A Glossary of Words

This is pretty much what it says on the title - a glossary of the different Words the game uses.

Introduction

Purpose

One of the things I find frustrating about Black Book is that it doesn't really teach you how to build an effective deck - it just throws cards and terms at you (with a single line of definition) and expects you to be able to pick it up and know exactly how to use it.

Now, that's probably fine if this isn't your first deck-building game, but if you haven't had much experience with them at all, it's easy to get confused about what the terms mean and how they're meant to interact with each other, so you end up with a sub-optimal deck going into that boss fight and you end up getting constantly steamrolled and quitting in frustration.

That's why I'm making this - a glossary of all the various Words the pages use, so you can start figuring out how best to put a deck together. I've grouped the various Words in alphabetical order This isn't intended to tell you how to build or optimise your Book - it's just here to help define and clarify what Words do (which will hopefully make it easier for you to build and optimise your Book).

There's also an appendix that goes through the order of operations for a turn.

Reminders about Words and Pages

Everything is resolved from left to right. This doesn't just apply to the order you place the Pages of your zagovor, but to the order in which different Words will be applied (more recent Words go to the right of older ones), take effect, weaken, or vanish during the turn, as well as which status effect a Page that removes them will target (such as Koldun Fiend or Salmanida). This makes Page order in your zagovor very important.

Words are cumulative. If you have multiples Pages with the same Word on them, their values will add up (or "stack" to use a term from Magic: The Gathering). For example, if you played two Pages of Varahail, you would end with a total Bless of 4, which will affect the amount of damage you do with other Pages; if you played Skorchit twice on a creature, they'd have a total Waste of 6.

Entry Format

Each entry takes the following format:

Word

General description of how the Word works in-game.
Duration
List of interactions with other Words (if any) that aren't already mentioned in the description

Words (Ailment - Doom)

Ailment x

Whenever an enemy with this Word takes damage from your zagovor, the damage is increased by the amount of Ailment it has. So if you hit a creature with Nava (base damage 2) that has Ailment 3, they'd take a total of 5 damage.
Reduces by 1 at the end of the affected creature's turn.
Interactions:
* Bless, Curse, and Suppressed are applied before Ailment.
* Does not affect Burning Herbs, Damage by Swipe, Damage on gaining shields, Damage when health is lost, Poison, or Spikes.
* If an attack hits multiple times, Ailment applies to each individual attack.

Articulacy (Orders/Keys) x

Articulacy increases the number of Orders or Keys you can use in your next x zagovors by 1. So if you can use 2 Keys and play Babushka-Atamanushka (which has Articulacy (Keys) 2), you can use 3 Keys in your next 2 zagovors.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn, starting from the turn after you use this Page.

Avert Evil x

When you have this Word applied to you, the next x times an enemy tries to apply a negative status to you (such as Curse, Renunciation, or Waste), it's cancelled out and has no effect on you.
Remains until expended, dispelled, or the end of battle.

Bewilder x

While an enemy is affected by this Word, they will attack a random creature on the battlefield. Creatures with the Master status are immune to this.
Reduces by 1 at the end of the affected creature's turn.
Only used by Vasilisa.

Black Damage

If you take any damage from an attack with this Word, you are instantly killed.

Bless x

Whenever you use a Page that deals damage, your total Bless value is added to it. For example, if you used Urazi, which normally deals 4 damage, while you had Bless 3 active on you, Urazi would actually deal 7 damage (4 from the base Page, plus 3 from Bless).
Reduces by 1 at the end of the affected creature's turn.
Interactions:
* Curse subtracts its value from Bless to calculate the final alteration to damage.
* Does not affect Burning Herbs, Damage by Swipe, Damage on gaining shields, Damage when health is lost, Poison, or Spikes.
* If the attack hits multiple times, Bless applies to each individual attack.
* Prayer increases/grants Bless when triggered.
* Suppressed takes effect before Bless.

