The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era Rulebook

Table of Contents

How to Use this Book
Introduction
- Game Overview
- Foundation Rules
Components
Game Setup
Adventurer Rules
Game Phases
Battle Rules
Additional Rules
Jailbreak Introduction Encounter

How to Use this Book

This book presents the comprehensive rules of The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era. It is organized both to teach the game's concepts to new players and to be referenced for detailed questions that arise during play.

This book includes numerous examples of play. Gameplay examples are presented in red sidebars with square borders on top and bottom. Rules call-outs are presented in blue sidebars with triangles on top and bottom. Additional tips are presented in yellow sidebars with forked edges.

Many examples are based on an extended narrative of a party's first game session. These examples also appear in the separate Tutorial Guide, where they are organized in sequential order together with additional examples. For your first playthrough, it is strongly recommended you use the Tutorial Guide to follow these examples. A helpful index of many of the game's core concepts can be found at the back of the physical book.

Introduction

Game Overview

The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era is a cooperative adventure game for up to four players. It is meant to be enjoyed as a campaign played across three sessions, with each building on the last. During each session, your party takes on a quest as agents of a specific guild in one of Tamriel's provinces. To complete that quest, you must journey, battle, and explore your way across one province of Tamriel—such as humid, festering Black Marsh, which is presented in the tutorial.

Across your sessions, you will develop and advance each adventurer by earning experience points (XP) through completing encounters. To finish your campaign, you will complete an intense endgame session to defeat a shadowy threat to the continent of Tamriel.

Foundation Rules

All of the game's rules are built on the following underlying principles:

This rulebook and its accompanying gazetteers are the definitive source of rules information. If published rules sources are in disagreement, the order of precedence is as follows:

Officially-published errata.
The text on a card or other game component (such as a skill line reference sheet or item card).
The gazetteer for the current province.
This rulebook.
Officially-published tutorials and videos.

If a component's effect uses the word "cannot," that effect cannot be overruled by another game effect.

If a card or other game component's effects are in disagreement with each other and neither uses "cannot," the party may decide which to resolve and which to ignore.

The word "may" always indicates a choice.

Check the game's official frequently asked questions at chiptheorygames.com/support for any corrections to rules or components.

Components

The game includes (among other components): Adventurer Mats (x4), 19-Hex Delve Tile (x1), Double-Sided Clash Tile (x1), Entrance Tile (x1), 3-Hex/6-Hex/7-Hex Delve Tiles (x3 of each), Adventurer Mat Pegs (x17), Stat Tokens (x16 each in red, green, blue), Double-Sided Overland Maps (x3), Enemy Skills Reference Sheets (x2), Adventurer Chips (x20), Enemy Chips Level 1 & 5 (x25), Enemy Chips Level 10 & 20 (x25), Quest Unit Chips (x15), Companion Chips (x2), First Player Token (x1), Cache Chips (x6), Day and XP Dial Chips (x1 each), HP Chips (Red x80, White x10), Attribute Tokens (Skill Line x20, Stats x16), Overland Tokens (x8), Skill Dice (x96), Fatigue Dice (x20), Overfatigue Dice (x12), Combat Skill Dice (x14), Enemy Combat Dice (x6), Round Counter Die (x1), Status Effect Dice (x12), Lockpicking Dice (x3), Unstable Die (x1), Overland Encounter Cards (General x20, Province Specific x80), Delve Cards (General x7, Province Specific x58), Common Item Cards (x110), Legendary Item Cards (x50), Guild Cards (x9), Side Quest Cards (x30), Card Dividers (x5), Skill Line Reference Sheets (x24), Race Sheets (x20), Class Sheets (x15), Gazetteers (x5), Tutorial Guide (x1), Rulebook (x1), Campaign Journal Pad (x1), plus storage/organization solutions.

Game Setup

The recommended play area for this game is at least 3' x 4' (90cm x 120cm).

Setup Procedure

Choose a province: Select a province for your session. Each province is represented by an overland map and gazetteer. If continuing a campaign, you must select the province determined by your previous session. Note: If this is your first session of your first campaign, it is strongly recommended you select Black Marsh as your starting province.
- Overland Map: Place the province's overland map to one side of the play area. Your party's overland movement is tracked here.
- Gazetteer: Set aside the province's gazetteer. You will refer to this book during play for its province effect, dungeon map, town entries, and quest steps.
Set up dice, chips, tokens, and pegs: Set the dice and chip storage trays near the play area. Sort the circular attribute tokens, square stat tokens, and circular overland tokens by type. Set the pegs aside. Place all skill line tokens in the trainer bag. Note: If playing a solo game, it is recommended to remove duplicate copies of each skill line's circular token.
- Enemy Chips: Gather the black double-sided enemy chips and separate them into stacks by level (the number printed in the center). Level 1 and level 5 enemies share opposite sides of the same chip, as do level 10 and level 20. Enemies with two-letter codes under their names can only appear in the province with those initials. Place the separated stacks into the enemy bags: Level 1 (black border)/Level 5 (green border) go in the level 1/5 bag; Level 10 (purple border)/Level 20 (red border) go in the level 10/20 bag. For your first game, it is strongly recommended you play the Jailbreak Introduction encounter—if you do, place only the level 1 enemies listed on page 92 in the level 1/5 bag and set aside all others.
Set up card decks: Place all skill line reference sheets in the card tray. Prepare each deck:
- Side Quest Deck: Shuffle all side quest cards together.
- Overland Decks: There are 2 overland decks: Peaceful and Conflict. Each overland card is marked with the icon for its type and a code with either the province's initials or "GE" for general. To set up each deck, shuffle all 10 general cards of that type and draw 4. Then take the 8 cards of that type from the province you're playing in and shuffle them together with the 4 general cards you drew, so all cards' story sides are faceup.
- Delve Deck: Each delve card is marked with the province's initials or "GE" for general. Remove all special cards marked with "SP" from the delve cards associated with your province. Then shuffle the remaining province delve cards with all of the general delve cards. Refer to the Delve Feature section of the relevant gazetteer for additional province-specific setup.
- Item Decks: There are 2 item decks: the Common and the Legendary. Shuffle each deck separately.
Set up map tiles, journal, and dials: Take the neoprene map tiles and sort them by shape. Set aside the large double-sided clash tile and the 5-hex, light green entrance tile. The remaining tiles are delve tiles; shuffle each stack facedown and place them together.
- Campaign Journal: If this is your first session, choose a party leader who records party progress. If players wish to name their adventurers, the party leader records them.
- XP and Day Dials: The XP Dial tracks the party's gained XP and determines the strength of enemies in battle. The Day Dial tracks quest days. Place both dial chips into the sockets of the magnetic chip holder. If you play the Jailbreak Introduction encounter, rotate the XP Dial to 1; otherwise set it to 2. The Day Dial remains unset until later.
Choose game difficulty: Difficulty level affects several parts of the game. Select from the options below.
Set up adventurers: Each player takes an adventurer mat and sets up their adventurer.
- First Session of a Campaign: Each player creates an adventurer (see Adventurer Creation). For your first game, it is strongly recommended you also play the Jailbreak Introduction encounter, then return to proceed.
- Continuing a Campaign: Set up your adventurer as they were at the end of the previous session.
Set up guild quest: Refer to its first quest step in the gazetteer. Set aside any quest unit chips described there. Place the party token in the starting location on the overland map. Also place any overland tokens in their starting locations.
- First Session of a Campaign: Shuffle the Guild Deck and draw 3 cards, then choose 1. This card determines the guild you are contracted with; each guild has 1 quest in each province. Each guild card contains a description and a special town action for the town's guild kiosk. Return unchosen guild cards to the box; place the chosen card faceup near the overland map.
- Later Sessions of a Campaign: Your next guild quest is determined at the end of the previous session.

After completing setup, proceed to the first day and begin playing your session!

Choosing a Starting Quest

Your party does not control which guilds offer work at the campaign's start, but you can choose a quest from the opportunities available. Read each quest's session snapshot (above the quest's first step, marked "A") in the province gazetteer before choosing. Also consider the quest's complexity rating, ranging from 1–3.

The party must make this choice together. By selecting your guild quest, you align the party with that guild and commit to succeeding (or failing). Your choice also influences which quests are available for your second campaign session.

Difficulty Levels

There are 3 difficulty levels. Difficulty affects the Adventurers Rest step (dice removed from cooldown track and HP healed), Engage Actions (fatigue for additional engages), and the Session Final Battle enemy pool.

Apprentice (easiest): Adventurers remove 2 dice from their cooldown track and heal for 2 HP during the Adventurers Rest step at the end of each day. Quest steps also occasionally contain modified rules for this difficulty.
Adept (average): Adventurers remove 1 die from their cooldown track and heal for 1 HP during the Adventurers Rest step.
Expert (hardest): Adventurers gain 2 fatigue for each additional engage action in battle. To resolve their individual Adventurers Rest step, an adventurer must discard an item. Adventurers remove 1 die from their cooldown track and heal for 1 HP during the Adventurers Rest step.

Province Codes

Each province has a 2-letter abbreviation appearing on cards and enemy chips:

BM: Black Marsh
CY: Cyrodiil
EL: Elsweyr (expansion province)
HF: Hammerfell (expansion province)
HR: High Rock
MW: Morrowind
SK: Skyrim
SU: Summerset (expansion province)
VW: Valenwood (expansion province)

Adventurer Rules

Adventurers are the player characters of the game. Your adventurer mat displays everything that makes up your adventurer and defines their capabilities.

Adventurer Mat Anatomy

Race Reference Sheet: Shows the innate ability and starting stats for the adventurer's race. The adventurer chip is placed here between battles.
Attribute Rows: Each row has 2 circular attribute slots (1 at each end) and 6 square slots between them. Stats, skill line tokens, and skill dice are placed here.
Skill Reference Sheets: Describe the abilities for each skill line the adventurer is trained in.
Cooldown Track: Dice are placed here as the adventurer exhausts their skill dice or gains fatigue and status effect dice.
Cooldown Stat: The number of dice removed from the cooldown track each turn, marked by a peg.
Tenacity: Rolled tenacity results are tracked here with a peg as they are gained and spent to resolve class abilities.
Battle Forms: The current battle form is marked with a peg next to its icon.
Active Slots: Dice placed here are active and have ongoing effects.
Saved XP: Individual unspent XP is tracked here with a peg.
Class Reference Sheet: Shows the adventurer's innate class and tenacity abilities.
Inventory Ready Slots: Up to 4 ready item cards, the only items usable in battle.
Inventory Pack Area: Up to 8 total items (including ready items). Items not in ready slots are stacked on the race reference sheet and cannot be used in battle.

Adventurer Creation

Each player creates a unique adventurer at the outset of the first session of a campaign.

Select Race: Select a race sheet and corresponding adventurer chip. Place the sheet along the left or right side of your mat, and the chip in the art area at the top. Each race's sheets and chips are double-sided (2 sheets per race, allowing up to 2 players to play the same race).
Add Stats: Take the circular attribute tokens for Health, Stamina, and Magicka shown on your race's sheet and place them in the circular slots. The Health token has a numeric value; flip it to match the starting value. The Stamina and Magicka tokens have no numeric value—place a number of square stat tokens of each stat's color equal to its starting value in the square slots, starting closest to the corresponding circular token. Note: If you place 2 attributes in opposing circular slots in the same row, advancements gained in one attribute will limit the potential advancements available to the other.
Add Combat Skill Line: Take the Combat skill line's circular token and place it in an open slot. Add the number of Combat skill dice shown on your race sheet to that row's square slots.
Add Starting Skill Line: Choose 1 other skill line. Place its circular token in an open attribute slot and add 2 of that line's level 1 skill dice. For your first game, it is recommended each player chooses one of the following (dealing damage is crucial): Bow (ranged battle form), Destruction Staff (magic battle form), One Hand and Shield (light weapon battle form), or Two Handed (heavy weapon battle form).
Place Pegs: Place a peg in the battle form tracker matching your chosen starting skill line, another above the cooldown track matching your race's starting Cooldown stat, and 2 more in the leftmost slots of your tenacity and Saved XP trackers.
Choose Class: Choose a method to determine starting classes. Place your class sheet with its novice side faceup along the opposite side of your mat from your race sheet. This is a permanent choice.
- Jailbreak Introduction Encounter: Choose from available class options based on your achievements (see page 92). Recommended for your first campaign.
- Open Choice: Choose 1 of the available class sheets.

Peoples of Tamriel

Tamriel is a continent filled with diverse and ancient cultures: human civilizations such as the Imperials of Cyrodiil or the Redguards of Hammerfell; vigorous Elven nations such as the Wood Elves of Valenwood or the Dark Elves of Morrowind; and countries of Beastfolk like the reptilian Argonians of Black Marsh and the catlike Khajiit of Elsweyr. Your adventurer's cultural origin comes with some stat or skill benefits, but the training choices you make during play truly define their capabilities.

Stats

Stats are your adventurer's core capabilities. Each stat's total is the base value of its circular token (if any) plus the number of square tokens of its color in its attribute row. This total is the stat's max value. If an adventurer has only the circular token (no square tokens), the stat's value equals the base value on the token; if the token has no base value, it is treated as 0. Square stat tokens can be placed so their arrow points toward their circular token, to help identify which stat tokens are aligned with which stat.

Health: This stat's attribute token has a base value added to its red square tokens. HP chips are stacked underneath an adventurer's chip and removed to show damage taken. The Health stat's total limits the value of HP chips. Red chips represent 1 HP; white chips represent 5 HP. An adventurer is defeated when they lose their last HP. If your Health stat increases, immediately gain HP chips equal to the difference; if it decreases below your current HP, remove HP down to the new maximum. When HP chips are lost, they are removed one at a time starting with the bottom-most chip. Bonus HP is separate and can exceed your Health stat.
Stamina: Tracked by green square tokens; represents capacity to move and roll dice for physical skills. Stamina limits movement and explore action distance, engage action range, and number of dice you can roll.
Magicka: Tracked by blue square tokens; represents capacity to roll dice for spellcasting skills and those skills' range. Not all adventurers require Magicka, so unlike other stats it may be untrained. Magicka limits engage action range and number of dice you can roll while in magic battle form.

Bonus HP: Some abilities cause an adventurer to gain bonus HP. These chips are placed near the battle form tracker, not under the adventurer chip. When an adventurer with bonus HP takes damage, bonus HP is removed first—unless the adventurer takes true damage, in which case regular HP is removed instead. Bonus HP is not counted for enemy targeting priority. Bonus HP remains until lost or the next time a battle ends.

Component Limits

Limited Components (resolve as described when they run out):

Stat and Skill Line Tokens: If none remain, that type cannot be added to a mat.
Skill Dice: If none remain, those dice cannot be added to a mat.
Enemy Combat Dice: If none remain, no additional enemy Combat dice can be added to an engage.
Fatigue Dice: If no silver fatigue dice remain, black overfatigue dice are placed instead; if no overfatigue remain, no fatigue dice are placed.
Status Dice: If none remain, no status die is applied.
Units: If none of a specific type/name remains and the ability does not specify how to reuse, it cannot be drawn or deployed.
Cache Chips: If none remain, that chip is not placed.
Race and Class Sheets, and Adventurer Chips: If none remain, that sheet (and chip) cannot be added.

Unlimited Components: HP chips are treated as unlimited; if none remain, use other components to track them.

Skills

Skills are the dice an adventurer rolls during battle. Each skill is part of a larger skill line, which is tied to either your Stamina or Magicka stat. That stat limits the number of skill dice that can be rolled during an engage action, and is shown on each skill line reference sheet.

Each skill die's icon abilities are described on its reference sheet. The number to the right of the skill's name indicates the amount of that skill die included in the game. The number of pips next to a skill die's icon represents how many times the icon appears on that die. Each skill die ability is preceded by a code (Active Slot, Cooldown Track, Drained, Instant, Status Effect) that indicates how it is resolved. The face showing on an available skill die does not matter before it is rolled.

Many skill lines are associated with a specific battle form, depicted on the line's reference sheet. Battle forms determine the range at which dice can affect other units and whether a skill can be combined with other dice during an engage action. Additional skill lines and skill dice can both be added as advancements.

Skill Lines

Skill dice are grouped into skill lines and ranked by level. Skill lines are divided into three of Tamriel's major constellations, shown at the bottom of reference sheets:

Mage: blue, 1 pip.
Thief: yellow, 2 pips.
Warrior: red, 3 pips.

The outer border color and number of pips on the skill line token correspond to the constellation. Skill line attribute tokens are added by visiting trainers during town encounters. When a skill line is added, it becomes trained; place the token in an open circular slot at the left or right end of any row. An adventurer cannot have more than 1 of the same skill line attribute token.

Combat

This special skill line represents an adventurer's innate fighting ability. Combat has only 1 type of skill die. Combat dice are flexible enough to be rolled with any battle form except magic, and can be rolled in defensive battle form to prevent damage. Note: Even though Combat is shown among a race's starting attributes, it is a skill line and not a stat.

Cooldown Track

Exhausted skill dice, fatigue dice, and status effect dice are placed in this track. Managing it is crucial, as it determines how quickly skill dice can be rolled again. Dice added are placed one at a time in the track's leftmost available spot. While a die is in the track, it is not available. If multiple dice must be placed at once, you choose the order. Any time a die is removed, slide remaining dice leftwards to remove gaps.

The cooldown track can fit up to 13 dice. If the track is full and a die must be placed in it, that die must either be drained (if a skill die) or returned to the supply (if a fatigue or status die). Then, replace the rightmost non-overfatigue die in the track with an overfatigue die (the replaced die is also drained or returned depending on type). Dice remain in the track until removed during your Recovery step, your Adventurers Rest step, or an inn town action. If an adventurer would gain a status effect die with a side they already have in their track, the die in the track is removed and placed back in the leftmost open position.

Cooldown Stat

The value of the slot where your peg is placed above the cooldown track is your Cooldown stat—the number of dice removed during the Recovery step of each battle turn. Start from the left and remove dice equal to your stat, then slide remaining dice as far left as possible.

Recovering Dice

When an exhausted skill die is removed from the cooldown track (by Recovery or another effect), you recover that die: place it in the correct slot in your attribute rows and it is immediately available. When a status effect die is removed, return it to the supply. A drained die can only be recovered by an effect that specifically recovers drained dice, by visiting an inn during a town encounter, or during the Adventurers Rest step.

