FAQ – Catacombs Third Edition

We have tested the following card sleeves:

• Fantasy Flight Supply – 50ct Standard American 57mm x 89mm Sleeves
• Ultra Pro – 50ct Board Game Sleeves – Standard American – 56mm x 87mm
• Legion Supplies – Board Game Sleeve 3 – Standard American – 59mm x 93mm

No.

No, just put the piece back to where it left the board and finish your shot sequence. This applies also for target shots.

If hit by a shot with the poison modifier, the player draws poison one card from the deck (in a couple of rare cases you would draw two) and places it face up on the poison section of the hero’s player mat. If the values of all the poison cards ever equal or exceed the total starting healthof that hero, they are immediately killed and all poison cards get shuffled back into the poison card deck. Note that poison is an advanced feature of the game and is best not used with new players!

In the revised rules related to hero death, the hero keeps everything (coins, items, spells) except poison cards (if they have any) which are reshuffled back into the poison deck. If they have a stun card, that is removed as well. The hero returns to life at the beginning of the next room with half their health restored (rounded down). For the revised advanced rules, the same rules apply as the basic rules, however, the hero must be resurrected either by visiting the Healer or the use of the Phoenix Feather item to return to life again.

No.

Yes!

The four quadrants represent the four levels of monsters. For example, a monster icon in the top-right quadrant indicates that this monster is a level 2 monster. This helps the Overseer to place monsters efficiently.

The heal spell heals four health points of the hero who casts the spell. This spell can also be used on any other hero (the hero icon was missing from this card during the first printing of Catacombs Third Edition).

Heroes do not get the gold coins when their familiars destroy monsters. On the other hand, heroes do receive the gold coins from monsters destroyed by an ally they have recruited from the Inn.

In the reprinted version of the Catacombs base game, the Wizard was changed such that he can choose any ten spells. Those ten spells can come from the base Catacombs game or any other expansions that you own.

In the first printing (R1P1) there are three included missile shots. In the second printing (R2P1) there are two missile shots. The second printing manual had an error on page showing three missile shots.

These monsters are returned to the monster pool. The first and second printings of the manual said that destroyed monsters are returned to the player mat, which was an error. On page 19 the text should read “Monsters destroyed during the encounter with the Catacomb Lord are returned to the Monster Pool.”

These icons are game identifiers. They indicate which game the card belongs to. As of writing this, all of the cards in our current line of games have an identifier.

The Wraith Knight (Catacomb Lord) or King’s Champion (Castle Lord) start with the amount of health indicated on their Rules card. They start with two of each type of Warrior, up to a maximum of three types (for a total of six Warriors).
The Mercenary for both the Castle and Catacomb Lord is shown on their Rules card.
Reinforcement tokens aren’t used.

The repeat shot is a Character shot, meaning it is performed by flicking the Character’s disc at the target. A ranged disc cannot be used.

The number of cards was increased from 132 to 140. The card thickness was increased. The sticker sheets were re-organized and a plastic lamination was applied to them. The Gelatinous Cube stickers were improved with new artwork. The coins are now on a punchboard with new artwork. We supply a mini ruler on the punchboard for those who want to be precise about the placement of ranged discs. The way that health is tracked for allies was changed on the player mats. The concept of “variant monsters” was removed such that all monsters now receive their own sticker. Ghouls became large gray discs, Trolls became medium green discs. The missile shot discs are larger. Wood discs are now packed in separate bags according to size to improve packaging accuracy. The game’s box is not as tall (retailers complained about the box size) and a new insert was added. The colours on the game boards are brighter, more vivid and a plastic lamination was applied. The walls are now assembled using plastic stands. The manual was completely overhauled with a new layout and expanded from 24 to 28 pages.

New Stunned!cards were added. Additional Poisoned! cards were added. The ‘5’ value Poisoned! card was replaced by a ‘0’ value card. The Wizard’s sequence was updated to Shield Shot -> Melee and he may choose any 10 spells at the start of the game. The Skeleton Explorer receives an upgrade to his hero rules card. The Heal spell had the hero icon added to it (that was a misprint). The two Shield spell cards were replaced by two Magic Gate spell cards which bring the Open Portal shot into the base Catacombs game. The Liquid Antient gets updated banners and the Invulnerable Health icon. The layout of the Gelatinous Cube shot sequence was improved on its monster card. The Vampire Bat’s poison melee shot was reduced from drawing two poison cards to one. The Armoured Beetle’s health was reduced from 2 to 1 and a defensive property nullifying missile shots was added. The Zombie may only perform an unmodified melee shot. Alternative sequences now have a dotted rectangular outline to improve clarity. The following room cards were eliminated: Sepulcher of the Sisters (too many poison monsters), Castle Mephoth (too difficult), Forbidden Ossuary (too similar to Athenoch Mortuary). The shot sequence on the Chicken Champion’s Feather’s of Fury ability card was upgraded from Rush -> Rush -> Rush -> Rush to Rush -> Melee -> Rush -> Rush.

The discussion related to the poison modifier was moved to the advanced rules section. Ice shots cannot freeze Catacomb Lords (this was omitted by mistake from the first printing of the manual). Spell casters may choose any two spell cards when recruited as allies. When casting a spell, a spell caster always performs a rush shot first. When a hero dies they now return to life during the Setup Phase of the next battle room with half of their starting health (rounded down). Resurrecting heroes is now an advanced rule (see the manual for more details). Monster vulnerabilities were added to the advanced rules. The manual now grades the Catacombs Lords from weakest to strongest.

Shots with the stun modifier leave the affected hero temporarily able to only perform a single rush shot. Place the Stunned! card over the affected hero’s Rules card. On their turn, a player may only perform a single rush shot with a stunned hero until that hero is hit directly by any melee or rush shot from one of their teammates (including another stunned hero). Remove the Stunned! card when this happens. When the Battle Phase for a room ends, all stunned heroes return to normal and players remove all Stunned! cards. If a hero is stunned and has a familiar in play (see page 18), the player controlling the hero can still perform the familiar’s action as normal. However, in the case of the Raven Familiar, no spells can be cast from its location while its owner is stunned. If only one hero is able to perform their normal action(s) during the Battle Phase (the others may be dead, devoured or teleported), the effects of the stun modifier (and the bite shot, see page 22) on that hero are ignored.

The new distribution is as follows: 2x 0 poison, 5x 1 poison, 2x 2 poison, 3x 3 poison, 1x 4 poison.