Ascension: Immortal Heroes
Ascension: Immortal Heroes Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Ascension: Immortal Heroes is designed to be played with 1-4 players with Ascension: Storm of Souls. It can also be played on its own as a 1-2 player stand-alone game, or combined with previous Ascension sets to support up to 6 players.
This rulebook will only cover rules new to this expansion. For past Ascension rulebooks, visit: www.AscensionGame.com/downloads
Contents
- 30 Beads:
- 15 Small 1 Honor clear tokens
- 15 Large 5 Honor red tokens
- 184 Cards:
- 2 Personal starting decks, each containing 8 Apprentice and 2 Militia cards
- 35 "Always available" cards:
- 1 Cultist
- 2 Fanatics
- 16 Mystics
- 16 Heavy Infantry
- 69 Center Deck cards
- 40 Soul Gem Cards
- 20 "New Event" Cards
New Components
Soul Gems
Soul Gems are a new type of card introduced in Immortal Heroes. Soul Gems represent the spirits of heroes who fought against Samael in the Great War who were trapped by Kythis when he took control of the Well of Souls. Each Soul Gem shares the art and effect of Heroes from previous Ascension sets, though they are not Hero cards themselves.
Soul Gems are not shuffled into the center deck at the beginning of the game. Instead, they are shuffled together and set aside face down with the Always Available cards. When a card effect tells a player to gain a Soul Gem, that player takes the top card of the Soul Gem deck and places it face up in front of him or her. That player may play that Soul Gem to gain its effect at any time during that turn. At the end of a player's turn, all Soul Gems he or she controls are banished.
Ongoing Trophy
In Storm of Souls, all Trophy Monsters provided a single effect and were then banished once used. In Immortal Heroes, some Trophy Monsters have lasting effects, indicated by the word "Ongoing." Just like normal Trophy Monsters, these Monsters provide their Honor reward immediately when defeated and are then placed face up in front of you. They continue to provide their effect for as long as they remain in play under your control.
Example: Kythis, Rebel Godling says "Ongoing Trophy: Once per turn, gain a Soul Gem." As long as a player has Kythis as a Trophy, he or she can use it to gain a Soul Gem once each turn.
F.A.Q.
Q: How do Soul Gems work? Do I have to use them right away, or can I save them for later? Do they count as Heroes for effects like Unite? A: When you gain a Soul Gem, it is placed face up in front of you. You do not have to use the Soul Gem effect immediately, but you cannot save it for a future turn; if you choose not to use it, it will be banished at the end of your turn. Soul Gems are not Heroes, so they do not count for Unite and similar effects.
Q: How do Ongoing Trophies work? Do I have to banish them to gain their effects? A: Just like normal Trophy Monsters, Ongoing Trophy Monsters provide their Honor reward immediately when defeated and are then placed face up in front of you. Rather than requiring you to banish them to gain their effect, Ongoing Trophy Monsters continue to have an effect as long as they are in play under your control.
Q: How does Akkam, the Genie's reward work? What are Wish counters? A: Like any other genie, Akkam grants you three wishes. You may use whatever you like to represent these wishes, though we recommend using some of your own Honor tokens. Once each turn, you can remove a Wish counter from Akkam to gain either two Runes or two Power. Once you have used all of the Wish counters, Akkam is banished to the Void.
Q: How does Nightfall's Event Trophy effect work? Can I name any Hero? And what in the world does it do? A: When you use Nightfall's Event Trophy effect, you name any Hero. Any copy of that Hero card is considered Lifebound this turn in addition to its other factions. This can have many different effects: you can name a Hero in the center row so you can put it on top of your deck with Nightfall's Event effect when you acquire it, you can choose a Hero card in your hand to trigger Unite, or you can name "Apprentice" and get a whole lot of Runes from your Tree of Stars!
Q: Can I use the Trophy effect of Well of Souls if I have no cards in hand? A: Yes, but you will only get a Soul Gem if you have a card to discard. The Well of Souls Event Trophy effect says "Discard a card. If you do, gain a Soul Gem." Thus you can only gain the Soul Gem if you actually discard a card.
Q: How does Stone Circle Priest work when the current Event is Lifebound? Do I draw the card I put on top or a different one? A: The text instructs you to put the Hero you acquired on top before drawing a card, so you'll draw that Hero.
Q: How much Honor do I get if I kill a Growmites while I have two Growmite Trophies? Do I have to banish the Growmites I have to get the bonus Honor? A: You gain the effect of each ongoing Growmite Trophy whenever you kill another Growmite. If you have two Growmite Trophies and kill a third, you'll get six total Honor—two for the Growmite itself, and two for each Growmite Trophy you have. You don't have to banish the Growmites you have to get the extra Honor—they stick around and give you even more Honor for the next one!
