Other Features
- by Marelt Ekiran
HoMM 5 >Story
Story
After establishing an Empire on and around the Gold Sea, the faction of Chaos send out scouts to search for more riches and territory worth conquering. During one of these searches, a scout, named Rinuem found a cave in a large mountain range. This was many miles south of the borders of Great Arcan. Out of pure curiosity, Rinuem, who also possesed some knowledge of the forces of Chaos, started searching the cave. During this search, he found an underground dome, the size of a medium-sized country. This cave was swarming with underground creatures of incredible power. In fear of his live, Rinuem fled.
In Great Arcan, at the moment, the most powerful country of Axeoth, a young female mage, named Theria, was accused of the murder of a high member of the government. This accusation was false, but she had many enemies due to her continious preaching that it was not wise to anger the forces of nature. Her power in the magic of Order was stronger than many thought and she was able to disappear from the country before the Guards of Order managed to capture her. She fled to the south and happened to encounter Rinuem. After some talking, they quickly became friends.
Theria managed to convince Rinuem to tell her the location of the cave. Rinuem trusted that her power in Order Magic would be able to control the creatures of the deep.
In the cave, Theria used all skill of charm and mind influence that she had to persuade underground creatures to obey her. Eventually, they trusted her. Theria kept strenghtening the bond and the control. Eventually, she combined the Chaos Magic of Rinuem, her own Order Magic and the skills that she had learned from the insects to form the new Archaeon Magic. Theria taught Rinuem to communicate with the creatures and he started to train them in the arts of warfare, because even though he was a scout, he had seen many battles. Word of their discovery spread through the unofficial channels, which attracted many adventurers and rogue wizards. Theria and Rinuem trained as many as they could to use Archaeon Magic and to lead the new armies. In the meantime, the organization they brought had given the number of creatures an expotential growth. Soon, they had an army, which was equal or greater than the other armies of Axeoth.
Unfortunately, Theria's hatred towards Great Arcan started to consume her. Rinuem had always seen the Order Mages as enemies and he supported her in this. They both started to equip their armies to counter the powerful magic of Order. Soon, they openly declared the founding of the Archeon realms and allied themselves with the Chaos faction. A number of creatures from the Gold Sea Empire actually decided to join this new faction, which only strengthened the bond between the two sides.
In the meantime, a split started to develop in the countries of Great Arcan and Paleandra. After the accusation of Theria, some started wondering how much was left of the freedom that Emilia and Solymr had fought for. Emilia had not lived long after her near-fatal injury, Solymr had refused to rule and left the country. Lord Reed took over the rule (remember the squire Reed from the Emilia campaign, it's him).
He introduced the Reed doctrine which implied that Great Arcan had possesion of the ultimate knowledge and that nothing should be questioned or attempted to improve. There was no improvement possible, only decay.
Paleandra suffered the same problem. The priests argued that the ways of life had been indicated by the heavenly forces. It was blasphemy to stray from these.
No wonder that in both countries opposition started to rise. Lord Reed and Lysander Jr. (son of the old Lysander) imprisoned many and crushed several protests.
The Empire of the Gold Sea watched this all with enjoyment. Soon, both countries would be weakened enough to conquer with little trouble. The Empire was ruled by both Tawni Balfour and Cyrca, both old, but still capable enough.
However, they made the mistake to move too fast. Paleandra and Great Arcan united to stop the clash and many great battles were fought, where the Empire seemed to prevail, but with heavy losses.
The opposition in Paleandra and Great Arcan did not want both countries to fall to the Empire, but refused to help them either. They simply left the countries and united. This union was led by Lady Vemirin. Lady Vemirin tried first to establish a base close to the borders of Paleandra, but this in the terretory of the Elves. Since their towns had high costs in resources, they threatened to destroy many of the forest. The elves attacked with hit and run attacks and summoned their powerful forest creatures to drive the alchemists (as the metal focussed magi were called).
The alchemists fled both the elves and the battles between Paleandra, Great Arcan and the Empire of the Gold Sea. After a long journey, they arrived at a large mountainous land, which was not claimed by anyone, but on the borders of Nekross. The necromancers were quitely waiting for the end of the war to use their necromantic powers on the battlefields.
They welcomed the alchemists as friends and allies. Nekross was longing for a real ally and the alchemists needed a save haven. Both factions had many benefits from this alliance. The alchemists now started to build up their own country and forces. Many war machines were made to aid them in battle, but the bulk of the forces were humans, dwarves and drows, who were equiped with powerful weapons.
The drows are natives of Axeoth, who were driven out of their natural habitats by the elves from AvLee and Vori, who had fled for the Reckoning. They had hated the elves for it, but were not strong enough to do anything. After seeing the alchemists emerge as a powerful enemy of nature, they offered their service and protection. The alchemists accepted the alliance and many drows obtained ranks both in might and magic. Many of them were equiped with springsteel bows or enchanted blades.
The alchemists started to develop their own magic. They based it on their old magic from Life and Order, but they also took a lot of influence from the necromancers, who taught them how to use magic to hurt and weaken your enemy. The alchemists combined all of this in their ability to control the material world, creating a fearful kind of magic.
Lady Vemirin remained the alchemic leader, even though she was not an alchemist herself. Instead, she became skilled in using enchanted blades to fight and in the art to lead armies, like the knights of Paleandra did.
Meanwhile, the forces of Paleandra managed to hold on to their territory, thanks to the mountain ranges that surrounded their lands. Great Arcan, on the other hand, took severe blows and their people were driven back to the snowy mountains (Order should have more focus on cold and snowy mountains). There, they managed to build more strongholds and hold of the forces of the Empire. The Empire was actually severly limited itself and was hardly any stronger than the others.
Nekross did not want to fight, but was dragged into this war by the scruff of its neck. Lysander Jr. of Paleandra had convinced the elves that Nekross was a direct threat to the freedom of the people. Gauldoth first ordered his undead to hold them away from the borders, but his army was small and was swept away. Fortunately for them, the alchemists kept true to their alliance and drove the elves away with their now sizable force.
Gauldoth and the alchemists renewed their alliance, which brought the alchemists absolute damnation from the priests of Paleandra. The alchemists would defend both borders while a large group of necromancers would take the risky mission to travel to the battlefields and raise the army of undead which they would need to properly protect all borders. Neither of them had desire to really ride out into the middle of the conflict. They just held on to the old necromancer trick of waiting until the others kill each other.
