Only up to 8 of a Wizard's learnable spells can be available for research at any one time. These are often called the research candidates.
Spell Research is the process of deciphering ancient tomes to gain understanding of the magical incantations and rituals they contain. It is the primary way for Wizards to acquire new spells to cast. Each Spellbook selected at the beginning of the game, along with those found during the campaign, contains a fixed number of random spells that can be researched. However, once a player collects 10 books in a given Realm, further ones will no longer contain any new spells.
Concept[]
Magic is not an easy subject to study. Much like the laws of physics in our own universe, the rules that govern spellcasting on the worlds of Arcanus and Myrror are complex, and elaborate. Even for the most talented, it takes years to master even their basics. And that's not really enough either, as it allows only the understanding, not necessarily the invention of new spells. It is also limited to the universal school of magic, the Arcane. Other disciplines shape and focus their power differently, and thus have to be studied separately, even if the most basic rules remain the same.
It also doesn't help that practitioners of magic are often seclusive and secretive, either because they don't want this power to fall into the wrong hands, or because they simply don't want to share it with anyone at all. The spells they inscribe are usually written in code, if they are preserved at all. However, as with most ciphers and puzzles, these can eventually be broken, especially by those with the foreknowledge of what to expect and look for. Because of this, magicians often spend many of their learning years wandering the world in search of such ancient tomes. Or, if they ever come into power, they instead send their followers to scour the lands looking for them.
Sometimes, a wizard will take on an apprentice, both to help with their mundane tasks, and to record their spells and other accomplishments. These students have a much easier time both in learning the basics, and in gathering a library of their own. They may actually even inherit some tomes from their masters! However, that doesn't mean that they will instantly understand any spells that these might contain. They must still study, and experiment, with the various rituals and formulae, to be able to cast the spells; especially the rarer, more difficult, but at the same time, also more powerful ones.
Effect[]
Spell Research is the study of spells, in order to be able to cast them. It is typically the primary way of obtaining new spells. However, it is by no means the only way, and the alternative methods are also discussed towards the end of this article.
Arcane Spells[]
The spells of the 
Arcane Realm are always available for Spell Research to every Wizard, regardless of their abilities. Two of these spells - Magic Spirit and the Spell of Return - are also considered to be part of their initial training, and thus require no research. They are always available for casting as soon as the game begins. In addition, Wizards created with the Artificer trait also gain Enchant Item and Create Artifact as starting spells. However, the rest do need to be researched, and acquiring the aforementioned Retort later on in the campaign will no longer grant the two Item Crafting spells either.
Spellbooks[]
Apart from the Arcane spells, Spell Research is strictly tied to the Spellbooks that a Wizard possesses. New researchable spells may only ever be gained through the acquisition of a new Spellbook. However, each player can possess no more than 13 books in a single game, which means that the research options will eventually be exhausted. Spellbooks can also only be found as Treasure, and are usually guarded by the strongest creatures in the game. On the other hand, Encounter Zones with a high enough budget to afford Special Treasure are actually not that rare in the original game, and unless the Wizard already has a full shelf, books are three times more common than Retort rewards.
How many researchable spells a book contains depends on the number of Spellbooks that the player already has of the same magical Realm. These are listed in the following table, with the values in parentheses indicating the quantity of spells that are made available if the specified number of books are selected at the start of the game, as opposed to being found later. These should normally equal the total up to that point, but due to some unfortunate oversights in the latest official game version, they are not actually the same with respect to Very Rare Spells, as discussed below.
Researchable spells per Spellbook # in Realm Common Spells Uncommon Spells Rare Spells Very Rare Spells 1st 3 1 - - 2nd 2 (5) 1 (2) 1 1 (-) 3rd 1 (6) 1 (3) 1 (2) 1 (1) 4th 1 (7) 1 (4) 1 (3) 1 (2) 5th 1 (8) 1 (5) 1 (4) 1 (3) 6th 1 (9) 1 (6) 1 (5) 1 (4) 7th 1 (10) 2 (8) 1 (6) 1 (5) 8th - 2 (10) 1 (7) 1 (6) 9th - - 2 (9) 1 (7) 10th - - 1 (10) 1 (10) 11th - - - - 12th - - - - ( 
) or 1
13th - - - 2 ( ) or 1
The main reason for the discrepancies with Very Rare Spells is that Master of Magic uses two different executable files: one to create the games, and another one to play them. Starting Spellbooks are handled by the first program, while those found in Treasure are processed by the second. The number of researchable spells has likely changed over the course of developing the game, and one or more such changes may not have been applied to both files. The Unofficial Patch 1.50 fixes this problem altogether though. Players using it will find that the spells made available by books from Treasure conform strictly to those chosen at the beginning of the game. They can safely skip the next few paragraphs of this article.
