Spellblade Chronicles is a tabletop adventure game that combines two things you may have heard of — Magic: The Gathering (a card game where players build decks of spells, creatures, and equipment) and Dungeons & Dragons (a storytelling game where you play a character going on adventures and rolling dice to fight monsters). This game takes the best of both: your character is built like D&D, but your spells and abilities come from a deck of Magic cards. No memorizing spell lists. No complicated rules beyond the basics. Build a deck that matches how you want to play, pick up your dice, and go on an adventure.
How It Plays
Each player builds a deck of cards representing their character's abilities — spells, weapons, summoned creatures, and equipment. On your turn you spend Action Points (AP) to play cards and attack. Your character levels up exactly like D&D, and as your stats grow, every card in your deck automatically hits harder. A Fireball you cast at level 1 is still worth playing at level 10 — it just does a lot more damage.
The Dungeon Master runs the world and the monsters, drawing creature cards to populate each room and controlling boss battles with a dedicated spell deck. Encounters are designed to take 20–30 minutes, not three hours.
Why It's Different
In most card games you play against each other. In Spellblade Chronicles everyone plays together against the world the DM creates. Your deck of cards acts as a visual menu of everything your character can do — no more staring at a character sheet wondering what your options are. Everything you can do is literally in your hand.
The game is designed to grow with you. A family can play a fun one-shot adventure in an afternoon using the casual rules. The same ruleset supports a years-long campaign where characters become legends. You never restart — you just keep building your deck and your story.
What You Need to Play
CardsA deck of Magic: The Gathering cards per player (20 card minimum), plus a creature deck and boss spell deck for the DM. Commons and uncommons work perfectly — no expensive cards needed.
DiceA standard D&D dice set: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20. One set per player. Available at any game store or online for a few dollars.
Character SheetA standard D&D 5th edition character sheet — free to print online. Fill in the basics: race, class, ability scores, HP, AC, and proficiency bonus. That's everything you need.
⚔ Casual Mode
When your deck runs out, shuffle your discard pile and keep going. Great for families, new players, or a relaxed adventure night. No resource pressure — just the story and the dice.
⚗ Campaign Mode
Cards are a limited resource between rests. Managing what you've played, what's left in your deck, and when to rest adds a strategic layer that rewards experienced players across long multi-session campaigns.
Page 1 of 3 · What Is This Game
Setup
Character: Standard D&D sheet — race, class, ability scores, HP, AC, proficiency bonus. All normal D&D rules apply.
No spell slots. Your deck is your spellbook. Cards are your spells, creatures, and equipment.
Deck: 20 card minimum, no maximum. Max 3 copies of any one card. Shuffle and draw 5 to start.
Hand: 5 cards or fewer at end of every turn. Draw 1 at the start OR end of your turn, then discard if over 5.
Encounter Setup
DM draws 7 creature cards.
Roll d(# of players), round up to nearest die. Result = X. DM deploys X+1 creatures.
Everyone rolls d20 + DEX mod for initiative. Act highest to lowest.
No new creatures mid-encounter unless a boss event triggers it.
Your Turn
Gain 5 AP at start of turn.
Bank unused AP: Carry up to 5 into next turn. Max 10 AP on any single turn.
Spend AP freely on any combination of actions. Draw 1 card at start or end of turn.
End of turn: discard down to 5 cards if over the limit.
Banking: Skip turn 1 entirely → 10 AP turn 2. You're exposed — but the payoff can be enormous.
Actions & AP Costs
| Action | AP |
|---|
| Basic Attack (unarmed, 1d6) | 1 |
| Play Spell / Ability | CMC |
| Summon Creature | CMC |
| Play Equipment (summon to loadout) | CMC |
| Equip / Swap Equipment | Equip cost |
| Attack with Equipment | Bracket* |
| Order Summon to Attack | Bracket* |
| Instant (playable any turn) | CMC |
| Use a Potion | 1 |
*AP Bracket: CMC 1–2 = 1AP · CMC 3–4 = 2AP · CMC 5+ = 3AP
CMC = total mana cost printed on the card.
Instants: Playable on any turn — including enemy turns — using banked AP.
Damage Scaling
Spells & abilities: Card base damage + (CMC × tier dice)
Weapons: 1d6 base + STR or DEX mod + equipment bonus dice
Stat mod = bonus dice size only. It never multiplies anything directly.
Spellcasting mod: INT (Wizard/Artificer), WIS (Cleric/Druid/Ranger), CHA (Warlock/Bard/Sorcerer). Multiclass: use whichever fits the card.
Attack rolls: d20 + Proficiency + relevant mod — same as standard D&D.
| Stat Mod | Bonus Dice Size |
|---|
| +1 | d4 per CMC |
| +2 | d6 per CMC |
| +3 | d8 per CMC |
| +4 | d10 per CMC |
| +5 | d12 per CMC |
INT +3 Wizard, Fireball CMC 3, base 5:
5 + 3d8 = ~18 avg damage.
