Index -> Playing the Game -> Types of Cards -> Avatar

Each deck contains exactly one avatar. Your avatar represents the legendary hero you've chosen to play in Legends of Norrath. The item and ability cards you play are usable only by your avatar. Your heroic personality persuades the denizens of Norrath, called units in the game, to join your cause.

Your avatar is a card that's played to the playmat as soon as you enter the game. It's represented with a round portrait. Next to that are its attributes, a red health bar, and a blue power bar. Right-click this portrait to see a larger version of your avatar card. Click that again to make it go away.

This avatar represents you, the player, and you lose the game if it is destroyed.

Attributes

Avatars have three different attributes:

• Attack - Used when you're attacking to increase your chance of winning a combat.
• Defense - Used when you're defending.
• Damage Bonus - Used to increase the amount of damage you'll deal when you hit an enemy in combat.

Exerting

All three attributes on your avatar don't do anything until you exert your avatar to use one of them. To use the attribute on a card, you have to exert that card.

Like many decisions in Legends of Norrath, exerting your avatar is a trade-off.

If you exert for attack during a combat, you won't be able to exert for damage bonus later in that same combat.

If you exert for defense during your opponent's turn, you won't be able to exert for attack in your next quest phase.

Health

Your avatar also has a limited amount of Health - this is the amount of damage that must be dealt to the avatar to destroy it. When your avatar runs out of health, you lose the game. Health is represented on your avatar card with a heart icon, and on the playmat it's a red bar to the left of your avatar picture.

Archetypes

At the top of your avatar card is the card's title, and to the right of that is an icon showing your avatar's archetype. There are four archetypes in the game:

• Fighter - Master armed combat and wield legendary weapons.
• Mage - Harness elemental energies and summon magical servants.
• Priest - Recite incantations and manipulate tribal sorceries.
• Scout - Shoot, beguile, backstab, steal, and swash your buckler.

Any other cards in your deck that belong to one of those four archetypes must be compatible with the archetype of your avatar.

Traits

Just below your avatar's card title is a line that has traits. A trait is a label on a card that can be referred to by the game text of other cards. Your avatar has a racial trait, such as "Human" on Terin's card.

Game Text

At the bottom of your avatar card is a box that has game text, which adds strategic options with actions you can take to help you win the game.