Poison Immunity is one of the many Unit Abilities available in Master of Magic.
A unit with Poison Immunity is completely unaffected by any attack that delivers Poison Damage. When such an attack strikes the unit, it does absolutely nothing to that unit.
Poison Immunity is by far the most common immunity, possessed by no fewer than 21 different units by default. Nearly all Poison-Immune units are Fantastic Creatures, including (among others) all creatures associated with the Death Realm. The exception is the Golem, a Normal Unit.
The only way to add Poison Immunity to a unit that does not already have it is to turn it into an Undead unit.
Description[]
There are plenty of venomous creatures in the world of Master of Magic, and they can be quite dangerous indeed. Venom and poison can cause severe damage to a target, coursing through its veins and breaking down its body from the inside.
Fortunately for some creatures, their physical or magical natures prevent poison from having any effect. Some creatures are simply very tough and can shrug off a venomous bite. Others have no internal systems to be attacked by the poison, and others yet are protected by divine forces that can neutralize poison before it has any effect.
Effect[]
Poison Immunity is a passive ability that protects a unit specifically from Poison Damage.
Normally, attacks that deliver Poison Damage force the target to make several Resistance rolls, causing 1 Point of Damage for each failed roll. Units with low Resistance scores are particularly vulnerable to this type of damage, and Defense scores do nothing to reduce it.
The Poison-Immune unit, on the other hand, has absolutely nothing to fear from such an attack. It will never have to make any Resistance rolls against Poison Damage, and will not suffer any harm.
Poison Damage is caused only by the Poison Touch ability, which many creatures possess. Such creatures deliver Poison Damage simultaneously with Melee Damage. The most powerful of these is the Great Wyrm, which delivers a Poison Damage attack of strength 15 - potentially causing up to 15 points of Damage to the target!
Note that Poison Immunity protects only against Poison Damage. If an attack delivers several types of damage simultaneously, the Poison Immunity ability will only shrug off the Poison Damage component of that attack.
Units with Default Poison Immunity[]
Poison Immunity is easily the most common type of immunity, possessed by no less than 21 different kinds of units by default. Except for one (the Golem), all of these are Fantastic Creatures from various realms:
Golem
Air Elemental
Colossus
Death Knights
Demon
Demon Lord
Earth Elemental
Fire Elemental
Floating Island
Gargoyles
Ghouls
Night Stalker
Phantom Beast
Phantom Warriors
Shadow Demons
Skeletons
Stone Giant
Unicorns
Werewolves
Wraiths
Zombies
Acquiring Poison Immunity[]
There is only one method in which to add Poison Immunity to a unit: by turning that unit into an Undead unit.
It is not a coincidence that most of the units with default Poison Immunity are Death creatures: these creatures are not alive, and thus have no internal organs and delicate nervous systems for the poison to attack. Similarly, units that die and are brought back as Undead units are also Immune to Poison.
Units can be turned into Undead in several different ways:
- The Black Channels spell will turn a Normal Unit into an Undead unit.
- A unit killed in battle mostly by Life Drain damage is brought back as Undead, serving the enemy.
- A unit killed in battle mostly by an enemy unit with Create Undead is brought back as Undead, serving the enemy.
- A unit killed in battle and then targeted by Animate Dead is brought back as Undead, serving the caster of this spell.
Regardless of which method is used, the unit comes back with most of its original abilities intact - but now possesses the Undead property which, among other effects, also gives the unit Poison Immunity.
Note that the icon for Poison Immunity is not added to the unit's details panel. However, the presence of the Undead property icon is always sufficient to indicate that Poison Immunity is indeed in effect.
Immunity to Poison by Other Means[]
Poison Damage forces the target to make Resistance rolls at no penalty, where each failed roll results in the target taking damage.
Since no penalty is involved, a unit with 10 or higher will never fail its rolls, and thus will suffer no damage. The end result is therefore identical to Poison Immunity.
The only difference of course is that a unit's Resistance score can be lowered below 10 due to enemy Curses or other ill effects. Poison Immunity cannot be removed from a unit that possesses it, and thus is permanently protecting the unit from Poison Damage regardless of circumstances.