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To get where you're going in a hurry, try Quick-Navigate! Just follow these
five easy steps:
1. Highlight the name of the section or subsection that you want to go to in
the table of contents (listed below).
2. Press ctrl + C.
3. Press ctrl + F.
4. Press ctrl + V.
5. Press Enter.
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--------------------
I. Basic Information
--------------------
A. Author's Note (Read This!)
B. Quick Info
C. Skills, Leveling-Up, & Promotions
D. Statistics & Probabilities
E. Statistic Thresholds
F. Food & Rest
G. Conditions & Ailments
H. Time & Aging
I. Reputation & The Law
J. Shopping in Might & Magic VII
K. Building a Team that Works for You
L. "Lost-Forevers" (Definitely Read This!)
--------------
II. Characters
--------------
A. Knight
B. Monk
C. Thief
D. Ranger
E. Paladin
F. Archer
G. Druid
H. Cleric
I. Sorcerer
-----------------------------------
III. Walkthrough (Main Line Quests)
-----------------------------------
A. The Scavenger Hunt
B. Harmondale's New Lords
C. The Elf-Human War
D. Path of Light
E. Path of Darkness
F. Colony Zod & The Shoals
--------------------
IV. Promotion Quests
--------------------
A. Knight Promotions
B. Monk Promotions
C. Thief Promotions
D. Ranger Promotions
E. Paladin Promotions
F. Archer Promotions
G. Druid Promotions
H. Cleric Promotions
I. Sorcerer Promotions
--------------
V. Side Quests
--------------
A. Emerald Isle Quest (The Missing Contestants)
B. Harmondale Quests
C. Stone City Quest (Troglodyte Slayer)
D. Tularean Forest Quests
E. Erathia Quests
F. Tatalia Quests
G. Nighon Quest (Haldar's Remains)
H. Bracada Quest (Seasons' Stole)
I. Deyja Quest (Kill the Griffins)
------------------
VI. Little Secrets
------------------
A. Trap & Perception Reference Chart
B. Wells, Altars, & Cauldrons
C. Games, Contests, Tests, & Challenges
D. Obelisks
E. Trading Goods
F. Secrets of the Genie Lamps
G. Artifacts & Relics
-------------
VII. Arcomage
-------------
-----------------
VIII. Skill Lists
-----------------
A. Weapon Skills
B. Armor Skills
C. Miscellaneous Skills
D. Magic Skills
-------------------------
IX. Expert Teachers Lists
-------------------------
A. Weapon Skill Experts
B. Armor Skill Experts
C. Miscellaneous Skill Experts
D. Magic Skill Experts
------------------------
X. Master Teachers Lists
------------------------
A. Weapon Skill Masters
B. Armor Skill Masters
C. Miscellaneous Skill Masters
D. Magic Skill Masters
------------------------------
XI. Grandmaster Teachers Lists
------------------------------
A. Weapon Skill Grandmasters
B. Armor Skill Grandmasters
C. Miscellaneous Skill Grandmasters
D. Magic Skill Grandmasters
------------------
XII. Weapons Lists
------------------
A. Swords
B. Spears
C. Axes
D. Maces
E. Daggers
F. Staves
G. Clubs
H. Bows
I. Blasters
-----------------
XIII. Armor Lists
-----------------
A. Leather
B. Chain
C. Plate
D. Shields
----------------------
XIV. Accessories Lists
----------------------
A. Helmets
B. Gauntlets
C. Boots
D. Cloaks
E. Belts
F. Amulets
G. Rings
--------------
XV. Item Lists
--------------
A. Potions
B. Reagents
C. Wands
D. Books & Scrolls
E. Gems
F. Ore
G. Other Items
----------------------
XVI. Enchantment Lists
----------------------
A. Weapon Enchantments
B. Non-Weapon Enchantments
C. Universal Enchantments
-----------------
XVII. Spell Lists
-----------------
A. Fire Magic
B. Air Magic
C. Water Magic
D. Earth Magic
E. Spirit Magic
F. Mind Magic
G. Body Magic
H. Light Magic
I. Dark Magic
--------------------
XVIII. Hireling List
--------------------
-------------
XIX. Bestiary
-------------
---------------
XX. Other Stuff
---------------
-------------------
XXI. Hints & Tricks
-------------------
A. Exploiting the A.I.
B. Exploiting the Economy
C. The Multi-Loot Bug
D. Death Blasters
---------------------------------------
XXII. For Veterans of Might & Magic VII
---------------------------------------
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XXIII. St0rmcat's Might & Magic VII Editor
------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------
XXIV. Game Availability & Tech Support
--------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
Version Info, Credits, & Contact Information
--------------------------------------------
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_\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż
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Thank you for choosing a BTB FAQ. From the name of the section, "Stuff You
Definitely Should Know Before Playing", a few things should be apparent. Here,
I shall convey useful information about the game itself which is not readily
apparent to the player. This is information that would greatly behoove the
player to know and does not reveal anything, either story-wise or anything that
may give you an unfair advantage while playing (for those of you who hate that
sort of thing). In short, it is highly recommended that you look this section
over before you begin playing.
The walkthrough is the "meat" of the guide, containing in-depth strategies,
directions, and so on. It is also generously littered with spoilers and
profanity, and seeing as you have thusly been warned, I tend not to tolerate
bitching about either of them. The appendices, or in other words all the parts
of the walkthrough that are not the walkthrough, contain supplemental
information that may be often referenced in the walkthrough. However, take
note that during the walkthrough, I generally assume that my reader possesses a
basic knowledge of the information found within the appendices, so please keep
that in mind when using the walkthrough.
Lastly, I must stress that in addition to providing help and information
with the game itself in the walkthrough, I also keep a very good running tab on
whatever plot may exist, often adding insight and commentary. This is meant to
assist you, the reader's understanding of not only the technical aspects of the
game, but also the finer details (namely the plot). Many people often say that
my various commentary makes the game more enjoyable for them, which is indeed
my intent. If you do not wish to partake of my commentary, I most certainly
understand, and hope you at least find the answers to your question in the
various non-plot-related parts of my FAQ. If, however, your distaste for my
writing style leads you to bitch about my "filler-laden" FAQ, then my advice to
you is quite simply to go fuck yourself and find something better to do with
your time.
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The following list is a quick run-off of general things to bear in mind about
this game:
About halfway through the game, you will make a seemingly in
consequential choice, which will In fact have a huge effect on the
entire game. You will choose one of two paths, and follow that path to
the conclusion of the game. Which path you choose will have a huge
impact on the rest of the game, and some notable differences are as
follows. Different quests will be available to you on either path,
different promotion quests will also be present (see section I.C. for
more on promotion quests),
---
The damage formulas in this game are a derivative of D&D rules. While
most of this is explained in detail in section I.C. of the FAQ, a quick
introductory note bears mentioning. That is, the concept of dice. When
a weapon, for example, does 3d4 + 5 damage, it does the combined total
of a four sided die rolled three times, plus five. This means that the
potential damage output for this particular weapon ranges from 8 to 17
points of damage. Coversely, a spell that does, say, 5 + 1-8 damage per
skill point would do a guaranteed 5 damage, plus 1 to 8 points of damage
for each skill point in that particular school of magic. Don't worry, I
talk about skill points in a little bit, just hang in there.
---
A, C, and S (default) are three of the most important keys in the game,
along with the Spacebar (mentioned below). The A key, most importantly,
is your attack key. When you press it, whichever character is
highlighted on the bottom of the screen will attack with whatever weapon
they have equipped (or attack with their bare hands should they not
possess a weapon). If your character has a bow equipped, then her or
she will attack with the bow unless they are standing within melee range
of any attackable creature. This includes friendly creatures, so be
warned. Lacking a bow, your character will just attack (and miss) with
their melee weapon or bare hands (assuming that you are not standing
within melee range of anything, that is). The C button will bring up
the highlighted character's spellbook, from which you can choose a spell
to cast. You can navigate the spellbook via the tabs located on the
right side of the spellbook (there will be one tab for each school of
magic your character has learned). Lastly, in the spell menus, you may
notice that you can set a "quick spell" to the S key. When you press
the S key, a character will attack normally as if you had pressed the A
key unless you have a quick-spell set, as well as enough MP to cast that
spell, in which case the character will let loose with the spell
instead. As you might expect, this is a very quick way to eat up your
MP in the midst of a tough battle, so be wary of that when selecting
your spell (good candidates include Heal, and low-level attack spells,
in my opinion).
