Sodalis Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Overview
• Meet the Champions
• Setup
• Turn Order
• Champion Selection
• Champion Cards
• Arcana
• Affecting Units
• Arcana Example
  • Casting an Arcana
• Starting the Game
• Actions
• Cycling
• Victory
• Earning Tribute
  • Tribute of Speed
  • Tribute of Sight
  • Tribute of Strength
• Glossary

Components

• 3 Arena Board Pieces (hexagonal tiles)
• 10 Miniatures
• 9 Champion Cards
• 81 Arcana Cards
• 6 Reminder Cards
• 6 Turn Tokens
• 10 Impassable Spaces
• 2 Artifacts
• 6 Arcana Dice
• 6 Accurate Dice
• 6 Life Dice
• 6 Major Tokens
• 6 Minor Tokens
• 6 Move Tokens
• 4 Strength Tribute
• 4 Speed Tribute
• 2 Sight Tribute

Overview

• Players: 2 to 6. Playing time: 10 minutes per player. Ages: 16+.
• Sodalis is a competitive game. Players divide evenly into two teams.
• Players choose from a roster of Champions to play; each player controls a different Champion.
• Players take turns moving their Champion on the board and using their Champion's abilities.
• Upon completing certain tasks, teams earn Tribute, increasing their power.
• Once a team earns all three Tribute (Strength, Speed, Sight), they win the Trial of Sodalis.

Meet the Champions

Each planet that orbits Sodalis must have a Champion to represent it when an eclipse occurs. These are the Champions of the nine planets in this star system:

• The Empress - The leader of a proud people and Champion of the closest planet to Sodalis. The Empress excels at controlling their opponents and enabling her allies.
• The Animist - The Champion of the second planet, The Animist befriends all life and summons them to heal or harm, becoming more powerful the more they cast.
• The Beast - The third planet's leader- The Beast- is ruthless and unrelenting. Death is a part of their culture; hunting and taking down weakened prey is their specialty.
• The Lover - The fourth planet is ruled by The Lover, a fusion of several souls operating in perfect harmony, they only seek to heal and protect all life, no matter who.
• The Archer - The Archer rules the fifth planet: a home to a race of sentient androids and masters of long-range combat. Allowing them to line up a shot may be the last thing you ever do.
• The Damned - The sixth planet is ruled by The Damned. A powerful sorceress whose magic comes from suffering, even her own pain only adds to her power.
• The Sage - The seventh planet has no ruler, yet The Sage is its Champion. A master of bending time and reality, the Sage offers more possibilities than any other.
• The Tempest - Eighth from Sodalis, The Tempest rules a planet cloaked in an endless storm. Harnessing chain lightning, none would be wise to stick too close together.
• The Undying - On the icy planet furthest from Sodalis, The Undying holds dominion. Endurance is the birthright of these people, and The Undying is their exemplar, outlasting even death itself.

Setup

1. Divide players into two teams: Team Dawn and Team Dusk. Players may want to arrange themselves to be on the same side of the playing area as their teammates.
2. Put together the three game board pieces. Place the Paragon miniature where indicated, then place the Tribute of Sight token on The Paragon. Place each Artifact where indicated (Dawn Artifact and Dusk Artifact). Place impassable terrain at the location of each white space.
3. Champions each have a symbol, indicating which cards belong to them. Champion cards have this symbol at the top, and other cards have this symbol on the right.
4. Sort all cards into piles by their Champion, placing their Champion Card on top.

Champion Cards have two numbers inside a crescent and circle.

Turn Order

In Sodalis, each Player takes their turn individually. To ensure the most fair game, Players should decide turn order before selecting Champions.

There are six turn tokens numbered 1-6. Odd numbers are for Team Dawn, and even numbers are for Team Dusk. These determine turn order.

The player who most recently looked at the stars goes first; their team takes the odd tokens.

Teams distribute their turn tokens however they like, discarding any extras.

Turns are taken in numerical order, starting with one.

If there are fewer than 6 players, the player with the "1" token goes after the player with the highest token.