Burn Words x

Every time you read a Page with Swipe on it, you gain a number of shields equal to the number of other Words on that Page.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Only used by Vasilisa.
Interactions:
* Piety adds its value to Burn Words.
* Triggers Damage on gaining shields.

Burning Blood x

Every time you lose health for any reason, all of your enemies gain an amount of Waste equal to your total Burning Blood. If your enemies already have Waste, their total Waste is increased by your total Burning Blood. For example, if you got hit by a creature that does three attacks in one turn, and each attack did damage, that creature would gain a total of 3 Waste (if it didn't have any before) or their total Waste would be increased by 3 (if they already had Waste).
Remains until dispelled or the end of battle.
Interactions:
* Triggered by Poison, Sacrifice, and Spikes.

Burning Herbs x

If you use an item, every enemy takes an amount of damage equal to your current Burning Herbs. For example, if you used a Break-Herb while you had Burning Herbs 3, all of your enemies would immediately take 3 damage.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Only used by Vasilisa.
Interactions:
* Ignores Ailment, Bless, Curse, and Suppressed.
* Triggers Vampirism.

(Black/White) Crown x

For x rounds, every Page in your Book that's of the same colour as this Word is sealed and cannot be used in a zagovor.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Only used against Vasilisa.

Critical Health x

This Word is only used by creatures possessing someone (such as the first time you meet Proshka). When active, if the creature is reduced to zero health, the host dies as well as the enemy creature.
Reduces by 1 at the end of the creature's turn

Curse x

Whenever an enemy attempts to deal damage, the damage is reduced by an amount equal to their total Curse. For example, if a creature with Curse 5 tried to make an attack that normally dealt 7 damage, they would only deal a total of 2 damage. Note that Curse cannot reduce damage to less than 1.
Reduces by 1 at the end of the affected creature's turn.
Interactions:
* Curse subtracts its value from Bless to calculate the final alteration to damage.
* Does not affect Burning Herbs, Damage by Swipe, Damage on gaining shields, Damage when health is lost, Poison, or Spikes.
* If the attack hits multiple times, Curse applies to each individual attack.
* Suppressed takes effect before Curse.

Damage Absorption x

The next x attacks that manage to hit you deal no damage.
Reduces by 1 at the end of the affected creature's turn.
Interactions:
* Does not affect Burning Herbs, Damage by Swipe, Damage on gaining shields, Damage when health is lost, Poison, Spikes, or Waste.
* If the next attack hits multiple times (e.g. Thirteenth Claw) and this Word doesn't cancel all of them, the remaining attacks will go through.

Damage by Swipe x

Whenever you read a Page with Swipe on it while under the effect of this Word, all of your enemies take x damage.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Interactions:
* Ignores Ailment, Bless, Curse, and Suppressed.
* Triggers Vampirism.

Damage on gaining shields x

Every time you gain shields from any source, a random enemy takes an amount of damage equal to x.
Remains until dispelled or the end of battle.
Interactions:
* Ignores Ailment, Bless, Curse, Damage Absorption, and Suppressed.
* Triggered by Burn Words, Shield Increase, and Ward.
* Triggers Vampirism.

Damage times x

A Page with this Word attacks a number of times equal to the multiplier, and each attack deals the listed amount of damage.
Interactions:
* Ailment, Bless, and Curse alter the damage of each attack.
* Suppressed reduces the damage of all of the attacks to 1.
* Triggers Burning Blood, Damage when health is lost, Rage, Reinforce Ward, Shield Increase, Spikes, Vampirism, and Witch Mouth a number of times equal to the number of attacks.

Damage when health is lost x

Every time you lose health for any reason, all of your enemies will immediately take x damage. The amount of damage this effect deals is unrelated to the amount of health you lose.
Remains until dispelled or the end of battle.
Interactions:
* Ailment, Bless, Curse, and Suppressed all alter the damage from this Word.
* Triggers Vampirism.

Decomposure x

At the start of each turn, you gain an amount of Waste equal to the value of Decomposure (before it reduces). If you don't have any Waste, you gain Waste equal to the amount of Decomposure you have.
Takes effect and reduces by 1 (in that order) at the start of the affected creature's turn.

