Three-Dragon Ante: Legendary Edition – Giants War
Three-Dragon Ante: Legendary Edition – Giants War Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- GAME COMPONENTS
- DIFFERENCES FROM THE LEGENDARY EDITION RULES
- TWO STAKES, NOT ONE
- ALTERNATE GOOD DRAGONS
- SETUP
- BUYING CARDS DURING PLAY
- ANTEING TO SET THE STAKES
- STEALING FROM THE STAKES
- CARD DRAW IN BETWEEN HANDS
- PLAYING MORTALS
- DETERMINING THE STRENGTH OF YOUR FLIGHT
- REWARDING THE STAKES
- ENDING THE GAME
- APPENDIX 1: CARD LIST
- APPENDIX 2: CARD POWER EXPLANATIONS
- APPENDIX 3: LEGENDARY EDITION NOTES
- APPENDIX 4: ROLEPLAYING RULES
- APPENDIX 5: BUILDING GAME VARIANTS
- THREE-DRAGON ANTE: GIANTS WAR GLOSSARY
GAME COMPONENTS
- 21 standard Dragon cards
- 2 Legendary Dragons
- 56 standard Giant cards
- 2 Mortal cards
- 19 Legendary Giant cards
- 3 Endgame cards
- 6 Reference cards
- Two Stakes disks, the Dragon Stakes and the Giant Stakes
- 8 smaller disks to mark Mortals' allegiance
- 6 player standees
- Rulebook
DIFFERENCES FROM THE LEGENDARY EDITION RULES
Three Dragon Ante: Giants War (Giants War) is an expansion, and thus this rulebook will cover the changes to the base game. The core rules of the game are the same: strong cards are good because they help you win the stakes and help you lead the next round, and the first card played in each round triggers its power. Low cards are good because playing a card that's equal or lower strength than the card just played by the opponent to your right triggers your card's power.
The main differences in rules are:
- Instead of a single stake that players compete for, Giants War involves two stakes. Each gambit, one stake is won by the strongest flight of dragons; the other stake is won by the strongest flight of giants.
- Starting hands are 7 cards, not 6.
- When you buy cards during play, it's no longer random. Instead, you pay gold equal to the strength of your highest strength card to one of the stakes.
- When you buy cards, fill your hand to 5 cards.
- Ties when scoring a gambit do not result in another round; instead, the gambit ends with no one winning that stakes; the gold stays on the table for the next gambit.
TWO STAKES, NOT ONE
Instead of a single stake in the center of the table, each gambit is a competition for two separate stakes, each belonging to a separate faction.
Dragon Stakes: The stakes awarded to the flight with the strongest dragons is called the Dragon Stakes. Set the Dragon Stakes disk in the center of the table, slightly left-center of the player who will be the first dealer.
Giant Stakes: The stakes awarded to the flight with the strongest giants is called the Giant Stakes. Set the Giant Stakes disk to the right center of the table.
ALTERNATE GOOD DRAGONS
This expansion includes new versions of a couple of the standard dragon colors.
Copper: The original version of the Copper Dragon from Legendary Edition has a power that replaces itself with a random card. That's less fun when you're playing a game with both dragons and giants. You can still play with the original Copper Dragon, but randomness which is acceptable with one stakes becomes irritating with two. The new version of the Copper Dragon interacts with the Legendary deck, so it has no place in games using the rules from Legendary Edition.
Gold: Similarly, there's a new version of the Gold Dragon in Giants War. This new version also interacts with the Legendary deck.
Borrowing dragons: A few of the cards in Giants War can be added to single-stakes games that use the rules from Legendary Edition. The cards we recommend adding are The Emperor, Io, Shadow Dragon, and Shadow Invader. You could also add Iallanis if you want another card like The Druid. The rest of the cards don't work well playing single-stakes games.
See the Card Power Explanation (pg 9) section for details.
SETUP
STARTING GOLD
As before, multiply the number of players by 10 and give each player that much gold.
For example, in a six-player game, each player will start with 60 gold in their hoard.
LEGENDARY DECK CREATION
Combining with the Legendary Edition cards, take the 17 Mortals, 15 Legendary Dragons, and 21 Legendary Giants and shuffle them into a single 53-card deck. Set this deck facedown and slightly slanted so that it won't get mixed up with the main deck. Players only draw from the Legendary deck when instructed to do so by the rules or a card power.
MAIN DECK CREATION
Each game using the Giants War cards will be different depending on which colors of standard dragons and standard giants you've chosen to play with.
Each game uses six colors of dragons and six colors of giants. Choose three colors of evil dragons, three colors of good dragons, three colors of evil giants, and three colors of good giants to create a deck of 84 standard cards. Set aside all the other standard dragons and standard giants; they won't be used this game.
Add 6 random cards from the Legendary deck to the 84 standard cards to make the main deck. Shuffle the main deck before dealing out players' starting hands.
If an effect tells you to draw a card, without specifying the type of card, it's from this 90-card main deck.
HAND SIZE
Starting hands: Everyone starts with 7 cards. Maximum hand size is still 10.
DECK DESIGN
There are some generally accepted patterns for choosing the standard colors of dragons and giants when playing Giants War.
Red OR Shadow: Usually, games include only one of the two nasty card-thieving evil dragons, either the Red Dragon or the Shadow Dragon. A game played with both of these thieving dragons will make it hard for players to develop their hands.
