Star Wars: Destiny Glossary | Lexicon

Below are definitions and explanations of important terms that players should know. These are listed in alphabetical order.

Character Die

A character die is a die that matches a character. Upgrade dice are not character dice, even though characters also use them when they activate.

Cheapest

Something that is cheapest has the lowest cost. Any effect modifying the cost should be taken into account.

Choose-either

If an ability uses "choose" and "either", the player using the ability may choose either option, even if the chosen one will have no effect. Once the player has made their choice, they have to resolve as much of it as possible.

Some cards force an opponent to make a choice. The opponent can also choose either option.

Choose-target

A target is a card or die to which an effect will happen.

The term "choose" indicates that a target must be chosen in order for the ability to resolve. The player resolving the effect must choose a game element that meets the targeting requirements of the ability.

When making a choice, a player cannot choose invalid targets, e.g., they cannot deal damage to a defeated character. If there are no valid targets, then the card does nothing.
If multiple targets are required to be chosen by the same player, these are chosen simultaneously.
An effect that can choose "any number" of targets can successfully resolve if zero of those targets are chosen, though it might have no effect.

Combined Value

The combined value is the sum of the values showing on all the dice being referenced.

Example: The combined value of two dice showing ranged damage, with values of 2 and 1 respectively, would be 3.

Controller

The controller of a card or die is the player who has it in their in play area. By default, players control all of the cards and dice they own. When an ability refers to "your" card or die, it is referring to a card or die under your control.

Copy (of A Card)

A copy of a card is defined by its title. Any other card that shares the same title is considered a copy, regardless of card type, text, artwork, or any other characteristic of the card.

Decreases

Effects which decrease something only last for the duration of the effect. Some effects have an ongoing duration.

Example: It Binds All Things (r150) says "Before you play a Blue upgrade, you may exhaust this support to decrease its cost by 1". This only applies while paying the cost to play the upgrade; once it is played, its cost returns to the normal value since you have now played a Blue upgrade.

Free

When something is played or resolved for free, a player does not pay any cost for the card or die.

Heal

When damage is healed from a character, remove that amount of damage from it.

Heal as much damage as possible. Excess healing is ignored.
If no damage was removed by the healing effect, then the character is not considered to have been healed.

Increases

Effects which increase something only last for the duration of the effect. Some effects have an ongoing duration.

Example: Emperor's Favor ( 88) says "Your hand size is increased by 1". Because this effect does not have a duration assigned to it, the increase is constantly applied.

Look At

Sometimes an effect allows a player to look at cards in a player's hand or deck. Looking at a card does not change the position of the card, and after being looked at the card should be returned to its previous location.

Move

Some effects allow players to move cards or tokens.

When something moves, it cannot move to its same (current) placement. If there is no valid destination for a move, the move cannot resolve.
When an upgrade moves to a new character, its die returns to the matching card.
When an upgrade moves to a new character, it maintains its state (ready or exhausted).
An upgrade with a play restriction can be moved to any character, as the upgrade is not being played.
When damage is moved to a new character, it ignores shields and the character is not considered to have taken damage.

Owner

The owner of a card or die is the player who brought the card or die to the game. A player can own a card or die but lose control over it (such as losing control of the battlefield).

Play Restrictions

Play restrictions sometimes appear on a card and are marked by the word "only". A player cannot play the card unless the play restriction is met.

Upgrade cards sometimes say "(Color) character only". If a player does not have a character of that color to attach the upgrade to, the upgrade cannot be played.

Upgrades do not get removed from a character if the play restriction is no longer fulfilled. The character must only fulfill the play restriction when the card is first played.

Remaining Health

Remaining health is the health of a character minus the amount of damage on it.

Removing Dice

Removing dice moves them from a player's dice pool back to their matching card.

A die cannot be removed unless it is in a player's dice pool.
If dice of a specific symbol must be removed to trigger an effect, then it does not matter if those dice can currently be resolved. Symbols that are modifiers or require a resource match still count as that symbol.

Replace

When an upgrade is discarded to decrease the cost of another upgrade, the new upgrade replaces the old one. Each player can only replace an upgrade once per round.

Rolling

When a card refers to rolling a die, this applies to both rolling it into your pool and rerolling it (if it was already in your pool).

Search

When a player searches for a card, that player is allowed to look at all of the cards in the searched area without revealing them to opponents. A player does not have to find the object of a search effect.

Showing

A die side is showing if it is the faceup side after being rolled into a dice pool.

Dice sides that are not faceup cannot be referenced when a card requires a symbol to be showing.
Effects which reference a certain symbol showing on a die work with any side showing that symbol, even if it is a modified side. Showing damage includes ranged, melee, and indirect damage.
Dice on cards do not have any sides showing. A die can only show a side once it has been rolled into a player's dice pool.

Spotting

Some cards require a player to spot a specific game element in order to use its ability. To spot an element, a player must have that element in play. Most cards just require a player to spot a character of a specific color.

Example: Use the Force ( 149) says "Spot a Blue character to turn a die to any side" You must have an undefeated Blue character on your team, or the card does nothing.

A player cannot spot their opponents' characters or cards, unless the card explicitly says so.
If a player is not able to spot the required element, then the card does nothing.

Taking Damage

Damage is taken only when one or more damage tokens are placed on the character. If all damage dealt was blocked by shields or some other ability, then no damage was taken. Damage not taken is still dealt.

Example: Hunker Down ( 164) says "After this character takes melee damage, discard this upgrade". If two melee damage is dealt to the character but is blocked by 2 shields, then no damage was taken by the character and Hunker Down is not discarded.

Turn (Die)

When a player turns a die to a side, they rotate it so that side is faceup (showing).

When turning a die, it must turn to a different side. A player cannot turn a die to the same side it was on before turning it. (If the die has the same symbol and value on two or more of its sides, it can be turned to an identical side).

Unblockable Damage

Unblockable damage cannot be blocked by shields or card effects. Any shields on a character dealt unblockable damage remain on that character.

All modifiers added to a die that deals unblockable damage will also be unblockable.

X as a Variable

Some cards refer to X as a variable. X is always a number that is defined by the card, and does not have a standard value.