The Stonebound Saga
The Stonebound Saga Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 2: Contents and Setup
- 1 Gameboard (25" X 35")
- 147 Card Speaking Stone Deck in Tuck Box
- 70 Card Character Deck
- 140 Card Ability Deck in Tuck Box
- 12 Character Dashboards
- 72 Plastic Pegs
- 112 Status Effect Tokens
- 30 Translucent Colored Cubes
- 2 Pairs of D10 Dice
- 1 Rulebook
- 6 Player Reference Cards
Players begin by choosing to play in the constructed, draft or free play format. In each format, players will be selecting a group of characters from the world of Telios to train against their opponent's characters.
Constructed Play
In constructed play, players craft a team of characters that suits their unique play-style and strategy. Each character comes with two matching ability cards. Each character has a star rating that specifies the rarity of the card from 1-3 stars. There are 70 characters to choose from across 7 different classes, each with their own role to play in battle. There are close to 300 unique abilities between the characters in The Stonebound Saga, and a myriad of synergies between the various characters.
Draft Play
In draft play, each rarity of character cards are separated into piles and shuffled. Character cards are placed face down on the table. One player then takes the top 5 cards from each pile and places them face up on the table. Players alternate turns choosing their teams from the available cards that were flipped over.
Free Play
In free play, players can create a team of characters with a star rarity value of any amount. This format allows players to use character combinations that are normally not possible in constructed format.
NOTE: For new players, 'draft' is the best format to begin playing as the players aren't familiar with the various characters and abilities used in the game. Once players become more familiar with the game mechanics constructed format is recommended.
Game Setup with Various Player Counts
1v1 — In a 1v1 constructed or draft game, each player should control 3 characters and have a max total star value of 5. In a 1v1 free play game each player picks 3 characters with ANY rarity value. The max character limit per player is still 3.
2v2 — In a 2v2 constructed or draft game, each player should control 2 characters and have a max total star value of 4. In a 2v2 free play game each player picks 2 or 3 characters with ANY rarity value. The max character limit per player is still 3.
3v3 — In a 3v3 constructed or draft game, each player should control 2 characters and have a max total star value of 4. In a 3v3 free play game each player picks 2 characters with ANY rarity value. The max character limit per player is still 2.
Odd Player Count 3/5 — In an odd player count game where there is either 1v2 or 2v3, each side must have the same amount of characters and rarity. The side with more players should control 2 characters each, and have a max total rarity of 4 between their characters. The player or team with the lower player count may have more characters per player to match the opposing team. Example: In a 1v2 game the single player would control 4 characters with a max rarity of 8.
Chapter 3: Starting the Game
Each player takes one character dashboard for every character they are playing with. Each player then sets the starting stats for their characters on the dashboards and places the character's ability cards in the indented card area on the right side of the card. The starting stats for each class are printed in the indented area on the right side of the dashboard. Players will use these dashboards to track their character's stats throughout the game. Each stat is tracked by sliders, and activated [Fuse] abilities can be recorded using pegs on the card.
Players roll their dice to begin. Whichever player rolls highest decides who goes first. When playing with more than 2 players, one player from each team rolls to see which team begins first.
The Stonebound Saga uses two D10 dice for all rolls. The colored die is always the tens die, and the white die is always the ones die. The D10 are numbered 0-9, and a double zero would equal 100.
The player (or team) that goes first sets up their characters on one side of the field. Characters must be on the line at the end of the field in any position they like. The player or team that goes second sets up their characters on the opposite side of the field.
Chapter 4: Turn Order
Draw Speaking Stone Cards
On their turn each player draws 1 Speaking Stone for themselves and 2 for every character they control. This becomes the player's max hand size. These cards will be used to activate the character's offensive and defensive abilities. A player's max hand size does not change if one of their characters is incapacitated.
The Speaking Stone Deck is a static deck that acts as a community pool of resources during the game. There are 7 different elements of resources, and each element has 4 different values that are specified by stars. Each star represents 1 of that resource. There is also one infinite Speaking Stone card for each element. Infinite cards can be used for any amount of resources but can only activate 1 ability.
