Hit Points measure a unit's remaining capacity for taking damage. Master of Magic does not actually track this attribute. Instead, it is a calculated value used mainly to inform the player about the status of units (both own and enemy). The game records only damage taken, which is essentially the inverse of this statistic.
The term Hit Points is often confusingly used, even by the game's own documentation, to refer to a unit's Hits per figure value, also covered in this article. However, while Hit Points generally describe a unit's current state, Hits represent each figure's maximum capacity for surviving damage. This serves as the basis for most procedures that involve dealing or healing damage.
Concept[]
The use of Hit Points originates from classic role-playing games, particularly Dungeons & Dragons. However, the concept has been adopted with multiple other names, such as "health", or "life", and has appeared even before. It represents both an object's or creature's structural or physiological integrity, and its ability to withstand loss thereof. It typically goes hand in hand with a system capable of rationing damage in a way that some attacks are lethal, but most are not. These also often incorporate attributes that enable entities to reduce or avoid damage from certain sources, such as armor or magic resistance.
Effect[]
Hits and Hit Points, while aspects of the same concept, have different practical effects. However, they are both represented by Bright Heart icons, both in the game, and on the wiki. Since Hits form the basis of calculating Hit Points, they are examined here first.
Hits Per Figure[]
Units in Master of Magic are comprised of individual entities called figures. Some contain only a single one, while others can have up to nine. Hits, or more precisely, " Hits per figure", is one of their base attributes. It shows how many Damage Points it takes to slay or destroy an individual figure in the unit. For Single Figure units, it naturally also equals their total health, or maximum Hit Points.
Hits are shown in the unit statistics window as a row of Heart icons, equal in number to the attribute. When the unit is first recruited or summoned, and when it is at full health, all of the icons are bright. However, if the unit suffers Damage Points, some of these icons can get darkened out. This indicates what is often called the "top figure damage". The overall amount of icons remains the same however, still showing the amount of Hits.
Losing and Regaining Figures[]
When a unit suffers damage equalling its Hits per figure value, it will lose one of its figures. This usually destroys Single Figure units outright, but Multi-Figure ones have an advantage here, as they can remain operational as long as they have at least one figure still standing. However, their offensive potential progressively diminishes as they lose figures, which happens at even intervals of suffering Damage Points matching their Hits. Similarly, as these units heal, whether naturally or by magical means, they also regain figures as soon as their damage becomes lower than one of the tresholds indicated by their Hits per figure.
Example[]
- A High Men Cavalry unit has 3 Hits per figure, and a maximum figure count of 4. Suffering 3 Damage Points, equal to their Hits, will slay one cavalryman. If another 3 are inflicted on them, for a total of 6, another one will fall. Then the third one at 9, until finally the unit is destroyed at 12. However, if the last figure survives with only 11, and then starts healing up, then a second figure is restored at 8, a third at 5, and the last one at 2. Both losing and regaining the figures happens at 3 point intervals, equal to the Hits per figure value.
Role in Damage Resolution[]
Hits play a role in resolving most Damage Types. During Conventional Damage attacks, defending units are allowed to perform additional Defense Rolls every time they log an amount of damage equal to their Hits. Looking at the Cavalry from above, if a Melee Attack against them scores 5 "successful hits", but they only manage to block 1, then they can make another roll after recording 3 of the remaining 4 points. This simulates the idea that each figure has its own Armor and other mitigating factors, so if an attack is strong enough to affect more than one of them, then they can all defend against it. Although, this implementation may seem counter-intuitive in that it ignores "top figure damage" when defending against attacks made by enemy units. That is, these attacks are always assumed to target healthy figures.
The situation is slightly different for attacks marked as dealing Area Damage. Here, a separate attack is performed against each standing figure in a target unit. However, this type of damage can characteristically only deliver as much Damage Points as each figure has Hit Points. Naturally, this means that for all figures except the "top" one, Hits per figure also defines the maximum amount that Area Damage effects can inflict on them.