---
The Spacebar would be the other extremely important key in the game.
Anyone who has ever played a game like Doom knows this already, but as if
it begged reiteration, the Spacebar is your general-all purpose
interaction key. It does everything from talk to people, to open
chests, to open doors, throw switches, etc. The mouse can also be used,
though there are times when if the mouse does not work, the Spacebar
usually will (this pertains especially to the Walls of Mist quest, which
many claim to be bugged, though I personally have never experienced any
problems with it because I use the Spacebar).
---
Take note of the color of the small area surrounding the portraits of
each of your characters. Under normal circumstances, it will be green.
When enemies are near, it turns yellow. And when an enemy is in very
close proximity, it turns red. This is important both as a warning to
your party, and also due to the fact that certain things (such as
resting, or casting the Town Portal spell) cannot be done while enemies
are near. Also note that the color around your characters' portraits
will go away for any particular character experiencing recovery time
(discussed further just below).
---
The vast majority of the game will take place in a "real-time"
environment. You may move your characters about at all times, but
whenever one of them acts (attacks, casts a spell, etc.), they suffer a
"recovery time". This is a short period time in which they cannot act.
You'll notice that the area around their portrait loses its color at this
time. It will return to color again when they are ready to act. For
more on recovery time, refer to section I.D. of the FAQ. By pressing
the enter key (default), you may switch the game to a more traditional
RPG style turn-based mode. In this turn-based mode, your characters'
recovery times become far more noticeable, as your quicker characters
will be able to act more often than your slower characters. You are
also allowed a small movement phase before your attacks. Using the
turn-based mode is not necessary for victory in Might & Magic VII, but
it does slow the action down a bit and allows for more thought-out
spellcasting tactics. All in all, you are advised to experiment with
both modes and use whichever you feel the most comfortable with.
---
One important thing to note about turns is that just about any action
will cost a character his or her turn, including drinking a potion
(potions are discussed a little later on in this section). However, any
desired number of additional potions may be consumed by a character
whose turn has passed. This is useful if you are really hurting and
need to pump one or more of your characters back up to good health. The
catch, of course, is that you must still have at least one character who
is still in the green. This is because you cannot access your party's
inventory via an inactive character, but you can access the inventory of
another character and then switch to the inventory of any other
character on your team, even if they are inactive. Keep this
information in mind as you play.
---
As with just about every other RPG ever made, there are treasure
chests, boxes, crates, and all other forms of containers scattered
throughout the land just brimming with goodies for you. Be warned,
however, that almost every last one of them is armed with a trap which
will damage the ntire party. The damage done is random, but often it
is quite severely damaging- easily enough to wipe out your party if
you're not lucky. That being said, characters with the Disarm Trap
skill have a chance to disarm these traps, providing they are the active
character when you open up a chest, crate, or other treasure-filled
container. For more specific information, refer to section VI.A. of the
FAQ. The master level Earth spell Telekinesis can also be used to open
chests without fear of harm. Characters with the Perception skill stand
a chance of avoiding the trap damage, but this is as a general rule not
a good thing to rely entirely upon.
---
Aside from the aformentioned traps, some traps also exist hidden
throughout various dungeons, often triggered when you step on certain
areas of the floor. These parts of the floor will be revealed if any
character in your party possesses a high enough skill in Perception
(refer to section VI.A. of the FAQ for more information on this).
Perception also causes other hidden features, such as secret doors and
the like, to be revealed. As you might expect, this is a skill that is
highly valuable to the first-time player, whereas in contrast the
veteran will have little to no use for it.
---
When you first obtain any piece of equipment, excepting that which
you purchase from shops, it is initially unidentified. This is
indicated by the item appearing with a heavy green tint in the item
screen. Information on any particular item in your inventory can be
obtained by right-clicking it with your mouse. If the character who is
holding the item has a high enough level in the ID Item skill (refer to
section VIII.C. for more on how the ID Item skill works), he or she will
identify the item, and information about it will appear. If not, the
item remains unidentified. Unidentified items are still completely
useable- you merely don't know anything about them. Simply by looking
at it, you , the player, might be able to tell what the item is, but you
will still be unaware of any enchantment that may be on the piece of
equipment Enchantments are "bonuses", to put it one way, that enhance
the effectiveness of the equipment. A complete listing of all the
various enchantments is available in section XVI. of the FAQ, and if you
are particularly savvy, you can usually figure out if anything is
enchanted merely by examining its effects on your characters when
equipping them. Still, most find this to be horribly inconvenient, and
either opt for the ID Item skill, or pay shops to identify their items.
---
A handful of things during your quest, usually a certain few enemies
possessing the skill to do so, may cause your equipment to break. This
will be indicated by the piece of equipment in question being displayed
with a deep red hue in your inventory, and also it will read "broken"
when you attempt to right-click it for information. If a character has
a high enough skill level in the Repair Item skill, he or she can mend
the item immediately simply by right-clicking it (for more on how the
Repair Item skill works, refer to section VIII. C. of the FAQ). Broken
items, although equippable, are entirely unusable, and have no effect on
a character whatsoever. So, you'll probably want to fix broken
equipment as soon as possible, either via the Repair Item skill or by
paying a shop to fix it for you.
---
Potions are a fairly big aspect of the game. Basic potion-making is
something any of your characters can do. You'll need a "reagent", which
comes in a variety of different forms (basically, these are the
ingredients to the potion, all of which are listed in section XV.B. of
the FAQ), as well as an empty potion bottle. Simply pick up the reagent
and right-click it over the bottle to make the potion. How some of the
reagents, such as a Meteorite Fragment, are immediately transformed into
a drinkable liquid through nothing more than your character's own will
and self determination is beyond me, but the potion is made on the spot,
and is immediately useable. The "strength" of the potion will be listed
if you right-click it, and stronger potions will have different effects
based on the type of potion in question. Stronger reagents make
stronger potions, and the Alchemy skill level of the character who made
the potion (if applicable) is added to the strength of the potion also.
While red, yellow, and blue potions are the three basic types, these can
be mixed to create a vast myriad of different potions, which are all
listed in section XV.A of the FAQ. Note that the character creating
potions will need the Alchemy skill to create any potions more complex
than red, yellow, or blue, as well as to create or use catalysts.
Catalysts are grey potions and are special in the sense that you cannot
drink them, but rather you mix them with other potions to alter their
strength to that of that catalyst used. Attempting to create a potion
that your character does not have the expertise to mix is a good way to
get yourself blown up. Don't ask me how just two Poppysnaps and some
Widowsweep Berries can be so volatile- just take my word for it.
---
Concerning a glitch in the game, the Haste spell doesn't work. This
includes pedestals, scrolls, and any other way to induce the haste
condition upon your party (this includes the Hour of Power spell, as
well). Not only does it not work, but can actually be counter-
productive in that your characters are weakened when the spell wears
off. The good news, however, is that haste potions do, in fact, work.
And even better, they typically last much, much longer than the spell
does, anyways. The only negative effect is that each potion only
affects one character at a time. So, in a nutshell, haste cast on the
party does not work, whereas haste cast on an individual does.
---
Holding shift (default key) causes your party to run instead of walk.
Some people like to keep the "always run" option on (which will then
swap the function of the shift key to walking whenever you hold it
down), but there is a reason why that may not be such a great idea.
That is, when running, your characters recovery times are doubled. So,
with the always run option on, you will always suffer this penalty while
attacking, unless your party is standing absolutely still. This is just
a friendly warning, and you are advised to, knowing this, choose
whatever option you feel comfortable with.
---
*Pressing the X key (default) allows your characters to jump a little bit
into the air. This is a good way to cross small gaps, but nothing more.
The jump is very small, and for anything further, you should use the
expert-level Air spell Jump. However, it is very important to note that
you can hop onto any body of water and, a'la Jesus, walk right across
it. Your characters' only protests seem to be the occasional "I'm
drowning!" as you trudge across the surface of the water, accompanied by
a slow but steady drain of all your characters' HP. The expert level
Water spell Water Walk will allow you to walk across the surface of
water without taking damage, but as I have clearly stated, water travel
is entirely possible without it, no matter how heavy your armor is. Use
this knowledge to your advantage in the early game when the Water Walk
spell might not be available.
