One Deck Dungeon
197 questions players ask about One Deck Dungeon. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-03.
Setup and Basics
- Can you play One Deck Dungeon with three players?
- Which side of the hero and level cards do I use for solo versus two players?
- Can I use any hero with any dungeon, including dungeons from other sets?
- Did later rulebook versions (1.5, 1.6, 1.8) change how the game plays?
- How can I tell expansion dungeons from base-game dungeons?
- In a two-player game, do the heroes take separate turns?
- In a 2-player encounter, must one hero finish every step before the other starts?
- If one hero dies in a 2-player game, is the game over?
- How is damage split between two heroes?
- Do items with hearts, healing potions or extra health work for Caliana?
Using Dice
- How many dice and potion tokens are there, and can I house-rule more?
- Do dice in a challenge box need to match the box value exactly?
- How do I make a heroic (black) die, and what value does it have?
- Can I convert two dice into a heroic die more than once per encounter?
- What if there are no heroic dice left in the supply?
- In a 2-player game, who owns a heroic die made from both players' dice?
- Can heroic (black) dice pay for a skill or fill any colored box?
- Do color-specific effects like Fortitude (reroll yellow dice) apply to heroic dice?
- Can skills or potions that change dice (increase, reroll) target black heroic dice?
- Are heroic dice rolled before the other dice, and do rerolls apply to them?
The Game Turn
- Do I pay 2 time at the start of every turn?
- Is time paid before exploring or entering a room?
- When can I not explore?
- Can I flee from a door that is already open?
- After fleeing a door, can I face another room that turn, and what about the fled door later?
- Can I explore to refill doors instead of entering one of the remaining doors?
- Does a space left by a defeated card count as a door, and is it refilled?
- If the stairs are revealed while I pay time at the start of a turn, can I descend right away?
- How much time does the Dragon's Cave cost on the first turn?
- What happens if I have to spend time when the deck has no cards left?
Encounters
- Which dice do I roll in a peril encounter?
- What happens to off-color dice a skill or potion gives me in a peril?
- Which skills can I use in a peril encounter?
- What dice can fill grey boxes on the dungeon card in a peril?
- Can any color die fill the dungeon card's boxes in a peril?
- Do I choose the peril option before using my heroic feat?
- Can a heroic die gained by paying time on a peril choice be used in that peril?
- Can I roll heroic dice and then flee if the roll is bad?
- If all four doors are open, can I keep fleeing to wait for the stairs?
- Do I have to cover armor (shield) boxes before any other box?
Monster and Dungeon Abilities
- How does Freezing Winds (Yeti) work?
- Do Dodge, Archer's time swap or armor prevent damage from the stairs card?
- Which dice does Phantom's Ethereal discard?
- How does the Glooping Ooze's Split work?
- Does Poison Aura (Hydra) reduce dice gained or set by skills?
- How much is X for Swarm with open doors?
- How does the Skeleton's Undying count empty boxes, and can prevention stop its time?
- If the Dire Boar blocks increasing dice, can I still use the rest of a skill like Blitz?
- Does the Shadow's Fade time cost apply to heroic feats and skills?
- Does the Minotaur's Deadly Maze limit the table to three doors?
Heroic Feats
- Is a heroic feat a skill, and does it count against once-per-encounter?
- When are heroic feat dice rolled, and can I flee afterwards?
- Do heroic dice stored on a feat (Frenzy, Mana Charge, Valiant) stay after use, and how many can I hold?
- How does the Rogue's Daring Gamble work, and who takes the penalty?
- How does the Archer's heroic feat work?
- How does the Witch's heroic feat roll yellow dice?
- How does the Paladin's Valiant feat work?
- How does the Mage's Mana Charge store dice?
- Where do the Rogue and Archer get their feat dice versus the Warrior, Mage and Paladin?
- How does Caliana's Whimsicality convert damage to time?
- What is a hero's starting skill, and does it count against limits?
Skills
- Can I use the same skill more than once in one encounter?
- Are skills discarded after use?
- Can a skill pay for itself with the dice it gives, and is cost paid before or after rolling?
