AQ HD - Rulebook

Each turn, each hero can move and perform only 1 of the following actions:

- Attack an enemy
- Cast a spell
- Search the area for secrets
- Disarm a trap

When one of these actions is performed after moving, any remaining movement points are lost, except for the search. On the other hand, when the turn is started by an action without any prior movement, all movement points can be used after the action.

Actions with no limit on use are :

- Searching an object or chest
- Use a consumable

Movements points:

Each Hero rolls 2 D6, so the movement points received are between 2 and 12.
The use of the Scroll of speed consumable, which doubles the points for the following turn, never exceeds 12 points.

A move of one square removes one point. Squares are crossed in the cardinal directions (up, down, left or right) and must therefore have a side in common. You can't move diagonally.

Movements restrictions:

- A hero cannot move after one of the following 3 actions: [attack an enemy | cast a spell | disarm a trap] unless the turn begins with one of these actions before any movement.
- A Hero cannot cross an enemy tile, but can cross a Hero tile.
- An activated trap interrupts movement and cancels all actions in addition to causing the loss of a hit point.

Range and targeting:

Attack and defense points:

Arcane Quest HD uses a dice system to calculate attack and defense points. The same die is used by both attacker and defender. It has 6 faces and looks like this:

The attacker rolls as many dice as he has attack dice. Each time he rolls on the white skull side, he gains one point of damage. This applies to heroes and enemies alike.
The defender rolls as many dice as he has defense dice. If it's a hero who's defending, he gains one point of defense every time he rolls on the white shield side. If it's an enemy defending, it gains one point of defense each time he rolls on the black shield side.

Damage inflicted = damage points - defense points

Note that attack faces are common to all, defense faces are unique to each group!
If defense points are greater than or equal to attack points, damages inflicted are 0

Spells are skills that are specific to each hero. They can be of various kinds (damage, offensive and defensive buffs, healing, summoning, metamorphosis, movement...).

Spells are actions that can only be performed once per turn. They obey the same rules as ranged attacks in terms of range and targeting. > Attack and defense section.

Each spell can only be used once during the game. Spells are powerful assets, but must be used with care!

Search allows you to explore tiles for hidden gold or consumables. The hero will search his field of vision (horizontal and vertical). If a tile in a room is searched, the entire room (bounded by the walls) is searched. Corridors are searched in their entirety (horizontally or vertically) if they are visible to the hero.

Discovered tiles have a green halo when searched. A tile can only be searched once.

The probability of finding gold or consumables does not depend on the number of tiles searched, but depends on the number of rooms. A 6-tile room is just as likely to yield a finding as a 16-tile room.

1 search yields a maximum of 1 item. If a search is carried out on 2 rooms at the same time, it will never yield 2 consumables, but only 1, as they will count as a single search.

The same rules apply to corridors, as shown in the charts below, where (H) is the hero:

In case 1, the search will only be carried out horizontally, so you'll need to launch a second search vertically to explore everything. In case 2, we explore in both orientations simultaneously.

In dungeons without timers, case 1 is more interesting, as it gives you twice the chance of making a find.

Traps are hidden elements, potentially present on any tile. They can be revealed through a search.

When a hero steps on an unrevealed trap, he takes 1 point of direct damage (impossible to reduce by any means).

When, on the other hand, a trap is revealed, you can either bypass it (if possible), or try to disarm it. To do this, we use a 6-sided die, distributed as follows:

3 neutral sides, 2 disarming sides and 1 explosion side.

The hero then rolls 2 dice, or 4 for the Dwarf. 3 results are possible:

- Trap disarmed: at least 1 die falls on a disarming face, even if another falls on an explosion face > earns 8 gold coins.
- Trap explodes: at least 1 die falls on an explosion face, and the rest on explosion or neutral faces > 1 point of direct damage.
- Failed attempt: dice fall only on neutral faces > nothing happens and a new action must be used (next turn, or other hero).

It's now easy to understand the advantage of the Dwarf and his 4 dice, who will take an average of 0.144 damage per trap and 1.07 actions, versus 0.259 damage and 1.34 actions for the other heroes (see the section on dice calculations).

There are many different types of objects to search for, with the aim of finding gold, consumables... or sometimes monsters!

These include chests, shelves, and skeletons. Unlike zone searches, there's no limit per turn. A hero can search for 2 chests in the same turn.

An object can only be searched once.

Consumables picked up on the ground or found in objects by a hero go into his individual inventory. It has 4 basic slots, which can be increased to 7 if the hero is equipped with a belt (to be purchased from the blacksmith).
There are 3 possible interactions with a consumable:

- use it.
- drop it. A dropped item can be picked up by another hero. Several dropped items overlap, even if only one is visible on the screen.
- pass it to an adjacent hero (present on a tile with a common side).

If a hero's inventory is full when he finds a consumable, it is not lost but left on the ground.
If a hero dies, his inventory is destroyed and cannot be recovered. Remember to distribute consumables strategically between heroes!

A quest consists of one or more dungeons. You must win each dungeon to move on to the next and win the quest. To win a dungeon, at least one of the heroes must reach the exit.
- If all the heroes die, the dungeon is lost and must be repeated.
- If the dungeon is conditioned by a timer, and the timer expires, the dungeon must be restarted.

Each dungeon won grants a gold reward: 500 for the first, and +50 for each subsequent dungeon. For example, the 3rd dungeon will yield 600 gold. Formula: (450 +50N) gold, where N is the dungeon number.

Gold earned as a reward in a dungeon, as well as that collected during the dungeon, can be used to buy equipment from the blacksmith to strengthen heroes. Equipment can also be sold. The blacksmith is accessible at the end of each dungeon. Each hero can carry 6 pieces of equipment, although there are class and type restrictions (for example, a 2-handed weapon prevents the use of a shield).
Heroes can only be equipped outside a dungeon, and this also applies to equipment found during a dungeon (when searching an armory).

There are 2 difficulty modes in the game: normal and hardcore, with 3 major differences:

- The death of heroes: If all the heroes die, it's possible to replay the dungeon in normal mode, whereas in hardcore it means the end of the adventure (the quest is lost, and you have to start all over again from the beginning).

- Saving when exiting the game: In hardcore, saving is automatic. If a hero dies, you can't undo his death by restarting at the beginning of the dungeon.

- Gold reward for finished dungeon: 20% bonus in hardcore, the gold gain formula increases from (450+50N) gold to (540+60N) gold.