---
Steep terrain is another issue that should be addressed. If the slope
is less than 90 degrees, it is entirely possible for you to climb on up
via pressing yourself up against it, though some of the steeper hills are
still almost entirely impassable. In any event, you'd do best to find
yourself the least-steep side of any hill, cliff, or other big, tall
thing to climb in front of you to scale. From there, it's all a
combination of "hopping" up with the X (default) key, and "wriggling"
your way up the hill by pressing yourself up against it and turning from
side to side with the left and right keys (this is surprisingly
effective). Also, the expert-level Air spell Jump is extremely helpful
in this pursuit, should you happen to posess it. Granted, all of this is
entirely moot when you acquire the master-level Air spell Fly, but
climbing is a useful skill of getting to various locations early in the
game, as well as making traveling in Deyja and Bracada far much easier.
Actually, now that I mention it, it's pretty much impossible to travel
almost anywhere in Deyja without doing at least a little climbing unless
you are flying.
---
The converse to climbing, of course, is falling. And it hurts. The
rule is that for every 10 feet your characters fall, they lose 10% of
their maximum HP. Falls under 10 feet do not hurt, and a fall of 100 or
over will kill you outright. For starters, I should note that water, as
in real life, not only will not break your fall, but often can make the
situation worse when you take the whole drowning thing into
consideration. And, as if it needed mentioning, a foot in Might & Magic
VII is not very far at all. But you can get a fairly good idea when you
consider that the typical building/person in this game is about as tall
as a building or a person might be in real life. The good news is that
the initiate-level Air spell Feather Fall will eliminate damage done by
falling for as long as it is active. The same can be said for the
master-level Air spell Fly. And also, you will not suffer damage from
falling after casting the expert-level Air spell Jump, no matter how far
it is you happen to fall after casting it. That is, while the spell
only takes you 60 feet into the air, you can fall much farther than that
after casting the spell without getting hurt. Keep these things in mind
as you travel.
---
Do peasants wandering about on the street apparently unaware of the
fact that they are standing directly in your way piss you off? Well,
you could kill them, but section I.I. describes why that may not be such
a good idea. Try the Y key (default), which prompts your character to
yell at the idiot standing in your way. Repeated yelling may be
required in the case of severe dipshittedness, but they usually get the
hint pretty fast and move out of your way.
---
Note that the 1-4 keys on the top of your keyboard correspond to one
of the four members of your party. This has various uses. Press the
appropriate key once to activate that character, if he or she is able to
activated at the moment, that is (as opposed to using the tab key to
cycle through your characters), and then you may press the appropriate
key again to bring up their user info screen. But perhaps the most
useful aspect (in my experience, anyways) of this is its usefulness in
sorting your inventory. When you left-click any item to "pick it up",
you may send that item directly to any character's inventory by pressing
the appropriate key. This not only makes sorting your inventory far
more convenient, but also makes looting chests and the like far much
more quick and easy.
---
And lastly, if, for some reason you have lost any quest item you were
carrying, head on over to the Arbiter's Hut in eastern Harmondale and
speak with the judge there. Tell him "I lost it" and he'll give it back
to you.
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I discuss skills, leveling-up, and promotions all in the same section, as
they are all inter-related. Let's begin with skills. There are three
different types of skills in Might & Magic VII. Combat skills allow your
character to use a certain piece of equipment. For instance, you cannot use a
Spear, or Chain armor, without the appropriate skill. Note that clubs (crude
melee weapons) and accessories (such as helmets, gauntlets, and cloaks) do not
require skills to use. Magic skills will allow your character to cast magic
spells from their respective schools. Miscellaneous skills, lastly, have
various beneficial effects, either by aiding the character directly, or
allowing the character to perform tasks beneficial to the party (such as
Merchantry or Repairing Items).
Skill levels start at 1, and may be raised using skill points . Skill
points are earned mainly through leveling-up, but can be attained through
other means, as well. Even so, they are a very rare and very limited
resource, so you are advised to spend them wisely. It takes 2 skill points
to raise a skill to level 2, 3 skill points to raise it to level 3, etc.
Raising a skill's skill level has various effects on the skill, and varies
depending on the skill. However, the most important method of refining your
characters' skills is by seeking out teachers (listed in sections IX., X., and
XI. of the FAQ), and enlisting them to promote you to expertise, mastery, and
perhaps even grandmastery of a particular skill. These will often convey very
large and significant bonuses to the skill, as well as allowing additional
skill levels gained for that skill to be even more effective. For example, an
expert of the mace has their skill level added to both their attack bonus as
well as damage done, as opposed to the non-expert, who receives only the
addition to their attack bonus.
Magic skills are of worthy note here, as well. Expertise in magic skills
dictates not only what spells a character may learn, but also the
effectiveness of those spells. For example, an expert in Air magic may learn
both initiate-level spells, such as Wizard Eye, as well as expert-level spells,
such as Shield. As the character's expertise in Air magic increases, he or she
will not only be able to learn higher-level spells, but the spells from lower
levels will often function much more effectively under higher levels of
expertise. In this case, for example, the Shield spell has a much longer
duration when the caster is a master of Air magic as opposed to a mere expert.
The exact way in which each spell will grow more useful with increased
expertise varies per spell, and is thusly detailed in the various lists
throughout section XVII of the FAQ.
Note that different character classes are allowed only attain certain
degrees of mastery in each skill (Sorcerers, for example, may grandmaster
magic skills that Archers are allowed only to master). Furthermore, some
levels of skill expertise will be available to a character only after certain
promotion quests (for more on promotion quests, see below). These are also
successive endeavors, in case you hadn't noticed. That is, you must be
promoted to an expert before becoming a master, and so on. Lastly, note that
in order to be promoted to expertise, mastery, or grandmaster of a skill, in
addition to the appropriate class and promotion requirements, you must also
have achieved a certain skill level in that particular skill. The following
chart illustrates the various requirements.
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| To be promoted to... | ...you must have reached at least this skill level. |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Expert | 4 |
| Master | 7 |
| Grand Master | 10 |
+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
Next, let's discuss leveling-up. Rather than immediately promoting your
characters to the next experience level as most RPG's do when you attain
enough experience points, in the world of Might & Magic VII, you must seek out
a training facility and pay to be promoted to the next level. Of course, you
must have attained to required experience points prior. You can tell if your
characters are ready to level up by bringing up the quick reference card
(default key Z), and any character whose level is listed in green text is due
for a level up. Their experience points will also be listed in green text on
their respective individual statistics screens. Also note that unlike most
RPG's, the only statistics raised via leveling up are HP and MP, though skill
points are also awarded, as well. The other stats can only be raised through
other means, as detailed in section I.D. of the FAQ.
How much HP or MP a character gains with each level-up is dependent on
their class. Knights, obviously, gain more HP than, say, Druids. However,
the skill points awarded for each level-up are the same for all characters,
regardless of class. The formula for determining how many skill points a
character will gain upon level-up is detailed in the chart below.
(Note that even though it is theoretically possible to be attain levels off
this chart, not only should you have figured out the pattern by that point,
you'll probably also have far too many skill points by that time to give a
shit.)
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| When being promoted to the levels... | ...you earn this many skill points. |
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
| 2 - 9 | 5 |
| 10 - 19 | 6 |
| 20 - 29 | 7 |
| 30 - 39 | 8 |
| 40 - 49 | 9 |
| 50 - 59 | 10 |
| 60 - 69 | 11 |
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
Lastly, we'll talk about promotions. Each character class has three
"promotion quests". These promotion quests are different from regular quests
as, although they don't progress the story line, completing them allows the
character to be promoted to the next "level". A Cleric, for instance, will be
promoted to a Priest, and then later to a Priest of the Light, or to a Priest
of the Dark. Note that a Cleric must first be promoted to Priest before
attempting either the Priest of Light or Priest of Dark promotions, and that
only one of the latter two may be attained (this will be determined by a
choice you make about halfway through the game, as discussed below).
Completing promotion quests allows your characters to learn skills to a higher
level of mastery, as well as significantly raises their HP and MP maxes. For
instance, whereas a Cleric might gain 3 MP for each level up, a Priest will
earn 4. At the time of promotion, the game acts as if every level gained up
to that point had been gained as the newer class, meaning you can feel free to
take your time and complete the promotion quests at your leisure. Also,
Priests may, for example, master magic skills which they could only gain
expertise in as Clerics. Finally note that you may complete promotions quests
for characters that are not in your party- you merely do not see any benefit
from completing them aside from the experience, gold, and items gained.
