Game Code/Resolution System/Card Design

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Card Design

Growth of a character includes the ability to create custom cards and learn custom cards from others. These cards are created based on design values for the features of those cards. Cards that do not follow the current rules can be considered illegal for play. Consult your local staffer for help and +job queues to get them up to the current version.

These rules are as of 07:36, 10 February 2023 (CET) and apply to custom Uncommon and custom Rare cards. They do not apply to the basic public cards, Common cards, or Epic cards. Commons are all public cards and Epics are a special card that only exists once across all (Attack, Defense, Utility) decks as game changer signature moves.

Design Points

A card has a number of Design Points (DP) based on its rarity and its EN cost. This serves as the base target number for each card.

  • Uncommon: 10 DP per EN
    • 1 EN Uncommon: 10
    • 2 EN Uncommon: 20
  • Rare: 13 DP per EN
    • 1 EN Rare: 13
    • 2 EN Rare: 26

As the difference between Uncommon and Rare is 3 points, overperforming or underperforming by a point can be significant. Card designs are sensitive to this fact and sensitive to when the values shift that cards need to be adjusted to be within the design thresholds.

Concept Points

A card has a number of Concept Points (CoPo) based on its rarity. This serves as the base target number for the concept Grants on each card.

  • Uncommon: 7 CoPo
  • Rare: 8 CoPo

A card does not count the first point each time one of these concepts appears, as part of a free concept.

  • First Physical or Magical
  • First Melee or Ranged
  • First Shield or Evasion
  • First Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing

As the difference between Uncommon and Rare is 1 point, overgranting or undergranting by a point can be significant. Card designs are sensitive to this fact and sensitive to when concepts are required for combat effect such as Thorns or Healing.

Deck Specific Rules

All Decks (Attack, Defense, and Utility)

  • Must grant Physical, Magical, and/or a System Arte
  • Must grant at least one Elemental concept
    • Fire
    • Air
    • Water
    • Earth
    • Light
    • Dark
  • May never grant more than 3 elemental concepts
  • Granting a concept requires the concept appear in the Required concepts
  • May grant non-combat concepts
    • Granting a non-combat concept that the creator does not have is considered uncommon
    • It has to make sense for the card, flavor and fun are rewarded
  • Maximum Grant multiplier depends on Rarity
    • Uncommons may not have more than a 2x of a concept (e.g. Airx2 or Constructionx2)
    • Rares may not have more than a 3x of a concept (e.g. Firex3 or Searchingx3)
  • Decks require a minimum of 10 cards in them to be valid
  • Decks have no card maximum
  • Maxium Duplicates of a card depends on Rarity
    • Uncommons may have 3 duplicates of the same card (e.g. 3x Lightningstep)
    • Rares may have 2 duplicates of the same card (e.g. 2x Edge of Shadow)

Attack Deck

  • Must grant Slashing, Bludgeoning, or Piercing
    • Bludgeoning is for low hits in combat. It represents slow and heavy strikes.
      • Associated Element: Earth
    • Slashing is for medium hits in combat. It represents steady and reliable strikes.
      • Associated Elements: Fire, Water, Light, Dark
    • Piercing is for high hits in combat. It represents rapid and weak strikes.
      • Associated Element: Air
  • What is considered low, medium, or high hits depends on the rarity of the card
    • Uncommon
      • 1: Low
      • 2: Medium
      • 3: High
      • Uncommons never have more than 3 hits
    • Rare
      • 1-2: Low
      • 2-3: Medium
      • 3-4: High
      • Rares never have more than 4 hits
  • Must grant Melee or Ranged
    • Granting both is considered rare. The ability has both a touch/close-range function and a distance/long-range function. Example: Lightning Sword from Fire Emblem.
  • Never grants the defensive concepts of Evasion or Shield

Defense Deck

  • Must grant Evasion or Shield
    • Never grants Evasion and Shield
  • Shield is for low-medium hits in combat.
    • Associated Elements: Earth, Fire, Water, Light
  • Evasion is for medium-high hits in combat
    • Associated Elements: Air, Fire, Water, Dark
  • What is considered low-medium, or medium-high hits depends on the rarity of the card
    • Uncommon
      • 1-2: Low-Medium
      • 2-3: Medium-High
      • Uncommons never have more than 3 hits
    • Rare
      • 1-2: Low-Medium
      • 3-4: Medium-High
      • Rares never have more than 4 hits
  • Never grants the Attack concepts of Slashing, Bludgeoning, or Piercing

Utility Deck

  • Never grants the Attack concepts of Slashing, Bludgeoning, or Piercing

PvP - Carded Combat

One function of each card is tied to the use in the card combat system (dueling/PvP). Currently the system is balanced against a 1-1 duel. 2-1, 2-2, 1-3, 2-3, and 3-3 dueling is supported and unbalanced as of this version.

