Official Dragon Dice FAQ and Rules Clarifications (C)1996 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Permission to copy and distribute the information contained in this document is granted as long as this header is included. Based on the original FAQ by Vinny Salzillo and Double Exposure, Inc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The information contained in this document should be taken as an extension of the rules booklet contained in the Dragon Dice boxed set. Its purpose is to supplement the rules booklet by clarifying the most confusing parts of the game. This document will be updated on a regular basis as new questions are asked and new rules clarifications are necessary. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part One - Basic Mechanics & Combat (v1.34) New in this version: More on Special Action Icons and Timing ***SET-UP A) Set Conflict Size 1) Dragons brought to the table may be of any color, even a color that you cannot cast. 2) Dragons do NOT count towards the total size of your army. Even though a dragon is worth 5 points, it is a separate die (not a unit), and you set your conflict size independent of dragons (although the size of the conflict will determine the number of dragons you bring, as the rules note). B) Assemble Armies 1) The rules state that the HOME and CAMPAIGN armies must consist of only one race each. They do not have to be the same race, but may be. The HORDE army can be any mix of units (races used in the home and campaign can be used as the player desires). EXAMPLE: If you are playing 2 races, it is perfectly acceptable for you to have your home army consist of race A, your campaign army consist of race A, and your horde to consist of race B (or a mix of A and anything, or whatever). EXAMPLE: You can play 3 armies made of all one race (or even no race: all Dragonlords). 2) The very first dice in the dead piles are the dragons. Dragons which are brought to the table are placed in EACH PLAYER'S dead unit area.There is no common pool for dragons, even though they can be cast by any player at the table from any dead unit area. 3) At the beginning of the game, you must divide your forces into ONLY 3 armies. You can NOT place any dice into reserves at the start of the game, nor can you place any dice into your dead unit area (other than your dragons). C) Set Terrain 1) At the beginning of the game, before it is determined who will go first, there are a number of proposed frontier dice equal to the number of players in the game. 2) Until step 6, there is no particular face that needs to be showing on the terrain dice at this time. D) Determine Player Sequence 1) Cantrips rolled during maneuver rolls (including the initial maneuver roll) DO NOT COUNT. 2) In the event of a tie for maneuver points, the players who rolled equal maneuver points will REROLL their entire horde and face off. 3) Since there is not yet any placement of armies, there is NO doubling of maneuvers due to racial bonuses or otherwise. 4) When the player who wins step 4 decides which terrain die will be the frontier die, he places that die in the center of the table, between all players. All other frontier dice are then removed from the game. E) Place Armies 1) Each player MUST place the designated home army by his home terrain. Each player MUST place his horde at a HOME terrain die owned by ANOTHER player. 2) A player CANNOT place two of his armies at the same terrain. If at any time during the course of a game, dice are moved to a terrain where friendly units exist already, those dice merge into one army. 3) Once the home and horde armies are placed, the campaign army can be placed at any terrain die on the table where A) There are no more than 2 armies already stationed, and B) there are no friendly armies. 4) In a two player game, there is NO flexibility. Player A's horde is placed opposite Player B's home, Player A's campaign is placed opposite Player B's campaign and Player B's horde is placed opposite Player A's home. 5) In a game of four or more players, if, because of the above restric- tions, a player finds that there is nowhere to legally place one of his armies, that army begins play in his reserve area. F) Determine Battle Distances 1) Note that this step is performed AFTER the armies are placed. ***TURN SEQUENCE A) Marches are ALWAYS optional. Actions are ALWAYS optional. A player can also forfeit one or both of his marches altogether if he/she chooses. A player can decide to act without maneuvering, and a player can decide to maneuver without acting. B) Each army can ONLY march once in a given turn. This includes a maneuver attempt! If a player decides to perform a second march, he/she MUST choose a second army to act with. If he/she does not have a second army to act with, he/she CANNOT take a second march. C) If there is more than one player opposing the maneuver at a specific terrain die, only the HIGHEST counter-maneuver result counts against the acting player. You DO NOT combine the maneuver points of defending players. D) All maneuver rolls are considered to be SIMULTANEOUS. E) Ties always go to the acting player (the one trying to