DSBG - Unofficial Guide & Rules FAQ
This doc aims to help you understand the differences between each core set release and expansions, provide links to community resources and custom content, and serve as a supplement to the official rulebook, addressing areas where rules clarification is needed or where confusion may arise.
Dark Souls The Board Game
Unofficial Guide & FAQ
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Introduction
Welcome to the unofficial helper doc created and maintained by the Dark Souls The Board Game community. This doc aims to help you understand the differences between each core set release and expansions, provide links to community resources and custom content, and serve as a supplement to the official rulebook, addressing areas where rules clarification is needed or where confusion may arise.
This doc is meant to be collaborative; feel free to make suggestions and add comments. |
Primary maintainers:
- Reddit: lenlendan / Discord: .dduhon
- Reddit: mathog / Discord: mathog
Quick Links
I want to learn more about the game.
Click here: DSBG Guide.
I want to see what expansions have been released.
Click here: Expansions.
I want to learn about mega bosses.
Click here: Mega Bosses.
I want to buy the game or an expansion and need help.
Click here: Buy Order.
I want to buy sleeves for the game.
Click here: Sleeves.
I want to learn about the differences between the two game versions.
Click here: V2.
I want to check out community content.
Click here: Community.
I have a question.
Click here: FAQ.
I want to leave feedback / I don’t see my question answered.
Click here: Random Queries.
Latest News
10 October 2024
Print-on-demand has hit a “roadblock”.
No mention of content other than The Sunless City as of October 2025.
DSBG Guide
Dark Souls The Board Game releases can be split into the following categories: core sets, content expansions, and mega boss expansions.
Core sets are standalone boxes that contain all the necessary elements to play the game, including player characters, enemies, bosses, encounter cards, character equipment, and encounter tiles. The game is now divided into two distinct versions:
- V1 (Version 1): Refers to the original 2017 release, its ruleset, and all expansions prior to V2.
- V2 (Version 2): Starting in 2022, multiple boxes dubbed as core sets have been released and use what’s called V2 - the updated ruleset. V1 is often retroactively referred to as a core set as well.
Content expansions include new elements like player characters, enemies, and bosses, set in a unique theme. These expansions were designed with V1 in mind and are not strictly compatible with V2 core sets. Moving forward, it is expected that new releases will be standalone core sets using the V2 ruleset.
Mega boss expansions introduce bosses that are fought after the main campaign concludes, usually after defeating a main boss. These bosses come with additional mechanics that are not found in mini or main bosses. Mega bosses can be added to both V1 and V2 campaigns, though they also feature encounters that require enemies found only in V1 content.
Expansions
* out of print
** out of print (Kickstarter exclusives)
Overview | |||||||||||||||
Box | Name | Type | Rules | Player Characters | Items | Encounters (Difficulty Level 1/2/3/4) | Enemies | Enemies Total (Unique) | Extra | Mini Bosses | Main Bosses | Mega | Tiles | Game | Card Sleeves |
Core Set | V2 | Cleric | 97 | 27 (9/9/9) | 3x Skeleton Archer 3x Skeleton Soldier 2x Giant Skeleton Archer 2x Giant Skeleton Soldier 2x Necromancer 1x Skeleton Beast | 13 (6) | Black Knight | Gravelord Nito | 4 | DS1 | 41x63mm - 127 63x88mm - 30 | ||||
Deprived | 95 | 27 (9/9/9) | 5x Phalanx Hollows 2x Snow Rats 2x Crow Demon 2x Bonewheel Skeleton 2x Engorged Zombie 1x Phalanx (no distinct miniature, represented with 3 Phalanx Hollow miniatures pushed together) | 13 (6) | Heavy Knight | Crossbreed Priscilla | 4 | 41x63mm - 125 63x88mm - 30 | |||||||
Herald | 95 | 27 (9/9/9) | 3x Hollow Soldier 3x Crossbow Hollow 2x Silver Knight Swordsman 2x Silver Knight Greatbowman 1x Sentinel 1x Mimic (single behavior card) | 12 (6) | Titanite Demon | Ornstein & Smough | 4 | 41x63mm - 126 63x88mm - 48 | |||||||
V1 | Assassin | 141 | 36 (12/12/12) | 3x Hollow Soldier 3x Silver Knight Swordsman 3x Silver Knight Greatbowman 2x Large Hollow Soldier | 16 (6) | Boreal Outrider Knight Gargoyle Titanite Demon Winged Knight | Dancer of the Boreal Valley Ornstein & Smough | 9 | DS1 DS3 | 41x63mm - 177 63x88mm - 73 | |||||
Content Expansion | Cleric Mercenary Sorcerer | 83 | DS3 | 41x63mm - 103 | |||||||||||
20 | 15 (5/5/5) | 3x Firebomb Hollow 3x Silver Knight Spearman | 6 (2) | Mimic (behavior deck) Mimic chest miniature Barrel miniatures Chest miniatures Tombstone miniatures Bonfire miniature | Old Dragonslayer | Pursuer | DS1 DS2 | 41x63mm - 35 63x88mm - 46 | |||||||
21 | 18 (6/6/6) | 3x Shears Scarecrow | 14 (7) | Artorias | DS1 | 41x63mm - 39 63x88mm - 36 | |||||||||
23 | 18 (6/6/6) | 3x Alonne Sword Knight 3x Alonne Bow Knight 3x Alonne Knight Captain 3x Ironclad Soldier 2x Crystal Lizard | 14 (5) | Sir Alonne Smelter Demon | DS2 | 41x63mm - 41 63x88mm - 33 | |||||||||
12 | 11x Invaders 10x Summons | DS1 DS2 DS3 | 41x63mm - 12 63x88mm - 126 | ||||||||||||
Mega Boss Expansion | 2 | 4 (0/0/0/4) | Asylum Demon | Stray Demon | 1 | DS1 | 41x63mm - 4 63x88mm - 28 | ||||||||
2 | 4 (0/0/0/4) | DS1 | 41x63mm - 2 63x88mm - 26 | ||||||||||||
2 | 10 (2/2/2/4) | 4x Falchion Skeleton 2x Black Hollow Mage | 6 (2) | DS2 | 41x63mm - 8 63x88mm - 24 | ||||||||||
Four Kings** | 2 | 4 (0/0/0/4) | Four Kings** | DS1 | 41x63mm - 2 63x88mm - 25 | ||||||||||
2 | 4 (0/0/0/4) | DS1 | 41x63mm - 2 63x88mm - 19 | ||||||||||||
Guardian Dragon** | 2 | 4 (0/0/0/4) | Guardian Dragon** | DS1 | 41x63mm - 2 63x88mm - 20 | ||||||||||
2 | 4 (0/0/0/4) | DS1 | 41x63mm - 2 63x88mm - 19 | ||||||||||||
Old Iron King** | 2 | 4 (0/0/0/4) | Old Iron King** | DS2 | 41x63mm - 2 63x88mm - 23 | ||||||||||
2 | 4 (0/0/0/4) | DS3 | 41x63mm - 2 63x88mm - 22 | ||||||||||||
2 | 4 (0/0/0/4) | DS2 | 41x63mm - 2 63x88mm - 21 | ||||||||||||
Tile Set | 9 | DS1 | |||||||||||||
Mega Bosses | ||
Gaping Dragon New Conditions The Gaping Dragon can inflict Corrosion, which reduces the number of successes on all block rolls by 1 until you take damage. The Gaping Dragon uses the iconic crawling charge after slamming its maw across the ground. The crawl can be partially avoided as it’s a move forward with no target. Wings and hands assembly required. | Manus, Father of the Abyss Shaft Manus’s special ability provides characters an option to spend 1 stamina to move one node after every boss activation, making the fight very similar to V2 combat. Manus may require some house rules for V2 since the V2 rules negate Manus’s special ability. Not recommended for smaller parties because many attacks use Shaft, making the boss a pushover if characters stand on the same node as the boss. | Vordt of the Boreal Valley Double Deck Vordt has two behavior decks, one for movement and one for attack. Each enemy turn, you draw and resolve the top card of the movement behavior deck, then draw and resolve the top card of the attack behavior deck. Vordt heats up twice. After the first heat up, a new card is added to the attack deck. After the second heat up, a new card is added to the movement deck. After every heat up Vordt also uses a long range Frostbite attack. |