Legendary-drawing cards: Usually, games include at least two out of the four colors of dragons and giants that have the ability to draw Legendary cards (the new Copper dragon, the new Gold dragon, the Cloud Giant, and the Stone Giant). It's most common to pick at least one of the two dragons and one of the two giants, but games with three or four of these Legendary-drawing cards work fine.
Original Dragons, New Dragons: Perhaps this doesn't need to be said, but if you use one version of the Copper Dragon, leave the other version of the Copper Dragon out of the game. The same goes for the original and new versions of the Gold Dragon.
Your first game: For your first game, we suggest using the following standard colors.
- Dragons: Black, Green, Shadow, Brass, new Copper, Silver.
- Giants: Ettin, Fire, Frost, Cloud, The Ordning, Stone.
BUYING CARDS DURING PLAY
The rules for buying cards during play have changed. As before, you must buy new cards:
- At the start of your turn, if you have only one card in your hand.
- During any turn, if the effect of triggered powers is complete and you find yourself with no cards in your hand.
However, in Giants War you fill your hand to five cards rather than four, and the process of buying new cards is different.
The amount of gold you pay is equal to the highest strength card in your current flight.
If you run out of cards and somehow don't have any cards in your flight, discard the top card of the main deck and pay that much gold.
Split the gold between the stakes: When you pay for new cards, split the gold into the two stakes. If it's an odd amount, the extra coin goes where you like.
ANTEING TO SET THE STAKES
Anteing before each gambit works the same as in the dragons-only game, except that there are two stakes to set.
The two highest ante cards determine the separate values of the two stakes.
The player who antes the highest card chooses which stakes is owed that much gold by each player.
The second highest ante card sets the other stakes.
The player who anted the highest untied card takes the first turn.
(Just as before, in the rare case in which all ante cards are tied with another ante card, you'll need to discard the ante, give all players a card, and ante again.)
Corner case when you can't pay the full stakes: If someone doesn't have enough gold to pay both stakes fully, they first attempt to pay each stakes an equal amount, then go into the hole for whatever they can't pay, as normal. They can put the odd coin where they like.
For example, in a 3-player game, the 3 cards anted are a 10, a 6, and a 5. The player who anted the 10 chooses whether they want everyone to ante 10 to the Dragon Stakes or to the Giant Stakes. The other stakes receives the ante of 6 per player.
For a second example, in a 4-player game, three players ante 6 and one player antes 2. Both stakes receive an ante of 6 from each player. The player who anted the 2 takes the first turn because they anted the highest untied card.
STEALING FROM THE STAKES
Cards that steal gold from the stakes, without specifying which stake, can take that gold from either stake. It's your choice when you trigger the power.
Similarly, when you complete a Strength flight, you can take gold from either of the two stakes.
CARD DRAW IN BETWEEN HANDS
As when playing with only the dragon cards, everyone gets two new cards (up to the maximum hand size of ten cards).
PLAYING MORTALS
When you play a Mortal, you must choose whether it's fighting for the Dragon Stakes or the Giant Stakes. Use the dragon or giant side of the small disks to show your Mortal's allegiance this gambit.
DETERMINING THE STRENGTH OF YOUR FLIGHT
Playing with both giants and dragons changes how the strength of your flight is determined.
The strength of your flight is the highest of:
a. the total strength of the dragons in your flight, plus Mortals who you declared as fighting for the dragons;
OR
b. the total strength of the giants in your flight, plus Mortals who you declared as fighting for the giants.
If the dragons in your flight are stronger, you currently have a dragon flight. You are fighting for the Dragon Stakes—move your standee to the Dragon Stakes disk so that other players know that's what you're aiming at... for the moment!
If the giants in your flight are stronger, you currently have a giant flight. Move your standee to the Giant Stakes so everyone knows that's what you're fighting for, for now.
For example, imagine that the first card you play in a gambit is a 6-strength Silver Dragon. You'll move your standee over to the Dragon Stakes. You have a 6-strength flight.
In the second round of the gambit, you play a 10-strength Storm Giant. Move your standee to the Giant Stakes because 10 is stronger than 6. The strength of your flight is 10, not 16, because giants and dragons don't add their strength together to determine the strength of your flight.
But in the third round you show that the Storm Giant was just a bluff. Seeing an opportunity to finesse the Dragon Stakes, which no one else turns out to be fighting for, you play the 7-Strength Thief and declare that this Mortal is fighting for the Dragon Stakes, placing an allegiance disk dragon-side up on the Thief. You've got a total of 13 points fighting for the dragons and 10 points fighting for the giants, so you are fighting for the dragons with a 13-strength flight. If you'd declared the Thief as fighting for the giants instead, you'd have a 17-strength flight and your standee would have stayed in the Giant Stakes.
Perfect balance is weakness: Note that if you have a flight that is perfectly tied for the strength of your dragon and the strength of your giant cards, you don't fight for either stakes. You can't win at the moment, and are treated as if the strength of your flight is 0!
REWARDING THE STAKES
At the end of each gambit, unless some effect takes place, the strongest giant flight wins the gold in the Giant Stakes and the strongest dragon flight wins the gold in the Dragon Stakes.
Tied strength flights: If there's a tie for the strongest dragon flight, no one wins the Dragon Stakes this gambit! The Dragon Stakes stays on the table and is added to the Dragon Stakes of the next gambit.