Combat Specific Considerations

  • Health is determined by card rarity. Each card provides a set amount of health to the total health pool of the character.
    • Common: 1 HP (Hit Points)
    • Uncommon: 2 HP
    • Rare: 3 HP
    • Epic: 5 HP
  • Combat favors resolution of combat by a set of rounds
    • Fast: 5 rounds / Avg 14 HP lost per round
    • Average: 10 rounds / Avg 7 HP lost per round
    • Slow: 15+ rounds / Avg 5 HP lost per round
  • Use of cards in combat depends on EN
    • Each combatant gets 3 EN to play cards across all their decks
    • The first play of the game has 2 EN to reflect not needing to spend any EN on defense during the first play
    • Cards are 1 EN or 2 EN
  • Cards are drawn from each individual deck (Attack, Defense, Utility)
    • 2 cards are drawn from each deck at the start of the round
    • The order that the cards are drawn are randomized through a shuffle
    • Effects exist to raise, lower, or replace the cards being drawn
    • When there are no cards to draw, the deck is shuffled again
Base Attributes

The first cost of a card will come from its hits times its (damage/defense) value.

  • Damage if Attack Deck
  • Defense if Defense Deck
  • Example: 2 Hits of 3 Damage --> 2x3 --> 6 DP
  • Example: 2 Hits of 2 Defense --> 2x2 --> 4 DP (see below for an additional cost of +1)

The hits of a card must remain within the threshold of the card's rarity.

  • A card with hits greater than 2 costs 1 additional DP
  • Example: 3 Hits of 3 Damage --> 3x3 --> 9 DP --> +1 for High Hits --> 10 DP

The first instance of Defense, Gain Defense, or Start Guard costs 1 additional DP

  • All Defensive Cards have Defense, therefor all Defensive Cards have this penalty
  • Attack Cards and Utility cards that offer defensive effects of Gain Defense or Start Guard have this penalty added in
  • Example: 2 Hits of 2 Defense --> 2x2 --> 4 DP --> +1 for First Defensive --> 5 DP
  • Example: 3 Hits of 2 Defense --> 3x2 --> 6 DP --> +1 for High Hits --> 7 DP --> +1 for First Defensive --> 8 DP
  • Example: 2 Hits of 3 Damage with Gain Defense 2 --> 2x3 --> 6 DP --> Gain Defense(2) as +2 DP --> 8 DP --> +1 for First Defensive --> 9 DP
Effects

Effects can be added after the base has been established. Effects have DP costs based on their intensity, duration, and how the effect impacts combat resolution. The Utility deck has no base requirement like the Attack or Defense deck and has more DP to allocated to effects as a result. Effects of the same type do not stack/add-together and instead overwrite at the highest value/intensity unless otherwise stated.

