster add together. If there are multiple monsters in a combat, the person who plays each enhancer must choose which monster it applies to. Note that each monster card is a single monster, even if the name on the card is plural.

Fighting Multiple Monsters: Some cards (notably Wandering Monster) allow other monsters to join a combat. You must defeat their combined combat strengths to kill them. Any special abilities, such as forcing you to fight with your Level only, apply to the entire fight. If you have the right cards, you can eliminate one monster from the combat and fight the other(s) normally, but you cannot choose to fight one and Run Away from another. If you eliminate one monster, but then run from the other(s), you don't get any levels or Treasure!

Death Eater and Dragon Monsters: Several monsters in this set are tagged Death Eater or Dragon.

You may play any Death Eater monster from your hand into combat to help any other Death Eater, without using a Wandering Monster card. The same is true for Dragons.

Asking For Help: If you cannot kill a monster on your own, you may ask any other player to help you. If that player refuses, you may ask another player, and so on, until they all turn you down or someone helps. Only one player can help you, adding that player's combat strength to yours. Anyone can play cards to affect your combat, however!

Interfering With Combat

You can interfere with others' combats in several ways, including:

• Use a One-Shot Item. You could help another player by using a One-Shot to strengthen his side. Of course, you can "accidentally" strengthen the monster with it, instead . . .
• Play a monster enhancer. These cards (usually) make a monster stronger . . . and give it more Treasure. You can play these either during your own combats or during someone else's combat.
• Add a monster from your hand to join the combat, either with a Wandering Monster card or by using the special Death Eater or Dragon rule.
• Curse them, if you have a Curse card.

Card Examples

The rulesheet illustrates several of the rules above with mock-ups of real cards:

• Role – Quidditch Captain: You get a +2 Bonus when in combat with monsters of Level 10 or higher. Each time you are the helper in a combat, draw an additional face-down Treasure card after the monster is defeated.
• Proficiency, Rank 3, Potions (+4 Bonus): "I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death."
• Ally – Harry Potter (+3 Bonus): Has a +2 in any combat including at least one Death Eater.
• Monster Enhancer – Diffindo! (+5 to Monster, play during any combat): If the monster is defeated, draw one extra Treasure.
• One-Shot Item – Finite! (Play on another player's turn): Their turn is over; they skip to the Charity phase (discarding any cards played if they won in combat). Usable only once.
• Curse – Oppugno! (Fight a Monster): The top monster in the Door discards immediately attacks. Does not take effect when any player is in combat.

Example of Combat, With Numbers and Everything

Collin is a Level 4 Slytherin with Dress Robes (+2 to combat strength) and a Deluminator (+3 to combat strength). He Unlocks the Door and finds Peter Pettigrew, a Level 10 monster. Collin's at a 9, Peter Pettigrew is at a 10, so Collin is losing.

Collin: I was hoping to save this card . . .

He plays Felix Felicis, giving him +5 for this fight. Now his combat strength is 14, beating Peter Pettigrew's 10.

Collin: Ha! Take that, Pettigrew!

Susan: Not so fast. Now he's casting Bombarda! on you.

Susan plays Bombarda!, adding 5 to Peter Pettigrew's combat strength. Now Collin is losing, 15 to 14.

Collin: Curses!

Susan: Want some help?

(Susan is playing a Level 2 Ravenclaw with a Nimbus 2001, so her combat strength is 4. Combined with Collin's 14, they would have 18, enough to defeat Peter Pettigrew's 15.)

Collin: And share my Treasure? No way!

Collin uses his Slytherin power and discards a monster from his hand. This gives him +2 to his combat strength.

Collin: That's +2 to me, so now I'm winning 16 to 15. I'm defeating Peter Pettigrew unless someone else plans to interfere. Anyone?

No one says anything, so Collin goes up a level and claims Pettigrew's treasures – three from the card, and one extra because of Bombarda! And the game goes on . . .

Monsters, Continued

You'll probably have to bribe someone to help. You may offer your helper any Item(s) you are currently carrying, or any number of the Treasure cards the monster is worth. If you offer that player part of the monster's Treasure, you must agree which one picks first. You may also offer to play any cards from your hand that you legally could, such as Go Up a Level cards, on your helper.

The special abilities or weaknesses of the monster also apply to your helper, and vice versa. For instance, if a Quidditch Captain helps you fight Dolores Umbridge, the monster's combat strength is increased by 3 for that fight. The bonus or penalty is not applied twice if the helper is the same House as the current player.

If someone successfully helps you kill the monster, discard it, draw Treasures (see Rewards, below), and follow any special instructions on the monster card. You level up for each monster killed in combat. Your helper does not go up any levels. You draw the Treasure cards, even if it was your helper's special ability that defeated the monster, and distribute them according to the agreement you reached.

Rewards: When you kill a monster, you go up one level per monster, unless the monster card says otherwise. You also get all its Treasure! Brilliant!