Fatigue

Fatigue dice are placed in your cooldown track when you gain fatigue. There are 2 types (if an effect refers to fatigue without specifying, it can apply to either):

Light Fatigue (silver): When removed from the cooldown track, returned to the supply. If no silver dice are in the supply when light fatigue is gained, gain overfatigue instead.
Overfatigue (black): When it would be removed during the Recovery step, it is instead placed in the track's leftmost open position. Overfatigue in the track deals damage during fatigue rounds. It can only be removed during the Adventurers Rest step, by an inn town action, or by a game effect/special ability.

Active Slots

Skill abilities with an active code are used by placing rolled skill dice in the 4 square slots at the top of the mat. Some abilities allow placing dice in other adventurers' active slots. An active die remains until you remove it as described in its reference sheet or at the end of battle. You can have no more than 4 dice in your active slots. To free up space, you may remove an active die at any time during your turn without resolving its ability—when removed this way, that die is exhausted and placed in the cooldown track of the adventurer who placed it. Active dice must be removed at the end of battle or if your adventurer is defeated (dice removed this way must be exhausted).

Fatigue Dice in Active Slots: Some abilities can place a fatigue die in an active slot. While there, it is treated like a skill die and remains until removed, after which it is placed in the cooldown track.

Race Reference Sheet

In addition to depicting your adventurer and defining their starting stat values, this sheet describes your race's innate ability. Once per battle, you may resolve this ability at its specified timing. Your adventurer chip is placed here between battles, your pack items are placed here, and any drained dice are placed here during battle (remaining until the battle ends).

Class Reference Sheet

Your adventurer's class adds special class abilities you can use, typically by spending tenacity. An adventurer can have only 1 class sheet during a campaign, but each sheet is double-sided (novice/master). When your adventurer meets the promotion requirements on the novice side, you can flip to the master side (permanent for the rest of the campaign). Each tenacity ability that improves on promotion has a short bar under its title on the novice side and a striped bar on the master side.

A class has 2 types of abilities:

A unique innate ability at the top, providing a passive, ongoing bonus at its specified timing (no tenacity cost).
Several class abilities triggered by spending or retaining tenacity, each with its required amount.

Triggering Class Abilities

Each class ability has a timing. Bolded timing keywords:

Enduring: Does not require tenacity to be spent; active while your tenacity is equal to or greater than the required value.
Interrupt: May be triggered according to its text's timing. If another ability or effect would resolve, the interrupt is resolved first. If 2 interrupt abilities would resolve at once, the party decides.

When tenacity is spent, move the peg to your remaining tenacity. You can trigger multiple different class abilities during a turn if you have enough tenacity, but you can only trigger each specific tenacity-requiring ability once per turn. An innate or enduring ability can be triggered multiple times per turn if its wording allows. Some class abilities can only be used in specific battle forms (icon printed before the ability). When a tenacity-costing class ability is triggered, you can change battle form before resolving it, gaining 1 light fatigue to do so.

Tenacity

When you gain tenacity, track it with the peg slots at the bottom right of your mat. Accumulated tenacity remains until spent or reduced. If you increase tenacity to its maximum, you cannot increase it again until you spend (or lose) some. Tenacity is typically gained by resolving dice results with the tenacity icon, but can also come from other specified abilities or effects.

Inventory

When your adventurer gains an item card, place it in your inventory (max 8 total cards). If full and you gain additional cards, choose which to keep and discard excess. Your inventory has 4 ready slots, placed alongside your class sheet; ready items can be used both during and outside of battle. Items not ready are kept in your pack area (placed over the image at the top of your race sheet) and cannot be used during battle. You can move items between pack and ready slots when deployed at the start of battle or during the End of Day Phase. When you gain an item card (including during battle), you may place it in a ready slot or your pack; if ready slots are full, you must remove a card first. Some quests grant additional item cards not placed in inventory—place those near your mat, separate.

Item Cards

Each item card takes 1 space in inventory. There are 2 types: common (widely available, mundane effects) and legendary (rarer, more powerful). During battle, an item's ability can be used at the timing described. Some items can be used during another unit's turn—such as armor items during an enemy's Engage step. If an ability does not specify timing, it can be used during the Deploy Adventurers step of setup or during that adventurer's turn. Only items in the 4 ready slots can be used in battle! Outside battle, an item can be used any time unless specified. Items are not discarded after use unless required. When either item deck is emptied, reshuffle its discard pile.

Item Subtypes

There are 8 item subtypes:

Armor: Grants benefits while its owner is being engaged. Each has a standard ability resolved when an enemy engages the adventurer, plus a secondary overtax ability. Choose whether to use an ability (including overtax) before damage is dealt. Each armor's trait is the body area worn; an adventurer can have only 1 armor of each trait in ready slots.
Weapons: Provide advantages in battle, often interacting with skills. Each has a standard ability resolved as part of an engage, plus a secondary overtax ability. An adventurer can use only 1 weapon per engage; choose whether to use its effect (including overtax) before dice are rolled.
Enchantments: Augment or reshape the rules of the game. Each describes the game component it affects (e.g. "Enchant adventurer"). When triggered, the card is placed near or tucked under the affected component and affects it until discarded or the session ends. While active, it is treated as part of the component, not the adventurer's inventory.
Consumables: Represent foods and beverages. Each can be used once, then discarded. Consumables often benefit multiple party members. If discarded during the Adventurers Rest step (required in Expert Mode), the adventurer may also resolve its effects (if applicable).
Potions: Powerful, ability-altering concoctions. Each has an expend keyword ability allowing multiple uses; each use expends the card (turned on its side), which must be refreshed before reuse.
Clothing: Grants additional utility. Each item adds an additional class ability, triggered as an action during battle by spending tenacity.
Miscellaneous: A broad range of abilities that do not use the other subtypes' mechanics. Each functions as described.
Pets: Protect adventurers from harmful effects. However, each time the adventurer resolves a pet ability, they add an HP chip on top of the card. A pet with HP chips must be discarded after its HP limit is reached or the session ends. These chips cannot be removed unless an ability refers to them. A pet may be placed in your pack when gained, but once placed in a ready slot, it cannot go back into the pack.

Item Traits: Traits do not have specific rules (except armor traits) and only interact with abilities that refer to them by name.

Item Keywords:

Expend: The item is reusable but must be refreshed after each use. When used, the card is rotated sideways to show it is expended. An expended item still takes an inventory slot but cannot be used until refreshed (by visiting an alchemy station in town).
Overtax: Appears as a sub-header on an item's secondary ability (typically weapons/armor). When you trigger an item's standard ability, you may also trigger its overtax (but cannot trigger overtax without the standard ability). If you do, after the engage and both abilities resolve, that item must be discarded.

Advancements

When an adventurer improves their stats or skills, it is an advancement. Some require spending XP during the Reward Phase's Gain Advancements step; some are triggered by game effects.

Increase an Attribute: Spend the required XP to add a stat token or skill die to an open square slot in that attribute's row. Each additional token/die must be added to the open square slot closest to the side with that attribute's circular token. The attribute cost is shown at the top of that slot's column—use the white box when increasing from the left side, the black box from the right side. If any of that skill line's dice are in the cooldown track (or drained), the cost equals that of the rightmost (or leftmost) open slot the new die would be placed in if all dice were available. To add a skill die you must have trained that skill line. To add a skill die of levels 2–4, you must also have at least 1 other die in the same line that is the same level as, or 1 level below, the new die.
Increase Cooldown Stat: Move your peg to the next open slot along the cooldown track. Spend XP equal to your new Cooldown stat value (printed above the next slot). Increase one slot at a time; you may increase it multiple times during the same Reward Phase.
Increase Tenacity: Spend 1 XP to increase your current tenacity. This is not a permanent increase. If your unspent XP exceeds 3 at the end of the Gain Advancements step, that excess must be spent to increase tenacity (if able) or is lost.
Promote Your Class: Flip your class sheet to its master side. To do so, meet the requirement on the novice side (often a battle achievement); when it happens, immediately gain that advancement and flip the sheet.
Add a Skill Line: Add a new skill line to an open circular slot at the side of a row. Visit a trainer during a town encounter and choose a faceup skill line token.
Add Magicka Stat: Unlike other circular stat tokens, you may untrain your Magicka stat. If untrained, you can add it again as if it were a skill line by visiting any trainer.

Game Phases

Each game session is played over a number of rounds called days. Each day is divided into five phases.

New Day Phase

Increase the Day Dial by 1 day. The party starts the session on day 1. No quest can extend beyond 12 days, so if the dial is at 12, that quest will be failed at the end of this day if not completed.

Overland Phase

The party plans its movement and checks for encounters:

Start of Phase: Trigger any effects with this timing.
Move Party: Your party has a base overland movement of 3 (move its token up to 3 adjacent hexes). Some province effects modify this.
- Day 1: On the first day of a session, the party must remain in its starting location and resolve a town encounter (does not apply during an endgame session).
- Fatigue Movement: After using base movement, the party may continue by gaining fatigue for each additional hex. For each additional hex, each adventurer gains 1 light fatigue (or 1 overfatigue if none available). Additional hexes cannot exceed the party's base movement rate. The party must stop if 1 or more adventurers' cooldown tracks are full.
Trigger Encounter: By ending its movement in specific hexes, the party triggers 1 of the following (in descending priority). The encounter is not resolved until the Encounter Phase.
- Quest Encounter: Triggered by the party's current quest step or a side quest card, typically by moving into a specific hex. Quest encounters take precedence over town or overland encounters. If multiple quest encounters trigger at once, guild quest encounters take precedence over side quest encounters.
- Town Encounter: Triggered when the party ends its move in a town's hex. Each adventurer can take 2 town actions.
- Overland Encounter: Triggered when the party moves into a hex with a landmark. Draw an overland card based on the landmark: Peaceful landmark → draw a peaceful encounter card; Conflict landmark → draw a conflict encounter card; Unstable landmark → roll the unstable die and draw the type matching the icon result (if the result is the caravan icon, trigger a town encounter with a traveling caravan instead). If a choice icon on the back of an overland card is the "unstable" version (inside a red circle), it is an unstable choice—if the party is at an unstable landmark, they must resolve it. After completing an encounter at an unstable landmark, each adventurer gains 2 tenacity during the Reward Phase.
Note: It is possible for the party to end its movement in a hex with no icon and trigger no encounter. After the party resolves a peaceful encounter card, set that card aside until the end of the day so its icon can be referred to when activating the province's effect.

Overland Map

Each map is divided into hexes with terrain features, each with its own icon. The map includes a compass showing cardinal directions and directions associated with specific die rolls. Some gazetteers and quests instruct the party or NPC tokens to move in specific ways.

Overland Tokens

Party Token: Indicates the party's location on the overland map.
Objective Token: Indicates important objective locations on the overland or battle map.
NPC Token: Indicates NPC location on the overland map.
Counter Token 1 & 2: Indicate the state of overland map tracks (such as Black Marsh's weather).

Party Size

Encounter and effect text frequently refers to the party size icon—a variable equal to the number of adventurers in the party (whether defeated or not). Companions are not counted. This icon balances game effects with the number of players; you will frequently add, subtract, or multiply with another value.

Encounter Phase

The party resolves the encounter it triggered during the previous phase. Town encounters are resolved by taking actions in that town; other encounters are resolved as described in the gazetteer or on the overland card. After resolving, determine success before proceeding to the Reward Phase. If the party triggered no encounter, it skips this phase.

Resolving Encounters

Quest and overland encounters must be successfully completed to earn rewards. If an encounter allows the party to choose how to complete it, the party must choose 1 option (it cannot choose an option whose requirements it does not meet). Encounters have 2 outcome types:

A peaceful outcome resolves the encounter without a battle.
A battle outcome is resolved on the battle map. There are 3 modes of battle: clashes, delves, and dungeons (dungeons do not appear on overland cards and have no icon).

Overland Card Anatomy

Front (Story Side): Type (peaceful/conflict icon), Title, Story Text, Province Code and Card Number.

Back (Choices Side): Outcome icon (Clash = clash battle, Delve = delve battle, Peaceful = follow instructions; a choice icon within a red circle is the "unstable" version), Choice Title, XP Reward (increases the XP Dial during the Reward Phase; each adventurer gains this XP), Instructions Text, Additional Choices, Battle Info (clash setup diagram and info box with objective, conditions, and challenge modifier), and Overland Icons (on peaceful cards—compared to the province effect and/or quest instructions during each End of Day Phase).

Encounter Results

A peaceful encounter is automatically successful unless otherwise noted. A battle encounter is successful if at least 1 adventurer remains undefeated on the battle map and the party has achieved the objective. If the party does not fulfill a peaceful encounter's requirements or achieve a battle's objective, the encounter is failed.

Town Encounters

Town encounters are described in the gazetteer, triggered when the party ends its overland movement in a town or rolls the caravan result on the unstable die. Some towns can become closed as a result of encounters or quests (note it in the campaign journal); while closed, the party cannot move into that town's hex. To resolve a town encounter:

Check Town Effect: Resolve this effect if triggered at the start of the encounter.
Reveal Trainer and Shop:
- Shop: Draw common and legendary item cards equal to the shop's values and place faceup. Items not taken are discarded at the end of the encounter.
- Trainer: Draw the number of skill line tokens specified from the trainer bag. If a trainer's constellation icon is faded out, set aside any token of that constellation drawn and redraw, returning set-aside tokens when done. Tokens not taken are returned to the bag.
Complete Side Quests: If the party has side quest cards completable during a town encounter, gain rewards and discard those cards.
Town Actions: Each adventurer can take up to 2 town actions.

Traveling Caravans: Adventurers may encounter traveling caravans in the wilderness, especially at unstable landmarks. Each province has a caravan entry in its gazetteer; the party resolves the caravan as a town encounter using that entry.

Town Effect: Some town encounters have an effect section that can trigger an event before adventurers take individual actions. Some can only be resolved once per session (record in journal). Some offer multiple choices (choose only 1).

Town Actions: Each adventurer may take up to 2 actions during a town encounter. For each action, an adventurer can use 1 of the town's features or the guild town action on the guild card. Two types:

Personal Actions: Chosen individually and resolved simultaneously. Using a town feature is a personal action unless noted. An adventurer can spend multiple actions on the same feature, except the town square (once per encounter).
Group Actions: Taken cooperatively (appear with the word "group"). Each adventurer must contribute 1 town action toward a group action.

Town Features

Shop: Offers a selection of items. Lists the number of common and legendary cards drawn. When an adventurer visits, they take 1 drawn card. Remaining faceup cards are discarded after the encounter.
Trainer: Enables adventurers to add skill lines. The gazetteer specifies how many tokens are available. Some trainers only make skill lines of 1 or 2 constellations available.
Inn: The adventurer is healed to maximum HP, removes all light fatigue, overfatigue, and status dice from their cooldown track, and recovers all exhausted and drained skill dice.
Quest Board: Draw 2 side quests and choose whether to accept 1 on behalf of the party. Unchosen cards are discarded.
Guild Kiosk: Enables an adventurer to use their guild's unique town action (described on the guild card).
Town Square: An adventurer may trigger the ability described there (once per encounter). Some abilities are group actions involving all adventurers.
Alchemy Station: An adventurer can refresh 1 expended item here.

If a town feature is faded out and/or marked as closed, it is not present and its actions cannot be taken.

Some encounters offer a social check to access otherwise unavailable choices or gain additional rewards. If the party succeeds, it gains the benefits; if it fails, the choice cannot be selected or the reward is not gained. Each social check can be attempted only once.

Difficulty Value: A social check can be made only during an encounter that offers one and includes its difficulty value in parentheses. A difficulty value is typically a fixed value added to or multiplied by the number of adventurers.

Social Check Sequence:

Gather and Roll Dice: Adventurers with relevant skill dice, usually Speech dice, may gather and roll available dice.
Spend Tenacity: Each adventurer may spend any amount of tenacity. The party can discuss, but each adventurer commits their own.
Resolve the Attempt: Compare the party's total die results and spent tenacity to the difficulty value. If the combined total equals or exceeds the difficulty, you succeed and gain the benefit in addition to the choice's outcome. If less, you fail but still resolve the choice's outcome. Regardless of success, all skill dice rolled in the social check are exhausted.

Reward Phase

The party gains any rewards from the encounter, then updates adventurers in order:

Gain Rewards: Gain all XP or other rewards for succeeding. If you failed, do not gain rewards. The party leader increases the party's total XP on the XP Dial; each player adds this amount to their unspent XP balance (can exceed 3 until the end of the Reward Phase). Bonus XP is not added to the XP Dial but tracked by individual adventurers. Skyshard XP rewards in delves are gained after an encounter with an Uncover objective even if failed, so long as the party was not defeated. If the party's token is at an unstable landmark and completes a peaceful/conflict overland encounter or traveling caravan town encounter, each adventurer gains 2 tenacity regardless of success. Record special achievements (quest keywords, access to closed towns) in the journal.
Untrain: Each adventurer may untrain and remove (at no XP cost) any skill lines, skill dice, or stat tokens to make room. XP spent on untrained advancements is not regained. If skill dice are untrained, slide remaining dice toward the skill line token to fill gaps. The Health and Stamina stats and the Combat skill line cannot be untrained (but their square tokens/dice can be). The Magicka stat can be untrained.
Gain Advancements: Each adventurer may spend XP on advancements. Saved XP cannot exceed 3. At the end of the Reward Phase, each unspent XP in excess of 3 increases your tenacity tracker by 1, up to the maximum.
Track Quests: Track any progress toward quests that requires journal notes, such as tallying encounters.

End of Day Phase

This phase has 2 parts:

Activate Province Effect: Provinces have effects resolved during the End of Day Phase (check the gazetteer). Substeps:
- Refer to the overland icon on the current peaceful overland card. If the party drew one during the Overland Phase, use its icon; otherwise draw one now. Compare the icon to the key in the front of the gazetteer to determine if the province effect activates; if so, resolve it. Some cards have no icon (the effect of this is explained in the province's rules). If multiple icons, resolve each left to right.
- Discard or cycle the current overland card(s). If the party resolved a card's encounter during the Encounter Phase, discard it. If the party drew a separate peaceful overland card for this phase, cycle it to the bottom of the deck.
Adventurers Rest: Adventurers heal, remove dice from cooldown tracks, and exchange items. Important: On Expert difficulty, an adventurer must discard an item to resolve this step (if a consumable, they may resolve its effects before discarding).
- Each adventurer heals HP based on difficulty—including defeated adventurers, who are revived when raised above 0 HP. Apprentice: heal 2 HP. Adept and Expert: heal 1 HP.
- Each adventurer chooses and removes dice from their cooldown track based on difficulty (any type, any position—this is not a Recovery step). Apprentice: remove 2 dice. Adept and Expert: remove 1 die.
- Each adventurer may trade any number of item cards, move items freely between ready slots and pack, and discard items.
- Trigger any effects with "end of day" timing, such as the party's guild assist ability.