Q: When I use Hedron Pyromaniac to return a Construct to my hand, can I use that Construct when I play it again even though it says "once per turn?" A: Yes, you can. When a Construct leaves play, it loses all memory it had of its previous time spent in play, including whether or not its ability was used. Feel free to use your amnesiac Beast Staff a second time!
Q: If Well of Souls is the current Event and a Ravenous Gorph enters the center row next to an Acidic Crawler and a Growmites, what happens? A: Nothing. Well of Souls makes Monsters Unbanishable, so Ravenous Gorph's Fate effect will resolve but won't be able to banish anything.
Q: If I have no cards remaining in my deck and I activate Beast Staff, what happens? A: Any time an effect causes you to reveal the top card of your deck and there are no cards in your deck, you reshuffle then reveal the top card to resolve the effect.
Have questions about Ascension rules and gameplay? Check out the official Ascension F.A.Q. at: www.AscensionGame.com/FAQ
Gameplay Variant
Alternate Event Rule
To ensure that events are a more significant part of your game (especially if you are playing with previous sets like Chronicle of the Godslayer and Return of the Fallen), try this alternate set of event rules using the "New Event" cards included in Immortal Heroes.
- Remove all of the Event cards from the center deck and shuffle them together.
- Put them in a face-down stack on the board near the Event zone. You'll find 20 "New Event" cards came with Immortal Heroes. Shuffle five of these into center deck for each set you're including in your game. For instance, if you're playing with Chronicle of the Godslayer, Storm of Souls, and Immortal Heroes, you should shuffle in fifteen of the cards. If you're also playing with Return of the Fallen, shuffle in twenty.
- Every time a "New Event" card flips off the center deck, reveal a new card from the stack of Event cards and put it into the Event zone as if it had flipped off the center deck. As another optional rule, you can choose to begin the game with a random event from the stack in play.
Online Resources
To purchase past Ascension expansions and promos, please visit our online store at: www.AscensionGame.com/store
Find official Ascension events in your area to get exclusive promo cards and meet other fans by visiting our event finder: www.AscensionGame.com/events
Credits
Ascension Game Design: Justin Gary
Storm of Souls Lead Design: John Fiorillo
Lead Development: Brian Kibler
Additional Game Design / Development: Gary Arant, Jeff Liu, Matt Sperling
Website and Marketing: Ryan O'Connor
Graphic Design Lead: Ryan O'Connor
Card Art: Eric Sabee
IP Development Lead: Justin Gary
Additional IP Development: Eric Sabee, John Fiorillo, Justin Gary, Brian Kibler, Mike Rosenberg, Eric Tice
Flavor Text: John Fiorillo, Eric Tice, Brian Kibler
Project Management Lead: Rob Dougherty
Rulebook: Justin Gary, Brian Kibler, John Fiorillo, Ryan O'Connor, Mike Rosenberg, Gary Arant, Jeff Liu
Playtesting: Ian Estrin, Nic Barnhill, Joel Eddy, Cory Jennings, Brian Gouveia, Laura Finn, Jason Finn, Kevin McGuire, Igor Mimarich, Michael Zimmerman, Mark Bordenet, Jodi Bordenet, Chevee Dodd, Chris Warder, Chris Reikoff, Stephanie Sartore, Szymon Stecewicz, Eric Leath, Rori Preston, Brandon Wiczen, Scott Bolderson, Sarah Driesbach, Josh Driesbach, David Stull, Jeremy Hancock, Keith Temple, Shannon Gill, Joseph Wiesenberg, Mike Lockwood, Ryan Marsh, Lauric Tan, Gary Weis, Alan Hickman, Randy Stevenson, James Graham, Cain Quigley, Cory Dawson, Aaron Clay, Ryan Croson, Meghan Croson, Brendan Burchell, Todd Fuist, Travis Dean, Jennifer Archer, Josh Robinson, Sean Massa, David Strutz, Brett Merchen, Jason Eaton, Rob Montague, Nate Bohn, Adam Kouzmanoff, Oliver Gehrmann, Aaron Duran, Aaron Barnard, Diana Barnard, Jennifer Alvin, Shawn Kirkham, Matthew Teer, Keith Carter, Jordan Kreyche, Ryan Hogan, Lauren Shiner, Brian Young, Mike Cartmill, Graden Golston-Kreyche, Joseph Skirmont, Will Sabo, Sean Fitton, Joe Renalo, Cedan Bourne, Ryan Champion, Tim Champion, Ross Rivard-Barnett, Adam White, Jim DiCamillo, Adam Nuss, Dave Levy, Chris Laude, Raquel Laude, Kim Schleyer, James R. Jeffery III, Chad Blunt, Heather Disch, Ty Turner, Richard Chang, James Day, Ryan Christner, Marco van Vemde, joep verhoeven, Suzanne van der Pluijm, Rob Verheyen, Steven Geurts, Kris Schoorl, Ture Eijsbouts, Mark Vlek de Coning
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