The first difference in Very Rare Spells appears in the second Spellbook of any given Realm. Normally, Wizards can't acquire Very Rare Spells with only two books, as they require at least three to obtain from any other source. However, if a second Spellbook for a color is found in Treasure, it will actually mark one random Very Rare Spell available for research. This means that eventually, the Wizard will be able to learn and cast this spell, even if they never gain a third book from that Realm, and thus access to the rest its Very Rare Spells.
Unfortunately, the rest of the bugs don't work in the player's favor. At nine Spellbooks of the same color, finding one only adds a single Very Rare Spell to the researchable ones. This means that unlike a Wizard that starts the game with 10 matching books, one who finds any of these in Treasure will not have every spell available for research from that Realm. Although troublesome, this may not be that big of a problem by itself, as such Wizards typically aim to get a full shelf of the same color, by which point they will gain the missing spells anyway.
However, this brings out another bug, which would otherwise go unnoticed, and can have a serious effect on certain strategies. There is an error in the routine that checks for missing spells when finding a Spellbook, which causes any book after the 11th to be turned into a 
Nature one, if there are any Very Rare Spells in its original Realm that are neither known, nor researchable. It still makes one such spell available for research, but at the same time, the Spellbook reward itself will be changed to a Nature book, and grant researchable Nature spells as well. When claiming the Treasure, the game reports finding the original book, but looking at the mirror screen (F9) afterwards reveals the error right away.
This mistake affects nearly every single-Realm strategy that sacrifices more than one starting book for a Retort. For example, when trying to obtain zero-cost Summoning Spells, it would normally be better to begin the game with both required abilities (Conjurer and a Realm Mastery), as it is actually possible to selectively clear Encounter Zones for the missing books, whereas picking up the right Retorts is strictly a matter of luck. But because of this bug, 
Chaos and 
Sorcery Wizards either have to come up with a different approach, or work around the problem by trying to find two entirely unknown Very Rare Spells before collecting a 12th Spellbook.
Research Pool[]
Clicking on the dog ears in the apprentice spellbook allows browsing the Wizard's entire spell library.
A Wizard's research pool is the sum of all the spells that they can research, but have not done so. At its core, this includes any Arcane spells that they don't know yet. In addition, when a Spellbook is found, or chosen at the beginning of the game, the corresponding number of spells from its Realm are selected randomly to be added to the Wizard's pool of researchable spells. Naturally, spells selected as starting spells are excluded, as they will already be known when the game begins. However, they do count towards the allotment of total spells per book. If a player has already acquired all spells of a color from a given Spell Rarity, then that Rarity is skipped when a book of that Realm is found during the campaign.
Example[]
- The default profile of Raven has 6 Sorcery and 5 Nature Spellbooks. With these, he starts the game already knowing 5 Common Spells of the Sorcery Realm, and 4 from Nature. At the same time, these book amounts allow for 9 and 8 researchable Common Spells, respectively. From Sorcery, Raven will thus get 9 - 5 = 4 random Common Spells added to his research pool at the beginning of the game. Similarly, 8 - 4 = 4 Nature spells are also added to the pool.
- Once Raven researches and learns all of these spells, he will have 1 Sorcery and 2 Nature Common Spells missing from his repertoire. Since the researchable spells were chosen randomly, these can be any of the ones that he did not get as starting spells. If he now finds a Sorcery Spellbook, he would get the remaining spell into his research pool. On the other hand, if he trades or finds the spell itself, then finding a book afterwards will no longer grant a researchable Common Spell, as he already knows all of them. The same is true if, by luck, he obtains the missing spell before researching the other ones - all of the Common Spells are then either known by him, or already in his research pool.
Unresearched spells are shown in runic script in the spell library. The Spell of Mastery (top right) can serve as a good starting point for ad-hoc decryption of the glyphs.
Although not directly visible, the player's research pool can be assessed by using the Apprentice advisor, located under the "Info" menu on the main overland screen, or invoked by pressing F3. At first glance, this opens a spellbook window displaying the current Research Candidates (see below), including the researched spell, if any. However, the left page can be flipped backwards by clicking on the crease in its upper left corner, allowing the whole book to be browsed. It contains the entirety of the Wizard's research pool, along with the spells that they have already learned. Entries that are yet unresearched are displayed using glyphs instead of letters, whereas known spells use regular characters. The glyphs map directly to the alphabet though, and are thus fairly easy to decode. A complete translation can be found here.