Black Dragon Kalameet New Conditions Kalameet can inflict Calamity, which reduces the number of successes counted on all block, resist, and dodge rolls by 1 until you take damage. Wings assembly required. | The Last Giant Windup After heat up, the Last Giant rips off his left hand to use as a club, which increases his range. | Stray Demon Windup The Stray Demon fight features pillar tokens that if destroyed by the boss, deal damage and stagger characters around it. Adds the Asylum Demon mini boss which also uses the Windup and Pillar Smasher mechanics. |
Guardian Dragon** Area Attacks Guardian Dragon uses Cage Grasp Inferno, which uses a deck to target specific tiles for an attack. After this attack is resolved, another behavior card is drawn and resolved. 2016 Kickstarter and 2023 vault exclusive. Can be expensive/difficult to find. Wings assembly required. | Old Iron King** Area Attacks Some nodes that would normally appear on the tile are not available as they are lava. Old Iron King can only appear on one of three nodes and will regularly teleport to another of these nodes. He also has a Fire Beam which uses a deck to target specific nodes to attack. 2016 Kickstarter and 2023 vault exclusive. Can be expensive/difficult to find. Wings assembly required. | Four Kings** Multiple Boss Models This mega boss comes with four boss models and four behavior decks. The first three times the boss behavior deck is empty, a new King is added to the board, a new behavior card is drawn from the added king’s behavior deck and shuffled into the main behavior deck. All Kings perform the same behavior card in the enemy turn. 2016 Kickstarter and 2023 vault exclusive. Can be expensive/difficult to find. |
Executioner's Chariot Special First Phase Also adds 2 new enemy types: Falchion Skeletons and Black Hollow Mages along with 6 new encounters, 2 for each level. These enemies are also present in the mega boss encounter and must be defeated first while the Executioner’s Chariot moves around the arena dealing damage. | ||
Mega Boss Mechanics | ||
New Conditions Gaping Dragon The boss uses new condition tokens against player characters. | Shaft Manus, Father of the Abyss The boss makes use of the shaft icon, meaning these attacks cannot target characters on the boss’s node. | Double Deck Vordt of the Boreal Valley The boss has separate behavior decks for movement and attacks and one card from each deck is drawn during boss activation. |
Area Attacks Old Iron King Some behavior cards feature attacks that deal damage on specified nodes. |
Windup Stray Demon Before the boss attack is performed, characters can move one node at the cost of 1 stamina. | Special First Phase Executioner’s Chariot The first phase requires the party to defeat all enemies before the boss is vulnerable to attacks. |
Bonus Behavior Guardian Dragon Some behavior cards are immediately followed up by a second behavior card. | Specific Boss Nodes Old Iron King The boss teleports between specific nodes instead of using normal movement. | Multiple Boss Models Four Kings More than one boss model can be present at one time. |
Buy Order
The buy order for Dark Souls: The Board Game can vary depending on your preferences and what content you already own. Neither V1 nor V2 can be definitively called superior, and even within each version, what you choose to purchase will depend on your preference. Rather than trying to be prescriptive about what you should buy, this section aims to provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision based on your preferences:
I don’t own any Dark Souls The Board Game content yet.
The main thing to consider is which version of the game you want to get into first: V1 or V2.
- All V1 content is available now, the development/release schedule for future V2 content is unknown.
- V1 is out of print, so it may become harder to find or more expensive, depending on your region and as time goes on.
- V1 and V2 are not compatible without effort and/or community tools.
- V1 uses more miniatures for variety, while V2 relies on cards and rules for diversity in gameplay.
- There are no upgrade packs for converting V1 to V2. However, Steamforged has said that V2 cards for V1 content (such as The Sunless City being a sort of V2 version of the V1 core set) will be available to download from their website so you can print the cards yourself. They are also working on making them available from a print-on-demand service.
- Mega Boss expansions are generally compatible with both V1 and V2.
I own only V1 content.
There isn’t going to be any more official V1 content released, so you have to decide whether you want to get into V2.
- If you prefer to stick with V1, choose expansions based on what aspect of the game you'd like to enhance first. See the V1 Releases section for guidance.
- If you want to try out V2 content, Steamforged Games provides printing files for the Sunless City core set, see Sunless City.
I own only V2 content.
The determining factor here is how long you’re willing to wait for new content. The development/release schedule for V2 is unknown.
- If you only want more V2 content, the choice should be mostly about what theme, enemies, or bosses are your favorite:
- If you want to get V1 content:
- Mega bosses are compatible with V2, see point 5 below.
- The Phantoms expansion is compatible with V2 out of the gate, aside from determining where an invader spawns. As a rule of thumb it makes the most sense to spawn them on the starting tile. In V1, friendly summons had a consistent cost (receiving 0 souls for completing an encounter). In V2, applying the same rule makes it a variable cost since encounters reward varying amounts of souls.
- Dark Souls The Board Game (2017)
Features mostly the same enemies as the Sunless City core set, but more of them along with the otherwise-unavailable content not present in V2 sets, see the link for a full list. - The Characters expansion provides 6 additional player characters, all of which are also available across the three V2 core sets. This expansion therefore provides less value for V2-only players, though it still offers 17 new armor items, extra player miniatures, and, most importantly, superior player boards than the V2 counterpart.
For more information, see V2 Component Differences section.
I own a mix of V1 and V2 content.
You likely already know the differences between V1 and V2 and either play them separately or have found a way to make them work together. See the V1 Releases section for a good summary of V1 expansions.
I want to buy a Mega Boss expansion.
Mega Bosses, while made with V1 in mind, are generally considered compatible with V2 due to their add-on nature of extending a campaign normally ending with a Main Boss. The buy order is largely dependent on whether any of the bosses is your favorite from the video games. Aside from that you may consider getting bosses with different special rules so you have more variety.
Notable bosses to consider are:
- Stray Demon, as it features a Mini Boss as well.
- Executioner’s Chariot, as it provides additional enemies and V1 encounters.
All Mega Boss expansions introduce Level 4 V1-style encounters that are fought right before a Mega Boss. These encounters always take place on a 4x4 encounter tile and often feature enemies from two or even three content expansions, so this aspect of Mega Boss content will not be available if you only have V2 core sets. The official alternative if you do not have the enemies required for a Level 4 encounter is to draw an additional Level 3 encounter.