Concerning the second promotions, as I mentioned above, which of the two
your will be able to attain is dependent on your choice made halfway through
the game. One set of promotions is available to parties on one path, whereas
another set of promotions is available to characters on the other path. The
promotions themselves are almost entirely the same, with only a few scattered
areas in a few different classes that might be a little different. While
these are all mentioned under their appropriate areas in section II. Of the
FAQ, the most important difference rests with Clerics, Sorcerers, Paladins,
and Archers, and concerns the ultimate school of magic which they can study.
Each of the two paths has their own school of magic (Light and Dark) that
contain some very powerful and useful spells, and is exclusive to characters
playing on that path.
One last thing worthy of mention (or reiteration) is that while the second
promotions are path-specific, the first promotions, which must be attained
before earning the second promotions are not. Ergo, both Priests of the Light
and Priests of the Dark must have been earlier promoted to Priests before
attempting their second promotions. I mention this because more than likely,
characters following one path will receive their first promotion from teachers
of the opposite path, and then must seek out new teachers in order to receive
their second promotion. Fear not, this is how things are supposed to work.
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\ \/ / | O / /\ \
_\ /_ | D. Statistics & Probabilities | Ż/ \Ż
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This is a subject that is mostly limited to RPG's, and deals with the random
probabilities of things happening in the game and the statistics that they are
based upon. Statistics are important in every RPG, and some other games as
well. Unfortunately for us, statistics are a far different thing in every game
we have ever played, and they can often be confusing. Below is listed every
statistic in the game, how we get it (and/or make it bigger), and what it does
(simple enough for ya?):
HP should be a statistic familiar to anyone who's ever played an RPG
before, and I will therefore refrain from explaining too much about it.
It is important to note, however, that when it falls below 0, your
character goes unconscious. When it falls to a negative number
equivalent to that character's Endurance stat, the character dies. There
is a big difference between the two, as characters who are merely
unconscious can be cured via Heal spells, potions, and other curative
means whereas a character who has died cannot be. Also note that
although HP is visible as an exact number on a character's stat screen,
there is also a bar to the right of each character's portrait on the
bottom of the screen that indicates how much of his or her maximum HP is
remaining. Green indicates good health, yellow is moderate damage, while
red is serious injury. This can be misleading as it is a result of a
character's maximum HP, so a character (such as a Monk) with a lot of HP
could be down in the red, and still be about as well off as, say, a Druid
who is still in the green. Anyways, a character's HP max will go up with
each level-up, as his or her Endurance stat goes up, as his or her Body
Building skill level or expertise increases, and you'll generally
receive a nice bonus to it with each class promotion.
---
MP is another stat that should be familiar to anyone who hasn't been
living under a rock for the last 30 or so years. There's nothing special
about the MP stat in Might & Magic, except that it occasionally jumps up
and down and does tricks when you feed it treats. A character's MP max
rises with each level-up, as his or her Meditation skill or expertise
rises, and a hefty bonus is generally received with each class promotion.
Thieves, Rangers, Archers, Druids, and Sorcerers will also see their MP
maxes rise with the Intellect stat, whereas Monks, Rangers, Paladins,
Druids, and Clerics will see it go up alongside their Personality stats.
---
Might is a fairly self-explanatory stat. The higher this stat gets,
the more damage a character does with melee attacks. A character's Might
stat increases by consuming red liquid, and can receive some hefty one-
time permanent bonuses by visiting a certain altar/well or by consuming
the black potion Pure Might. For more on red liquid, altars, and wells,
refer to section VI.B of the FAQ. For more on (black) potions, refer to
section XV.A..
---
Intellect causes a character's MP stat to rise as it goes up. This
applies only if the character in question is a Thief, Ranger. Archer,
Druid, or Sorcerer. Knights, Monks, Paladins, and Clerics make no use of
this stat. A character's Intellect stat increases by consuming orange
liquid, and can receive some hefty one-time permanent bonuses by visiting
a certain altar/well or by consuming the black potion Pure Intellect.
For more on orange liquid, altars, and wells, refer to section VI.B of
the FAQ. For more on (black) potions, refer to section XV.A..
---
Personality causes a character's MP stat to rise as it goes up. This
apppies only if the character in question is a Monk, Ranger, Paladin,
Druid, or Cleric. Knights, Thieves, Archers, and Sorcerers make no use
of this stat. A character's Personality stat increases by consuming blue
liquid, and can receive some hefty one-time permanent bonuses by visiting
a certain altar/well, or by consuming the black potion Pure Personality.
For more on blue liquid, altars, and wells, refer to section VI.B of the
FAQ. For more on (black) potions, refer to section XV.A..
---
Endurance causes a character's HP to rise as it goes up. It also marks
how far into the negative numbers a character's HP can go before he or
she dies. A character's Endurance stat increases by consuming green
liquid, and can receive some hefty one-time permanent bonuses by visiting
a certain altar/well, or by consuming the black potion Pure Endurance.
For more on red liquid, altars, and wells, refer to section VI.B of the
FAQ. For more on (black) potions, refer to section XV.A..
---
Accuracy, as you might have guessed, help a character's attacks connect
more often. As this stat goes up, it increases a character's Attack
Bonus, for both melee and ranged (bow) attacks. A character's Accuracy
stat increases by consuming yellow liquid (ewwww...), and can receive some
hefty one-time permanent bonuses by visiting a certain altar/well, or by
consuming the black potion Pure Accuracy. For more on yellow liquid
(again I say, ewwww...), altars, and wells, refer to section VI.B of the
FAQ. For more on (black) potions, refer to section XV.A..
---
Speed is a stat which shortens a character's recovery time, therefore
making him or her quicker in battle. A character's AC will also go up
with their Speed stat. A character's Speed stat increases by consuming
purple liquid, and can receive some hefty one-time permanent bonuses by
visiting a certain altar/well, or by consuming the black potion Pure
Speed. For more on purple liquid, altars, and wells, refer to section
VI.B of the FAQ. For more on (black) potions, refer to section XV.A..
---
Luck is a stat that works as a bonus to all resistances (mentioned
below). A character's Luck stat does not receive very many chances to
increase, but can receive some hefty one-time permanent bonuses by
visiting a certain altar/well, or by consuming the black potion Pure
Luck. For more on altars wells, refer to section VI.B of the FAQ. For
more on (black) potions, refer to section XV.A..
---
AC stands for Armor Class, and is a stat most hard core D&D fanatics
should recognize, at least. In short, this stat represents your
character's defense. Only it does not lessen damage- it prevents it
outright. When an attack is made, a check is made with the target's AC
to see if the attack actually hits. I would list the formula except that
you probably don't really care. In a nutshell, the higher your AC is,
the harder you are to hit. Simple enough for ya? AC is affected by a
character's Speed stat, a character's equipment, a character's expertise
in the armor or shield they are using (only if they are using it, mind
you), and the Stoneskin spell. In addition, certain wells provide
temporary bonuses to a character's AC. For more on wells, refer to
section VI.B. of the FAQ.
---
Attack Bonus is the Yin to AC's Yang. Whereas AC determined how hard
a target was to hit, a higher Attack Bonus makes your melee or ranged
attack much more likely to connect. The Attack Bonuses listed on a
character's ranged and melee skills are a sum of all the factors that go
into the Attack Bonus stat. These includes a character's Accuracy stat,
equipped weapon(s), and the Bless spell. Please note that when a
character is attacking with a weapon in both hands, the attack bonuses
for those two weapons are combined to make a larger attack bonus for a
single attack made with both weapons (as opposed to each weapon striking
separately).
---
Damage is a stat that I honestly hope I don't have to explain to you,
lest you probably need more help than this FAQ can provide. The numbers
listed under damage for both melee and ranged attacks are the possible
damage output for your characters attacks at that point, taking things
such as equipped weapons, the Heroism spell, etc. into consideration. Is
does not, however, take into consideration added elemental damage,
usually due to enchantments. For example, a character wielding Broad
Sword of Flames (the "of Flames" enchantment adding 6-12 addition points
of fire damage) will not see the addition 6-12 points of fire damage
reflected in his or her Damage stat. A character's Damage output is
affected by his or her Might stat, equipped weapon(s), expertise with
that weapon (in some instances), by the Armsmaster skill (Master level or
higher), and by the Heroism spell. Please note that when a character is
attacking with a weapon in both hands, the damage output for those two
weapons are combined to make a larger damage output for a single attack
made with both weapons (as opposed to each weapon striking separately).
