Actions and Experiments
Main actions, Transmutations, Artifacts and Free actions in the 2026 edition.
Main actions
Spend one or more Potency from your active die to choose exactly one Main action. You must spend at least one Potency.
- Gain Metal: take the unrefined Metal matching the active die’s color, one per Potency spent.
- Gain Essence: take the matching Essence, one per Potency spent. The die color selects the Essence.
- Take an Experiment: take a card from the matching face-up offer. Your hand limit is two Experiment cards; you cannot discard an Experiment to make room. In rounds two and three, if the matching offer is exhausted, you may take from another color’s offer. Do not refill the offer during the Action phase.
- Take an Artifact: spend three Potency and take an Artifact from the matching offer. Resolve its immediate effect, then place it ready under a Transmutation section with fewer than two Artifacts. Cover a matching Element icon or a Wild on your Publication sideboard. Refill the offer. You may have at most six Artifacts.
- Perform Transmutations: spend Potency to move Metals along legal paths on your Player board. Each Transmutation costs one matching Essence, or Mercury where allowed; advance the corresponding Mastery marker. Refining a Metal into Gold does not spend an Essence and does not advance Mastery. Once per turn, after fully resolving a Transmutation, you may activate one ready Artifact in that section.
Free actions
Each listed Free action is available once per turn:
- Aqua Regia: change the active die’s color or face for the remainder of the turn, or spend it when performing an Experiment to reduce that Experiment’s Mastery requirement by one per token.
- Extra Potency: spend one token before the Main action to add one Potency. You must still spend at least one Potency from the die; this cannot be used to take an Experiment.
- Battery: use its printed Transmutation effect, paying its normal Essence/Mercury costs, or exhaust it to ready one Artifact.
- Spend Gold for Knowledge: once per Element each turn, move its leftmost Book to your Study. The first Book costs one Gold; each later Book in that Element costs one more Gold per Metal marker in that section.
- Perform an Experiment: meet its Mastery requirement and pay its cost. Refined Metal may replace its unrefined form; Gold may replace any Metal. Gain its printed VP and effects. Cover a matching Element icon or Wild on your Publication sideboard. If there is no matching or Wild space, gain 1 VP. The first Experiment of each Element also takes the leftmost Book from that Element section and opens Study row/column rewards.
Transmutation limits
Resolve each individual Metal move completely before the next. Pay the corresponding Essence or Mercury and advance Mastery for that move. You may not activate more than one Artifact in a turn, even if you perform multiple Transmutations.
Card text and effects
Follow the printed card effect after meeting its requirement and paying its cost. Resolve immediate Artifact text when you gain the Artifact; its later activation is separate. This guide paraphrases the 2026 rulebook and does not reproduce card faces. See source and coverage notes.