Spirit Island: Nature Incarnate
Spirit Island: Nature Incarnate Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 8 Spirit Panels
- 2 Scenario Panels
- 1 Adversary Panel
- 1 Minor Power Card
- 13 Major Power Cards
- 34 Unique Power Cards
- 24 Aspect Cards (including 2 Unique Aspect Power Cards)
- 8 Blight Cards
- 9 Event Cards
- 9 Fear Cards
- 6 Player-Aid Cards
- 4 Healing Cards
- 1 Invader Card (Salt Deposits)
- 4 Reminder Cards
- 1 Endless Dark Tile
- 4 Adversary Reminder Tiles
- 24 Deeps Tokens
- 20 Quake Tokens
- 18 Vitality Tokens
- 7 Incarna Tokens
Significant Changes
These changes apply as of the release of this expansion, whether or not you use any content from it.
Blight Errata
Start the game with exactly 1 additional Blight on the card / Blight space.
If you are using a Healthy Island card, treat it as if it said "2 per player, +1". If you are not using a Healthy Island card, treat the Blight space as if it said "5 per player, +1". (E.g.: A 1-player game will start with 3 Blight on the Healthy Island card. A 4-player game will start with 9 Blight on the Healthy Island card.) This equalizes the number of Blight per player that can be added without flipping the Blight Card/losing.
This is purely a Setup change; there is no change for when the Blight card flips, even if it's a Still-Healthy Island card.
(This errata is included in the base game 14th printing and onwards. The Healthy Island side of Blight cards is unchanged so you can mix components from different expansions.)
Dropped Cards
If you own the Branch and Claw expansion, remove the following cards from the game.
- Outpaced (Event Card)
- War Touches the Island's Shores (Event Card)
- A Strange Madness Among the Beasts (Event Card)
- Growth Through Sacrifice (Minor Power)
- Tipping Point (Blight Card)
The appearance of these cards in a game turned out to have a more dramatic influence than intended, so they are being removed (and in some cases, replaced). Jagged Earth already removed A Strange Madness Among the Beasts when playing with The Tsardom of Russia (Adversary) or Many Minds Move as One (Spirit). Now, remove it in all cases.
This expansion includes replacements for War Touches the Island's Shores (namely Far-off Wars Touch the Island) and Growth Through Sacrifice (namely Roiling Bog and Stinging Thorn). While they are intended to replace cards from Branch and Claw, they can be used even if you don't own that expansion.
Presence
The swirling, cracked symbol is the icon for Destroyed Presence. When told to do anything with Presence or Destroyed Presence, it refers to your Presence or your Destroyed Presence unless specified.
Starting with this expansion, there are two changes to instructions involving Presence.
First: the Destroyed Presence symbol is the new icon for Presence that has been destroyed, removed, replaced, or removed from a Presence track without being removed from the game or returned to the box. It's equivalent to the phrases "Destroyed Presence" or "Destroyed Presence" previously used in the base game and prior expansions. Unless specified, Destroyed Presence is your Destroyed Presence.
Second: when a Spirit adds, destroys, removes, replaces, gathers, pushes, moves, or otherwise does anything to Presence, it refers to that Spirit's Presence unless otherwise specified. This does not affect anything that checks if any Presence exists in a land. For instance, the Fear Card Theological Strife let a player add Strife to a land with any Spirit's Presence or the Event Destroy the Unnatural increases Ravage Damage in a land with any Spirit's Presence.
Two previously-printed items need errata — they can affect Presence from any Spirit despite not explicitly saying so:
- Draw Towards a Consuming Void. (This expansion includes a corrected version of the card.)
- Finder of Paths Unseen, which has a number of Innate/Unique Powers which can move Presence from any Spirit. (These are too extensive to easily print replacements, but it is hopefully easy to remember that Finder can move just about anything.)
"Does Not Participate in Ravage" Errata
An Invader or Dahan that "does not participate in Ravage":
- Does not deal or take Damage in Ravage Actions;
- Does not cause Invaders to Ravage in a land where they otherwise wouldn't act; and
- Is ignored for modifiers to Ravage Actions.
The original definition of "does not participate in Ravage" proved too broad, interacting with rules and effects that had nothing to do with Ravaging.
A piece that does not participate in Ravage is ignored only for checking which lands Ravage and for the Ravage Action itself, including modifiers that add Defend, add Invader Damage, or skip Ravage Actions based on which pieces are present.
Pieces that do not participate in Ravage still exist for all other purposes, including checking for Victory or Defeat, any Actions triggered by a Ravage Action, any "Immediately" Blight Actions, and any ongoing effects that check land contents in general rather than specifically for Ravages.
When do you check who participates? Check which Invaders and Dahan are participating in Ravage: when determining which lands Invaders Ravage in; and when resolving each Ravage Action. You don't have to choose specific pieces ahead of time, and can even make different choices each time you check.
Example: Temporary Truce + Dahan on Their Guard
For this example, Ravage takes place in the Mountains at Terror Level I. With the Temporary Truce event, one Dahan and one Town do not participate.
- Mountains about to Ravage (the starting board state).
- Step 1: Invaders do Damage. The Explorer and Town do 3 Damage, reduced to 1 Damage by Defend 2 from the Dahan on Their Guard Fear Card (two participating Dahan). The land and one Dahan each take 1 Damage.
- Step 2: Dahan do Damage. The two participating Dahan retaliate and Destroy the Explorer and the participating Town. (Damage can't be done to the other Town, since it's not participating in the Ravage.)
(This errata is included in the Jagged Earth 5th printing and onwards.)
