Hero: Immortal King – The Lair of the Lich Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Contents
• Goal of the Game
• Description of the Components
  • Adventurer Card
  • Using Gifts and Powers
  • Equipment Card
  • Using Equipment Cards
  • Dungeon Card
  • Final Monster Card
• Setup
• Turn Sequence
  • Construction Phase
  • Mana Token Management
  • Equipment Phase
  • Courage Token Management
  • Combat Phase
  • Fear Token Management
  • Greenskins
  • End-of-Turn Phase
• Special Abilities of Dungeon Cards
• Clarifications About Adventurers and Their Equipment
• Annex I: Rock/Paper/Scissors
• Annex II: Constructed Play
• Annex III: Solitaire Play
  • Easy Scenario: "Dark Evening" (Sombre soir)
  • Medium Scenario: "In Search of Abunakkashii" (À la recherche d'Abunakkashii)
  • Hard Scenario: "Encounter with the Lich" (Rencontre avec la Liche)

Contents

• 4 adventurer cards
• 7 equipment cards
• 48 dungeon cards
• 1 final monster card
• 1 six-sided die
• 1 twelve-sided die
• 4 Mana tokens
• 4 Tenacity tokens
• 10 Courage tokens
• 10 Fear tokens

Goal of the Game

The player who leads the group of adventurers must fight and defeat the dungeon's final monster. The player who runs the dungeon must rout or block the group of adventurers so that they do not reach their goal.

Description of the Components

Adventurer Card

Each adventurer card shows six pieces of information: its name (1), its type (2) and its gender (3), which are keywords used by other cards; a gift (4), which works permanently; a temporary power (5), whose use requires spending a Mana token; and an ultimate power (6), which may only be used on very rare occasions.

Example: the Hero, Immortal King card (type: Priest).

• Gift: +1 to combat rolls.
• Temporary power: cancel the current combat roll and roll 1d12 instead.
• Ultimate power: gain 4 Courage tokens.
• Quote: "YATTA!"

Example: the Nova card (type: Sorcerer).

• Gift: reroll your combat roll when you roll a 1.
• Temporary power: double the result of the current combat roll.
• Ultimate power: place 1 Mana token on each of your adventurers.
• Flavour quote: "Chance is Nova taking a stroll incognito." – Hero

Note (transcriber): the printed Nova card reads "doublez le résultat du jet de combat n cours" ("n cours" is a typesetting slip for "en cours", "in progress"); it is read as "in progress" here.

Using Gifts and Powers

Each adventurer has one gift and two powers. The gift is a permanent ability. To use its temporary power, an adventurer must spend its Mana token. A character may only use its ultimate power during an equipment phase of the turn. To do so, it must spend one or more dungeon cards previously won by the adventurer player (see page 10). The number and type of cards required depend on the number of adventurers in the group:

• If the group has 1 character, it must spend one green, one yellow, one blue and one red dungeon card.
• If the group has 2 characters, it must spend two of each colour (two green, two yellow, two blue and two red), and so on.

There are 4 types of adventurers: warriors, priests, rogues and sorcerers.

Equipment Card

Each equipment card shows two pieces of information: its name (1) and its effects (2) in game terms.

Example: the Potion de force card. Cost: Free. Effect: +3 to the current combat roll.

Using Equipment Cards

There are 3 types of equipment cards: potions, items and quests. Revealing an equipment card (and therefore triggering its effects) may require spending one or more dungeon cards previously won by the adventurer player (see page 10). The number and type of cards required are shown on each equipment card, as icons similar to those found on dungeon cards.

• Potions: a potion may only be used once (it is discarded after being revealed). It may be revealed and used at any time.
• Items (weapons and armour): once revealed, the equipment card is placed face up beside the adventurer cards and its effects are permanent. Items may only be revealed during an equipment phase.
• Quests: once revealed, the equipment card is placed face up and its effect is resolved. Afterwards, the adventurer player may trigger its effects again by paying the number of dungeon cards shown. There is no limit to the number of times a quest may be triggered during a game. A quest may only be revealed and used during an equipment phase.

Dungeon Card

Each dungeon card shows six pieces of information: its name (1), its type (2), its family (3), its Power (4), any special abilities (5) and, in some cases, its Mana icon (6).

There are 4 types of dungeon cards, identified by colour: green, yellow, blue and red. There are 6 families of dungeon cards: demons, undead, dragons, Greenskins, bullœils and traps. Bullœils are only found in the Den of Dementia. There are no traps in the Lair of the Lich.

Example: the Orc assassin card (family: Greenskin; special ability: Nemesis +1).

Final Monster Card

The final monster card shows four pieces of information: its name (1), its family (2), its Power (3) and a special ability (4).