This completes your day. Start over at the New Day Phase.

NPC Overland Movement

Some mechanics or quests add NPC tokens to the overland map, typically instructed to move a number of adjacent hexes toward a specific direction or feature along the shortest route. An NPC uses its full movement unless it can reach its destination using less. If multiple routes are possible, the party chooses. If there are no eligible routes, the token does not move. If instructed to move in a direction with no adjacent hexes (map edge), the token ends its move. If a rule/quest does not specify a hex to place an NPC (or there are multiple), the party chooses.

Quests

Quests are the goals your party is tasked with completing. Quests accepted but not completed or discarded are active quests. There are 2 types: guild quests and side quests.

Guild Quests

Your party can have only 1 active guild quest at a time, defining the party's main quest for the session. If the party cannot complete its guild quest by the end of day 12 or fails any of its steps, it has failed the session's goal, ending both the session and the campaign. Guild quests are specific to a single province and frequently identify quest units—unique, powerful units who must be located and either defeated or aided.

The guild quest's steps appear in the province's gazetteer. Your party's guild is represented by the guild card, which also describes an ability adventurers can use as a town action. Once per campaign, the party can call on its guild's support for a guild assist.

Quest Steps: Guild quests are broken into multiple steps that must be completed one at a time. Players are not permitted to read ahead unless instructed. Each step has a code with a letter (order within the quest) and number (identifier within the gazetteer). Steps are resolved in alphabetical order beginning with Step A. The party completes its quest step at the end of an Encounter Phase in which the step's objective requirements are met (or the step is failed), unless a different timing is specified. The final step is the epilogue step, which does not trigger an encounter but completes the story and gives a quest keyword. Quest keywords have no inherent rules but can affect future quest choices and the endgame. The party fails its quest step if it fails that step's quest encounter unless the step says otherwise; failing a quest step ends the session and campaign.

Linked Steps: Some quest steps are directly linked to the previous step and must be completed during the same day. Their instructions indicate the encounter must be triggered immediately after completing the current step, explaining how this affects the day's phases (such as delaying the Reward Phase).

Guild Quest Step Anatomy: Step Code (letter + 2-digit number; first step also has a complexity rating), Quest Title, Guild, Session Snapshot (first step summary), Story Text, Starting Location (first step—where the party token is placed), Special Setup Instructions, Quest Objective (instructions/choices to complete the step, including a recommended completion day), Ongoing Step Effects, Rewards (XP), Battle Map Setup Diagram, and Battle Info.

Side Quests

Side quests are typically chosen at town quest boards. They are optional opportunities for rewards independent of the guild quest. The party completes a side quest at the end of an Encounter Phase in which its requirements are met. Active side quests are shared between the party (max 4 active at a time). If the party would exceed the limit, it must discard 1. The party can discard side quests at any time. There is no inherent penalty for leaving a side quest uncompleted unless the card says otherwise. Side quests are not province-specific; they often refer to map features (such as landmarks) found across Tamriel.

Side Quest Card Anatomy: Title, Story Text, Instructions Text, Clash Setup Diagram, Battle Info, Completion and Rewards Text, Card Number.

Ending the Session

A game session ends after the party either succeeds or fails at its guild quest. If you succeed, complete that day's Reward Phase but skip the End of Day Phase, then follow the steps under Successfully Completing a Session. If you succeed at your second session's guild quest, you can proceed to the endgame at the start of your next session. If you fail any of your guild quest's steps or have not succeeded by the end of the 12-day limit, you fail that quest, ending the session and campaign.

Campaign Journal

As the party proceeds, it uses its campaign journal to record information that cannot be tracked on adventurer mats. The journal records each session's events on a single sheet. Journal sheets are provided on the included pad or can be printed from chiptheorygames.com/support.

Campaign Journal Anatomy — Front: Party XP (the XP Dial value after the previous session), Adventurer Names, Session Quests (space for guild quest and notes), Major Keywords (from completing guild quests), Minor Keywords (from side quests or other sources). Back: Notes (province-specific notes such as closed towns or special effects, and next session's province/quest choices).

Campaigns

The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era is best played as a campaign across 3 game sessions.

Successfully Completing a Session

During the day the party succeeds at its guild quest, complete the Reward Phase but skip the End of Day Phase, then the session ends. To record progress and store adventurers:

Read the guild quest's epilogue step. This wraps up the story and gives instructions for choosing the province and quest for the next session.
- Session 1: Choose 1 of the available guild quest options from this session's epilogue and note it in the journal's Session 2 Quest section.
- Session 2: Read the Session 2-specific lore text introducing the Session 3 endgame. The endgame always takes place in the same province as Session 2.
The party leader records other relevant info, including the XP Dial value. All uncompleted side quests are discarded. Discard all set-aside cards with persistent effects, and cross out persistent effects logged in the journal (persistent effects last only for the session gained unless stated otherwise).
Each adventurer: Return all HP chips (including bonus HP) to the supply (adventurers start the next session at full HP with no bonus HP). Recover all skill dice and discard all fatigue/status dice from the cooldown track. Keep your saved XP and Cooldown stat at current values. Reset tenacity to 0. Keep your class sheet on its current side. Discard any class-related additional effects/components (such as the Necromancer's Necrosis Stack or the Warden's companions), all expended items, any item with HP chips, and any active item cards. You retain other item cards.
Each player places their sheets and cards on their mat and stacks it into their storage tray. The party leader stores the campaign journal.
Disassemble other components, separating province/quest-specific from general components.

Continuing a Campaign — Campaign Setup

Choose Difficulty: You may choose a different difficulty from previous sessions.
Set Up Adventurers: Each player takes their mat, sheets, and cards from storage. Each adventurer starts at full HP, with their saved XP, no tenacity, and all skill dice in their attribute rows. If the class is promoted, place the sheet master side up. The previous party leader places the campaign journal and sets the XP Dial to the correct position.
Set Up Components: Refer to the journal to determine the province and quest. Follow the province gazetteer setup and any additional quest/endgame setup. Leave the XP Dial at its stored position (the Day Dial is reset to 1). Choose a party leader.

Losing the Campaign

Failing a session's guild quest (or campaign endgame) means your party has lost both the session and the campaign. To avoid this, your party can use its guild assist ability once per campaign. If you truly lose, disassemble and store components; you can always begin a new campaign when ready.

Quest Keywords

Every guild quest, along with several side quests and encounters, allows the party to gain a quest keyword upon completion. Keywords have no rules themselves but can be referenced by other quests or encounters, and can modify the endgame's difficulty. During the endgame, each encounter's setup describes which keywords affect it. There are 2 types:

Major Keywords: Gained from completing a guild quest, providing a benefit to your endgame. You only gain 1 major keyword during a session. Important: If your party uses its guild assist ability during a session, it must record that in the Major Keyword field and cannot gain a major keyword from its guild quest that session.
Minor Keywords: Gained from side quests or other encounters. They can have positive or negative impact on your endgame but are not guaranteed to appear. There is no limit to how many you can gain. If a minor keyword is gained multiple times, record it each time.

Guild Assist

Once per campaign, the party may trigger its guild assist, either during a battle at the end of a round or during the End of Day Phase's Adventurers Rest step. It can be triggered only during Sessions 1 or 2 and cannot be triggered during the Session 3 endgame quest. When triggered, each adventurer (including defeated ones) immediately heals to full HP, removes all light fatigue, overfatigue, and status dice from their cooldown track, and may recover any number of exhausted and drained skill dice. Each adventurer also draws 1 common and 1 legendary item, gaining both. Additionally:

Battle: The party may set the Round Counter to any number it wishes, and revived defeated adventurers are deployed to any unoccupied hex.
End of Day: The party may immediately move its party token up to 6 hexes on the overland map.

After resolving, the party must add the keyword "Guild Assist" in its journal's Major Keywords field for that session and cannot gain the major keyword from its guild quest that session.

Endgame

Your party can move on to the endgame of the campaign only after completing 2 game sessions. Each province has its own endgame rules in its gazetteer. Endgame quests have a shorter day limit and present the party with encounter after encounter; they do not use overland movement for the party.

Endgame Setup:

Read the endgame rules for your province and reset the Day Dial to 1 (or a value assigned by the endgame rules).
Set up the province's map and follow additional setup instructions. Place tokens on each overland track. Do not place a party token on the overland map.
Refer to the endgame section to find your first step.

Endgame Phases: Complete each game phase with these exceptions:

New Day Phase: Advance the Day Dial but do not compare it to the day limit.
Overland Phase: Skip the Move Party step. During the Trigger Encounter step, the party automatically triggers the next endgame encounter in order.
End of Day Phase: Skip the Activate Province Effect step unless instructed. Overland cards are not drawn.

Endgame Encounters: Each is labeled with the day when it is resolved. Complete each in order. Read the encounter and complete setup, then resolve any keyword effects.

Final Victory and Defeat: If your party successfully completes the endgame, you win the campaign! If your party fails (being defeated or failing an objective), your campaign ends in failure.

Battle Rules

When an encounter results in a battle, it is played out on the battle map. It is strongly recommended to leave the center of the play area open.

Modes of Battle

Clash: A sudden battle on a single clash tile for a short, straightforward encounter.
Delve: A battle of exploration where the party reveals and connects additional map tiles by drawing delve cards.
Dungeon: A battle within one of Tamriel's strongholds, using a diagram to set up a multi-tile map with special rules.

Each mode has its own setup rules, but all use the same rules for enemies, the enemy pool, and battle rounds.

Enemies

In battle, enemies are represented by double-sided chips, each side showing an enemy of a different level. Level 1 and level 5 back to each other and share a draw bag, as do level 10 and level 20. The higher the level, the more difficult the enemy.

Quest Units: White unit chips with a brown border are quest units, appearing only in battles related to quests or a province's special rules. Quest units are not mixed into draw bags. Quest units cannot gain status effects from abilities or rules unless explicitly stated.

Enemy Pool

All battles use a numeric enemy pool (EP) to set the levels of enemy chips drawn and deployed, unless otherwise specified. The EP is calculated, and each enemy's level value (1, 5, 10, or 20) is subtracted from it. When no EP remains, no more enemies are drawn. To calculate EP, multiply the party's total XP (on the XP Dial) by the number of adventurers. The EP must be spent as efficiently as possible so each enemy drawn has the highest possible level. It is not necessary to fill all possible enemy hexes.

For example, a party of 2 adventurers with an XP Dial of 4 has EP 8. In a clash, the party would draw and deploy a level 5 enemy, followed by 3 level 1 enemies. Any points remaining after all enemy hexes are occupied are not used.

Enemies must be drawn one at a time from the matching bag, then deployed with the correct level side faceup. Some battles specify a certain type or named enemy must be drawn; if a drawn chip does not meet the requirement, set it aside and redraw, then return set-aside enemies to the bag. Some encounters name specific enemies added to the pool and deployed—these levels are not subtracted from the EP and must be deployed even if their level exceeds the remaining EP. If a specified enemy is not available, draw a random enemy of the matching level (if a quest unit, draw a level 20 instead).

Important: If the battle is part of the session's final quest step, use the end of session difficulty EP instead of calculating EP normally.

Enemy Chip Anatomy

Enemy Image.
Level: Numeric level value determining its value in the EP and turn order, shown by border color: Black = level 1, Green = level 5, Purple = level 10, Red = level 20. Brown = quest unit (no level value; treated as higher than all others for enemy turn order; these chips are white).
Name.
Type: Humanoid, Beast, or Daedra.
Province: Two-letter code for the province the enemy can appear in. Enemies with no code can appear in any province.
Health: Number of HP chips placed under the enemy when deployed (also its full HP). HP chips are removed one at a time from the bottom; when an enemy loses all HP, it is defeated.
Range: The enemy's engage range—the maximum distance at which it can engage an opposing unit.
Combat: The number of enemy Combat dice the enemy rolls, then resolves against each target. The combined value rolled is the damage dealt to each target.
Defense: The amount of damage prevented each time an engage or ability deals damage to the enemy.
Targets: The number of units the enemy can engage during its turn. An enemy cannot engage the same unit more than once per turn. An enemy with multiple targets rolls its Combat dice once and deals the rolled damage to all targets. If the enemy has the all target icon, it engages all possible targets in range.
Priority: Which unit the enemy targets if it has multiple options. Strongest: highest HP (not including bonus HP). Weakest: lowest HP (not including bonus HP). If tied, the party chooses.
Skills: The enemy's skills, each described on the Enemy Skills Reference.

End of Session Difficulty EP

Each guild quest's climactic step results in a battle whose EP is calculated using an XP goal value set by difficulty instead of the party's XP Dial. Look at the table for the session in your campaign, then the row for your difficulty and column for the number of players. (The difficulty XP each EP is based on is shown in parentheses.)

Session 1 Difficulty EP Values:

Apprentice: 1 Player = 13 (13 XP), 2 Players = 26 (13 XP), 3 Players = 42 (14 XP), 4 Players = 56 (14 XP)
Adept: 1 = 16 (16 XP), 2 = 32 (16 XP), 3 = 48 (16 XP), 4 = 64 (16 XP)
Expert: 1 = 18 (18 XP), 2 = 36 (18 XP), 3 = 54 (18 XP), 4 = 72 (18 XP)

Session 2 Difficulty EP Values:

Apprentice: 1 = 27 (27 XP), 2 = 52 (26 XP), 3 = 90 (30 XP), 4 = 120 (30 XP)
Adept: 1 = 29 (29 XP), 2 = 58 (29 XP), 3 = 96 (32 XP), 4 = 128 (32 XP)
Expert: 1 = 33 (33 XP), 2 = 64 (32 XP), 3 = 102 (34 XP), 4 = 132 (33 XP)

Session 3 Difficulty EP Values:

Apprentice: 1 = 32 (32 XP), 2 = 62 (31 XP), 3 = 96 (32 XP), 4 = 128 (32 XP)
Adept: 1 = 34 (34 XP), 2 = 68 (34 XP), 3 = 102 (34 XP), 4 = 136 (34 XP)
Expert: 1 = 37 (37 XP), 2 = 74 (37 XP), 3 = 111 (37 XP), 4 = 152 (38 XP)

Battle Setup

Each battle is set up by placing tiles, placing cache tokens, deploying enemies, then deploying adventurers. General setup steps:

Set Up the Battle Map: Refer to the mode of battle's rules. After setup, trigger abilities with "before battle" timing. (Clash: place the clash tile and connect the entrance tile. Delve: place only the entrance tile. Dungeon: assemble per the setup diagram and connect the entrance tile.)
Place Cache Chips: In a clash or dungeon, place each common or legendary cache chip in the hexes shown. In a delve, cache chips are not placed at setup.
Deploy Enemies: In a clash or dungeon, calculate an enemy pool and deploy. In a delve, enemies are not deployed at setup.
Deploy Adventurers: Deploy each adventurer to the entrance tile. Choose an adventurer to take the first player token; deploy their chip to any single hex. Deploy each other adventurer in clockwise order (this becomes the permanent turn order). Each adventurer may set their battle form and choose ready items when deployed. In a clash/dungeon, ignore the explorable icon on the entrance tile's hexes; in a delve, an adventurer in those hexes may explore and connect the next tile at the start of their first turn.
Deploy Companions: If adventurers have companions deployed during setup, deploy them to the entrance tile in player turn order. If no unoccupied hexes remain, set undeployed companions next to the entrance tile (they can enter later).
Set Round Counter: Set the Round Counter die to 1. Then begin battle rounds. Trigger skills with "start of battle" timing now.

Battle Rounds

Battles are divided into rounds. During a round, each adventurer takes a turn, then each companion, then each enemy. After all units complete a single turn, the round ends. Rounds continue until the party achieves its objective, retreats, or is defeated.

Round Sequence

Start of Round: Increase the Round Counter by 1 (skip during the first round) and trigger abilities with this timing. After Round 5, set the Round Counter to the fatigue round icon. This is a fatigue round; unless the counter is reduced to 5 or lower, each subsequent round is a fatigue round. For any effect depending on round number, all fatigue rounds are considered Round 6.
- Fatigue Damage: At the start of each fatigue round, each adventurer gains 1 overfatigue die. Then each adventurer is dealt true damage equal to the total number of overfatigue in their cooldown track.
Adventurer Turns: Each adventurer takes their turn, starting with the first player and continuing clockwise.
Companion Turns: If the party has companions, each takes a turn in the order the party chooses. Undeployed companions can be deployed when they would take a turn, if there is an unoccupied entrance hex.
Enemy Turns: Each enemy takes a turn, starting with the highest-level enemy downward. If multiple enemies share a level, the party decides the order.
End of Round: Trigger effects with this timing. Determine whether the encounter is complete (if so, the battle ends). The party may retreat and end the encounter at this time.

Map Definitions

Adjacent: Hexes are adjacent when they share a common edge. Battle map tiles are adjacent when at least 1 hex on a tile is adjacent to at least 1 on the other tile.
Closest: The route consisting of the fewest hexes between features/tokens.
Farthest: The route consisting of the most hexes between features/tokens.
Impassable: A hex is impassable when a rule specifies it, or it contains an obstacle. Red hexes in clash/dungeon setup diagrams are impassable (cover with a facedown tile). Impassable hexes cannot contain chips; if a chip's hex becomes impassable, move the chip to the closest unoccupied hex. A unit cannot move through an impassable hex; distance and range cannot be counted through them; they cannot be targeted or affected.
Occupied/Unoccupied: A hex is occupied when it contains a unit (or overland token). A unit cannot be deployed to or move through a hex occupied by another unit. Battle map hexes with only cache chips are unoccupied. On the overland map, a token can move into or through an occupied hex (unlike the battle map). Some abilities allow moving through occupied hexes, but a unit cannot end movement in an occupied hex (it is instead placed in the closest unoccupied hex).
Range (distance): Measured by counting hexes between two hexes, including the destination, regardless of occupation. A unit is always within range of itself. An adventurer's range is defined by their current battle form; an enemy's range equals its range stat.
Sight: A unit has sight to another unit (or hex) if both are on the same tile or an adjacent tile. A unit is always in sight of itself.
Target: A unit can be a target if it is opposing and in sight and range of the other unit.
Toward: Move as close as possible to the component along the shortest route. If multiple routes, the party chooses.

