Res Arcana
207 questions players ask about Res Arcana. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-06.
Setup and Variants
- Can Res Arcana be played with 5 players?
- Can you play 6 players with both expansions?
- How many monuments and Places of Power do you use for 2 players with only the base game?
- Do you pick the same side (gold dot or not) for every Place of Power?
- Do players collect essences before the first round?
- What does it mean to have an opponent cut your deck during setup?
- Can players keep their essence pools hidden?
- How do the preset first-game hands work with 2 players?
- Do you look through your deck during setup in a first game?
- Does your mage start in play, or must you spend an action to place it?
Collect
- Do you collect essences once per round or before every action?
- Is there a required order in the Collect step?
- If you take essences off a component, must you take all of them?
- Is taking essences off components mandatory during Collect?
- Can you collect essences from a component that has no Collect icon, such as the gold on the Ring of Midas?
- Do cards in hand produce essences during Collect?
- Can you take essences off a component during the action phase?
- Can you move essences from one component to another during Collect?
- Can you pay costs with essences that sit on your components?
- Is there a limit to how many essences can sit on a component?
Actions and Passing
- How many rounds does a game of Res Arcana usually last?
- Can you use two powers in one turn, such as Sorcerer's Bestiary and Dragon Teeth?
- Can you use the same power several times in a turn or round?
- Can you claim more than one monument in a turn?
- May you claim the top card of the monument deck without seeing it?
- When you claim the Obelisk from the display, do you choose its essences before the replacement monument is revealed?
- What do you get when you discard an artifact as your action?
- Do cards you discard through a power or cost also give the discard bonus?
- Can you use a power that does nothing, just to avoid passing?
- What happens to essences placed on a magic item when it goes back to the supply?
Costs and Discounts
- Must costs be paid from your essence pool?
- Can Gold be used where a cost or effect says "any essence"?
- Do cost reductions stack, and do they work while turned?
- Do discount abilities apply when a power like Crypt or Sorcerer's Bestiary places a card?
- Can several discount abilities be used with one discount power, such as Draconist or Dragon Tamer?
- Does the Artificer have to be turned to give its discount?
- Does the Artificer discount Monuments or Places of Power?
- Is the Artificer discount optional?
- How does the Artificer's -1 apply to a multi-essence cost?
- Does Dragon Lair's discount work while it is turned?
Powers and React
- Can you use a power on a component that is already turned?
- What can still happen to a turned component?
- Can powers like Mermaid or Infuser put essences on a turned component?
- Are React powers mandatory when their condition happens?
- Can a React power be used while its component is turned?
- Does using a React power count as your action?
- Can a React power be used more than once in a round?
- When a power's cost turns another component, do you get that component's own power?
- Can you turn Dragon's Lair and a dragon so that the dragon's own power also works?
- Can you use both powers of a component, and in which order?
Life Loss and Attacks
- How does Life loss work when you do not have enough Life?
- Who chooses which essences you lose to Life loss?
- What happens if you have no essences in your pool when a Life loss hits?
- Does Life loss ever take essences from components?
- Are players who have passed immune to Life loss attacks?
- Do you have to pay a dragon's defence or use a React to avoid its Life loss?
- Does a React that ignores Life loss cancel the whole effect or part of it?
- Does Dragon Bridle protect against non-dragon Life loss like the Elven Bow?
- Does the Protection magic item stop an attack that offers a gold payment to ignore it?
- If a Sea Serpent attack makes you destroy an artifact, do you get the destroyed card's benefit?
Destroying, Discarding and Drawing
- What is the difference between destroying and discarding an artifact?
- If you destroy a dragon taken with Sorcerer's Bestiary, whose discard pile does it go to?
- What happens to essences on a card that is destroyed?
- Can you destroy a turned artifact?
- Can destroy powers target a card in your hand or discard pile?
- How many essences do Fiery Whip, Corrupt Altar and Vortex of Destruction give for a destroyed artifact?
- In Fiery Whip or Corrupt Altar, whose cost is the "cost"?
- If the destroyed card has Gold in its cost, do you get Gold?
- If another power destroys the Jeweled Statuette, do you also get its own destroy reward?
- Can the Corrupt Altar destroy itself?
Victory and Tie-breaks
- What counts toward your 10 points at a victory check?
- How is a tie broken when several players have 10 or more points?
- What does the slash in a Place of Power's victory formula mean?
- Can Golden Statue be used in any victory check?
- Can you use Golden Statue more than once in one victory check?
- Can two different React cards, such as Golden Statue and Dark Cathedral, react to the same victory check?
- Can you use powers during the end-of-round Check Victory step?
- How does Coral Castle's mid-round victory check work?
- Does Sorcerer's Bestiary's victory check end the round if nobody has 10 points?
- May you use a Check Victory power even if it makes another player win?
Cards and Components
- How does Philosopher's Stone convert essences into Gold?
- How does Athanor's second power work?
- What does the Prism's conversion power do, and can it be used for nothing?
- Can the Transmuter or the Transmutation magic item give you back essences of the type you paid?
- Can you use the Mausoleum repeatedly, and where do its essences go?
- Can you collect the essences stored on the Duelist?
- Can the Jeweled Statuette destroy itself after its first power?
- Can a Water Dragon attack and add an essence to Dragon Aerie in the same action?
- Can Dragon's Lair be used twice a round with two dragons?
- What does Dragon Lair do overall?
Res Arcana: Lux et TenebraeExpansion
- What can the Illusion magic item do?
- Can Illusion be destroyed, discarded, or straightened by Temple of the Abyss or the Druid?
- When can Illusion be used with a victory check?
- Can Illusion count twice for one power, for example by untapping and reacting again?
- Can you use Illusion while it is face down after passing?
- Can Illusion react when a rival uses a power?
- Can Homunculus plus Illusion give a discount on any card?
- How does Homunculus discount a Demon with Gold in its cost?
- Do Demon attacks come with a built-in React like Dragon attacks?
Res Arcana: Perlae ImperiiExpansion
- Is exchanging Pearls for essences an action?
- Can you convert Pearls out of turn to pay for Life loss or a React?
- Do Pearls count as victory points even on cards?
- How can you gain a Pearl?
- If an effect forbids Gold, does it also forbid Pearls?
- Can the Mermaid place Pearls?
- Can you lose Pearls to Life loss?
- Can the Infuser's second power place Gold or a Pearl on a component?
- Can Alchemical Lab place a Pearl on a component?
- On Alchemical Workshop's first power, do the 2 Gold and the Pearl go on the card?