New Rules & Spirit Abilities
Incarna
While most Spirits have (or can manifest) physical forms, these are most often transient (existing only for as long as is convenient for the Spirit) or embodiments of nature (a physical feature of the land, such as a river, mountain, or leaf).
Some Spirits, however, have an unusually tangled locus of attention and power called an Incarna. An Incarna Spirit may exist (have Presence) across a wide stretch of physical space, but it is more focused around a single fragment of itself than most Spirits of similar size and scope tend to be.
Incarna are often mobile, moving across the island, but only over long timescales (weeks to years).
An Incarna is a unique form of Presence with other abilities specific to the Spirit.
- During Setup, place your Spirit's unique Incarna piece according to your Setup instructions. If the Incarna piece has two different sides, the side without a yellow border (Unempowered) should face up.
- While your Incarna is on the island, it may also count as any/all of the pieces printed on it. All Incarna have Presence printed on them, and maybe other things as well.
- While your Incarna is off the island, it is only an Incarna, nothing else. (It exists in its own supply, and can only be added to the island by effects that specifically add your Incarna.)
- Some Incarna can be Empowered, making them permanently stronger. To Empower your Incarna, flip it from its starting side to the Empowered side (indicated by a yellow border). This might reveal additional pieces your Incarna can now count as, or it might just be referenced by your Powers or Special Rules. Empowering your Incarna is a permanent change, even if it leaves the island and is re-added.
Details/FAQs:
- Any special abilities of an Incarna only function while it is on the island.
- An Incarna is always a piece (an Incarna piece) even if it's not counting as any of the things depicted on it.
- Like all pieces which "may count as" some other piece, you get to decide what the Incarna counts as per Action and (separately) when checking for Victory or Defeat. (Most notably, you do not lose if a Spirit loses all of its Presence on the island, but still has its Incarna on the island.)
- For Incarna which may count as [symbol]: while counting it as [symbol], it must also count as Presence. It's still only 1 piece; it doesn't count as 2 Presence.
- If your Spirit panel says you may "Add/Move" your Incarna to a particular land, it means you can put it there whether it's currently off the island (Add) or on the island (Move). If your Spirit panel says you may Replace a piece with your Incarna, take your Incarna from wherever it is and put it in place of the piece it's replacing.
The Incarna in this expansion:
- Ember-Eyed Behemoth: A lumbering, tree-covered hill roused to rampaging anger.
- Wandering Voice Keens Delirium: A disembodied voice which brings chaos with its song.
- Towering Roots of the Jungle: A massive heart-tree, towering over the rest of the forest.
- Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine: A bestial monster of living darkness.
- Lair: Lure of the Deep Wilderness drawn inwards, calling Invaders to itself from across the island.
- Warrior: Thunderspeaker focused as a mighty warrior leading Dahan into battle.
- Locus: A subtle and vast Incarna. A bird flying far overhead can see the patterns formed by the mountains and rises of the coils of Serpent Slumbering Beneath the Island.
Incarna vs. Sacred Site
An Incarna is a special type of Presence. How is that different from a Sacred Site?
It's not a difference of magnitude, but of nature. To draw a comparison, if Presence is like a pool and a Sacred Site like a larger lake, an Incarna is like a brook or a deep, deep well. Or for a more modern Western metaphor, if Presence is like a small shack and a Sacred Site like a larger house, an Incarna is like a power plant, or an M1 Abrams tank.
Note: While "Incarna" derives from a Latin term meaning "made flesh", it's just the closest English word for the Dahan concept of "Spirit with a particular sort of physical form". Most Incarna are not flesh and blood.
Incarna Tactics
"Your Incarna may count as Presence while on the island" enables some tactics that may not be obvious. A few Incarna Spirits/Aspects depend on using one or more of these tools:
- When you add Presence, you can measure Range from your Incarna (so, e.g., you can add Presence at your Incarna with a Growth Option that adds Presence at Range 0).
- You can reposition an Incarna already on the island by counting it as Presence for an action that adds Presence. (Base game rulebook, p. 14)
- Any Actions that move Presence can move your Incarna.
- If you ever need to move your Incarna to one of your lands, but like its current location, you can count the Incarna as Presence to move it into the land it's already in. This still counts as moving it. (Thematically, it's moving around a lot within that land.)
- When an Action causes you to lose Presence in a land, you can choose to lose your Incarna to avoid losing normal Presence. Just make sure that you have a way to bring your Incarna back! Not every Incarna can return to the island.
- You can choose not to count your Incarna as Presence in order to prevent it from being destroyed by adding Blight. Just make sure you didn't need that Incarna to be Presence for another part of the Action (e.g., checking range for a Blight-adding Power like Spill Bitterness Into the Earth).
Spirit-Specific Components
Vitality tokens, Quake tokens, and Deeps tokens, as well as Healing Cards and The Endless Dark tile are only used by specific Spirits/Aspects.
Previous expansions introduced Spirit Tokens ([symbol], [symbol], [symbol], [symbol], [symbol]). This expansion includes new Spirit Tokens that are only used by specific Spirits and Aspects:
- Vitality Tokens (Towering Roots of the Jungle, Locus Aspect, Nourishing Aspect): Represents lands where the ecosystem is unusually resilient and able to resist or quickly rebound from damage. Each Vitality in a land with no Blight, prevents 1 Blight from being added and is then Removed.
- Quake Tokens (Dances Up Earthquakes): Represents tectonic tension building beneath the earth.
- Deeps Tokens (Deeps Aspect): Represents the wearing away of land by the ocean.