The necromancers lost some of their people during this mission, but raised a huge army of undead. The demons feared to be outnumbered in this way, but most of them were brutally slaughtered before they could do anything and ressurected as undead, the others fled to the north (turning the necropolis undead again).
The alliance repeatedly suffered attacks from the elves and barbarians, but the armies were now large enough to hold off attacks, and the Alchemists retaliated by burning and poisoning the food supplies.
The barbarians were still under command of an aging Waerjak. They usually did not bother with other peoples, but the elves send envoys to their leaders, warning them about the dangers of the large army of undead and alchemic troops. The barbarians were never really friendly to the necromancers and agreed with the elves that they were a thread. Their forces managed to take down a number of the undead and alchemic forces, but the alchemists retaliated with the destruction of the food supply by poison and flames.
The barbarians were now forced to take over other lands, just for the food. Under protest of the elves, they decided to raid the borders of the northern Great Arcan. This alienated both the barbarians and the elves from the Life-Order faction.
This is where the story starts. All sides are more or less equal and all at war with each other or neutral. This is no longer a war between good and evil, but a battle for survival of the fittest.
Marelt Ekiran.
| Comments (2) |
- by Marelt Ekiran
HoMM 5 >Heroes >Starting skills
Starting skills
A very common critisism of HoMM4 was that the heroes were too similar, since heroes from the same class only differed in name and appearance. On the other hand, the difference between the classes was much larger than it was in HoMM3 and previous installments. HoMM5 should have a proper balance between the two sides. What I propose is that every hero will start with the skills of their class and, depending on history, one more skill, from a certain list. The list should make sense, because it would not be logic to have a hero start with both life and death magic.
Alchemist.
Starting: Alchemy, materialism.
One of: Attack, Order, Life, Death, Armory.
Archer.
Starting: Scouting, archery.
One of: Attack, Tactics, Nature, Life, Archeon, Warding.
Barbarian.
Starting: Attack, offense.
One of: Tactics, Scouting, Nobility, Survival.
Blademaster.
Starting: Attack, swiftness.
One of: Tactics, Nobility, Alchemy, Order, Death, Armory.
Commander.
Starting: Nobility, mining.
One of: Tactics, Scouting, Attack, Archeon, Chaos, Scaling.
Death Knight.
Starting: Tactics, defense.
One of: Attack, Nobility, Death, Chaos, Alchemy, Disabling.
Druid.
Starting: Nature, herbalism.
One of: Scouting, Nobility, Life, Archeon, Chaos, Warding.
Knight.
Starting: Tactics, leadership.
One of: Scouting, Attack, Nobility, Life, Order, Protection.
Lord.
Starting: Nobility, estates.
One of: Tactics, Attack, Order, Life, Alchemy, Disruption.
Mage.
Starting: Order, enchantment.
One of: Tactics, Life, Alchemy, Death, Disruption.
Necromancer.
Starting: Death, occultism.
One of: Tactics, Nobility, Chaos, Order, Alchemy, Disabling.
Priest.
Starting: Life, healing.
One of: Nobility, Tactics, Order, Nature, Protection.
Scout.
Starting: Scouting, pathfinding.
One of: Attack, Nobility, Chaos, Nature, Archeon, Guarding.
Shaman.
Starting: Survival, (the spell point skill with the magic).
One of: Archeon, Chaos, Death, Life, Nature, Order.
Sorcerer.
Starting: Chaos, conjugation.
One of: Scouting, Archeon, Nature, Death, Guarding.
Witch.
Starting: Archeon, conservation.
One of: Tactics, Chaos, Nature, Order, Scaling.
- by Marelt Ekiran
HoMM 5 >Heroes >Specialities and Flaws
Specialities and flaws
In HOMM3, there were complaints that some of the hero specialities were too strong in comparison to others. Everyone went for Cyra and Adela with the diplomacy
or for Dessa with logistics or Solmyr with the chain
lightning. Some heroes, with specialities in
mysticism, eagle eye and worthless spells were never
chosen.
HOMM4 made the skill system a bit better. All skills now have more or less the same degree of usefullness.
Combat and Order magic are possibly still
overpowered, but not as badly as logistics and
diplomacy used to be.
Unfortunately, they also decided to remove the hero
specialities. Of course, you can never make all
specialities balanced and some heroes will always be
stronger than others, but removing all of them did
make the heroes extremely impersonal.
My suggestion is to restore the specialities, but
also include a flaw in each hero. The stronger the
speciality, the worse your flaw is. With proper
testing, it should be possible to equalize all
heroes. Both speciality and flaw should be connected
in the biography and there should be a number of
heroes who have speciality nor flaw. I'll give a few
possible examples. The biographies need a little
spicing before they can be used in the game, but they
give a basic idea.
Hero#1 (any might hero):
Hero#1 can make decisions within a second, which has
helped him survive an ambush during his time as a
lieutenant. Somehow, he manages to let his troops
move before those of the enemy. Unfortunately, this
often goes at the expense of the movement quality.
Speciality: All creatures +2 speed.
Flaw: All creatures -1 movement.
Hero#2 (knight):
Hero#2 is known for his ability to train young
squires to perform more responsible tasks. His
knowledge of both might and magic allows these
squires to go different ways, depending on the choice
of strategy. However, training is costly and Hero#2
will not provide the money himself.
Speciality: Upgades a number of squires (L1) to
either halbardiers or healers (L2) every day,
depending on hero level.
Flaw: Costs 200 G per day. If you can't
pay, speciality does not work.
Hero#3 (Any hero):
Even as a child, hero#3 was never late for anything.
In adulthood, he only increased this sense of
punctuality and has found many ways to decrease the
time of traveling. Most of this saving of time comes
from driving the army to a running pace. This gets
them where he wants them to go, but the fatigue does
not do the battle quality any good.
Speciality: Increases army movement by 25%.
Flaw: Decreases army attack skill by 20%.
Hero#4 (Sorceress):
Misfortune always seems to follow Hero#4. Black cats
follow her everywhere, clovers decay and horseshoes
break when she walks by. Over the years, she has
learned to rub this misfortune off on others, but
that does not mean that she is immume to it herself.
