Druid Path Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Components
• Card Anatomy
• Setup
• Game Summary
  • Winning and losing
  • The game
  • Game flow
• Key Concepts
  • Health tokens
  • +/- Attack tokens
• 1. Encounter Phase
• 2. Play Phase
  • How to tame a beastborg: example
• 3. Darach Phase
• 4. Combat Phase
  • Combat Phase: example
  • End of Combat Phase
• Beastborg Ability Types
• Keywords
• Beastborg Rarity and Deck Composition
  • Beastborgs rarity
  • Beastborg type and rarity table
  • Deck composition
  • Adding beastborgs in your deck
• Druid Path Expansions and Kickstarter Version
  • New Path Cards
  • New Druid: Emrys
• Player Aid: Turn Phases
• Transcription Notes

Introduction

Druid Path is a solo monster-taming card game where you step into the role of an ancient Druid, wielding the primal forces of nature to tame Beastborgs, cyber-organic creatures forged from magic and machine. Your mission: stop the Darachs, rogue Druids corrupted by forbidden technology who seek to control these powerful beings for their own dark ends.

Play strategically to defeat the Darachs within 10 turns or fall into darkness and become one of them. Along the way, uncover magical items and activate robot companions to aid your quest, but beware… every item has a dark side, and the Darachs will use them to sabotage your journey. Only you can restore the balance!

Components

• 2 (double-sided) Path cards
• 4 Druid cards
• 4 Darach cards
• 40 Beastborg cards
• 6 Shadow Beastborg cards
• 40 Item cards
• 12 Robot cards
• 20 HP attack tokens
• 14 +/- attack tokens
• 12 Gemstones
• 2 six-sided dice
• 4 Energy cubes
• 2 HP cubes
• 1 Path cube
• 1 Player aid card

Card Anatomy

Path card

1. Path's name
2. Path end point
3. Path steps
4. Starting hand
5. Path starting point
6. Game mode

Darach card

1. Name
2. Health points (HP) counter
3. Armor
4. Darach's parry value
5. Ability
6. Stamina counter

Beastborg card and Shadow Beastborg card

1. Gemstone cost
2. Tame value and rarity
3. Armor
4. Health points (HP)
5. Attack
6. Name
7. (Light) ability
8. (Shadow) ability
9. HP transfer ability

(The printed key is shared by both card types; it is transcribed as printed.)

Item card

1. Stamina cost
2. Discard boost
3. Name
4. Item type
5. (Light) item effect
6. (Shadow) item effect

Robot card

1. Robot's name
2. Robot's owner (indicates whose Druid the robot belongs to)
3. Robot's ability
4. Energy counter

Setup

Start by separating the different type of cards in the box, then:

1. Choose one of the path cards and place it as shown in the example setup on the left (for your first game, use the "Celthar Path" card). Then place the path cube on the "Start" icon at the bottom right of the path card.
2. Shuffle the Beastborg cards and place them on top of the Path card, as shown in the example setup. This forms the Beastborg deck, which consists of 40 Beastborg cards. For instructions on how to build a full deck, see "Beastborg Rarity and Deck Composition" on page 16.
3. Choose one of the Darach cards and place it above the path card (for your first game use "Kaliran"). Then place the HP cube on the highest number of the HP counter.
4. Choose 6 Shadow Beastborg cards, shuffle them, and place them face down to the left of the Darach. This forms the Shadow Beastborg deck.
5. Choose one of the Druid cards and place it below the path card (for your first game choose "Belthar"). Then place the HP cube on the highest number of the HP counter and the energy cube on the stamina icon of your Druid card.
6. Place the robot cards belonging to the selected Druid to the left of the Druid card. Each Druid can have a maximum of 3 robots. If a Druid allows you to mix and match robots, or if more than 3 robots belong to the same Druid, choose only 3 to place in play.
7. Leave space for the 3 Beastborg lanes (lane 1, 2 and 3) as shown in the example setup.
8. Leave space for the robot lane to the right of lane 3.
9. Shuffle the 40 item cards and place them to the right of the robot lane. This forms the item deck.
10. Place the game components (supply) within easy reach.
11. Draw the number of item cards indicated at the bottom of the selected path card.