Finally, Hits per figure plays an important role in resolving all figure-based Special Damage. These attacks force their targets to make an amount of Resistance checks depending on the type of the effect. Touch Attacks typically require one for each attacking figure, while spells and Gaze Attacks call for one per defending figure. Regardless though, every failed check results in damage equal to the target's Hits per figure value, effectively slaying one figure.
Modifiers[]
There are only a handful of ways to increase a unit's Hits per figure value, the most common of them being the effect of Experience. There is no method for decreasing the attribute, magical or otherwise. Additional Hits granted in a temporary fashion are usually denoted by Golden Heart icons in the unit statistics window. These either depend on the presence of a certain enchantment, or last only until the end of a battle.
Effect | Modifier | Notes | |
Elite Level | +1 | Normal Units only, requires 120/60/20* Experience Points | |
Champion Level | +1 (total +2) | Normal Units only, requires 120 Experience Points (only available with both Warlord and Crusade) | |
Hero Levels | +1 (up to +8) | Heroes only, +1 per level, excluding the first | |
Constitution | +1 / level | Hero Ability, grants up to +9 (includes the first level) | |
Super Constitution | +1.5 / level | Hero Ability, grants up to +13 (rounds down) | |
Lionheart | +3 | Unit Enchantment or Item Power | |
Black Channels | +1 | Unit Enchantment, affects Normal Units, Heroes, and Undead units only (turns Normal Units and Heroes into Undead) | |
Charm of Life | +25% |
| |
Life Stealing Damage | "overhealing" / max Figures |
these last only until the end of the battle | |
* - The Warlord Retort and the Crusade spell reduce XP requirements. The first number is the base value, the second is with either one of these effects, while the last is with both. |
Experience[]
- This effect is only applicable to Normal Units and Heroes, as Fantastic Units are unable to gain Experience. The former gain +1 per figure upon reaching Elite level, which usually happens when they accumulate 120 Experience Points, or are enchanted with Heroism. Units created in a Town with an Altar of Battle already start out with this much as well. Another +1 may also be gained (for a total of +2), should a unit become Ultra-Elite. However, this requires both the Warlord Retort, and an active Crusade Global Enchantment to be possessed by the controlling Wizard; in addition to the same amount of Experience Points by the unit.
- Heroes gain Hits much faster, at a rate of +1 per level, up to a maximum of +8 at Demi-God. This is much needed though, considering they are all Single Figure units. In addition, many of them can possess the Constitution ability, either by default, or as a Random "Fighter" perk. This grants another +1 per level. Because it already starts giving a benefit at the first level though, it can provide a total of up to +9. Over half of the Heroes that have access to it may also occasionally get the super (*) version of this ability. This grants even more: 150% of the original, rounded down, up to a maximum of +13 at the final level.
Unit Enchantments[]
- Only two Unit Enchantments are capable of enhancing Hits. The first one is the Rare Lionheart, which can be cast both overland, for a base Casting Cost of 200, or during a battle, costing only 40 in this case. It grants a rather powerful +3 per figure, but requires an Upkeep Cost of 4 per turn to maintain overland.
- The second spell is somewhat counter-productive. This is the Uncommon Black Channels, which may only be cast overland. It has a base Casting Cost of 100, with an upkeep of 1 per turn. While it increases Hits by +1 for as long as it is maintained, it also has a permanent "side effect". Normal Units and Heroes targeted by this spell become Undead, an irreversible change that will not go away with the removal of the enchantment. These units are no longer able to heal naturally or be targeted by healing spells, meaning that any Damage Points they suffer can only be removed by Regeneration or the use of Life Stealing Damage.
Charm of Life[]
- Charm of Life is a Very Rare and very powerful Global Enchantment. It has a base Casting Cost of 1,250, although its Upkeep Cost is only a comparatively low 10 per turn. As long as it is in effect, this spell increases the Hits per figure value of all of its owner's units by 25%, with a minimum improvement of +1 per figure. This ensures that even the weakest Normal Units will benefit from the spell.