Speciality: Has immediate access to the
misfortune spell at no mana cost.
Flaw: Continiously suffers from misfortune.
Hero#5 (Any magic hero):
Years ago, a lightning bolt almost killed Hero#5. She
was healed, but the shock left her brain permanently
altered. The forces that remained in her gave her an
increased understanding of the forces of destruction,
but had some very unfortunate side-effects.
Speciality: +50% effect to all direct damage
spells.
Flaw: Has a 20% chance every turn to become
berserk. This being the ability, but not the spell.
She will not attack your own creatures, but run
uncontrolled towards the enemy.
Hero#6 (Any hero):
Hero#6 is possibly the greatest talker ever. He can
make a lost battle appear to be a won battle to his
troops. Often, this left his troops with confidence
at a point at which they would normally have given
up. However, they sometimes run into the enemy with
such a confidence that they don't mind their
defenses.
Speciality: +5 morale to all troops. All are immume
to sorrow spells.
Flaw: Decreases army defense skill by 20%.
These were some heroes with heavy effects. The following have less severe bonusses and flaws
Hero#7 (Any magic hero):
Hero#7 has studied the forces of nature for a very
long time can draw upon these forces to keep her
casting spells where others run out of mana.
Unfortunately, this concentration led her to forget
parts about the conjugation of power in her spells.
Speciality: Regenerates 4 extra spell points per day.
Flaw: Decrease of spell power by 5%.
Hero#8 (Thief):
Being a bandit himself, Hero#8 has always had the
respect from his fellow scum of the earth. His
leadership increases their power, but not many others
trust him in their negociations.
Speciality: Increases speed by 1, attack and defense
by 10% of all bandits for every 5 levels obtained.
First bonus obtained at level 1, second at level 6,
etc.
Flaw: Decreases the effectiveness of any diplomacy and charm skill in the army.
Hero#9 (Priest):
Hero#9 has saved many people over the years and for a
long time studied the art of bringing back the dead.
She is one of the best in the country at this point,
which has actually insulted the angels. Feeling that
a mere mortal pretends to be one of them by taking
their task.
Speciality: Increases ressurection skill by 1% for
every level obtained.
Flaw: All angels in the same army suffer -5 morale.
- by Marelt Ekiran
Skills
Since the skill system of HoMM4 worked quite well, except for the combat skill, I'll leave most of it as it is. However, I am eliminating the stealth skill, since it hardly added to the strategic value of the game. The old tactics and combat skills have been put together to form one primary skill based on attack and another, based on defense.
Attack: Increases melee attack of hero.
- Swiftness: Increases speed and movement of hero.
- Offense: Increases melee attack of all creatures.
- Marksmanship: Increases ranged attack of all creatures.
Tactics: Increases speed and movement of all creatures.
- Defense: Increases defense of all creatures.
- Magic resistance: Increases magic resistance of all creatures.
- Leadership: Increases luck and morale of all creatures.
Scouting: Increases view radius and information.
- Pathfinding: Increases movement and decreases terrain penalty.
- Seamanship: Increases movement over sea and helps with sea battles.
- Archery: Increases ranged attack of hero.
Nobility: Increases creature production in certain town.
- Estates: Produces certain amount of gold per day.
- Mining: Produces certain amoung of resources per day.
- Diplomacy: Bribe enemies to join you.
Alchemy: Learn Alchemic magic.
- Materialism: Spell points.
- Metallurgy: Spell power.
- Transformation: Obtain percentage of XP killed, after battle in gold.
Archeon: Learn Archeon magic.
- Conservation: Spell points.
- Entomology: Spell power.
- Learning: Increases XP obtained.
Chaos: Learn Chaos magic.
- Conjuration: Spell points.
- Pyromancy: Spell power.
- Sorcery: Damage spell power increase.
Death: Learn Death magic.
- Occultism: Spell points.
- Morbidity: Spell power.
- Necromancy: Raise dead as skeletons (possibly other undead too).
Life: Learn Life magic.
- Healing: Spell points.
- Spirituality: Spell power.
- Resurrection: Resurrect fallen units after battle.
Nature: Learn Nature magic.
- Herbalism: Spell points.
- Meditation: Spell power.
- Summoning: Summon certain amount of creatures per day.
Order: Learn Order magic.
- Enchantment: Spell points.
- Wizardry: Spell power.
- Charm: Persuade enemies to join your side.
| Comments (28) |
- by Marelt Ekiran
Sieges:
The base units for the sieges are still the classic ones: "fort, citadel and castle". These things are not going to be worth a whole lot by themselves. However, they are the determinants of many of the other factors. For example, you buy the spell tower seperately, but a spell tower of a castle will be a lot stronger than the spell tower of a fort. Also, the different towns will have different extra's, which will make the attack on every town work in a different way.
The biggest problem when attacking a castle is simply trying to get in there. After that, you can start killing of the citizens. There are several ways to get into a castle. If you have flyers, then you can fly over the walls, but at heavy risk and vulnerability. You can try to break the walls, or you can try to climb over the walls. This heavily depends on the attacking army. If you don't have any help at all, then the only way that a non-flyer can get into a town is by breaking down the walls or the gates. The gate is usually weaker, but also the best defended part of the town, so you might want to consider attacking wall segments instead. Walls and gates have hitpoints. But the trick is, that when you attack them, the attack and defense modifiers are nullified. So to put it in HoMM4 terms: a peasant will always do 2-3 damage to a wall and a black dragon will always do 55-110 damage, regardless of attack skill. Catapults, mines and certain spells will also help to bring down the wall. Some creatures may have special abilities on this point. But as you can see, lower level creatures will proportionally do much more damage than high level creatures.
Base units of the defenses:
- Fort Gate has 100 HP. Walls have 250 HP. Maximum of 100 HP per strike. Attacking from wall gives a 20% attack and defense bonus.
- Citadel Gate has 250 HP. Walls have 400 HP. Maximum of 150 HP per strike. Attacking from wall gives a 40% attack and defense bonus.
- Castle Gate has 500 HP. Walls have 750 HP. Maximum of 200 HP per strike. Attacking from wall gives a 60% attack and defense bonus.
Ways to invade a castle:
- Ramming The simplest, but also the longest and the most wearing way. This option is always available. Units do their own damage to the wall segments, but they are subject to attacks from the walls. Attacking the gate is faster, but all enemy archer troops on the siege towers have a focus point on the gate, so they will do an additional 50% more damage when attacking a unit in front of the gate.
