What player actions are performed simultaneously?

In fact, only Selecting Orders in the Orders Phase and Choosing Initial Inaccessible Orders in the Full Game are done purely simultaneously. Many other actions (reacting to an event, planning combat, etc.) can be done simultaneously to speed game play, but if it matters, players have to make their final decision in clockwise order, beginning with the starting player.

Similarly, when executing orders in the Orders Phase, players can do some things simultaneously to speed up the game, if they are sure their decision will not influence and will be not influenced by other players’ decisions. However, whenever it matters, the decisions are made and evaluated in the order of actions: Get Food, Improve Reputation, Dig Tunnels, Mine Gold, Recruit Imps, Buy Traps, Hire Monster (or Ghost), and Build Room. (And within each action, the order is from shorter spaces to longer ones.)

We do not recommend resolving the Battle Phase simultaneously; each player should show what is going on in his or her dungeon to the other players. If you decide to save time by resolving the Battle Phase simultaneously, remember that order becomes important when there is a possibility that the paladin will switch dungeons.

When does the paladin move to a dungeon?

The rules for moving the paladin are the same in the Combat and Building Phases. You have to check the situation after each move on the Evilometer. (Players never move their Evil Counters simultaneously.)

The paladin enters the game as soon as a player’s Evil Counter gets on or above the marked paladin space of the Evilometer. He is put in front of that player’s dungeon. He moves to another dungeon only when another player’s Evil Counter is:

• “on or above the paladin space”

and at the same time:

• “higher than the Evil Counter of the player who currently has the paladin”.

Especially note:

• The paladin does not leave when the player’s Evil Counter falls below the paladin space.
• The paladin does not move to another player’s dungeon if that player’s Evil Counter is not on or above the paladin space (even if that player is more evil that the player that currently has the paladin).
• The paladin ignores the Starting Player Token (if Evil Counters are tied, he stays where he is), unless two new players become most evil (and on or above paladin space) at the same time. (This can happen when the most evil player drops and exposes two other players to be most evil, or at the start of the Second Year, when a new paladin has to be assigned.) In these cases only, the paladin goes to the player that is last in play order among the tied players.

What rules and cards affect the paladin in combat?

The paladin is not a wizard, warrior, priest, or thief, but he possesses the abilities of each. That means Vampires can attack him (he is not a priest). An Anti-magic Dart has no special effect if it hits him (he is neither a priest nor a wizard), but if it hits a wizard or priest it does prevent the paladin from casting spells or healing.

The paladin is still an adventurer, so anything that affects adventurers affects him (including traps and attacks that damage all adventurers).

The paladin goes first (except when Illusion was cast), so all standard attacks have to target him, and ghosts can’t attack him. Rolling Stone and Poisoned Meal affect the paladin, while the Pendulum hits the first adventurer behind him.

How does the paladin switch dungeons during combat?

Even in Combat, the paladin can move to another player, following the general paladin rules. If he moves, he takes all the damage he received so far with him.

Note that Battle is evaluated in clockwise order, beginning with the starting player (i.e., the player that was starting player in the last round of Building). In some cases, this order can influence whether the Paladin moves, to which player he moves, and also whether he will affect Battle again this round.

When the paladin moves to a different dungeon, it results in one of three cases:

• He moves to a player that has already resolved Battle this round. In this case, the player will face the paladin in the next round (unless this round was the fourth and thus last round of Combat).
• He moves to a player that still needs to resolve Battle this round. In this case, the paladin joins the party immediately, becomes the first adventurer, and affects this round of Combat.
• He moves to a player that already eliminated all adventurers in a previous round, and thus planned no Battle for this round. In this case, the paladin does nothing this round. (It is not so easy to start a battle as to join a battle-ready party.) That player will have to do battle with the paladin next round (unless this round was the fourth and thus last round of Combat).

If the paladin is eliminated, he goes to the prison of the player that assigned the last point of damage to him (even if another player assigned more damage before the paladin moved). There will be no paladin for the rest of the Combat, no matter how evil the players are.

If the paladin is not eliminated, he leaves to the Distant Lands Board at the end of Combat.

So after First Year Combat, the First Year paladin is out of the game whether he was eliminated or not. If at least one player is on or above the paladin space of the Evilometer at that time, the Second Year paladin is assigned at the start of the Second Year (after the Starting Player Token is moved).