Retreating from Battle

The party may agree to retreat at the end of any round; the encounter immediately ends. This can save time and resources but means the encounter is failed (no rewards). The exception is in delve battles with the Uncover objective, when the party must retreat after gaining the required skyshards to succeed.

Adventurer Turns

During your turn, follow these steps:

Start of Turn: Trigger any abilities with this timing.
Recovery: Remove dice from your cooldown track equal to your Cooldown stat, starting from the left; slide remaining dice left. Skills: recover and place in attribute rows. Fatigue: discard light fatigue; remove overfatigue and replace at the leftmost open position. Status Effects: discard status dice.
Adventurer Actions: Perform 1 or more actions in any order. Resolve each action before performing another. Some actions prevent others, but there is no hard limit to the number of actions.
End of Turn: Trigger any abilities with this timing, then proceed to the next unit.

Actions

Move: Move a number of hexes up to your Stamina. For each hex, move to 1 unoccupied, adjacent hex. An ability granting free movement is not a move action. A move action ends when you cannot or choose not to move more. You may perform move actions up to twice per turn: if you perform no engage actions, you may take a second move action; if you take a second move, you cannot perform any engage that turn. You cannot move if you have explored that turn (and vice versa). Movement can be interrupted by abilities or events (resolved after moving into the triggering hex)—for example, triggering an exploration or lockpick check.
Engage: Roll a number of available skill dice up to your Stamina or Magicka, as appropriate. Adventurers may engage multiple times per turn but are limited by dice and fatigue. After your first engage each turn, gain 1 light fatigue for each additional engage (2 on Expert). You may perform a move action before or after an engage, but not both.
Class Ability: Any number of times per turn, spend the required tenacity to trigger a class ability. Each non-enduring class ability must be triggered at its correct timing and only once per turn.
Explore (delve only): Once per turn, explore a hex from a distance up to your Stamina.

Engage (detailed)

To perform an engage action (also used when an ability instructs an engage outside an engage action):

Gain Fatigue: If this is your first engage this turn, skip. For each additional engage, gain 1 light fatigue (2 on Expert).
Choose Battle Form: Declare the battle form you will use. You may change forms by marking the new form on your mat. Your battle form determines your range and the dice that can be rolled.
Declare Target: Skill dice that deal damage require you to choose a target. Choose only 1 target unit per engage (unless an ability specifies); the target must be in sight and range for your current battle form. Choosing a target is optional. If declared, that unit is being engaged by that adventurer.
Gather and Roll Dice: Gather dice to roll, limited by your Stamina and Magicka stats (each die counts toward its own stat's limit). Gather skill dice only if available and if they have no battle form icon or match your current form. Combat dice can be gathered with any battle form except magic. You may gather dice based on different stats. If an ability adds free Combat dice, enemy Combat dice are used instead of Combat skill dice (they do not count against your stats but are treated as Combat dice for other effects). If you have a ready weapon item matching your form, you may choose 1 item's abilities to resolve. Then roll all dice together. If you gather no dice, the remaining engage steps are still completed for triggering other abilities.
Resolve the Roll: a. Determine results to resolve (you are not required to resolve a die's result; some abilities allow modifying by rerolling/changing before resolving other abilities). b. Resolve abilities one at a time in the order you choose. If an ability deals damage, total all damage dealt to each unit by that ability and deal it one unit at a time. Keep track of total damage dealt to a unit during this engage, as it reduces that unit's defense (which does not reset until the action ends). To resolve a die with a tenacity result, exhaust that die and increase your tenacity by 1. Enemy Combat dice added as free dice must be discarded after resolving (and cannot be placed in an active slot while in defensive form; they cannot be resolved to add tenacity). Any die with a tenacity result you chose not to resolve must be exhausted.
Units React: Enemies, adventurers, or companions may resolve abilities triggered after this engage. Enemies must resolve these abilities, if able.

Resolving Skill Abilities: Each skill die ability has at least 1 code determining how it is resolved and where the die is placed. If an ability requires a die be exhausted, place it in the leftmost open position in the cooldown track.

Active Slot: Place the die in 1 of your active slots (or another adventurer's, if specified). Resolved as described, typically by reducing the die's value or removing it. When removed, it is exhausted unless specified otherwise.
Cooldown Track: The die is exhausted. Its ability is typically ongoing until removed from the cooldown track. If you decide not to resolve a result, place it in your cooldown track face up (without gaining tenacity).
Drained: The die's ability is resolved instantly, then placed on the race sheet, unavailable for the remainder of the battle (drained).
Instant: Resolved instantly, then the die is exhausted.
Status Effect: Placed in a unique manner (e.g. on an enemy or in a hex), resolved as described. When removed from its position, it is exhausted unless specified. Quest units cannot gain status effects from adventurer abilities.

Rolling Skill Dice Outside of Battle: Some abilities allow skill dice to be rolled during non-battle encounters. Follow the engage action sequence with these exceptions: ignore the Gain Fatigue, Declare Target, and Choose Battle Form steps unless specified; resolve any effects in response during the Units React step.

Class Ability (action)

Spend the required tenacity to trigger a class ability. You may gain 1 light fatigue to change battle form before resolving the ability. You can trigger each non-enduring class ability only once per turn at its correct timing. Some class abilities are not actions (enduring/ongoing or interrupt).

Explore (action)

Only available during delves. Count the distance to an explorable hex in sight; if equal to or less than your Stamina, trigger an exploration on that hex. You cannot explore if you have already moved that turn (and vice versa).

Battle Form

Battle form icons appear on skill lines, abilities, and weapon items. During an engage, your battle form limits the dice that can be rolled together and sets your range:

Light Weapon: Adjacent only. Melee engages using single-handed skills (One Hand and Shield).
Heavy Weapon: Adjacent only. Melee engages using double-handed skills (Two Handed).
Defensive: No range. Using the Combat skill to prevent damage instead of deal it, or setting up defensive skills such as Heavy Armor.
Ranged Weapon: Non-adjacent up to max Stamina. Ranged engages using skills such as Bow. Adjacent units cannot be targeted; range is counted as normal.
Magic: Up to max Magicka. Engages using Magicka such as Destruction Staff. Combat dice cannot be gathered with this form.

When dice from skill lines with no battle form are rolled, their range is specified by each ability's text or, if unspecified, follows the range of your current battle form.

Weapons and Battle Form: Weapons are a sub-type of item card with 1 or more battle form icons and text abilities. You can use only 1 weapon during each engage. Its battle form icon must match your current form, and you must choose that ability (and whether to also trigger its overtax) during the Gather and Roll Dice step, before rolling.

Preventing Damage

Units can use many skills or abilities to prevent damage they are dealt:

If an ability prevents an amount of damage, that amount is subtracted 1 point at a time; remaining damage reduces the unit's HP.
Damage that is prevented was still dealt, but cannot trigger abilities that require damage to be taken.
Abilities that prevent damage can only be triggered in battle unless their text specifies otherwise.
If multiple abilities can prevent damage, the unit's controller chooses the order.

Damage Language and Type

When a unit is dealt damage, it takes the amount not prevented, and its HP is reduced by the amount taken. All damage dealt to a unit during an action is a single instance for resolving rules such as preventing damage. There are 2 damage types:

Physical Damage: Referred to simply as "damage." Damage is physical unless otherwise specified.
True Damage: Only dealt by specified effects, such as overfatigue damage. True damage cannot be prevented or reduced unless an ability specifically affects true damage. True damage ignores bonus HP and reduces the unit's HP instead.

Enemy Turns

After all adventurer (and companion) turns, each enemy takes a turn from highest to lowest level. Quest units are treated as having the highest level. If multiple enemies share a level, the party decides the order.

Enemy Turn Sequence:

Start of Turn: Trigger abilities with this timing, such as status effects.
Move: Move up to 2 hexes. The enemy moves only if there are no targetable units in its range. If it must move, it moves toward the closest hex where at least 1 targetable unit would be in range and sight.
Engage: a. Determine Target(s): target a number of opposing units up to its target value, in range and sight, per its priority icon (if tied, the party chooses). b. Gather and Roll Dice: roll all Combat dice; if engaging multiple targets, roll once and resolve for each. c. Resolve the Roll: deal the rolled damage against each target, starting with highest priority (if tied, party decides). d. Units React.
End of Turn: Trigger abilities with this timing.

Enemy Movement: If an enemy must move, it determines a destination—the closest hex where at least 1 targetable unit would be in range and sight, with each hex between the enemy and destination unoccupied. It moves even if it cannot reach the destination this turn, ending movement immediately after moving into its destination hex. If multiple destinations are possible (or none valid), the enemy moves toward the closest opposing unit even if untargetable; if multiple closest, toward its priority unit (party decides ties).

Enemy Skills: Most enemies have 1 or more skills triggered as described on the Enemy Skills Reference. If an enemy engages multiple targets, each target is affected by each of the enemy's relevant skills.

Defeat

A unit is defeated when it loses its last HP chip or an effect states it is defeated. The defeated unit is removed from the map and cannot take turns.

Defeated Enemies: Placed on top of the defeated enemy stack. Quest units or objective units are set aside instead.
Defeated Adventurers: Place their chip on their race sheet. Dice in active slots are removed and exhausted; dice in the cooldown track remain. A defeated adventurer cannot take turns or gain fatigue/overfatigue. Item cards remain but cannot be used. A defeated adventurer can be affected only by friendly abilities that specifically apply to a defeated adventurer. When their HP is raised above 0, they are revived and deployed to an unoccupied hex as described by the reviving ability.
Full Party Defeat: If your entire party is defeated, the encounter ends after the current round unless the party triggers its guild assist. Treat as a failed encounter: 1. Place the party token in the closest town. 2. Resolve the Reward Phase. 3. Resolve the End of Day Phase's Adventurers Rest step (on Expert, adventurers heal 1 HP even without discarding an item, but still must discard an item to recover a die).

Status Effects

Status effects are temporary conditions represented by an icon on a status effect die, described on the Enemy Skills Reference. When an adventurer gains a status, place the corresponding die in the leftmost open position of their cooldown track. It applies until removed. If an adventurer would gain a status they already have, the die is instead removed and placed back in the rightmost open position.

When an enemy or companion gains a status effect, the die is placed on that unit's chip. Non-adventurer units cannot gain multiple copies of the same status effect. Quest units cannot gain status effects unless explicitly stated. The status remains for the remainder of the battle or until the unit is defeated.

Cache Chips

Caches are locked containers on the battle map that adventurers may open to gain item cards. Each common cache contains 1 common item card; each legendary cache contains 1 legendary item card. During their turn, when an adventurer moves into or is placed in a hex with a cache chip, they may trigger a lockpick check on that cache. The difficulty code for a cache is shown on the back of the top card of the associated item deck. If successful, the cache is unlocked, the chip discarded, and the adventurer draws that card faceup (adding to ready slots or pack; if they decline, discard both card and chip). If it fails, the cache chip is discarded and the top card of the item deck is cycled to the bottom. Some encounters use a cache's lockpick check to determine another effect—in this case, do not gain the item; cycle the item card whether success or fail.

Lockpicking

Adventurers pick locks to open caches or disarm traps by making a lockpick check against the mechanism's difficulty code. During a battle, a check can be made when an adventurer moves into a hex with a cache or trap. During a town or peaceful encounter, a check can be made only when the encounter's text describes it.

Difficulty Codes: A difficulty code has:

Attempts: The number of times an adventurer may roll the lockpick dice (3 D6) during a check. The max attempts for an item is the top number on the back of the item card; for traps, shown in parentheses.
Digits: 3 or more digits, each valued 1–6, that the adventurer must match. A Key Digit (spiked border) must be matched first before matching other digits (typically only on legendary items).

Lockpick Sequence:

Roll: Gather and roll your chosen number of lockpick dice. On your first attempt, roll all 3. During additional attempts, you may keep 1 or more results from the previous attempt by setting those dice aside. If there is a key digit, keep a die matching it before keeping any other dice; after keeping and resolving that attempt, you may roll that die during additional attempts as normal.
Adjust Results: You may change die results by gaining light fatigue. For each light fatigue gained, change 1 die result by 1 (rotate to increase or decrease; you cannot rotate a 6 to a 1 or vice versa).
Resolve the Attempt: Compare your results to the code. If your accumulated results match each digit, you succeed. If not, you fail this attempt but may continue rolling until you have no remaining attempts. If you fail with no attempts or choose not to continue, the check is failed and all accumulated results are lost.

Obstacles

Some battle encounters use tiles as obstacles that prevent movement through hexes, placed facedown on top of other tiles. Obstacles are impassable. Setup diagrams show obstacle placement using red hexes; some diagrams use blue tiles to distinguish which tiles form the battle map (blue tiles have no special effects). Some encounters use other components as special obstacles following their own rules.

Clash

In a clash battle, the map is composed of 2 or more tiles (some clashes use additional tiles as obstacles). The clash tile is not marked with icons; instead, icons are provided in the clash encounter's setup diagram. The clash mat is double-sided.

Clash Enemy Pool: Clashes use an overall EP to populate enemies at setup. The maximum enemies drawn depends on both the EP and the numbered enemy hexes in the setup diagram.

Clash Setup (for steps 1–3 of Battle Setup):

Set Up the Battle Map: Place the clash tile and any other tiles as shown.
Place Cache Chips: Place cache chips in the hexes shown (correct side up for common/legendary).
Deploy Enemies: Calculate an EP. Draw and deploy each enemy to the next numbered hex starting with Hex 1, drawing the highest level enemy possible without exceeding the EP and subtracting its level. If no unoccupied numbered hexes remain, stop. Any remaining EP is not used.

Clash Map Anatomy: Entrance Tile (connect to the clash tile; deploy adventurers here) and Clash Tile (populate enemies and caches).

Clash Encounter Anatomy: Clash Setup Diagram, Enemy Hexes (numbered, filled in ascending order), Cache Hexes, Entrance Tile, Impassable Hexes (red, covered with a facedown tile), Objective, and 3/4P Challenge Modifier (scales difficulty for larger parties—may add HP, increase stats, or flip chips to higher levels).

Delve

Delve battles represent adventurers navigating an uncharted, labyrinthine space, exploring new rooms, unlocking caches, and gaining skyshards (pieces of crystalized Magicka used to track progress). The map is composed of multiple tiles marked with icons that interact with delve cards.

Delve Enemy Pool: The EP is calculated following the standard rules, but unlike other modes it is not calculated once at the beginning—it is calculated for each individual tile as it is explored. Each delve card has a challenge scale showing the maximum number and levels of enemies for a revealed tile.

Delve Setup (for steps 1–3 of Battle Setup):

Set Up the Battle Map: Separate delve tiles by shape into facedown stacks. Place the entrance tile in the play area (leaving room to expand). Some provinces use additional setup rules (Delve Feature section).
Place Cache Chips: None placed at setup (placed as tiles are explored).
Deploy Enemies: None deployed at setup (deployed as tiles are explored).

Delve Map Anatomy: Entrance Tile (deploy the party here), Delve Tiles (connected through exploration), Connection Hexes (used to connect tiles; the first delve tile must connect so only 1 of its hexes is adjacent to both entrance hexes, which share a single icon), Cache Hex, and Enemy Hex.

Delve Card Anatomy:

Skyshard: Each icon at the top is a skyshard. A delve is fully explored when all its skyshards have been gained (3 required unless the encounter specifies otherwise). In delves with the Uncover objective, each skyshard is worth 1 XP during the Reward Phase, whether or not the delve was completed.
Name.
Tile Shape: The shape of the tile drawn for this room.
Challenge Scale: Shows the level of each enemy chip that can be drawn based on the number of adventurers.
Caches: The number of cache chips of each type placed on the tile's cache hexes.
Effects Text: Up to 2 effects—a When Revealed effect and 1 of 3 other types:
- When Revealed: Resolved while connecting and populating the tile. If part can only be resolved after populating, it is resolved then. Resolved against the adventurer who revealed the card unless stated. If the tile cannot be placed, do not resolve its effect.
- Trap (Red): Placed next to the tile until an adventurer moves into one of the tile's hexes, then that adventurer makes a lockpick check against the trap.
- Skyshard (Blue): Placed next to the tile until an adventurer moves onto it, then the party gains the skyshard icons and resolves the effect matching the number of skyshards gained.
- Environment (Green): Placed next to the tile, representing an ongoing effect for the remainder of the delve.
Province Code and Card Number.

Delve Exploration: An adventurer can trigger an exploration of a hex in 2 ways:

Occupying an Explorable Hex: During their turn, trigger an exploration when moving into or being placed in an explorable hex, or when starting their turn there. This is not an explore action. Companion units cannot explore hexes.
Performing an Explore Action: Choose an explorable hex in sight and measure the distance; if within your movement range (based on Stamina), an exploration is triggered.

Explorable Hexes: A hex with the explorable icon is explorable if: it is an edge hex (at least 1 edge not shared with another tile); it is not already explored (a hex is explored if adjacent to a hex on another tile); and not all skyshards have been drawn for the encounter. A hex is explorable whether occupied or not.

Drawing Cards and Tiles: When you trigger an exploration:

Draw Tile: Draw a tile matching the shape on the delve card. If none is available, place this card facedown with your gained skyshard cards and treat it as a gained skyshard; the exploration ends (the hex remains explorable).
Trigger Effects: Read the card's text and trigger any When Revealed or immediate effects.
Connect Tile: Align the tile so 1 of its hexes is adjacent to the hex being explored. The tile cannot overlap other tiles. Both connection icon hexes must touch along a common edge; you can shift/rotate the tile. A tile must be connected so at least 1 hex remains explorable, if able. The first delve tile must connect to the entrance tile so only 1 of its hexes is adjacent to both entrance hexes. If the tile cannot be connected without overlapping, discard its card and return the tile to the bottom of its stack; the exploration ends.
Place Caches: Place as many cache chips shown as you can (legendary before common). Start in the hex farthest from the explored hex, placing each additional cache in the next closest hex. Extra caches are not placed.
Deploy Enemies: Draw and deploy enemies based on the EP for the revealed tile, the challenge scale, and the tile's enemy hexes. Start with the farthest hex from the explored hex. Use the challenge scale: the left side shows an adventurer-count icon; each space to the right with a numeric value is an enemy that must be drawn (if the printed level exceeds the remaining EP, draw the highest possible without exceeding it). Draw left to right, subtracting each enemy's level from the EP. Stop when the EP is used, all shown enemies are deployed, or no unoccupied hexes remain.
Place Card: If the card has a skyshard, environment, or trap effect applying to the tile, place it faceup next to its tile; otherwise, discard it.