Sleeves
Specific amount of sleeves needed per box can be found in the Overview table above in the last column.
For common combinations, see below.
Combination | 41x63mm | 63x88mm | 70x120mm |
V2 only | 378 | 108 | 87 |
V1 (no Mega Bosses) | 395 | 188 | 0 |
Mega Bosses only | 28 | 227 | 3 (Vault exclusive) |
Everything | 813 | 649 | 90 |
V2
V1 vs. V2: Key Differences
To give a quick summary, the original release (V1) got a mixed reception for various reasons:
- The repetitive nature of encounters or “grindiness” due to them always having a singular “defeat all enemies” objective and encounters being the same every time once they are drawn. This, while faithful to the source material, did not translate well to a board game setting.
- Boss fights are often described as highlights of the game due to them being faithful to the source material and allowing for tactical gameplay.
- Long playtime is a criticism for some people, especially since the boss fights comprise a comparatively small part of the game.
- Varied player equipment allows for different character playstyles. However, the combat is dice-based and relatively simple, which is a turn-off for some and appealing to others.
V2 core sets were an attempt to fix V1’s issues with various levels of success. While they are commonly called V2 in the community, V1.1 is a more appropriate description of the introduced changes due to the nature of the game staying the same.
- A new campaign system allows each encounter to be more involved and feature varying objectives such as “reach an exit” or “survive X turns” as well as have optional challenges. However, the grindy nature of repeating the same encounters after restarting at the bonfire is still very much present there.
- Reduced encounter difficulty, partially due to exploitable rules, can make the game less engaging while not really reducing the overall playtime.
- Event cards drawn after every encounter add extra challenges and modifiers for enemies and player characters alike to make each campaign more varied.
- Cheaper entry point at $20 less for a box compared to V1. However, they offer less content overall, featuring only 1 mini boss and 1 main boss per box compared to V1's 4 mini bosses and 2 main bosses, alongside having fewer enemies than V1.
- Smaller, poorly designed player boards are universally regarded as inferior compared to the original.
- 3 player characters in each box require a purchase of at least two boxes in order to play at the maximum count of 4 players.
V1 and V2: Compatibility
While V1 and V2 differ in rules and encounter structure, they can be combined with some planning, particularly by using V2 as the core framework. V2’s mechanics and campaign flow make it a better foundation when incorporating V1 content, rather than trying to retrofit V2 elements into a V1 campaign. For example, you can progress through a V2 campaign up to defeating the mini boss, then switch to a V1 expansion like Darkroot to complete its encounters and fight its main boss.
Consider the following when mixing the two versions:
- Determine encounter difficulty
Decide whether to use the V2 campaign dashboard or the V1 boss data card to set encounter difficulty. V2 follows a fixed difficulty progression (1-1-1-2-Boss → 2-2-3-3-Boss), while V1’s difficulty varies by boss (e.g., Darkroot's Artorias has a 3-3-3-3-Boss pattern). - Track encounter completion
Choose between the V2 campaign dashboard, which structures encounter progression more linearly or V1's "dungeon" layout, where tiles are placed all at once. The V2 dashboard is usually preferred, but V1’s layout gives flexibility to skip certain encounters without needing shortcuts. - Set rewards for V1 encounters
In V1, encounters reward 2 souls per player. The following table is adjusted for increased rewards while attempting to diminish the issue of overabundance of souls in V2.
Souls rewards for V1 encounters in a V2 campaign | ||||
Encounter Level | 1 Player | 2 Players | 3 Players | 4 Players |
1 | 2 souls | 4 | 6 | 8 |
2 | 3 souls | 6 | 9 | 12 |
3 | 4 souls | 8 | 12 | 16 |
If item scarcity becomes an issue due to V2’s limited shop options and V1 encounters not dropping items outside of chests, consider these adjustments:
- Increase the shop item pool from 4 to 7.
- Reward 2 items per chest (as per V1 rules).
- Reward 1 item for each completed encounter.
Additional notes:
- Player characters and equipment are fully compatible between both versions.
- Encounter tiles are fully compatible, as there is no mechanical difference in how tiles are used.
- Most V2 event cards work fine in a V1 campaign. Should you draw an incompatible event card (such as Big Pilgrim’s Key related to shortcuts), discard it and draw another one.
Using V1 in V2 format
Steamforged Games intends to release the V2 version of encounters and events for all V1 expansions. Sunless City is a conversion of the original 2017 V1 release to the V2 format, while the expansions will probably only receive upgrades in the form of downloadable/printable packs. There is a significant delay regarding the upgrade packs, as they were expected to become available in Q1 2023.
The only solution for the time being is using the fan-made DSBG-Shuffle program, which takes official V2 encounters and replaces V2 enemies with V1 counterparts to achieve roughly the same difficulty level.
Fan work is also being done to convert all V1 encounters into the V2 format featuring new mechanics not present in the official content.
V2 Quality Issues
The new core sets, while created with the intention of improving on the original version of the game, have unfortunately suffered from various quality control issues themselves. Below is a non-exhaustive list of commonly reported problems:
- Rulebooks and encounter cards suffer from proof-reading issues (even the Sunless City ones released over a year after the first V2 core set) from small typos to incorrect boss references.
- New character boards:
- Punch-outs replace the original cubes for tracking attributes, stamina, and damage. Each punch-out has an active and inactive side, but they are more fiddly than the cubes, and the attribute punch-outs can easily fall out of the board while in the box. This often requires referencing errata to determine the correct attribute numbers.
- The Thief character is incorrectly given a threat level of 3 instead of 2. This is a problem because threat level acts as a tie-breaker for enemy targeting so each character is meant to have a unique threat level.
- Character tokens (Estus, Luck, etc.) are larger than in the original set, and they do not fit in the space on the new character boards.
- Trap tokens have an incorrect blank side print (both sides are the same).
- The new rules have unclear elements or allow for game-breaking exploits.
- The party can rest or even heal between tiles in most multi-tile encounters with no consequence.
- V2 often features encounters that take place on multiple tiles, which enables situations in which an enemy moves between tiles, attempting to get to its target but not attacking.
- [Painted World] Mercenary’s Sellsword Twinblade is now a two-handed weapon, meaning the Mercenary can either use the Twinblade, or the shield, but not both.
- V2 Errata
- Boss item’s back sides are inconsistent: Painted World and Tomb of Giant boss items are marked with the appropriate boss icon, whereas Sunless City boss items are marked as common treasure.