- Catapults A hero in the army needs the basic siege skill before this can be used. The catapult targets the wall, doing an amount of damage, determined by the level of the hero. The catapult will also damage any unit that is standing on the targeted wall. Regardless of the hero level, the catapult is still bound by the limited damage rule, but at higher skill levels, the hero can use more catapults.
- Ladders The army can use hooks and ladders to storm the walls. This can be done without specific hero skills, although you do have to purchase the equipment. The attack goes in the following stages: 1) Unit moves to the wall and throws hooks/ladders. 2) Unit climbs up ladders. 3) Unit arrives on top of the walls. At stage 2), the unit is the most vulnerable, since the castle defenders will have another 50% attack bonus, on top of the usual. It is also possible to block a unit from entering the walls, by using your own units, but keep in mind that this will take two defender units. Also note that a unit that is too big to stand on castle walls is not capable of using this feature. In other words, cavaliers and behemoths can't use ladders.
- Siege towers This requires mastery in the siege skill to use, but it is a whole lot more efficient than ladders. Before combat, you get the option to put any of your units in a siege tower, up to a maximum of three towers. If at any point, the unit needs to leave a siege tower, that will take one turn. The enemy cannot enter a siege tower. Siege towers move at half the speed of the normal unit's speed and they get stuck, once they enter a moat. But once the siege tower is in a moat, the unit that was in it can walk on the wall, without any penalty. And as long as they are in the siege tower, they negate all the castle bonusses from the other side.
- Mines Now, before anyone start bickering about modern warfare, I was thinking about those things that were used in the siege of Helm's Deep, from the Two Towers. The only difference is that the hero can magically place and detonate them from a distance. Of course, it requires grandmastery in the siege skill before you can use any of these, and mines have to be purchased seperately from the blacksmith. Their damage is based on the level of the hero, and they are not bound by the limited damage rule. So approximately: a level 7 hero can destroy a fort wall segment with one mine, a level 12 hero can destroy a citadel wall segment with one mine and a level 18 hero can destroy a castle wall segment with one mine.
With all of this, you may think that it will be impossible for a small army to take down a castle, and that is exactly my intention. It should not be possible that the great fortress of the realm will fall before a group of bandits, even if it is only held by a few peasants. Of course, it will take a lot of resources and a lot of building, before a town reaches the status of a great fortress of the realm. But the defenses are many and varied:
Defense structures common to all towns
- Moat Different effects per town.
- Spell Tower Different effects per town (turrets in might town)
- Self destruction mechanism If the enemy takes the spell tower, it will be destroyed, rather than turned against you.
- Left Siege Tower Puts a siege tower in the left corner of the castle, to be used by ranged or spellcaster unit.
- Right Siege Tower Puts of siege tower in the right corner of the castle, to be used by ranged or spellcaster units.
- Inner sanctum Puts a 2x2 hexes sanctum in the back of the fortress. Any unit in there can only be hurt by melee attacks and the spell tower (but they cannot do anything against a creature that is not inside the walls). While in there, they have a 50% increase in attack and defense.
So the whole thing would look more or less like this (forgive me the amateuristic look of the picture).
Unique defensive structures
Every town will have different defenses, such that you will have to use different tactics for attacking different towns. In my personal opinion, Archeon would be the toughest castle to invade (especially for Order and Alchemy). Nature and Life would be best on defenses. Chaos would create the most losses during short fights, Death would create most losses in longer fights. Alchemy would be hardest to invade for higher siege heroes. The moats and the spelltowers are the most important parts, next to the walls themselves. Take care with the interpretation, though, as they can be double-edged swords. The spelltower can be taken over and turned against you, unless you build a self-destruction mechanism. The moat can also hurt you just as much as it does the enemy. The only difference is that you don't have to cross the moat, while the enemy does.
Life
- Moat (clear sparkling water) Fort: Moat takes one turn to cross. Friendly troops regenerate some hitpoints while touching the moat. Citadel: Moat takes one turn to cross. More HP regenerated. Enemy troops have a 30% chance of having song of peace cast on them while in the moat. Castle: Moat takes two turns to cross. More HP regenerated than citadel. Song of peace chance is 50%. Acts as holy water towards undead.
- Spelltower Fort: Randomly casts at basic effect: bless, spiritual armour, defender or exorcism (if applicable) on a unit at the beginning of each round. Increases morale of all friendly units by 2. Citadel: Once per round, controlled casting of bless, spiritual armour, defended or exorcism and random casting of the ward of which most XP of the enemy consist of. Increases morale of all friendly units by 4. Castle: Cast any Life spell from level 1-3 (excluding mass spells) controlled at master effect. Increases morale of all friendly units by 6.
- General's quarters. This is an upgrade of the captain's quarters. The captain improves his or her combat abilities to the expert level (see: towns and economy section).
- Fortifications The walls gain a 20% increase in hitpoints. Doesn't apply to the gate.
- Fortified sanctum The inner sanctum now gives a 100% increase in defense, rather than a 50%.
Order
- Moat (light blue water with ice floating on top of it) Fort: Moat takes one turn to cross. Attack of any unit in the moat decreases by 25%. Citadel: Moat takes one turn to cross. Attack and defense of any unit in the moat decreases by 25%. 30% chance of having slow cast while in the moat. Castle: Moat takes two turns to cross. Attack and defense of any unit reduced by 25%. 30% chance of having freeze cast while in the moat.
- Spell tower Fort: Randomly casts blur, precision or dispell (if applicable). Allows owner to place two frost patches per turn. Decreases speed of all enemies by 1. Citadel: Randomly casts any first or second level order spell, applicable to combat. Allows owner to place four frost patches per turn. Decreases speed of all enemies by 2. Castle: Randomly casts two level 1-3 order spells applicable to combat per round. Allows owner to place 6 frost patches per turn. Decreases enemy speed by 3.
- Orb of levitation All friendly units gain the ability to fly during a siege.
- Mana well Friendly spellcasters regenerate the same amount of spellpoints per turn as there are levels in the mage guild.
- Spelltrap The first enemy to enter the walls will have three spells from level 1-3 of the mage guild and library cast on him. Spells can be chosen outside of combat (but cannot be changed in combat).
