Nature Quick Reference | ||||||
Summoning | Unit Enchantment |
City Enchantment |
Global Enchantment |
Combat | Special | |
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Common | War BearsEffects: Summoning Target: n/a Research Cost: 130 Casting Cost: 70 mana Upkeep: 2 mana/turn Summons a group of ferocious bears. SpritesEffects: Summoning Target: n/a Research Cost: 220 Casting Cost: 100 mana Upkeep: 3 mana/turn Summons sprites. Sprites are small, flying forest creatures that can hurl tiny magic attacks over long distances. |
Resist ElementsEffects: Unit Enchantment Target: one unit Research Cost: 40 Casting Cost: 5/25 mana Upkeep: 1 mana/turn Gives a target unit increased resistance (+3) to the elemental magics of chaos and nature, and improved defense against normal magic ranged attacks (+3 to ranged defense). Giant StrengthEffects: Unit Enchantment Target: one unit Research Cost: 80 Casting Cost: 8/40 mana Upkeep: 1 mana/turn Makes a target unit's creatures stronger (adds +1 to each figure's melee attack strength). Stone SkinEffects: Unit Enchantment Target: one unit Research Cost: 160 Casting Cost: 10/50 mana Upkeep: 1 mana/turn Causes a target unit's skin to harden, increasing the unit's defense (shields) by one. Water WalkingEffects: Unit Enchantment Target: one unit Research Cost: 190 Casting Cost: 50 mana Upkeep: 1 mana/turn Endows a unit with the ability to walk on water. The unit's movement speed remains unchanged. |
Wall of StoneEffects: City Enchantment Target: city Research Cost: 60 Casting Cost: 50 mana Upkeep: none Surrounds a target city with a sturdy stone wall. |
Earth to MudEffects: Instant Combat Target: 5 x 5 area Research Cost: 20 Casting Cost: 15 mana Upkeep: none Turns a 5 x 5 area into thick, sticking mud for the duration of a battle. Mud costs a unit (enemy or friendly) all its movement points to enter. Flying and non-corporeal units are unaffected. WebEffects: Unit Enchantment Target: one unit Research Cost: 100 Casting Cost: 10 mana Upkeep: none Casts a sticky, 12 hit point web over a target unit. Creatures cannot move until they destroy the web with melee and magic ranged attacks. Web remnants prevent flying units from flying for the rest of the battle. |
Earth LoreEffects: Instant Target: map window Research Cost: 250 Casting Cost: 30 mana Upkeep: none Fully reveals terrain, terrain specials, and cities on all squares in a target 'map window.' | |
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Uncommon | Giant SpidersEffects: Summoning Target: n/a Research Cost: 450 Casting Cost: 200 mana Upkeep: 4 mana/turn Summons two giant, poisonous, web-casting spiders. CockatricesEffects: Summoning Target: n/a Research Cost: 620 Casting Cost: 275 mana Upkeep: 8 mana/turn Summons a cockatrice. The deceptively soft, feathered touch of the cockatrice is capable of turning even the hardiest creatures to stone. BasiliskEffects: Summoning Target: n/a Research Cost: 800 Casting Cost: 325 mana Upkeep: 7 mana/turn Summons a giant basilisk. Basilisks are so frightening to behold that they can turn their enemies to stone simply by gazing in their direction. |
Path FindingEffects: Unit Enchantment Target: one unit Research Cost: 560 Casting Cost: 50 mana Upkeep: 1 mana/turn Endows a target unit (and friendly units stacked with it) with the ability to travel over all land terrain as if it were traveling over roads (i.e., the cost is only 1/2 movement point per square). |
Nature's EyeEffects: City Enchantment Target: city Research Cost: 350 Casting Cost: 75 mana Upkeep: 1 mana/turn Extends the scouting range of a friendly target city to 4 squares in any direction, revealing all lands and all non-invisible enemy troops within that radius. |
Cracks CallEffects: Instant Combat Target: map square Research Cost: 300 Casting Cost: 20 mana Upkeep: none Rends the earth. Any non-flying, corporeal creature standing over the newly created fissure has a 25% chance (regardless of defense) of dying. Stone walls that cross the fissure are destroyed. Ice boltEffects: Instant Combat Target: one unit Research Cost: 400 Casting Cost: 10+ mana Upkeep: none Showers a target unit with shards of ice (strength 5 magic cold attack, with every extra point of magic power spent adding a strength of 1 to the attack). |