This expansion also includes Healing Cards (Wounded Waters Bleeding) and The Endless Dark tile (Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine). The Spirit panels explain how they are used.
Vitality on the Thematic Boards
The Thematic Boards start with 1 Vitality in each of lands 1, 5, and 6 on the Northwest Board, and land 7 on the East Board. (Since Vitality is not in the base game, these setup icons are only printed on the playmat.) You can use Vitality on those boards even if none of the Spirits/Aspects that use Vitality are in the game.
Extra Spirit Actions
If a special rule gives a Spirit an Action they can do during the Spirit, Fast Power, or Slow Power Phase, they can take that Action at any time during the corresponding phase so long as it does not interrupt another Action.
These extra Actions in the Fast Power or Slow Power Phase can't interrupt the resolution of a Power. Similarly, extra Actions in the Spirit Phase can't interrupt the resolution of any Growth Action, but they can be used between Growth Actions. E.g., Ember-Eyed Behemoth can use its second Growth option to add a Presence at its Incarna with the first Growth Action, push its Incarna, and then add a Presence at its Incarna's new location with the second Growth Action.
If you have trouble remembering whether you have used an extra Action, track it with a spare component.
The Behemoth Rises (Ember-Eyed Behemoth's Special Rule): You have an Incarna. Once per turn, during the Spirit, Fast Power, or Slow Power Phase, you may either:
- Push Incarna; or
- Add or Move Incarna to any of your Sacred Sites on the island.
Multi-Card Aspects
Several Aspects in this expansion are split across multiple cards. You must use all cards in a set together — you can't pick and choose which ones you want.
Power Cards with your Spirit's art on their back are still Unique Powers even if granted by an Aspect.
Bonus Spaces
If an Aspect or Spirit has a space that looks like this, it's a bonus they get each turn. It behaves like an uncovered Presence space, but Presence never actually goes there.
Flexible Element Spaces on Presence Tracks
Presence track spaces which look like this work just like an "Any" space, but can only choose from among the elements shown.
You may choose which Element you get at any time each turn, but cannot change it until the next turn.
Constrained Growth Options
Two Spirits (Ember-Eyed Behemoth and Wounded Waters Bleeding) have Growth Options with restrictions on when they can be used. They otherwise function like normal Growth Options.
Upgrade & Downgrade
Upgrade makes Invaders bigger, Downgrade makes them smaller.
To Upgrade an Invader is to Replace it with the next-largest type: Explorer becomes Town, and Town becomes City. City can't be upgraded unless an effect explicitly describes what upgrading a City means in that context.
To Downgrade an Invader is to Replace it with the next-smaller type: City becomes Town, and Town becomes Explorer. Downgrading an Explorer Removes it.
Upgrade and downgrade follow all of the normal rules for replacing an Invader (or removing an Invader, in the case of downgrading an Explorer). Nothing is added, since the piece is just changing its type. It keeps any attached Strife and all Damage taken, which may cause it to be destroyed immediately if that Damage equals its new Health.
Bring
A piece which Brings another can take it with them when moving.
When one piece Brings another while moving (e.g., while being pushed or gathered), the second piece moves with the first piece. If the first piece moves through more than one land, the second piece can move with it some or all of the way.
For example, if Thunderspeaker were printed in this expansion, its Ally of the Dahan special rule would be worded "Each Dahan may Bring 1 of your Presence when it moves."
Prepare & Claim
To Prepare a component is to put it on your Spirit Panel for later use. To Claim a component is to permanently add it to your Spirit Panel.
When instructed to Prepare or Claim a component, take that component from the Supply and place it by your Spirit Panel. Prepared/claimed components don't inherently do or interact with anything, but you may have effects that spend prepared components or check which or how many claimed components you have.
Marking a Piece or Land
Some abilities Mark a piece or a land to note that it's special.
If you're told to Mark a piece, put another component under it to indicate that it is special. You can use a Scenario Marker, a Reminder Marker from your color or an unplayed color, or any other spare component (from this game or elsewhere) that wouldn't normally be on the board.
Similarly, if you're told to Mark a land, put a component in that land that wouldn't normally be there to indicate that that land is special.
Any special properties granted as part of marking a piece or a land last for as long as it's marked; they don't wear off during Time Passes. Whatever component you're using to mark a land or a piece isn't itself a piece and can't be interacted with.
Checking if a Power Has Specific Instructions
To check instructions, check the text written on the Power, whether or not you resolved (or are going to resolve) that part of the text.
Effects that check if a Power has a specific instruction use the rules text of the Power as written and look for that exact word or symbol. The words or symbols match if they are there as an instruction to perform, no matter what context that instruction is in. Using that word in a different instruction does not count. (E.g., Birds Cry Warning doesn't have a "Destroy" instruction even though that word is in the text of the Power, since the actual effect of that instruction is to not destroy Dahan.) Reminder text (in italics and parentheses) is not part of the instructions of a Power and is not checked.
You are not required to make any choices or meet any conditions that would actually let you resolve that instruction. (E.g., you can target the Power in a land where you can't resolve that instruction, choose a different mode of the Power, or not hit the Elemental Threshold that includes the instruction.)
Land-Targeting Powers Without Range
If a land-targeting Power has [Range symbol: a dash] for Range, you don't need to check Range, just pick a land that meets the requirements in the "Target Land" box.
In the rare case that it matters, you can choose any of your Presence on the island to be the origin.
Taking a Power Card
To Take a Power Card, put the top card of the specified Power Deck into your hand. Do not forget a Power Card when taking a Major Power.