Demon Seals x

Whenever a creature with this Word attacks you, a random Page in your Book is sealed off, preventing you from using it in a zagovor. These seals remain in place as long as the Word exists.
Reduces by 1 at the end of the affected creature's turn.
Only used against Vasilisa.

Doom x

If this Word is placed on a creature, it acts as a countdown timer. If it reaches zero, the creature dies.
Reduces by a 1 at the end of your turn.
Only used against Vasilisa.

Words (Eloquence - Reinforce Ward)

Eloquence (Black/White) x

Your Eloquence counts as "extra Pages" when determining the effects of any Pages with Well-Versed on them. For example, if you use Ognevista (which normally does 7 damage) in a zagovor with another black Page (which triggers Well-Versed and increases the damage by 1 to 8), and you have Eloquence 2, Ognevista would deal a total of 10 damage (7 from the card, plus 1 from the presence of another black Page, plus 2 from Eloquence). If the item or effect granting Eloquence doesn't specify a colour, it applies to both Black and White Pages.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.

Eternal

Any Words that appear on the Page with Eternal do not reduce over time, and will remain until either the fight is over or they are actively removed by another effect (such as Koldun-Fiend).

Ethereal

Any attempt to directly attack a creature with this Word automatically misses.
Reduces by 1 at the start of the creature's turn
Interactions:
* Ignored by Burning Herbs, Damage by Swipe, Damage on gaining shields, Damage when health is lost, Spikes, and Waste.

Fierce x

Every time you use a Page with this Word in a combat, the damage that Page deals increases by x. For example, if you use Griya in one zagovor it will deal 2 damage; if you use it a second time during the same combat it will deal 4 damage. The more you use a Fierce Page in the same combat, the more damage it deals each following time you play it. When you finish the combat, the damage resets to the base value.
Interactions:
* Priority over Ailment, Bless, Curse, and Suppressed.

Firm x

A Page that's Firm lingers for a number of additional turns equal to x. This means they remain present in zagovors you read and can affect (and be affected by) the Pages in that zagovor. If they have other affects attached to them, they will also be included in the next zagovor (e.g. the damage from Nava). Firm Pages from previous zagovors don't count when determining turn order during koldun battles.
Interactions:
* Ignores Poison.
* Style Pages include Firm Pages when determining if the additional effect applies.
* Well-Versed Pages include Firm Pages when calculating their totals.

Gesture

These Pages are read quickly, and don't count towards the limit of Orders and Keys you can read in a single zagovor, no matter how many of them you include in it. Gestures don't count when determining turn order during koldun battles.

Hefty

This Word sets the maximum amount of damage a creature can take from any one source of damage. For example, a creature with Hardy 30 and Waste 65 will only take 30 damage when Waste triggers at the start of their turn.
Timer on Word goes down by 1 at the end of your turn.

Healing Herbs x

Every time you use an item, you gain an amount of health equal to your Healing Herbs.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.

Immediate

When you use this Page, any other effects on that Page happen right away, before anything else. Effects on Immediate Pages are normally used to temporarily modify other Pages in your Book. Immediate Pages don't count when determining turn order during koldun battles, but still use one of the slots in your zagovor (unlike Gesture).

Imminence (Word)

This Word suppresses immunity to the Word in brackets - for example, Imminence (Waste) suppresses the target creature's immunity to Waste if they have it.
Reduces by 1 at the end of the creature's turn

Immunity (Word) x

While this Word is active on you, you are immune to the Word in brackets - for example, Immunity (Waste) would make you immune to Waste.
Reduces by 1 at the end of the affected creature's turn, starting from the turn after this Word is activated.

Imperishable x

For the next x turns, if you gain Waste it heals you instead of dealing damage.
Reduces by 1 at the end of the affected creature's turn.