However, a major disclaimer to this rule involves additional damage done
by enchantments on the weapons. Only the enchantment on the weapon in
the character's main (right) hand will be counted.
---
Air, Body, Earth, Fire, Mind, and Water Resistance should be self-
explanitory enough. These stats work to reduce damage made by spells
from their respective schools of magic. Note that enemies also possess
resistances to Light, Dark, and Spirit magic, as well as physical
attacks. Like AC, the higher these stats get, the more they will help
you. Unlike AC, these resistances do not work to eliminate the damage
entirely, they work merely to lessen it. It is worthy of note how the
resistances work. They do once check to see if a character takes half
damage, succeeding in that check, it makes a second check for a quarter
damage, succeeding that, it makes a third and final check for an eighth
damage. So, insanely high resistances won't almost entirely kill off the
damage done by any particular spell to you, but you can at least feel
more secure in passing more checks. The Luck stat acts as a bonus to all
resistances. Resistances are affected by equipment, and can be
permanently raised by visiting a couple of particular altars/cauldrons.
Many wells can temporarily raise certain resistances, as well. Different
character races start the game with different inherent resistances, to
boot. For more on wells, altars, and cauldrons, refer to section VI.B.
of the FAQ. For more on character races and their starting resistances,
refer to section I.K. of the FAQ.
---
Spirit, Light, Dark, and Physical Resistance both work exactly like
the resistances all mentioned above, but with one notable difference:
they are possessed only by the enemy and never by anyone on your team.
---
Recovery Time, lastly, is a stat that's not mentioned on a character's
statistic screen, but is still of great importance. A character's
recovery time, as mention in section I.B., is the time after a character
acts in which he or she must "recover" and is not allowed to act.
Recovery times are affected by a number of things. First and foremost,
it is a result of the attack used. Each weapon type has a certain
recovery time associated with it (including unarmed attacks), as does
each particular spell. Further expertise in the given school of magic
often helps to reduce the recovery time for said spell, but much more can
be done to reduce a weapon's recovery time. Further expertise and skill
points in the given weapon skill, as well as skill points in the
Armsmaster skill can help to reduce a character's recovery time for
physical attacks. A few enchantments also help to reduce the recovery
rate of a particular weapon. It is worthy of note that when a character
is attacking with two different weapons, the recovery rate for the slower
weapon is used. Aside from what I've already mentioned, there are a few
other bonuses/penalties that apply to both physical and magical attacks.
Being in the haste condition greatly reduces a character's recovery time,
and they will also receive a bonus to their recovery time . Aside from
those two things, everything else pertaining to recovery time aims to
raise it. Armor, depending on the type, will slow you down, though
further expertise in the skill for that particular armor can lower or
even eliminate that penalty. The same can be said for shields. Finally,
as I discussed earlier in section I.B., if you take action while running,
your character's recovery times will be doubled.
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_\ /_ | E. Statistic Thresholds | Ż/ \Ż
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Something vitally important to note about stats in Might & Magic VII is
that they do not work as simply as they do in most other games. Whereas you
might be expecting a higher stat to be more effective no matter what, that
isn't necessarily the case. Rather, stats become more and more effective
after hitting certain "thresholds". For example, an Endurance of 17 will
provide 2x (where x is a character's HP gain per level) extra HP to that
character's max HP. The next stat threshold is at 19, so increasing the
Endurance stat will do you no extra good until it reaches 19. So, in short, a
stat of 17 and a stat of 18 provide the exact same benefits. This is very
important to keep in mind while creating your party, as well as a good thing
to bear in mind as you are developing your characters throughout your travels.
Note that stat thresholds apply only to a character's seven basic stats:
Might, Intellect, Personality, Endurance, Accuracy, Speed, and Luck. It does
not affect things such as AC or resistances, so feel free to take any and all
opportunities to raise those particular stats as high as you can. Without
further adieu, the stat thresholds are listed in the chart below.
+-----------------+---------------+
| Attribute Score | Bonus/Penalty |
+-----------------+---------------+
| 0 | -6 |
| 3 | -5 |
| 5 | -4 |
| 7 | -3 |
| 9 | -2 |
| 11 | -1 |
| 13 | +0 |
| 15 | +1 |
| 17 | +2 |
| 19 | +3 |
| 21 | +4 |
| 25 | +5 |
| 30 | +6 |
| 35 | +7 |
| 40 | +8 |
| 50 | +9 |
| 75 | +10 |
| 100 | +11 |
| 125 | +12 |
| 150 | +13 |
| 175 | +14 |
| 200 | +15 |
| 225 | +16 |
| 250 | +17 |
| 275 | +18 |
| 300 | +19 |
| 350 | +20 |
| 400 | +25 |
| 500 | +30 |
+-----------------+---------------+
As the table above demonstrates, 13 is the "average" stat. Anything above
it confers bonuses, whereas everything below it dips into the negative
numbers. It also demonstrates how stat growth starts to slow after about 30.
What does this mean to you? It means that early in the game, every little bit
in stat growth helps. Keep this chart in mind while developing your
characters in the early game.
As for later in the game, it is rarely, if at all possible to achieve
natural stats that go much higher than 125 or so. So a the bottom portion of
this chart more or less just helps to show how effective a seriously bulked-up
temporary stat-boosting potion can be. Gains from 100 to 350 are slow but
steady, but you earn a very nice bonus for breaking that last 50 points to a
stat value of 400. 500 and beyond is nice, but exceedingly difficult to
achieve through just about any means.
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_\ /_ | F. Food & Rest | Ż/ \Ż
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Food and rest tend to go hand in hand in Might & Magic VII. First of all,
let's discuss the benefits of rest. In most RPG's, you need only rest when
you become injured; your characters never get tired. In Might & Magic VII,
your characters may become both injured and tired. If your characters go for
24 hours straight with no rest, they will become weak (section I.G. of the FAQ
discusses the "weakness" ailment in further detail). Granted, you have many
means, both magical and otherwise, to simply cure your characters' weakness
and go about as if nothing out of the ordinary just happened, and can
theoretically keep them awake as long as you have to via this method. But
beware that keeping your characters up for too long in sleep-induced weakness
(about 2 or 3 days) can cause them to go insane, or even death. On one hand,
this is a nice way to easily induce insanity upon your characters if you so
desire (again, refer to section I.G. of the FAQ for more on this ailment), but
you should always save first, as death is not an uncommon side effect of sleep
deprivation. As for the sleep itself, it will restore your characters' HP and
MP to their respective maxes, as well as cure any of the following conditions:
afraid, asleep, drunk, unconscious, weak. Don't go expecting sleep to cure
your insanity, death, or whatever other weird-ass ailments you might happen to
be stricken with. Check out section I.G. of the FAQ if you wanna know how to
do that.
And now for the food part of things. Without food, your characters cannot
rest. I find this logic to be questionable at best, but that's just the way
things work. Food can be purchased at any tavern in the game, and depending
on which tavern you are buying from, they will be able to fill your packs to a
certain "maximum" amount. For example, the tavern at Harmondale can fill your
packs to a maximum of 6 food. In contrast, the tavern at Mount Nighon can
fill your packs to a maximum of 60 food. Of course, you end up paying a lot
more in Mount Nighon than you do in Harmondale, so excess food can be kind of
a waste of your money. Food never does spoil, though, which is good.
Granted, the cheapest and easiest way to rest involves staying at a tavern,
in which food is provided, and your personal store of food remains untapped.
Taverns are open most of the day, and staying at one will advance time forward
to the next 6 AM (apparently, your team consists of early risers). However,
providing you have sufficient food supplies, you can camp just about anywhere
where no enemies are near (meaning the area around your characters' portraits
must be green- not yellow or red). Of course, if you're the kind of simpleton
who is going to pitch camp in the middle of a bloody battle, then perhaps a
piece of string may provide more suitable entertainment for you than Might &
Magic VII.
Now, on to camping. There are several points that must be made here.
