Life Siphon Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Overview
• Getting Started
• The Board
• Gameplay
• The Regenerate Phase
• The Attack Phase
  • Attacking and Blocking
  • Attacking with the Imp / Dread Knight
  • Attacking with the Lich
  • Blocking
• The Main Phase
• The Familiars
• The Cards
• The Aspects
• Game End
• Modular Content
  • Plague Rat, Shade & Dragon
  • The Essence Vials
  • The Fearsome
• 1 & 2 Player Variants
  • 1 Player Madness Mode
  • 2 Player Variant

Components

• Game Board
• 5 Aspect cards
• 39 Main Deck cards
  • 16 Fast Cast Spells
  • 18 Slow Cast Spells
  • 5 Fast / Slow Cast Spells
• 4 Life Trackers
• 52 Familiar meeples
  • 12 Imps
  • 12 Liches
  • 12 Dread Knights
  • 4 Dragons*
  • 4 Plague Rats*
  • 4 Shades*
  • 4 Fearsome*
    • 1 Pain Maker*
    • 1 Life Giver*
    • 1 Spell Breaker*
    • 1 Void Walker* (printed as "Void Walker" in the component list; the Fearsome is called Void Bringer everywhere else in the rules)
• 4 Spellbooks
• 4 Essence of Flame Vials*
• 4 Essence of Mischief Vials*
• 4 Essence of Shadow Vials*
• 4 Fearsome Skulls*
• 1 Pain Maker Skull*
• 1 Life Giver Skull*
• 1 Spell Breaker Skull*

* Modular Content

** Home brew rules only.

See LayWasteGames.com for a collection.

Overview

In Life Siphon, you play as cursed humans that cast spells and Summon Familiars at the cost of your own life.

Your goal is to reduce your opponent's life—the player directly to your left—below 1. When 1 player wins, all other players lose.

Throughout the game you will be regenerating life, drawing cards, Summoning Familiars, moving them toward the center of the board, attacking the player to your left, and defending from the player to your right.

Life Siphon comes with modular content that you can choose to add in to your games. All of this content is covered in the MODULAR CONTENT section of the instructions (page 9).

Getting Started

For your first game, we recommend using the following components:

• Game Board
• 5 Aspect cards
• 39 Main Deck cards
• 1 Life Tracker per player
• 1 Spellbook per player
• 36 Familiar meeples
• 12 Imps
• 12 Liches
• 12 Dread Knights

The player you need to defeat sits to your left, and the player you need to defend from sits to your right. It is important to decide where each player will be seated. In a 2 player game, you attack and defend from the same person. Once you're familiar with the game, there is a variant 2 player mode that uses all 4 areas of the board on page 15 (not recommended for your first game).

• Place the board in the middle of the table so that each of the 4 quadrants is facing a different player. If playing with fewer than 4 players, simply ignore any empty quadrants.
• Place the 5 Aspect cards off to the side of the board.
• Shuffle the remaining cards to form the Main Deck, placing it next to the board. Deal 1 card to each player. You may look at your card, but do not reveal any cards until you use them.
• Reveal 3 cards from the top of the deck face up next to the deck for all players to see. These are the River Cards.
• Each player places a life tracker on the 20 space along the outer edge of the quadrant closest to them. This is your starting (and maximum) life total.
• Place the 36 Familiars next to the board, in reach of all players.
• Each player takes a Spellbook and places it in front of them.
• Choose a Starting Player and you're ready to begin!

Return all other components to the box. They can be added once players are comfortable with the basic rules.

The Board

The board is divided into 4 quadrants. Each quadrant belongs to one player. Your Familiars cannot enter other players' quadrants. In each quadrant, you will find the Summoning Area, the Movement Row, the River, and the Battleground.

• The Summoning Area—This is the outer corner area in your quadrant. This is where your Familiars first arrive when you Summon them. This area can hold a maximum of 3 Familiars.
• The Movement Row—This area is specifically for Movement. The area can hold a maximum of 4 Familiars.
• The River—This area can hold a maximum of 3 Familiars. At the start of your turn, you regenerate 1 life for each Familiar in the River (in addition to 1 life you automatically regenerate at the start of your turn).
• The Battleground—This is the area at the center of the board. The Battleground in your quadrant can hold a maximum of 3 Familiars. Only Familiars in the Battleground are able to attack and block.