Adversary
Habsburg Dynasty: Emperor Joseph I
Emperor Joseph inherited the Habsburg monarchy upon the death of his father, Leopold I, shortly after the conclusion of the War of Spanish Succession, a short-lived attempt by Emperor Leopold to put Joseph's younger brother Charles on the Spanish throne. Secure in his alliance with Sweden and Prussia, Emperor Joseph stepped back from territorial conflicts in western Europe and focused on growing the wealth of the empire for his son and heir Leopold Joseph.
Joseph I chartered the Ostend Company in 1697 to bring trade from the East and West Indies through his Belgian provinces, setting up overseas colonies and beginning a program of resettlement of Hungarian peasantry.
Alongside the mixed successes of their nomadic herding livestock colonial efforts, the Habsburg dynasty also reached across the seas with an eye towards gathering a key resource: salt. The salt mining colonies were outfitted to be self-sufficient, able to send the vast majority of their efforts back home to Austria. What the miners and their overseers did to the lands from which they extracted the precious mineral was of no consequence to Emperor Joseph.
Habsburg Mining Expedition (Adversary Panel)
Additional Loss Condition: Land Stripped Bare. At the end of the Invader Phase, the Invaders win if any land has at least 8 total Invaders/Blight (combined).
Escalation: Mining Tunnels. After Advancing Invader Cards: On each board, Explore in 2 lands whose terrains don't match a Ravage or Build Card (no source required).
| Level (Difficulty) | Fear Cards | Game Effects (cumulative) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (3) | 9 (3/3/3) | Avarice Rewarded: When Blight added by a Ravage Action would cascade, instead Upgrade 1 Explorer/Town (before Dahan counterattack). Ceaseless Mining: Lands with 3 or more Invaders are Mining lands. In Mining lands: [symbol] and modifiers to [symbol] affect Ravage Actions as though they were Build Actions. During the Build Step, Build Cards cause Ravage Actions (instead of Build Actions). |
| 2 (4) | 10 (3/3/4) | Miners Come From Far and Wide: Setup: Add 1 Explorer in each land with no [symbol]. Add 1 [symbol] and 1 [symbol] in the highest-numbered land with a [symbol] Setup symbol. |
| 3 (5) | 11 (3/4/4) | Mining Boom (I): After the Build Step, on each board: Choose a land with Explorer. Upgrade 1 Explorer there. |
| 4 (7) | 12 (4/4/4) | Untapped Salt Deposits: Setup: Remove the Stage II "Coastal Lands" card before randomly choosing Stage II cards. Place the "Salt Deposits" card in place of the 2nd Stage II card. (New Deck Order: 111-2S22-33333, where S is the Salt Deposits card. [symbol] ignores S.) |
The Habsburg Mining Expedition includes a special Invader Card — "Salt Deposits" — which is only used when called for by the Adversary. Which lands it matches depends on which Invader space it's in — when anywhere except the Ravage space, it matches non-Mining lands; when in the Ravage space, it matches Mining lands. Once it's face-up in the Ravage space on the Invader board, it can't leave; it stays there for the rest of the game as an extra Ravage Card (resolved before any other Ravage Cards). It also can't be put into the discard pile by any means.
This Adversary is notably easier for Spirits that are good at preventing Explore Actions (e.g., Keeper of the Forbidden Wilds) or destroying multiple Explorers (e.g., Lure of the Deep Wilderness).
This Adversary is notably harder for Spirits that have difficulty destroying large groups of Invaders (e.g., Finder of Paths Unseen) or handling lots of Ravage Actions (e.g., Heart of the Wildfire).
Combining Adversaries and Level 4: Removing the Stage II "Coastal Lands" Card
Remove the "Coastal Lands" cards before performing any Invader Deck modifications. The removed "Coastal Lands" card can't be used for Adversary effects that specially place a random Stage II card. (E.g., it can't be put into the Fear Deck by the Tsardom of Russia Level 5.)
However, the removed "Coastal Lands" card can be put in a specific place by an Adversary effect. For example, the Kingdom of Scotland (Level 2, leading) still puts it as the third Stage II card after Habsburg Mining Expedition (Level 4, supporting) removes it; so the Invader Deck would end up as: 11-2S-1-C2-33333.
Clarifications & Small Changes for Existing Rules
Several existing mechanics return with a larger role in this expansion. The rules for these mechanics are clarified and expanded on in this section.
For specific card clarifications and answers to any other questions, visit https://querki.net/u/darker/spirit-island-faq/
Badlands Errata
Badlands do not have to affect the first Damage an Action does.
So, e.g., Volcano Looming High's Pyroclastic Bombardment could use it on "1 Damage" to Destroy 2 Explorers, instead of being forced to boost Invader Damage on the earlier instruction "1 Damage to each Dahan/Town/City". (You still have to boost the Damage to Dahan, though again it need not be the first Dahan Damage the Action does.)
Unique Power: Pyroclastic Bombardment (Volcano Looming High).
Victory and Defeat Errata
Don't check Victory/Defeat while there are still triggered actions remaining. Wait until you're done with the Action and there are no triggered Actions left.
Example: if a Ravage Action destroys a Spirit's last Presence, you still finish the Ravage Action (which might involve a Dahan counterattack), plus any Actions it triggers (e.g., Blood Draws Predators), but you do not resolve any further Ravages from the same Ravage Card.
For loss conditions which key off of "you try to do something but can't" (e.g., The Kingdom of France's loss condition, when you are unable to Add a [symbol]), the loss is noted as soon as that happens, but you may play out the rest of the triggered Actions to see if you achieve a Sacrifice Victory. Other loss conditions, like The Kingdom of England, are only checked when there are no triggered Actions remaining.