- Can I overpay a skill cost, and what about mana costs paid with several dice?
- Can a die gained by one skill be spent to pay for another skill?
- Can an X-cost mana skill give a die above 6 if I pay more?
- Does "change any or all of your dice to 4" (Consistency, Fire Elemental) let me change any number?
- What does Add mean on a skill compared with Roll?
- Can True Strike give a black die?
- Can Fortitude reroll the dice more than once, or reroll black dice?
Potions
- Do potion cards count against my item or skill limit, and can I identify the same type twice?
- How do I gain potion tokens, and do they refill?
- How many potion tokens do I start with in a 2-player game?
- When I use a potion, what do I discard?
- When can I use potions?
- How much does a Healing potion heal?
- How does Invisibility work?
- When can Clarity be used and who does it affect?
- If both players take the Prepared skill, do they get extra potions?
Leveling Up
- Where do XP cards go after a level-up, and do they return to the dungeon deck?
- When do I level up, and must I do it as soon as I have enough XP?
- Can I keep extra XP cards when leveling up, or get change?
- How many free heroic dice does each level give, and are they cumulative?
- Do I get a black die for completing a floor?
- What can I do at level 4, where I cannot level up further?
- Can I swap an item or skill for XP when I am not at my limit?
- In a 4-player game, can I level up between two loot cards so the higher limit lets me claim the second?
- Are item and skill limits per hero, and do they apply outside campaign mode?
- In 2P, who rolls the level-bonus black dice?
Descending
- When can I descend?
- What happens to doors, discards and stair tokens when I descend?
- How does time work while the stairs card is visible?
- Can Dodge, armor, Whimsicality or Kiting stop stair damage?
- After descending, do I pay time and explore again on the new floor?
- What if the stairs appear while fewer than four doors are on the table?
- Do descent-triggered heals (Warrior, Recovery) apply when descending to the boss?
- Are dungeon floor effects cumulative as I go down?
Boss Fight
- Can I use heroic feats or stored dice in the boss fight?
- Do dungeon card boxes and floor effects apply in the boss fight?
- If I would kill the boss but the damage I suffer kills me the same round, do I win?
- How much does a Healing potion heal at the start of a boss round?
- Can I use Invisibility against the boss?
- Can I use other potions in the boss fight, and do tokens refill?
- What happens if I must spend time during the boss fight?
- Is the Yeti boss example in the rulebook correct?
- What do heart, skull and combined boxes on the boss do?
- How do the Lich's repeat-cover boxes and the Minotaur's X work?
Campaign Mode
- What carries over between campaign games?
- How many check marks do I earn, and which boxes can I fill?
- Do I get the challenge tier bonus checks if I die before reaching the boss?
- What do the Novice, Standard, Veteran and Fearless challenge tiers change?
- How many focuses can I use in one game?
- In a 2-player campaign, do the heroes share one sheet or split the check marks?
- Can I switch heroes on a campaign sheet?
- How does the basic skill talent work?
- How do talents work in play?
- Does the Prepared talent give extra potions when both players have it?
Four Player Rules
Forest of Shadows Rules
- When do I Resist Poison and how does it work?
- How do I build a hybrid deck with Forest of Shadows?
- Can I mix Forest of Shadows and base-game heroes and dungeons?
- How does the Cure potion work?
- How does the Alchemist's Mix work?
- How does Lethality (Realm of Venom) work?
- Do exiled dice from Razorback's Wound come out of my own pool?
One Deck Dungeon: Abyssal DepthsExpansion
- What does Abyssal Depths contain, and what do I need to play it?
- Does a fiend stay all game, and can I get rid of it?
- How do confront bonuses work, and do they carry into the boss fight?
- When do dice locked on a fiend's challenge boxes come back?
- How much harder do fiends make the game?
- Does Sharkwisp's threat 4 apply when the encounter has no other consequences?
- On Merflection's level 3 threat, does each hero convert an item to XP when exploring?
- How does the Witch's Hammersmash count even dice?
- Can a feat with a stored-dice limit hold more across turns?