Card Game: The Decks

This week let's take a look at the metaphorical blood of the Realm of Runes Card Game, the three decks that the characters draw from. The card game uses three types of decks: Equipment, Magic, and Tactics. Each type of deck has a unique flavor and special effects that cannot be found in either of the other decks. Some characters draw exclusively from just one deck, though most draw from two different decks and a few draw from all three. The number of cards drawn from each deck do as much to differentiate the play styles of the characters as their own innate abilities found on the character mats.

Every card from each of the three decks can be played as an action, as a reaction, or sometimes as either (or both). Regardless of how you play a card, it is always discarded after use unless stated otherwise. Some cards are displayed as a part of their usage. Cards which can be used this way state when a card should be discarded or have an hourglass icon to indicate that they are timed cards. If this is not stated, the card is never discarded.

Action Cards

If a card in your hand has an ability that is listed as an action, you must have an action available in order to use that card. Every player has two actions on their own turn, but it can be possible to grant extra actions to other players. For example, the Bard class can use the action on their character mat to grant an action to another player, even though it is not that player's turn. You are never required to play an action card if you do not wish to.

Reaction Cards

If a card in your hand has an ability that is listed as a reaction, you can freely pay that card whenever the listed situation is applicable but cannot play that card any other time. You are never required to play a reaction card if you do not wish to. You can use as many reaction cards as are applicable to a particular situation. You may repeat the same reaction card if you have multiple copies but cannot use the same reaction card more than once if an effect stops it from being discarded after use.

Equipment

The Equipment deck consists of useful item, including weapons, armor, adventuring gear, and even some magic items. Each card in the Equipment deck has a list of traits. These traits are referenced by other game elements. For example, the Alchemist class has an ability that allows them to draw an alchemical item from the Equipment discard pile. The be eligible, the card must have the alchemical trait.

In addition to its traits, each Equipment card has two possible uses. These uses may be actions or reactions. Both abilities generally cannot be used at the same time, though some Equipment cards have a reaction that is triggered by the use of that card's other ability. In such cases, both effects of the card may be used together. Otherwise, if a card has two different abilities that might apply to the current situation, you must choose which one to use.

Magic

The Magic deck consists of useful spells, including buffs for your allies, de-buffs for your foes, and those which deal damage directly. Many spells require an action to use, but some can be played as reactions instead. Many spells in the Magic deck can be heightened. If a card can be heightened, you can activate that effect by discarding another Magic card while you play that card. These heightening effects do not stack and can only be activated once. The Magic card being heightened does not count as being discarded for the purpose of heightening.

Some magic cards increase their number of targets when heightened. When heightening these cards, you may freely repeat the same target as many times as you wish, but each instance of damage is separate. A target which reduces that damage would therefore reduce the damage from each time that it is targeted. Effects that increase the damage also increase the game for each instance these cards output. For example, if you have an effect that increases energy damage that you deal, a Magic Missile will deal two damage to each target instead of just one.

Tactics

The Tactics deck consists of useful tricks and advanced techniques. Many Tactics cards require an action to use, but some can be played as reactions instead. There are two special key effects that can be found on Tactics cards: teamwork and metamagic.

When you play a card with a teamwork effect, your ally may discard a Tactics card of their own to activate the listed effect. Most often, this improves the effects of the card, but sometimes a card has no other effect unless the teamwork effect is activated. Only your ally can activate the teamwork effect when you play a card, and only Tactics cards may be used to activate the effect.

Cards with a metamagic effects are always played as a reaction when you play a Magic card. These cards alter the effect of that Magic card, but the effect can be improved by discarding an additional card. This functions like heightening a Magic card, except that either a Magic or Tactics card can be used to further activate the metamagic effect. Metamagic effects can only stack if multiple copies of the card are played, and are independent from heightening effects on spells. You cannot discard the same card to both heighten a spell and activate a metamagic effect. You must choose one or the other for each card discarded.

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Each of these decks contains critically important tools. There are one hundred cards in each deck, though all cards have multiple copies in the deck. Some cards are rarer than others, however. The most powerful cards might have just two copies to be found throughout the whole deck. When choosing your party construction at the beginning of a game, it's a good idea to try to ensure that you have a good balance from all three of these decks! Next time we'll return to the Tome of Whispers to take a look at another one of the new classes, so stay tuned!