Optional rules add a different twist to the game. They can be used or disregarded at the players' whims, but everyone must agree on which optional rules are used. The decision must come before the players have selected their decks. Rules marked with an asterisk (*) are highly recommended.
For games with four or more players, this variant adds excitement by bringing other players into the combat. Both the attacker and the defender can request aid from other players, but players outside the battle can never force their aid on an unwilling attacker or defender. In addition, a player can aid only one side or the other, never both.
Contributed allies and spells are discarded at the end of the combat; magical items and artifacts are discarded only if the champion they are attached to is defeated.
If the winner of the battle is entitled to a spoils of victory, the allies of that player are likewise entitled to a free card. If this allows two players to place down their sixth realm, both players share the victory.
This variant causes a game to end only when a player has six unrazed realms in his formation at the beginning of his turn. It's not possible to place seven realms in a formation (six is the maximum).
This optional rule restricts the maximum bonus allowed by doubling or tripling of allies and champions. Allies cannot exceed 20 levels and champions cannot exceed level 30 by the doubling or tripling power of realms and holdings.
Any undead champion or ally of base level 4 or higher automatically frightens away any opposing non-undead allies of levels 1 or 2. Clerics and their allies are immune to this effect.
The level referred to above are base levels, the levels printed on the card.
Any player who brings a ripe melon to the table causes all other players to draw one card less at the start of each turn. The Melon Rule is not cumulative; only one card can be lost each turn as the result of this rule. The person who brings the melon is not affected, but if two players bring melons, all players (including the two who brought the melons) draw one fewer cards each turn.
In especially large games (6 or more players), the Rule of the Cosmos can restrict game play. The Parallel Universes optional rule allows up to two of the same champion, artifact, realm, or holding to be in play at the same time.
When a champion attacks or defends a realm from the same world, that champion's level increases by 3. The Underdark is not considered a world for this purpose.