With the basic game style, it's 1-on-1. You versus your opponent. Each player randomly draws a character and a weapon. These cards have 3 different traits (Speed, Power, and Finesse). These traits correspond to the dice you will use when battling, so a 4 is a d4, a 6 is a d6, and so forth. When you fight, you roll 1d4 to determine which attack you will use against your enemy.

1 = Speed (Red). 2 = Power (White). 3 = Finesse (Grey). 4 = You choose the attack, or Roll to select again with a Bonus (Green)

Since your weapon and character both have traits, you will actually be rolling 2 dice per attack. If a 1 was rolled on your 1d4 for attack selection for the round, you would use Speed as your attack. Your opponent might have a different trait they are using against you, since they also roll 1d4 to determine which type of attack they will use. You might have 1d4 for your character's Speed, but 1d8 for your weapon's speed. You roll these 2 dice together, add them together, and compare to your opponent's total from their 2 dice. Damage is dealt in the difference between the two sums.

Strategy comes from things like:

Blocks - double your dice total but you can't damage your opponent. Typically you get 1 block per match, so use it wisely!
Max Dice Damage - even if you're rolling 2D4 vs. an opponent's 1D8 and 1D10, you can still deal damage to them if you max out either or both of your dice! Whenever a character rolls the highest number possible on any die, they deal an automatic point of damage to their opponent. In this way, there is a chance to deal damage to an opponent even if you don't win the round.
Weapon Bonuses - Most characters have 2-3 weapons they have +1 to dice rolls on if they have a matching weapon.
Choice Bonuses - Each character can also get a bonus to attack rolls if they give up their choice when they roll a d4 and get a 4 for attack selection. If so, they roll again and have to take whatever they get, but they attack with a bonus on their rolls.
Alternate Rules Cards - Putting one of these into play at the beginning of a match can totally change the game mechanics. With 36 different variations, it can really put a new spin on things! These are my favorite part of the game.
Special Characters - 9 of the 27 characters have no weapon bonuses, but instead have special powers or abilities.
3-on-3 Elimination Matches - Continue fighting with your characters until they are reduced to 0 Hit Points, pulling a new character into the match until either you or your opponents have lost 3 characters.
3-5 Player Battle Royale Matches - Alternate rules for playing with more than 1 opponent. Last one standing wins!
With all of these options, this becomes a great game for 2-5 players, whether you only have 10 minutes to play or an hour. All it takes is 1 set of 90 cards, some standard RPG dice (D4/D6/D8/D10/D12/D20), and a friend!

—description from the designer

Immortal Arms

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