Activate a Character
Once a player activates a character the player may perform the following three actions in ANY order before activating another character: [Fuse] an ability, Move, and [Standard Attack]/Ability.
[Fuse] an Ability
A player may [Fuse] a defensive ability to their character which makes the ability passive (always active) while it is fused. An ability that can be fused will have the keyword [Fuse] in front of the description. To fuse any ability, the player must announce the ability being activated and place the Speaking Stone(s) of the correct element up to or exceeding the cost of the ability next to the character's dashboard.
If a speaking stone of an exceeding amount is used; the extra amount may not be used towards another ability. Next, the player places a plastic peg into the hole next to the fused ability. A player may fuse as many abilities to their characters as they wish, as long as they have the available Speaking Stones. If a fused ability is removed or broken, the peg is removed from the dashboard and the Speaking Stones are discarded. Speaking Stones used for [Fuse] abilities count towards the player's hand size. Players must decide how much of their hand size they want to devote to defensive vs offensive abilities.
Movement
A player may move a character up to, but not exceeding the movement value of the character. Character movement is orthogonal. Movement may be taken forward, backward, left or right, but not diagonally. A character may pass through ally characters, but not through opposing characters. A character may not land on a character, but may land on incapacitated characters. (Characters that have a HP value of zero.)
Once a character has completed their movement action the character may not move again even if the character has remaining movement.
[Standard Attack] or Ability
Once a character is within range (RNG) of an opposing character; the character may perform a [Standard Attack], or special ability listed on their ability cards. NOTE: Some abilities may allow attacking regardless of range.
[Standard Attack] — A character may perform a [Standard Attack] on an opposing character or target within weapon range (RNG). A player does not need any resources to perform this action. Determine range the same way as movement by counting the spaces on the game board without moving diagonally. When a [Standard Attack] is performed, the attacking character's ATK is used to determine potential damage (before defending character's armor value is taken into account). The damage type (Physical or Spirit) depends on the character's class. Every time a [Standard Attack] is performed, the attacking player rolls for a critical attack chance (CRT). Example: If a character's CRT is 20, a roll of 1-20 will be a critical attack. A successful CRT doubles the ATK value for that attack. When a [Standard Attack] is performed, the [Standard Attack]/Ability action is complete for the character's turn. A character may not perform a [Standard Attack] and a special ability on the same turn even if the required resources are available.
Character Abilities — A character may perform a special ability listed on their offensive ability card, or a non [Fuse] ability from their defensive ability card if the player has the necessary Speaking Stones. The player must announce the ability being used, and place the Speaking Stone(s) of the correct element up to or exceeding the cost of the ability on the game board. Then the player discards the Speaking Stones onto the discard pile faceup. When a special ability is performed, the [Standard Attack]/Ability action is complete for the character's turn. Character abilities use a keyword system to keep the gameplay easy to understand. [Keywords] are bracketed and bolded. You can find a listing of the various keywords in Chapter 7.
When using a character's ability the player follows the order of the presented [Keywords] to determine the order of rolls. An example is below.
[Standard Attack], [On 1-50] adds [Burn]. In this example the first keyword [Standard Attack] would be resolved first. Like all [Standard Attack]s the player would roll for the character's critical attack chance (CRT). Once the CRT roll has been completed the player would roll both D10 again for the [On 1-50]. If the roll was successful (a roll of 1-50 for success) the attack would also add [Burn] to the target. If the roll was unsuccessful only the damage would be applied and not [Burn].
Break [Fuse] Abilities
Once a player has finished all of their character's turns, any active [Fuse] abilities may be 'broken' or removed from the player's characters. When a [Fuse] ability is broken, the resource cards used for the ability are immediately discarded faceup into the discard pile, and the peg is removed from the character's dashboard. A player may choose to break [Fuse] abilities if the effect from the ability is no longer useful, or if the player desires to free up hand space.