Change TerrainEffects: Instant Overland Target: map square Research Cost: 500 Casting Cost: 50 mana Upkeep: none Alters a target map square, changing deserts, forests, hills and swamps to grasslands; grasslands to forests; volcanoes to mountains; and mountains to hills. Terrain not listed is not a valid target. TransmuteEffects: Instant Overland Target: map special Research Cost: 680 Casting Cost: 60 mana Upkeep: none Transforms coal and ores in hills and mountains: coal to gems, iron to gold and silver to mithril. Transmute will also reverse these transofrmations: gems to coal, gold to iron, and mithril to silver. Nature's CuresEffects: Instant Overland Target: map square Research Cost: 740 Casting Cost: 75 mana Upkeep: none Completely heals all units (except for creatures of death) that are stacked in a target land square. | |
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Rare | Stone GiantEffects: Summoning Target: n/a Research Cost: 1040 Casting Cost: 450 mana Upkeep: 9 mana/turn Summons an enormous, wall-crushing stone giant. The massive stone giant is imperivous to stoning attacks and can hurl huge boulders at its enemies. GorgonsEffects: Summoning Target: n/a Research Cost: 1400 Casting Cost: 600 mana Upkeep: 15 mana/turn Summons gorgons. These monstrosities, just as their mythological namesakes, are so ugly and frightening to behold that enemies who mistakenly peek in their direction are turned to stone. Earth ElementalEffects: Summoning Target: n/a Research Cost: 1700 Casting Cost: 60 mana Upkeep: none Summons an earth elemental. The creature cannot be summoned if there are already nine friendly units on the battlefield. The wall-crushing earth elemental disappears when the battle is over. |
Elemental ArmorEffects: Unit Enchantment Target: one unit Research Cost: 880 Casting Cost: 35/175 mana Upkeep: 5 mana/turn Improves a target unit's defenses (shields) and resistance to Chaos and Nature magic (crosses), by 10 each. These bonuses do not exert cumulative effects with the spell resist elements. Iron SkinEffects: Unit Enchantment Target: one unit Research Cost: 1120 Casting Cost: 40/200 mana Upkeep: 5 mana/turn Fuses iron with a target unit's skin, making it able to withstand most attacks (adds 5 to defense). |
Gaia's BlessingEffects: City Enchantment Target: city Research Cost: 1600 Casting Cost: 300 mana Upkeep: 3 mana/turn A target city's maximum food harvest increases by 50%. Every turn there is a 10% chance the city's deserts convert to grasslands and volcanoes to verdant hills, and a 20% chance that its corrupted lands return to their pristine state. |
PetrifyEffects: Instant Combat Target: one unit Research Cost: 960 Casting Cost: 35 mana Upkeep: none Attempts to turn an entire enemy unit into stone. |
Ice StormEffects: Instant Overland Target: map square Research Cost: 1200 Casting Cost: 200 mana Upkeep: none Causes the skies above a target map square to rain down a torrent of icy hail. All figures occupying that area are struck with a strength 6 magic cold attack. EarthquakeEffects: Instant Overland Target: city Research Cost: 1300 Casting Cost: 200 mana Upkeep: none Causes a violent earthquake to shake a target city. All buildings have a 10% chance of being destroyed. All non-flying, corporeal creatures have a 15% chance of dying. Move FortressEffects: Instant Overland Target: fortress Research Cost: 1500 Casting Cost: 200 mana Upkeep: none Moves a wizard's enchanted fortress (with summoning circle, if the circle has not previously been moved) to the target friendly city. | |
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Very Rare | BehemothEffects: Summoning Target: n/a Research Cost: 2000 Casting Cost: 700 mana Upkeep: 15 mana/turn Summons a fierce behemoth. A behemoth is one of the strongest creatures that can be summoned to Arcanus and Myrror. ColossusEffects: Summoning Target: n/a Research Cost: 3500 Casting Cost: 800 mana Upkeep: 17 mana/turn Summons an awe-inspiring colossus. A colossus is a rock-wielding fighting machine immune to all known forms of poison and petrification. Great WyrmEffects: Summoning Target: n/a Research Cost: 5000 Casting Cost: 1000 mana Upkeep: 20 mana/turn Summons a gigantic, poisonous, tunneling land wyrm. For all its bulk a great wyrm, with its ability to tunnel underground, is frighteningly fast on the battlefield. |