First of all, as I mentioned above, you can camp anywhere. Even in the middle
of a dungeon, or worse. Of course, if you don't exercise some common sense
when looking for a place to rest, odds are that your slumber is going to be
disturbed by a pack of traveling monsters in the middle of the night. Not
only can this be annoying, but it's also dangerous because you are fighting
without the benefits of a full night's rest. In order to gain the benefits of
rest, your characters must sleep for a full, uninterrupted 8 hours. This is in
contrast to sleeping at a tavern, where each sleep period lasts until 6 AM,
and will be beneficial no matter how long it lasts. Lastly, exactly where
your characters decide to set up camp will influence how much food they use
up. This is detailed in the chart below.
+-----------+-----------+
| Terrain | Food Used |
+-----------+-----------+
| Castle* | 0 |
| Grass | 1 |
| Dirt | 2 |
| Road | 2 |
| Indoors | 2 |
| Snow | 3 |
| Marsh | 3 |
| Wasteland | 4 |
| Desert | 5 |
+-----------+-----------+
* The castle in question is Castle Harmondale, in which after a certain point
in the game, you may sleep all you want without incurring penalties to your
food stores.
As you can see clearly by the chart, harsh weather conditions make your
characters extra hungry. So, when possible, travel a few tiles over into more
hospitable terrain before resting. Also note that traveling from region to
region uses food, and where you exit a certain region can often dictate how
much food is used. For example, traveling from Bracada to the Barrow Downs
will use a lot less food when you take the road as opposed to traveling
through the desert. If you don't have enough food to make the trip, your
characters will arrive in a weakened condition. However, it does not matter
how long they travel between maps while weakened. You can send your
characters back and forth through maps indefinitely without food, and the
worst that will happen to them is that they will become weak.
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\ \/ / | O / /\ \
_\ /_ | G. Conditions & Ailments | Ż/ \Ż
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There are a wide variety of conditions and ailments which your characters
can be stricken with in Might & Magic VII. There are also a wide variety of
ways to fix them. As you progress through the game, you will (or probably
will, at any rate) develop a wide range of ability in do-it-yourself healing,
but lacking those skills, the one fail-safe way to get yourself fixed up is to
go visit a temple. This will be either due to your inability to handle that
particular ailment yourself, or due to the fact that you've allowed yourself
to be afflicted with the ailment for so long that you no longer are powerful
enough to deal with it. You can see how long a character has been afflicted
with a given condition by right-clicking the character's status in their stat
information screen. Note that only the most severe condition afflicting them
at any given point will be listed here, but you are also given a full list of
whatever ailments the character happens to be suffering when right-clicking.
This is especially useful if you happen to be going around with a condition
you can't cure, as it helps you at the very least keep yourself from racking
up more problems on top of that.
Though I mentioned above that paying the right price at a temple will cure
you of anything, there is a slight exception to that rule involving the Zombie
condition, and is discussed below when I talk about that particular ailment.
And now, without further adieu, I give you the conditions and ailments of
Might & Magic VII, presented in alphabetical order for your convenience
(excepting Good, which is listed first):
Good is the normal condition. If your condition is listed as good,
then everything is normal.
---
Afraid is a condition that's usually associated with the undead. When
you hear one of your characters scream in terror, you can generally
assume they are either plummeting to their deaths or have been stricken
with this ailment. And seeing as if they were falling, odds are you'd
probably be aware of the fact, it's not too hard to tell when one of
your characters has the bejeezus scared out of them. All in all, it's
not really one of the more debilitating conditions. It effects your
stats somewhat, as detailed in the chart at the end of this list, but
that's about it. Cures include the initiate level Mind spell Remove
Fear, the compound potion Remove Fear, resting, and visiting a temple.
---
Asleep is a condition you'll see occasionally, either if your camp is
disturbed my monsters, and there are a select few enemies who have the
ability to inflict this upon your characters. Not the most debilitating
of all ailments, as all it really does is prevent the affected
character from acting until he or she is attacked, force-fed the complex
potion Awaken, or had had the initiate-level Water spell Awaken cast on
them. Resting and temples are two other ways to cure this condition.
---
Cursed is a pretty nasty condition, and fairly common to run across,
seeing as a variety of enemies (usually undead, but not always) have the
ability to afflict it upon you. The curse causes any attacks or spells
cast by the character to automatically fail 50% of the time, so you'll
want to clear this thing up pretty fast, either with the complex potion
Remove Curse, the expert-level Spirit spell of the same name, or by
visiting a temple.
---
Dead is fairly self-explanatory, if you ask me. It is caused when a
character's HP falls to a negative number equal to their Endurance stat.
Characters suffering from this condition can't really do much except
decompose until you find some way to bring them back to life. Early on,
your only real solution will be visiting a temple, though for reasons I
get into later it's probably bad to visit a temple in the Deyja, Nighon,
or Pit regions concerning this matter. But later on, the master-level
Spirit spell Raise Dead will also do the trick.
---
Diseased is worse than being poisoned, but not as bad as syphilis
(which, thankfully, your characters are unable to contract). Characters
suffering from this condition suffer a pretty bad blow to their stats,
which is detailed in the chart at the bottom of this list. Left
untreated, it also gets progressively worse. While not the most common
of ailments, expect to see it at least a couple times during your
journey. The causes are pretty obvious: various disease-ridden enemies,
and digging around through huge piles of trash without the aid of an
adequate Disarm Trap skill. Cures include the complex potion Cure
Disease, the master-level Body spell of the same name, and of course
visiting a temple.
---
Drunk is a condition you won't run across too often, mainly because
your characters rarely have time to pause a heated battle to have a few
brews, and whenever you go to a tavern, the "get plastered" option is
noticeably absent. There are a select few enemies whose toxic attacks
are the equivalent of a shot of Everclear, however, and can get your ass
drunk in no time. It might also interest you to learn that you can
sometimes get pretty wasted going around drinking out of every well,
trough, and other various pools of standing water you find, but odds are
that if you're doing this then being drunk is probably the least of your
worries. That being said, drunkards are pretty worthless in battle,
seeing as their stats take a pretty significant nosedive while
intoxicated, as detailed in the chart at the end of this list. It is
also worthy to note that nobody bothered coming up with a "Sobriety"
spell or potion, meaning that your only methods of ridding yourself of
this condition are rest or visiting a temple.
---
Eradicated is an interesting condition, to say the least. It's like
being dead, but worse. Because not only are you dead, but your body has
also been destroyed way past the point of an open-casket funeral. If
this has happened to you, odds are you had an encounter with a real
badass, or your stupid ass tried mixing a potion that didn't agree with
the blood stains on the sidewalk that used to be you. Visiting a temple
is usually the only way you're going to be able to fix this, unless
someone with you happens to know the grandmaster-level Spirit spell
Resurrect.
---
Insane is a delightful condition to witness, if not purely to see your
character(s)' reactions. They will laugh manically and foam at the
mouth, which amuses me to no end. Insanity is somewhat rare, and is
caused mainly by a select few enemies and sleep depravation (I discuss
this in section I.F. of the FAQ). Stat-wise, this is the one and only
ailment that can actually be beneficial to some of your characters,
providing you don't really much care about them magically. Might,
Endurance, and Speed (with a huge emphasis on Might) are all boosted at
the expense of pretty much all of your Intellect and Personality, which
you probably wouldn't expect an insane person to have, anyways.
Insanity is a great way to boost a character's stats (especially Might)
temporarily, which can be extremely helpful when you're checking out all
the things I mention in section VI.C. of the FAQ. And like I said, it
is more or less entirely beneficial to any character that doesn't use
magic, but can be horribly inconvenient in that every time you go to
visit a priest, they'll find your demeanor displeasing and rid you of it
even though all you wanted was just a damn health boost. Aside from the
aformentioned priest, other cures for this condition involve the
compound potion Cure Insanity and the master-level Mind spell of the
same name.
---
Paralyzed is a condition which will completely stun your character,
making him or her entirely unable to act. Usually caused by enemies,
and somewhat rare, this is a condition you'll probably want to get fixed
up ASAP. Because if all of your characters are incapacitated in any way
(dead, unconscious, stoned, or paralyzed), then you still lose. Can be
remedied with the white potion Cure Paralysis, the expert-level Mind
spell of the same name, or by seeing a priest.
---
Poisoned is a fairly common condition that has a negative effect on
your stats, though not as bad as disease does. Like disease, however, it
will continue to get progressively worse if left untreated, so you might
want to fix it up as soon as possible. Poison is caused by a number of
sources, mainly enemies, and can be cured with the complex potion Cure
Poison, the expert-level Body spell of the same name, or by seeing a
priest.