Skyshards: Skyshards are fragments of Aetherial Magicka. A delve is fully explored when all its skyshards have been revealed and gained (3 required unless specified). This can be any combination of skyshard icons on faceup delve cards or facedown cards treated as skyshards.

Gaining Skyshards: When an adventurer moves into a hex on a tile with a skyshard, they immediately gain that tile's skyshards and resolve its skyshard effect (interrupts but does not end the action). Place the skyshard card near the delve text to track the total. If additional skyshards exceed the delve's maximum, they are ignored.

Traps

Traps represent harmful mechanical or magical effects, appearing in red boxes on many delve cards. A trap has a name, a difficulty code, and text describing the effect. During their turn, an adventurer must trigger a trap when they enter a hex on a tile with a trap effect. Enemies and companions do not trigger traps but can be affected if specified.

Trap Sequence (resolved before any other effects that would trigger by moving into that hex, such as unlocking a cache):

The adventurer who triggered the trap makes a lockpick check against the trap's difficulty code.
Resolve the trap's effect (which specifies whether it triggers on a successful or unsuccessful check). Once resolved, the trap becomes inactive. If the card has no remaining effects, discard it. If the trap does not specify affected units, it is resolved only against the adventurer who triggered it.

Dungeon

In a dungeon battle, the map is set up beforehand from multiple tiles (including delve tiles or the clash tile), but the dungeon ignores the icons printed on the tiles. Enemies and components are populated following the dungeon's specific setup diagram and rules in a province's gazetteer.

Dungeon Enemy Pool: Dungeons use an overall EP to populate enemies at setup, as clashes do. The maximum enemies depend on both the EP and the numbered enemy hexes in the setup diagram.

Dungeon Encounter Anatomy: Battle Objective (specific to each encounter, described in its text), Dungeon Rules (at the top of the dungeon's gazetteer entry—lists tiles and special rules), and Dungeon Setup Diagram, marked with: Entrance Tile, Lettered Hexes (typically for objective units or key locations), Numbered Hexes (for enemies from a pool, starting with Hex 1), Star Hexes (no inherent rules; described per encounter), and Cache Hexes.

Dungeon Setup (for steps 1–3 of Battle Setup):

Set Up the Battle Map: Assemble the dungeon map per the setup diagram.
Place Cache Chips: Place each cache chip in the hexes shown.
Deploy Enemies: First, deploy each objective unit (or component) to the hexes shown. Then deploy enemies:
- Numbered Hexes: Calculate an EP. Draw and deploy the highest level enemy possible within the EP to the next numbered hex, starting with Hex 1, subtracting each enemy's level. Continue until the EP is used or no unoccupied numbered hexes remain.
- Special Hexes: Deploy each enemy (or component) specified by the encounter to the star or lettered hexes. If multiple hexes are possible, the party chooses. If instructed to calculate another EP for these, follow the same restrictions.

Battle Objectives

To succeed in a battle, adventurers must complete its objective. Standard objectives:

Conquer: Defeat or otherwise remove all enemies on the battle map. The most common clash objective.
Eliminate X: A specific objective unit (enemy chip described in the encounter text) must be defeated or removed.
Survey: Fully explore the battle map by gaining all required skyshards (default 3). Failed if the party does not gain all required. The most common delve objective in guild quests.
Uncover: Fully explore the battle map by gaining all required skyshards (default 3), then successfully retreat. If the party retreats before fully exploring, the encounter is failed. The party gains XP from each skyshard acquired—up to the delve's required limit—so long as the entire party is not defeated, even if the party retreats before gaining all required.

Clash and delve battles can also have a special objective that modifies or replaces the standard one. Dungeon battles are each unique and typically have their own special objective.

End of Battle

A battle ends after the current round when any of the following occur: the party achieves the objectives, the party retreats, or all adventurers are defeated. Since the battle ends after the current round, it does not necessarily end immediately after the last enemy is defeated.

End of Battle Cleanup:

Remove all remaining bonus HP and any HP exceeding an adventurer's maximum. Place each adventurer's chip (with remaining HP) back in the art area of their race sheet. If the party has permanent companions, place each companion's chip near an adventurer mat, removing all status dice or excess HP.
Each adventurer removes and exhausts any remaining dice from their active slots, then recovers all drained skill dice. Dice still in the cooldown track remain until the next battle or removed by other means (End of Day Phase or a town's inn).
Disassemble the battle map. Place enemy chips back into draw bags and cache chips into the supply. Sort map tiles by shape; if delve tiles were used, shuffle each shape facedown. Gather the delve cards, setting aside any marked "SP" or required by the Delve Feature section, then shuffle the Delve Deck.

This cleanup only occurs after a battle, not after a peaceful encounter.

Additional Rules

Rolling a D6

If instructed to roll a D6, use the six-sided dice used for lockpick checks. When rolling one as a D6 outside a lockpick check, players cannot use skills or effects that manipulate those dice during lockpick checks.

Discard

When instructed to discard a card, die, or chip: Cards form a separate discard stack for that type (after all cards of that type are discarded, shuffle the discard stack to reform the deck). Dice are discarded to the supply. Enemy chips defeated in battle are discarded to form a defeated enemy stack; otherwise chips are discarded back to the appropriate draw bag or supply.

Effect Timing

Effects must be resolved one at a time; each must be completely resolved before the next. A "when" effect is resolved immediately when the triggering event occurs; an "after" effect immediately following it; a "before" effect immediately before it. If different effects resolve with the same timing, the players decide the order. If an ability has multiple same-timing effects and some can be resolved and others cannot, resolve those that can and ignore those that cannot.

Ability Terms

Defeated Units on Tiles: Some rules refer to defeated units remaining on tiles. The unit's chip remains in its hex (still occupied) until removed. While on the map, a defeated unit cannot take turns and is not a targetable unit (unless instructed). It is treated as a defeated unit of its type for resolving abilities.

Defeating Units: An adventurer (or companion) defeats an enemy when that enemy loses its last HP because of an engage/ability the adventurer resolved, or the adventurer resolves an ability indicating the enemy is defeated. An enemy defeats a unit when that unit loses its last HP because of an engage/ability the enemy resolved. If a unit is defeated by a status effect die (such as Bane), it is considered defeated but does not trigger effects requiring it to have been defeated by a specific other unit.

Abilities and Action Limits ("Free"):

Action: An additional engage/action granted by an ability does not count against action limits if resolved during their turn (or the active adventurer's, if during another's turn). An additional engage does not require gaining fatigue unless specified.
Dice: Additional dice do not count against Stamina/Magicka (or a non-adventurer's Combat stat). They can be added even if not trained in that skill line, and after resolving are discarded to the supply instead of exhausted. Enemy Combat dice added as additional dice cannot be added to active slots or resolved to gain tenacity.
Movement: Additional hexes of movement do not count against Stamina (or a non-adventurer's movement stat).

Healing: An effect that heals a unit lets it recover the specified HP chips. A unit cannot heal in excess of its Health stat. When a party member heals another party member for a number of HP (or grants bonus HP), the resolving unit chooses the amount actually healed (equal to or less than specified, to a minimum of 0).

Gaining Bonus HP: An effect that grants bonus HP lets an adventurer gain HP chips separate from and in excess of their maximum Health value, kept in a separate stack. Non-adventurer units cannot gain bonus HP.

Move and Place: Some abilities grant additional movement outside a typical move action. Placing a unit is different than moving it (remove the unit and place it in a hex as described). A placed unit is not treated as if it moved into that hex for triggering effects.

Persistent: Persistent abilities/effects remain in play until instructed by the effect or the end of the current session. Keep cards with persistent effects near the play area; log persistent effects from other sources in the campaign journal, crossing them out when they no longer apply.

Recover: When instructed to recover a die, you may only recover a die from your cooldown track. A drained die can only be recovered by an ability that specifically affects drained dice.

Increase/Reduce: When an ability increases or reduces a die's value, rotate its face by the amount indicated. Values cannot be increased/reduced beyond the values printed on them.

Removing Units: An enemy removed by an ability instead of being defeated is placed back in its enemy bag instead of on the defeated enemy stack. Enemies removed this way do not trigger effects requiring them to have been defeated.

Targetable Units: A unit is targetable if it is in range and sight of the unit that would target it and does not have an effect preventing targeting. Some abilities apply effects to targetable units outside an engage or allow targeting allies; some deal damage without targeting.

Turn: During a battle round, each unit takes a turn. Some abilities are limited to a number of uses per turn; that limit resets at the start of each unit's turn (not just the turn of the unit that can resolve the ability).

Non-Standard Tenacity Results

An adventurer only gains tenacity for dice results they rolled during an engage, regardless of whose turn it is. Adventurers do not gain tenacity when instructed to exhaust dice or place dice in their cooldown track with a tenacity result faceup.

Temporary Stat Adjustments

When an effect temporarily adjusts a unit's stat, treat that stat's value as the value it was changed to. If the unit is an adventurer, do not add or adjust tokens on their mat.

Gaining and Losing Health (HP)

When an effect increases a unit's Health stat, that unit gains HP chips equal to the difference. If a unit's Health stat decreases below its current HP, remove HP down to the new maximum. When an effect adds HP chips in excess of a unit's Health stat (but does not change the stat), those chips remain until the next End of Battle Cleanup. A unit can only gain HP in excess of its Health stat if the effect specifically allows it.

Rounding

If a game effect requires rounding but does not specify how, round down.

Unit Relationships

A unit is any chip with the following: it has stats, abilities, or both; and it either takes its own turn on the battle map or is controlled during another unit's turn. Chips used for tracking that do not have these characteristics are not units. All units fall under 2 categories: party and enemy. These 2 categories, in relation to one another, are opposing units. Units that are not opposing cannot target one another unless an effect allows it.

Enemies: All opposing units to the party are enemies, regardless of level. Some party units can be temporarily designated as enemies by game effects.
Party: Can include both adventurer and companion units, collectively called party members.
- Adventurers: Each player-created adventurer is a party member. If an effect's value is determined using the party size icon, it is based only on the number of adventurers.
- Companions: A unit under the ongoing control of the party or a specific adventurer, gained through encounter text or adventurer abilities (enemy chips and quest units can become companions). A companion is a party member but not an adventurer (not affected by adventurer abilities, not counted toward party size). It begins each battle at its maximum HP unless stated. If defeated, it is removed from the party permanently (its chip placed with other undeployed chips of its type). If the controlling adventurer is defeated, the companion remains in play under that player's control. If all adventurers are defeated, the encounter ends and remaining companions are removed (not treated as defeated).
"You": Overland cards, side quest cards, and quest steps use "you" for the party collectively. Class cards, item cards, skill abilities, and similar effects use "you" for the individual adventurer.

Companion Turns

Companions take their turns immediately after all adventurers. The party decides the order. If a companion is controlled by the party, the party decides which player controls it during its turn. During its turn, a companion typically moves, resolves its skills, and engages.

Companion Turn Sequence (moving and engaging are optional):

Start of Turn: Trigger abilities with this timing, such as status effects or skill dice on the companion.
Move: Move the companion up to 2 hexes, as chosen (it does not follow normal enemy movement priorities).
Engage: a. Determine Target(s): choose targetable units in sight and range (a companion's targeting priority icon is ignored). b. Gather and Roll Dice: roll all Combat dice (a companion rolls enemy Combat dice). c. Resolve the Roll against each target. d. Units React.
End of Turn: Trigger abilities with this timing.

Companion Skills: Most companions have 1 or more skills from the Enemy Skills Reference. Unlike moving and engaging, resolving a companion's skills is not optional; each must be resolved at its specified timing (if able). If a companion engages multiple targets, each is affected by each relevant skill.

Jailbreak Introduction Encounter

You awaken in a dark, rough-walled holding cell somewhere in Tamriel. You've been imprisoned for some charge or another, protesting your innocence in vain all the while. As you resign yourself to some time behind bars, a weathered-looking Redguard approaches your cell, clutching a key. His name is Bodean, and he represents a guild called the Outer Watch. He believes you have potential, and he needs help: a Wood Elf named Deslandra has gone rogue, deciding that for justice to truly come to Tamriel, the only solution is to get rid of magic completely. His key turns in the lock, and he's gone. But before you decide how to make your way in Tamriel, you must first escape.

Players can choose to start the game with their adventurers fighting to escape imprisonment. This encounter introduces the battle rules and acts as the final step of adventurer creation. The achievements of the adventurers in this battle then determine their available class options.

Battle Setup

The Jailbreak Introduction encounter is a clash, played on a battle map made from 2 tile shapes. To set up:

Follow the Setup Procedure with these exceptions: Do not fill the level 1/5 enemy draw bag; instead place only these 5 level 1 enemies in it: High Elf Bandit, Argonian Bandit, Skeever Pup, Skeleton, and Spriggan. Do not set the Day Dial. Set the XP Dial to 1 instead of 2.
Place the clash tile and connect the smaller entrance tile as shown. Place the cache chip in the hex shown.
Draw and deploy 1 enemy chip from the level 1/5 bag for each adventurer (equivalent to an EP based on a party XP of 1). Deploy each enemy with its level 1 (black border) side faceup in the next numbered hex starting with Hex 1, with HP chips equal to its Health stat.
Deploy each adventurer to a hex on the smaller entrance tile (first player token first, then clockwise). Each adventurer sets their battle form.
Set the Round Counter die to 1.

Playing the Battle

The Jailbreak Introduction encounter has a unique objective: the adventurers must either defeat all enemies on the map or all undefeated adventurers must escape. An adventurer may escape at the start of their turn if they occupy 1 of the green hexes at the far end of the clash tile. Remove that adventurer from the map; their turn ends and they take no further turns. The battle ends at the end of a round if all enemies are defeated, all adventurers are defeated, or all undefeated adventurers have escaped.

Achievements Checklist

Note which adventurer completes each achievement (each can complete multiple, or none):

Defeat High Elf Bandit
Defeat Argonian Bandit
Defeat Skeever Pup
Defeat Skeleton
Defeat Spriggan
Succeed at Cache Lockpick
Escape First
Take the First Turn
Take the Last Turn
First to Take Damage from an Enemy at Range 2+
First to Take Damage from an Enemy at Range 1

End of Battle Cleanup

Follow the end of battle cleanup steps, but place all level 1/5 enemy chips into their bag (instead of only the 5 used) and all level 10/20 enemy chips into their bag. Remove and exhaust any remaining skill dice from active slots and recover drained dice. Leave skill, status, light fatigue, or overfatigue dice in the cooldown track. Keep any tenacity and items gained (unless you decide not to base your class choice on your achievements).

Class Rewards

Instead of XP, this battle rewards each adventurer with a choice of classes based on their achievements. Each adventurer chooses 1 of those classes. Some classes are only available in the Valenwood (VW) expansion. An adventurer with fewer than 2 classes to choose from must wait until each other adventurer has chosen, then shuffles all other sheets and draws until they have 2 (including any earned) and chooses 1. If all adventurers were defeated, shuffle all class sheets; each adventurer draws 2 and chooses 1.

Defeat High Elf Bandit: Arcanist (VW); Sorcerer
Defeat Argonian Bandit: Acrobat; Scout
Defeat Skeever Pup: Nightblade; Warden
Defeat Skeleton: Necromancer; Spellsword
Defeat Spriggan: Pilgrim; Templar
Succeed at Cache Lockpick: Burglar (VW); Rogue
Escape First: Bard; Ranger (VW)
Take the First Turn: Dragonknight
Take the Last Turn: Healer
First to Take Damage from an Enemy at Range 2+: Archer
First to Take Damage from an Enemy at Range 1: Knight

Choosing a Non-Achievement Class: If an adventurer does not want any earned class, they can choose from the classes remaining after each other adventurer has chosen. They must lose any tenacity and discard any items gained during the battle to do so.

Completing Setup

After completing the battle and choosing classes, each player has created their adventurer. Leave the Day Dial unset. Set the XP Dial to its 2 position (leave each adventurer's saved XP tracker at 0). After the Jailbreak Introduction encounter, this temporary refuge with the party's new guild acts like an inn action: each adventurer heals to maximum HP and clears all dice from their cooldown track. Return to the setup procedure and resume at step 7, "Set up a guild quest."

The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era Rulebook

Table of Contents

How to Use this Book
Introduction
- Game Overview
- Foundation Rules
Components
Game Setup
Adventurer Rules
Game Phases
Battle Rules
Additional Rules
Jailbreak Introduction Encounter

How to Use this Book

Introduction

Game Overview

Foundation Rules

All of the game's rules are built on the following underlying principles:

This rulebook and its accompanying gazetteers are the definitive source of rules information. If published rules sources are in disagreement, the order of precedence is as follows:

Officially-published errata.
The text on a card or other game component (such as a skill line reference sheet or item card).
The gazetteer for the current province.
This rulebook.
Officially-published tutorials and videos.

If a component's effect uses the word "cannot," that effect cannot be overruled by another game effect.

If a card or other game component's effects are in disagreement with each other and neither uses "cannot," the party may decide which to resolve and which to ignore.

The word "may" always indicates a choice.

Check the game's official frequently asked questions at chiptheorygames.com/support for any corrections to rules or components.

Components

Game Setup

The recommended play area for this game is at least 3' x 4' (90cm x 120cm).

