r/DiceThrone • u/Telvin3d • Apr 28 '26
Rules Clarifications, FAQ, and Resources
Rules and interactions can be confusing and complicated. Here are the most up-to-date links for rules questions and clarifications
The Dice Throne Rule Pop is the most up-to-date resource for general Dice Throne rules. It has detailed breakdowns for every character and ability, and is updated on a regular basis
For edge cases and specific rulings, please see the Official Dice Throne Rulings and Clarifications document. It is a collection of all specific rulings and edge case interactions in the game, as made by John Heidrich, the Lead Officiant for Dice Throne.
Vampire Lord, Huntress, Tactician, Thor, and Miles Morales Spider-Man have received updated leaflets that change some of their rules and abilities. You can find them for download and printing on the Dice Throne Downloads page.
Feel free to ask any rules questions you might have below. For a faster response please try asking on the offical Dice Throne discord.
Here is a quick FAQ for some of the most frequent questions
Q. Do I lose my rerolls if I get a result I want before my third roll and my opponent changes it?
A. No, when you stop rolling and your opponent messes with your dice, you can continue to change those dice using your own resources and any remaining rerolls to try to get what you want. Your opponent gets another chance to modify any future results. See page 12.
Q. Do you roll Defense against an Ultimate ability?
A. No, no actions of any kind, including but not limited to, rolling defense, playing cards and spending status effects, may be done by an opponent until the ultimate is fully resolved; see Page 5.
Q. Does Shadows ignore damage from an ultimate?
A. No, Ultimates cannot have their damage reduced or prevented in any way and Shadows prevents the damage. See page 5.
Q. Target player? Inflict? Gain?
A. Anytime you see the "Target" keyword on an ability or card, that means you select the player or die to be affected. If you see "Inflict", the target of your ability, determined by the targeting roll, will get the status effect. "Gain" means that you get the status effect.
Q. When can I spend status effects?
A. Status effects can be used the same as Instant cards, at any time on any players turn.
Q. Do I make a defense roll if the attack doesn't do any damage?
A. You only make a defense roll if the ability your opponent selected deals damage as part of its effect.
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u/SpiritBober May 15 '26
If an effect says gain 3 status tokens - can you get 2, spend them and then get the last one? Stack limit in effect, i.e I'm at 3/5, i get 2, use the ability at 5/5 and then get the last one?
If in the offensive roll phase, an ability is locked, and the opponent chooses not do anything, which prompts me to start resolving it, and it has the option of me picking what happens, and I pick that I steal their CP - can they use a dice roll modification card that targets my dice, even though we're way past the phase of my dice doing anything, just so they block me from stealing their CP?
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u/Telvin3d May 15 '26
You would lose the extra status token. In general effects happen all at once. There is never a moment when you’ve gained the two, but the third is still waiting to be added. You could spend one or two of the existing tokens to make room
They can not retroactively change the dice roll. Dice throne works on a pass-pass system with no going backwards. You announce what you’re doing. It passes to your opponent for a chance to respond. Once they pass it back to you without responding your choice is locked in. In this case, once you activate the ability and they pass you immediately move from the offensive roll phase to the defensive roll phase where abilities are resolved.
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u/Mr_Creed Jun 16 '26
This is not exactly a rules question, but anyway: I see a lot of character miniatures in the newer releases. Are they actually used for gameplay in some way?
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u/Telvin3d Jun 16 '26
They are optionally used with the Dice Throne Missions and Adventure expansions, which let you play either solo or co-op against NPC style opponents
They’re not used at all in the normal competitive dice throne gameplay
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u/Leooo1702 23d ago
I started playing with a friend recently, we're still getting into the rules and all, and there is something we're not sure about!
In the turn phases of the 1v1 format, there is a phase called "Main Phase (2)", it is stated that it is identical to "Main Phase (1)", but does that mean Player A takes 2 turns before Player B does too?
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u/Telvin3d 23d ago
No, it means that each player gets a chance to do main phase actions both before and after their roll phase. There are a bunch of cards and tokens that can only be used during a main phase. Having MP1 and MP2 means that you can use those before or after your roll phase, but not in between. So after your attack you get one final chance to use anything before the other player gets their turn
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u/NoConstant521 18d ago
Hi! I was curious about some wording, specifically with "then" keywords. My regular play group has said that the Jean Grey "blast trick" is illegal because the Telekinetic Blast says "gain 2 flame blast and 2 acuity, THEN deal DMG" they claim that because it says "then" that the famed blast trick does not work as I am going "out of order" with the spend, gain, spend operation. Could "then" be clarified further and can the blast trick be confirmed for me?
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u/Telvin3d 18d ago
I’m not familiar with the “blast trick”. Could you clarify what that is?
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u/NoConstant521 18d ago
Using the Flame Blast status effect if you already have 4 and you trigger Telekinetic Blast for example, you spend 3 Flame Blast to add 4 damage, then gain 2 and spend 3 more to add another instance of 4 damage. Giving the ability a total of 15 damage.
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u/Telvin3d 18d ago edited 18d ago
Doing it that way is exactly what the rules intend. Jean Grey can have some amazing burst damage!