Land Health
Game items affecting how much Damage it takes to add Blight to the land are intended to stack with each other.
Here's wording which makes that more apparent, which will be used moving forward:
The Land has a Health of 2. If it takes this much Damage in a single Action, you Add Blight. Some game items change the land's Health:
- All Things Weaken (Blight Card): The land has -1 Health.
- The Land's Bounty Exhausted / Depleted Soil (Events): The land has -1 Health.
- Resilience (Aspect for Vital Strength of the Earth): At your Sacred Sites, the land has +8 Health.
No matter how many modifiers you apply to the land Health, the final total can't go below 1 Health.
Some Adversaries check how much "overkill" there was — Damage over and above the land's Health:
- The Kingdom of Sweden Level 1 (Heavy Mining): When a Ravage does 4+ overkill to the land, Add 2 Blight instead of 1 Blight.
- Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony) Additional Loss Condition (Irreparable Damage): Track how many Blight come off the Blight Card during Ravages that do 6+ overkill to the land. If that number ever exceeds the number of Players, the Invaders win.
Solo Play
In single-player games, you may draw a new Blight Card if you flip one with 2 Blight on a Blighted Island side.
Blight Cards which have only 2 Blight per player on the Blighted Island side can be especially nasty when playing solo. If you get one of them in a single-player game, you may choose to draw a random replacement from among the unused Blight Cards. Don't redraw Still-Healthy Island Cards, since they still have another card's worth of Blight coming after them.
Replacing Blight
When Blight is replaced, return it to the Blight Card or Blight Space.
Forgetting/Removing/Replacing Components in Setup
Any Unique Powers or Presence that a Spirit forgets, removes, or replaces during Setup is returned to the box.
They can't be interacted with during play, since they were never in the game to begin with. Presence that is removed or replaced in Setup does not become Destroyed Presence, and Unique Powers that are forgotten or replaced can't be restored with effects that allow re-gaining forgotten Power Cards.
Bargains
Pay the cost of a Bargain by Removing Presence from the game and gaining 1 less Energy each turn. There is no way out of a Bargain.
Clarifications:
- There is no way out of a Bargain, even if you later forget that Power Card.
- If a Bargain is made multiple times, track the effects of each Bargain separately.
- Presence costs are paid by Removing that much of your Presence from the game (from anywhere on the island).
- A cost of X Energy/turn prevents the first X Energy you would gain each turn from all sources combined. It doesn't take away Energy you saved up on prior turns.
Tracking Bargains: If it helps you remember how many times you made a Bargain, you can put the removed Presence (or other spare pieces) on the Bargain's reminder card. Similarly, when you gain Energy throughout the turn, you can put Energy on the reminder card until you have "paid off" the Bargain for that turn.
Major Power: Bargain of Coursing Paths. Card text: Bargain: 1 Presence now and -1 Energy/turn. Now: Mark both target land and another land with 2 or more Blight. Ongoing: After pieces are added or moved into the marked lands: choose any land, then Move those pieces directly to that land. If you have 3 [symbol], 2 [symbol], and 2 [symbol]: The Presence cost comes from your Presence tracks.
Skipping Actions/Instructions
If something is prevented from happening, ignore changes to how that thing would work.
E.g.: If you use the threshold of Instruments of Their Own Ruin to change how a Ravage works, but the Ravage is skipped due to a Fear Card, Instruments of Their Own Ruin is irrelevant.
E.g.: If you use Flowing and Silent Forms Dart By to keep Volcano Looming High's Presence from being destroyed, you don't get to deal Damage from Volcano's Presence getting destroyed.
If something causes Invader Actions to be done additional times (e.g., Pour Time Sideways), you must Skip each of them separately. (I.e., the change in quantity happens before you can Skip any of them.)
If something changes how the "first" or "next" Action of a given type works, skipped/replaced Actions don't count — the changes apply to the first such Action that actually happens.
E.g., Call to Trade turns the first Ravage in a land into a Build. You skip 1 Ravage using Blinding Glare. If something causes another Ravage there (a second Ravage card, Manifest Incarnation, etc.), it will be turned into a Build, because the skipped Ravage doesn't count.
If there are multiple effects that skip or replace an Action or instruction, players choose which one applies first.
E.g., In the previous example, the players could choose to use Call to Trade to turn the first Ravage into a Build rather than skipping it with Blinding Glare.
Changes to Invader Actions only apply to Invader Actions that actually happen. (E.g., a Ravage Action that is skipped or prevented won't trigger an "After Invaders Ravage" effect or use up a "once per board" increase to Ravage Damage.)
Unique Power: Pour Time Sideways (Fractured Days Split the Sky). Cost to Use: 3 Time. Move 1 of your Presence to a different land with your Presence. On the board moved from: During the Invader Phase, Resolve Invader and "Each board / Each land..." Actions one fewer time. On the board moved to: During the Invader Phase, Resolve Invader and "Each board / Each land..." Actions one more time.
Invader Steps Are Unskippable
The Ravage Step, Build Step, and Explore Step are segments of the turn that always occur. Even if there is no Invader Card in a particular space, or an effect changes what that Invader Card does, the corresponding step still happens.
Clarifications on New Content
Adversary: Habsburg Mining Expedition
It may be helpful to use Scenario Markers or other spare components to indicate which lands are Mining lands.
The Ravages caused by Ceaseless Mining (Level 1) can't be skipped by anything that skips individual Build Actions in a land, since the Invaders never even attempt to Build there. ([symbol] still works, but only because Ceaseless Mining lets [symbol] skip Ravages in Mining lands in general.) A land with at least 3 Invaders is a Mining land (and will Ravage instead of Build) even if fewer than 3 of those Invaders participate in the Ravage.