maneuver), including the case where each side's results total zero maneuvers. F) Cantrips DO NOT COUNT during ANY maneuver roll. ***SPECIAL ACTION ICONS A) Special action icons are found on rare (3-health) units. B) Special action icons are unaffected by spells which direcly affect the results or rolls of armies or its individual units. EXAMPLE: A Dwarf Crack-Shot (rare missile unit) magician rolls a Bullseye while his terrain has been struck by Dancing Lights, Wall of Fog, and Ash Storms, and he has had Palsies cast on him, and has been Frosted (breathed on by a green dragon). None of these spells affect his result, and the dwarf's Bullseye result occurs normally. C) Unless stated otherwise, spells may be used indirectly (i.e., defensively) against the effect of special action icons. EXAMPLE: A Dwarf Mammoth Rider rolls a Trample during a melee action. Saves from Stoneskin, Watery Double, or Wall of Ice count against the damage from the Trample. D) Bonuses due to terrain (racial bonuses and bonuses due to an eighth face) DO affect special action icons. EXAMPLE: A Goblin Leopard Rider rolls a Rend during a maneuver roll at the Swampland terrain. Its Rend result, counting as maneuvers, is doubled. If the Goblin was in an army which was in possession of the eighth face of the terrain die, its Rend result would be quadrupled (x4). EXAMPLE: A Dwarf Mammoth Rider rolls a Trample during a charge roll at a Highland terrain. The total damage is then 9 points [3 melee hits + 6 (3x2) maneuver rolls, which become hits during a charge]. If the Dwarf was in an army which was in possession of the eighth face of the terrain die, its Trample would result in 15 points of damage [3 melee hits + 12 (3x4)]. E) The effects of special action icons are resolved before the effect of normal rolls. Therefore, special action icons rolled by an attacker can have the effect of destroying units before they roll for the current action. Special action icons rolled by the defender, however, cannot nullify the results of the attacker's already rolled units. EXAMPLE: During a skirmish, a Smite is rolled by the ATTACKER (or by the defender during his counterstrike). The units killed through the Smite are removed before the army rolls to save against other melee hits. EXAMPLE: During a missile action, a Bullseye is rolled by the ATTACKER. Any units killed through the Bullseye are removed before the army rolls to save against other missile hits. EXAMPLE: During a skirmish or a missile, a Cantrip is rolled by the attacker (or by the defender during his skirmish counterrstrike). Any units killed through the Cantrip-magic (e.g., Lightning Strike) are removed before the army rolls to save against other melee or missile hits. EXAMPLE: During a skirmish, when rolling for saves the DEFENDER rolls a Cantrip and uses it to Lightning Strike one of the attacker's units. Any results rolled by that unit ARE NOT NULLIFIED, regardless of whether the unit is killed. F) In the event that special action icons are rolled simultaneously (such as during a charge), the attacking player's special action icons are resolved first, then the defender's special action icons, and finally the effect of the normal roll. G) When rolled during a charge action or during a dragon attack, special action icons CAN NOT directly affect or nullify the effects of dice (since the roll happens simultaneously). Cantrips can indirectly affect the result (by producing Stoneskins, etc). EXAMPLE: A Cantrip-spawned Lightning Strike employed during a charge DOES NOT nullify the hits or saves rolled by its target, even if the target is destroyed. Similarly, Walls of Fog, Ash Storms, Dancing Lights, Palsies, etc. DO NOT affect the result of the current roll. H) Certain special action icons have their results added into the normal results, and are not considered to occur before them. These special action icons are: (1) Cantrip: during normal magic actions (2) Counter: during melee attacks (3) Fly (4) Rend (5) Smite: during charge actions (6) Trample Individual notes on each Special action icon follow: 1) Bullseye: During a missile action, this special attack targets a unit of the acting player's choice. Only the target rolls to save. If it does not save, it is removed from its army before the army rolls to save from any other missile results. A) Only one unit can be targeted (by each die which rolled a Bullseye). B) Each Bullseye icon counts as one point of damage to the target unit. Thus the target unit must save against four points of damage. If the target unit does not roll enough saves (i.e., the Bullseye damage minus the saves equals an amount equal or greater than the health of the unit), the unit is killed. C) Dragons CAN NOT be targeted by Bullseyes, since dragons are not units. D) During a roll against a dragon or dragons, Bullseyes count as normal missile hits. 2) Cantrip: During a magic action, the cantrip counts as normal magic. But during any other action--including rolling for saves--it can be used to purchase immediate spells (do not double). A) Cantrips rolled during maneuvers are ignored. B) Cantrips rolled during a normal magic action CAN be doubled as normal. C) Cantrips, even when rolled during a magic action, are special action icons and are NOT affected by spells which would reduce their effect (see above). D) The effects of the Cantrip are resolved immediately, before the results of any normal dice (except during a magic action, when they added in with the normal result). E) During a roll against a dragon or dragons, Cantrips can be used to purchase immediate magic. 