V2 Rules Differences
Rule | V1 | V2 |
Endurance bar | Characters die when all 10 slots are filled with cubes. | Characters die when all 10 slots are filled and more must be placed. |
Character stamina recovery | 2 stamina at the start of activation. | 3 stamina at the start of activation. |
Dodge stamina cost | 1 stamina to attempt to dodge. | 1 stamina only if the dodge was successful and you choose to move a node. |
Defending against an attack | Choose whether to attempt a dodge or to block/resist. | Roll all dodge and block/resist dice. If you rolled enough dodge dice, you dodged. Otherwise, apply the block/resist dice. |
Sparks restored when killing a boss | All sparks restored. | +1 spark when a boss has been killed. |
Character movement on another character’s turn | N/A | During a character’s Upkeep phase, at the start of activation, other characters are allowed to move 1 node at no stamina cost. |
Party inventory | The inventory can be accessed between encounters without spending a spark. | |
Visiting the bonfire | You can visit the bonfire in between encounters to level up, upgrade stats, buy treasure, and add/remove upgrades from items without spending a spark. | You spend a spark in order to return to the bonfire, which allows you to upgrade stats, buy treasure, and add/remove upgrades from items. |
Buying treasure | Between encounters, spend 1 soul to draw a treasure from a treasure deck and put it in the inventory. | After you rest at the bonfire, draw 4 cards from the treasure deck. You may buy any of them for 1 soul each (the rest go on the bottom of the deck). |
Event cards | N/A | After every encounter you draw an event card that adds a variety of effects such as “in the next encounter’s enemies apply an X condition/deal more damage/have more health”, “immediately level up one attribute”, “visit a shop without spending a spark”. |
Encounters | Single tile encounters, the objective is always to kill all enemies. Rewards 2 souls per character. | Can use 1-3 tiles. Objectives vary. Special rules apply to each encounter. Rewards vary but can include souls, treasure draws, token refreshes, specific items, and event card draws. |
Dungeon setup | Set up all tiles up to the next boss in advance. | Set up each encounter separately. When replaying an encounter it is set up anew. The tiles could be different, treasure chests and gravestones are available again. |
Barrels | Barrels act as an obstacle to go around or destroy at the cost of stamina. | If a model moves onto a node containing a barrel, the barrel is discarded. Each barrel that survives an encounter grants souls equal to the result of a black die roll. |
Gravestones | Reveal a random behavior card from the boss behavior deck. | Reveal the top card of the encounter, treasure, or event deck. Return the card to either the top or the bottom of its deck. |
Frostbite token | A character with a Frostbite token must spend 1 additional Stamina each time it walks, runs, or dodges. | Characters with a Frostbite token recover one less stamina at the start of their turn. |
Spell Fury | Once per spark when the Sorcerer makes a magic attack, it gains infinite range and its Stamina cost is reduced by 3. | This character’s next attack with the magic symbol gains infinite range and costs 0 stamina. |
Rapid Strike | Once per spark during their activation, the Mercenary may make an attack that costs 0 Stamina even if they already used that Weapon during their activation. | This character makes an attack with one of their weapons. This attack costs 0 stamina. |
Berserk Charge Warrior Heroic Ability | Once per spark during his activation, the Warrior may move one node without spending stamina. The next range 0 attack he makes costs 0 stamina and gains [node attack]. | This character’s next attack gains [node attack] and does not cost stamina. Before making the attack, they can be placed in an adjacent node. |
V2 Component Differences
Component | V1 | V2 |
Character boards The V2 changes to the character board’s attributes and the endurance bar are universally regarded as inferior compared to V1. | Character boards are large and can fit all equipment cards in use.
| Character boards are smaller, equipment cards are placed on the sides of the board.
Endurance bar uses cardboard tokens that are meant to be placed on the spaces. |
Tokens | The First Activation token determines the first character to take action in each encounter. The token is given to the next player clockwise after each encounter. The Aggro token acts as a tie-breaker to determine which player an enemy targets when multiple players are equally close.Aggro
| The First Activation token is not present in V2. Instead, players decide which character activates first in each new encounter, and then proceed clockwise. The Aggro token is functionally the same as V1. Character tokens are functionally the same but are physically larger. Because of this, they do not actually fit in the slots on the V2 character boards. V2 core sets feature new terrain tokens, for more information see V2 Core Set Releases. |
Encounter cards V1: Level 1-3 cards are 41x63mm, the same size as the equipment cards. Megaboss level 4 cards are 63x88mm, the same as the enemy cards. V2: Level 1-3 cards are 70x120mm (also known as tarot), larger than the enemy cards. There are no V2-style level 4 encounter cards. The images on the right are more or less sized relative to each other. | ||
Encounter tiles Bonfire tile | A bonfire tile is used as part of the map as well as a place to put items and souls on. Encounter tiles and a bonfire tile are set up before the campaign begins, with the boss tiles being usually placed later to save space. Encounters’ difficulty is dependent on the chosen boss and the encounter cards are drawn and put on the tiles before a campaign begins. Once a boss is defeated, the whole tile setup is torn down and the process is repeated for the next boss. | The bonfire tile is replaced by a dashboard, which gives an overview for the campaign progress while also being a place to put items and souls on. The campaign’s difficulty is fixed at 1-1-1-2-B-2-2-3-3-B, where 1/2/3 are difficulty levels and B is a boss fight. Encounter tiles are set up specifically for each encounter and torn down afterwards. |
Tiles Iconography was updated in V2, but V1 tiles are still perfectly usable. | ||
Equipment cards Functionally the equipment cards are the same as V1. Visually the design is the same except for the new movement icon. The print is noticeably darker than V1, and Some items have been adjusted to the new stamina regeneration rules, see the list below. | ||
Move icon Same functionality, different icon. | ||
Black Armor Black Hand Armor Treasure The Black Armor had a typo and was fixed into the proper Black Hand Armor name. Note that there are two versions of Black Hand Armor - one is a Thief class treasure, the other is a common treasure. | ||
Black Knight Shield Black Knight Mini Boss Treasure There are now two versions of the Black Knight Shield:
| ||
Black Leather Armor Updated version of the Mercenary’s Black Leather Armor that is in line with the new dodge rules. | ||
Eastern Armor Updated version of the Mercenary’s Eastern Armor that is in line with the new dodge rules. | ||
Mercenary Twinblade The V1 version allows for more flexibility by being able to equip just one sword.
| 2x one-handed weapons: | 1x two-handed weapon: |
Chloranthy Ring Treasure Since characters naturally gain 3 stamina per turn in V2, this ring had to be updated to gain 4 stamina. | ||
Carthus Milkring Deprived Transposed Treasure V1: You can dodge without spending stamina | ||
Tiny Being’s Ring Herald Class Treasure V1: At the start of your turn, you may gain 1 health and 1 stamina instead of 2 stamina (instead of 2 stamina). V2: At the start of your turn, you may gain 2 health instead of 3 stamina. | ||
Dark Wood Grain Ring Treasure Havel’s Greatshield Treasure Smough’s Armour Executioner Smough treasure These items have the same effect as in V1 but the phrasing was updated slightly. | ||
Wolf Ring Mercenary Transposed Treasure V1: You may roll your dodge dice before you decide whether to dodge or block/resist. V2: This character can reroll their defense roll. They must accept the result of the second roll. | ||
Havel’s Armour Treasure V1: You cannot dodge or walk. V2: You cannot use dodge results or run. | ||
Demon’s Great Hammer Asylum Demon treasure Gargoyle’s Halberd Gargoyle treasure Obsidian Greatsword Black Dragon Kalameet treasure These items are legendary treasures in The Sunless City instead of boss treasures but are otherwise unchanged. | ||
V2 Expansion Differences
Expansion | V1 | V2 |
Old Iron King** Guardian Dragon** | Practically no difference between the 2016 Kickstarter exclusive V1 release and the 2023 Steamforged Vault Bundle V2 release. The boss encounter remains unchanged, but a V2-style encounter card is added for consistency as all V2 bosses have an encounter card. | |
Four Kings** | Same as Old Iron King and Guardian Dragon with the exception that the minis are opaque in V1 and translucent in V2. | |
V2 Unique Equipment
Items across all V1 releases are unique. V2 has a lot of duplicates with V1, but some items are new:
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Gravelord Nito Main Boss | Crossbreed Priscilla Main Boss | ||||
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Black Knight | Heavy Knight | ||||
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Common Items | Common Items | ||||
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Community
The biggest communities can be found on:
Community Resources
A program with several modules to enable players to modify the game, including forwards and backwards compatibility, and a custom encounter builder. | List of items, enemies, and encounters along with their approximate power level / difficulty score. | Affinity Publisher card template Used for creating custom enemies, bosses, and items. |
Used for creating custom enemy cards. | Add your resource (completed or in progress) here… |
Custom Content
A Steam Workshop mod for Tabletop Simulator that contains most official content as well as some community content. | A mega boss expansion with new mechanics, enemies, encounters, the Ancient Wyvern main boss and the Nameless King mega boss. | An expansion that completely removes dice rolling from the game and replaces them with custom cards. |
A vast collection of various community content. | A final boss designed to be fought after any number of prior mega bosses as a true campaign finale, featuring new mechanics: multi-card boss attacks, stagger-triggered boss interruptions, stamina drain on blocks, and a Focus system with custom character abilities. | Add your custom content (completed or in progress) here… |
V1 Common Complaints and House Rule Fixes
While the original game can still be enjoyed with its vanilla rules, several elements are frequently cited as pain points that turn players away.