While the Salt Deposits card (Level 4) is in the Invader Deck, it can't be discarded, removed, or swapped with an Invader Card not in the Invader Deck. Once it enters the Ravage Space, it will stay there for the rest of the game (usually resulting in 2 Ravage Cards on future turns). While in the Explore or the Build space, it matches all non-Mining lands. While in the Ravage space, it matches all Mining lands. "Mining lands" and "non-Mining lands" are land types, but not terrains. Mining Tunnels (Escalation) does not consider whether lands match the Salt Deposits card, since Mining lands and non-Mining lands are not terrains.
The Explore Actions from Mining Tunnels (Escalation) are not affected by The Empire Ascendant (Level 6), since they don't happen during the Explore Step.
Aspect: Deeps
Flipped Deeps are reminders that a land has become part of the Ocean. They can't be moved or removed by any effect.
Sunken lands have no terrain, number, or setup symbols. They are part of the existing Ocean on that board. If that Ocean is a land (e.g. for Powers, because Ocean's Hungry Grasp has presence on the board), it's one gigantic land. This will usually make more lands Coastal (including for matching the "Coastal Lands" Invader Card).
If Invaders or Dahan somehow manage to survive a land sinking, they are cleaned up into the closest land like normal for pieces left in illegal locations; all other pieces (Presence, Tokens, Blight, etc.) are left where they were (i.e., in the newly-expanded Ocean).
Aspect: Enticing
The Damage penalties apply to Ravage Actions and any Adversary/Fear/Event/Scenario Actions in which the Invaders/Dahan explicitly do Damage (as opposed to merely doing Damage in a land with Invaders/Dahan, like most cases). They only affect a Power if it instructs Invaders/Dahan to deal their normal Damage (e.g., Instruments of Their Own Ruin, Why Don't You and Them Fight?) rather than a specific amount of Damage (e.g., Manifestation of Power and Glory) or Powers where the Spirit deals Damage based on the number of Dahan present (e.g., Call to Bloodshed).
Aspect: Intensify
Limits on a Power don't apply to the extra effects from the Element Markers (e.g., you can use them to exceed the "max. 3 Damage" on Blood Draws Predators). The extra effects apply to only one use of a Power; they don't apply when repeating a Power (though you can spend Element Markers again when repeating).
If you use Moon on a Power that removes a certain amount of Health worth of Invaders, you can Remove a single piece that could have been removed by the original Power. (E.g., for Dream of the Untouched Land, Remove an Invader with 3 Health or less.)
You can use Moon on upgrade and downgrade instructions, since those are special forms of remove (downgrading an Explorer) or replace (any other upgrade or downgrade). Similarly, you can use Water on push, gather, and bring instructions, since those are special forms of move.
Aspect: Lair
To Gather a piece toward Lair, move that piece into an adjacent land that's at a lower Range to Lair. (This land may not appear to be physically closer to Lair!) This can move a piece more than once.
Aspect: Transforming
Damage from Transform Rather Than Consume saves each [symbol]/[symbol] from destruction, so it clears all Damage they have taken, even Damage already on them from prior Actions. The resulting Invaders will be Pushed out of the land before the Action continues. In the rare case that the same Action also subsequently affects the land the Invaders were pushed to, the Invaders can't be damaged or destroyed, since they were already saved from destruction.
Event: Visions Out of Time
If there is a tie for the most expensive Power Card in your hand and discard, choose which one you're going to replace at the same time as you choose which of the four new Power Cards you take.
If you manage to move two Omens into the same land, you will only earn 2 Energy for that land and the Invaders will only Ravage there once.
Thematic option: Instead of the Event triggering Ravages in lands with Omens, give Omens that ability. In the rare case 2 Omens end up in one land, each one generates 2 Energy and causes a Ravage before being removed, or if an Omen isn't removed, it will add 2 Energy and Ravage on the following turn.
Major Power: Bargain of Coursing Paths
Bargain of Coursing Paths stays attached to Invaders; it doesn't move separately. Each time this Power moves a group of pieces, it can trigger a "When your Powers Move..." effect, like on the Healing Cards of Wounded Waters Bleeding.
Major Power: Fragments of Yesteryear
Thematic option: If all players are willing to take more time to resolve this Power, you can let it restore more than just the printed Setup Symbols.
- Slight time increase: It also counts the [symbol] and [symbol] normally added to the Balanced side of the boards as part of Setup.
- Significant time increase: It counts the actual state of the Island at the end of setup, including the first Explore and all Adversary, Scenario, and Spirit Setup. If you need to add [symbol] for a Spirit, use their [symbol]; if they don't have enough [symbol], add as much as you can. Depending on the exact combination of Adversaries, Scenarios, and Spirits, this may require a good memory to track all variable Setup options (e.g., where Ocean's Hungry Grasp put its second Presence).
Major Power: Unearth a Beast of Wrathful Stone
This Power checks whether a Ravage or Build Action actually happened, not whether the land matches a Ravage or Build Card.
Only Mark 1 Beast token per use of this Power, even if a modifier makes this Power add additional Beasts. The marked Beast cannot be destroyed, removed, or replaced. If you ever have to destroy, remove, or replace a Beast, you can choose the marked Beast as one of those Beasts; it won't be affected.
Scenario: Destiny Unfolds
If an effect forces you to gain a Minor Power or Major Power, you must pick a card of that type from your Destiny. If you don't have any cards of that type left in your Destiny, gain normally from that deck.