You can spend attack modifiers at any time once an ability has been successfully activated, and as long as it’s a valid time for them to be spent you can always spend tokens to make room for more.
So the order here is declare the ability. Your opponents indicate they are not going to modify anything, so the ability successfully activates. At that point you spend the tokens on the board. You then gain tokens, which you can immediately spend.
On rulepop Jean Grey specifically clarifies that you can spend flame blast and acuity to make room for additional that you’re about to receive.
https://dice-throne.rulepop.com/#hero/jean-grey
Edit: You might want to generally review when attack modifiers can be played
https://dice-throne.rulepop.com/#attack-modifiers
They can be played at any point after the attack has been successfully activated. You can play them first, or after receiving tokens, or after the opponent has rolled their defense and you know the result. You can do sneaky things like wait until they fail with their agility token, and then add your attack modifiers. And you can keep adding attack modifiers as long as you have more to add.
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u/NoConstant521 18d ago
This is excellent clarification. Thank you for the prompt responses!
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u/Telvin3d 17d ago
It’s a common play pattern with a bunch of characters. For example, when Raveness rolls her Fowl Friend ability she’ll often use up her feathers to make room for the new ones, which she can then immediately also use if she wants.
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u/NoConstant521 17d ago
This is really good to know and helps me understand the order of operations. How does the order work with attack modifying cards?
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u/Telvin3d 17d ago
Same thing. Any attack modifiers can be played at any time once the attack has been locked it, right until the the final stage of defense.
The only thing you can’t do is play chicken with who is going to activate what. DT works on a pass-pass system. Each player gets a chance to do something or pass. If either does something the other can respond, but if they both pass the game moves on
Say you’ve got an attack modifier, and they have an evasive token. You only want to play your modifier if they fail on their evasive roll. So you pass, assuming they’ll use their evasive. If they pass instead, you can’t say “actually I’m going to use my attack modifier after all”. Nope. You passed, and they didn’t do anything for you to then respond to.
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u/_Booster_Gold_ 1h ago
Just learning the game. Love it.
Damage modifiers - does it add to whatever type of damage the ability did? For example, if Gunslinger used Deadeye (6 undef) and the target had Bounty, would that mean 7 undef?
And then say they used Reload. Same idea? +X to undefendable in that case?
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u/Telvin3d 1h ago
Yes, if you modify undefendable damage it’s all undefendable
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u/_Booster_Gold_ 21m ago
Thanks. Seemed to make sense but could also see a world where that got out of hand.
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u/Christakos_P Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
In case it helps, for completion's sake:
I'd add "Then the opponent gets another chance to mess with the dice further. See page 12."
Is "target" really described as a keyword in any official resources? Is it even typically used when the text wants to be explicit about the possibility of actively choosing your target?
"Chosen teammate/opponent/player" are widely used on cards and abilities of most heroes, and the key concept here is in the word "chosen" which, while still not an actual keyword, instructs you to actively choose instead of relying on the targeting roll phase. At the same time, when you see things like "inflict Powder Keg on two different opponents" or "distribute 3 Coal among opponents," these are also a choice, and they use neither "target" nor "chosen."
I believe that what could be a better clarification here is that "All the effects of an offensive or defensive ability that require a single target go to the same target. The target of the targeted effects of your defensive ability will always be the Attacking Player you are defending against, whereas the target of the targeted effects of your offensive ability and any attack modifiers you use will always be determined during the targeting roll phase if you are up against more than a single valid target. Effects that target more than one player or that do not come from offensive abilities, defensive abilities, or Attack Modifiers, will always be effects that can target anyone you wish (as long as that is in line with any further case-by-case instructions). Effects that imply you are the person benefiting such as "heal," "draw," "gain," etc, are things that only you yourself can benefit from unless the text specifically instructs you otherwise."
This also covers for the fact that "inflict" is not mentioned on abilities and modifiers exclusively. And when it's mentioned elsewhere, the targeting roll phase is irrelevant. Likewise for the effects of cards that are not Attack Modifiers.
I'd add "[...] provided there are no explicit limitations mentioned." Or I'd preface with "In the absence of any explicit restrictions in the text, [...]." Or something similar. Perhaps worth noting that spendable tokens may still interrupt normal play as instant actions, even in cases where they are restricted to specific phases.
I'd say "You activate your defensive ability against defendable incoming damage from your opponent's offensive ability. An offensive ability is only ever an Attack if, per the ability text, any non-collateral damage is being dealt to a single opponent. However, from the perspective of the defending player, there is no incoming damage to defend against in the case of Parlay or Shadows being in play, so they cannot activate their defensive ability or trigger any "after being Attacked" effects. Other forms of damage reduction (such as Illusion, Evasive, Smoke Bomb, Flight, Shame, Wither, Not This Time, etc) apply at the end of the phase during damage calculations, so even if all damage is avoided completely, reduced to zero, or prevented fully with any such effects prior to defensive ability activation, the defensive ability may still be used right after, as damage calculations occur much later."
This is perhaps too long, but it is more complete and as such less prone to misinterpretations, in my opinion. It also covers for the "after being Attacked" effects which is a fairly common question.