After Champions are selected, teams may rearrange turn order however they like, but once the game starts, turn order can no longer be changed.

Champion Selection

In turn order, players choose the Champion they wish to play, taking their miniature and cards.

Non-Champion Cards are called Arcana. These are effects players can activate to help their team or hinder their opponents. Details on Champion Cards and Arcana can be found on the next few pages.

Most Arcana have an alternate effect on the back of the card. These are called Reversals.

Whichever side is face-up is the effect that will happen when the Arcana is activated. Before the game starts, players may review their Arcana and flip them to either orientation, customizing their playstyle.

Reversals may not be changed after the game begins.

Champion Cards

In Sodalis, each player controls a Champion. Each Champion is represented by their Champion Card.

Champion Cards have the following attributes: a Champion Name, a Champion Symbol, an Inertia value, a Maximum Life value, and a Passive Ability.

Inertia represents how difficult it is to affect that Champion's life. It is more difficult to heal or damage Champions with higher inertia.

When your Champion is damaged, reduce your life by the amount of damage; when your Champion is healed, increase your life by that amount. A Champion's life cannot exceed their maximum life, and cannot fall below 0.

If a Champion's life reaches 0, they are placed anywhere in their base, and their life is set back to their maximum life. That Champion is still in the game, and will continue playing on their next turn!

Champions also have a passive ability. This effect will only apply to its owner unless specified otherwise.

Arcana

Each Arcana has the following features: a Name, a Range Type, a Range, an Arcana Type, a Champion Symbol, an Effect Type, an Effect Power, and Additional effects.

All Arcana have a type- this denotes what kind of action must be exhausted to activate the Arcana. The printed type symbols are the Major action (chevron) and the Minor action (three-pronged symbol).

Most Arcana change the life of units. If they do, there will be a sword or caduceus on the left side, indicating if the affected units gain or lose life. The sword is labeled "Damaging (Loses Life)"; the caduceus is labeled "Healing (Gains Life)".

Each Champion has an ultimate Arcana. These have the name at the top, and their Champion symbol is different. These still only cost a Major Action, but their impact is far greater than their other Arcana.

Affecting Units

Effects that change life have a Power, depicted as a number in the center of the effect type icon. This is how many 10-sided dice are rolled for the effect.

Arcana affect units- which can be Champions or the Paragon. Each die rolled is then compared to the Inertia of each unit it affects. Each result that meets or exceeds that unit's Inertia changes their life by one.

All Arcana have a range, which decides which units the Arcana can affect. Range is always relative to the location of the Champion casting the Arcana. You may affect any unit within this range- even yourself if possible! Arcana affect only one unit unless otherwise specified.

The numerals determine how far the Arcana reaches (I, II, III, or infinity, the infinity symbol). Use the shortest walking path possible, disregarding other units.

A filled-in circle means "within"; it may target units within the maximum range. A dashed circle means "At"; only units at the maximum range can be affected.

Range diagrams legend: Caster's Location; Another Unit; Targetable Space; Impassable Space.

Arcana Example

Casting an Arcana

The Tempest and The Empress are on the board.

The Tempest exhausts a Major Action to cast "Squall". Squall has a range of "At 2", so it can affect the following range:

Squall does not specify the units affected, so it can affect only one unit. Since The Empress is within Squall's range, The Tempest chooses to affect The Empress.

This effect has a power of 3, so The Tempest rolls three 10-sided dice. The dice results are 6, 0 and 7.

The Empress has an Inertia of 7, which two results meet: the 7 and the 7 (the 0 does not meet it).

Because Squall's effect is a damaging type, and two results meet The Empress' Inertia, The Empress loses two life.

Starting the Game

Once Reversals have been chosen, set your Champion Card to the side and shuffle your Arcana. Put your Arcana face-up next to your Champion Card. Place the top two cards to the side of your deck, forming a row.

Your currently visible Arcana are referred to as your spread. These three Arcana are the effects you can currently cast.