Gameplay

Beginning with the Starting Player and continuing clockwise around the table, each player takes a turn. During your turn, you regenerate life, attack the player to your left, Summon and move Familiars, cast spells, and end your turn by drawing a card. Each turn is divided into 3 phases: Regenerate Phase, Attack Phase, and Main Phase. After your turn is complete, play passes to the player on your left until the game is over. The game ends as soon as one player's life is reduced below 1. However, no player may reduce their own life below 1.

The Regenerate Phase

At the start of your turn, regenerate 1 life—to a maximum of 20. Then, regenerate 1 additional life for each Familiar in your River row. Then, if you have no Familiars in the Battleground, you may choose to draw 1 face-up card from the River Cards. Refill the empty slot with the top card from the deck, face up. If you have at least 1 Familiar in your Battleground, you cannot draw a River Card.

The Attack Phase

In the Attack Phase, you may choose to attack with any of your Familiars that are located in your Battleground. Remember, you can only attack the player to your left, and they can only block with Familiars in their Battleground.

Attacking and Blocking

You may choose to attack with your Familiars one at a time before deciding if you'd like to attack with additional Familiars. If you have no Familiars in your Battleground at the start of your turn, you cannot attack this turn. You do not have to attack during your Attack Phase.

Each of your Familiars in the Battleground can only attack once per Attack Phase. Each of your opponents' Familiars can only block once per Attack Phase.

There are 2 outcomes of attacking your opponent with a Familiar:

1. Your opponent does not block with their Familiars. All damage from attacking Familiars goes directly to your opponent's life total, which they decrease.
2. Your opponent blocks with their Familiars. If a Familiar is blocked, each Familiar deals its attack damage to the blocking Familiar. If a Familiar takes damage equal to or greater than its defense, it is removed from the board. Blocking Familiars both deal and receive damage. Note: If an attacking Familiar is blocked by another Familiar, it will not deal damage to their opponent's life total; any damage in excess to the blocking Familiar's defense is lost and does not carry over.

Attacking with the Imp / Dread Knight

If you are attacking with an Imp or a Dread Knight, your opponent decides if they will block your Familiar with their own Familiars, or if they will take the damage directly to their life total.

Attacking with the Lich

If you are attacking with a Lich, you decide who the Lich is attacking—either your opponent or one of their Familiars. An attacking Lich can only be blocked by another Lich. If you decide to attack a Familiar with your Lich, both your Lich and your opponent's Familiar deal and receive damage.

Blocking

Your opponent may choose to block one of your Familiars with 1, 2 or 3 of their own Familiars. If your opponent blocks an attacking Familiar with more than 1 of their own Familiars, the attacking Familiar deals their full attack damage to each blocking Familiar. The attack damage of each blocking Familiar is added together and is dealt to the attacking Familiar. A Familiar may only block once per Attack Phase. If the attack does not equal or exceed the Familiar's defense, its health fully regenerates at the end of the turn. One Familiar cannot block multiple attacking Familiars.

For example, you attack with a Dread Knight. Your opponent chooses to block your Dread Knight with 2 of their Imps. The Dread Knight deals 5 attack damage to each Imp. Each Imp's attack damage (2) is added together (2+2=4) and deals a total of 4 attack damage to the Dread Knight. In this example, all 3 Familiars are removed from the board (the Dread Knight's defense is 3 and was dealt 4 damage; each Imp's defense is 2 and each was dealt 5 damage).

Note: Fast Cast cards that increase Familiars' attack or defense can be played before or after attacking or blocking.

The Main Phase

After the Attack Phase is over, your Main Phase begins. During the Main Phase, you may Summon Familiars, move Familiars, and play Slow Cast spell cards. Summoning, moving, and playing Slow Cast spells may be performed in any order and interchangeably. For example, you may Summon a Familiar, move it, play a Slow Cast spell, Summon 2 more Familiars, and move them both.

You do not have to Summon or move Familiars or play spells during the Main Phase if unable or unwanted.

