Spellcasting
This article is an in-depth look at how Spellcasting functions. For a breakdown of all spells and their effects, please visit Spells. For an explanation of how magic functions in the world of Jadame, visit Magic.
Spellcasting Overview
Spellcasting in HoMM: Olden Era is a major part of the game, and can be critical in turning the tides of battle (and the game) in your favor.
Every hero is capable of casting spells, although many will not begin with any in their spellbook. Heroes learn spells mainly by visiting Mage Guilds inside of cities they control. By doing this they will automatically learn all spells they are capable of understanding.
Spellcasting is heavily influenced by a hero's Spellpower & Knowledge attributes. Spellpower determines how long a buff or debuff spell will last on a creature, and how much damage their spells will do to enemy creatures. Knowledge determines the maximum amount of mana a hero has, and thus how many spells they can cast during combat & globally before having to replenish their supply.
Spells are also divided up into 4 schools of magic: Arcane Magic, Daylight Magic, Nightshade Magic, & Primal Magic. While there is some overlap between them, schools of magic generally focus on specific types of gameplay:
- Arcane Magic focuses on battlefield control and indirectly interfering with enemy troops.
- Daylight Magic spells generally enhance your units to be stronger and perform better in combat.
- Nightshade Magic centers on curses and debuffs.
- Primal Magic specializes in dealing direct damage to enemy units and creating physical obstructions on the battlefield..
Beyond the four schools of magic, there is a fifth grouping of spells known as Neutral Magic. These spells are used on the Global Map and generally focus on movement and utility, enabling you to teleport to different locations, summon creatures directly to you from a distant city, and gain information on the location of enemy heroes & neutral armies.
Mage Guilds, Spell Tiers, & Spell Levels
The usual way a hero learns new spells is by visiting a Mage Guild. Mage Guilds are special buildings inside of a city that allow you to unlock new spells for your heroes to use. Mage guilds & spells are divided up into 5 tiers of increasing complexity & power. While any hero can learn spells of the first two tiers, tier 3 spells and higher will require the hero to learn specific Skills in order to be able to use those spells.
When a Mage Guild is first constructed, and for every tier upgrade that is built, 4 spells of the appropriate tier are randomly unlocked for a visiting hero to learn. Each turn, an additional spell can be researched and unlocked by paying an additional cost in precious resources. As the tier of the spell increases, so too do the research costs.
| Mage Guild | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mage Guild I | 2500  5  5 
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| Mage Guild II | 2500 2  2  2 
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| Mage Guild III | 2500 5 5 3 3 3
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| Mage Guild IV | 2500 5 5 5
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| Mage Guild V | 5000 5 5 5 5 5
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- note on Magic Observatory vs Mage Guild*
- table with costs of researching spells in mage guild by tier, also include upgrade w/ alchemical dust*
Additionally, spells also have levels that can be increased to unlock additional effects and improved capabilities. Spells can rise in level due to a number of factors:
- figure out way to cleanly format the notes part of this section*
- Learn special hero skills & sub-skills.
- Equip artefacts that boost spell levels - some can even be upgraded for stronger effects.
- Capture special map objects that raise spell levels in the Magic Observatory.
- Use the Magic Observatory / Mage Guild to manually upgrade any spell by spending 25 Alchemical Dust
.Note: While you can use this improvement on multiple spells, you may only level up any individual spell once using this method.
- When building Mage Guilds in other cities, if the spells unlocked in a particular tier match up with already unlocked spells in another city, then that spell will be leveled up in both cities.
Note: This method of leveling up spells applies only to spells that are naturally unlocked when building the mage guild, not those that are manually researched afterwards. You can tell which spells are unlocked with the building of a Mage Guild tier because of the light blue border around the edge of the spell graphic.
- table here showing regular outlines of a spell vs blue outline of a natively unlocked spell*
| Spell Levels & Appearances in Magic Observatory | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning Bolt Level 1 (Native) | Lightning Bolt Level 1 (Not native to this mage guild) | Lightning Bolt Level 2 | Lightning Bolt Level 3 | Lightning Bolt Level 4 |
| File:Lightningboltlvl1 native.png | 
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File:Lightningboltlvl4native.png |
- re-write this*
While spells have a maximum effective level of 4, you can increase its actual level beyond that. This is because there are a number of effects that reduce the levels of enemy spells in the game. When you engage in battle with another hero, your actual spell levels are measured against any negative effects the opponent may have, and your spells' effective level is determined from that.
Mana
Spellcasting requires a resource known as Mana, or spell points. The more potent and effective spells will cost increasingly higher amounts of mana as the tier of spell increases. Depending on your hero's Knowledge attribute, they may only be able to cast one or two high tier spells, or a higher number of lower tier spells.
All heroes start with 10 mana points, and gain 10 more to their maximum amount with each point of Knowledge that they earn on level up. By default heroes will generate a small amount of mana at the beginning of each day. This can be increased by certain Faction Laws
Types of Spells
Buffs / Debuffs Damage Spells Battlefield Control Spells (creating obstacles, laying traps) Global Magic (on adventure map)
Add overview of magic here.
Add lore of magic here.
Summary of Mana here
Add spell summary here, with a link to Spells page -->