Likewise, if there's a tie for the strongest giant flight, no one wins the Giant Stakes. It stays on the table and gets added to the Giant Stakes in the next gambit.
Endgame corner cases: If a game ends with gold left in the stakes, the gold that's left is awarded to the winner, the player who has the most gold in their hoard before adding the gold that was left on the table.
Win one, not two: Even if your cards are strong for both giants and dragons, your flight only fights for the stakes you are strongest in. You can't somehow win both stakes in a single gambit.
Cardplay oddities: See Legendary Edition Notes (pg 13) for various curious situations that can occur with interactions between cards in Giants War and Legendary Edition.
ENDING THE GAME
As before, the game ends if at least one player has no gold in their hoard at the end of a gambit.
Because playing for two stakes allows players to hang on longer than in dragons-only game, there's another endgame condition that's commonly used if players want to be sure to finish a game in a reasonable amount of time.
Although games in the world of Dungeons & Dragons use this rule as a variant rather than the standard rule, we recommend using it as a rule in all games unless you want the option to play for a long time.
SHUFFLE TWICE, SCORE THRICE
You shuffle the main deck once at the start of the game. If the game runs long enough, you shuffle again when the main deck runs out of cards and you have to shuffle the discards to make a new main deck.
After you've shuffled mid-game, the game ends after scoring three more gambits, unless at least one player has run out of gold at the end of a gambit before then.
If there is gold left in the stakes at the end of that third gambit, it's awarded to the player with the largest hoard.
TRACKING THE ENDGAME
Set the three endgame cards faceup next to the deck when you've had to shuffle the discard pile back into the deck. Stack the three cards with the Dragons card on top, the Giants card in the middle, and the card with a picture of the Fool on the bottom.
The three cards track the traditional toasts made when players score the last three gambits.
First, "To the dragons!" Second, "To the giants!"
And finally, "To us!" or "To us mortals!" or "To fools like us!"
Each time you score a gambit after reshuffling the discard pile, remove the top card of the endgame stack and offer the toast. The game is over when the Mortals have been toasted and the scoring for that gambit is complete.
APPENDIX 1: CARD LIST
Card strength appears in parentheses.
Standard Dragons
- Copper Dragon x7 (1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10)
- Gold Dragon x7 (2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13)
- Shadow Dragon x7 (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11)
Standard Giants
- Cloud Giant x7 (1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11)
- Ettin x7 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
- Fire Giant x7 (1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11)
- Frost Giant x7 (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10)
- Hill Giant x7 (1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8)
- The Ordning x7 (2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12)
- Stone Giant x7 (1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10)
- Storm Giant x7 (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13)
Legendary Dragons
- Io x1 (13)
- Shadow Invader x1 (7)
Legendary Giants
- Cloud Giant Queen x1 (7)
- Diancastra x1 (5)
- Ettin Enforcer x1 (6)
- Fire Giant Engineer x1 (8)
- Frost Giant Jarl x1 (7)
- The Great Ordning x1 (8)
- Grolantor x1 (8)
- Hiatea the Huntress x1 (9)
- Hill Giant Chieftain x1 (6)
- Iallanis x1 (6)
- Memnor x1 (10)
- Othea x1 (6)
- Skoreaus Stonebones x1 (9)
- Stone Giant Master x1 (7)
- Storm Giant Champion x1 (9)
- Stronmaus x1 (12)
- Surtur x1 (10)
- Thrym x1 (9)
- Vaprak the Destroyer x1 (9)
Mortals
- The Emperor x1 (6)
- The Ranger x1 (7)
APPENDIX 2: CARD POWER EXPLANATIONS
CLOUD GIANT | GOOD
Draw a Legendary card.
Draw the top card of the Legendary deck.
CLOUD GIANT QUEEN | GOOD
Draw 2 Legendary cards. Keep one, discard the other.
The card you discard goes into the discard pile with the rest of the discarded cards, so everyone will know the card you didn't want. The card you kept is a secret, of course.
The Cloud Giant Queen is a cloud giant and can complete color flights with other cloud giants.
COPPER DRAGON | GOOD
The weakest opponent draws a card. Then you draw a Legendary card.
This giants-war version of the Copper Dragon embraces their social nature. They're more talkative than other dragons, and sometimes they choose surprising friends.
As usual, if more than one opponent is tied as the weakest opponent, you choose which opponent gets to draw a card. For a change, this effect usually helps your opponent instead of hurting them, so choose your friends wisely. (We say that it "usually" helps the opponent because a player with only one card who is getting ready to buy new cards isn't going to appreciate getting one lousy card from your Copper Dragon.)
As always, take your Legendary card from the top of the Legendary deck.
DIANCASTRA | NEUTRAL
Giant god: Draw a Legendary card whenever an opponent scores a special flight this gambit.
Power: Winners only take half the stakes this gambit, adding the rest to the stakes of the next gambit.
Diancastra's giant god ability is one of the few cards that has a lingering effect that has to be remembered when your opponents play their third cards later in the gambit. Diancastra gives you a reason to root for opponents to score a color flight or a strength flight.
Diancastra's power, on the other hand, is a trickster's irritant. The power does not move the gold around—the half of the gold from the Dragon Stakes that stays on the table stays in the Dragon Stakes, the same for the gold in the Giant Stakes.
As usual, round up if the amount of gold in a stakes is odd.
If two or more players tie for one of the stakes, the joke is on everybody. No one gets any of the gold because of the tie.