Summoning: You may Summon a maximum of 3 Familiars. Place them in the Summoning Area of your quadrant. If there are no more of a specific Familiar, they cannot be Summoned. If there are no open spaces in the Summoning Area, a Familiar cannot be Summoned.

Movement: Each Familiar can move to 1 adjacent area per turn within their own quadrant. There must be enough spaces in an area in order for a Familiar to arrive—either from Summoning or moving. Familiars can move from one row into the next, even if they aren't directly adjacent to a particular space in the row they are moving into. For example, an Imp in the left space of the Movement Row could move into the right most space of the River.

The Familiars

There are 3 Familiars: the Dread Knight, the Lich, and the Imp. Each Familiar fundamentally works the same: they have a cost (your life) to Summon, they may move to 1 adjacent area each turn, they each have an attack value (how much damage they deal when attacking or blocking), a defense value (how much damage they can take before being removed from the board), and a special characteristic.

• The Dread Knight is the cheapest Familiar (costs 2 life), has the highest attack (5) and the highest defense (3). However, it costs 1 life each time you move a Dread Knight. You cannot move a Dread Knight if it would reduce your life below 1. When attacking with a Dread Knight, your opponent decides if they will block or not.
• Imps have an attack and defense of 2, and cost 3 life to Summon. When an Imp is removed from the board, you gain 1 life. When attacking with an Imp, your opponent decides if they will block or not.
• Liches have an attack and defense of 2, and cost 4 life to Summon. When attacking with a Lich, first you decide which Familiar it is attacking or if it is attacking your opponent. Then, your opponent's Lich can choose to block the attacking Lich instead of the attacker's chosen target. A Lich may block any attacking Familiar (not just other Liches).

Any time a Familiar attacks or blocks another Familiar, those Familiars deal and receive damage.

After you are finished Summoning, moving, and casting Slow Cast spells, end your turn by drawing 1 card.

The Cards

There are 2 types of spell cards: Fast Cast and Slow Cast. Fast Cast spells can be played at any time during your turn or other players' turns. Slow Cast spells can only be played during your Main Phase. Note that you may choose yourself if a card says 'choose any player'.

The card example in the rulebook shows the cost in life to play a card (an empty heart costs no life) in the top corner. Example Fast Cast card, Dark Axe: "Increase the attack of any one Familiar by 2 until end of turn." Example Slow Cast card, Equip Aspect: "Choose any player to gain 1 life. Then all players discard any equipped Aspects. Choose one Aspect to equip and pass the remaining Aspects to the player to your left. Repeat until all players have one equipped Aspect."

The Aspects

There are 5 Aspects in the game. They are equipped as soon as a player plays an Equip Aspect card. Whenever an Equip Aspect is played, all previously-equipped Aspects are discarded. Take the Aspect cards and choose 1 of the Aspects to place face up in front of you. Then, pass the remaining Aspects to the player to your left. Each player selects one Aspect to equip until all players have 1 each. The remaining Aspect(s) are placed off to the side. Some Aspects have passive abilities that automatically take effect at the start or end of your turn, and some have Slow Cast abilities, which can only be used once on your turn during your Main Phase. If you use an Aspect's Slow Cast ability and play Equip Aspect, you may select the same Aspect again, but you cannot use its ability again this turn. However, Aspects that have effects that trigger when equipped may trigger again if more than 1 Equip Aspect is played on the same turn.

Game End

The game continues around the table until 1 player's life is reduced below 1, defeating them. The player to the right of the player that was defeated is the winner (regardless of who reduced that player's life total below 1). All other players lose.

Modular Content

Life Siphon comes with modular content that you can choose to add in:

• Dragons, Plague Rats, and Shades
• The Essence Vials
• The Fearsome

Plague Rat, Shade & Dragon

Each player has access to 1 Dragon, 1 Plague Rat, and 1 Shade the entire game. They can be Summoned just like the Dread Knight, Imp, and Lich and follow the same basic rules. When one of these Familiars is removed from the board, it goes back to your own personal pool that you can Summon from again.