Keep shields x

While you have this effect active, any shields you gain do not vanish at the end of the round and are available from the start of the next round. You keep these shields for a total number of rounds equal to the listed duration. For example, if you have Keep Shields 1 and finish a round with 10 shields, you get to keep those 10 shields until the end of the next round.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.

Malady

While this Word is on a creature, they cannot gain shields from any source.
Reduces by 1 at the end of the affected creature's turn.

Master, Minion

A Master is capable of summoning other creatures - marked as Minions - onto the battlefield. Any Minions still on the battlefield when the Master is defeated are automatically defeated.
Unremovable

Mouth-Sewn x

The number of shields you gain from any effect that would grant them is reduced by the number on this Word.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Interactions:
* Mouth-Sewn subtracts its value from Piety to calculate the final alteration to shields.

Paralysis x

While you are under this effect, you are unable to use herbs.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Only used against Vasilisa.

Piety x

Whenever you use a Page that grants you shields, your total Piety value is added to it. For example, if you used Avdelai, which normally grants 5 shields, while you had Piety 3 active on you, you'd gain a total of 8 shields (5 from the base Page, plus 3 from Piety).
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Interactions:
* Mouth-Sewn subtracts its value from Piety to calculate the final alteration to shields.
* Shields gained from Burn Words and Ward are also increased by Piety.

Poison x

When you are reading your zagovor while under this effect, you take damage equal to the total Poison you have for each Page in the zagovor. This includes Orders and Keys, but doesn't include Gestures or any Firm Pages from previous zagovors.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Only used against Vasilisa.
Interactions:
* Ignores Ailment, Bless, Curse, Spikes, and Suppressed.
* Triggers Burning Blood, Damage when health is lost, Rage, Reinforce Ward, Shield Increase, and Witch Mouth.

Prayer x

Your Bless status increases by your total Prayer. If you don't currently have Bless, you gain an amount of Bless equal to your total Prayer.
Takes effect and reduces by 1 (in that order) at the start of your turn.

Rage x

Every time you lose health, your Bless status increases by x. If you don't have Bless, you gain Bless equal to x.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Interactions:
* Triggered by Poison, Sacrifice, Spikes, and Waste.

Rebirth x

The next time Vasilisa is reduced to 0 or less health, she immediately revives with x health.
Lasts until expended, dispelled, or the end of the battle.
Only used by Vasilisa.

Recitation Time x

A Page with this Word takes more time to cast than usual. For example, Davleya has Recitation Time 2, which means it activates the round after you cast it.

Regeneration x

At the start of each of your turns, you gain an amount of health equal to your Regeneration.
Takes effect and reduces by 1 (in that order) at the start of your turn.

Reinforce Ward x

Every time you lose health, your Ward status increases by your total Reinforce Ward. If you don't currently have Ward, you gain an amount of Ward equal to your total Reinforce Ward.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Interactions:
* Triggered by Poison, Sacrifice, Spikes, and Waste.

Words (Renunciation - Yearning)

Renunciation x

While you have this effect on you, every time you use a Page in a zagovor that grants you shields, you take an amount of damage equal to x.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn
Only used against Vasilisa
Interactions:
* Does not affect Shield Increase and Ward.
* Triggers Burning Blood, Damage when health is lost, Rage, Reinforce Ward, Shield Increase, Vampirism, and Witch Mouth.

Rot x

At the start of each turn, you gain an amount of Poison equal to the value of Rot (before it reduces). If you don't have any Poison, you gain Poison equal to the amount of Rot you have.
Takes effect and reduces by 1 (in that order) at the start of the affected creature's turn.

Sacrifice x

When you use a Page with this Word, you take the listed amount of damage.
Interactions:
* Ignores Ailment, Bless, and Curse
* Triggers Burning Blood, Damage when health is lost, Rage, Reinforce Ward, Shield Increase, Vampirism, and Witch Mouth.

Shield Increase x

Every time you lose health for any reason, you gain a number of shields equal to x.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Interactions:
* Ignores Spell Disease.
* Piety adds its rating to the number of shields you gain from this Word.
* Triggers Damage on gaining shields.

x Sin

Whenever you use a Page with a number next to a purple coffin on it as part of a zagovor, you gain the listed amount of sin immediately.