Each monster has a Treasure number on the bottom of its card. Draw that many Treasure cards, modified by any monster enhancers played on it, face-down if you killed the monster alone, but face-up, so the whole party can see what you got, if someone helped you. Treasure cards can be played as soon as you get them, even if you are the helper.

If you defeat a monster by non-lethal means, you do not get the level and might not get the Treasure, so be sure to check the card.

Running Away and Bad Stuff: If nobody will help you . . . or if somebody tries to help, and others interfere so you still cannot win . . . you must Run Away. You don't get any levels or Treasure. You don't even get to Loot the Room. And you don't always escape unharmed . . .

To Run Away, you roll the die. You successfully Run Away on a 5 or more. Some special Proficiencies, Roles, and Items make it easier or harder to Run Away from monsters.

If you fail to Run Away from a monster, it does Bad Stuff to you, as described by its card. This may vary from losing an Item, to losing one or more levels, to Death (see below).

If you must flee from multiple monsters, you roll separately to escape each one, in any order you choose, and suffer Bad Stuff from each as soon as you fail to Run Away from it.

If two players are cooperating and still can't defeat the monster(s), they must both Run Away. They roll separately, and each player chooses in what order to Run Away. The monster(s) CAN catch them both.

After resolving all Run Away rolls, discard the monster(s).

Death

If you die, you lose all your stuff. Once you have died, you don't have to Run Away from any remaining monsters. You keep your Role, any Proficiencies, and Level (and any persistent Curses on you) – your new character will look just like your old one. If you have a Dual Role card, keep that as well.

Looting The Body: As you depart the mortal realm, lay out your hand beside the cards you had in play (except the cards listed above). If you have an Item attached to a Cheat! card, separate those cards. Starting with the player with the highest Level, everyone else chooses one card. In case of ties in Level, roll the die. If your body runs out of cards, tough. Once everyone gets one card, discard the rest. Looted cards go into players' hands.

Dead characters cannot receive cards for any reason, not even Charity, and cannot level up or win the game.

When the next player begins their turn you are no longer dead, and your new character appears and can help others in combat with your Level, Role, and Proficiencies . . . but you have no cards, unless you receive Charity or gifts from other players.

At the start of your next turn, draw four face-down cards from each deck and play any legal cards you want to, just as when you started the game. Then take your turn normally.

Curses

If drawn face-up during the Unlock the Door phase, a Curse card applies to the person who drew it.

If acquired some other way, such as by Looting the Room, Curse cards go into your hand and may be played on any player at any time.

Usually, a Curse affects its victim immediately (if it can) and is then discarded. However, some Curses give a penalty later in the game or have a persistant effect. Keep these cards until you get rid of the Curse or the penalty takes effect. (Curse cards you keep as a reminder may not be discarded to power Role or Proficiency abilities. Nice try!)

Note: If someone plays a "your next combat" Curse on you while you are in combat, it counts in that combat! The same is true for a "your next turn" Curse played during your turn.

If a Curse can apply to more than one Item, the victim decides which Item is lost or Cursed.

If a Curse applies to something you don't have, ignore it. For instance, if you draw Sectumsempra! and you have no Armor, nothing happens; discard the card. (Some Curses have alternate effects, though, so read the card!)

There will be times when it will help you to play a Curse or monster on yourself, or to "help" another player in a way that costs that git some treasure.

Combining Other Munchkin Sets

Munchkin Harry Potter Deluxe is based on the same game play found in the original Munchkin game, Super Munchkin, and dozens of Munchkin expansions and accessories.

When integrating Munchkin Harry Potter Deluxe into any Munchkin set, use the combining rules from Munchkin 7 – Cheat With Both Hands as a guide. You can always download the most up-to-date version of those rules, and all others, at munchkin.sjgames.com/rules.

Super-Sized Munchkin

Studies have shown that 8.4 out of 9.7 Munchkin players just can't get enough of the game. Here are some ideas to take your Munchkin games to new highs – or lows:

Combining different Munchkin sets. You can mix two (or more) base sets and expansions together for a genre-crossing mega-Munchkin adventure!

Expansions. These add still more monsters to kill, new Treasure to loot, and sometimes entirely new kinds of cards. Ask for all the Munchkin sets and expansions at your local game or comic store – find it using our Store Finder, gamerfinder.sjgames.com – but if you don't have a local store, we'll be happy to sell them directly to you at warehouse23.com.

Turn it up to EPIC! Playing to Level 10 just isn't enough for some people. To satisfy their insane cravings, we've created Epic Munchkin, a new set of rules that gives all your Munchkin sets that high-octane boost you need to make it up to Level 20! Look for it at munchkin.sjgames.com/epic – it's completely, absolutely FREE!

All of the above!!!

Faster Play Rules

For a faster game, you can add a "phase 0" called Listen At The Door. At the start of your turn before doing anything else, draw a face-down Door card, which you may play or not. Then arrange cards and Unlock the Door normally. If you are Up to No Good, draw a face-down Treasure, not a Door.

You can also allow shared victories – if you reach Level 10 in a fight where you had a helper, the helper also wins the game, no matter what level that player is.