RegenerationEffects: Unit Enchantment Target: one unit Research Cost: 1850 Casting Cost: 60/300 mana Upkeep: 10 mana/turn Target unit can regenerate during combat (1 hit point / turn) and afterwards (immediate return to full health). If the unit dies during combat, it returns in full health if its side won. Spell cannot return a creature that has been banished or unsummoned. |
Earth GateEffects: City Enchantment Target: city Research Cost: 4000 Casting Cost: 250 mana Upkeep: 5 mana/turn Creates a teleporting device within a target city. Friendly units can teleport between any two of the casting wizard's cities equipped with earth gates, for the cost of one movement point. |
Nature AwarenessEffects: Global Enchantment Target: map Research Cost: 2500 Casting Cost: 800 mana Upkeep: 7 mana/turn Reveals all lands, cities and non-invisible creatures on both Arcanus and Myrror! Herb MasteryEffects: Global Enchantment Target: all units Research Cost: 4500 Casting Cost: 1000 mana Upkeep: 10 mana/turn Completely heals all of a wizard's damaged units every game turn. Nature's WrathEffects: Global Enchantment Target: n/a Research Cost: 6000 Casting Cost: 1250 mana Upkeep: 10 mana/turn For every non-combat death or chaos spell cast, all the casting wizard's cities suffer tremors. Each non-flying, corporeal unit has a 10% chance of dying and each building has a 5% chance of collapsing. |
EntangleEffects: Combat Enchantment Target: non-flying units Research Cost: 2250 Casting Cost: 50 mana Upkeep: none Causes all non-flying, corporeal enemy creatures to lose one movement point per turn. If a creature's movement points are zero, it cannot attack or move the rest of combat; but it can still strike back if attacked. Call LightningEffects: Combat Enchantment Target: opponent Research Cost: 3000 Casting Cost: 60 mana Upkeep: none Calls a powerful electrical storm from which deadly lightning bolts issue. Three to five lightning bolts of strength 8 strike random enemy units at the beginning of every turn until the end of combat. |
The Nature Realm is one of the six magical Realms in Master of Magic. Nature is somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades school, though its forte may be in summoning whole armies of powerful magical creatures to stampede opponents. The Nature Realm has numerous Summoning Spells at all Rarity levels, and the creatures accessed by casting them are mobile and tough.
The other spells of this school are directed at the ground, as often as not, and offer more esoteric effects and tools to the wizard. These include minor protections, snares in combat, fast exploration, and even wholesale terraforming. Nature is mildly opposed to Chaos; while wizards are not barred from owning spellbooks of both colors, green offers some direct counters to red.
A very practical color for the human player, this realm buffs his followers (though not as over-the-top as Life), hits hard (though not with the force of Death or Chaos), and plays unconventionally (though not so much so as Sorcery). Experienced players who choose to forego nature books altogether tend to miss them.
Description[]
Master of Magic's documentation declares that green magic is "rooted in the land," a part of Arcanus and Myrror. There may still be a Nature Realm, a lush parallel plane of existence that embodies pure natural concepts, powers the Nature Nodes, and serves as home to the various Fantastic Creatures linked with this school. These beings are decidedly supernatural, with qualities like impossible size and strength and the ability to turn enemies to stone. They are sustained in the mundane world with binding rituals and a steady infusion of mana.
The Nature Realm is the object of both study and worship by animistic cults in the game, and by any agency opposed to Chaos. Recognizing the value of good crop yields at home and a resilient front line, even wizards with no interest in this school of magic may bankroll druidic and shamanic orders in their territories. Nature magic seems to manifest in the evocation of biomatter, water, earth, and ice, and lends itself well to peaceful endeavors. It offers its share of violent ways to maintain the status-quo, as well.