Setup Procedure

Choose a province: Select a province for your session. Each province is represented by an overland map and gazetteer. If continuing a campaign, you must select the province determined by your previous session. Note: If this is your first session of your first campaign, it is strongly recommended you select Black Marsh as your starting province.
- Overland Map: Place the province's overland map to one side of the play area. Your party's overland movement is tracked here.
- Gazetteer: Set aside the province's gazetteer. You will refer to this book during play for its province effect, dungeon map, town entries, and quest steps.
Set up dice, chips, tokens, and pegs: Set the dice and chip storage trays near the play area. Sort the circular attribute tokens, square stat tokens, and circular overland tokens by type. Set the pegs aside. Place all skill line tokens in the trainer bag. Note: If playing a solo game, it is recommended to remove duplicate copies of each skill line's circular token.
- Enemy Chips: Gather the black double-sided enemy chips and separate them into stacks by level (the number printed in the center). Level 1 and level 5 enemies share opposite sides of the same chip, as do level 10 and level 20. Enemies with two-letter codes under their names can only appear in the province with those initials. Place the separated stacks into the enemy bags: Level 1 (black border)/Level 5 (green border) go in the level 1/5 bag; Level 10 (purple border)/Level 20 (red border) go in the level 10/20 bag. For your first game, it is strongly recommended you play the Jailbreak Introduction encounter—if you do, place only the level 1 enemies listed on page 92 in the level 1/5 bag and set aside all others.
Set up card decks: Place all skill line reference sheets in the card tray. Prepare each deck:
- Side Quest Deck: Shuffle all side quest cards together.
- Overland Decks: There are 2 overland decks: Peaceful and Conflict. Each overland card is marked with the icon for its type and a code with either the province's initials or "GE" for general. To set up each deck, shuffle all 10 general cards of that type and draw 4. Then take the 8 cards of that type from the province you're playing in and shuffle them together with the 4 general cards you drew, so all cards' story sides are faceup.
- Delve Deck: Each delve card is marked with the province's initials or "GE" for general. Remove all special cards marked with "SP" from the delve cards associated with your province. Then shuffle the remaining province delve cards with all of the general delve cards. Refer to the Delve Feature section of the relevant gazetteer for additional province-specific setup.
- Item Decks: There are 2 item decks: the Common and the Legendary. Shuffle each deck separately.
Set up map tiles, journal, and dials: Take the neoprene map tiles and sort them by shape. Set aside the large double-sided clash tile and the 5-hex, light green entrance tile. The remaining tiles are delve tiles; shuffle each stack facedown and place them together.
- Campaign Journal: If this is your first session, choose a party leader who records party progress. If players wish to name their adventurers, the party leader records them.
- XP and Day Dials: The XP Dial tracks the party's gained XP and determines the strength of enemies in battle. The Day Dial tracks quest days. Place both dial chips into the sockets of the magnetic chip holder. If you play the Jailbreak Introduction encounter, rotate the XP Dial to 1; otherwise set it to 2. The Day Dial remains unset until later.
Choose game difficulty: Difficulty level affects several parts of the game. Select from the options below.
Set up adventurers: Each player takes an adventurer mat and sets up their adventurer.
- First Session of a Campaign: Each player creates an adventurer (see Adventurer Creation). For your first game, it is strongly recommended you also play the Jailbreak Introduction encounter, then return to proceed.
- Continuing a Campaign: Set up your adventurer as they were at the end of the previous session.
Set up guild quest: Refer to its first quest step in the gazetteer. Set aside any quest unit chips described there. Place the party token in the starting location on the overland map. Also place any overland tokens in their starting locations.
- First Session of a Campaign: Shuffle the Guild Deck and draw 3 cards, then choose 1. This card determines the guild you are contracted with; each guild has 1 quest in each province. Each guild card contains a description and a special town action for the town's guild kiosk. Return unchosen guild cards to the box; place the chosen card faceup near the overland map.
- Later Sessions of a Campaign: Your next guild quest is determined at the end of the previous session.

After completing setup, proceed to the first day and begin playing your session!

Choosing a Starting Quest

Difficulty Levels

Apprentice (easiest): Adventurers remove 2 dice from their cooldown track and heal for 2 HP during the Adventurers Rest step at the end of each day. Quest steps also occasionally contain modified rules for this difficulty.
Adept (average): Adventurers remove 1 die from their cooldown track and heal for 1 HP during the Adventurers Rest step.
Expert (hardest): Adventurers gain 2 fatigue for each additional engage action in battle. To resolve their individual Adventurers Rest step, an adventurer must discard an item. Adventurers remove 1 die from their cooldown track and heal for 1 HP during the Adventurers Rest step.

Province Codes

Each province has a 2-letter abbreviation appearing on cards and enemy chips:

BM: Black Marsh
CY: Cyrodiil
EL: Elsweyr (expansion province)
HF: Hammerfell (expansion province)
HR: High Rock
MW: Morrowind
SK: Skyrim
SU: Summerset (expansion province)
VW: Valenwood (expansion province)

Adventurer Rules

Adventurers are the player characters of the game. Your adventurer mat displays everything that makes up your adventurer and defines their capabilities.

Adventurer Mat Anatomy

Race Reference Sheet: Shows the innate ability and starting stats for the adventurer's race. The adventurer chip is placed here between battles.
Attribute Rows: Each row has 2 circular attribute slots (1 at each end) and 6 square slots between them. Stats, skill line tokens, and skill dice are placed here.
Skill Reference Sheets: Describe the abilities for each skill line the adventurer is trained in.
Cooldown Track: Dice are placed here as the adventurer exhausts their skill dice or gains fatigue and status effect dice.
Cooldown Stat: The number of dice removed from the cooldown track each turn, marked by a peg.
Tenacity: Rolled tenacity results are tracked here with a peg as they are gained and spent to resolve class abilities.
Battle Forms: The current battle form is marked with a peg next to its icon.
Active Slots: Dice placed here are active and have ongoing effects.
Saved XP: Individual unspent XP is tracked here with a peg.
Class Reference Sheet: Shows the adventurer's innate class and tenacity abilities.
Inventory Ready Slots: Up to 4 ready item cards, the only items usable in battle.
Inventory Pack Area: Up to 8 total items (including ready items). Items not in ready slots are stacked on the race reference sheet and cannot be used in battle.

Adventurer Creation

Each player creates a unique adventurer at the outset of the first session of a campaign.

Select Race: Select a race sheet and corresponding adventurer chip. Place the sheet along the left or right side of your mat, and the chip in the art area at the top. Each race's sheets and chips are double-sided (2 sheets per race, allowing up to 2 players to play the same race).
Add Stats: Take the circular attribute tokens for Health, Stamina, and Magicka shown on your race's sheet and place them in the circular slots. The Health token has a numeric value; flip it to match the starting value. The Stamina and Magicka tokens have no numeric value—place a number of square stat tokens of each stat's color equal to its starting value in the square slots, starting closest to the corresponding circular token. Note: If you place 2 attributes in opposing circular slots in the same row, advancements gained in one attribute will limit the potential advancements available to the other.
Add Combat Skill Line: Take the Combat skill line's circular token and place it in an open slot. Add the number of Combat skill dice shown on your race sheet to that row's square slots.
Add Starting Skill Line: Choose 1 other skill line. Place its circular token in an open attribute slot and add 2 of that line's level 1 skill dice. For your first game, it is recommended each player chooses one of the following (dealing damage is crucial): Bow (ranged battle form), Destruction Staff (magic battle form), One Hand and Shield (light weapon battle form), or Two Handed (heavy weapon battle form).
Place Pegs: Place a peg in the battle form tracker matching your chosen starting skill line, another above the cooldown track matching your race's starting Cooldown stat, and 2 more in the leftmost slots of your tenacity and Saved XP trackers.
Choose Class: Choose a method to determine starting classes. Place your class sheet with its novice side faceup along the opposite side of your mat from your race sheet. This is a permanent choice.
- Jailbreak Introduction Encounter: Choose from available class options based on your achievements (see page 92). Recommended for your first campaign.
- Open Choice: Choose 1 of the available class sheets.

Peoples of Tamriel

Stats

Health: This stat's attribute token has a base value added to its red square tokens. HP chips are stacked underneath an adventurer's chip and removed to show damage taken. The Health stat's total limits the value of HP chips. Red chips represent 1 HP; white chips represent 5 HP. An adventurer is defeated when they lose their last HP. If your Health stat increases, immediately gain HP chips equal to the difference; if it decreases below your current HP, remove HP down to the new maximum. When HP chips are lost, they are removed one at a time starting with the bottom-most chip. Bonus HP is separate and can exceed your Health stat.
Stamina: Tracked by green square tokens; represents capacity to move and roll dice for physical skills. Stamina limits movement and explore action distance, engage action range, and number of dice you can roll.
Magicka: Tracked by blue square tokens; represents capacity to roll dice for spellcasting skills and those skills' range. Not all adventurers require Magicka, so unlike other stats it may be untrained. Magicka limits engage action range and number of dice you can roll while in magic battle form.

Component Limits

Limited Components (resolve as described when they run out):

Stat and Skill Line Tokens: If none remain, that type cannot be added to a mat.
Skill Dice: If none remain, those dice cannot be added to a mat.
Enemy Combat Dice: If none remain, no additional enemy Combat dice can be added to an engage.
Fatigue Dice: If no silver fatigue dice remain, black overfatigue dice are placed instead; if no overfatigue remain, no fatigue dice are placed.
Status Dice: If none remain, no status die is applied.
Units: If none of a specific type/name remains and the ability does not specify how to reuse, it cannot be drawn or deployed.
Cache Chips: If none remain, that chip is not placed.
Race and Class Sheets, and Adventurer Chips: If none remain, that sheet (and chip) cannot be added.

Unlimited Components: HP chips are treated as unlimited; if none remain, use other components to track them.

Skills

Skill Lines

Skill dice are grouped into skill lines and ranked by level. Skill lines are divided into three of Tamriel's major constellations, shown at the bottom of reference sheets:

Mage: blue, 1 pip.
Thief: yellow, 2 pips.
Warrior: red, 3 pips.

Combat

Cooldown Track

Cooldown Stat

Recovering Dice

Fatigue

Fatigue dice are placed in your cooldown track when you gain fatigue. There are 2 types (if an effect refers to fatigue without specifying, it can apply to either):

Light Fatigue (silver): When removed from the cooldown track, returned to the supply. If no silver dice are in the supply when light fatigue is gained, gain overfatigue instead.
Overfatigue (black): When it would be removed during the Recovery step, it is instead placed in the track's leftmost open position. Overfatigue in the track deals damage during fatigue rounds. It can only be removed during the Adventurers Rest step, by an inn town action, or by a game effect/special ability.

Active Slots

Race Reference Sheet

Class Reference Sheet

A class has 2 types of abilities:

A unique innate ability at the top, providing a passive, ongoing bonus at its specified timing (no tenacity cost).
Several class abilities triggered by spending or retaining tenacity, each with its required amount.

Triggering Class Abilities

Each class ability has a timing. Bolded timing keywords:

Enduring: Does not require tenacity to be spent; active while your tenacity is equal to or greater than the required value.
Interrupt: May be triggered according to its text's timing. If another ability or effect would resolve, the interrupt is resolved first. If 2 interrupt abilities would resolve at once, the party decides.

Tenacity

Inventory

Item Cards

Item Subtypes

There are 8 item subtypes:

Armor: Grants benefits while its owner is being engaged. Each has a standard ability resolved when an enemy engages the adventurer, plus a secondary overtax ability. Choose whether to use an ability (including overtax) before damage is dealt. Each armor's trait is the body area worn; an adventurer can have only 1 armor of each trait in ready slots.
Weapons: Provide advantages in battle, often interacting with skills. Each has a standard ability resolved as part of an engage, plus a secondary overtax ability. An adventurer can use only 1 weapon per engage; choose whether to use its effect (including overtax) before dice are rolled.
Enchantments: Augment or reshape the rules of the game. Each describes the game component it affects (e.g. "Enchant adventurer"). When triggered, the card is placed near or tucked under the affected component and affects it until discarded or the session ends. While active, it is treated as part of the component, not the adventurer's inventory.
Consumables: Represent foods and beverages. Each can be used once, then discarded. Consumables often benefit multiple party members. If discarded during the Adventurers Rest step (required in Expert Mode), the adventurer may also resolve its effects (if applicable).
Potions: Powerful, ability-altering concoctions. Each has an expend keyword ability allowing multiple uses; each use expends the card (turned on its side), which must be refreshed before reuse.
Clothing: Grants additional utility. Each item adds an additional class ability, triggered as an action during battle by spending tenacity.
Miscellaneous: A broad range of abilities that do not use the other subtypes' mechanics. Each functions as described.
Pets: Protect adventurers from harmful effects. However, each time the adventurer resolves a pet ability, they add an HP chip on top of the card. A pet with HP chips must be discarded after its HP limit is reached or the session ends. These chips cannot be removed unless an ability refers to them. A pet may be placed in your pack when gained, but once placed in a ready slot, it cannot go back into the pack.

Item Traits: Traits do not have specific rules (except armor traits) and only interact with abilities that refer to them by name.

Item Keywords:

Expend: The item is reusable but must be refreshed after each use. When used, the card is rotated sideways to show it is expended. An expended item still takes an inventory slot but cannot be used until refreshed (by visiting an alchemy station in town).
Overtax: Appears as a sub-header on an item's secondary ability (typically weapons/armor). When you trigger an item's standard ability, you may also trigger its overtax (but cannot trigger overtax without the standard ability). If you do, after the engage and both abilities resolve, that item must be discarded.

Advancements

When an adventurer improves their stats or skills, it is an advancement. Some require spending XP during the Reward Phase's Gain Advancements step; some are triggered by game effects.

Increase an Attribute: Spend the required XP to add a stat token or skill die to an open square slot in that attribute's row. Each additional token/die must be added to the open square slot closest to the side with that attribute's circular token. The attribute cost is shown at the top of that slot's column—use the white box when increasing from the left side, the black box from the right side. If any of that skill line's dice are in the cooldown track (or drained), the cost equals that of the rightmost (or leftmost) open slot the new die would be placed in if all dice were available. To add a skill die you must have trained that skill line. To add a skill die of levels 2–4, you must also have at least 1 other die in the same line that is the same level as, or 1 level below, the new die.
Increase Cooldown Stat: Move your peg to the next open slot along the cooldown track. Spend XP equal to your new Cooldown stat value (printed above the next slot). Increase one slot at a time; you may increase it multiple times during the same Reward Phase.
Increase Tenacity: Spend 1 XP to increase your current tenacity. This is not a permanent increase. If your unspent XP exceeds 3 at the end of the Gain Advancements step, that excess must be spent to increase tenacity (if able) or is lost.
Promote Your Class: Flip your class sheet to its master side. To do so, meet the requirement on the novice side (often a battle achievement); when it happens, immediately gain that advancement and flip the sheet.
Add a Skill Line: Add a new skill line to an open circular slot at the side of a row. Visit a trainer during a town encounter and choose a faceup skill line token.
Add Magicka Stat: Unlike other circular stat tokens, you may untrain your Magicka stat. If untrained, you can add it again as if it were a skill line by visiting any trainer.

Game Phases

Each game session is played over a number of rounds called days. Each day is divided into five phases.

New Day Phase

Increase the Day Dial by 1 day. The party starts the session on day 1. No quest can extend beyond 12 days, so if the dial is at 12, that quest will be failed at the end of this day if not completed.

Overland Phase

The party plans its movement and checks for encounters:

Start of Phase: Trigger any effects with this timing.
Move Party: Your party has a base overland movement of 3 (move its token up to 3 adjacent hexes). Some province effects modify this.
- Day 1: On the first day of a session, the party must remain in its starting location and resolve a town encounter (does not apply during an endgame session).
- Fatigue Movement: After using base movement, the party may continue by gaining fatigue for each additional hex. For each additional hex, each adventurer gains 1 light fatigue (or 1 overfatigue if none available). Additional hexes cannot exceed the party's base movement rate. The party must stop if 1 or more adventurers' cooldown tracks are full.
Trigger Encounter: By ending its movement in specific hexes, the party triggers 1 of the following (in descending priority). The encounter is not resolved until the Encounter Phase.
- Quest Encounter: Triggered by the party's current quest step or a side quest card, typically by moving into a specific hex. Quest encounters take precedence over town or overland encounters. If multiple quest encounters trigger at once, guild quest encounters take precedence over side quest encounters.
- Town Encounter: Triggered when the party ends its move in a town's hex. Each adventurer can take 2 town actions.
- Overland Encounter: Triggered when the party moves into a hex with a landmark. Draw an overland card based on the landmark: Peaceful landmark → draw a peaceful encounter card; Conflict landmark → draw a conflict encounter card; Unstable landmark → roll the unstable die and draw the type matching the icon result (if the result is the caravan icon, trigger a town encounter with a traveling caravan instead). If a choice icon on the back of an overland card is the "unstable" version (inside a red circle), it is an unstable choice—if the party is at an unstable landmark, they must resolve it. After completing an encounter at an unstable landmark, each adventurer gains 2 tenacity during the Reward Phase.
Note: It is possible for the party to end its movement in a hex with no icon and trigger no encounter. After the party resolves a peaceful encounter card, set that card aside until the end of the day so its icon can be referred to when activating the province's effect.

Overland Map

Overland Tokens

Party Token: Indicates the party's location on the overland map.
Objective Token: Indicates important objective locations on the overland or battle map.
NPC Token: Indicates NPC location on the overland map.
Counter Token 1 & 2: Indicate the state of overland map tracks (such as Black Marsh's weather).

Party Size

Encounter Phase

Resolving Encounters

A peaceful outcome resolves the encounter without a battle.
A battle outcome is resolved on the battle map. There are 3 modes of battle: clashes, delves, and dungeons (dungeons do not appear on overland cards and have no icon).

Overland Card Anatomy

Front (Story Side): Type (peaceful/conflict icon), Title, Story Text, Province Code and Card Number.

Encounter Results

Town Encounters

Check Town Effect: Resolve this effect if triggered at the start of the encounter.
Reveal Trainer and Shop:
- Shop: Draw common and legendary item cards equal to the shop's values and place faceup. Items not taken are discarded at the end of the encounter.
- Trainer: Draw the number of skill line tokens specified from the trainer bag. If a trainer's constellation icon is faded out, set aside any token of that constellation drawn and redraw, returning set-aside tokens when done. Tokens not taken are returned to the bag.
Complete Side Quests: If the party has side quest cards completable during a town encounter, gain rewards and discard those cards.
Town Actions: Each adventurer can take up to 2 town actions.

Personal Actions: Chosen individually and resolved simultaneously. Using a town feature is a personal action unless noted. An adventurer can spend multiple actions on the same feature, except the town square (once per encounter).
Group Actions: Taken cooperatively (appear with the word "group"). Each adventurer must contribute 1 town action toward a group action.

Town Features

Shop: Offers a selection of items. Lists the number of common and legendary cards drawn. When an adventurer visits, they take 1 drawn card. Remaining faceup cards are discarded after the encounter.
Trainer: Enables adventurers to add skill lines. The gazetteer specifies how many tokens are available. Some trainers only make skill lines of 1 or 2 constellations available.
Inn: The adventurer is healed to maximum HP, removes all light fatigue, overfatigue, and status dice from their cooldown track, and recovers all exhausted and drained skill dice.
Quest Board: Draw 2 side quests and choose whether to accept 1 on behalf of the party. Unchosen cards are discarded.
Guild Kiosk: Enables an adventurer to use their guild's unique town action (described on the guild card).
Town Square: An adventurer may trigger the ability described there (once per encounter). Some abilities are group actions involving all adventurers.
Alchemy Station: An adventurer can refresh 1 expended item here.

If a town feature is faded out and/or marked as closed, it is not present and its actions cannot be taken.

