Apprentice

The roar of thunder from an open sky, rolling with fury, signals the beginning. The
chorus of doom is suddenly split by the soul-splintering screech of Elementals, their
anima returning. Not too late, this earliest of evil finds their fight. They will not fade
or falter, but fight fiercely, hoping for Fate’s fortune.
Foolishness.
The Apprentice raises one hand and the craven are cast into chaos. All at once,
lightning arches from his fingers, crashing into the nearest creature, directed to his
neighbor, then another. Only mist remains, Iathi sundered, scattered like dust amid
the wind.
For the Apprentice is an avatar of an older power, a conduit of creation channeling
the power of a thousand suns. Power immeasurable. White light radiates from his
eyes; he need only reach out to break the world...so he does.
Geysers of earth erupt beneath those remaining, flinging the fell-creatures from his
sight, soaring off the mountain to dreadful destiny.
The rest, those elementals that remain, are lost in rivers of molten rock, flowing
through a rift in the earth, turning flesh and bone to liquid.
Finally, the Apprentice’s power abates. Stoic, he stands, the power in his eyes still
smoldering. Surveying the devastation, satisfied, he vanishes.

#### **Playing the Apprentice**

The economy of the Apprentice is easily manipulated, but can quickly get out of hand. The
Apprentice often has a wealth of Actions that directly shape Darkness encounters. However, the
Apprentice can easily take himself out of the action by not minding his Threat, or worse, drawing
too much attention to himself and dying.
A master of area-of-effect damage, spells like Chain Lightning, Arcane Nova, and Molten Flare are
extremely valuable. On the other hand, the Apprentice has so many damaging options he doesn’t
have to worry about what card he is keeping for later.
Understanding how the Apprentice’s Ongoing spells work is vital to smart play. There are a few very
important Ongoing effects that all players should know about.
Breath of Heroes is vital to the party when dealing with Captain or Boss Monsters with a Fear effect.
The capacity for all Heroes to pass Courage checks is priceless.
Arcane Shield is the Apprentice’s main form of defense. Most of the larger Vitality armor will go to
front-line defenders, being able to nullify the first blood of damage is often the difference between
life and death. Used in conjunction with Meditate, the Apprentice can easily stay alive in the most
dire circumstance without being a burden on the Acolyte’s healing.

**Focus**

The Apprentice uses Focus items to power his
spells. Focus provide extra Hit Dice and often a
bonus power. Focus items have the Focus icon in the lower-left
portion of the item picture.

**Ongoing Cards**

Ongoing abilities are placed into the Apprentice’s Action Spaces and stay in place over
multiple Hero Cycles. Ongoing abilities enhance the Apprentice with protection and
attack buffs. They power his abilities and limit his capacity to mitigate Threat at the
same time. Ongoing spells stay in play until removed by the Apprentice or consumed by
other spells.
The Apprentice’s ability to deal multiple-target damage is rivaled by none. Many of the
Apprentice’s most damaging AoE spells are extended to other targets by consuming
Ongoing effects. When an Ongoing spell is consumed to power another ability, the
Ongoing card does not benefit the Apprentice afterward but does provide the Apprentice
with bonuses for that attack. Ongoing cards in Action Spaces are not removed until the
Hero Deck Phase and do not count as “open spaces” when calculating Threat reduction.
Conversely, players can remove any Ongoing effect during the Hero Deck Phase to
reduce Threat.

**Arcana Cards**

Any card labeled Arcane does non-elemental, magic damage.
The importance of the label is in the Apprentice’s specialty gear
and his own buffs, particularly Reservoir Of The Ancients, which
provide large bonuses to Arcane attacks

**Elemental cards**

There are no cards with the “Elemental” moniker. Elemental
refers to those spells labeled as one of the four elements: Earth,
Air, Fire, and Water. These become more important as the
Apprentice moves from Novice to Journeyman.