Example: the Liche card. Family: undead – final monster. Power: A+7 (see Special Abilities of Dungeon Cards). Special ability: you start the game with 2 Fear tokens per adventurer (instead of 1).

Setup

One player leads a group of adventurers; in these rules this is called the adventurer player. The other player leads the dungeon, its traps, its creatures and its final monster; this is called the dungeon master.

1. The adventurer player chooses the characters with which they will face the dungeon. They must choose between 1 and 4 characters and place the corresponding adventurer cards in front of them, face up. Once this choice is made, they may add between 1 and 4 equipment cards, knowing that the group must consist of exactly 5 cards in total (no more, no fewer). The chosen equipment cards are placed face down on the table. The adventurer player may look at them at any time, but only reveals them when using them.
2. The dungeon master shuffles the 48 dungeon cards and forms 3 face-down piles in the middle of the table. Each pile must contain 16 cards. These three piles represent the three corridors that the adventurers must take to reach their goal. No player may look at them. The dungeon master places the final monster card face up in front of them.
3. Starting tokens are distributed:
   • The dungeon master starts the game with 1 Fear token for each character in the adventurer player's group. (The final monster's special ability changes this: see Final Monster Card above.)
   • The adventurer player starts the game with 5 Courage tokens in front of them and 1 Mana token on each of their adventurer cards.
4. Finally, the dungeon master turns face up the top card of each of their piles. These are the first three encounters the adventurers may face. These 3 cards are placed respectively in front of the 3 piles, representing the guarded path.

The printed rulebook shows a diagram at this point: the three piles, the three face-up encounter cards in front of them, the final monster card, and the Fear, Courage and Mana tokens.

Turn Sequence

The principle of the game is simple: each turn, the group of adventurers tries to defeat one of the 3 encounters placed in front of it by the dungeon master. Usually this involves a dice roll. When dungeon cards are defeated, the adventurer player keeps them nearby so that they can later trigger the effects of their equipment and/or ultimate powers. As the game progresses, the three piles of cards will shrink. As soon as one of the piles is completely empty, the path is clear and the group of adventurers may try to kill the dungeon's final monster. If the group is demoralised before that happens (that is, if it no longer has any Courage tokens), the adventurer player has lost the game.

Usually, when the adventurer player tries to defeat a dungeon card, they roll 1d6 and try to get a result greater than or equal to the Power of the dungeon card. However, as you will see, it is not all as simple as that, since all characters have gifts and powers that modify this basic rule.

The game is divided into an indeterminate number of turns. Each turn consists of the three phases detailed below.

Construction Phase

The dungeon master looks at the top dungeon card of each of their 3 piles. They may then choose to swap two of the three piles.

Warning: swap the entire piles, not only the cards that were looked at! If one corridor is empty (no more cards), only the piles of the other two corridors may be swapped.

Mana Token Management

To use its temporary power, an adventurer must discard its Mana token. To regain it, its group usually has to fight and defeat a dungeon card bearing a Mana icon. Each such marked dungeon card yields only one Mana token when defeated. An adventurer may never hold more than one Mana token. Mana tokens cannot be transferred from one adventurer to another.

Equipment Phase

During this phase, the adventurer player may reveal their equipment cards. Characters may also use their ultimate powers. In all cases, the cost of activating all of these actions must be paid by discarding dungeon cards bearing the corresponding symbols (see page 4). Unless a special rule states otherwise, dungeon cards eliminated during this phase through a quest or an ultimate power are handled in the same way as those eliminated during the combat phase.

Courage Token Management

At the start of the game, each group of adventurers has 5 Courage tokens. Each time the group loses a combat, it loses one Courage token. When the adventurer player no longer has any Courage tokens, their group is completely demoralised and they have lost the game. A player may not hold more than 10 Courage tokens.

Combat Phase

The group of adventurers chooses a corridor and tries to defeat the encounter in it. If the card in that corridor is face up, the adventurer player already knows what they are facing. If not, the dungeon master turns the card face up at the start of the combat.

All adventurers fight the revealed encounter at the same time and with a single dice roll. Unless a special rule states otherwise, combat is resolved by rolling 1d6.

Characters may use their gifts, their already-revealed weapons and armour, their temporary powers (by spending their Mana) and any potions, before or after rolling the die. Items may not be revealed, ultimate powers may not be triggered and quests may not be used during this phase.

If the final result is greater than or equal to the Power of the dungeon card, the card is defeated and the adventurer player keeps it nearby. They may later spend it to pay the cost of a quest, an item or an ultimate power. The dungeon master must then replace the defeated card with the top card of the pile immediately behind it. Normally, the new card is placed face up, but the dungeon master may at that moment use their ambush and tenacity abilities if they wish (see page 11). If the defeated dungeon card bears a Mana icon, the adventurer player may place 1 Mana token on one of their characters.