Discard
At the end of a player's turn, the player discards any unwanted resources (Speaking Stone Cards) from their hand. A player will not want to keep resources in their hand that are not needed for their character's abilities. A player must discard until he/she has reached their maximum hand size or less. NOTE: Resource cards dedicated to [Fuse] abilities count towards the player's hand size. Some character abilities allow for a greater player hand size.
End of Turn/Alternating Turns
After the first player has completed their turn, one player from the opposing team will begin their turn. Turns alternate between teams until every player has taken their turn. Once every player has completed their turn a round is complete and the first player begins the next round.
If a player from either team is eliminated during a 2v2 or 3v3 game, turns are still alternated between teams. This prevents more than three characters per team from activating each turn.
Ending the Game
The game ends when all the characters from one side are incapacitated.
Chapter 5: Combat
When a character makes an attack on another character, the attacking player calculates the damage using the methods below. HP damage and armor damage (PD and SD) are recorded on the player's character dashboard throughout the game. When a [Standard Attack] is performed, the player takes the damage of the attack (value of character's ATK or double the value of ATK if successful CRT), and subtracts the physical defense (PD), or Spirit defense (SD) of the defending character. The remaining damage is then subtracted from the health point (HP) value of the defending character.
If the attack was not a critical attack (Unsuccessful CRT roll), and the defending character's HP was damaged, subtract 1 from the defending character's PD/SD depending on the type of attack. PD/SD may not be reduced below 0.
If the attack was a critical attack (Successful CRT roll) subtract 2 from the defending character's PD/SD depending on the type of attack. PD/SD may not be reduced below 0. NOTE: For a successful CRT roll, even if the attack was not higher than the PD/SD value of the defending character the PD/SD is still reduced.
If the attack was not higher than the PD/SD value of the defending character the attack does 0 HP damage, but any additional effects still apply if successfully rolled (Status Effects). NOTE: The damage from any attack MUST be higher than the defenders armor value (PD/SD) to reduce the defending character's HP.
If any character's HP reaches 0 that character is incapacitated, and all fuses and status effects associated with the character are removed immediately. The character is then flipped over on its current space on the gameboard. A character may be raised using several abilities, and the character card would flip back over on the same space unless another character is on top of the space. If another character is on top of a character while the character is raised, the raised character would be flipped over and placed on the nearest unoccupied space.
Types of Damage
Physical Damage — Physical damage is noted by a P on character cards and ability cards. This damage is applied to the defending character's PD value (Physical Defense reduces physical damage). Classes that attack with physical damage are the Marauder, Tactician, Vanguard, and the Watchman. There are exceptions to this rule if specific abilities allow a class to attack with an alternate damage type.
Spirit Damage — Spirit damage is noted by a S on the ability card. This damage is applied to the defending character's SD value (Spirit Defense reduces Spirit damage). Classes that attack with Spirit damage are the Prophet, Remnant, and the Sentinel. There are exceptions to this rule if specific abilities allow a class to attack with an alternate damage type.
Chapter 6: Status Effects
Many character abilities add Status Effects to the defending character or target. When a status effect has been added to a character, the player adds the corresponding status marker on top of the character card until the status effect is removed (by another ability), or until indicated by the ability used. When a status effect is removed by a character ability, all stacks of the status effect are removed.
[Blind] — When a character with the [Blind] status uses any ability that targets an enemy character or makes a [Standard Attack]; the player must make a successful [On 1-50] roll or the action fails. [Blind] may not be applied more than once.
[Break] — When a [Standard Attack] is made against a character with the [Break] status, the attacking character adds an additional 25 to their CRT value for this attack only. [Break] may not be applied more than once.
[Burn] — Characters with the [Burn] status reduce their HP by 2 at the end of their turn. [Burn] may be applied up to two times.
[Cripple] — When a [Standard Attack] is made against a character with the [Cripple] status, the attacking character adds an additional 1 to their ATK for the attack. [Cripple] may not be applied more than once.
[Freeze] — Characters with the [Freeze] status have 2 tokens placed on them and may not move on their next turn. The following turn, one token is removed and their MV is reduced by 1 for that turn. The next turn, the last token is removed and MV is returned to normal. [Freeze] may not be applied more than once, but it may be reset.