Social Check Sequence:

Gather and Roll Dice: Adventurers with relevant skill dice, usually Speech dice, may gather and roll available dice.
Spend Tenacity: Each adventurer may spend any amount of tenacity. The party can discuss, but each adventurer commits their own.
Resolve the Attempt: Compare the party's total die results and spent tenacity to the difficulty value. If the combined total equals or exceeds the difficulty, you succeed and gain the benefit in addition to the choice's outcome. If less, you fail but still resolve the choice's outcome. Regardless of success, all skill dice rolled in the social check are exhausted.

Reward Phase

The party gains any rewards from the encounter, then updates adventurers in order:

Gain Rewards: Gain all XP or other rewards for succeeding. If you failed, do not gain rewards. The party leader increases the party's total XP on the XP Dial; each player adds this amount to their unspent XP balance (can exceed 3 until the end of the Reward Phase). Bonus XP is not added to the XP Dial but tracked by individual adventurers. Skyshard XP rewards in delves are gained after an encounter with an Uncover objective even if failed, so long as the party was not defeated. If the party's token is at an unstable landmark and completes a peaceful/conflict overland encounter or traveling caravan town encounter, each adventurer gains 2 tenacity regardless of success. Record special achievements (quest keywords, access to closed towns) in the journal.
Untrain: Each adventurer may untrain and remove (at no XP cost) any skill lines, skill dice, or stat tokens to make room. XP spent on untrained advancements is not regained. If skill dice are untrained, slide remaining dice toward the skill line token to fill gaps. The Health and Stamina stats and the Combat skill line cannot be untrained (but their square tokens/dice can be). The Magicka stat can be untrained.
Gain Advancements: Each adventurer may spend XP on advancements. Saved XP cannot exceed 3. At the end of the Reward Phase, each unspent XP in excess of 3 increases your tenacity tracker by 1, up to the maximum.
Track Quests: Track any progress toward quests that requires journal notes, such as tallying encounters.

End of Day Phase

This phase has 2 parts:

Activate Province Effect: Provinces have effects resolved during the End of Day Phase (check the gazetteer). Substeps:
- Refer to the overland icon on the current peaceful overland card. If the party drew one during the Overland Phase, use its icon; otherwise draw one now. Compare the icon to the key in the front of the gazetteer to determine if the province effect activates; if so, resolve it. Some cards have no icon (the effect of this is explained in the province's rules). If multiple icons, resolve each left to right.
- Discard or cycle the current overland card(s). If the party resolved a card's encounter during the Encounter Phase, discard it. If the party drew a separate peaceful overland card for this phase, cycle it to the bottom of the deck.
Adventurers Rest: Adventurers heal, remove dice from cooldown tracks, and exchange items. Important: On Expert difficulty, an adventurer must discard an item to resolve this step (if a consumable, they may resolve its effects before discarding).
- Each adventurer heals HP based on difficulty—including defeated adventurers, who are revived when raised above 0 HP. Apprentice: heal 2 HP. Adept and Expert: heal 1 HP.
- Each adventurer chooses and removes dice from their cooldown track based on difficulty (any type, any position—this is not a Recovery step). Apprentice: remove 2 dice. Adept and Expert: remove 1 die.
- Each adventurer may trade any number of item cards, move items freely between ready slots and pack, and discard items.
- Trigger any effects with "end of day" timing, such as the party's guild assist ability.

This completes your day. Start over at the New Day Phase.

NPC Overland Movement

Quests

Quests are the goals your party is tasked with completing. Quests accepted but not completed or discarded are active quests. There are 2 types: guild quests and side quests.

Guild Quests

Side Quests

Side Quest Card Anatomy: Title, Story Text, Instructions Text, Clash Setup Diagram, Battle Info, Completion and Rewards Text, Card Number.

Ending the Session

Campaign Journal

Campaigns

The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era is best played as a campaign across 3 game sessions.

Successfully Completing a Session

During the day the party succeeds at its guild quest, complete the Reward Phase but skip the End of Day Phase, then the session ends. To record progress and store adventurers:

Read the guild quest's epilogue step. This wraps up the story and gives instructions for choosing the province and quest for the next session.
- Session 1: Choose 1 of the available guild quest options from this session's epilogue and note it in the journal's Session 2 Quest section.
- Session 2: Read the Session 2-specific lore text introducing the Session 3 endgame. The endgame always takes place in the same province as Session 2.
The party leader records other relevant info, including the XP Dial value. All uncompleted side quests are discarded. Discard all set-aside cards with persistent effects, and cross out persistent effects logged in the journal (persistent effects last only for the session gained unless stated otherwise).
Each adventurer: Return all HP chips (including bonus HP) to the supply (adventurers start the next session at full HP with no bonus HP). Recover all skill dice and discard all fatigue/status dice from the cooldown track. Keep your saved XP and Cooldown stat at current values. Reset tenacity to 0. Keep your class sheet on its current side. Discard any class-related additional effects/components (such as the Necromancer's Necrosis Stack or the Warden's companions), all expended items, any item with HP chips, and any active item cards. You retain other item cards.
Each player places their sheets and cards on their mat and stacks it into their storage tray. The party leader stores the campaign journal.
Disassemble other components, separating province/quest-specific from general components.

Continuing a Campaign — Campaign Setup

Choose Difficulty: You may choose a different difficulty from previous sessions.
Set Up Adventurers: Each player takes their mat, sheets, and cards from storage. Each adventurer starts at full HP, with their saved XP, no tenacity, and all skill dice in their attribute rows. If the class is promoted, place the sheet master side up. The previous party leader places the campaign journal and sets the XP Dial to the correct position.
Set Up Components: Refer to the journal to determine the province and quest. Follow the province gazetteer setup and any additional quest/endgame setup. Leave the XP Dial at its stored position (the Day Dial is reset to 1). Choose a party leader.

Losing the Campaign

Quest Keywords

Major Keywords: Gained from completing a guild quest, providing a benefit to your endgame. You only gain 1 major keyword during a session. Important: If your party uses its guild assist ability during a session, it must record that in the Major Keyword field and cannot gain a major keyword from its guild quest that session.
Minor Keywords: Gained from side quests or other encounters. They can have positive or negative impact on your endgame but are not guaranteed to appear. There is no limit to how many you can gain. If a minor keyword is gained multiple times, record it each time.

Guild Assist

Battle: The party may set the Round Counter to any number it wishes, and revived defeated adventurers are deployed to any unoccupied hex.
End of Day: The party may immediately move its party token up to 6 hexes on the overland map.

After resolving, the party must add the keyword "Guild Assist" in its journal's Major Keywords field for that session and cannot gain the major keyword from its guild quest that session.

Endgame

Endgame Setup:

Read the endgame rules for your province and reset the Day Dial to 1 (or a value assigned by the endgame rules).
Set up the province's map and follow additional setup instructions. Place tokens on each overland track. Do not place a party token on the overland map.
Refer to the endgame section to find your first step.

Endgame Phases: Complete each game phase with these exceptions:

New Day Phase: Advance the Day Dial but do not compare it to the day limit.
Overland Phase: Skip the Move Party step. During the Trigger Encounter step, the party automatically triggers the next endgame encounter in order.
End of Day Phase: Skip the Activate Province Effect step unless instructed. Overland cards are not drawn.

Endgame Encounters: Each is labeled with the day when it is resolved. Complete each in order. Read the encounter and complete setup, then resolve any keyword effects.

Final Victory and Defeat: If your party successfully completes the endgame, you win the campaign! If your party fails (being defeated or failing an objective), your campaign ends in failure.

Battle Rules

When an encounter results in a battle, it is played out on the battle map. It is strongly recommended to leave the center of the play area open.

Modes of Battle

Clash: A sudden battle on a single clash tile for a short, straightforward encounter.
Delve: A battle of exploration where the party reveals and connects additional map tiles by drawing delve cards.
Dungeon: A battle within one of Tamriel's strongholds, using a diagram to set up a multi-tile map with special rules.

Each mode has its own setup rules, but all use the same rules for enemies, the enemy pool, and battle rounds.

Enemies

Enemy Pool

Important: If the battle is part of the session's final quest step, use the end of session difficulty EP instead of calculating EP normally.

Enemy Chip Anatomy

Enemy Image.
Level: Numeric level value determining its value in the EP and turn order, shown by border color: Black = level 1, Green = level 5, Purple = level 10, Red = level 20. Brown = quest unit (no level value; treated as higher than all others for enemy turn order; these chips are white).
Name.
Type: Humanoid, Beast, or Daedra.
Province: Two-letter code for the province the enemy can appear in. Enemies with no code can appear in any province.
Health: Number of HP chips placed under the enemy when deployed (also its full HP). HP chips are removed one at a time from the bottom; when an enemy loses all HP, it is defeated.
Range: The enemy's engage range—the maximum distance at which it can engage an opposing unit.
Combat: The number of enemy Combat dice the enemy rolls, then resolves against each target. The combined value rolled is the damage dealt to each target.
Defense: The amount of damage prevented each time an engage or ability deals damage to the enemy.
Targets: The number of units the enemy can engage during its turn. An enemy cannot engage the same unit more than once per turn. An enemy with multiple targets rolls its Combat dice once and deals the rolled damage to all targets. If the enemy has the all target icon, it engages all possible targets in range.
Priority: Which unit the enemy targets if it has multiple options. Strongest: highest HP (not including bonus HP). Weakest: lowest HP (not including bonus HP). If tied, the party chooses.
Skills: The enemy's skills, each described on the Enemy Skills Reference.

End of Session Difficulty EP

Session 1 Difficulty EP Values:

Apprentice: 1 Player = 13 (13 XP), 2 Players = 26 (13 XP), 3 Players = 42 (14 XP), 4 Players = 56 (14 XP)
Adept: 1 = 16 (16 XP), 2 = 32 (16 XP), 3 = 48 (16 XP), 4 = 64 (16 XP)
Expert: 1 = 18 (18 XP), 2 = 36 (18 XP), 3 = 54 (18 XP), 4 = 72 (18 XP)

Session 2 Difficulty EP Values:

Apprentice: 1 = 27 (27 XP), 2 = 52 (26 XP), 3 = 90 (30 XP), 4 = 120 (30 XP)
Adept: 1 = 29 (29 XP), 2 = 58 (29 XP), 3 = 96 (32 XP), 4 = 128 (32 XP)
Expert: 1 = 33 (33 XP), 2 = 64 (32 XP), 3 = 102 (34 XP), 4 = 132 (33 XP)

Session 3 Difficulty EP Values:

Apprentice: 1 = 32 (32 XP), 2 = 62 (31 XP), 3 = 96 (32 XP), 4 = 128 (32 XP)
Adept: 1 = 34 (34 XP), 2 = 68 (34 XP), 3 = 102 (34 XP), 4 = 136 (34 XP)
Expert: 1 = 37 (37 XP), 2 = 74 (37 XP), 3 = 111 (37 XP), 4 = 152 (38 XP)

Battle Setup

Each battle is set up by placing tiles, placing cache tokens, deploying enemies, then deploying adventurers. General setup steps:

Set Up the Battle Map: Refer to the mode of battle's rules. After setup, trigger abilities with "before battle" timing. (Clash: place the clash tile and connect the entrance tile. Delve: place only the entrance tile. Dungeon: assemble per the setup diagram and connect the entrance tile.)
Place Cache Chips: In a clash or dungeon, place each common or legendary cache chip in the hexes shown. In a delve, cache chips are not placed at setup.
Deploy Enemies: In a clash or dungeon, calculate an enemy pool and deploy. In a delve, enemies are not deployed at setup.
Deploy Adventurers: Deploy each adventurer to the entrance tile. Choose an adventurer to take the first player token; deploy their chip to any single hex. Deploy each other adventurer in clockwise order (this becomes the permanent turn order). Each adventurer may set their battle form and choose ready items when deployed. In a clash/dungeon, ignore the explorable icon on the entrance tile's hexes; in a delve, an adventurer in those hexes may explore and connect the next tile at the start of their first turn.
Deploy Companions: If adventurers have companions deployed during setup, deploy them to the entrance tile in player turn order. If no unoccupied hexes remain, set undeployed companions next to the entrance tile (they can enter later).
Set Round Counter: Set the Round Counter die to 1. Then begin battle rounds. Trigger skills with "start of battle" timing now.

Battle Rounds

Round Sequence

Start of Round: Increase the Round Counter by 1 (skip during the first round) and trigger abilities with this timing. After Round 5, set the Round Counter to the fatigue round icon. This is a fatigue round; unless the counter is reduced to 5 or lower, each subsequent round is a fatigue round. For any effect depending on round number, all fatigue rounds are considered Round 6.
- Fatigue Damage: At the start of each fatigue round, each adventurer gains 1 overfatigue die. Then each adventurer is dealt true damage equal to the total number of overfatigue in their cooldown track.
Adventurer Turns: Each adventurer takes their turn, starting with the first player and continuing clockwise.
Companion Turns: If the party has companions, each takes a turn in the order the party chooses. Undeployed companions can be deployed when they would take a turn, if there is an unoccupied entrance hex.
Enemy Turns: Each enemy takes a turn, starting with the highest-level enemy downward. If multiple enemies share a level, the party decides the order.
End of Round: Trigger effects with this timing. Determine whether the encounter is complete (if so, the battle ends). The party may retreat and end the encounter at this time.

Map Definitions

Adjacent: Hexes are adjacent when they share a common edge. Battle map tiles are adjacent when at least 1 hex on a tile is adjacent to at least 1 on the other tile.
Closest: The route consisting of the fewest hexes between features/tokens.
Farthest: The route consisting of the most hexes between features/tokens.
Impassable: A hex is impassable when a rule specifies it, or it contains an obstacle. Red hexes in clash/dungeon setup diagrams are impassable (cover with a facedown tile). Impassable hexes cannot contain chips; if a chip's hex becomes impassable, move the chip to the closest unoccupied hex. A unit cannot move through an impassable hex; distance and range cannot be counted through them; they cannot be targeted or affected.
Occupied/Unoccupied: A hex is occupied when it contains a unit (or overland token). A unit cannot be deployed to or move through a hex occupied by another unit. Battle map hexes with only cache chips are unoccupied. On the overland map, a token can move into or through an occupied hex (unlike the battle map). Some abilities allow moving through occupied hexes, but a unit cannot end movement in an occupied hex (it is instead placed in the closest unoccupied hex).
Range (distance): Measured by counting hexes between two hexes, including the destination, regardless of occupation. A unit is always within range of itself. An adventurer's range is defined by their current battle form; an enemy's range equals its range stat.
Sight: A unit has sight to another unit (or hex) if both are on the same tile or an adjacent tile. A unit is always in sight of itself.
Target: A unit can be a target if it is opposing and in sight and range of the other unit.
Toward: Move as close as possible to the component along the shortest route. If multiple routes, the party chooses.

Retreating from Battle

Adventurer Turns

During your turn, follow these steps:

Start of Turn: Trigger any abilities with this timing.
Recovery: Remove dice from your cooldown track equal to your Cooldown stat, starting from the left; slide remaining dice left. Skills: recover and place in attribute rows. Fatigue: discard light fatigue; remove overfatigue and replace at the leftmost open position. Status Effects: discard status dice.
Adventurer Actions: Perform 1 or more actions in any order. Resolve each action before performing another. Some actions prevent others, but there is no hard limit to the number of actions.
End of Turn: Trigger any abilities with this timing, then proceed to the next unit.

Actions

Move: Move a number of hexes up to your Stamina. For each hex, move to 1 unoccupied, adjacent hex. An ability granting free movement is not a move action. A move action ends when you cannot or choose not to move more. You may perform move actions up to twice per turn: if you perform no engage actions, you may take a second move action; if you take a second move, you cannot perform any engage that turn. You cannot move if you have explored that turn (and vice versa). Movement can be interrupted by abilities or events (resolved after moving into the triggering hex)—for example, triggering an exploration or lockpick check.
Engage: Roll a number of available skill dice up to your Stamina or Magicka, as appropriate. Adventurers may engage multiple times per turn but are limited by dice and fatigue. After your first engage each turn, gain 1 light fatigue for each additional engage (2 on Expert). You may perform a move action before or after an engage, but not both.
Class Ability: Any number of times per turn, spend the required tenacity to trigger a class ability. Each non-enduring class ability must be triggered at its correct timing and only once per turn.
Explore (delve only): Once per turn, explore a hex from a distance up to your Stamina.

Engage (detailed)

To perform an engage action (also used when an ability instructs an engage outside an engage action):

Gain Fatigue: If this is your first engage this turn, skip. For each additional engage, gain 1 light fatigue (2 on Expert).
Choose Battle Form: Declare the battle form you will use. You may change forms by marking the new form on your mat. Your battle form determines your range and the dice that can be rolled.
Declare Target: Skill dice that deal damage require you to choose a target. Choose only 1 target unit per engage (unless an ability specifies); the target must be in sight and range for your current battle form. Choosing a target is optional. If declared, that unit is being engaged by that adventurer.
Gather and Roll Dice: Gather dice to roll, limited by your Stamina and Magicka stats (each die counts toward its own stat's limit). Gather skill dice only if available and if they have no battle form icon or match your current form. Combat dice can be gathered with any battle form except magic. You may gather dice based on different stats. If an ability adds free Combat dice, enemy Combat dice are used instead of Combat skill dice (they do not count against your stats but are treated as Combat dice for other effects). If you have a ready weapon item matching your form, you may choose 1 item's abilities to resolve. Then roll all dice together. If you gather no dice, the remaining engage steps are still completed for triggering other abilities.
Resolve the Roll: a. Determine results to resolve (you are not required to resolve a die's result; some abilities allow modifying by rerolling/changing before resolving other abilities). b. Resolve abilities one at a time in the order you choose. If an ability deals damage, total all damage dealt to each unit by that ability and deal it one unit at a time. Keep track of total damage dealt to a unit during this engage, as it reduces that unit's defense (which does not reset until the action ends). To resolve a die with a tenacity result, exhaust that die and increase your tenacity by 1. Enemy Combat dice added as free dice must be discarded after resolving (and cannot be placed in an active slot while in defensive form; they cannot be resolved to add tenacity). Any die with a tenacity result you chose not to resolve must be exhausted.
Units React: Enemies, adventurers, or companions may resolve abilities triggered after this engage. Enemies must resolve these abilities, if able.