Alchemy
- Moat (sickly yellow-green flow of acids and poisons). Fort: Moat takes one turn to cross. Any unit in the moat suffers a minor poisoning. Citadel: Moat takes one turn to cross. Increased poisoning. Acid effect cast on units entering. Castle: Moat takes two turns to cross. Increased poisoning, acid effect and target unable to retaliate while inside the moat.
- Spell tower Fort: Randomly casts decay, poison weapon, shielding wall or blades. All enemy siege catapults suffer damage. Citadel: Randomly casts any first or second level spell of the school of Alchemy, applicable to combat. More damage to catapults and slows down siege towers. Castle: Randomly casts any second or third level spell of the school of Alchemy and allows a controlled level 1 spell per turn. More damage to catapults.
- Steel Gate Increases the hitpoints of the gate by 50%.
- Detector Walls take half damage from mines.
- Spikes Flying creatures take damage when trying to fly over the walls.
Death
- Moat (black shadowy substance flowing, with a few bones here and there). Fort: Moat takes one turn to cross. All beneficial spells cancelled. Cursed while inside the moat. Citadel: Moat takes one turn to cross. All beneficial spells cancelled. Curse, weakness and disrupting ray while inside the moat. Castle: Moat takes two turns to cross. Curse, weakness, disrupting ray and fatigue while inside the moat. Morale lowered by 5 per turn inside.
- Spell tower Fort: Randomly casts a level 1 death spell. Conjures one wraith of minor strength per turn. Lowers enemy morale by 2. Citadel: Randomly casts a level 1 or 2 death spell. Conjures one wraith of medium strength per turn. Lowers enemy morale by 4. Castle: Randomly casts a level 1-3 death spell. Conjures one wraith of major strength per turn. Lowers enemy morale by 6. *Note: The Wraith is a creature of variable strength. It can only be summoned and not kept permanently.
- Soultrap 5% of all damage done to the enemy is kept in a pool, which can be accessed at any time during combat to heal and ressurrect fallen allies.
- Glyph of terror Any enemy within 2 yards of the inner sanctum has a 30% chance of losing his turn to fear.
- Clouds of Death Cast the Dark Grasp spell once per combat (high prerequisits).
Chaos
- Moat (lava flow) Fort: Moat takes one turn to cross. Any creature inside the moat suffers damage (fire resistance for half damage, but not immunity). Citadel: Moat takes one turn to cross. More damage and suffer -5 luck while inside the moat. Castle: Moat takes two turns to cross. Major damage and -8 luck while inside the moat.
- Spelltower Fort: Randomly casts bloodlust on one of your own units and firebolt at an enemy unit. -2 luck for all enemies. Citadel: Randomly casts bloodlust or speed on one of your own units and a controlled firebolt at an enemy unit. -4 luck for all enemies. Castle: Randomly casts bloodlust, speed or first strike on one of your own units and a controlled fireball at the enemy. -6 luck for all enemies.
- Minefield Randomly places landmines on the outside battlefield, visible to you, but not to the enemy.
- Pinnacle of Fire A firestorm permanently rages over the battlefield.
- Berserker's Fury All friendly units have a 25% increase in attack during a siege.
Archeon
- Moat (Dark murky water with plant parts sticking out of it). Fort: Moat takes one turn to cross. 30% chance of being held by vines for one turn. Citadel: Moat takes two turns to cross. 30% chance of being held. 25% decrease in attack. Castle: Moat takes three turns to cross. 30% chance of being held. 25% decrease in attack and defense.
- Spelltower Fort: Randomly casts rock sling at an enemy troop. All friendly troops have basic constitution cast on them. Citadel: Controlled rock sling. All friendly troops have basic skill cast on them. Castle: Controlled ground shatter. All friendly troops have basic power cast on them.
- Great Barrier (expensive) No unit may fly over the castle walls.
- Mud flow Battlefield is always deep swamp and has random patches of quicksand cast.
- Guardian Hydra Places a hydra in the moat under the gate, who attacks any enemy troop that approaches. Strength varies with age and development stage of the town.
Nature
- Moat (clearer water with brighter plants and fish). Fort: Moat takes one turn to cross. 25% decrease in enemy defense. Citadel: Moat takes one turn to cross. 40% decrease in enemy defense. Any friendly troop entering has stoneskin cast. Castle: Moat takes two turns to cross. 40% decrease in enemy defense and 25% decrease in attack. Any friendly unit entering has giant strength cast.
- Spelltower Fort: Summons a number of grey wolves each turn. All friendly units have +2 luck. Citadel: Summons a number of dendroids each turn. All friendly units have +4 luck. Castle: Summons a number of unicorns each turn. All friendly units have +6 luck.
- Summoning pool Creates a pool of mana which can be accessed by any hero in the inner sanctum, but can only be used for summoning spells.
- Minor turrets Two silver arrows are cast on any hostile unit in front of the gate each turn.
- Escape tunnel Heroes can flee from the siege, as long as they are inside the inner sanctum.
Barbarian
- Palliser (it's too dry for moats; pallisers are spiked wooden structures to hinder movement) Fort: Palliser takes one turn to pass. -25% defense and attack. Citadel: Palliser takes two turns to pass. -25% defense and attack. Castle: Palliser takes two turns to pass. -25% defense and attack and no retaliation possible.
- Turret Fort: One shot (damage determined by age and development of town). Citadel: Two shots Castle: Three shots
- Barriers All enemy units have -2 speed and movement.
- Arsenal All ranged attackers have unlimited shots during the siege.
- by Marelt Ekiran
HoMM 5 >Towns and creatures >Semi-towns
The Semi-town
The Semi-town is not a town or an alignment, but it has a lot of characteristics of a town. For example you should be a town interface when entering a semi-town. It is not possible to start a game as a semi-town, and there are no usual heroes aligned to the semi-towns, although there could be a few neutral or quest heroes with that alignment.
The semi-town can be build as an ordinary town and can have a garrison. In that aspect, think of it as a creature dwelling with defenses. A few fundemental differences between towns and semi-towns are:
- You cannot hire heroes in a semi-town.
- The semi-town has no town hall, although there could be other money-producing structures.
- The defenses have no upgrades, like a castle.
- The semi-town has a smaller number of creatures, which do not correspond to normal creature levels.
