Dice Throne

Dice Throne is a hero-versus-hero brawl driven by dice. Every player has their own board, their own deck and their own set of dice, and each hero plays quite differently. On your turn you roll five dice up to three times, match the result to an ability on your board, and unload it on someone.

Heroes squash, slash, poison, heal and generally inflict chaos on each other until only one is left standing.

Setup

1. Choose a hero and set up their play area in front of you: hero board, dice, deck and leaflet.
2. Shuffle your deck and draw 4 cards.
3. Set your health dial to your starting health and your combat point dial to 2. A standard game starts at 50 health; other player counts and variants use different starting values, so check the game variations section of the rulebook for the one you are playing.
4. Every player rolls one die — highest goes first.

The first player skips their income phase on the very first turn of the game. Only then, and only for them.

How a Turn Works

A turn always runs through the same eight phases, in order.

#	Phase	What happens
1	Upkeep	Apply any status effect that mentions upkeep — poison, burn and similar.
2	Income	Gain 1 combat point and draw 1 card.
3	Main phase 1	Play main-phase cards, buy upgrades, or sell cards.
4	Offensive roll	Roll up to three times and activate an ability.
5	Targeting	Determine who you hit.
6	Defensive roll	Your target rolls their defence.
7	Main phase 2	Identical to main phase 1.
8	Discard	Discard down to 6 cards.

Main phase

You may play main-phase cards, play upgrade cards, or sell cards for 1 combat point each and discard them. Selling is how you turn a dead hand into something useful.

Offensive roll phase

Roll all five dice. You may stop there, or roll again up to two more times, setting aside any dice you want to keep between rolls.

Once you are happy — or you have rolled three times — choose one ability on your board whose activation requirement matches your final dice, and activate it.

Two definitions that come up constantly:

• A small straight is a run of 4 dice.
• A large straight is a run of 5.

Targeting phase

In a two-player game there is nothing to decide. With more than two players you roll one die to determine your target — for example, in a three-player game a 1–3 hits the hero on your left and a 4–6 hits the hero on your right.

There are a lot of targeting scenarios for different player counts and team formats; page 11 of the Season 1 rulebook has the full set.

Defensive roll phase

If your attack deals damage, the defending hero now activates their defence ability. Most read “defensive roll X”, meaning roll that many dice all at once — there are no re-rolls on defence — then resolve them according to the ability.

A defence might, for instance, deal 1 damage back per dagger rolled and prevent 2 damage per heart.

After the defensive roll, both heroes get one final chance to play action cards to change the outcome. Then damage is applied.

Discard phase

Discard until you have a maximum of 6 cards in hand.

Your Hero Board

Every hero has different abilities, but they share the same anatomy: a name, a description, and an activation requirement — the symbols you must roll to use it.

There are four kinds of ability:

Ability	When you use it
Offensive	During your offensive roll phase.
Defensive	When you are damaged by another hero’s offensive roll.
Passive	Available at any time — but read the description, as some are narrower than they look.
Ultimate	The most powerful ability on the board, and the hardest to roll.

Dials and limits

• Health dial. You can never exceed 10 above your starting health. Reach 0 and you are defeated and removed from the game.
• Combat point dial. Combat points are spent on cards and effects. The maximum is 15 — the dial does not go higher.

Status effects

Status effect tokens sit on your board and can hurt you or help you. Each has a stack limit printed on your hero leaflet. Some are persistent, meaning they stay put until a card or effect specifically removes them.

Your hero leaflet also lists which symbols appear in that hero’s dice pool, which is the fastest way to learn a new hero.

Cards

Upgrade cards

Bought with combat points and placed over the matching ability on your hero board.

You do not have to upgrade in sequence. You can jump straight from level 1 to level 3 by paying the level 3 cost. But if you have already upgraded to level 2, going to level 3 only costs you the difference between them.

Action cards

Three kinds, identified by the symbol in the top right corner:

Symbol	Type	When you can play it
Die	Roll phase action	Only during the offensive roll, targeting roll or defensive roll phases.
M	Main phase action	Only during a main phase.
!	Instant action	Any time, without restriction — and it cannot be interrupted by anything.

The Heroes

Season One ships six heroes, and they play very differently:

Hero	Playstyle
Barbarian	Hit hard, heal up, win games.
Paladin	Buff your offence and defence, and stay alive even after death.
Monk	Shift between offensive and defensive stances — master the balance.
Pyromancer	A classic glass cannon. Even your defence is another offence. The long game is not your friend, so scorch the earth quickly.
Moon Elf	Blind and entangle your foes, evade their attacks, and whittle them down slowly.
Shadow Thief	Poison, steal resources, draw extra cards and force discards. The longer the game runs, the stronger you get.

How to Win

Heroes keep taking turns until only one is left standing and every other hero has been reduced to 0 health. That hero wins.

Common Mistakes

• Rolling defence dice one at a time. A defensive roll is made all at once, with no re-rolls. Only the offensive roll gets three attempts.
• Forgetting the first player skips income. It applies to the first player, on the first turn of the game, and never again.
• Missing the last window for action cards. After the defensive roll, both players get one more chance to play cards before damage is applied.
• Upgrading in strict order. You can leap from level 1 to level 3 by paying the full level 3 cost — sometimes cheaper than buying level 2 on the way.
• Hoarding dead cards. Any card can be sold in a main phase for a combat point.
• Ignoring the dial caps. You cannot bank more than 15 combat points, and you cannot heal more than 10 above your starting health.
• Forgetting status effects at upkeep. Poison and burn trigger at the start of your turn, not the end of anyone else’s.