- Familiar
- A wizard with mainly Nature spellbooks will take a Serpent as a familiar. Serpents are an ancient symbol of death and creation in cultures across the world. The green hue signifies fertility.
Realm Details[]
Nature has 10 spells per degree of Spell Rarity, totaling 40 spells with a cumulative research cost of 59,950. Each member holds a discrete cost increment along the spectrum between 20 (Earth to Mud) and 6,000 (Nature's Wrath).
Green spells have a tendency to aim directly at the map tiles, for the benefit of the caster's side or the frustration of his enemies. It also has a variety of direct summoning spells.
List of Nature Spells[]
Rival Wizards[]
- Main article: Wizard
When the world is generated, computer-controlled wizards each make a lottery-ball style roll for Personality and Objective. These traits modify the wizard's behavior, giving them some hard-to-resist compulsions and adding flavor. If the wizard's shelf is stocked primarily with Nature Spellbooks, this realm will influence the rolls, tending the wizard towards a Personality of "Lawful" and an Objective of "Perfectionist" (but no guarantees). In cases where spellbook ranks are tied, and the game needs to decide which realm conveys influence, precedence descends in this order:
Since Nature takes precedence over the other colors, a default split-profile wizard like Merlin (5 5) will take a personality and objective corresponding to probabilities dictated by his Nature ranks, not his Life ones.
The table below shows the chances each character trait has of appearing on a Nature wizard, before accounting for the influence of Retorts.
Personality | Objective | |||
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Lawful | 50% | Perfectionist | 40% | |
Peaceful | 20% | Theurgist | 20% | |
Aggressive | 10% | Militarist | 20% | |
Ruthless | 10% | Expansionist | 20% | |
Chaotic | 10% | |||
Maniacal | -- |
- Lawful
- On the diplomatic scale of 100 to -100, a "Lawful" wizard has a +10 Core Reaction to all of the other wizards, including the human player. Before performing a hostile act, this wizard formally nullifies treaties. The chance of this happening is reduced by 40 percentage points (usually to zero or less) unless the player has violated a treaty before, in which case it is increased by 40 percentage points. Diplomatic point losses are always doubled with a "Lawful" wizard. Generally, these wizards are a ticking time bomb... softer, even, than "Peaceful" until relations dip negative or a treaty gets broken, at which point they get extremely belligerent.
- Perfectionist
- A "Perfectionist" wizard has double the chance of initiating construction of a Town Building, and a correspondingly reduced chance of commencing work on a new unit. The wizard is also dedicated to throwing positive enchantments on his cities, when these are available.
Aggression against computer-controlled green wizards may need special preparation. Nature spells are surprisingly vicious in combat, and on high difficulty settings, these players build up a strong military-industrial concern. Since the wizards are benign and do not gain any overland attacks through this realm until late, you have time to prepare.
Green Diplomacy Modifiers[]
Rival wizards make one initial adjustment to their Core Reaction to a green wizard (human or otherwise):
Example: Tlaloc adjusts his Core Reaction to Freya by +8 (4 held in common) Leader personalities, retorts, and other spellbooks will make further adjustments.
Fantastic Units[]
There are eleven Fantastic Units associated with Nature, all of which are vanguard attack units designed for muscle in combat. One, the Earth Elemental, is a combat-only summon, while the rest are called into the game by ordinary overland Summoning Spells. The Earth Elemental is the most hard-hitting and durable combat summon there is, but it's a Rare Spell.
The Common entries, War Bears and Sprites, can fill substantial roles when selected as starting spells. The War Bears are a strike unit, on par perhaps with a generic Elite Cavalry unit, that may come into sudden demand with the appearance of a Mountaineer (since the bears are Foresters, the combined stack achieves Pathfinding). The Sprites are a higher-budget item, able to fly and pelt enemies with four magical volleys per battle; they can explore for choice targets of conquest early on, and may even be able to lay siege to places without being at risk themselves.
The Uncommon Giant Spiders, Cockatrices, and Basilisk are expensive to research and produce. They test enemy Resistance and make good company for heroes and mixed attack forces. The Rare Stone Giant and Gorgons play to the same tune. The three Very Rare members of this realm, the Behemoth, Colossus, and Great Wyrm, are gigantic monsters, with high attack, defense, and hitpoint scores.