- Semi-towns have no magic or mage guilds.
- (If I had it my way with the system), semi-towns cannot be used for trade routes.
However, the buildings that you can build are possible resource-producing buildings and buildings that boost statistics of visiting heroes.
So, the mapmaker can decide whether the semi-town has a garrison, or who the owner is. The other nice thing about the semi-town is that you don't care about balance. Players will not actually play these towns, so any idea that disturbes the balance can be put here. Personally, I was thinking of giving every element a semi-town. Perhaps, that will soothe the HoMM3 magic lovers a bit. The whole thing would look a bit like this, then.
Water town:
Possible creatures: Water Elemental, Kelpie, Mermaid, Siren, Triton, Kraken, Sea Monster.
Notes: The water town would be able to form a fairly powerful army by themselves. However, they are limited to the water terrain and anything that is within 1 tile from the nearest water. This number could be increased to 3 or 5 tiles with a special building in the water town itself.
Fire town:
Possible creatures: Fire Elemental, Flame Warrior, any of the fire-based demons that are kicked out of the death town.
Notes: This town could be an excellent place to dump the demons, since no one wants them to remain with the undead. In my opinion, they are not strong enough to become a town by themselves, so this would be the best solution.
Earth town:
Possible creatures: Earth Elemental, Moulder, Juggernaut, Vines, Stone Golem, Petrified Dendroid.
Notes: I guess this town would be found more in the underworld. All creatures would be slow, but strong. It would be a very bad town to play with, but since this is a semi-town, that is no concern.
Air town:
Possible creatures: Air Elemental, Wisp, Spirit, Elemental Sorcerer, Tempest.
Notes: Probably the strongest semi-town in magic, and with fast creatures. I could incorporate some things from my old spirit town here (I eliminated it when revising my own proposals).
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- by Marelt Ekiran
Order magic
Level 1:
- Blur
Basic: Increases target ranged defense by 50%.
Expert: Increases target ranged defense by 100%
Master: Cloud forms around target with a diameter of 2 yards, in which all creatures have 50% ranged defense. Target still has 100% increase.
- Dispell
Basic: Eliminates all 3rd level spells and lower on target.
Advanced: Eliminates all 4th level spells and lower on target.
Expert: Eliminates all spells on target.
- Precision
Basic: Target has no ranged penalty.
Advanced: 25% ranged attack increase.
Expert: No obstacle penalty.
GM: Target can shoot over castle walls.
- Frost sting
Basic: Damages target, determined by wizardry skill and level.
- Frost patch
Caster places frost patches which force enemy creatures to stop for one turn when stepping on it. Wizardry skill = number of patches (min. 1).
- Visions
Basic: Reveal number of creatures in enemy army. Works only on one enemy unit per casting.
Advanced: Reveals number of creatures of all armies within radius of sight, for one day.
Master: Reveals hero skills.
Level 2:
- Cowardice
Basic: Target cannot attack stack with more hitpoints than itself for three rounds.
Advanced: Target cannot attack stack with more than two thirds of it's own hitpoints for three rounds.
Expert: Target cannot attack stack with more than half of it's own hitpoints for three rounds.
Master: Target cannot attack caster for three rounds, as long as caster does no damage to target.
- Flight
Basic: Target can fly over obstacles.
Advanced: Target can fly over stacks.
Master: Target can fly over castle wall, without trouble.
- Ice bolt
Basic: Damages target, determined by wizardry skill and level.
- Illusion
Basic: Number of hitpoints determined by wizardry skill and level.
GM: Target immume for dispell and cancellation.
- Slow
Basic: Movement reduced by one third.
Advanced: Movement reduced by one half.
Expert: Movement and speed reduced by half.
- Power drain
Basic: Target uses 1.5 times the spell points.
Advanced: Target uses 2 times the spell points.
Master: Target uses 3 times the spell points.
- Steal enchantment
Basic: Steal level 3 and lower enchantments.
Advanced: Steal level 4 and lower enchantments.
Expert: You get to decide who receives the spell.
Master: Steal all spells on target.
- Preservation
Basic: Caster uses 1 spell point less per spell to minimum of 1.
Expert: Caster uses 2 spell points less per spell to minimum of 1.
GM: Caster uses 3 spell points less per spell to minimum of 1.
Level 3:
- Banish
Basic: Damages target, determined by wizardry skill and level. Only on summoned creatures.
- Mass blur
Basic: Increases all allied ranged defenses by 50%
Master: Increases all allied ranged defenses by 75%
- Mass dispell
Basic: Dispells all level 3 or lower spells on the field.
Expert: Dispells all level 4 or lower spells on the field.
GM: Dispells all spells on the field, including storm spells.
- Mass precision
Basic: All allied targets has no ranged penalty.
Advanced: 25% ranged attack increase.
Expert: No obstacle penalty.
GM: All allied targets can shoot over castle walls.
- Berserk
Basic: Stack will attack nearest unit in it's next turn.
Master: Works on heroes as well, unless they have resistance or wards.
- Teleport
Basic: Teleports a unit to an unoccupied spot on the battlefield.
Expert: Able to teleport a unit into an enemy stronghold lower than castle.
Master: Able to teleport into a castle.
Level 4:
- Blind
Creature can't act for amount of turns equal to wizardry skill, dispelled when suffering damage.
- Phantom image
Expert: Number of hitpoints determined by wizardry skill and level.
GM: Target immume for dispell and cancellation.
- Forgetfullness
Expert: Half of the target units forgets to shoot.
Master: The target cannot use ranged weapons.
- Town gate
Expert: Teleports the army to the nearest town, at high movement cost.
Master: Teleports the army to the nearest town, at medium movement cost.
GM: Usable in battle, but only the stacks within a 10 yard radius of caster get teleported. Those left will continue the fight.
- Mass slow
Expert: Movement of all enemies reduced by one third.
Master: Movement of all enemies reduced by one half.
GM: Movement and speed of all enemies reduced by half.
- Snowstorm
Expert: Slows down all order alligned units by 2 movement and speed. All non-order units by 4 movement and speed. Weather condition changed to "snowing". Cold resistant units suffer no effect.
Master: Frost patches appear randomly.
GM: 50% more effect to cold spells.
- Freeze
Expert: Target cannot move, act or retaliate for two turns, but has a 50% increase in defense.