Each player then takes a Life Die and sets it to their Champion's maximum life.

Each Champion is given a Major, Minor, and Move Action token.

In turn order, each player takes their Champion and places it on any unoccupied space in their team's Base. Note that the center of each base will be occupied by the opposing team's Artifact.

Once all Champions have been placed, the game can begin!

Actions

On your turn, you may move or cast any Arcana currently in your spread.

Champions may take an action by exhausting a face-up action token. When an action is exhausted, its token is flipped face-down, unable to be exhausted again. When an action is refreshed, it is flipped face-up.

You may use Major and Minor actions to create effects by casting Arcana. Each Arcana in your spread has a cost in the center; you may cast it by exhausting an action token of the same type as the cost.

To move, a Champion may exhaust any action, including Major and Minor. Moving is done one space at a time, from the current space to any space sharing a side with it.

Champions may not move onto occupied or impassable spaces. Champions may move onto their Artifact, but not the opposing team's.

You may choose to end your turn without using all of your Actions.

When you are finished with your turn, refresh all tokens you control.

Cycling

When an Arcana has been cast, it is put face-up on the bottom of that Champion's deck.

If there is an available space in that spread, the top card of that Champion's deck fills the available space. This process is called cycling.

If the effect has a continuous-effect symbol (two curved arrows), it is a continuous effect. When activated, it is put next to its Champion Card instead. It is still replaced.

At the beginning of a Champion's turn, all continuous effects they control are cycled to the bottom of their deck without being replaced.

Victory

Sodalis is won by earning Tribute. Tribute is earned by completing a specific task.

When a team earns a Tribute, it can be given to any Champion on that team, regardless of the Champion who completed the task. A team may only have one Tribute of each type. Tribute must be distributed as evenly as possible.

Tribute becomes a part of that Champion's turn. They may exhaust that Tribute, and refresh it at the end of their turn. Each type of Tribute can be exhausted for a certain effect:

• Speed - May be exhausted as a Move action.
• Sight - Give an effect you control +1 range.
• Strength - Give an effect you control 2 power.

Tribute may only affect the Champion currently holding that Tribute, and may not be used to cast Arcana.

When a team has one of each type of Tribute, that team wins the Trial of Sodalis.

Earning Tribute

Tribute of Speed

Each team has the opposing team's Artifact in their Base.

Champions cannot move onto another team's Artifact, but can move onto their own. Once a Champion is on their Artifact, they may choose to move the Artifact with them when they move (even if the movement is forced). If an Artifact reaches the center of the Arena, that Artifact is discarded, and its corresponding team gains a Tribute of Speed.

Tribute of Sight

In the Arena there is an additional unit called the Paragon, holding the Tribute of Sight. This unit has no life and cannot be moved, but it may be affected by an Arcana. If a Champion rolls a critical roll - a 10 or above- while affecting The Paragon, that Champion's team takes their Tribute of Sight.

If an opposing Champion affects the holder of a Tribute of Sight and rolls a critical, their team steals the Tribute of Sight!

Tribute of Strength

If a Champion's life is reduced to 0, the opposing team earns a Tribute of Strength. If that team already has a Tribute of Strength, any unit on that team may refresh an Action.

Glossary

Many Arcana use the following terms:

Confuse - When a Champion becomes Confused, that unit must choose to exhaust a Major or Minor Action. They may not be Confused again until their next turn.

Slow - When a Champion becomes Slowed, that unit must exhaust a Move Action. They may not be Slowed again until their next turn.

Power - Power affects how many dice are rolled. Gaining or losing Power means rolling that many more or less dice.

Accuracy - When an effect gains Accuracy, all 10-sided dice are replaced with 12-sided dice.

Piercing - Piercing changes the inertia of units for that roll. For each Piercing gained, the resistance of all units is reduced by 1 for that effect.

Bloodied - A unit is Bloodied if it is at or below half of their maximum life.

Critical - A Critical is rolled when at least one die result is 10 or above. Critical rolls have no effect unless declared otherwise.