Familiar	Cost	Attack	Defense	Special
Plague Rat	2	0	1	If the Plague Rat deals any amount of damage (greater than zero) to a Familiar, that Familiar is removed from the board. If the Plague Rat is not blocked when it attacks, that opponent must discard a card of their choice even if the Plague Rat deals zero damage.
Shade	3	2	1	When the Shade is removed from the board, deal 1 damage to any player or any Familiar in the Battleground.
Dragon	4	3	1	When the Dragon attacks, it uses Breath Weapon. Breath Weapon deals 3 damage, each assigned by the blocking player to their life and / or their Familiars in the battleground. The Dragon takes no damage when attacking.

The Essence Vials

Each player starts with 1 of each of the 3 Essence Vials. Each Essence Vial provides a unique ability that can be used once per game during your Attack Phase. Once an Essence is used, it is turned over for the remainder of the game.

• Essence of Flame (Your Attack Phase): Grant one of your Familiars Breath Weapon until end of turn. Must be used before the Familiar attacks. Breath Weapon deals 3 damage and cannot be increased with Fast Cast spells. Then, turn over this vial.
• Essence of Shadow (Your Attack Phase): When a Familiar is removed from your Battleground during your Attack Phase, deal 1 damage to any player or any Familiar in the Battleground. Then, turn over this vial.
• Essence of Mischief (Your Attack Phase): When a Familiar is removed from your Battleground during your Attack Phase, place that Familiar in your Movement Row. That Familiar may move during your Main Phase and counts as 1 of your 3 Summons this turn. Then, turn over this vial.

The Fearsome

There are 4 Fearsome Familiars: the Pain Maker, the Spell Breaker, the Life Giver, and the Void Bringer. During your Main Phase, if you have 5 life or less, you may Summon 1 Fearsome for free. This still counts as 1 of your 3 Summons per turn. If you already have a Fearsome on your board, you cannot Summon a second Fearsome. When Summoning a Fearsome, you may choose from any of the Fearsome that are not currently on the board. When a Fearsome is removed from the board, it becomes available again to all players.

Fearsome	Cost	Attack	Defense	Special
Pain Maker	0	3	3	When the Pain Maker deals damage, choose any player to lose 1 life.
Spell Breaker	0	3	3	When the Spell Breaker deals damage, you may draw a card.
Life Giver	0	3	3	When the Life Giver deals damage, choose any player to gain 1 life.
Void Bringer	0	3	3	When the Void Bringer deals damage, you may move 1 of your Familiars, even if it is not your turn (additional movement costs must still be paid). That Familiar may move again during your Main Phase.

Each Fearsome has a unique power that is triggered any time that Fearsome deals damage (either on your turn when attacking, or when they are blocking). A Fearsome's ability can only trigger once per turn. See table above for details on each Fearsome.

1 & 2 Player Variants

This section includes a 1 player solo mode, as well as a 2 player variant.

1 Player Madness Mode

In 1 Player Madness Mode, you take on 3 Lairs of the classic Familiars at the same time and try to survive as long as you can. All of the rules from the base game apply unless specified otherwise.

Start with 1 card in your hand. Your opponents start with zero cards and do not use cards in any way.

Madness mode does not use the Fearsome, Dragon, Shade, or Plague Rat, and does not use the Essence Vials.

• Place the board so that your quadrant of the board faces you.
• Place 1 Imp in the Battleground to your left (player 2, AKA The Imp Lair).
• Place 1 Lich in the River (any space in that row) of player 3 (AKA The Lich Lair).
• Place 1 Dread Knight in the Movement Row (any space in that row) of player 4 (AKA the Dread Knight Lair).
• Place a life tracker on the 1 of one of your opponents. This is the round tracker. At the start of each round (the beginning of your turn), move this to the next higher number. Your opponents do not track life.

Taking Your Turn: Your turn happens the exact same way as in the core game—Regenerate Phase, Attack Phase, and Main Phase.

Attack Phase Special Rules

The Goal: Survive as many rounds as you can. When you are finally defeated, your goal is to keep your final lost health as close as possible to zero. For example, surviving 10 rounds with a life total of -1 is better than surviving 10 rounds with a life total of -5.