Master: Same as expert, with 25% increase in defense.
GM: Lasts three turns.
- Snowstorm
Expert: Sets the weather to "Snowy".
Master: A Snowstorm appears on the battlefield.
Level 5:
- Hypnotize
GM: Target falls under caster's command for three turns, requires line of sight. Chance of working on a hero falls with 3% per level of target.
- Pain mirror
GM: 50% of the damage is also suffered by the target, which also counts for direct damage spells.
- Steal all enchantments
GM: All positive enchantments are stolen and randomly distributed.
- by Marelt Ekiran
HoMM 5 >Towns and creatures >Order
The town of Order
The town of Order has had some thourough changes. They lost the people who made the mechanical units and were driven to the mountains. So no more golems and dragon golems for the academy. Instead, they will focus more on snow and ice and on guards for their towns. The magic of Order will mostly stay intact. However, there is always room for a few new spells.
Level 1:
Halfling (Halfling burrows)
The good old halfling should stay in the academy as a level one unit. They are still the weak ranged units that they always were since HOMM2. Their looks in HOMM4 were actually quite good.
Gremlin (Workshop)
It turns out that they had not perished completely in the Reckoning. They are a little stronger than their HOMM3 cousins, both in attack and defense. They still attack with ball and chain, but are not ranged attackers. Instead, they are fairly fast. As a special ability, they can swing that ball in a wide range, hurting more than one stack.
Level 2:
Snow Dwarf (Cold mines)
These dwarves stayed true to the academy. They have been trained to survive in the cold high mountain ranges and are better units than their HOMM4 cousin. They are opposed to the Mountain Dwarf and the Warrior Dwarf from the Alchemy towns. The snow dwarf has no penalty for walking in snow and in addition to a 50% magic resistance, they are completely immume to cold spells.
Ice Gargoyle (Marble excavation)
The most useful kind of stone found high in the mountains is Ice Marble. Ice Marble is actually crystalized ice and is very hard and durable. While the academy lost their ability to animate golems and machines, they gained the knowledge that they once had to animate the flying statues. Using Ice Marble, it gave them a creature, immume to cold spells and with an additional defense, due to the enchantment in the stone. The Ice Gargoyle therefore has a natural stoneskin.
Level 3:
Mage (Mage tower)
The mage is still here. They too, have hardened in the harsh climate of the high mountains. They have an increase in hitpoints and defense, but their attack is still pathetic. Their spells are the same, except that they no longer cast blur, but summon smoke clouds, to obscure more targets at once (same as the HOMM4 vail of blinding smoke).
Sentinel (Guardians guild)
These elite troops are capable of wielding two blades at once, which allows them to do very good damage. They are also fast, but wear no armour, which lowers the defenses. They can never be persuaded by the charm or diplomacy skill and are fully immume to mind or fear spells.
Level 4:
Genie (Altar of wishes)
The favorite Order creature is still here. They have a variant of the heavenly shield added to their spell books, which gives all genies in the stack a 40% increase in hit points, but it is only castable on itself. The amount of genies per week should be scaled down to five or four per week to counter this. The ice bolt, illusion, mirth and song of peace are still there.
Iceborn (Ice gate)
These are actually the ice demons from HOMM4. The ice demons were never really comfortable in the lava and desert terrains of Nekross and lived in a mountain range at the borders. When they heared about the slaughter of the demons everywhere in Nekross, they quickly fled the country and traveled to the mountains of Great Arcan, where they offered their services to the government. The government accepted their help and started to teach them how to get away from the evil of the necromancers. The ice demons were good pupils and were renamed "iceborn". The government under Lord Reed still denies any accusation of brainwashing. The iceborn still have their freezing ability and are very hard to bring down. Their speed has not changed either.
Level 5:
Naga (Golden pavilion)
Only the strongest of the Naga species survived and made it to the mountains. They still attack with many swords and the enemy cannot retaliate. They gained the ability to slow down enemy movement within a range of five yard of them to a crawl. This makes them excellent defenders for ranged attackers and spellcasters. The better choice when going for a defensive ranged-spellcast strategy.
Yeti (Yeti cave)
The yeti is a tough creature with a high speed and a good attack and defense. They are skilled climbers and therefore, negate any obstacle of the battlefield, including quicksand. They can also end their turn on an obstacle. Yetis are the better choice when going for an attacking strategy.
Level 6:
Cloud Titan (Cloud temple)
This is the titan as everyone knows it. Big giant, throwing with lightning bolts. He had to be renamed "cloud titan" to oppose the "lance titan" from the Alchemy town. The appearance in HOMM4 was quite good. They can keep it more or less that way.
Frost Giant (Ice temple)
The frost giant is both a spellcaster and a melee attacker. Attack, defense and hitpoints are a bit higher than those of the cloud titan. The frost giant attacks with a staff and can also cast Mass Slow and Solidify Mind (target looses ability to retaliate). It should look like a giant in a light blue mantle with an icebeard and a crown of ice crystals.
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- by Marelt Ekiran
Nature magic
Level 1:
- Speed
Basic: Increases movement by 2
Advanced: Increases movement by 4
Expert: Increases movement and speed by 4
- Stoneskin
Basic: Increases movement and ranged penalty by 25%, but decreases speed by one.
Advanced: No speed penalty.
- Terrain walk
Basic: Penalties for walking over hostile terrain eliminated.
Expert: Penalties for walking through hostile weather eliminated.
- Silver arrow
Basic: Damages target, determined by level and meditation.
- Summon sprite
Basic: Summons number of sprites, determined by level and meditation.
- Summon gnome
Basic: Summons a number of gnomes, determined by level and meditation.
Level 2:
- Pathfinding
Basic: Reduces movement penalty over rough terrain by 0.5/tile.
Expert: Removes movement penalty.
- Giant strength
Basic: Increases hit points and damage by 25%.
Expert: Increases attack by 5% per skill level meditation as well.
- Fortune
Basic: Target's luck increases by 5.
Advanced: Target's luck increases by 8.
Expert: Target's luck increased to maximum.
- Wasp swarm
Basic: Target loses one turn, does not work on mechanicals, undead or elementals.
Advanced: Works on elementals.
Master: Wasps cause damage, determined by level and meditation.
- Snake strike
Basic: Target strikes before enemy retaliates.