Slumber x

Your ally is unable to use their ability for x turns. If they've already used their ability when this Word is placed on them, x is added to the cooldown.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Only used against Vasilisa.

Spell Disease

If you have any shields remaining at the end of the round after all enemy attacks have been resolved, you take damage equal to the remaining shields.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Only used against Vasilisa.
Interactions:
* Ignores Ailment and Shield Increase.
* Triggers Burning Blood, Damage on losing health, Reinforce Ward, and Witch Mouth.

Spikes x

Every time you take damage, you deal x damage to the creature that attacked you.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn
Interactions:
* Does not bypass shields.
* Ignores Ailment, Bless, Curse, and Suppressed.
* Triggers Vampirism.

Style (effect)

Style in normally followed by a description of another effect; if all of the Pages used in the zagovor are of the same colour as the Page with Style, the effect listed next to Style also occurs. For example, Kain normally deals 3 damage, but if all of the other Pages in the same zagovor are black, then it deals an additional 5 damage.
Interactions:
* Firm Pages count towards determining if the Style effect applies.

Suppressed x

When you are Suppressed, your attacks deal only 1 damage instead of their normal value. This status only reduces when you take damage.
Reduces only when you take damage; otherwise remains for the battle or until dispelled
Interactions:
* Priority over Ailment, Bless, and Curse.

Swipe

A Page with Swipe can only be used once per battle. Once the Page is used in a zagovor it is removed from your Book and cannot be used again for the duration of the battle.

Undead x

Whenever you are subject to an effect that heals you (such as Regeneration, Salmanida, or using Adam's-Head), you take damage instead of healing.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Interactions:
* Triggers Burning Blood, Damage on losing health, Reinforce Ward, Shield Increase, and Witch Mouth.

Unremovable

A Word marked as Unremovable cannot be dispelled from that creature.

Untouchable x

This Word prevents any positive status from being dispelled.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn, starting from the turn after this Word is applied.

Vampirism x

Whenever an enemy loses health, you gain an amount of health equal to x.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Interactions:
* Triggered by Damage on gaining shields, Damage when losing health, Spikes, and Waste.

Ward x

At the start of every round, you gain a number of shields equal to your total Ward. For example, if you started a round with Ward 3, you'd start with 3 shields.
Takes effect and reduces by 1 (in that order) at the start of your turn
Interactions:
* Piety adds its rating to the shields you gain from Ward.
* Reinforce ward increases/grants Ward when triggered.
* Triggers Damage on gaining shields x.

Waste x

This is a damage-over-time [DoT] effect - at the start of the creature's turn it takes an amount of damage equal to the total Waste on it. For example, a creature with Waste 3 will end up taking a total of 6 damage over 3 rounds (3 damage on round 1, 2 on round 2, 1 on round 3). Note that as a status effect, Waste ignores any shields the target has.
Takes effect and reduces by 1 (in that order) at the start of your turn
Interactions:
* Burning Blood immediately applies x Waste to all enemies when triggered.
* Decompose increases/grants Waste when triggered.

Weakness x

This Word increases the creature's Curse status by x at the start of its turn. If the creature doesn't have Curse, it gains Curse equal to x.
Takes effect and reduces by 1 (in that order) at the start of the creature's turn)

Well-Versed x

This Word becomes stronger with each other Page of the same colour that you play. This normally means that black Pages will deal more damage (e.g. Kila), and white Pages will grant more shields (e.g. Avoil) or make the effect they grant more potent (e.g. George the Father). Note that Well-Versed's effect is applied before any other effect that modifies damage (such as Bless) or shields (such as Piety).
Interactions:
* Firm Pages count towards calculating the total effect of Well-Versed.

Witch Mouth x

Every time you lose health, you gain Eloquence 1. This Eloquence is generic and applies to both Black and White Pages.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.
Interactions:
* Triggered by Poison, Sacrifice, Spikes, and Waste.

