Bonus Granting: Bonuses boost the stats of characters in your army in some way. Entering play effect: These characters have a once per game effect that activates as soon as they enter play. This kind of ability became mainstream with the Sneak Attack expansion. Leaving play effect: Leaving play effects activate as soon as the character dies. They become common with the Counter Attack expansion. Items These cards are used to enhance your characters. As the game does not use a resource, items can only be equipped by characters with a sufficient level and rank. Items usually give some kind of stat boost but they are not restricted to just that. Items have a grey border. Items always have a level and a class. The item's level is its relative power while the class restricts who can use it. Classless items can be used by anyone unless they have restrictions in their text box (such as a specific trait only). Items usually have the Attack or AC stat slots filled out with any bonus (or penalty) they may give. Characters can equip any number of items with two exceptions: he cannot equip two copies of the same item and, when equipping an item with a trait, he must discard any items with the same trait. Traits on items classify them and define what kind of bonuses (if any) they will provide. That is, a Weapon is expected to grant an Attack bonus but AC bonuses, if any are given, will be low. These are the basic item traits: Weapon: These items usually provide an Attack bonus and usually some kind of offensive ability. Lately, Weapons that provide extra melee strikes have been made common for the fighter class. Shield: Shields provide low AC bonuses and some kind of defensive special ability. Original Shields had bug restrictions and as a result players just ignored them. Fortunately, Shields have been fixed in later sets. Shields are commonly combined with weapons to form Two-Handed Weapons. Due to this combination of traits, weapon-shields are usually more powerful. Armor: Armor gives an AC bonus and usually some kind of protective ability. Helmet: These items provide low AC bonuses and their abilities may vary depending on the class of the helmet. Steed: Steeds are the standard way to give movement to characters. Steeds are most common for the Fighter and Rogue classes. Gauntlet: This is a