Same card at INT +1: 5 + 3d4 = ~12.
X-cost spells: Treat X as the CMC for all scaling. Banked AP makes these devastating.
Equipment Rules
Play from hand: pay CMC → auto-equips immediately if slot is free.
If a weapon is already equipped: choose to swap (pay equip cost) or put new one on standby.
1 weapon equipped at a time unless you have the Dual Wield talent.
Start of new battle: pay equip cost to reactivate carried-over equipment.
End of battle: keep 1 summoned equipment. Rest go to discard.
Destroyed mid-battle → discard pile. Can be recurred by graveyard cards.
Equipment attack bonus (first +) = number of bonus damage dice. Stat mod = dice size.
Equipment defense bonus (second +) = bonus added to your AC.
STR +3 warrior, +2/+1 equipment: d20 + prof + STR + 2 to hit. Damage: 1d6 + STR mod + 2d8 bonus. AC +1.
Combat
To hit: d20 + Proficiency + STR/DEX (or spellcasting mod) vs target AC.
Natural 20: Double all damage dice.
Natural 1: Miss. Equipped weapon breaks — discard it immediately.
Unarmed basic attack: 1d6 + STR mod. No bonus dice without equipment.
AOE spells: Roll damage once. Each target makes their own defense roll.
Saving throws: Optional — use standard D&D rules if your group wants them.
Creatures & Summons
Enemy creatures: Power = attack damage. Toughness = AC. DM sets HP.
Your summons: Power = attack damage. Toughness = HP.
Summons tap (turn sideways) when they act. Untap at start of your next turn.
Summoning sickness: Can't attack the turn they arrive.
Summons can block attacks aimed at you — they take full damage. Trample bleeds excess through.
Dead summons → discard pile. Can be recurred by graveyard spells.
End of battle: keep 1 summoned creature. Rest to discard.
Summon bonus dice: Power value = dice count. Spellcasting mod = dice size. Same table as spells.
Necromancer CHA +3, 2/4 skeleton: attacks for 2d8 + base, has 4 HP. Dies → discard → Reanimate brings it back.
Keywords
| Keyword | Effect |
|---|
| Haste | No summoning sickness. Jumps to next in initiative. |
| Vigilance | Doesn't tap on attack. Still costs AP. Attacks once. |
| First Strike | Jumps to next in initiative when gained. |
| Double Strike | Jumps to next in initiative. Hits twice on that attack. |
| Trample | Excess damage bleeds through blocker to player. |
| Deathtouch | One hit kills regardless of remaining HP. |
| Lifelink | Damage dealt restores that HP to the controller. |
| Flying | Only blockable by Flying or Reach. |
| Reach | Can block Flying creatures. |
| Regenerate | Returns from graveyard/discard. |
| Legendary | Only 1 copy on battlefield at a time. |
| Tokens | Function as summons. Go to discard on death. |
| Enchantments | Last the duration of the current battle only. |
Death & Resting
0 HP: Unconscious. Roll d20 each turn — 10+ success, 9− fail. 3 successes = stabilize at 1 HP. 3 fails = dead.
Revival: Any healing card or potion from an ally cancels death saves instantly.
Rest (once between boss encounters): Shuffle discard into deck → draw up to 5 → restore HP to half max.
Casual: Deck empty → shuffle discard, keep playing freely.
Campaign: No free reshuffles. Card management is a limited resource.
Page 2 of 3 · Player Rules
Your Role
You are the world. You describe rooms, voice enemies, and control all creatures on the battlefield. You don't play against the players — you create the challenges they overcome together.
You don't need a character sheet. You need two decks: a creature deck and a boss spell deck.
Building Your Decks
Creature deck: MTG creature cards themed to your adventure. Goblins and wolves for a forest. Skeletons and wraiths for a crypt. No size limit — just make sure there's variety.
Boss spell deck: 10–20 cards for your boss's special abilities — AOE damage, summons, debuffs. Keep it thematic. Dragon boss gets fire spells. Lich gets reanimation and life drain.
Both decks are yours alone. Players never see what's in them.
Reading Creature Cards
Power (first number) = attack damage on a hit.
Toughness (second number) = Armor Class (AC). How hard they are to hit.
HP = you decide. A 2/3 goblin might have 5 HP. A 5/4 troll might have 20. Tune it to the moment — players will never know the number.
To attack: roll d20 vs player AC. Hit = deal Power damage to that player.
Keywords on creature cards apply — Deathtouch, Flying, Lifelink all work against players too.
