Heroes
History remembers those who write it.
Heroes
Every great hero comes from a greater family, and you are descended from two generations of heroes renowned for their might, craft, lore, and faith. Hero cards fill out your family tree, representing your descriptions of yourself and your ancestors.
Each hero card lists that character's most defining trait, which you might inherit or use for embellishments. In addition, heroes also have recessive traits which, under the right circumstances, trickle down to you.
LAYOUT OF A HERO
Class - The colored banner at the top of the card is the hero's unique occupation, based on both their dominant and recessive traits. This also shows the hero's primary color.
Name - Each hero has a unique name.
Dominant trait - The colored hexagonal slot in the bottom right corner of a hero card represents their dominant trait. Slotting an inheritance marker into it symbolizes that you've inherited that trait.
In addition, this slot also indicates the hero's primary color when determining which embellishments they grant you.
Recessive trait - The empty half-slots on either side of a hero card represent that hero's recessive trait. When paired with another hero who shares that trait, these half-slots join to form a full slot into which you can slot an inheritance marker.
FAMILY TREE
You - The youngest hero in your family tree is you -- but who do you want to be? You can change who you say you are, and your hero's color controls which embellishments you can use each turn.
Your parents - Next you describe your parents. You can inherit one dominant and one recessive trait from this pair. Like all heroes, you can change your description of them later.
If one or both of your parents are the same color as you, you can use more powerful embellishments.
Your grandparents - The oldest heroes in your family tree are your grandparents. From each pair, you can inherit one dominant and one recessive trait.
If you, a parent, and a grandparent are the same color, you can use the most powerful embellishments.
INHERITING TRAITS
Inheritance markers - Your saga has six colored inheritance markers. You can slot these into the heroes on your family tree at any time.
Dominant traits - You can always mark the dominant trait of your youngest hero (you).
You can place a marker on a single dominant trait from each pair of heroes on your family tree. You can't mark two dominant traits from the same pair.
Recessive traits - As long as a pair of heroes share a recessive trait, you can slot a marker into it. You'll need to inherit at least some of your ancestors' recessive traits to win!
Demo - Click here to try it out for yourself!
EMBELLISHMENTS
1st generation - Your youngest hero is you. Once you've played a hero in this spot to define yourself, you can use the 1st generation embellishment of that hero's color (which matches their dominant trait).
2nd generation - If you share that color with a parent, you have access to your 2nd generation embellishment as well.
3rd generation - If you also share that color with a grandparent, congratulations! You also have access to your powerful 3rd generation embellishment.
Note that it doesn't matter which parent and grandparent share the color, as long as at least one of each does.
Inheritance markers - When checking what embellishments you're qualified for, ignore inheritance markers. The markers only matter when determing if you've completed your saga and won the game.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: Do I have to fill my family tree in order, from youngest hero to oldest?
A: No, you can play onto any spot of your tree at any time. However, embellishments require your youngest hero to be described before they can be used, so it's usually better to play at least one hero in each generation before moving on to the next.
Q: Can I play new heroes on top of existing ones?
A: Yes! You're telling a story and it may not be accurate at first. As your story changes and grows, you can alter characters you've already described by playing new cards on top of them.
Whenever a new hero is placed on top of an existing one, the existing card is immediately dismissed and placed into the discard pile.
Q: How do I determine a hero card's color?
A: A hero's color is determined by the color of their dominant trait (the large hex in the bottom right corner of the card). That color is also represented across the top border of the card.
Recessive traits don't alter or add to a hero's color.
Q: Which colored traits can receive an inheritance marker?
A: The might (red), craft (green), lore (blue), and faith (yellow) traits can have inheritance markers placed upon them. These are also called the "basic" traits and colors. No other traits or colors can receive inheritance markers.
Q: What does a hero card's class do?
A: Classes are primarily decorative, but they do help to identify some of a hero's attributes. Each basic hero has a class which uniquely identifies its combination of dominant plus recessive trait. For example, a hero with dominant might (red) and recessive lore (blue) will always have the Rune-carver class.
For other cards, like ghosts and skalds, their class helps identify their unique traits and abilities (doom and wit, in this case). Refer to the rules for advanced cards for more information about how these advanced traits work.