Research Candidates[]
At any given time, only up to 8 spells from a Wizard's research pool are actually available for Spell Research. These are commonly called the "Research Candidates". Only if a candidate is learned, whether through research or otherwise, will it be replaced by a new spell, if possible. Naturally, if there are less than 8 spells left in the pool, the list will be that much shorter. Research candidates are always chosen at random, within certain confines. Spells of a higher Spell Rarity can not appear as candidates, so long as any lower Rarity spells from the same Realm are still in the research pool.
To be more precise, every time a new candidate is required, the game builds a list of spells from the pool, out of which it will ultimately select a random one. This list comprises of the lowest Rarity spells from each Realm that still appear in the Wizard's research pool. Arcane spells are also included in the list, although the Spell of Mastery is not, as it can only become available when the list would otherwise be empty of any other candidate choices.
Unfortunately, the inclusion of Arcane can have an undesired consequence in terms of the research availability for other Realms. This school only has four spells that are considered Common, two of which are always known by all Wizards. Thus, once the other two (Dispel Magic and Summoning Circle) are marked as candidates, the next tier opens up, often well before the Uncommon Spells from any other Realm. This can create a situation where the computer is much more likely to pick an Arcane spell as the next candidate, rather than one from another color, restricting research progress into the other Realms. This was considered to be a design flaw by the author of the unofficial Insecticide patch, who decided to change this behavior. As a result, starting with v1.40, the number of Arcane candidates may never exceed 4 as long as there are any other Realms to research from.
Example[]
- Continuing with Raven from above, at the start of the game, his research pool contains 4 each of Common Nature and Sorcery spells, and two Arcane ones. These form the list that his first research candidates will come from, until one group is exhausted. He gets the four Sorcery spells, two Nature, and the two Arcane, although not quite in this order. He decides to research one of the Sorcery spells first.
- When his Spell Research is finished, the game goes on to pick a replacement candidate. Since there are no Common Sorcery spells left, the list to choose from will instead include the 6 Uncommon spells from this Realm. However, the same is true for Arcane, adding its own 5 Uncommons. Finally, Nature still has two Common Spells in the research pool, which also go on the list. However, the chance of getting a Nature spell is rather slim, just over 15%. Instead, an Uncommon Sorcery spell is chosen, although Raven ultimately selects one of the Common ones as his next research target.
- Alas, before he finishes researching it, he stumbles upon an Encounter Zone that rewards him with a Sorcery Spellbook. Thus, when he does finish learning the spell, he may be in a bit of a predicament. This is because the book he found has added the last remaining Common Sorcery spell to his research pool. This means that Sorcery Uncommons are again off the potential candidate list, even though he already has such a spell as a candidate. Instead, the computer has to choose from the one Sorcery Common, the two Nature Commons, and the five Arcane Uncommons, likely resulting in a pick from the last group. It may take quite a few completed Spell Research projects for Uncommon Sorcery spells to start appearing again as candidates for Raven to research.
Research Target[]
The current research target is displayed at the bottom of the Magic Screen.
At the end of the first game turn, the computer automatically prompts the player to select a target for their Spell Research. This will be the spell that they invest all of their research income into. Once chosen, this can not be changed until either the research is finished, or the spell is acquired from another source. In both cases, the game asks for a new spell to be selected for research, either immediately, or when the turn is finished. The latest official game version also has a bug, that may crash the game if the research target is found in the spoils of war after conquering the Fortress of another Wizard. However, this can only happen if the player opens the Magic Screen before picking another spell at the end of the turn, making it fairly easy to avoid. The Unofficial Patch 1.50 also fixes this bug.
Research Cost[]
The remaining Research Cost of the currently researched spell is shown in the highlighted entry of the apprentice spellbook.
Every spell in Master of Magic has an attribute called Research Cost. This represents the amount of effort that needs to be invested into studying the spell, before it can be learned. It is usually proportionate to the difficulty of casting it, which correlates directly to the power or Rarity of the spell. Research Costs are measured in 
Research Points, an abstract quantity that acts as a resource that can not be accumulated, but is instead spent as soon as it is acquired; provided that the Wizard still has spells that they can research. Research Costs cover a very wide range, starting from as low as 20 for Common Spells, all the way up to 6,000 for the most powerful Very Rare Spells of each Realm.