Game Summary

Winning and losing

To win the game, you must defeat the Darach by dealing damage until its HP reaches 0. You lose the game if:

a) At the end of turn 10 (turn 10 corresponds to step 10 on the path card) you fail to defeat the Darach; b) At the end of a turn the item deck depletes; c) Your Druid is defeated.

The game

To defeat the Darach, you'll need to tame beastborgs to attack it, but you'll also need them to protect your Druid from attacks by the Darach's own tamed beastborgs. The Darach will also summon shadow beastborgs to overwhelm you and use the shadow side of item cards to sabotage your efforts. With limited stamina, you'll need to strike a careful balance between defence and offence, making the most of your items and robot companions.

Game flow

The game is played over a maximum of 10 turns, each of which has 4 phases:

1. Encounter Phase
2. Play Phase
3. Darach Phase
4. Combat Phase

Before we go into the details of each phase, we'll introduce you to some key concepts.

Key Concepts

Health tokens

Beastborgs have a starting amount of HP (heart symbol). Each time they take damage, place that many HP attack tokens on them. When their HP reaches 0 or less, they are defeated. When a beastborg is defeated, remove all tokens from it and discard it into a discard pile next to the beastborg deck.

+/- Attack tokens

On many cards, you'll see the symbols "+ (attack icon)" and "- (attack icon)". These indicate that a beastborg's attack is either increased or decreased by the number shown after the "+" or "-". When this happens, place that many +attack tokens or -attack tokens on it.

1. Encounter Phase

1. Gain stamina (stamina icon): At the start of each new turn, your Druid gains 3 stamina. Use the energy block at the bottom of the Druid card to track your available stamina. Stamina can carry over from one turn to the next but is limited to a maximum of 5.

2. Step forward: Move the path cube to the next step on your path card to track your progress. After moving, resolve the effects indicated on that step:

• (Beastborg icon) with a number: Draw the number of beastborg cards indicated on the step and place them face up in the encounter row, starting from lane 1 to the lane 3.
• (Item icon, up-arrow) with a number: Draw 1 item card for each card symbol shown on the step.
• (Shadow icon, down-chevron) with a number: Draw a shadow beastborg card and place it in lane 1 of the Darach beastborgs row. If lane 1 is already occupied, move the existing beastborgs to the next lane to the right.

2. Play Phase

Take these actions any number of times and in any order:

• Spend 1 stamina: Take 1 gemstone of your choice from the components and place it on the bottom of the item deck. This gemstone becomes part of your gemstone collection and won't be removed when you tame a beastborg.

• Spend 1 stamina: Attempt to tame a beastborg from the encounter row. To tame a beastborg, you must:

  1. Have collected the gemstones specified in the beastborg's gemstone cost. Note: Some beastborgs display one or more "uncolored gemstones" (grey gemstone symbol), meaning you can use any type of gemstones to tame them, as long as you have the required amount.
  2. Roll the 2 dice. Your roll must meet or exceed the beastborg's tame value in order to tame it. If the roll succeeds, place the beastborg in any lane of the Druid row and if it has any light-side "Tame" abilities, resolve them. If the roll fails, the beastborg remains in the encounter row, and you cannot attempt to tame it again.

  NOTE: Shadow beastborgs cannot be tamed by the Druid and only have the shadow ability. They are restricted from entering the Druid row. Hence, any card ability that allows you to swap a Druid beastborg with a Darach beastborg does not apply to shadow beastborgs.

• Spend 1 stamina: Draw 1 card from the Item Deck.

How to tame a beastborg: example

1. You want to tame Coraltron, which requires 2 blue gemstones and 1 green gemstone. You already have 1 blue and 1 green in your collection. To meet the cost, you spend 1 stamina to collect an additional blue gemstone, now matching Coraltron's gemstone requirement.

2. Now you spend 1 stamina and roll the dice. You roll a 5, not enough to tame Coraltron since its tame value is 7. So you decide to use a discard boost. You discard the item card "Cursed Skull", which boosts your roll by 2, giving you a total of 7. You now tame Coraltron and place it in the Druid row.

3. Darach Phase

1. Shift the Darach beastborgs: Move all beastborgs in the Darach row to the left, so that there are no empty lanes between them.