Below is a list of common complaints along with suggested house rule solutions.
- Unreliable item drops
Items are drawn from a single equipment deck without any form of curation, which may result in getting inappropriate equipment for the character’s level.
- Solution: Tiny Shop: When you purchase treasure, look at the top 2 cards. Pick one and put the other on the bottom of the deck.
- Solution: Reveal 7 cards from the equipment deck to create a shop. Each item costs 1 soul. The shop is refreshed each time when sitting at the bonfire and using a spark.
- Playtime is too long
Some people find the bosses to be the most engaging part of the game, and regular encounters can feel grindy and are an impediment to the aspect they find fun. Some people may also take issue with having to repeat encounters multiple times.
- Solution: Double souls, half sparks. Gain double the number of souls from completing encounters, but start with half the number of sparks (and only restore sparks to that number upon killing a boss). This effectively cuts the number of encounters played in half while keeping the amount of souls you get the same.
- Solution: When an encounter has been successfully completed and no characters used their Heroic Action, Luck token, or Estus Flask, that encounter is considered to be “mastered.” Mastered encounters are not replayed and the party simply collects the souls and moves on when reaching these encounters in the future.
- Dodge roll is underpowered
Dodge is an “all or nothing” combat reaction - either a character completely avoids the attack or takes the full damage.
Each dodge die has a 50% chance of success, so even rolling 3 dice (which gives an 87.5% chance to succeed at least once) may not feel reliable enough when the consequences of failure are severe. In contrast, blocking almost always reduces damage to some extent and can potentially negate it entirely, making it a safer and more consistent defensive option.
- Solution: Roll torso armor defense dice on dodge failure (relevant reddit thread).
- Block is overpowered
Blocking combines dice from armor and both weapons, which in the endgame often leads to characters taking little to no damage, making encounters feel too easy.
- Solution: After rolling block/resist dice, keep only the two highest rolls. This preserves the value of building defense, but lowers the ceiling on how much damage can be negated.
- Early game is too difficult
Early encounters can be surprisingly punishing, especially if the party draws one of the harder cards from the encounter deck. While solo players start with 16 souls, there’s no starting soul bonus for parties of 2–4, making early progression uneven.
- Solution: The party starts with 16 souls, regardless of player count.
- Solution: When drawing encounter cards, look at the top 2 cards. Choose one to play and put the other on the bottom of the deck.
V2 Common Complaints and House Rule Fixes
- Multi-tile exploits
Some enemies that target the aggro character can be manipulated into endlessly moving between tiles in multi-tile encounters (example). While this typically results in a harmless stalemate, it can unintentionally allow characters to rest, heal, open chests, or interact with gravestones without risk.
- Solution: If an enemy’s target is on another tile and there are any characters on the enemy’s tile, change the target to the closest character instead.
- The game is too easy
V2 introduces many accessibility improvements - such as choosing between two encounters, rolling defense and dodge together, stamina regeneration, and out-of-turn movement - which can significantly reduce the game’s difficulty.
- Solution: Spend 1 stamina to attempt a dodge, or roll only defense, not both.
- Solution: Draw only one encounter card instead of two.
- Tomb of Giants core set
- Last Rites encounter
In this encounter, the goal is to survive for a set number of turns. The special rule states: “if an enemy begins its activation adjacent to the shrine, it moves onto the shrine. If any enemy reaches the shrine, the party immediately fails”. However, most Tomb of Giants tiles place an enemy spawn adjacent to the shrine, which causes the encounter to fail instantly.
- Solution: Use only the specific tile (or compatible tiles from other sets) that make the encounter possible.
- Solution: Alternatively, reposition elements: have enemies start on the other enemy node, or swap the shrine and gravestone to create proper distance.
- The Sunless City core set
- The Bell Tower encounter
In this encounter you must activate the lever a number of times based on the number of characters. Doing so increases the timer track by one and spawns enemies. Enemy damage and dodge difficulty are increased by the value on the timer track. However, by default the timer track is increased by one at the end of each character’s activation and the encounter does not state that this should not happen. Thus, the enemies could quickly overrun the party with high damage that cannot be dodged.
- Solution: Ignore the default timer track rules during this encounter and only increase the timer track when the lever is pulled. This was probably the original intention.
Other Issues and House Rule Fixes
- Bleed is too powerful
Bleed becomes disproportionately strong in the endgame, especially when multiple weapons in the party apply it. Because Bleed can be immediately reapplied after triggering, it often deals bonus damage repeatedly with little counterplay.
- Solution: Bleed is not reapplied when attacking with a weapon that applies Bleed. This has minimal impact on the early and midgame - where Bleed weapons are rare - but helps rebalance endgame encounters, particularly against mega bosses.
Random Queries
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FAQ
Below, answers prefaced with “V1” refer to the rules of the original ruleset (2017).
Answers prefaced with “V2” refer to the rules of the new ruleset (2022+).
Answers not prefaced with “V1” or “V2” apply to all versions of the game.
See V1 vs V2: Key Differences for more details if needed.
All questions should have rulebook citations or another source.
Citations should link to a relevant row in the Citations section at the bottom of the doc.
Rules
Where can I find the latest rulebook and errata?
To get the most accurate gameplay, always use the rulebook alongside its respective errata. For anything not covered there, check the questions below in this FAQ for clarifications or community consensus.
V1:
V2:
- V2 Rulebook - Tomb of Giants (note that main rules are the same across V2 boxes, but each box has custom sections for its unique mechanics)
- V2 FAQ Errata (2022)
All rulebooks:
Can I use the V2 ruleset with the contents of my V1 core set?
Yes, but with limitations. The Sunless City is a V2 core set that uses many of the same enemies, player characters, and bosses as the original 2017 V1 core set - but it's designed for the V2 rules system. You can download its rulebook, encounter cards, and events for free, and use them with your V1 components by printing the cards and proxying a few tokens or miniatures (like the mimic).