Magical Items[]
- Unfortunately for Heroes, Hits is not among the base attributes that can be enhanced by Magical Items. However, the Lionheart enchantment does have an Item Power version called Lion Heart. This requires the Create Artifact spell and 6 Life Spellbooks to imbue. Its cost is a base 1,000, and it can only be placed on Jewelry. As Lion Heart is one of the three Item Powers that do not appear on any of the game's pre-fabricated items, it always requires custom Item Crafting. As such, it's worth noting that two instances of this power are not cumulative, and neither does this enchantment stack with the actual spell (although it does have the advantage of not being dispellable).
Life Stealing Damage[]
- Units executing attacks that deal Life Stealing Damage stand to gain temporary extra Hits if the damage they inflict matches or exceeds their figure count. This can only happen if they are fully healed first though. If this is the case, they are granted Hits equal to the remaining healing ("overhealing"), divided by their (maximum) figure count. These are temporary, and last until the end of the battle, at which point they will disappear. They do not carry over to the overland map.
Combat Healing Bug[]
- In the last official game version (v1.31), and also in Insecticide, a bug exists that can grant the same type of temporary extra Hits that are gained through Life Stealing. This triggers whenever a combat healing effect restores a figure in an injured unit, but only if the unit's new "top figure damage" is at least as much as its maximum figure count. In this case, the process described in the above paragraph is exectuted, except the "top figure damage" is substituted for the overhealing amount. Thus, the unit will gain ["top figure damage" ÷ maximum figure count], rounded down, in Hits. This bug is fixed in the Unofficial Patch 1.50.
Hit Points[]
The term "Hit Points" is itself used in two slightly different contexts, in addition to sometimes referring to the Hits per figure value. Firstly, it can represent the amount of damage required to destroy a unit or figure. This is its most common interpretation. However, it is also the classic unit of measurement for healing effects.
Maximum Health[]
A unit's maximum health always equals its Hits multiplied by its maximum Figure count. Both of these are base attributes, characteristic to each unit type, although as noted above, Hits can actually be improved by a few effects. Maximum health is used to calculate "top figure damage" when inspecting units overland, and when entering combat. It also determines the amount of Hit Points that the unit can heal naturally between overland turns, as described in the Damage Points article.
Top Figure Health[]
The inverse of the "top figure damage", this is the value represented by the Bright Heart icons in the unit statistics window. It equals Hits - "top figure damage". Since only the foremost figure in the unit can ever become "injured", this information can be used by the player to accurately gauge the remaining strength of a unit. The value is also used during the resolution of Area Damage, where it sets the maximum damage that can be inflicted on the foremost figure; whereas for all other figures in the unit, this limit is more easily described as simply the Hits per figure amount.
Current Health Total[]
The current total health of a unit can also be expressed in Hit Points, and is often easier to understand than the internal representation used by the game. It is calculated as Hits × figures - "top figure damage". This value is highlighted as a colored bar, both on unit cards overland, and the active unit window and combat unit display in battle. The bar is filled proportionately to the unit's current- versus maximum health. On the unit cards, a grey or transparent bar indicates full health. This changes to green if the unit has suffered some damage, but is still above 70% of its maximum health. Yellow indicates current health between 40% and 70% of the maximum, while the color changes to red below 40%. The combat displays are slightly different in that full bars are also green for better visibility.
Healing[]
Hit Points are typically used as the unit of measurement for healing spells and abilities. Although technically, these effects reduce Damage Points instead, the end result is essentially the same. For example, the Healing spell can be described either as removing up to 5 Damage Points, or healing up to 5 Hit Points. Both are correct, and yield the same total health. However, as health is traditionally expressed and tracked as Hit Points, the latter representation is arguably easier to get accustomed to.
On the other hand, because Master of Magic internally tracks Damage Points rather than Hit Points, a description of healing effects is not included on this page. Instead, these are explained in detail in the linked article under the heading Removing Damage Points.