[Poison] — Characters with the [Poison] status reduce their HP by 1 each time they move a space on the battlefield. This happens whether they move on their own or are moved by an opponent's ability. [Poison] may not be applied more than once.
[Shear] — Characters with the [Shear] status have their CRT reduced by 5 for each application of [Shear] on the character. [Shear] may be applied more than once but CRT may never be lowered below 0%.
[Silence] — Characters with the [Silence] status may not spend any speaking stones.
[Sleep] — Characters with the [Sleep] status may not evade attacks, move or perform a [Standard Attack]/Ability. They may still fuse abilities. [Sleep] is removed if any character does damage to the afflicted character, or at the end of their next turn. Status effect damage does not remove [Sleep].
[Stun] — Characters with the [Stun] status may not target opponents on the character's next turn. At the end of the character's next turn [Stun] is removed. Any reactive [Fuse] abilities still activate while a character has [Stun].
[Upkeep] — Characters with the [Upkeep] status have the SC (Spirit Cost/Speaking Stone Cost of Ability) of all of their abilities increased by 1. [Upkeep] does not affect fuses currently in play. [Upkeep] may not be applied more than once.
Evasion and Negation
Many abilities give characters the chance to evade or negate damage or effects from an incoming attack. When a character has a [Fuse] ability active that gives one of these effects, an evasion or negation token is placed on the character card to indicate that a special dice roll will be taken when that character is attacked.
Evasion — Evasion can give a character or group of characters the chance to evade incoming attacks. When a character is attacked, the player rolls for an evasion chance. The [Fuse] ability will state the roll value needed for success, and specify the type of damage or effects the character can evade.
Example: [Fuse] Increase Spirit evasion of Oliver by 20. In this example, the character Oliver has a [Fuse] ability that grants him 20 evasion against Spirit based attacks. When Oliver is attacked by a character or target with Spirit damage, the player would need to roll a [On 1-20] to be successful in evading the attack. Evasion chances stack together. If a character has two evasion abilities active the values are combined for the evasion chance roll. Example: One ability gives [On 1-20], and another gives [On 1-30] the total evasion chance for the character is [On 1-50].
Negation — Negation works the exact same way as evasion, except negation rolls do not stack. If a character has two abilities active that granted negation, the player rolls separately for each negation chance.
Red Cubes are placed on a character card when the character's attack value has been temporarily increased by an ability. White cubes are placed on a character card to indicate a countdown used by some abilities. Blue Cubes are placed on a character's dashboard to indicate extra HP above the character's max HP.
Chapter 7: Keywords
Key Words on Ability Cards:
[Aura] — Abilities with [Aura] affect all units that may be affected within the weapon range (RNG) of the character.
[Counter] — A reactive [Standard Attack]. This attack cannot trigger another [Counter]. [Counter] may not be performed if defender is incapacitated by the triggering attack. [Counter] cannot be triggered by a defensive [Fuse] ability.
[Double Attack] — Performs two separate [Standard Attack]s on the same target. Each [Standard Attack] has a separate roll for CRT chance.
[Fuse] — Indicates that the ability being used is a fused ability.
[Guaranteed CRT] — Performs a [Standard Attack] that is a critical attack without requiring a CRT roll. Action is successful if CRT of character is 0.
[No Action] — Abilities with [No Action] do not use the Character's 'Attack/Ability' action.
[No CRT] — Abilities with [No CRT] may not CRT under any circumstances.
[On #] — A separate roll. If either die matches the # presented, then the effect is applied. If both match, then the effect is doubled if possible.
[On # - #] — A separate roll. If the outcome of the roll is between the two numbers specified, then the effect is applied.
[On CRT] — A separate roll. If the outcome of the roll is a successful CRT then the effect is applied.
[On Doubles] — A separate roll. If the outcome of the die rolls match, then the effect is applied.
[Standard Attack] — Deals damage equal to the ATK of the attacking character. Damage type (Physical – P or Spirit - S) is determined by the class attacking. On successful CRT damage is doubled.