3) Counter: During a melee attack, the counter acts as a normal hit. But during a roll for saves in melee, it counts as both a save and an immediate hit upon the attacking army, which may not roll saves against it. Counter never causes a rout. A) Counters rolled during a normal melee action (not during a save), can cause a rout. B) During a charge, Counters rolled by the defender count as both saves and hits. As usual for a charge, the attacker has no opportunity to save. Counters rolled by the attacker count only as hits. C) Counter do NOT count as saves except during melee actions. Counter-strikes only occur when rolling for saves during melee. D) If, during a melee attack, a cantrip is rolled and is used to make a magical attack causing damage (Hailstorm, Lightning Strike) any Counters rolled by the defending army have normal effect (saves and immediate hits which cannot be saved against). E) During a roll against a dragon or dragons, Counters count as both saves and melee hits. 4) Fly: This icon serves double duty, acting as either maneuvers or saves, as needed. A) Fly icons counts as EITHER maneuvers or saves as needed, NOT both. B) During a roll against a dragon or dragons, Fly icons count as saves. 5) Rend: During a melee attack, the counter acts as normal hits, but the rending unit may be rolled again immediately, applying the new result as well. During the maneuver step, rends instead count as movement. A) Rends DO NOT reroll during the maneuver step. B) Rends count as maneuvers on rolls to counter the effect of a Flash Flood spell. C) Rends count as maneuvers whenever an effect on a unit can be avoided by rolling a maneuver. D) During a roll against a dragon or dragons, Rends count as melee hits, and may be rolled again. 6) Smite: During a skirmish attack, no saves count against these hits. Units hit by the smite are removed before rolling for any saves against any other units. A) During a charge, Smites count as normal hits, and can be saved against by the defender. (The attacker, as normal, has no chance to roll for saves during a charge.) B) During a roll against a dragon or dragons, Smites count as normal hits. 7) Trample: A trample counts as either maneuvers or melee hits as needed. During a charge, it counts as both, doing double damage. A) During a skirmish attack, Tramples count only as hits (do not double). B) Tramples count as maneuvers whenever an effect on a unit can be avoided by rolling a maneuver. C) During a roll against a dragon or dragons, Tramples count as normal hits, and are not doubled (maneuver rolls are not counted for hits). ***MELEE A) The save roll forced by a melee attack that has done damage MUST be rolled. B) The acting army can ONLY CHOOSE ONE army to attack. He/she CANNOT attack more than one army at the terrain at which he is acting. C) Only the army being attacked can counter-attack. Any third (or more) army at the terrain has NOTHING to do with this battle. D) If the defending army routs during a skirmish, it forfeits its counter-attack. E) If the defending army is able to counter-attack, the acting army can indeed rout. At this point, the defending army will continue counter-attacking, if it chooses, until the acting army is no longer routed. F) In a charge action, both the attacker and the defender's rolls are considered to be SIMULTANEOUS. G) During a charge action, the defender CAN rout if he/she rolls more faces than saves. In this case, the melee results STILL COUNT against the attacking army. H) Even though the acting army in a charge action CANNOT save, its saves STILL must exceed its face icons, or it routs! I) If a charging army eliminates the entire defending army, it CANNOT rout, because there is no defending army left to pursue it. The terrain die would stay in the same position if an army does not rout (by virtue of the fact that there is no opponent to pursue). J) Bonus army saves DO COUNT for a charging army, even though rolled saves do not count. So if the army has a save bonus, it may stop some incoming damage from the defending army. Note that, as always, bonus saves do not count for the purposes of routing. ***MISSILE A) You can choose ANY army in the game to shoot at, EXCEPT your own, if that army is in range. B) ALL armies at a terrain are in range of the frontier die. Home dice are NEVER within range of each other (unless in possession of a tower face), even in a multi-player game. C) Just as in melee, the target army MUST roll for saves if it suffers damage. D) The target (defending) army can rout ONLY if it is at the same terrain as the acting army. E) The acting army can NEVER rout during a missile action. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Questions? Comments? Write to TSRDavidE@aol.com