Running an Encounter
1. Draw 7 cards from your creature deck.
2. Roll a die equal to the number of players, rounding up to the nearest available die. Result = X.
3. Choose and deploy X+1 creatures from those 7 cards.
4. Everyone rolls d20 + DEX for initiative. You act for all creatures on their turns.
5. Creatures tap when they act and untap at the start of your next turn controlling them.
Example — 3 Players
1.Draw 7 creature cards.
2.3 players → roll a d4 (round d3 up). Roll a 2, so X = 2.
3.Deploy 3 creatures (X+1). Pick a 2/2 Goblin, a 3/3 Orc, and a 1/4 Archer.
4.Everyone rolls initiative. The Orc rolled highest — it acts first.
5.Combat begins. Players and creatures act in order until all enemies fall.
Creature Turns
Choose a target and attack on each creature's initiative turn.
Creatures don't use AP. They act once per turn and tap to show it.
Dead creatures are removed. Set the card aside — it does not enter your discard pile.
You decide targeting — attack the weakest player, the most threatening, or whoever makes the most narrative sense.
Boss Encounters
A boss encounter is a bigger, more dangerous room. The boss is always present — but the room doesn't have to be empty.
Add creatures at the start for flavor and difficulty, use the deck draw for variety, or let boss spells summon reinforcements mid-fight.
Boss HP: You set it. A good starting point is roughly 15–20 HP per player at low levels. Scale up as the party grows.
Boss AC: Use the toughness on the card or set your own number.
Boss turn: 1 guaranteed attack, then roll d4 to determine how many spells to play. No AP — the d4 is the boss's power.
No bonus damage on boss attacks. Volume and unpredictability are the boss's threat.
Boss Spell Deck
Deck: 25 card minimum. 1 copy of each card only. No duplicates.
Hand: Boss always starts its turn with 7 cards in hand. Draw up to 7 at the start of each boss turn.
Each turn: Roll d4 → play that many cards from the 7-card hand. CMC doesn't matter — if the d4 says 3, play 3 cards.
Played cards go to a used pile (not discard). Unplayed cards stay in hand.
Deck runs out → shuffle used pile into a new deck and keep drawing.
A roll of 0 — nothing extra this turn. A roll of 4 — the players are about to have a very bad time.
This roll happens every boss turn, every fight, no exceptions.
Tip: Don't telegraph your boss spell deck. Half the drama is players never knowing what's coming next.
Pacing
Regular encounters: aim for 20–30 minutes. If it drags, quietly reduce creature HP. No one will know.
Boss fights should feel epic and dangerous. Let the d4 roll build tension. Describe results dramatically.
Remind players they can rest once between boss encounters — they may forget in the heat of the moment.
If you've run D&D before, you already know what you're doing. Run it however you want. Pre-set every encounter. Build hand-crafted rooms with specific creatures chosen for narrative and tactical reasons. Design multi-phase boss fights. Create environmental hazards, traps, and story moments mid-combat. Use MTG legendary cards as bosses, pull straight from the D&D 5e Monster Manual, or build your own. Set boss HP to whatever makes the fight feel right for your party. There are no wrong answers here — this is your world, your story, your table.
The only thing that never changes is the boss spell deck.
Additional Freedoms
Encounters: Pre-set all creatures rather than drawing. Mix types freely. Stack rooms however you like for narrative effect.
Boss rooms: Start with minions, trigger mid-fight waves, design escalating encounters — all fair game.
Boss events: Design custom abilities beyond the spell deck. A Dragon might knock players back on a natural 20. A Lich might phase-shift at half HP. Build it, run it.
Homebrew: Create your own cards for unique enemies, special locations, or rare items. The system supports anything you can design.
Boss source: MTG legendary creature card, D&D 5e stat block, hand-drawn homebrew — any of it works. The rules don't care where the boss comes from.
⚠ The One Rule That Never Changes
No matter how you build your world — pre-set encounters, custom bosses, fully homebrew campaigns — the boss spell deck, 7-card hand, and d4 roll are mandatory on every boss turn, every fight, no exceptions.
Start the turn with 7 cards. Roll the d4. Play that many. This is what keeps boss battles alive and unpredictable — even you don't fully know what combination is coming. A boss fight should feel genuinely dangerous, not choreographed. The spell deck is the chaos that makes it memorable.
Everything else is yours to shape. This one belongs to the dice.
Boss Spell Deck — Experienced Build
Build a dedicated spell deck per boss. 25 card minimum, 1 copy of each card — no duplicates allowed.
Weight it toward the effects you want most — but include wildcards. The best boss moments come from unexpected combinations hitting at once.
The used pile cycles back when the deck runs out, so every card will eventually return. Front-load your most dangerous effects for the opening turns.
Include 2–3 creature summon cards so the fight can escalate naturally through the d4 draw without manual intervention.
Consider building separate decks for each major boss in a campaign. Players will feel the difference.
Page 3 of 3 · Dungeon Master Rules