See Sunless City and Using V1 in V2 format for more.
You cannot simply use the V2 rulebook on its own with the V1 core set - the encounter structure, campaign flow, and some mechanics require the V2-specific cards and layout.
Terminology
In order to avoid confusion, below are some aspects of the game that did not receive an official name but that may be useful when describing some rules.
Movement Push A move that pushes. | |
Movement Attack A Movement Push that deals physical damage. | |
Push Attack A physical or magical attack that pushes (with or without damage). |
Combat
Pushing
V1: Flowcharts for V1 Pushing Rules:
V2: The above flowcharts are valid with the following changes:
- At the “initial push” node, if there is damage on the push action, pushed characters defend against the attack after being pushed.
- At the “Any player characters trying to dodge?” node, the answer is always yes. You perform your defense roll as normal.
- You do not automatically spend 1 stamina to dodge.
- If the dodge was successful, you spend 1 stamina if you choose to move to a different node.
- If the dodge was not successful, you reduce the attack’s damage by the value on your rolled block/resist dice instead of taking full damage.
What happens when I start on the same node as an enemy with movement that pushes?
- V1: That attack does not apply to this initial move.
- V2: That attack does apply to this initial push; you defend against this attack as normal after your model is pushed.
Do I get pushed if I block/dodge the attack?
Dodging avoids all effects of the attack.
Blocking reduces damage, but the push is still applied.
V2: A push from a Movement Attack is resolved prior to the attack and is not avoidable.
Conditions
Are condition tokens applied if I block/dodge the attack?
Dodging avoids all effects of the attack.
Blocking reduces damage, but the condition token is still applied.
Can poison damage be blocked/dodged?
No, once a poison token is applied, its damage effect cannot be avoided.
If a target already has a Bleed token and is attacked by an attack that causes Bleed, what happens?
Following the order of resolving attacks, if the target takes damage, increase that damage by 2, then remove the Bleed token. Then the Bleed token would be reapplied.
Dodging
Do you spend stamina when dodging?
V1: Yes.
V2: Only if you move during the dodge, otherwise the dodge does not cost any stamina.
Do I move nodes during a dodge?
You can, but don’t need to.
Do I choose where I move before or after I roll the dodge dice?
V1: Before.
V2: After (only if the dodge succeeded).
Repeat actions
Do I spend stamina for each repeated attack?
No, you only pay stamina once.
Can I target different enemies with repeated attacks?
Yes. Some items (such as Homing Crystal Soulmass) specify that all repeat attacks must target a single enemy. Therefore, because an exception proves the rule, it can be concluded that repeat actions may normally target multiple enemies (just like in V2).
Bosses
When a boss moves/rotates, do the characters standing on the boss’s node also move/rotate?
When a boss rotates, you only rotate the boss model. Characters do not rotate with the boss but stay on the boss’s node.
Multiple Tiles (V2)
How do models move from one tile to another?
Tiles can connect to one another by lining up the doorways visually. In the V2 tiles, there are also nodes with arrows pointing toward the edge of a tile where there are doorways. These nodes are called “doorway nodes.” A model can move from one doorway node to the connecting doorway node per the normal movement rules, but then it must stop its movement.
After entering another tile, can I move using an attack with shift?
Can I move to a different tile using an attack with shift?
Can I move to a different tile during another character’s upkeep phase?
Can I target a model on another tile if I’m within range?
How do enemies act when their target is on a different tile?
This is not addressed in the rulebook. Based on the conversation with Sherwin (see citations), enemies should use their normal movement speed (always forward even if an enemy normally moves backwards) to move towards the tile where their target is, and once there attempt to perform the rest of its behavior.
An enemy in this case functionally has two targets resolved in order:
- The movement target - the doorway node of the connecting tile closer to their target.
- The attack target once the movement target is reached - the default target of that enemy (proximity or aggro). If an enemy first moves and then attacks, it is possible for them to enter the next tile and then attack the target if it’s in range (be it at melee if the target is on the doorway node or anywhere on the tile for ranged attacks).
For enemies with a repeat behavior, each repetition is a separate action and the above two targets are resolved from scratch each time, meaning that if the repetition includes movement, the enemy can potentially proceed further away from the doorway node towards its attack target.
For enemies with a leap, they immediately reach the movement target and proceed with the attack target if possible. Push damage, if applicable (such as the Crow Demon action), is applied on the doorway node regardless if the target is present there as this is where the leap ended.
Do enemies on other tiles act during their activation?
Do I set up enemies on inactive tiles?
Items
In V1, the Mercenary’s starting weapon, Sellsword Twinblade, was two one-handed weapons. In V2, it is a two-handed weapon. Can I equip the two-handed version with the Wooden Shield?
No, two-handed weapons cannot be equipped with other weapons unless that weapon’s description allows it. Specifically for the Mercenary’s Sellsword Twinblade, here are the differences:
V1: Two one-handed Sellsword Twinblades, allowing you to equip both at once or just one of them with the Wooden Shield the Mercenary also starts with. This version is more versatile by being able to equip a weapon and shield instead of one or the other.
V2: Sellsword Twinblade is a two-handed weapon, meaning you cannot equip both the Sellsword Twinblade and the Wooden Shield. However, the two-handed version has a 2 stamina, 2 black dice, 2 repeat attack, as opposed to spending 2 stamina for a 2 black dice attack from each one-handed twinblade in the V1 version. The version has a better attack at the cost of versatility.
If an item description states “characters gain XYZ,” can I target myself?
Yes, unless the description clearly states “other characters,” such as Bountiful Sunlight’s heal (transposed Herald treasure). This is an exception that makes the rule. There are also no rules stating that you cannot normally target yourself.
Bonfire
When can I access the Firekeeper to level up?
V1: Between encounters without spending a spark.
V2: Only when resting at the bonfire.
When can I access the Blacksmith?
V1: Between encounters.
V2: Only when resting at the bonfire.
Can I restore my Estus Flask / Heroic Token / Luck Token?
V1: Estus Flask and Heroic Tokens can be restored only by resting at the bonfire at the cost of a Spark. The Luck Token is restored by resting at the bonfire, but can also be restored at the cost of 1 soul between encounters.
V2: Estus Flask, Heroic, and Luck Tokens can be restored only by resting at the bonfire at the cost of a Spark, or as a reward from specific encounters.
Special Rules Keywords
Do special rules apply to enemies?
Eerie - Which trap tokens should I use?
Eerie - When does the enemy spawn from a trap token?
When the trap token is revealed. This means the enemy is immediately attackable.
Timer - What constitutes a turn?
A turn is the <All enemies → One character> sequence of activations. For example, if an encounter mentions “Timer (2)”, this means that the effect activates after the second player ends their turn.
Poison Mist - Should I place tokens on chests or gravestones?
Snowstorm - Is Frostbite from Snowstorm applied before or after stamina recovery?
Illusion - What do I do if one of the trap tile nodes has something on it that prevents movement into the node (e.g. gravestone)?
The rulebook does not address this.You have a couple options:
- Place one fewer trap token. This makes the encounter easier by lowering the chance you find a damaging trap.
- Use a different tile that does not have this problem.
Respawn - Do only defeated enemies respawn?