If the final result (after any applicable modifiers) is lower than the Power of the dungeon card, the characters must withdraw to bind their wounds and recover their strength. The adventurer player immediately loses 1 Courage token and the dungeon master gains 1 Fear token. The attacked card remains in place (exception: traps, see the box below).

Box: Traps. Traps are handled as normal dungeon cards, with one exception: if the adventurers fail to obtain a result greater than or equal to its Power, a trap card is nevertheless defeated and kept by the adventurer player. However, they do lose 1 Courage token to represent their failure. Monsters and traps are both dungeon cards, but an effect that specifically affects a monster does not affect a trap, and vice versa. On the other hand, an effect that affects a dungeon card affects both. There are no traps in the Lair of the Lich.

Fear Token Management

The dungeon master starts the game with as many Fear tokens as there are adventurers in the group. They then gain more according to the following scale:

• Each time the adventurer player loses a Courage token, the dungeon master gains a Fear token.
• Each time the adventurer player rolls a "1" on a die, the dungeon master gains a Fear token.

The dungeon master may spend Fear tokens in the following three situations:

• Ambush: when a new dungeon card is placed in front of the adventurer player (after the previous one has been eliminated), the dungeon master may choose to place it face down by spending 1 Fear token. Usable only during the combat phase.
• Tenacity: when a new dungeon card representing a monster (not a trap!) is placed in front of the adventurer player (after the previous one has been eliminated), the dungeon master may choose to place 1 Tenacity token on it by spending 2 Fear tokens. Usable only during the combat phase. A Tenacity token increases the Power of the monster it is placed on by 1. It is impossible to place more than one Tenacity token on the same card.
• Dire fate: the dungeon master may spend 3 Fear tokens to force the adventurer player to re-roll a combat die. They must do so before the adventurer player decides to apply a power to that dice roll.

The dungeon master may very well set an ambush and make the same card tenacious by spending 3 Fear tokens in total.

Greenskins

The Power of Greenskins is only given for solitaire play (they all have a Power of 4). In a normal 2-player game, all combats against Greenskins are played as a game of rock/paper/scissors (see Annex I), the adventurer player winning all ties.

End-of-Turn Phase

During this phase, if the adventurer player no longer has any Courage tokens, the game ends and they have lost. If the final monster has just been killed and the adventurer player still has at least 1 Courage token, they have won the game. In all other cases, a new turn begins.

Special Abilities of Dungeon Cards

• 1d6: the Power of this card is determined using a six-sided die. Each time the card is attacked, the die is rolled again.
• A: when this letter is associated with the Power of a card, it is equal to the number of adventurers in the group.
• Pain: if the adventurers fail to defeat this dungeon card, the adventurer player loses 2 Courage tokens instead of 1.
• Dragons +X: all dungeon cards of the dragon family have their Power increased by X while this card is face up.
• Bodyguard: when this dungeon card is defeated, the dungeon master may immediately place a Tenacity token on the face-up monster card of their choice (never on a trap).
• Ferocious: when this dungeon card has a Tenacity token, it gains a Power bonus of 2 (instead of 1).
• M: when this letter is associated with the Power of a card, it is equal to the number of Mana tokens present in the group of adventurers at the start of the combat.
• Final Monster: ultimate powers do not work on a final monster.
• Undead +X: all dungeon cards of the undead family have their Power increased by X while this card is face up.
• Nemesis X: this card has two Power values. If the group of adventurers includes a character of type X, the value on the right is used. Otherwise, the value on the left is used.
• Nemesis +X: all dungeon cards possessing the Nemesis ability have their Power increased by X while this card is face up.

Clarifications About Adventurers and Their Equipment

You may combine several gifts, powers and effects coming from different adventurers or equipment cards. When you are granted both a bonus and a multiplier, the multiplier is taken into account first, before adding the bonus. Note also that a combat roll may only be multiplied once.

When a gift, an equipment card or a power affects an element of the game, it is always the adventurer player who chooses what is affected.

When an effect gives a modifier (example: +2 to your combat roll), the value is added to or subtracted from the result of the die.

Your "collection" consists of all the Hero I.K. cards you own that are not being used in the current game.

Example of combat. A group made up of Nova and Hero attacks Abunakkashii (Power 9). The 2 characters have 1 Mana token each and the group has 2 Courage tokens. The dungeon master has 2 Fear tokens. Since Abunakkashii has the Pain ability, it would wipe out the group if the group were defeated.

• The adventurer player rolls 1d6: result = 1. The dungeon master gains 1 Fear token (total = 3).
• The adventurer player rerolls the d6 thanks to Nova's gift. Result = 2.
• The adventurer player cancels this result thanks to Hero's temporary power and rerolls a d12. Result = 11. Hero loses his Mana token.
• The dungeon master pays 3 Fear tokens, uses their Dire fate ability and forces the adventurer player to reroll the d12. Result = 4.
• The adventurer player uses Nova's temporary power and doubles the result of this die (total = 8). Nova loses her Mana token. Hero's gift then applies and adds a bonus of +1 to the result (final total = 9).
• Abunakkashii is therefore defeated.