  • Add Card
    • 6DP per Burning or Drowning added. 5DP per Bleeding or Cursed added
      • DP is calculated as a Drawdown (1DP or 2DP based on the targeted deck or random) plus its effect plus 1DP
      • Cursed targets Attack Deck and causes the enemy to discard cards
      • Drowning targets Defense Deck and causes the enemy to lose more defensive value
      • Bleeding targets Utility Deck and causes direct damage
      • Burning targets Random Deck and causes direct damage
    • Clutters Stack and get recycled in if not addressed. In a 10 Round match it can be expected to be seen two times if not purged. Purging (1EN) trade off favors the clutterer as a 6DP card purge is the same as playing a ~common rarity.
    • Never more than one clutter effect per card
    • Clutters appear in the Utility Deck only
  • Attack Down
    • 1 DP per Intensity per hit (with no round limitation)
    • 4 DP per Intensity per round (with no hit limitation)
    • Reduces the damage of an attack
    • Example: Attack Down, 2 Intensity, for 1 Hit will change 2 Hits of 3 Damage from: 3 + 3 --> 6 Damage to (3-2) + 3 --> 4 Damage
    • Attack and Defensive decks use the 'per hit' values and have both a hit and round limitation
    • Utility decks may have this effect with an unrestricted number of rounds that the hits can go in effect or unrestricted number of hits across a number of rounds.
  • Attack Up
    • 1 DP per Intensity per hit (with no round limitation)
    • 4 DP per Intensity per round (with no hit limitation)
    • Raises the damage of an attack
    • Example: Attack Up, 2 Intensity, for 1 Hit will change 2 Hits of 3 Damage from: 3 + 3 --> 6 Damage to (3+2) + 3 --> 8 Damage
    • Attack and Defensive decks use the 'per hit' values and have both a hit and round limitation
    • Utility decks may have this effect with an unrestricted number of rounds that the hits can go in effect or unrestricted number of hits across a number of rounds.
  • Blind
    • 1 DP per Intensity per Hit
    • Reduces the guard of an enemy and then reduces the attack of an enemy if there are left over hits of this effect
    • Example: Blind, 2 Intensity, for 3 hits will will change 2 Hits of 3 Defense from: 3 + 3 --> 6 Defense to (3-2) + (3-2) --> 2 Defense. In addition, the opponent's attack of 2 hits of 4 damage would change from: 4 + 4 --> 8 Damage to (4-2) + 4 --> 6 damage as there was 1 hit of Blind left that went over to the Attack hits.
    • The maximum hit value depends on the card rarity
      • Uncommon max is 3
      • Rare max is 4
    • Associated Concepts: Dark or Light
  • Destroy Card
    • Used on Epic card use so that the Epic may only be used once per combat
    • Used on Clutter cards to remove from Decks
  • Discard Random
    • 2 DP per intensity per Round
    • Used on Cursed clutter to remove cards
  • Doom
    • 2 DP per Round
    • Prevents the affected target from healing
    • Associated Concept: Dark
  • Draw
    • 2 DP (Attack/Defense Deck)
    • 1 DP (Utility Deck)
    • Immediately draws a card from the defined Deck
    • Draw intensity capped at 1
  • Draw Down
    • 2 DP per Round (Attack/Defense Deck)
    • 1 DP per Round (Utility Deck)
    • Target Draws less cards during the Draw phase from the defined Deck
    • Draw intensity capped at 1
    • Rounds capped at 1 for Attack and Defense Deck
    • Rounds capped based on rarity for the Utility Deck
      • Uncommon: 2 Rounds
      • Rare: 3 Rounds
  • Draw Random
    • 1 DP
    • Immediately draws a card from a random deck
    • Draw intensity capped at 1
  • Draw Up
    • 2 DP per Round (Attack/Defense Deck)
    • 1 DP per Round (Utility Deck)
    • Target Draws more cards during the Draw phase from the defined Deck
    • Draw intensity capped at 1
    • Rounds capped at 1 for Attack and Defense Deck
    • Rounds capped based on rarity for the Utility Deck
      • Uncommon: 2 Rounds
      • Rare: 3 Rounds
  • Facedown
    • 1 DP
    • The card that is played is not disclosed when it is played in combat
    • Associated Concept: Dark, Sneaking, Legerdemain
  • Gain Defense
    • 1 DP per Intensity
    • Raises your Defense by the Intensity of the effect
    • Counts as 1 Defensive Hit for Round-Wide Guard Up effects.
    • The first defensive addition (defense, gain defense, or start guard) costs an additional 1 point
  • Guard Down
    • 1 DP per Intensity per hit (with no round limitation)
    • 4 DP per Intensity per round (with no hit limitation)
    • Reduces the defense of a defensive card
    • Example: Guard Down, 2 Intensity, for 1 Hit will change 2 Hits of 3 Defense from: 3 + 3 --> 6 Defense to (3-2) + 3 --> 4 Defense
    • Attack and Defensive decks use the 'per hit' values and have both a hit and round limitation
    • Utility decks may have this effect with an unrestricted number of rounds that the hits can go in effect or unrestricted number of hits across a number of rounds.
  • Guard Up
    • 1 DP per Intensity per hit (with no round limitation)
    • 4 DP per Intensity per round (with no hit limitation)
    • Raises the defense of a defensive card
    • Example: Guard Up, 2 Intensity, for 1 Hit will change 2 Hits of 3 Defense from: 3 + 3 --> 6 Defense to (3+2) + 3 --> 8 Defense
    • Attack and Defensive decks use the 'per hit' values and have both a hit and round limitation
    • Utility decks may have this effect with an unrestricted number of rounds that the hits can go in effect or unrestricted number of hits across a number of rounds.
