Noob questions while waiting for Dom3

[Panzerpionier]

Hi,

I ordered my copy of Dominions III on monday, after being charmed by the demo.

While waiting for the game to arrive here in Europe, i will ask some questions ... here is Nr. 1:

Levels of Magic:

What does the level exactly mean?
For example a druid has Nature 2.
Does that mean he can only cast spells of level 2?
or can he cast all spells of Nature i have researched, just less effective than a N3 druid?

[lch]

All researched Nature spells of level 2 and below.

[Panzerpionier]

So it does not make sense to research higher levels if you cannot build magic-wielders of equal levels, right ?

[rdonj]

There are ways to make your mages stronger, such as with items (made with construction) and by empowering them (usually a last resort). Also you can sometimes summon mages that are more powerful, though usually to do this requires booster items to enable your mages to cast the summoning spell. Also, in battle you can make communions of your mages if you have astral magic, which make your mages stronger in that battle. There is also a blood magic communion and there are also items that can allow commanders to act as communion members even if they don't have astral. You can even give your mages gems to allow them to cast spells higher than you could normally cast (i.e., nature 2 mage with 1n gem could cast a nature 3 spell). I always forget that one myself.

So the short answer would be no, you're generally capable of getting 2 or more levels higher in a path than your mages can cast natively, though it may take some work. Casting spells with really high requirements though can be a pain without having the paths on your god.

[Gandalf Parker]

You cant really research "3 Nature" magic. You can research Thaumaturgy or Conjuration. And that next level of that might grant a 3 level nature spell, and a 2 level nature spell, and a 1 level death spell, and a 4 level fire spell. Spells that you can use and spells that you cant.

[Panzerpionier]

Ah right i got a bit confused about paths and casting abilities.
Scrolling through the paths now...i get it.

Why is Empowerment considered a last resort?
I thought it was the "normal" way of leveling up.

I guess iam bit stuck with D&D concepts.

Sorry for my questions, soon i will have my manual

[rdonj]

Empowerment is a sort of last resort because it's the most expensive way of increasing your magic. For example, empowering a nature 2 mage to n3 costs 30+ gems, I don't recall exactly. Whereas building a thistle mace takes 10 gems, fewer if you have a forging bonus on the mage creating the item, from a magic site, or from the forge of the ancients. And that thistle mace can be passed around to other mages if you need an extra level of nature on a different mage more than on the n2 mage you made it for, whereas an empowerment can't be transferred.

[Illuminated One]

Empowerment is extremely expensive.
Empowering from Level a to Level b costs 15*b gems if I remember correctly. So going from nature 2 to nature 3 costs 45 gems nature 5 to 6 costs 90 gems.
A thistle mace which gives nature +1 costs 10 gems to make.
Might be of course that you can't use the booster cause your mage doesn't have hands (treelord for example) or you have to little magic to forge the booster from the start.

edit: dang, to slow

[SlipperyJim]

I'm not sure that anyone really explained the difference between magic power & research levels ... so I'll give it a shot.

Mages are attuned to tap into sources of magical power. There are eight such sources: Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Nature, Death, Astral, and Blood. Higher levels of magical power represent the ability to channel more and more magic from a particular source. A Druid with N1 and a Great Mother (pretender) with N9 are both able to channel Nature magic. However, the Great Mother can channel a lot more Nature magic than the Druid can.

On the other hand, research levels sort of represent magical techniques. There are a number of "schools" of magic: Conjuration, Evocation, Enchantment, Alteration, Construction, Thaumaturgy, and Blood. As one example, Conjuration represents your nation's knowledge of how to summon and (usually) control magical monsters, spirits, and other beings. Higher levels of Conjuration research will "unlock" rituals to summon more powerful critters. Simple Conjuration rituals summon silly Bog Beasts. (Sorry, Sombre, but it needed to be said.) Advanced Conjuration rituals summon the Kings and Queens of the Elements.

So how do these different "levels" combine? Your mages' levels of magical power determine what sort of magic they can control and how much of it they can use. Your magical research determines what they can do with their magic. Fire mages can use a level 4 Conjuration ritual to conjure up Summer Lions, which are lion-shaped spirits of magical flame. Water mages can use another level 4 Conjuration ritual to conjure up Winter Wolves, which are wolf-shaped spirits of magical frost. If your nation has researched Conjuration 4, then your Fire mages will be able to conjure Summer Lions, and your Water mages will be able to summon Winter Wolves. That is, if you have both Fire and Water mages in your employ....

The rituals for conjuring Summer Lions and Winter Wolves both require three levels of their magical "source": Fire or Water, respectively. A mage with fewer levels of magical power simply cannot channel enough magic to conjure these spirits. Even if you've done the research. He just doesn't have the power. But you can boost his power with magical items or empowerment, as others have already written.

All of this stuff is explained (better than I did) in the manual. I hope I've been able to clear up some of your confusion while you wait for the game to arrive. If not ... well ... just read your manual, and all will be clear.

[Panzerpionier]

Thank you for your replies.