Active Slot: Place the die in 1 of your active slots (or another adventurer's, if specified). Resolved as described, typically by reducing the die's value or removing it. When removed, it is exhausted unless specified otherwise.
Cooldown Track: The die is exhausted. Its ability is typically ongoing until removed from the cooldown track. If you decide not to resolve a result, place it in your cooldown track face up (without gaining tenacity).
Drained: The die's ability is resolved instantly, then placed on the race sheet, unavailable for the remainder of the battle (drained).
Instant: Resolved instantly, then the die is exhausted.
Status Effect: Placed in a unique manner (e.g. on an enemy or in a hex), resolved as described. When removed from its position, it is exhausted unless specified. Quest units cannot gain status effects from adventurer abilities.

Class Ability (action)

Explore (action)

Battle Form

Battle form icons appear on skill lines, abilities, and weapon items. During an engage, your battle form limits the dice that can be rolled together and sets your range:

Light Weapon: Adjacent only. Melee engages using single-handed skills (One Hand and Shield).
Heavy Weapon: Adjacent only. Melee engages using double-handed skills (Two Handed).
Defensive: No range. Using the Combat skill to prevent damage instead of deal it, or setting up defensive skills such as Heavy Armor.
Ranged Weapon: Non-adjacent up to max Stamina. Ranged engages using skills such as Bow. Adjacent units cannot be targeted; range is counted as normal.
Magic: Up to max Magicka. Engages using Magicka such as Destruction Staff. Combat dice cannot be gathered with this form.

When dice from skill lines with no battle form are rolled, their range is specified by each ability's text or, if unspecified, follows the range of your current battle form.

Preventing Damage

Units can use many skills or abilities to prevent damage they are dealt:

If an ability prevents an amount of damage, that amount is subtracted 1 point at a time; remaining damage reduces the unit's HP.
Damage that is prevented was still dealt, but cannot trigger abilities that require damage to be taken.
Abilities that prevent damage can only be triggered in battle unless their text specifies otherwise.
If multiple abilities can prevent damage, the unit's controller chooses the order.

Damage Language and Type

Physical Damage: Referred to simply as "damage." Damage is physical unless otherwise specified.
True Damage: Only dealt by specified effects, such as overfatigue damage. True damage cannot be prevented or reduced unless an ability specifically affects true damage. True damage ignores bonus HP and reduces the unit's HP instead.

Enemy Turns

Enemy Turn Sequence:

Start of Turn: Trigger abilities with this timing, such as status effects.
Move: Move up to 2 hexes. The enemy moves only if there are no targetable units in its range. If it must move, it moves toward the closest hex where at least 1 targetable unit would be in range and sight.
Engage: a. Determine Target(s): target a number of opposing units up to its target value, in range and sight, per its priority icon (if tied, the party chooses). b. Gather and Roll Dice: roll all Combat dice; if engaging multiple targets, roll once and resolve for each. c. Resolve the Roll: deal the rolled damage against each target, starting with highest priority (if tied, party decides). d. Units React.
End of Turn: Trigger abilities with this timing.

Defeat

A unit is defeated when it loses its last HP chip or an effect states it is defeated. The defeated unit is removed from the map and cannot take turns.

Defeated Enemies: Placed on top of the defeated enemy stack. Quest units or objective units are set aside instead.
Defeated Adventurers: Place their chip on their race sheet. Dice in active slots are removed and exhausted; dice in the cooldown track remain. A defeated adventurer cannot take turns or gain fatigue/overfatigue. Item cards remain but cannot be used. A defeated adventurer can be affected only by friendly abilities that specifically apply to a defeated adventurer. When their HP is raised above 0, they are revived and deployed to an unoccupied hex as described by the reviving ability.
Full Party Defeat: If your entire party is defeated, the encounter ends after the current round unless the party triggers its guild assist. Treat as a failed encounter: 1. Place the party token in the closest town. 2. Resolve the Reward Phase. 3. Resolve the End of Day Phase's Adventurers Rest step (on Expert, adventurers heal 1 HP even without discarding an item, but still must discard an item to recover a die).

Status Effects

Cache Chips

Lockpicking

Difficulty Codes: A difficulty code has:

Attempts: The number of times an adventurer may roll the lockpick dice (3 D6) during a check. The max attempts for an item is the top number on the back of the item card; for traps, shown in parentheses.
Digits: 3 or more digits, each valued 1–6, that the adventurer must match. A Key Digit (spiked border) must be matched first before matching other digits (typically only on legendary items).

Lockpick Sequence:

Roll: Gather and roll your chosen number of lockpick dice. On your first attempt, roll all 3. During additional attempts, you may keep 1 or more results from the previous attempt by setting those dice aside. If there is a key digit, keep a die matching it before keeping any other dice; after keeping and resolving that attempt, you may roll that die during additional attempts as normal.
Adjust Results: You may change die results by gaining light fatigue. For each light fatigue gained, change 1 die result by 1 (rotate to increase or decrease; you cannot rotate a 6 to a 1 or vice versa).
Resolve the Attempt: Compare your results to the code. If your accumulated results match each digit, you succeed. If not, you fail this attempt but may continue rolling until you have no remaining attempts. If you fail with no attempts or choose not to continue, the check is failed and all accumulated results are lost.

Obstacles

Clash

Clash Enemy Pool: Clashes use an overall EP to populate enemies at setup. The maximum enemies drawn depends on both the EP and the numbered enemy hexes in the setup diagram.

Clash Setup (for steps 1–3 of Battle Setup):

Set Up the Battle Map: Place the clash tile and any other tiles as shown.
Place Cache Chips: Place cache chips in the hexes shown (correct side up for common/legendary).
Deploy Enemies: Calculate an EP. Draw and deploy each enemy to the next numbered hex starting with Hex 1, drawing the highest level enemy possible without exceeding the EP and subtracting its level. If no unoccupied numbered hexes remain, stop. Any remaining EP is not used.

Clash Map Anatomy: Entrance Tile (connect to the clash tile; deploy adventurers here) and Clash Tile (populate enemies and caches).

Delve

Delve Setup (for steps 1–3 of Battle Setup):

Set Up the Battle Map: Separate delve tiles by shape into facedown stacks. Place the entrance tile in the play area (leaving room to expand). Some provinces use additional setup rules (Delve Feature section).
Place Cache Chips: None placed at setup (placed as tiles are explored).
Deploy Enemies: None deployed at setup (deployed as tiles are explored).

Delve Card Anatomy:

Skyshard: Each icon at the top is a skyshard. A delve is fully explored when all its skyshards have been gained (3 required unless the encounter specifies otherwise). In delves with the Uncover objective, each skyshard is worth 1 XP during the Reward Phase, whether or not the delve was completed.
Name.
Tile Shape: The shape of the tile drawn for this room.
Challenge Scale: Shows the level of each enemy chip that can be drawn based on the number of adventurers.
Caches: The number of cache chips of each type placed on the tile's cache hexes.
Effects Text: Up to 2 effects—a When Revealed effect and 1 of 3 other types:
- When Revealed: Resolved while connecting and populating the tile. If part can only be resolved after populating, it is resolved then. Resolved against the adventurer who revealed the card unless stated. If the tile cannot be placed, do not resolve its effect.
- Trap (Red): Placed next to the tile until an adventurer moves into one of the tile's hexes, then that adventurer makes a lockpick check against the trap.
- Skyshard (Blue): Placed next to the tile until an adventurer moves onto it, then the party gains the skyshard icons and resolves the effect matching the number of skyshards gained.
- Environment (Green): Placed next to the tile, representing an ongoing effect for the remainder of the delve.
Province Code and Card Number.

Delve Exploration: An adventurer can trigger an exploration of a hex in 2 ways:

Occupying an Explorable Hex: During their turn, trigger an exploration when moving into or being placed in an explorable hex, or when starting their turn there. This is not an explore action. Companion units cannot explore hexes.
Performing an Explore Action: Choose an explorable hex in sight and measure the distance; if within your movement range (based on Stamina), an exploration is triggered.

Drawing Cards and Tiles: When you trigger an exploration:

Draw Tile: Draw a tile matching the shape on the delve card. If none is available, place this card facedown with your gained skyshard cards and treat it as a gained skyshard; the exploration ends (the hex remains explorable).
Trigger Effects: Read the card's text and trigger any When Revealed or immediate effects.
Connect Tile: Align the tile so 1 of its hexes is adjacent to the hex being explored. The tile cannot overlap other tiles. Both connection icon hexes must touch along a common edge; you can shift/rotate the tile. A tile must be connected so at least 1 hex remains explorable, if able. The first delve tile must connect to the entrance tile so only 1 of its hexes is adjacent to both entrance hexes. If the tile cannot be connected without overlapping, discard its card and return the tile to the bottom of its stack; the exploration ends.
Place Caches: Place as many cache chips shown as you can (legendary before common). Start in the hex farthest from the explored hex, placing each additional cache in the next closest hex. Extra caches are not placed.
Deploy Enemies: Draw and deploy enemies based on the EP for the revealed tile, the challenge scale, and the tile's enemy hexes. Start with the farthest hex from the explored hex. Use the challenge scale: the left side shows an adventurer-count icon; each space to the right with a numeric value is an enemy that must be drawn (if the printed level exceeds the remaining EP, draw the highest possible without exceeding it). Draw left to right, subtracting each enemy's level from the EP. Stop when the EP is used, all shown enemies are deployed, or no unoccupied hexes remain.
Place Card: If the card has a skyshard, environment, or trap effect applying to the tile, place it faceup next to its tile; otherwise, discard it.

Traps

Trap Sequence (resolved before any other effects that would trigger by moving into that hex, such as unlocking a cache):

The adventurer who triggered the trap makes a lockpick check against the trap's difficulty code.
Resolve the trap's effect (which specifies whether it triggers on a successful or unsuccessful check). Once resolved, the trap becomes inactive. If the card has no remaining effects, discard it. If the trap does not specify affected units, it is resolved only against the adventurer who triggered it.

Dungeon

Dungeon Enemy Pool: Dungeons use an overall EP to populate enemies at setup, as clashes do. The maximum enemies depend on both the EP and the numbered enemy hexes in the setup diagram.

Dungeon Setup (for steps 1–3 of Battle Setup):

Set Up the Battle Map: Assemble the dungeon map per the setup diagram.
Place Cache Chips: Place each cache chip in the hexes shown.
Deploy Enemies: First, deploy each objective unit (or component) to the hexes shown. Then deploy enemies:
- Numbered Hexes: Calculate an EP. Draw and deploy the highest level enemy possible within the EP to the next numbered hex, starting with Hex 1, subtracting each enemy's level. Continue until the EP is used or no unoccupied numbered hexes remain.
- Special Hexes: Deploy each enemy (or component) specified by the encounter to the star or lettered hexes. If multiple hexes are possible, the party chooses. If instructed to calculate another EP for these, follow the same restrictions.

Battle Objectives

To succeed in a battle, adventurers must complete its objective. Standard objectives:

Conquer: Defeat or otherwise remove all enemies on the battle map. The most common clash objective.
Eliminate X: A specific objective unit (enemy chip described in the encounter text) must be defeated or removed.
Survey: Fully explore the battle map by gaining all required skyshards (default 3). Failed if the party does not gain all required. The most common delve objective in guild quests.
Uncover: Fully explore the battle map by gaining all required skyshards (default 3), then successfully retreat. If the party retreats before fully exploring, the encounter is failed. The party gains XP from each skyshard acquired—up to the delve's required limit—so long as the entire party is not defeated, even if the party retreats before gaining all required.

Clash and delve battles can also have a special objective that modifies or replaces the standard one. Dungeon battles are each unique and typically have their own special objective.

End of Battle

End of Battle Cleanup:

Remove all remaining bonus HP and any HP exceeding an adventurer's maximum. Place each adventurer's chip (with remaining HP) back in the art area of their race sheet. If the party has permanent companions, place each companion's chip near an adventurer mat, removing all status dice or excess HP.
Each adventurer removes and exhausts any remaining dice from their active slots, then recovers all drained skill dice. Dice still in the cooldown track remain until the next battle or removed by other means (End of Day Phase or a town's inn).
Disassemble the battle map. Place enemy chips back into draw bags and cache chips into the supply. Sort map tiles by shape; if delve tiles were used, shuffle each shape facedown. Gather the delve cards, setting aside any marked "SP" or required by the Delve Feature section, then shuffle the Delve Deck.

This cleanup only occurs after a battle, not after a peaceful encounter.

Additional Rules

Rolling a D6

Discard

Effect Timing

Ability Terms

Abilities and Action Limits ("Free"):

Action: An additional engage/action granted by an ability does not count against action limits if resolved during their turn (or the active adventurer's, if during another's turn). An additional engage does not require gaining fatigue unless specified.
Dice: Additional dice do not count against Stamina/Magicka (or a non-adventurer's Combat stat). They can be added even if not trained in that skill line, and after resolving are discarded to the supply instead of exhausted. Enemy Combat dice added as additional dice cannot be added to active slots or resolved to gain tenacity.
Movement: Additional hexes of movement do not count against Stamina (or a non-adventurer's movement stat).

Recover: When instructed to recover a die, you may only recover a die from your cooldown track. A drained die can only be recovered by an ability that specifically affects drained dice.

Increase/Reduce: When an ability increases or reduces a die's value, rotate its face by the amount indicated. Values cannot be increased/reduced beyond the values printed on them.

Non-Standard Tenacity Results

Temporary Stat Adjustments

When an effect temporarily adjusts a unit's stat, treat that stat's value as the value it was changed to. If the unit is an adventurer, do not add or adjust tokens on their mat.

Gaining and Losing Health (HP)

Rounding

If a game effect requires rounding but does not specify how, round down.

Unit Relationships

Enemies: All opposing units to the party are enemies, regardless of level. Some party units can be temporarily designated as enemies by game effects.
Party: Can include both adventurer and companion units, collectively called party members.
- Adventurers: Each player-created adventurer is a party member. If an effect's value is determined using the party size icon, it is based only on the number of adventurers.
- Companions: A unit under the ongoing control of the party or a specific adventurer, gained through encounter text or adventurer abilities (enemy chips and quest units can become companions). A companion is a party member but not an adventurer (not affected by adventurer abilities, not counted toward party size). It begins each battle at its maximum HP unless stated. If defeated, it is removed from the party permanently (its chip placed with other undeployed chips of its type). If the controlling adventurer is defeated, the companion remains in play under that player's control. If all adventurers are defeated, the encounter ends and remaining companions are removed (not treated as defeated).
"You": Overland cards, side quest cards, and quest steps use "you" for the party collectively. Class cards, item cards, skill abilities, and similar effects use "you" for the individual adventurer.

Companion Turns

Companion Turn Sequence (moving and engaging are optional):

Start of Turn: Trigger abilities with this timing, such as status effects or skill dice on the companion.
Move: Move the companion up to 2 hexes, as chosen (it does not follow normal enemy movement priorities).
Engage: a. Determine Target(s): choose targetable units in sight and range (a companion's targeting priority icon is ignored). b. Gather and Roll Dice: roll all Combat dice (a companion rolls enemy Combat dice). c. Resolve the Roll against each target. d. Units React.
End of Turn: Trigger abilities with this timing.

Jailbreak Introduction Encounter

Battle Setup

The Jailbreak Introduction encounter is a clash, played on a battle map made from 2 tile shapes. To set up:

Follow the Setup Procedure with these exceptions: Do not fill the level 1/5 enemy draw bag; instead place only these 5 level 1 enemies in it: High Elf Bandit, Argonian Bandit, Skeever Pup, Skeleton, and Spriggan. Do not set the Day Dial. Set the XP Dial to 1 instead of 2.
Place the clash tile and connect the smaller entrance tile as shown. Place the cache chip in the hex shown.
Draw and deploy 1 enemy chip from the level 1/5 bag for each adventurer (equivalent to an EP based on a party XP of 1). Deploy each enemy with its level 1 (black border) side faceup in the next numbered hex starting with Hex 1, with HP chips equal to its Health stat.
Deploy each adventurer to a hex on the smaller entrance tile (first player token first, then clockwise). Each adventurer sets their battle form.
Set the Round Counter die to 1.

Playing the Battle

Achievements Checklist

Note which adventurer completes each achievement (each can complete multiple, or none):

Defeat High Elf Bandit
Defeat Argonian Bandit
Defeat Skeever Pup
Defeat Skeleton
Defeat Spriggan
Succeed at Cache Lockpick
Escape First
Take the First Turn
Take the Last Turn
First to Take Damage from an Enemy at Range 2+
First to Take Damage from an Enemy at Range 1

End of Battle Cleanup

Class Rewards

Defeat High Elf Bandit: Arcanist (VW); Sorcerer
Defeat Argonian Bandit: Acrobat; Scout
Defeat Skeever Pup: Nightblade; Warden
Defeat Skeleton: Necromancer; Spellsword
Defeat Spriggan: Pilgrim; Templar
Succeed at Cache Lockpick: Burglar (VW); Rogue
Escape First: Bard; Ranger (VW)
Take the First Turn: Dragonknight
Take the Last Turn: Healer
First to Take Damage from an Enemy at Range 2+: Archer
First to Take Damage from an Enemy at Range 1: Knight

The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era

The Elder Scrolls: Betrayal of the Second Era Rulebook

Table of Contents

How to Use this Book

Introduction

Game Overview

Foundation Rules

Components

Game Setup

Setup Procedure

Choosing a Starting Quest

Difficulty Levels

Province Codes

Adventurer Rules

Adventurer Mat Anatomy

Adventurer Creation

Peoples of Tamriel

Stats

Component Limits

Skills

Skill Lines

Combat

Cooldown Track

Cooldown Stat

Recovering Dice

Fatigue

Active Slots

Race Reference Sheet

Class Reference Sheet

Triggering Class Abilities

Tenacity

Inventory

Item Cards

Item Subtypes

Advancements

Game Phases

New Day Phase

Overland Phase

Overland Map

Overland Tokens

Party Size

Encounter Phase

Resolving Encounters

Overland Card Anatomy

Encounter Results

Town Encounters

Town Features

Social Checks

Reward Phase

End of Day Phase

NPC Overland Movement

Quests

Guild Quests

Side Quests

Ending the Session

Campaign Journal

Campaigns

Successfully Completing a Session

Continuing a Campaign — Campaign Setup

Losing the Campaign

Quest Keywords

Guild Assist

Endgame

Battle Rules

Modes of Battle

Enemies

Enemy Pool

Enemy Chip Anatomy

End of Session Difficulty EP

Battle Setup

Battle Rounds

Round Sequence

Map Definitions

Retreating from Battle

Adventurer Turns

Actions

Engage (detailed)

Class Ability (action)

Explore (action)

Battle Form