  • Harm Self
    • -1 DP per intensity, this gives the card additional DP on Rare cards
    • Used by Burning and Bleeding clutters to inflict damage
  • Heal over Time
    • Formula is the triangular number +2
    • 5 DP for HoT-2 (1+2+2)
    • 8 DP for HoT-3 (1+2+3+2)
    • 12 DP for HoT-4 (1+2+3+4+2)
    • 17 DP for HoT-5 (1+2+3+4+5+2)
    • Heals the target over time, starting at the highest value and then reducing the number by 1 each turn until it is 0
    • The maximum value depends on the card rarity
      • Uncommon max is 3
      • Rare max is 4
    • Associated Concepts: Light, Water, Pharmacy
  • Poison
    • Formula is the triangular number +1
    • 4 DP for Poison-2 (1+2+1)
    • 7 DP for Poison-3 (1+2+3+1)
    • 11 DP for Poison-4 (1+2+3+4+1)
    • 16 DP for Poison-5 (1+2+3+4+5+1)
    • Damages the target over time, starting at the highest value and then reducing the number by 1 each turn until it is 0
    • The maximum value depends on the card rarity
      • Uncommon max is 3
      • Rare max is 4
    • Concepts: Fire,Earth,Dark,Water,Alchemy,Brew
  • Random Draw Down
    • 1 DP per Round
    • Draw intensity capped at 1
    • Target draws less cards during the Draw phase from a random Deck
    • Rounds capped based on rarity
      • Uncommon: 2 Rounds
      • Rare: 3 Rounds
  • Random Draw Up
    • 1 DP per Round
    • Draw intensity capped at 1
    • Target draws more cards during the Draw phase from a random Deck
    • Rounds capped based on rarity
      • Uncommon: 2 Rounds
      • Rare: 3 Rounds
  • Retaliate
    • Not in use
    • Intended Use: To deal damage in a group fight when someone besides your character is attacked
  • Retaliate Attack Down
    • Not in use
    • Intended Use: To reduce the Attack of an attacker with a Defensive card effect
    • Bugged
  • Retaliate Guard Down
    • Not in use
    • Intended Use: To reduce the Defense of an attacker with a Defensive card effect
    • Bugged
  • Start Guard
    • 1 DP per Intensity per Round
    • Raises your Defense by the Intensity of the effect on your next turn
    • The first defensive addition (defense, gain defense, or start guard) costs an additional 1 point
    • Associated concepts: Earth, Light
  • Thorn Bind
    • 1 DP per Intensity per Round
    • Deals damage per intensity per hit for each attack that bypasses the total guard of the enemy
    • Example: Defender plays 2 hits of 3 defense to establish the total guard value: 2x3 --> 6 Total Guard. Attacker Plays 3 hits of 3 damage against this: 6 - 3(firsthit) --> 3 - 3(second hit) --> 0 -3 (third hit) --> -3. 3 damage plus 1 hit of Thorn Bind will apply. If Thorn Bind was 1 Hit of 2 Intensity, then on that last hit the defender takes 2 extra damage.
    • Associated Concepts: Earth, Dark
  • Thorns
    • 1 DP per Intensity per Round
    • Deals damage per intensity per hit for each attack that does not bypass the total guard of the enemy
    • Example: Defender plays 2 hits of 3 defense to establish the total guard value: 2x3 --> 6 Total Guard. Attacker Plays 3 hits of 3 damage against this: 6 - 3(firsthit) and Thorns Applies --> 3 - 3(second hit) and Thorns Applies --> 0 -3 (third hit) --> -3 and Thorns does not apply. If the defender had 2 hits of 2 intensity Thorns, then the attacker would take 2+2 (4) damage during the attack against the defender.
    • Associated Concepts: Fire, Handle Monster
  • Type Resist
    • 1 DP per 2 intensity per Round of Physical, Magical, Melee, or Ranged Physical or Melee require Shield
    • 1 DP per 3 intensity per Round of Slashing, Bludgeoning, Piercing, Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Light, or Dark
      • This item is under review for Slashing, Bludgeoning, and Piercing
    • Magical or Ranged require Evasion
    • Physical or Melee require Shield
    • Maximum intensity per card is 6
    • Defense Deck only
    • Type Resist looks at all Attacks in the queue during evaluation.
Attack Deck Effect Nuances
  • Favored deck: Combat must favor resolution. The Attack deck focuses on bringing the combat to a conclusion by reducing the opponent's HP to 0. Effects that diminish the ability to resolve combat will have a higher cost associated to avoid lengthening the rounds required to duel and reducing the damage per round.
  • Attack Up effects must be bounded by both hit and round
  • Attack Down effects must be bounded by both hit and round
  • Guard Up effects must be bounded by both hit and round
  • Guard Down effects on the target must be bounded both hit and round
  • Cards with Hits over 2 (3 and above) have a 1 point penalty
Defense Deck Effect Nuances
  • Mitigation Deck: The Defense deck focuses on preventing combat from concluding (for the deck's owner) by keeping their HP from reaching 0. There is a minor (1 pt) penalty associated with preventing the conclusion. Damage is always at least 1 (scratch) when calculating damage vs defense of the base values.
  • Type: Resist cards are generated only from the Defense Deck
  • Attack Up effects must be bounded by both hit and round
  • Attack Down effects must be bounded by both hit and round
  • Guard Up effects must be bounded by both hit and round
  • Guard Down effects on the target must be bounded both hit and round
  • Cards with Hits over 2 (3 and above) have a 1 point penalty
Utility Deck Effect Nuances