THE EMPEROR | MORTAL
When the gambit is scored, you get +3 Strength for each dragon in your flight.
As a mortal, the Emperor itself does not count as a dragon even when you've marked it as fighting for the Dragon Stakes.
Technically speaking, it would be possible for you to have played a flight that qualifies as a giant flight, fighting for the Giant Stakes, and triggering The Emperor's power. The Emperor's power would add +3 Strength per dragon in your flight, not +3 Strength to each dragon, so it could make a giant flight stronger!
You're not likely to win that way but you might be able to pull out a big surprise if you mix dragons and giants.
Dracolich from Legendary Edition has the same style of effect.
The Emperor can be added to dragon-only games that use the single-stakes from Legendary Edition.
ETTIN | EVIL
The player on your left or on your right must pay you 5 gold. Then you give 1 gold to the player on the other side.
Look left. Look right. Who do you like, who do you thwack?
ETTIN ENFORCER | EVIL GIANT
The player on your left or on your right must pay you 10 gold. Then you give 3 gold to the player on the other side.
Like the standard ettin, but double the impact and triple the gift.
The Ettin Enforcer is an ettin and can complete color flights with other ettins.
FIRE GIANT | EVIL GIANT
Count the number of Fire Giants in all flights and in the ante. Each opponent pays you that much gold.
Include this card and other Fire Giants in your flight when counting the number of Fire Giants.
FIRE GIANT ENGINEER | EVIL
Count the number of Fire Giants in all flights and in the ante and add 1. Each opponent pays you that much gold.
Like the standard Fire Giant, but more fiery.
The Fire Giant Engineer is a fire giant and can complete color flights with other fire giants.
FROST GIANT | EVIL
Each opponent fighting for the same stakes as you must pay you 3 gold.
You evaluate which stakes you are fighting for with the Frost Giant in play. Most often you're taking gold from other players fighting for the Giant Stakes, but if you've lost hope of winning the Giant Stakes, a weak Frost Giant might take gold from players fighting for the dragons.
FROST GIANT JARL | EVIL
Each opponent fighting for the stakes of your choice must pay you 5 gold.
Choose the stakes that has the most opponents fighting for it, unless you have some special reason to pick on a particular opponent.
The Frost Giant Jarl is a frost giant and can complete color flights with other frost giants.
GOLD DRAGON | GOOD
Draw a card. If at least one opponent is fighting for the same stakes as you, the card you draw can be a Legendary card.
As usual, the words 'draw a card' mean 'draw a card from the main deck.'
Note that even when you're allowed to draw a Legendary card, you could choose to draw a card from the main deck to increase your chances of getting another Gold Dragon for a color flight.
This new version of the Gold Dragon isn't meant to be added to dragon-only games that have only one stakes.
THE GREAT ORDNING | GOOD
The strongest and the weakest opponents must each give you a giant card or 6 gold.
As usual, opponents who give you a giant card might need to reveal it to prove to everyone that it's really a giant card. It depends on the trust-level and interest-level of your table.
The Great Ordning can complete color flights with other giants named The Ordning.
GROLANTOR | EVIL
Giant god: Grolantor counts as a Hill Giant.
Power: Discard a card from your hand and take gold equal to its Strength from the Dragon Stakes, then draw a card.
Grolantor's giant god ability allows it to complete a color flight with other hill giants.
Grolantor's power is a way of messing with people who are fighting for the Dragon Stakes and still getting to draw a card, but the amount of trouble you cause is proportional with the Strength of the card you discard.
HIATEA THE HUNTRESS | GOOD
Giant god: Hiatea counts as a mortal.
Power: +2 Strength when the gambit is scored for each flight that contains at least one mortal.
Unlike for actual mortals, you don't have to declare which stakes Hiatea is fighting for. As a giant, Hiatea always fights for the Giant Stakes.
If the card's power triggers and Hiatea is still in your flight when the gambit is scored, your flight counts as containing at least one mortal.
Since Hiatea always counts as a mortal, the card could be stolen away from you by the Illusionist!
HILL GIANT | EVIL
Discard a card and draw 2 cards.
Not much to say about Hill Giants, except that they're surprisingly good at finding each other for a color flight.
HILL GIANT CHIEFTAIN | EVIL
Discard a card and draw 3 cards.
A more remarkable hill giant.
The Hill Giant Chieftain is a hill giant and can complete color flights with other hill giants.
IALLANIS | GOOD
(The heading is printed as "IALANNIS" in the source; the card is spelled Iallanis everywhere else in the rulebook and in the card list.)
Giant god: Each player who has played at least one good card draws a card.
Power: The weakest flights win the stakes this gambit, not the strongest.
The giant god ability includes you, since Iallanis is good.
The power is meant to play exactly the same as the power of the Druid, the 6-Strength mortal from the Legendary Edition. Since we know that Ialannis is going to be played in games using two stakes, the wording of her power is plural instead of singular like the earlier Druid.
The fact that Iallanis and The Druid make players want weak flights does not change the fact that your flight fights for the stakes it is strongest in! The Druid has always been a card that requires finesse and playing with giants and the two stakes doubles that requirement for both The Druid and Iallanis.
If two or more flights competing for the same stakes tie for the weakest flight, that stakes isn't awarded this gambit. Instead, it remains on the table and is added to the stakes of the next gambit.