2. Taming: Any beastborgs remaining in the encounter lane are tamed by the Darach. Place the beastborgs on the Darach row starting from lane 1 and shifting all other existing beastborgs to the right. If all lanes are occupied, remove the rightmost beastborg and place the new one in lane 1. The Darach gains HP equal to the HP transfer ability of the beastborg being removed. Then, resolve all shadow "tame" abilities of the tamed beastborgs.

3. Darach's draw: Draw a card from the item deck and resolve any effect indicated on the shadow side of the card. After resolving the effect, discard it into the discard pile on the right of the item deck.

4. Combat Phase

Resolve the attacks of the beastborgs one lane at a time, starting with lane 1 and continuing sequentially to lane 3. In each lane, the Darach beastborgs always attack first. For each attack, you must choose one of the following options:

a) Do nothing: The Darach beastborg attacks the Druid directly, dealing damage to the Druid equal to its attack.

b) Attack the Darach: Spend 1 stamina to attack the Darach. Your beastborg attacks the Darach by rolling the dice. If the roll meets or exceeds the Darach's parry value, the attack succeeds. A successful attack allows your beastborg to deal damage to the Darach without receiving any in return, unless the Darach card specifies otherwise.

c) Block the Darach Beastborg: Spend 1 stamina to block an attack with your beastborg. When you block a Darach beastborg, both beastborgs deal damage to each other at the same time, equal to their respective attack. Place that many HP attack tokens on each beastborg accordingly. If a beastborg's HP reaches 0, activate its "defeated" ability and discard it into the discard pile.

Boosting the Roll: During this phase, you can boost your roll to attack the Darach by using Potion item cards or by discarding item cards for a discard boost. However, you can use discard boost that enhance your dice roll only — boosts that grant extra stamina can't be used in this phase.

Combat Phase: example

In this example, you enter the Combat Phase with 2 stamina left.

• Lane 1: The Darach beastborg attacks first, and you decide not to block it, choosing to attack the Darach instead. The Darach beastborg deals damage to your Druid equal to its attack. You then spend 1 stamina to attack and roll the dice. You roll a 7 and since the parry value of Kaliran is 6, your attack is successful, dealing damage to Kaliran equal to the attack of your beastborg.
• Lane 2: The Darach beastborg attacks, and this time you choose to block it, spending your last 1 stamina. Both beastborgs deal damage to each other simultaneously.
• Lane 3: In this example, there are no Darach beastborgs in lane 3, and with no stamina left, you cannot attack.

This completes the Combat Phase.

End of Combat Phase

If at the end of the Combat Phase you have reached the final step of the path (step 10) and have not defeated the Darach, or your item deck is depleted, you lose the game. If neither has happened, start a new turn by repeating the actions from Phase 1: Encounter Phase. Keep fighting!

Beastborg Ability Types

Activated abilities: These abilities can only be activated once per turn. Some may require stamina to use, while others do not.

Attack: Triggers during the Combat Phase when either a Druid or a Darach beastborg attacks. Attack abilities of Druid beastborgs are triggered before you roll the dice to attack the Darach.

Block: Triggers during the Combat Phase when a Druid beastborg blocks a Darach beastborg.

Blocked: Triggers during the Combat Phase when a Darach beastborg is blocked by a Druid beastborg.

Defeated: Triggers when a beastborg reaches 0 HP or is destroyed by a card's ability. Defeated abilities will also trigger when a beastborg is sacrificed, but will not trigger when a beastborg is replaced or removed from its lane.

Tame: Triggers when a beastborg is tamed as well as every time a beastborg enters the Druid or Darach beastborg row.

Ward: The "ward" ability prevents your beastborgs from attacking the Darach. As long as a Darach beastborg with the "ward" ability is in play, your beastborgs cannot attack the Darach, no matter which lane they are in.

Keywords

Armor (armor icon): Beastborgs, Druids and Darachs can have an armor value. The armor value is the amount of first damage prevented each turn. For example, a beastborg with "armor 2" prevents up to 2 damage each turn.

NOTE: When a card effect says "The Darach (or Druid) loses HP", reduce their HP directly, ignoring their armor value. Whenever a card effect states "deal damage", you must apply armor as normal.