When Fractured Days Split the Sky gains a Power Card from its Destiny, they may also add one of those cards to Days that Never Were.
Spirit: Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine
Check if a piece is alone when you start resolving the damage/destroy instruction (whichever sentence has "Damage" or "Destroy" in it).
Your Powers that target The Endless Dark count it as "target land" for the purpose of sensibly resolving their effects there (since the target is unambiguously defined), but it's still not a land during resolution. Many effects don't actually do anything in The Endless Dark. (E.g., isolating it does nothing.)
Only ignore Range when choosing The Endless Dark as the target land for your Powers; don't ignore any Range numbers in the text of that Power.
Because The Endless Dark is not a land, most Adversary effects do nothing there. Most notably, Habsburg Monarchy (Livestock Colony) can't make Invaders Durable there, nor can England meet its additional loss condition there.
Abduct and Escape are both special forms of Move (into and out of The Endless Dark, respectively), so they follow all restrictions on movement. Most commonly, this means that you can't pick [symbol] as an Escaping piece; it leaves [symbol] with the Invader it's attached to. Also, some Spirits' [symbol] may be unable to Escape if Breath's [symbol] and [symbol] aren't in lands that that Spirit's can move to (e.g., if they aren't in Mountains for Volcano Looming High). In that case, Breath must let other pieces Escape or lose the game.
In the rare case that you cannot Empower Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine immediately after you uncover the Empower space on your top track, that space also allows you to Empower each Spirit Phase until it finally sticks.
Spirit: Dances Up Earthquakes
Impending Power Cards are not in play, in hand, or in discard. They are not affected by anything that specifically affects Power Cards in any of those places — most notably, they can't be discarded and can't be reclaimed. Since they are not in play, they do not contribute Elements to your total nor do they count towards Gift of Seismic Energy or Earthquakes and Aftershocks. They are still your Power Cards, and can still be forgotten to pay for a Choice Event or because you gained a Major Power. If you forget an Impending Power Card, discard all Energy on it.
The third Growth Option modifies how much Energy you gain onto the chosen cards that turn, so it can delay an impending Power Card even if there's no Energy on that card yet. You can choose to gain +1 Energy onto one card and -1 Energy onto another card.
Energy gained directly onto impending Power Cards isn't affected by Bargains or other modifiers to how much Energy the Spirit gains for itself.
Spirit: Relentless Gaze of the Sun
Relentless Punishment checks how many Presence you have in the origin land when you first use a Power Card; moving or losing Presence there as part of using the Power doesn't stop you from repeating the Power Card as many times as you're able to pay for it. If you repeat a Power Card with Relentless Punishment, the origin land is the same as for the original use, even if you don't have Presence there any more.
Spirit: Wandering Voice Keens Delirium
[symbol] stops [symbol] near [symbol] from participating in Ravage even if the Invaders with [symbol] aren't participating in Ravage for other reasons.
Spirit: Wounded Waters Bleeding
Even though Wounded Waters Bleeding has an oddly-shaped Presence track, it still gains Energy and Card Plays equal to the highest single Energy and Card Play icon, respectively; it doesn't add up its icons.
The three steps of Seeking a Path Towards Healing must be taken in the listed order after playing and paying for Power Cards. If the Healing Card played in the second step removes this Special Rule, skip the third step.
The Healing Track is just a visual aid; there is no limit to the number of Healing Markers Wounded Waters Bleeding can claim. Healing Markers claimed by Wounded Waters Bleeding don't grant Elements and can't be used as Element Markers prepared by Shifting Memory of Ages.
Couldn't find your answer here? The glossary includes definitions for uncommonly-used phrases, and the online FAQ has answers to many other questions at https://querki.net/u/darker/spirit-island-faq/
Reference
Quick Reference
Important Errata
Start the game with exactly 1 additional Blight on the Blight Card or Blight space.
Growth and Presence Track
- Bonus Space: Gain the indicated benefits, as if this were an uncovered space on your Presence track.
- Flexible Element: Choose and gain one of the two Elements at any point during the turn; lose the Element when covered or when Time Passes.
- Gather a Piece: Each Spirit Phase, you may Gather one of that piece into one of your lands.
- Empower Incarna: Each Spirit Phase, you may Empower your Incarna if your Incarna is on the island (and is not yet Empowered).
Spirit-Specific Tokens
- Vitality (Towering Roots of the Jungle, Nourishing Aspect, Locus Aspect): In a land with no Blight, prevents 1 Blight from being added and is then removed.
- Quake (Dances Up Earthquakes): Represents tectonic tension building beneath the earth.
- Deeps (Deeps Aspect): Represents the wearing away of land by the ocean.
During Setup, if playing on the Thematic Boards, add 1 Vitality to each of lands NW1, NW5, NW6, and E7.
Incarna
- Empowered Incarna.
- Ember-Eyed Behemoth (Spirit).
- Towering Roots of the Jungle (Spirit).
- Wandering Voice Keens Delirium (Spirit).
- Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine (Spirit).
- Warrior (Thunderspeaker Aspect).
- Lair (Lure of the Deep Wilderness Aspect).
- Locus (Serpent Slumbering Beneath the Island Aspect).
While on the island, an Incarna may count as any pieces printed on it. (If counting as [symbol], it must count as Presence.)
Empower: Flip Incarna to Empowered side.
Add/Move Incarna: Add if not on the island; Move if on the island.
New Concepts
- Destroyed Presence: Any Presence that has been destroyed, removed, or replaced without being removed from the game; equivalent to "Destroyed Presence."
- Downgrade: Replace with the next-smallest Invader. (Remove Explorer.)