---
Stoned is a condition most commonly caused by medusas and pot. And
seeing as the latter does not exist in this game, chances are you ended
up this way due to an encounter with the former. Not the most common
ailment, as medusas aren't exactly easy to come by, but being stoned can
really put a damper in your plans, as it entirely prevents the affected
character from acting. In more severe cases, the victim will also grow
long hair and become a hippy. And as I mentioned before, if all of your
characters become incapacitated, either through death, unconsciousness,
paralysis, or stoning, you still lose. Cure this with the black potion
Stone to Flesh, the expert-level earth spell of the same name, or by
visiting a temple.
---
Unconscious is something you'll be dealing with quite a bit in the game.
This is what happens to your characters whenever their HP falls below 0.
Under this condition, they cannot act, and are pretty much
incapacitated, but there's still hope. Using any curative means you
have at your disposal, you can raise their HP above 0 to cure this
condition. However, if their HP falls to a negative number equal to
their Endurance stat, they die.
---
Weak is another common condition you'll see at least a few times in
your adventures. Characters which are in a weakened state gradually lose
HP over time, and their attacks do half damage. Causes are numerous, and
include enemy attacks and sleep deprivation. Cures include the simple
potion Cure Weakness, the initiate-level Body spell of the same name,
resting, and visiting a temple.
---
Zombie is a condition which you'll probably be freaked out the first
time you see. That's because, well, your characters literally turn into
zombies. It's unnerving. Though this condition has no conventional
causes, odds are you contracted it by trying to have one of your dead
characters resurrected at the wrong temple. Of course, it only should
take this happening to you one time before you learn that necromancers
are probably not the best people to be visiting for your revival needs.
To avoid this condition, which reduces you to a dull, boring, stat-
barren lump of rotting flesh completely devoid of any and all magical
abilities, just simply avoid getting yourself revived at temples in
places that are noticeably evil, namely Deyja, The Pit, and Nighon. To
fix this condition, hurt the afflicted character a little bit, and then
visit a temple that isn't, you know, evil. On a fun little side note,
you can practice do-it-yourself zombification on your own character
with the initiate-level Dark spell Reanimation. It's a real piss-poor
substitute for Raise Dead, but it's helpful if you're in a serious jam.
As noted above, several conditions can adversely affect your characters'
stats. The chart below details these conditions and exactly what percentage
each of your stats will rise or fall to under each ailment. Please note that
multiple conditions are not compounded- you are only given the stat alterations
of the most severe condition your character is afflicted with (you can see
which condition this is by checking the character's stat screen). Of course,
statistics aside, any other negative conditions brought about by your multiple
ailments are compounded. That being said, I give you the chart.
+-----------+-------+------+------+------+------+-------+------+
| Condition | Might | Int. | Per. | End. | Acc. | Speed | Luck |
+-----------+-------+------+------+------+------+-------+------+
| Afraid | 120 | 50 | 50 | 100 | 50 | 120 | 100 |
| Disease 1 | 60 | 100 | 100 | 60 | 60 | 60 | 100 |
| Disease 2 | 30 | 60 | 60 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 100 |
| Disease 3 | 10 | 30 | 30 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 100 |
| Drunk | 50 | 25 | 25 | 50 | 10 | 20 | 200 |
| Insane | 200 | 10 | 10 | 150 | 100 | 120 | 100 |
| Poison 1 | 75 | 100 | 100 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 100 |
| Poison 2 | 50 | 75 | 75 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 100 |
| Poison 3 | 25 | 50 | 50 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 100 |
| Zombie | 100 | 1 | 1 | 100 | 50 | 50 | 100 |
+-----------+-------+------+------+------+------+-------+------+
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\ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section I: Basic Information|/ /\ \
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\ \/ / | O / /\ \
_\ /_ | H. Time & Aging | Ż/ \Ż
\ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \
_\ /_______________________________ | Ż/ \Ż
\ \/ /|Section I: Basic Information|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \
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Time is yet another concept in Might & Magic VII that must be addressed.
As you might have noticed, time passes in this game. And there's really
nothing you can do about it. The game starts on January 01, 1168. There are
twelve months, each having 28 days. Time passes at the rate of approximately
one game minute for every two real-life seconds. Of course, time also passes
quite rapidly when you rest, travel from region to region, or just simply by
waiting. You can advance the speed of time by pressing the R key (default)
and clicking on a denomination of time in which your characters are instructed
to hang around where they are and wait (5 minutes, an hour, or until the next
5:00 AM). Note that unlike camping, your characters can wait without fear of
being ambushed by enemies, although you still cannot choose to have them wait
while enemies are near.
Anyways, as time progresses, you are inevitably going to start noticing
some changes, which aren't necessarily bad, but you'll still want to be
prepared for them. First off, the most noticeable effect time has on your
travels concerns shopping. Whether shops need it or not, they will restock
their wares once every two weeks. However, for the two-week clock to begin,
you must enter that shop. After the shop restocks, you must enter it yet
again to start the clock again, and so on. This phenomenon, otherwise known
as "respawning", can also be applied on a much larger scale. Whenever you
enter a certain region, it starts a clock on that region. When that clock
this two years, the region respawns. Enemies and treasures will both
repopulate the map at this point, meaning you can go back for more experience
and gold if so desired. Also note that the one area that will never respawn
is inside Castle Harmondale. This is very important, as you can use the
treasure chests inside the castle to store your excess goods.
By the by, on a somewhat separate note, section III.C. of the FAQ is also
strictly timed. It is the only part of your quest with time several time
limits working at once, so you are advised to go into that particular area of
the walkthrough fully prepared.
Aside from what I've already mentioned the only other real effect time has
on you is age. Your characters, believe it or not, will age just as people
would in normal life. Your characters age naturally as the years pass by, and
certain forces throughout the land also have the capability to magically age
your characters. Your actual age and your current (magically-enhanced) age
are both statistics kept on a characters stat screen. In the event that your
current and actual age are different, your current age will be listed in
green. It is possible to reverse unnatural aging with the black potion
Rejuvenation. Natural aging cannot be reversed.
And so, inevitably, your characters will age as you play through the game.
Not that it will have any cosmetic effects on your characters whatsoever- I've
honestly seen characters in their thousands looking as young as they day they
were 20, which is at the very least profoundly astonishing. Statistics are
another issue, however. They remain fine for most of their life, but after
awhile, age will begin to alter their statistics. The chart below details how
your stats will alter to various percentages of what they once were after
reaching certain age thresholds.
+-----------+-------+------+------+------+------+-------+------+
| Age | Might | Int. | Per. | End. | Acc. | Speed | Luck |
+-----------+-------+------+------+------+------+-------+------+
| 0 - 49 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 50 - 99 | 75 | 150 | 150 | 75 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| 100 - 149 | 40 | 100 | 100 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 100 |
| 150+ | 19 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 100 |
+-----------+-------+------+------+------+------+-------+------+
Now, a few things are apparent from this chart. For starters, your
characters will be pretty much fine until age 50, and that's when age this
them like a ton of bricks. There's a bad over-the-hill joke just waiting to
be made here, but I digress. Though the odds are fairly slim that your
characters will actually break the 50-year age point, it's actually not such a
bad deal for your magically-inclined characters, if you can handle the slight
dip in Might and Endurance. From age 100 and on, though, your character just
gets progressively worse and degenerates into a crippled mess of althzheimers
and Matlock reruns.
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\ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section I: Basic Information|/ /\ \
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\ \/ / | O / /\ \
_\ /_ | I. Reputation & The Law | Ż/ \Ż
\ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \
_\ /_______________________________ | Ż/ \Ż
\ \/ /|Section I: Basic Information|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \
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Ah, the good ol' law of the land, and the reputation which comes with it.
We'll talk about the law first. As you might expect, there are a number of
things you can do in this game which are, suffice it to say, illegal. After
committing these heinous acts, you will be fined a certain amount of money.
The money is not taken directly from you, but you might want to go find a
courthouse (it doesn't matter in which region, as all the courthouses are
interconnected) and pay off your fine. Attempting to visit any castles in
this game excepting your own with an outstanding fine will inevitably lead to
prison time, which is not fun to say the least.