Annex I: Rock/Paper/Scissors

Both players simultaneously make with their hand the gesture for paper, rock or scissors. Paper beats rock, but loses to scissors. Rock beats scissors, but loses to paper, and scissors beat paper, but lose to rock. Against Greenskins, in case of a tie, the adventurer player is declared the winner. Otherwise, ties are replayed.

Note (transcriber): the hand-gesture symbols on the printed page are images; the gestures are described here as they are stated in the text.

Annex II: Constructed Play

The dungeon you have just acquired is designed to be perfectly balanced with the group of adventurers that will explore it. However, by combining several Hero I.K. boxes, you may create your own dungeons and more colourful groups of adventurers. Several identical boxes may also be combined.

Dungeon creation rules: the dungeon must contain exactly 48 cards, plus a final monster. There must be 12 monsters of each colour, and within each colour, 6 cards must bear a Mana icon. There is no other restriction.

Adventurer group creation rules: identical to the normal game (exactly 5 cards and at least 1 adventurer), but the cards may be chosen from all the boxes you own. Important note: all adventurers are unique (see below).

Important exception: a card marked as unique may only be present once in a dungeon or in a group of adventurers.

Annex III: Solitaire Play

Hero I.K. can also be played solitaire. Most rules are identical, but nobody plays the role of the dungeon master. In solitaire, the player builds a group of adventurers and tries to kill the final monster. If they do not manage to do so, they have lost.

After building your group, choose one of the scenarios presented below. The three scenarios are of increasing difficulty. You may create other scenarios or download them from the website www.asmodee.com.

There is no construction phase in the solitaire game.

When a dungeon card is defeated, it is replaced by the next one in the relevant pile. The dungeon starts the game with 0 Fear tokens. The dungeon does not gain a Fear token when the player rolls a 1 on a die. Greenskins all have a Power of 4. When a Ferocious monster enters play, it automatically receives a Tenacity token (without spending a Fear token). When a Bodyguard monster is defeated, a Tenacity token is placed on the monster in play that has the lowest Power. In case of a tie, it is determined randomly among the lowest. If the lowest already has one, the next monster is chosen. If they all have a Tenacity token, nothing happens.

Each time the dungeon gains a Fear token, the Destiny scale of each scenario is consulted and the effects indicated are applied. Effects printed in italics are cumulative and permanent; the others are triggered only once.

Easy Scenario: "Dark Evening" (Sombre soir)

Destiny scale (roll / event):

1. The alarm is raised, you have been spotted. Place a Tenacity token on the weakest monster or monsters if they have none.
2. The Greenskins march forth. Greenskins gain a +1 Power bonus.
3. Nothing happens.
4. Undead rising from the grave. Undead gain a +1 Power bonus.
5. Nothing happens.
6. Battle order. Cards in the central corridor or corridors gain a +1 Power bonus.
7. Nothing happens.
8. Nothing happens.
9. Last bastion. All cards gain a +1 Power bonus.
10. The Lich wins the game!

Medium Scenario: "In Search of Abunakkashii" (À la recherche d'Abunakkashii)

Destiny scale (roll / event):

1. Nothing happens.
2. The Lich awaits you, the troops are motivated. Place a Tenacity token on each monster that has none.
3. A cry in the night: the Lich strikes you with magic. One adventurer of your choice loses 1 Mana token.
4. Nothing happens.
5. Undead rising from the grave. Undead gain a +1 Power bonus.
6. General invocation. Demons gain a +1 Power bonus.
7. Encounter with Abunakkashii. Abunakkashii and his sons gain a +2 Power bonus.
8. Nothing happens.
9. The Lich wins the game!

Hard Scenario: "Encounter with the Lich" (Rencontre avec la Liche)

Destiny scale (roll / event):

1. It's an ambush! Place a Tenacity token on each monster that has none.
2. No escape is possible. Cards in the two outer corridors gain a +1 Power bonus.
3. A cry in the night: the Lich strikes you with magic. One adventurer of your choice loses 1 Mana token.
4. Nothing happens.
5. Undead rising from the grave. Undead gain a +1 Power bonus.
6. It's an ambush! Place a Tenacity token on each monster that has none.
7. An epic battle. The Lich gains a +3 Power bonus.
8. The Lich wins the game!

Note (transcriber): the italic formatting of the destiny effects is read from the printed page; the rulebook states that italic effects are cumulative and permanent. The scenario titles are translated; the French titles are given in brackets.