Setup: Remove all copies of the following cards from the deck:

• Lich's Grasp
• Grim Vision
• Equip Aspect (and the 5 Aspects)
• Life Siphon

Each of your Familiars can only attack once, but you may attack any of the 3 opponents, and all 3 of them will only attack you. Your opponents will always choose to block if able, with 1 of their Familiars for each attacking Familiar. For example, if you attack the Imp Lair (player 2) with 2 Familiars, they would block each with only 1 Imp if they had at least 2 Imps.

If you attack an opponent and they have no Familiars to block with (or are unable to block if you attack the Imp or Dread Knight Lair with a Lich), you gain 1 life for each Familiar of yours that attacks that isn't blocked. The maximum amount of life you can gain in this way on a turn is 3.

If you remove an opponent's Familiar in combat, place two new Familiars of that same type in that player's Summoning Area for each of their Familiars you remove during combat. This occurs regardless of if it's during your Attack Phase or their Attack Phase. If you remove 2 or more Familiars of the same type on the same turn, any enemy Familiars that would spawn but can't fit in that player's Summoning Area are NOT placed. It is advantageous to prevent spawns in this way by removing 2 or more enemy Familiars of the same type on the same turn.

Your Opponents' Turns: Your opponents do not have cards or draw cards, do not have a life total, and do not pay anything to move Familiars that have movement costs. Your opponents only spawn new Familiars when one of their Familiars is removed from the board. Your opponents only have 2 Phases and are taken one at a time then pass to the player to the left.

The more rounds you survive, the more you win! On the turn when you are defeated, continue to resolve all of your opponents' attacks until the 4th player (The Dread Knight Lair) finishes all of their attacks. Track how negative your life is at the end of the round. Your ending life total is part of your final score. For example, the best score when you are defeated is zero life (as opposed to -1 or any lower). If you survive until round 10 with -1 life, this is better than surviving until round 10 with -3 life.

Good luck, don't go too mad, and beat your high score!

2 Player Variant

In the 2 Player Variant, all 4 areas of the board will be used by you and the other player, sharing control over the additional quadrants. All of the rules from the base game apply unless specified otherwise.

Attack Phase: If your opponent has any number of Familiars in their Battleground at the start of their turn, all will attack you directly if possible. Their Familiars will never choose to attack your Familiars. If you are defeated, continue resolving the round by having all 3 players finish attacking you with all of their Familiars to track your final life total. Your final score is determined by both the number of rounds you survived through, as well as your final life total. You want your ending life total to be as close as possible to zero!

Movement Phase: Every Familiar moves forward 1 space if possible. If at any time an enemy Familiar is removed from the board, place 2 of that same Familiar in that Player's Summoning Area. If more Familiars would be placed in 1 player's Summoning Area than can fit, discard the Familiars that cannot be placed (in excess of 3).

Scoring and Ending the Game: Wherever the round tracker ends up when you die is your score.

The Goal: The goal in the 2 Player Variant is to either take out the player to your left, OR take out the player across from you (the other real player). You lose if you are defeated, OR if the player to your right is defeated.

Setup: The 2 real players sit across from each other (in player 1 and player 3 locations). These 2 players start with 2 cards each. The ghost players (players 2 and 4) do not use cards or Aspects in anyway. However, the ghost players do track their life totals the same as the real players.

The 2 Player Variant is compatible with all Familiars, Fearsome, and Essence Vials. However, the ghost players do not get any Essence Vials and their Fearsome do not trigger their special abilities.

Controlling Players: The 2 real players (players 1 and 3) control their own turns independently as they normally would. The 2 real players share control over the ghost players (players 2 and 4). They share control as follows:

• You control everything about the player to your right (when it's their turn) EXCEPT how they attack. This means you will decide what Familiars this player Summons, how to move them, and how they will block when they are attacked by the player across from you.
• When it's time for the player to your right to attack you, the other real player (the player across from you) decides how they will attack.

When you Summon a Familiar for the player to your right during their turn, you will pay for them using that player's life. Although the ghost players do not have any cards of their own, you and the other real player may cast spells on those players or their Familiars (the same as you can in the base game).

When a Fearsome is Summoned for a ghost player, the Fearsome Summoned loses its special ability and is simply a 3/3 Familiar until it is removed from the board.