Unit Tables[]
The following tables list the health for every unit in the game. The tables have separate columns for hits per figure and total health. Defense and amount of Figures are also denoted because those are the other main attributes which determine the survivability of units. On the other hand, defensive abilities like Invisibility, Lucky and immunities (e.g. Weapon, Missile, Magic) are not considered.
Normal Units[]
Note: An asterisk behind the defense of a default unit type (e.g. 3*) means that there's a Klackon, Lizardman, or Draconian unit of said type that receives a Defense bonus.
Fantastic Units[]
Icon | Unit Name | Def. | HP | Fig. | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sprites | 2 | 1 | 4 | 04 | |
Phantom Warriors Skeletons |
0 4 |
1 | 6 | 06 | |
Ghouls Cockatrices |
3 3 |
3 | 4 | 12 | |
Zombies | 3 | 3 | 6 | 18 | |
Hell Hounds Gargoyles |
2 8 |
4 | 4 | 16 | |
Shadow Demons | 4 | 5 | 4 | 20 | |
Werewolves | 1 | 5 | 6 | 30 | |
Nagas | 3 | 6 | 2 | 12 | |
Unicorns | 3 | 6 | 4 | 24 | |
War Bears | 3 | 8 | 2 | 16 | |
Chimeras Wraiths Death Knights |
5 6 8 |
8 | 4 | 32 | |
Gorgons | 7 | 9 | 4 | 36 | |
Magic Spirit Guardian Spirit Fire Elemental Night Stalker Air Elemental |
4 4 4 3 8 |
10 | 1 | 10 | |
Giant Spiders | 3 | 10 | 2 | 20 | |
Hydra | 4 | 10 | 9 | 90 | |
Demon Efreet |
5 7 |
12 | 1 | 12 | |
Fire Giant Chaos Spawn Angel |
5 6 7 |
15 | 1 | 15 | |
Arch Angel | 10 | 18 | 1 | 18 | |
Phantom Beast Doom Bat Storm Giant Stone Giant Djinn Demon Lord |
0 5 7 8 8 10 |
20 | 1 | 20 | |
Sky Drake | 10 | 25 | 1 | 25 | |
Basilisk Earth Elemental Colossus Great Drake |
4 4 10 10 |
30 | 1 | 30 | |
Floating Island Behemoth Great Wyrm |
0 9 12 |
45 | 1 | 45 |
Heroes[]
Icons | Name | Title | Def. | HP | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Zaldron Aerie |
Sage Illusionist |
4 | 5 | ||
Serena Greyfairer Malleus Jaer Morgana Yramrag Elana Ravashack |
Healer Druid Magician Wind Mage Witch Warlock Priestess Necromancer |
5 | |||
B'Shan | Dervish | 4 | 6 | ||
Valana Tumu |
Bard Assassin |
5 | |||
Aureus Alorra |
Golden One Elven Archer |
6 | |||
Taki | War Monk | 5* | |||
Shuri | Huntress | 3 | 7 | ||
Rakir Reywind |
Beastmaster Warrior Mage |
4 | |||
Shin Bo | Ninja | 5 | |||
Theria | Thief | 5* | |||
Bahgtru Shalla Mystic X |
Orc Warrior Amazon Unknown |
4 | 8 | ||
Marcus Fang Spyder Roland |
Ranger Draconian Rogue Paladin |
5 | |||
Gunther | Barbarian | 3 | 9 | ||
Warrax | Chaos Warrior | 5 | 8* | ||
Sir Harold | Knight | 5 | 9* | ||
Brax | Dwarf | 4 | 10* | ||
Deth Stryke Mortu |
Swordsman Black Knight |
5 | |||
Torin | Chosen | 8 | 12* |
Note: An asterisk behind the defense of a hero (e.g. 5*) means that the corresponding hero always possesses the Agility ability, thus receives 1 additional defense per level (or 1.5 defense if Super Agility). An asterisk behind the health of a hero (e.g. 8*) means that the corresponding hero always possesses the Constitution ability, thus receives 1 additional health per level (or 1.5 health if Super Consititution).