[Use Once] — Abilities with [Use Once] may only be used one time per character turn.
Chapter 8: Acronym Glossary
- ATK — Attack
- CRT — Critical Attack Chance
- DMG — Damage
- HP — Health Points
- MV — Movement
- RNG — Range
- SC — Spirit Cost
- SD — Spirit Defense
- PD — Physical Defense
Speaking Stone Cards (Resources)
The Stonebound Saga comes with a 147 card resource deck called the 'Speaking Stone Deck'. This deck is a fixed/static deck that acts as a community pool of resources in each game. These resources are used to perform your character's abilities listed on their ability cards. There are 7 different elements of resources in Telios, and each color has 4 different rarities that are specified by stars. The rarities are 1 Star, 2 Star, 3 Star, and Infinite. Each star determines the amount of the resource available for use. 1 Star = 1 resource, 2 Stars = 2 resources, 3 Stars = 3 resources, and Infinite = can be used for any amount of resources.
The breakdown per each rarity in the resource deck are as follows:
- 1 Star Cards - 70 (10 - 1 Star Cards per color)
- 2 Star Cards - 42 (6 - 2 Star Cards per color)
- 3 Star Cards - 21 (3 - 3 Star Cards per color)
- Infinite Cards - 7 (1 - Infinite Card per color)
There are 28 different designs across the deck. The seven elements of Speaking Stones are: Wind, Water, Neutral, Fire, Earth, Darkness, and Light.
Ability Cards
Each character card in The Stonebound Saga comes with two matching 'Ability Cards' that list the abilities available for that character to use. Ability cards mark each ability with an Offensive Ability Icon or a Defensive Ability Icon to show which category it belongs to.
Character Cards
Each pack of character cards contains 5 character cards that can be used to build your team of 3 characters. Each pack has 4 - 1 Star character cards and a chance of either 1 - 2 Star character card, or 1 - 3 Star character card.
Each rarity of character card gives you a set amount of abilities to use with that character. Examples are below:
- 1 star character cards will have 1 offensive color and 1 defensive color.
- 2 star character cards will have either 2 offensive colors and 1 defensive color, or 1 offensive color and 2 defensive colors.
- 3 star character cards will have 2 offensive colors and 2 defensive colors.
Each color on the character card gives you 3 different abilities to use in battle. These abilities are described on the character's ability card. The bottom left corner of the character card shows the offensive colors available, and the bottom right corner shows the defensive colors available.
There are 70 different characters to choose from across 7 different character classes. Additional packs of character cards can be purchased separately.
Terrain Card Database
Terrain Cards are organized by their element type below. Each terrain location can be played onto the battlefield during the game to open up new strategies and effects.
Fire Terrain
Burning Flats — All characters on or within 2 spaces of Burning Flats inflicted with [Burn] take 1 extra HP damage each turn. Not stackable.
Forest Fire — All terrain locations within 2 spaces of Forest Fire are inactive. Barren Wasteland and Ice Block remove Forest Fire.
Blazing Torches — When a character occupies Blazing Torches, any [Standard Attack] made by character has [On 1-50] add [Burn]. Includes both non-ability [Standard Attack]s and special abilities that include a [Standard Attack].
Refiner's Furnace — When a character occupies Refiner's Furnace, player may upgrade one speaking stone in hand to one star higher. Must be used on this character's turn. 3 Star Speaking Stone Cards are upgraded to 4 Star not infinite.
Sapping Stones — All characters on or within 2 spaces of Sapping Stones cannot be healed by any means.
Earth Terrain
Barren Wasteland — Remove any terrain card and replace with Barren Wasteland. Other terrain may no longer be played on this space. May be played on a space occupied by a character. SC (Cost) is equal to the cost of the location being removed. Barren Wasteland counts as 1 star against your terrain deck limit of 10 stars. However, when using Barren Wasteland you must pay the cost equal to the terrain location being removed.
Acid Rain — When a character moves on or within 2 spaces of Acid Rain, [On 1-25] Character adds [Poison]. Not stackable.