It's worth noting that balancing your cards between dragons and giants might appear to give you the weakest possible flight, zero strength. But with a strength of zero you're not fighting for either stakes and therefore can't win anything!
IO | NEUTRAL
Dragon god: As long as you have Io and a mortal in your flight, you can't win the gambit.
Power: Each player adds gold to the Dragon Stakes equal to the number of players.
Io's dragon god ability is always in effect. Obviously, you're going to want to avoid playing a mortal alongside Io, but if you've had no choice, you can't win the stakes. If you were the only player fighting for one of the stakes and managed to play both Io and a mortal, no one wins that stakes this gambit—it's left on the table and added to the next stakes.
When the power triggers, you are one of the players who must add gold to the Dragon Stakes.
Io can be added to dragon-only games that use the single-stakes from Legendary Edition.
MEMNOR | NEUTRAL
Giant god: Memnor counts as a Cloud Giant.
Power: Draw a Legendary card. If you wish, swap the amounts of gold in the two stakes.
Memnor's giant god ability is always in effect. It can be used to complete a color flight with other cloud giants.
Memnor's power has two parts. The first part always happens if the power triggers: draw the top card of the Legendary deck.
The second part of the power is optional. You don't have to swap the amounts of gold in the two stakes unless you want to.
THE ORDNING | GOOD GIANT
The strongest opponent must give you a giant card or 5 gold.
If two or more opponents are tied with the strongest flight, you choose which you want to affect. Remember that the strength of a flight is either its dragon-strength or its giant-strength; the two aren't additive.
Other opponents may request to see the card to prove that it's a giant card and for their future information. In casual games, people sometimes wave this off.
D&D Lore: The ordning is the hierarchy which organizes all giants. Unlike, say, red dragons and gold dragons, fire giants and cloud giants agree on the basic principles of acceptable behavior and their proper place in their society.
OTHEA | GOOD
Giant god: Othea counts as a Cloud, Fire, Frost, Hill, Stone, and Storm Giant.
Power: Each opponent must pass a card to the hand of the player on their left.
This card's giant god ability is always in effect. It can be used to complete a color flight with cloud, fire, frost, hill, stone, or storm giants. You'll note that she does not create color flights with The Ordning.
This card's power affects all opponents but you don't pass a card yourself. Therefore, the opponent to your left will pass a card without receiving a card in return.
THE RANGER | MORTAL
Choose dragons or giants. Each opponent must pay you 1 gold for each card of that type in their flight.
Although mortals in a flight have chosen which stakes they are fighting for, a mortal fighting for the Dragon Stakes doesn't count as a dragon, nor does a mortal fighting for the Giant Stakes count as a giant.
Exceptions include the Wyrmpriest if it has triggered its power, in which case it counts as a dragon. A Wyrmpriest that has not triggered its power is just a mortal.
On the other hand, Hiatea the Huntress, although she always counts as a mortal thanks to her Giant god ability, is also still a giant.
SHADOW DRAGON | EVIL
Discard a random card from the hand of the opponent with the most cards. Trigger that card's power as if this Shadow Dragon had triggered the power.
As you trigger the power of the discarded card, imagine that its power text is temporarily on the Shadow Dragon card. For example, you play a 6-strength Shadow Dragon and the card you end up discarding is a 1-strength Brass Dragon. The Brass Dragon's power says, "The opponent to your right chooses either to give you a stronger good dragon from their hand or to pay you 5 gold." Since the power is triggered as if your Shadow Dragon triggered it, the opponent can give you a good dragon stronger than 6 or pay you 5 gold.
You don't have a choice whether you want to trigger the power of the card that has been discarded. In very rare cases, the Shadow Dragon's ability can work against you; but what do you expect from a dragon corrupted by the Shadowfell?
If two or more opponents are tied for the hands with the most cards, you choose.
It's generally considered harsh to play games with both the Shadow Dragon and the Red Dragon. People who insist on playing with both these card-thief evil dragons are watched carefully around the stakes.
Shadow dragons can be added to dragon-only games that use the single-stakes from Legendary Edition. If you do, remember to take out one of the other colors of evil dragons so that you're playing with 5 good colors and 5 evil colors.
SHADOW INVADER | EVIL
Reveal two random cards from the hand of the opponent with the most cards. Choose one of the two cards, discard it, and trigger that card's power as if this Shadow Invader had triggered the power.
See the Shadow Dragon text above for help interpreting the power trigger.
In the Shadow Invader's case, only one of the revealed cards is discarded. The other revealed card goes back to its owner's hand.
The Shadow Invader is a shadow dragon and can complete color flights with other shadow dragons.
The Shadow Invader can be added to dragon-only games that use the single-stakes from Legendary Edition.
SKOREAUS STONEBONES | GOOD
Giant god: Skoreaus Stonebones counts as a Stone Giant.
Power: Each opponent pays you 5 gold and draws a card.
This card's giant god ability is always in effect. It can be used to complete a color flight with other stone giants.
The power is one of the few times opponents should thank you for taking their gold.
STONE GIANT | GOOD
Going to your left around the table, the first player to pay you 6 gold can draw a card. If no one pays, draw a Legendary card.
Starting with the opponent on your left, give each opponent a few seconds to decide whether or not they want to pay you and draw a card from the main deck. As soon as an opponent has paid you, the effect ends and the players farther around the table don't get a chance to join in.
If no one wants to pay, you draw the top card of the Legendary deck.