Support deck: A match can be won without using this deck, but advanced methods can come out of this deck that improve either offensive (attack deck) or defensive (defense deck) purposes.

  • Clutter cards are generated only from the Utility deck (Burning, Drowning, Cursed, Bleeding)
    • Only one clutter effect can apply per card, regardless of it being 1 EN or 2 EN
  • Attack Up effects can be bounded by hits (and all rounds) or rounds (and all hits)
  • Attack Down effects can be bounded by hits (and all rounds) or rounds (and all hits)
  • Guard Up effects can be bounded by hits (and all rounds) or rounds (and all hits)
  • Guard Down effects can be bounded by hits (and all rounds) or rounds (and all hits)
Concept Guidelines & Effects

There are concepts that give card characteristics their identity. Light is iconic to Healing. Fire is iconic to Burning. Custom cards will look for these concepts when seeking to gain certain characteristics.

  • Physical
    • Power origin Concept: Sword Artes
    • No dependant requirements
  • Magical
    • Power origin Concept: Wave Artes
    • No dependant requirements
  • Melee
    • Distance Concept: Close
    • No dependant requirements
  • Ranged
    • Distance Concept: Far
    • No dependant requirements
  • Piercing
    • High hit attacks
    • Low damage values
    • Associated Concept: Air
  • Slashing
    • Medium hit attacks
    • Medium damage values
    • Associated Concepts: Fire, Water, Light, and Dark
  • Bludgeoning
    • Low hit attacks
    • High damage values
    • Associated Concept: Earth
  • Shield
    • Low-medium hit defenses
    • Medium-high defense values
    • Type Resist: Physical, Melee
    • Start Guard
    • Gain Defense
  • Evasion
    • Medium-high hit defenses
    • Low-Medium defense values
    • Type Resist: Magical, Ranged
  • Earth
    • Low hit count
    • High value-per-hit
    • Bleeding
    • Thorn Bind
  • Water
    • Medium hit count
    • Medium value-per-hit
    • Heal over Time
    • Drowning
  • Fire
    • Medium hit count
    • Medium value-per-hit
    • Burning
    • Thorns
  • Air
    • High hit attacks
    • Low damage attacks
    • Drowning
    • Draw / Draw Up / Draw Down
  • Light
    • Medium hit count
    • Medium value-per-hit
    • Heal over Time
    • Blind
    • Start Guard
    • Gain Defense
  • Dark
    • Medium hit count
    • Medium value-per-hit
    • Facedown
    • Blind
    • Thorn Bind
    • Doom
  • Pharmacy
    • Heal over Time
  • Handle Monster
    • Thorns
  • Song
    • Draw / Draw Up / Draw Down
  • Enchanting
    • Attack Up / Down
    • Defense Up / Down
  • Divination
    • Draw / Draw Up / Draw Down
  • Sneaking
    • Facedown
  • Legerdemain
    • Facedown
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