Special rules govern the Research Cost of the ultimate Spell of Mastery. This incantation has in initial cost of an insane 60,000. However, every time a spell is acquired during gameplay, half of its base Research Cost is deducted from that of the Spell of Mastery. It does not matter what source the spell comes from, as long as it is obtained after the game begins; meaning that starting spells won't count, but spells traded or found in Treasure will. Wizards starting with 11 Spellbooks of the same color also receive a flat 3,000 discount on top of this, to offset their non-Common starting spells and generally lower spell availability. Considering that the Spell of Mastery does not appear for research as long as there are other candidate choices, by the time it does show up, it will typically have its Research Cost down in the Very Rare range, but can also go much lower for Wizards with a wide spell repertoire.
There is a single scale of Research Point costs across the five "colored" Realms, along which each of their spells are distributed. The following table shows this scale, and the spells from each Realm associated with its points. Arcane spells instead have their own, much shorter scale, illustrated in a separate table below the first.
|
|
Arcane
| |
|---|---|---|
| N/A | C | Magic Spirit |
| N/A | C | Spell of Return |
| 100 | C | Dispel Magic |
| 150 | C | Summoning Circle |
| 300 | UC | Disenchant Area |
| 350 | UC | Recall Hero |
| 400 | UC | Detect Magic |
| 450 | UC | Enchant Item |
| 500 | UC | Summon Hero |
| 700 | R | Awareness |
| 750 | R | Disjunction |
| 1000 | R | Create Artifact |
| 1250 | R | Summon Champion |
| Special | VR | Spell of Mastery |
Research Points[]
- Main article: Research Points
Research Points are the resource that drives all Spell Research. Research Points may not be collected in the general sense of the word, but are instead immediately spent as soon as they are acquired, to further the study of the Wizard's current research target. The two main sources of Research Points are allocated 
Power, and Town Buildings dedicated to intellectual development. Certain Profile Traits can also enhance research income, but only while the Wizard is researching a spell for which they apply.
Research Income from Power[]
The wands on the Magic Screen control the distribution of the Wizard's Power income.
Power is another abstract quantity, that represents the amount of magical energy generated by a Wizard's assets. Just like Research Points however, it can not be collected, and must immediately be channeled into one of three other resources, as it is acquired. Power distribution is controlled from the Magic Screen, accessed by clicking the "Magic" button on the top menu, or by pressing the 'M' key from the overland map. Its three aspects are 
Mana, Spell Research, and Spell Casting Skill. Each of these is represented by a wand, the fill level of which determines the fraction of the Power income that goes into their respective fields. These can be adjusted by clicking on them any time this screen is available, to change the distribution.
Profile Traits[]
- Power normally converts into Research Points, or any of the other two assets, in a 1:1 ratio. However, there are some Retorts that can alter each of these ratios. The one that corresponds to Spell Research is Sage Master, which increases the Research Points gained from Power by 25%, rounded down. In addition, any other profile trait that affects Spell Research is manifested through an adjustment of this ratio. That is, they do not actually affect the Research Costs of their respective spells, although they do also apply to Research Points that do not come from Power.
- Possessing a high number of Spellbooks from any Realm confers a bonus to Spell Research whenever the Wizard is studying a spell from that Realm. This is a 10% increase to the income ratio for every book above the 7th, up to a maximum of +60% at 13 Spellbooks. Furthermore, the Chaos, Nature, and Sorcery Realms all have a corresponding Mastery trait, that increases the income ratio by 15%. The Runemaster Retort applies for Arcane spells, and grants a 25% bonus. Finally, Conjurer affects the research of nearly all Summoning Spells, and also applies +25%. All of these, including Sage Master, are additively cumulative with each other. For example, a Sage- and Runemaster Wizard would get 1 × (100% + 25% + 25%) = 1.5 for every point of Power when researching Arcane spells.
Town Buildings[]
Replaced buildings still contribute to research income.
An entire line of Town Buildings is devoted to the gathering and sharing of knowledge. These all provide an independent research income, although they may also serve other purposes. The buildings can only be built incrementally, typically replacing each other. However, their research benefits are cumulative, while each one also individually produces more Research Points than the last. On the other hand, the buildings are not necessarily available to all of the game's Races, as shown in the following table:
| Town Building |
|
Availability | ||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |||
|
Library | +2
|
■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ |
|
Sages' Guild | +3
|
■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ||||
|
University | +5
|
■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | |||||||
|
Wizards' Guild | +8
|
■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ■ | ||||||||
Sage Heroes[]
Specialized Heroes can provide more assistance with Spell Research than entire Towns!