STONE GIANT MASTER | GOOD
Going to your left around the table, each opponent can pay you 4 gold to draw a card. Then you draw a Legendary card.
Each opponent gets a choice of whether they want to pay you 4 gold and a draw a card from the main deck. You get to draw a Legendary card regardless of their choices.
The Stone Giant Master is a stone giant and can complete color flights with other stone giants.
STORM GIANT | GOOD
Discard a card from the ante. Trigger that card's power as if this Storm Giant had triggered the power.
If you trigger the Storm Giant's power, you must discard a card from the ante unless all ante cards have already been removed.
If the ante card you choose to discard makes comparisons between stronger and weaker cards, the starting point is the strength of the Storm Giant you've played, not the card you discarded. For example, you play an 8-strength Storm Giant and choose to discard a 3-strength Green Dragon from the ante. The opponent to your left must give you an evil dragon that's weaker than 8 or 5 gold.
Similarly, if your Storm Giant opts to discard an original Copper Dragon from the ante, it's the Storm Giant that will be discarded and replaced by the top card of the deck!
STORM GIANT CHAMPION | GOOD
Put the top card of the Legendary deck into the ante. Then discard a card from the ante and trigger the discarded card's power as if this Storm Giant Champion had triggered it.
Like the Storm Giant, but with the bonus of placing a Legendary card into the ante before deciding which ante card to discard and trigger.
The Storm Giant Champion is a storm giant and can complete color flights with other storm giants.
STRONMAUS | GOOD
Giant god: Stronmaus counts as a Storm Giant.
Power: Each opponent must pay you 4 gold for each Legendary card or mortal in their flight.
This card's giant god ability is always in effect. It can be used to complete a color flight with other storm giants.
Stronmaus' power works against all opponents, to varying degrees. It works better late in highly competitive gambits.
For the record, Hiatea the Huntress is both a Legendary card and mortal, but she still only counts as a single card, so an opponent wouldn't have to double-pay you for having Hiatea in their flight.
SURTUR | EVIL
Giant god: Surtur counts as a Fire Giant.
Power: +2 Strength when the gambit is scored for each player with at least one God in their flight.
This card's giant god ability is always in effect. It can be used to complete a color flight with other fire giants.
If Surtur's power triggers, you count yourself as a player who has at least one god in their flight. Surtur is happy fighting both dragon gods and giant gods, but the second and third god in a specific flight don't help him any more than the first.
THRYM | EVIL
Giant god: Thrym counts as a Frost Giant.
Power: +3 Strength when the gambit is scored for each player who has gone into the hole at least once this game.
This card's giant god ability is always in effect. It can be used to complete a color flight with other frost giants.
Thrym is much less likely than Surtur to get a bonus from triggering its power, but when players have started going into the hole, Thrym is more than a rival for the mightiest gods. The condition that asks whether players have gone into the hole is checked when the gambit is scored, not when Thrym's power is triggered. Therefore Thrym might turn out to be more powerful at the end of a gambit than he had appeared when he triggered his power.
VAPRAK THE DESTROYER | EVIL
Giant god: As long as you have Vaprak the Destroyer and a dragon in your flight, you can't win the gambit.
Power: You can discard a weaker good card from any flight.
This card's giant god ability is always in effect. For example, if you are the only player fighting for the Giant Stakes and you stumbled into playing a dragon card alongside Vaprak, no one would win the Giant Stakes that gambit; it would remain on the table to be added to the Giant Stakes of the next gambit.
Unlike The Dragonslayer from Legendary Edition, Vaprak's power of discarding a weaker card from a flight is optional. In rare cases, it might be advantageous to show mercy, but not if there's a weaker good dragon in your own flight and you want to win now!
APPENDIX 3: LEGENDARY EDITION NOTES
Here are notes on a few cards from Legendary Edition and how they interact with cards in this set.
BAHAMUT
Dragon god—As long as you have Bahamut and an evil dragon in your flight, you can't win the gambit.
Power: Each other player with both good and evil dragons in the same flight pays you 10 gold.
Bahamut's dragon god ability only cares about evil dragons. You could have an evil giant in your flight and still manage to win the gambit, despite splitting your strength between dragons and giants.
Similarly, Bahamut's power cares about opponents who have mixed good and evil dragons. Apparently, it's more of an internal policing situation than a war of good vs. evil.
BLACK RAIDER
Steal 1 gold from the stakes, then take 2 gold from the opponent to your left, 3 gold from the opponent to their left, and so on until you have taken gold from everyone.
You can choose which stakes you are stealing from, but you don't get to steal from both.
BRONZE WARLORD
Take the two weakest cards from the ante.
(The three paragraphs below have no card heading in the printed sheet. They fall in the notes column directly after Bronze Warlord, and are transcribed in that position.)
Then if you do not win the gambit after the third round, play a fourth round.
You "win the gambit" if you win either stakes. Tying, and being forced to leave the gold on the table for the next stakes, doesn't count as winning, and everyone would play another round.
Having a card like Diancastra or The Priest manipulate your winnings would not enable a fourth round.
COPPER DRAGON
Discard this card and replace it with the top card of the deck. That card's power triggers regardless of its strength.
That would be the top card of the main deck.
THE DRUID
The player with the weakest flight wins the gambit instead of the player with the strongest flight.