Expert: Adds 25% attack.
- Summon satyr
Basic: Summons a number of satyrs, determined by level and meditation.
- Summon wolf
Basic: Summons a number of grey wolfs, determined by level and meditation.
Level 3:
- Mass speed
Basic: Increases movement of all allied targets by 2.
Expert: Increases movement of all allied targets by 4.
master: Increases movement and speed of all allied targets by 4.
- Quicksand
Basic: All units on battlefield require one turn to pass 2 yards of quicksand. Amount determined by level and meditation.
Master: All units on battlefield require one turn for 1.5 yard.
- Anti-magic
Basic: Immunity to all spells, at level 3 or lower.
Advanced: Immunity to all spells, at level 4 or lower.
Expert: Immunity to all spells and magic effects, with a few exceptions.
(there should be an option, which level)
- Necromancy ward
Basic: Prevents raise undead spells.
Expert: Prevents animate death and death call spells.
GM: No units can be raised if necromancers are victorious after battle.
(GM mass dispell and GM mass cancellation breach this spell)
- Windstorm
Basic: Flyers only cover half distance when flying. Weather set to "storm"
Advanced: 25% more damage for lightning and arrow spells.
Expert: Flyers suffer minor damage when flying.
Master: Flyers can't fly at all.
GM: 50% more damage for lightning and arrow spells.
- Crystal arrow
Basic: Damages target, determined by level and meditation.
- Flee
Basic: Teleports one stack of creatures back to the nearest town. The battle still continues.
Expert: Able to teleport other heroes, but not the caster. Fleeing heroes receive no XP.
- Summon pegasus
Basic: Summons a number of pegasi, determined by level and meditation.
- Summon dendroid
Basic: Summons a number of dendroids, determined by level and meditation.
Level 4:
- Mass luck
Expert: Luck of all allied target increased by 6.
Master: Luck of all allied targets increased by 9.
GM: Luck of all allied target to maximum.
- Mass snake strike
Expert: All allied targets strike before enemy retaliates.
Master: Adds 25% attack to all allied targets.
- Summon elemental
Expert: Summons a random type of elemental, determined by level and meditation.
Master: Pick which elemental.
- Summon griffin
Expert: Summons a number of griffins, determined by level and meditation.
- Summon unicorn
Expert: Summons a number of unicorns, determined by level and meditation.
- Rainstorm
Expert: Sets the weather to "Rainy".
Master: A Rainstorm appears on the battlefield.
Level 5:
- Divine magic shield
GM: 100% magic resistance, but allows beneficial spells. Cannot be broken by "forced dispell", GM "cancellation" or GM "dispell".
- Summon phoenix
GM: Summons a number of phoenixes, determined by level and meditation.
- Summon faerie dragon
GM: Summons a number of faerie dragons, determined by level and meditation.
Level 6:
- Summon Marelt Ekiran
GGM: Summons the Watcher of All from his realms, who will be mad at being disturbed and smite everything on the battlefield and the rest of the adventure map. Fortunately, there is no such thing as a level 6 spell or a Great Grandmaster skill.
- by Marelt Ekiran
HoMM 5 >Towns and creatures >Nature
The town of nature
The towns of nature have always depended on their ability to hide in the forest and use sniper attacks. In this war, they will try to do nothing different, but they cannot always prevent an open attack. With all these wars, they try to be more protective and keep the enemy at a distance.
Level 1:
Sprite (Treehouse)
The little electrifying butterfly has remained with the forces of nature and is still a fast and works with the no-retaliation ability. They are still fragile and mostly depend on a hit-and-run battlefield strategy.
Gnome (Gnome hut)
After all these years, the gnome is brought back from King's Bounty. It looks like a little man with small white beard. Its defense is low, but does decent damage and they have the ability to cast the stoneskin spell.
Level 2:
Grey wolf (Wolf den)
The wolves got stronger over the years and their damage increased at a frightning level. They still have two attacks, but their speed has not increased. Their defense is moderate.
Satyr (Wine keg)
The half-goats come to your aid to prevent the evil forces from disturbing their fun. They are technically tank troops. Slow, good attack and defense. They can still cast mirth twice per battle.
Level 3:
Elf (Ranger's guild)
The training of the elves has increased ever since the drows joined the ranks of their enemy. They shoot twice and with good results. Their hitpoints are still fairly low, but higher defense compensates this somewhat.
Druid (Stonehenge)
The druid has returned as creature, which does not mean that it cannot be a hero as well. The druid is a spellcaster and casts firebolt, summon wolf, giant strenght, fortune and defender. It's going to be a tough choice between the elf and this one.
Level 4:
Pegasus (Silver falls)
The pegasus is fast and does decent damage, but is low in defense. They have a first strike, so are a lot better in large stacks to finish off opponents. The pegasus is also capable of casting power drain once per combat.
Dendroid (Dendroid grove)
The dendroid is still slow and still have their binding ability. They can also animate trees (enemies are bound in place when walking next to them, but they can't see which tree. When a dendroid dies, their bodies for a barrier, which requires one turn to cross.
Level 5:
Unicorn (Magic pool)
The unicorn should go back to their HOMM3 appearance. They looked so much better with those golden manes and their robust appearance. In addition to their blind ability, they should also have their old magic resistance aura. That would make them a better deal in comparison to the griffins.
Griffin (Griffin cliffs)
The griffin is now a very strong level 5 creature, still coming with unlimited retaliation. With a first strike spell, they are truly nightmares. Their number is fairly low, though.
Level 6:
Phoenix (Pyre)
We already know that the good old phoenix is going to be there in HOMM5, so I couldn't let it out. They still come with a breath attack and a rebirth ability, which works the same way as HOMM4. Once per combat, they can also cast the firestorm spell. The firestorm gives damage to all units when flying, unless they are immume to fire damage (phoenix and efreet). The firestorm also gives 50% extra damage to all fire-based spells. If you can get a combination of phoenix, druid and fearie dragon, you have one of the best combo's in the game.
Faerie dragon (Magic forest)
They still come with their spellbook of painful spells. Lighting, fireball and fire ring are included, as well as bloodfrenzy. They no longer have the confusion spell. The fireball and fire ring are much more powerfull with a firestorm on the battlefield, so try to get the spell (L4, chaos) or get a phoenix in your ranks.
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