No, new enemies are added regardless of how many are defeated.
Respawn - Do enemies only respawn on the active tiles?
No, you place enemies on all tiles, active or not.
Respawn - Are enemy tokens considered normal enemies?
The rulebook does not address this. After much discussion, we decided to simply present both sides and let you decide how to handle it at your table.
Interpretation 1
Enemy tokens are not enemies, do not act when enemies activate, cannot be targeted by attacks, and do not count as an enemy for the purposes of the node model limit. They are a placeholder for an enemy when the corresponding model becomes available.
Evidence:
- "During an enemy turn, all enemy models on active tiles take a turn." - page 24
Using the term “models” implies enemy tokens don’t take a turn. If they don’t take a turn, it follows that they are not enemies.
Interpretation 2
Enemy tokens were a way for SFG to save costs on minis without severely limiting the number of enemies that could be in play. Enemy tokens are enemies in every sense that enemy models are enemies.
Evidence:
- The evidence presented in Interpretation 1 is based on inconsistent language when referring to enemies. There is nothing in the rulebook about treating them differently, only when to place them.
- “During an enemy turn, all enemies take a turn.” - page 17
Miscellaneous
In V1, solo characters started with 16 souls. Is that the case in V2?
No. V2 rulebooks make no mention of solo play other than how many sparks you get.
The reasoning behind this may have been that in V2 you get more souls from encounters and spend less souls in the blacksmith due to being able to only choose actually useful items as opposed to V1’s “try your luck” system of drawing a random equipment card.
Can you start an encounter on an enemy node?
Yes, as long as the node model limit has not been reached.
Do resurrected enemies activate in the same turn they are resurrected?
This is not addressed in the rulebooks. However, as enemies activate from highest to lowest threat level, it can be assumed that they should, because they have lower threat level than the enemies that resurrect them, and because the Skeleton Soldier in the Tomb of Giants core set as well as the Falchion Skeleton in the Executioner’s Chariot mega boss both deal relatively low damage and instead focus on applying Bleed, therefore act more as a nuisance to get through.
Errata
Darkroot expansion
This was a rulebook error. These bosses do not have 0 dodge difficulty cards.
Tomb of Giants core set
(V2) How does the Skeleton Soldier’s move attack with range 1 work?
This was corrected in the Tomb of Giants errata - it is a range 0 attack.
(V2) How does Mask of the Child’s “You gain 3 stamina at the start of your activation (instead of 2)” work?
This was corrected in the Tomb of Giants errata - it is a “+1 stamina”.
Enemy behavior card examples
Skeleton Soldier
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Citations
Question | V1 Citation | V2 Citation |
Combat | ||
What happens when I start on the same node as an enemy with movement that pushes? | “Movement attacks cause physical damage that characters can oppose with a block or dodge roll as usual. This attack targets all characters on each node the enemy moves into. (Note that it does not target characters on the node on which the enemy started.)” - page 25 | “If the [push icon] appears [on the enemy move symbol], the enemy pushes any characters on its current node at the start of its movement, and on nodes it moves onto during its movement. If there is a number on the symbol, any characters that are pushed suffer an attack after the push is resolved” - page 24 Transcription of this question asked on the SFG Discord on Oct 11 2023: torva4000: Is the push on movement counted as 1 attack? I mean if an enemy have movement 2 with push (with damage 2 for example) and i’m currently on its node at the start of its movement, i’ll take multiple damage from push or just on time at the end of the movement? Sherwin (SFG): So, in this case he’ll push you, then move (and push), then move (and push). All pushes would inflict damage. |
“[When attempting to dodge, the] character must spend 1 Stamina and can move 1 node.” - page 25 | “[After a successful dodge, the] target can then choose to spend 1 stamina to move one node if they wish.” - page 25 | |
“[Step] 2. The character must spend 1 Stamina and can move 1 node.[...] [Step] 4. Roll the dice.” - page 25 | “[Step] 4. Roll the dice. [Step] 5. If the number of face up dodge results is equal to or greater than the enemy’s dodge difficulty [...] The target can then choose to spend 1 stamina to move one node if they wish.” - page 25 | |
Do I choose where I move before or after I roll the dodge dice? | ||
(V2) How do enemies act when their target is on a different tile? | Transcription of this image of snippets of conversation on the SFG Discord: lenlendan: There are also several not-so-edge cases that are not covered by the rules (or at least I haven't divined the answer). For example:
Sherwin (SFG): In the examples above, enemies will move towards the target character, irrespective of whether they're on the same tile or not. ToRvA: Hey sherwin, just to clarify, so now the crow demon can jump from a rile to another if the aggro character is on a different tile? Because the rulebook specified says that nobody can do an attack from a different tile, i’m remember i’ve done this question when painted world came out lenlendan: The way I read it, the Crow Demon would have to jump to the doorway node of the adjacent tile first, since moving to a new tile stops movement. I think about leap enemies as basically having infinite movement plus an attack at the end. Moving through a doorway node to a different tile still forces movement to stop. ToRvA: But “leap” its not a movement if i’m not mistaken, its an attack lenlendan: Correct, but it functions the same way as an infinite move plus an attack. These 100% should have been called out in the rules. I just don't think it makes sense for melee enemies to move between tiles going after their target while ranged and leap enemies just hang out and wait. lenlendan: Yeah. Based on the answers recently provided by Sherwin, if the enemy's target is on a different tile, it would use its movement to go towards that tile in an effort to put itself in a position in which it can attack instead of its normal movement. ToRvA: The rulebook CLEARLY state that NO ATTACKS can be made between tiles, so u are giving an untrue information, an archer with infinite range can’t attack a player on different tile.. Hope @Sherwin can clarify that lenlendan: I'm not trying to give bad info. This is my interpretation of Sherwin's answer. It's not making the attack (unless the target happens to be standing on the doorway node) because it can't move farther than the doorway node. It "moves towards the target character," it simply can't get all the way there because it has to stop when it moves to the new tile. Sherwin (SFG): This is correct. The Leap is an outlier because of the unique way it moves. I’m currently assembling information from all of this for an FAQ, and will that to it. | |
“If the Push icon appears on an attack, the model (or models) hit by the attack are pushed. “A successful dodge also means a character is not hit by the attack (so they will not be pushed or suffer conditions from that attack).” - page 25 | “If the [push icon] appears [on the enemy move symbol], the enemy pushes any characters on its current node at the start of its movement, and on nodes it moves onto during its movement. If there is a number on the symbol, any characters that are pushed suffer an attack after the push is resolved” - page 24 “[Step] 5. If the number of face up dodge results is equal to or greater than the enemy’s dodge difficulty, the attack has missed and the following steps are not resolved. | |
“When a model ends its activation, remove any poison, frostbite, or stagger tokens from that model. Poison token, it suffers 1 damage.” - page 21 | “At the end of a model’s turn, if it has a poison token, it suffers 1 damage, then the token is discarded.” - page 21 | |
“When a model that has a Bleed token suffers damage, it suffers 2 additional damage. Then remove the Bleed token.” - page 21 | “When a model with a bleed token suffers damage, it suffers 2 additional damage, then the token is discarded.” - page 21 | |