As mentioned above in the notes on Iallanis, The Druid's power affects both stakes. See Iallanis' entry for details, but remember that Iallanis and The Druid are different. Iallanis always fights for the Giants Stakes, while The Druid's mortal obligation to mark its allegiance to dragons or giants can help you ensure a weak flight.
THE FOOL
Draw a card for each opponent with a flight stronger than yours.
Being forced to declare its allegiance to either dragons or giants tends to help you ensure The Fool's flight will be weaker than your opponents.
GOLD DRAGON
Draw a card for each good dragon in your flight.
As with the Copper Dragon, you draw from the main deck.
GOLD MONARCH
Draw a card for every good dragon you have played. Then if you win this gambit, gift each opponent with 3 gold.
The power requires you to make gifts if you win either of the stakes. Tying and being forced to leave the gold in the stakes does not count as a win.
THE ILLUSIONIST
You can swap this card with a mortal in an opponent's flight. If you do, your new mortal triggers its power regardless of its strength.
Hiatea the Huntress' Giant god ability means that she counts as a mortal who could be swapped for using The Illusionist!
THE MERCHANT PRINCE
Until the end of this gambit, any gold players would put into the stakes to buy new cards goes to you instead of into the stakes.
The change in the rules for how new cards are bought during play does not affect The Merchant Prince's power.
THE PRIEST
The winner of the gambit splits the stakes with the player to their left.
Playing with two stakes, this card affects the winners of both stakes! It can get a little crazy, but the good news is that the card is mathematically more likely to help you when playing with two stakes than when playing with one.
THE THIEF
Steal 7 gold from the stakes.
You choose which stakes to steal from. If 7 or less gold remain in the stakes you steal from, take it all. The gambit continues unless both stakes are reduced to zero.
TIAMAT
Dragon god—Tiamat counts as a Black, Blue, Green, Red, and White Dragon. As long as you have Tiamat and a good dragon in your flight, you can't win the gambit.
Like Bahamut, Tiamat only cares about good dragons. You can still win if you have a good giant in your flight, though you'll obviously be splitting your strength at least a little.
THE WYRMPRIEST
For the rest of the gambit, this card also counts as a dragon of any color for completing a color flight.
You don't need to announce the color this card counts as when the power triggers. It counts as all colors of dragons through the course of the gambit. (Think of it as a wild card for dragons.)
APPENDIX 4: ROLEPLAYING RULES
The good news is that the roleplaying-centered methods of involving 3DA in your D&D games—D20 skill checks and pure roleplay—work fine with the new Giants War rules.
The even better news is that the 3DA Ability rules for playing games using your D&D characters on pages 24-26 of the Legendary Edition rulebook also work fine with games using the new Giants War rules. Here are a couple comments on the three categories of ability.
Card Draw Abilities: In practice, these are probably the most effective abilities. They do a better job of showing off gambling skill and that's why so many of the card draw abilities in the base game feel right attached to characters with a backstory that includes gambling prowess. Giants War doesn't change any of these abilities, though it's worth noting that the cards being drawn are from the main deck, not the Legendary deck.
Ante Manipulation Abilities: When you use one of these abilities in a giants-war game, you choose which stakes your opponents must add to.
Card Denial Abilities: In hindsight, the Card Denial abilities are weak. We recommend improving them to make them more like the card-drawing abilities. In a game played with giants cards, let the card denial abilities work like this:
Card Denial: When you use one of the two card denial abilities, a player who has paid to buy new cards only fills their hand to 4 cards instead of filling their hand to 5. Then you draw a card from the main deck.
Playing with dragons-only, the opponent only fills their hand to 3 instead of 4.
APPENDIX 5: BUILDING GAME VARIANTS
The giant cards and new dragons add more customization at the start of every game, but using the Legendary deck cuts down on the variants mentioned in the original Legendary Edition rulebook. Of the variants on page 14 of that rulebook that seem right for giants-war games, only the druid's party feels like a commonly played game: choose the Druid as one of the four cards from the Legendary deck that is shuffled into the main deck at the start of the game.
IN WORLD OPTIONS
Here are several more options for deckbuilding and variants, phrased the way they're discussed in D&D worlds.
Legendary-Dragons-Only Variant: This variant uses the rules for a separate Legendary deck but has only a single stake and no giants. Set up with 5 colors of good dragons and 5 colors of evil dragons. Use the new copper and the new gold as two of the good dragons.
Put away the Legendary Giants. Gather all the Legendary Dragons and Mortals into a single deck, but remove The Ranger. Shuffle that deck to create the Legendary deck, then shuffle 4 cards from the Legendary deck into the deck of standard dragons instead of the 10 cards that normal games used.
The rest of the Legendary cards will enter the game when Copper and Gold dragons trigger their powers. Note that Gold Dragons won't get to draw a Legendary card if they're the first card played in a gambit, but after that they'll usually have at least one opponent fighting for the stakes and qualify for a Legendary draw.
Mixed Copper: In this variant, the two versions of the Copper Dragon are shuffled together beforehand so that the seven cards chosen as Copper Dragons have a mix of the replacement-power and the new Legendary-drawing power. This generally means that players have made no effort to ensure the proper point spread for the Copper Dragons, so they might randomly end up with more high-strength cards or low-strength cards than usual.
Mixed Gold: Same as the mixed copper but using the two versions of the gold dragon.
No Wyrmlings: Playing with giants, the weakest Legendary Dragons are the Chromatic Wyrmling and the Metallic Wyrmling. In this variant, players agree beforehand to remove both Wyrmlings.