Paran Desert — When a character moves onto Paran Desert, or any space within 1 of Paran Desert, character uses 2 MV. Not stackable.
Unstable Terrain — When a character moves on or within 2 spaces of Unstable Terrain, Opponent gains [On 1-25] move character one space. Not stackable.
Fortifications — When a character occupies Fortifications, [On 1-50] reduce HP damage from any attack by 2. Damage is reduced after PD/SD reduction.
Darkness Terrain
Shiftscapes — When a character occupies a Shiftscape, the character may spend 1 MV to move to another Shiftscape on the battlefield. If a character occupies a shiftscape another character may not move to the occupied location. (From one shiftscape to an occupied shiftscape)
Thieves Den — If one of your characters occupies Thieves Den at the end of their turn, [On 1-50] randomly take one card from opponent's hand.
Eryndur Grove — Characters attacking a character occupying Eryndur Grove attack as though they have [Blind]. Abilities that nullify [Blind] do not affect this location.
Ophirian Marshes — If a character ends their turn on Ophirian Marshes, [On 1-50] player immediately draws 1 card from the last 3 discarded Speaking Stone cards.
Tenebris Portal — Choose an element. Once Tenebris portal is placed on the field all abilities with chosen element type now cost +1. Not stackable with same element by any player.
Light Terrain
Silent Altar — Characters on or within 2 spaces of Silent Altar may not spend Speaking Stones.
Hallowed Ground — Characters on or within 1 space of Hallowed Ground have their [Fuse] negation chances increased by 10. Not stackable.
Throneroom of Lux — Characters on Throneroom of Lux may swap the value of the tens D10 and ones D10 on any of their rolls.
Falmund Lighthouse — Characters on or within 1 space of Falmund Lighthouse have their [Fuse] evasion chances increased by 10. Not stackable.
Mirror of Lux — Any character on or within 2 spaces of Mirror of Lux attacks with the opposite damage type of their class. Applies to [Standard Attack]s and abilities.
Neutral Terrain
Gorland Stables — If a character occupies Gorland Stables at the beginning of their turn, character gains 2 MV for this turn.
Archives of Cyril — If a character ends their turn on Archives of Cyril, player immediately draws 2 cards.
Blacksmith's Workshop — If a character ends their turn on Blacksmith's Workshop, [On 1-50] increase character's PD and SD by 1. May not exceed starting values.
Hidden Trap — If a character moves onto Hidden Trap, character loses 3 HP.
Heroes Hall — At beginning of game Heroes Hall is placed on the battlefield and cannot be removed or modified by any means. Player may trade 3 stars from their terrain deck to increase their character team's star value by 1. Max team star value is 8.
Water Terrain
Ice Block — Space occupied by Ice Block may not be occupied by characters. Any character may use their attack action to remove Ice Block.
Cooling Stream — When a character moves onto Cooling Stream, [On 1-50] remove all status effects from character.
Kaldr Peak — When a character moves on or within 1 space of Kaldr Peak [On 1-25] Character adds [Freeze].
The Foglands — The Foglands must be played on a terrain card currently on the battlefield. This terrain location may now only be used by you. May be played on a space occupied by a character.
Soothing Fountain — If a character occupies Soothing Fountain at the end of their turn heal character by 2 HP.
Wind Terrain
Valley of the Wind — Characters do not use MV to occupy Valley of the Wind. [On 1-50] Characters with RNG greater than 1 increase RNG by 1 when occupying Valley of the Wind. Additional RNG lasts until end of character's turn.
Ilandris Forest — Ranged characters on or within 2 spaces of Ilandris Forest have 1 less RNG. Not stackable.
Sand Storm — When a ranged [Standard Attack] is made on a character occupying Sand Storm, [On 1-25] character may redirect the attack to a new target within 3 spaces.
Koros Bazaar — When a character occupies Koros Bazaar player may swap 1 Speaking Stone card in hand with one player on their team.
Argun Tundra — When a character makes an attack while on or within 2 spaces of Argun Tundra, [On 1-50] their CRT is 20 less. Not stackable.