Most Nature Realm creatures have high initiative. To begin with, they have a Movement Allowance of at least 2 (or in the case of the Earth Elemental, he can appear on a chosen combat tile and attack immediately). The Great Wyrm can also teleport anywhere on the battlefield. The Giant Spiders can snare enemy units, and the Basilisk can attack flying units because it has a Gaze Attack. Some of the units have strong ranged attacks or stoning attacks designed to bully the enemy before melee begins, and the units of the realm are generally quite good in melee.
Fantastic Creatures of Nature | ||||||||||||
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Icon | Name | C | U | |||||||||
War Bears | 130 | 70 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 8 | |||
Forester | ||||||||||||
Sprites | 220 | 100 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 1 | +10% | |
Ranged Attack x4, Forester | ||||||||||||
Giant Spiders | 450 | 200 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 10 | +10% | ||
Web Spell, Poison Touch 4 | ||||||||||||
Cockatrices | 620 | 275 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 3 | +10% | ||
Stoning Touch | ||||||||||||
Basilisk | 800 | 325 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 4 | 7 | 30 | +10% | ||
Stoning Gaze -1 | ||||||||||||
Stone Giant | 1,040 | 450 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 15 | 8 | 9 | 20 | +20% | |
Ranged Attack x2, Mountaineer, Poison Immunity, Stoning Immunity, Wall Crusher | ||||||||||||
Gorgons | 1,400 | 600 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 | +20% | ||
Stoning Gaze -2 | ||||||||||||
Earth Elemental | 1,700 | 60 | n/a1 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 4 | 8 | 30 | +10% | ||
Poison Immunity, Stoning Immunity, Wall Crusher | ||||||||||||
Behemoth | 2,000 | 700 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 25 | 9 | 10 | 45 | +20% | ||
Colossus | 3,500 | 800 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 20 | 20 | 10 | 15 | 30 | +30% | |
Ranged Attack x2, Poison Immunity, Stoning Immunity, Wall Crusher, First Strike | ||||||||||||
Great Wyrm | 5,000 | 1,000 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 25 | 12 | 12 | 45 | +30% | ||
Merging, Poison Touch 15 |
- 1 : Combat summon, disappears at end of battle.
Item Crafting[]
Ranks in this color unlock the following spell-like effects that may be employed in Item Crafting, to augment heroes' gear. Spell knowledge allows combat spells to be Charged into an item.
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Nature Encounter Zones[]
Creatures of Nature appear very frequently as foes in Encounter Zones. The world generator has a chance creating Nature units in the following zones:
Nature Node | Monster Lair | Mysterious Cave |
100% | 100% | 100% |
Dungeon | Abandoned Keep | Tower of Wizardry |
100% | 100% | 17% |
Every lair makes a procedural selection of guardians through what is essentially a Mana budget. When it can afford to stock defenders at all, there will typically be one or more higher-end units of the lair's Realm (this is the creature sighted by scouts who peek into the lair), attended by a lesser unit type. Abandoned Keeps, Dungeons, Monster Lairs, and Mysterious Caves always roll Nature creatures. Towers of Wizardry can have anything; the world generator always places six towers, so about two-thirds of the time, a map is going to have at least one green magic tower.
Nature Nodes always have Nature Realm creatures. In total, 16 Nodes appear on Arcanus and 14 on Myrror, and any one of these could be a Nature Node with a substantial garrison.
Nature has a fairly high minimum cost for generating a creature in a lair (War Bears at 70 points). Some lairs will therefore be undefended.
Lair Guardians and Rampaging Monsters | |||||||||||||
Realm | Creatures | ||||||||||||
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Nature | Unit | ||||||||||||
Cost | 70 | 100 | 160 | 200 | 275 | 325 | 450 | 599 | 700 | 800 | 1000 |
Any unconquered lair with Nature Realm creatures can eject a horde of Rampaging Monsters. This will be a randomly-generated Nature group whose strength will correspond with the number of game turns elapsed and has nothing to do with the lair's defenders. The turn after it appears, it will make for a nearby city and attack. The group can consist of any number of different species of Nature units.