THREE-DRAGON ANTE: GIANTS WAR GLOSSARY
For ease of use, this glossary includes both terms that need to be updated to play with giants, and terms from the original glossary that did not need to be updated. If you're playing by the Legendary Edition rules and not using giants or the two stakes, use the original glossary.
ante: The cards used at the start of each gambit to set the stakes and determine the leader for the first round. You also ante when you pay gold to the stakes at the start of the gambit.
ante card: A cards that is placed into the ante, whether at the start of a gambit or during play as the result of a card's power.
color: A dragon's name includes the dragon's color. The dragon colors in Three-Dragon Ante are Black, Blue, Brass, Bronze, Copper, Gold, Green, Red, Shadow, Silver, and White.
A giant's name includes the giant's color. The giant colors in Three-Dragon Ante are Cloud, Ettin, Fire, Frost, Hill, Stone, Storm, and the Ordning.
'Mortal' is also considered its own color.
Some dragon gods and giant gods don't have a color.
color flight: A type of special flight; a flight with three dragons of the same color, or three giants of the same color, or three Mortals.
dragon: A card whose type includes the words dragon or dragon god is a dragon. Most dragons are either good or evil, a couple are neutral.
Dragon god: A card whose type includes the words "Dragon God" and has a special dragon god ability. A dragon god counts as a dragon. Dragon god abilities are not powers that need to trigger—Dragon god abilities always take effect. (Bahamut and Io both have Dragon god abilities and normal powers that might or might not trigger.) Cards that copy or trigger other card's powers ignore Dragon god abilities.
flight: The faceup cards in front of each player. At the end of each gambit, the player with the strongest flight wins the stakes.
gambit: A series of at least three rounds of cards played to determine who wins the stakes. In Giants War it's rare to play more than three rounds in a gambit because you don't break ties by playing another round, but a card power like the Bronze Warlord can trigger a fourth round.
Giant god: A card whose type includes the words "Giant God" and has a special giant god ability. A giant god counts as a giant. Giant god abilities are not powers that need to trigger—Giant god abilities always take effect. Cards that copy or trigger other card's powers ignore Giant god abilities. All the giant gods have both Giant god abilities and normal powers that might or might not trigger.
hand: The cards you're holding. Other players don't see the cards in your hand. Your hand can never have more than ten cards.
hoard: Your gold. Your hoard remains visible throughout the game, and you must reveal how much gold you have if asked. If your hoard is empty at the end of a gambit after you have paid to the hole, the game ends.
hole: A stack of coins next to the deck that shows how deep a specific player has gone into debt during a gambit. At the end of the gambit, each player who has gone into the hole must take money out of their hoard and put it out of the game, to be awarded to the eventual winner. If a player can't, or has no gold left afterwards, the game is over.
leader: The player who takes the first turn in a round.
Legendary deck: At the beginning of the game, all Legendary dragons, Legendary giants, and Mortals are shuffled into this deck. You draw from this deck when instructed to. Once they've entered play, cards from this deck are treated like any other cards and are reshuffled into a new main deck when the original main deck is out of cards.
main deck: At the beginning of the game, the six colors of standard dragons, six colors of standard giants, and four cards from the Legendary deck are shuffled into this deck. Later in the game the discard pile will be reshuffled to make a new main deck that will also contain any Legendary cards played earlier. Unless specified as Legendary cards, cards are drawn from this main deck.
mortal: A card whose type includes the word "Mortal." Mortal cards are neither dragons nor giants. When you play a mortal, you must choose whether it is fighting for the Dragon Stakes or the Giant Stakes and mark it with the appropriate faction disk.
pay: When you pay, you put gold into the stakes or give gold to another player.
platinum piece: Worth 10 gold, useful when you want to avoid playing with giant stacks of gold, though some players prefer the stacks!
play: You play a card by putting it from your hand into your flight on your turn.
power: A card's ability. When the leader plays a card, its power always triggers. Any other card's power triggers when it is played, as long as its strength is equal to or lower than the strength of the card just played that round by the player to the right.
round: Each player takes one turn in a round.
3DA ability: When your Dungeons & Dragons characters play a Three-Dragon Ante game, their class features, archetypes, backgrounds, and spells may grant them advantages to use during play. The full rules appear in the Legendary Edition rulebook.
stakes: The gold in the center of the table, divided into two piles, one that is awarded to the strongest dragon flight and one that awarded to the strongest giant flight at the end of the gambit. Emptying both stakes ends the gambit immediately.
standee: Each player has a standee that is placed on the stakes they are fighting for, so that all players know which of the two stakes are contested and which are unopposed.
steal: When you take gold from the stakes, you steal it.
strength: A card's value.
strength flight: A type of special flight; a flight with three or more cards of the same strength. Strength flights can mix dragons, giants, and Mortals.
strongest: A card or flight with the highest strength. If a power you've triggered targets the strongest opponent and there's a tie, you choose between tied opponents.
trigger: When a card's power triggers, you follow its instructions. The rules for triggering card powers haven't been changed by the changes in Giants War.
turn: When you take your turn, you play a card from your hand into your flight. The card's power might trigger.
type: The basic card types are good, evil, neutral, dragon, dragon god, giant, giant god, and mortal.
weakest: A card or flight with the lowest strength. If a power you've triggered targets the weakest opponent and there's a tie, you choose between tied opponents.