- Upgrade: Replace with the next-largest Invader.
- Bring: Move with, all or part of the way.
- Prepare: Set next to your Spirit panel for future use.
- Claim: Add to your Spirit panel permanently.
Glossary/Index
At: In the same land as. (E.g., 2 Damage at a piece does 2 Damage in its land.) Nothing is at a piece that's not in a land.
Bargain (in a Power name): A power representing an arrangement made with Dahan for an ongoing benefit OR (in Power text): The cost paid to make and maintain such an arrangement. [p. 15]
Bring: Move with another piece, for all or part of the way. [p. 10]
Claim: Permanently add to your Spirit Panel from the supply. The claimed component does nothing unless an effect references it. [p. 10]
Deeps (Token/Marker) / [symbol]: The wearing away of a land by the ocean. A Spirit token added by the Deeps Aspect of Ocean's Hungry Grasp. Has no intrinsic effect. When flipped over, it becomes a marker instead of a token. [p. 8]
Destroyed Presence / [symbol]: Presence that has been destroyed, removed, or replaced without leaving the game or returning to the box. [p. 5]
Directly Destroy: Destroy via a "Destroy" instruction. Distinct from destroying a Dahan/Invader by making Damage meet/exceed its Health, and from destroying Presence by adding Blight.
Do Damage, to other Invaders only: Do the normal Damage for those pieces in a way that no piece does Damage to itself. Two Invaders that do Damage to other Invaders can do Damage to each other.
Do likewise: Perform the prior instruction again for a different Spirit/piece. If there is a decision to be made, you don't need to make the same choices as the first time.
Does not Participate in Ravage: Does not do or take Damage in Ravage Actions, does not cause a land to Ravage, and is ignored for modifiers to Ravage Actions. [p. 6]
Downgrade: Replace an Invader with the next-smallest type of Invader. Downgrading an Explorer Removes it. [p. 10]
Health: The amount of Damage at which a land, Invader, or Dahan takes negative consequences (the land getting Blight added to it, the Invader/Dahan getting destroyed).
Ignores Health Bonuses: When checking if this Action does enough Damage to destroy a piece, only check against its Base Health minus any Health penalties. This only applies to pieces that receive Damage from this Action and only when checking during this Action; it has no effect on pieces that survive this Action.
Ignore Range: Choose a target, destination, or affected land even if Range would normally prevent you from doing so. You may ignore Range arrows (whether straight like normal, or curved as part of moving a piece with a Growth/Track action) and any other references to a numerical "Range," but not any other restrictions, like "your land" or "adjacent." If ignoring Range when targeting a Power, you must still satisfy any conditions on the origin land (e.g., Jungle, Sacred Site), if any.
Incarna: A type of piece specific to some Spirits that can count as their Presence and possibly other pieces. [p. 7]
Mark: Distinguish from other pieces or lands. [p. 11]
Move directly to a land: Move to the destination land without passing through any intervening lands. Effects that move pieces to a specific land on the board always move those pieces directly; "directly" is just included for clarity.
Omen (Token): An impending calamity. A token added by the Visions Out of Time Event that the Event uses on the following turn. Represented with a scenario marker or other spare piece.
Overkill: The amount of Damage a land takes beyond its Health. Some Adversaries check how much overkill is done by a Ravage. [p. 14]
Piece: Any physical game component placed in a land on the island except for players' Single-Turn Effect Markers, components marking a land or region on the island, and Scenario Markers used as player aids. At this time, the normal pieces are: Presence, Dahan, and Blight, all Invaders (Explorer, Town, City), and all normal Spirit tokens. Pieces that are less commonly used are: Incarna, Quake, Vitality, and Deeps (token side only), and Markers used for game effect by an Event or Scenario — currently Omens tokens (Event: Visions Out of Time), sources of power (Scenario: Powers Long Forgotten), Warding Patterns (Scenario: Ward the Shores), Flame Markers (Scenario: Rituals of the Destroying Flame), and Thieves (Scenario: Despicable Theft).
Prepare: Take from the supply and put on your Spirit Panel as a resource to use later. [p. 10]
Quake (Token) / [symbol]: Tectonic tension building beneath the earth. A Spirit token added by Dances Up Earthquakes. Has no intrinsic effect. [p. 8]
The Ravage/Build/Explore Step: The part of the Invader Phase corresponding to the Ravage/Build/Explore slot printed on the Invader Board. These steps always happen even if there are no Invader Cards in the corresponding space on the Invader Board. Some Events and Adversaries add extra Invader Steps; while these may be a Ravage, Build, or Explore Step, they are not the Ravage, Build, or Explore Step.
Replace a Power Card: Put the new Power Card where the original Power Card is (hand, play, discard, etc.), then put the original Power Card wherever it would go if it had been forgotten. (Power Cards forgotten during Setup are returned to the box.)
Spirit Token: One of several types of pieces that benefit the Spirits. The standard Spirit tokens are [symbols], but Deeps (Deeps), Quakes (Quakes), and Vitality (Vitality) are also used by specific Spirits and Aspects. [p. 8]
Take a Power Card: Put the top card of a Power Deck into your hand. Do not forget for a Major Power. [p. 11]
Upgrade: Replace an Invader with the next-largest type of Invader. City generally can't be upgraded. [p. 10]
Vitality (Token) / [symbol]: Exceptionally resilient ecosystem. A Spirit token added by Towering Roots of the Jungle, the Locus Aspect, and the Nourishing Aspect. Also added during Setup on the thematic map. In a land with no Blight, prevents 1 Blight from being added and is then removed. [p. 8]