Attach: Attach "relic" item cards by placing them under a Darach or Druid beastborg. If a beastborg with a relic attached is moved between rows or defeated, the relic goes to the item discard pile.

Exhaust: Exhausting a beastborg prevents it from attacking or blocking until the end of the turn. Attack, blocked, or block abilities of exhausted beastborgs will not trigger.

Beastborg Rarity and Deck Composition

Beastborgs rarity

The beastborgs rarity is indicated by the colour of the Tame value icon. They are categorized as common (white gemstone icon), uncommon (yellow gemstone icon) or rare (magenta gemstone icon). Rare beastborgs are generally stronger or have more powerful abilities than common or uncommon ones.

Beastborg type and rarity table

Rarity	Earth	Fire	Water	Sand	Multi-type	Omnikind
Rare	1	1	1	1	1	1
Uncommon	2	2	2	2	4	2
Common	4	4	4	4	2	2

Deck composition

The beastborg deck contains a fixed number of beastborg types and rarities. Each deck must contain a maximum of 6 rare, 14 uncommon and 20 common beastborgs, divided by the six types as shown in the table above.

Adding beastborgs in your deck

If you have Druid Path expansion sets and you want to add new beastborgs to the basic deck, you can swap them in by replacing beastborgs of the same type and rarity making sure to keep the deck composition as shown in the table above.

Example: If you want to add the rare Beastborg Ferik-Devil Panda to your deck, you must remove the rare Beastborg Scorchling Python, since you can only include one rare Fire-type beastborg in your deck.

Druid Path Expansions and Kickstarter Version

Whether you are playing with the Kickstarter version featuring the Naarmut Path or with the Mogh's Lair Expansion, the following section explains the new game mechanics introduced by these expansions.

New Path Cards

Shadow Draw: When you move to a Path step with this icon (red up-arrow icon), draw the indicated number of Item cards (based on the number of card icons shown). Then immediately resolve the Shadow side effect.

Branching Path: A Branching Path allows you to choose an alternative step instead of the standard linear one. This lets you change your route and select the option that best suits your current situation.

Spiral Step: When you resolve a Spiral Step, first draw the number of beastborg cards shown in the centre of the Spiral Step icon and place them in the Encounter row. Then, swap all beastborgs in the Druid row with those in the Darach row. Tame abilities of beastborg will not trigger. Shadow beastborgs are never swapped and always remain in the Darach row. If there is not enough space in the Darach row because one or more shadow beastborgs are present, resolve the following steps in order:

1. Move all shadow beastborgs left, toward Lane 1, until they occupy the leftmost available lanes.
2. Place the Druid beastborgs into the remaining free lanes of the Darach row. Any Druid beastborg that cannot be placed is discarded, and its HP Transfer ability is immediately resolved (the Darach gains HP equal to that beastborg's HP Transfer value).

New Druid: Emrys

Emrys is the only Druid that introduces Spirit tokens. Spirit tokens can attack and block just like normal beastborgs. They also may enter the Darach row if an effect causes them to switch rows.

There are only 3 Spirit token cards in the game. If the Darach controls 1 Spirit token, you may summon only 2 Spirit tokens in your row. Once a Spirit token in the Darach row is defeated, it is returned to the Spirit token pile, allowing it to be summoned again later.

Player Aid: Turn Phases

The player aid card included in the box is transcribed below as printed. It summarises the phases above.

1. Encounter Phase

1. Druid gains 3 stamina.
2. Step forward: Move the path cube to the next step of the path card and resolve the step effects.

2. Play Phase

Take these actions any number of times and in any order:

• Spend 1 stamina: Draw 1 card from the item deck;
• Spend 1 stamina: Collect 1 gemstone of your choice;
• Spend 1 stamina: Attempt to tame a beastborg;
• Spend stamina to play item cards in your hand;
• Spend stamina to use beastborgs and Druid activated abilities;
• Discard item cards: To get discard boost;
• Operate robot cards: Use robot's ability.

Transcription Notes

• The source PDF's text layer is fragmented, so this transcription was made from the page images. Printed numbering and wording are kept.
• Source typos are kept or corrected as follows: "beatsborgs" in the rarity section is written "beastborgs"; the "Defeated" ability is printed as "Deafeated", written here as "Defeated".
• Credits, cover art and back cover were not transcribed.