Yearning (Orders/Keys) x

For a number of turns equal to x, the number of Orders of Keys you can use in your zagovor decreases by 1.
Reduces by 1 at the end of your turn.

Appendix: Orders of Operations

Overall Turn Order Of Operations

START TURN
1. Replenish hand from Book
2. Prepare actions
- Call On Companion, Use Herb
3. Start turn and apply start-of-turn Words
- Decomposure, Prayer, Regeneration, Rot, Ward, Waste, Weakness
4. Use Orders
- Attack Creature, Apply Word, Gain Shields
5. Use Keys
- Attack Creature, Apply Word, Gain Shields
6. Reduce end-of-turn Words by 1
- Ailment, Articulacy, Bewilder, Bless, Burn Words, Burning Herbs, Crown, Curse, Damage Absorption, Damage By Swipe, Demon Seals, Eloquence, Ethereal, Healing Herbs, Immunity, Imperishable, Keep Shields, Paralysis, Piety, Poison, Rage, Reinforce Ward, Renunciation, Shield Increase, Spell Disease, Spikes, Vampirism, Witch Mouth
7. (If used) Apply Call On Companion
END TURN

Attacking A Creature

1. Apply Poison
2. Apply Fierce
3. Apply Well-Versed and Eloquence
4. Apply Style
5. Apply Suppressed
6. Apply Bless and Curse
7. Apply Bewilder
8. Attempt to inflict final total of damage against target creature (see Defending Against An Attack)
9. Apply Sacrifice
10. Apply Swipe

Defending Against An Attack

1. Check for Damage Absorption
2. Apply Ailment
3. Subtract shields from total damage
4. Subtract remaining damage from health
5. Trigger Words dependent on damage
- Burning Blood, Damage When Health Is Lost, Rage, Rebirth, Reinforce Ward, Shield Increase, Spikes, Vampirism, Witch Mouth

Applying A Word To A Creature

1. Apply Poison
2. Apply Well-Versed and Eloquence
3. Apply Style
4. Check for Immunity
5. Check for Avert Evil
6. Apply Word to target creature
7. Apply Sacrifice
8. Apply Swipe

Gaining Shields

1. Apply Poison
2. Check for Malady
3. Apply Fierce
4. Apply Well-Versed and Eloquence
5. Apply Style
6. Apply Mouth-Sewn and Piety
7. Gain final total of shields
8. Trigger Words dependent on gaining shields
- Damage On Gaining Shields, Renunciation
9. Apply Sacrifice
10. Apply Swipe

Call On Companion

1. During Prepare Actions phase, select companion's ability
2. After end-of-turn Words reduce, apply companion's ability:
Ded Egor: See Applying A Word To A Creature and Defending Against An Attack
Karnysh, Levonty: See Applying A Word To A Creature
Nikolay: See Defending Against An Attack
Proshka: See Gaining Shields and Applying A Word To A Creature

Using A Herb

1. Check for Paralysis
2. Apply effects of herb
3. Trigger herb-dependent Words
- Burning Herbs, Healing Herbs
4. Trigger other Words as appropriate depending on the particular herb

[G Minor27]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write these guides. Helps a lot.

[myu_pc]

Have anything for the "Posmotril" card (fern seal)? It's got words that don't really show up anywhere else (Learn, discard, take).

[Drake Ravenwolf]

No, there is at least one item that gives 77 Hefty... which seems kinda useless

[adhdedrn]

No - error on my part. The amount of damage it caps stays the same, but the time it lasts goes down by 1 at the end of the creature's turn. It only turns up for one battle.

[Drake Ravenwolf]

Also its Hefty rather than Hardy... least in my game, and that is a really weird one too... so it gets better the more it counts down?

[adhdedrn]

Updated - thanks Drake.

[Drake Ravenwolf]

Might be worth mentioning that "Immediate" words still eat one of your word slots. I had initially thought they were "free"