If a target already has a Bleed token and is attacked by an attack that causes Bleed, what happens? | The V1 rulebooks do not specify when to apply conditions when resolving an attack (before or after resolving the damage from the attack). As such, we recommend the same method that V2 uses. | “If an enemy is hit by an attack with a condition symbol, or a condition symbol appears after an enemy’s attack behavior and the enemy’s attack hits, place the corresponding condition token next to the target after the attack is resolved, even if the attack doesn’t cause damage.” - page 21 “When a model with a bleed token suffers damage, it suffers 2 additional damage, then the token is discarded.” - page 21 “When an enemy attacks, follow the steps below. [...] [Step] 8. The target suffers any remaining damage. [Step] 9. Apply any conditions or push effects from the attack, even if the attack caused 0 damage.” |
“Repeat icon allows the character to use that entire weapon option the number of times indicated in the circle. This represents such effects as combination attacks with a melee weapon or rapidly ring bolts from a repeating crossbow.” - page 23 | “An attack option with the repeat symbol allows the character to perform the attack up to the number of times shown on the symbol. The extra attacks do not have to target the same enemy, do not cost additional stamina, [...] ” - page 22 | |
When a boss moves/rotates, do the characters standing on the boss’s node also move/rotate? | “Characters on the node with a boss do not move when the boss is turned.” - page 29 | “If a character is on the same node as a boss when it turns, the character remains where it is and does not move to stay in the same arc.” - page 30 |
“If [the repeat] symbol appears on a behavior card, the boss [or enemy] resolves their entire row of behavior symbols the number of times shown.” - page 30 | ||
“Models can only move between tiles by using doorway nodes, which allow them to leave their current tile and be placed on an adjacent doorway node on another tile. After the model is placed it must stop its movement.” - page 11 | ||
(V2) After entering another tile, can I move using an attack with shift? | “Movement from the shift symbol [...] does not replace the character’s normal move.” - page 22 | |
(V2) Can I move to a different tile using an attack with shift? | “Models can only move between tiles by using doorway nodes, which allow them to leave their current tile and be placed on an adjacent doorway node on another tile. After the model is placed it must stop its movement.” - page 11 “When a character moves, they can be placed in an adjacent node.” - page 20 “When resolving an attack with the shift symbol, the character can move up to the number of nodes shown on the symbol.” - page 22 | |
“Movement from the shift symbol [...] does not replace the character’s normal move.” - page 22 | ||
(V2) Can I move to a different tile during another character’s upkeep phase? | “Models can only move between tiles by using doorway nodes, which allow them to leave their current tile and be placed on an adjacent doorway node on another tile. After the model is placed it must stop its movement.” - page 11 “When a character moves, they can be placed in an adjacent node. - Each other character can move one node.” - page 20 | |
(V2) Can I target a model on another tile if I’m within range? | “Actions and attacks cannot target a model on a different tile.” - page 11 | |
“During an enemy turn, all enemy models on active tiles take a turn.” - page 24 | ||
“During an enemy turn, all enemy models on active tiles take a turn. | ||
“Place enemies and terrain on each tile on the corresponding nodes shown on the card.” - page 17 | ||
Items | ||
(V2) In V1, the Mercenary’s starting weapon, Sellsword Twinblade, was two one-handed weapons. In V2, it is a two-handed weapon. Can I equip the two-handed version with the Wooden Shield? | “If a [two-handed weapon] card is placed in a hand slot, the other hand slot must be empty.” - page 8 | |
Bonfire | ||
“Characters can also restore luck at the Firekeeper. A character must spend 1 soul to flip their Luck token to the ready side. [...] When the party rests at the bonfire, the following effects occur: [...] | "When the party returns to the bonfire, resolve the following steps, in the order below. [...] 3. Flip each character’s heroic action, Estus Flask, and luck tokens to the ready side.” - page 26 | |
“When the party returns to the bonfire between encounters, they may visit Blacksmith Andre” - page 14 | "After performing [the resting at the bonfire] steps, the party can visit the Firekeeper and/or Blacksmith Andre.” - Page 22 | |
“The Bonfire tile serves as the base of operations for the party’s exploration, and the characters may return to it at any time they are not in an encounter” - page 13 “The party may visit the Firekeeper to level up” - page 14 | "After performing [the resting at the bonfire] steps, the party can visit the Firekeeper and/or Blacksmith Andre.” - Page 22 | |
Special Rules Keywords | ||
When a special rule text applies to models, it always uses a specific term (i.e. character, enemy, player) rather than a general one (e.g. model). Bold added for emphasis in the below examples. “Darkness – During this encounter, characters can only attack enemies on the same or an adjacent node.” - page 17 “Gang – If a character is attacked by a Hollow enemy and another Hollow enemy is within one node of the character” - page 17, The Sunless City rulebook “Snowstorm – At the start of each character’s turn, that character suffers” - page 17, Painted World of Ariamis rulebook “Bitter Cold – If a character has frostbite” - page 17, Painted World of Ariamis rulebook “Barrage – At the end of each character’s turn, that character” - page 17, Painted World of Ariamis rulebook “Hidden – After declaring an attack, players must” - page 17, Painted World of Ariamis rulebook | ||
“During setup, take five blank trap tokens and five trap tokens with values on them” - page 17, Painted World of Ariamis rulebook | ||
“If a character moves onto a node with a token, flip the token. [...] If the token has a damage value, instead of resolving it normally, spawn an enemy” - page 17, Painted World of Ariamis rulebook | ||
“Some objectives and special rules require the party to track the number of turns during an encounter. During setup for these encounters, place the timer marker at the start of the timer track, marked 0. At the end of each character’s turn, move the marker to the next space.” - page 18 | ||
Poison Mist - Should I place tokens on chests or gravestones? | “During setup, place trap tokens on the tile indicated in brackets using the normal trap placement rules.” - page 17, Painted World of Ariamis rulebook “If a tile has traps on it, during setup shuffle the trap tokens, then place a random token face down on each of the tile’s nodes, excluding character start, enemy spawn, terrain, and doorway nodes.” - page 12, Painted World of Ariamis rulebook | |
Snowstorm - Is Frostbite from Snowstorm applied before or after stamina recovery? | The “start” of a character’s turn happens before the first step in the upkeep phase. “Snowstorm - at the start of each character’s turn, that character suffers [Frostbite], unless they have the torch token on their dashboard, or are on the same node as the torch token or a character with the torch token on their dashboard.” - page 17, Painted World of Ariamis rulebook “A character’s turn is made up of two phases - the upkeep phase, and the action phase, which are resolved in that order. [...] During a character’s upkeep phase, they follow the steps below, in the order shown:
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“Place additional models using the enemies and enemy nodes shown on the encounter card.” - page 17 | ||
Miscellaneous | ||
“Once you’ve set up the enemies, terrain, and traps, place the character models on the entry nodes beside the door aligned with the tile the party moved from. Remember that a node cannot contain more than three models.” - page 19 | These two sections use different verbs - place and move. You only push a model from a node when the model limit is broken due to a move. Bold added below for emphasis. “Place enemies and terrain on each tile on the corresponding nodes shown on the card. Once this is done, each player chooses a character start node, and places their character on that node.” - page 17 “If there are three models on a node and another model moves onto that node, the players must choose a model already on the node and place it on an adjacent node to make way for the new model.” - page 11 | |
Errata | ||
(V2) How does the Skeleton Soldier’s move attack with range 1 work? | ||