Some Heroes may also be able to assist a Wizard with their Spell Research. They are marked with the 
Sage ability, or its more powerful Super Sage version. Such a Hero contributes +3 per turn to their lord's research income for each 
Experience Level they attain with the regular ability, or respectively 4.5 per level, rounded down, with Super Sage. Although only one Hero, Zaldron the Sage, possesses the basic ability by default, no less than 13 others may be assigned it as a Random Ability, 8 of whom can also occasionally get the Super version, which Zaldron unfortunately can't.
Acquiring Spells[]
As noted at the beginning of the article, Spell Research is by no means the only way of learning spells. First and foremost, some will already be known at the beginning of the game. These are called starting spells. As mentioned already, every Wizard opens the game with Magic Spirit and the Spell of Return already learned, and Artificers also get Enchant Item and Create Artifact. In addition, every Spellbook above the first in any Realm allows the player to choose one Common Spell from that Realm, that is added to their starting spells. Should a Wizard take 11 books of the same color during character creation, they will know every Common Spell from that color, and can instead select two Uncommon Spells, and a single Rare Spell to start the game with.
Spellbook Requirements[]
To obtain any non-Arcane spell outside of Spell Research, the Wizard must possess at least a certain number of Spellbooks from the spell's Realm. How many are required depends on the Rarity of the spell. A single book allows the acquisition of any Common- or Uncommon Spells. Two books are necessary to learn the Rare Spells, while three are needed for the Very Rare ones. Should the player have less than this number of Spellbooks, then none of the methods described below will allow them to acquire the spell in question. For example, with only 
1 Life book, Rare Life magic will never appear in Treasure, nor can it be traded for with, or found in the Fortress of, another Wizard; as only Common and Uncommon spells are available with this number.
Treasure[]
- See also: Treasure#Spell
Encounter Zones are usually a good source of new spells.
Spells are a fairly common reward from Encounter Zones. Unlike the spells found in Spellbooks, these come in a form that can be easily understood by any skilled Wizard. Thus, they don't need to be researched, and may be cast immediately. Each object of Treasure at a site has a 3 in 15 chance of being a random spell (respectively 4 in 15 from the Unofficial Patch 1.50 onward), provided that the Zone's budget can furnish one. In fact, Towers of Wizardry in the original game are designed to contain a spell even if they couldn't normally afford it. However, every Treasure hoard can only contain at most a single spell, and they are mutually exclusive with Special Treasure (Spellbooks and Retorts). On the other hand, they will always be spells that the victorious Wizard can not cast yet, although there is no replacement reward should a player already know every spell that they can.
Spell Trading[]
|
Research Required |
| This article/section is missing crucial information and may require additional research to answer the following questions: How exactly does the computer decide which spells are worth exchanging for a given other spell in v1.31? |
Trading spells with rival Wizards is a double-edged sword. Giving them useful spells is often not a good idea!
Another way of acquiring new spells is by trading for them with the computer players. This is one of the few features in the Diplomacy system of Master of Magic that is at least partially working; although the AI Wizards can't trade between themselves in the official game, and neither can they take initiative and approach the human player. Naturally, spells can only be traded as long as both sides have one that the other doesn't. If this is the case, then selecting "Exchange Spells" during an audience with another Wizard will present the player with a list of up to five spells that they can trade for. Choosing one then allows selecting a known spell to offer in exchange, or backing out if the trade is not to the player's liking.
It should be noted that if a spell appears on this latter list, that means the AI is willing to trade the spell that the player chose for it. That is, this exchange is always successful unless cancelled by the player. It is also important to know that entering the "Exchange Spells" menu will reduce the AI player's Trade Interest towards the player, regardless of whether an exchange takes place or not, or whether any trade is even possible. This can be somewhat offset by a related bug that, if the player makes an exchange that is favorable to the computer, has the potential to reset the Trade Interest variable by triggering a Diplomatic Reaction.
Conquest[]
Banishing another Wizard can grant rewards matching, or even exceeding this feat's difficulty.
Should a Wizard be reluctant to trade their spells, it is also possible to "simply" take them from another. Whenever the Fortress of a Wizard is destroyed, the victorious player can find up to two spells in the spoils of war. That is, if the defeated Wizard knows any that the victor is eligible for, based on their profile traits. Naturally, destroying a Fortress means banishing or defeating the other player, so this tactic also has its limitations. However, considering that this act also typically rewards substantial amounts of 
Fame, it is actually a very viable strategy for maximizing game Score; provided that the player can ensure that the opponent is only banished, rather than defeated, whenever possible.