What exactly causes fines? Two major things, really. Failing in an attempt
to steal, and killing somebody. While nothing more needs to be said on the
former, the latter merits a bit of an explanation. Killing a peasant carries
a generally small fine, if at all. Killing a guard is much more heinous, and
is always fined and fined heavily. Needless to say, when you off a peasant,
the guards will come after you, but like I said, sometimes you are not fined
for killing the peasant. I mention this only because there is a time in
section III.A. of the walkthrough in which this information may come in
valuable. That being said, I've also seen some strange instances in which
killing peasants actually lowered my outstanding fines. But to stay on the
safe side, one should generally avoid killing random people in the first
place. There are a few special exceptions scattered throughout the game, but
I mention them all in the walkthrough, so worry not.
And of course, hand in hand with the law comes reputation. Illegal
activities not only impose fines upon your characters, but it also makes them
less liked in the region in which they committed those crimes. Granted,
reputation is not global, but local, meaning you can go on mass killing sprees
in one region while remaining relatively liked in another. This also works
the other way. Just as your reputation can go down, doing things such as
completing quests and donating to temples will cause your reputation to go up
in a particular region. But then again, what you do to get you liked in one
region makes you liked in, well, that region.
And why do you care? Simple. As you'll discover in section I.J. of the
FAQ, the better your reputation is, the better prices you'll get in shops in
that region. So it's generally in your best interests to be liked in at least
one area, lest you blow a hole in your wallet.
Reputation is represented as a number. Your reputation in each region
starts off as 0, or neutral. When this number goes up, it means you are less
liked. When it goes down, you are liked more. To get a general indication of
your reputation, you can check the quick info screen by pressing the Z key
(default) and checking what it says about your reputation. I shall call this
your reputation ranking, for future reference. Again, for every region, it
will start off being listed as neutral. Reputation rankings in green text are
better than neutral, whereas reputations in red text are worse than neutral.
Neutral in white text indicates, you guessed it, a completely neutral
reputation. When your number reaches certain thresholds in either direction,
your reputation ranking will change from neutral to something else. The
following chart indicates what your reputation number must be to achieve the
various reputations.
+---------------+--------------------+
| Reputation # | Reputation Ranking |
+---------------+--------------------+
| 25 & Above | Hated |
| 6 - 24 | Unfriendly |
| 5 - -5 | Neutral |
| -6 - -24 | Friendly |
| -25 & Below | Liked |
+---------------+--------------------+
Of course, all this means nothing until you figure out exactly how what you
do will affect your reputation. I have also complied a chart for this,
describing the various actions that can alter your reputation, and how
severely (and in which direction!)
+---------------------+-----------------------+
| Action | Reputation Adjustment |
+---------------------+-----------------------+
| Succeed at Stealing | +1 |
| Fail at Stealing | +2 |
| Kill Someone* | +2 |
| Complete a Quest | -5 - -10** |
| Donate at a Temple | -1*** |
+---------------------+-----------------------+
* Please note the difference between hit and kill. You can strike someone and
still be ok, providing they are still alive; this applies only if you actually
kill whatever you hit. The same can be said for fines incurred- only if you
make the kill. They'll still get pretty pissed off at you, though, so watch
out.
** Whereas most quests will shave 5 to 10 points off your reputation, the
exception to this rule is the Troglodyte Slayer quest in Stone City, which
shaves a generous 25 points off your reputation.
*** While you may donating to a temple infinitely, you will only receive the
benefits to your reputation a maximum of five times per region, at -1 a pop
(for a total of -5 overall, if you donate 5 times).
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\ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section I: Basic Information|/ /\ \
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\ \/ / | O / /\ \
_\ /_ | J. Shopping in Might & Magic VII | Ż/ \Ż
\ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \
_\ /_______________________________ | Ż/ \Ż
\ \/ /|Section I: Basic Information|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \
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Shopping in Might & Magic VII is a fairly complex system. Complex enough,
at any rate, that I saw fit to dedicating an entire section of the FAQ to
explaining how it works. First, I'll go over the basics of pricing and what
affects it. Then we'll move on to how to get the most out of your money
throughout the game. That will be followed by several tables detailing the
best regions to find whatever it is you're looking for. Finally, the section
will close with the travel schedules for horse-drawn carriages and boats
across the continent of Erathia. Shall we get started?
Each and every item in the game has a value, which you can view when you
right-click it for information. Shops tend to want to sell things at much
higher than their value, and buy them for much lower. The two major factors
which tip the odds in your favor, allowing you to sell for higher prices and
buy for lower, are the Merchant skill of the character making the transaction
and your party's reputation in the current region. Better reputations make
for better prices, as do higher merchant skills. Please note that this also
applies to services, as well. Services all tend to have a (albeit hidden)
value, and better reputations and Merchant skills will lower the cost of
these things, such as training, boat rides, and room and board at the local
tavern.
Another factor would be the specific region you have to be in. Each
region has its own "multiplier", which indicates how greedy the local
merchants all are. The higher the multiplier, the higer above the value of
the item or service in question shopkeepers will tend to charge, then the
farther below the value they will want to purchase things for. Regions such
as Celeste, The Pit, Deyja, Bracada, Avlee, and Nighon tend to have very high
multipliers, so expect to pay much, much more for what you get as opposed to
things you might buy in places like Harmondale, Erathia, and the Tularean
Forest. However, as you might have guessed, the regions with the higher
multipliers tend to have the better goods, so shopping in them is more or
less something you'll probably want to do, anyways.
Though which region you shop in will more or less be dictated by what you
want, which region you sell at should be a different story. For the highest
possible bang for your Might & Magic VII dollar, it would be in your best
interests to sell to a region that will give you the most money for what you
have. Due to the massive reputation boost you can recieve for completing a
relatively easy quest there, that place would be Stone City (located in the
Barrow Downs). With a halfway decent Merchant skill, you can sell things
for just about their base value, which makes Stone City the place you should
try to do most of your selling at. If you haven't the time nor the patience
to travel that far, the next best place is right at home in Harmondale. But
still, for the more expensive hauls, there's a lot to be gained by taking the
effort to head out to Stone City. If you save up a lot of money early on,
you'll usually be glad you did later on.
And now, we move on to the specific locations to find all the good stuff
you're looking for. Different weapons and armors, specifically, are
generally more prevalent in certain areas. The chart below details the best
places to go when you're looking for something in specific.
+----------+----------------------------------+
| Item | **Best Region(s) to Shop |
+----------+----------------------------------+
| Sword | Erathia / *Tidewater / Nighon |
| Spear | Tularean Forest / Avlee |
| Axe | Stone City |
| Mace | Stone City |
| Dagger | Erathia / *Tidewater / Nighon |
| Staff | Nighon |
| Bow | Tularean Forest / Avlee |
| Leather | Tularean Forest / Avlee / Nighon |
| Chain | Stone City / *Tidewater |
| Plate | Stone City / *Tidewater |
| Shield | Stone City |
| ***Misc. | Deyja / Bracada / Celeste |
+----------+----------------------------------+
* Tidewater is the small island off the coast of Tatalia. I mention it
specifically as the shops located there are much better than the ones on the
mainland.
** The shops at Emerald Isle and Harmondale contain good early-game
selections from everything listed on the chart above. Conversely, the shops
in Celeste and The Pit contain the best selections available (excepting the
notably crappy magic shop at The Pit, which provides very poor wares).
*** Acessories such as gauntlets, cloaks, and boots tend to be much more
generally common throughout the land. However, that being said, those which
bear the most powerful enchantments are to be found in the regions with the
best magic shops: Deyja, Bracada, and Celeste.
And now, the flip-side of the weapons and armor business is magic. Each
discipline of magic (excepting Light and Dark) has four guilds located
across the continent, one for each level of devotion. Initiate guilds sell
only initiate-level spells, expert guilds sell expert and initiate-level
spells, and so on. However, you are strongly advised to buy spells of a
certain tier from their respective shops. This is because of the massive
price gaps between guild tiers. Buying an expert-level spell from a master
guild could prove far more costly than taking the time to seek out the
respective expert guild, so it would be in your best interests to take
note of where the various magic guilds are located. The chart below lists
all of the guilds and their respective regions.
+--------+----------------+--------------+--------------+-----------------+
| School | Initiate Guild | Expert Guild | Master Guild | Paramount Guild |
+--------+----------------+--------------+--------------+-----------------+
| Fire | Emerald Isle | Harmondale | Tularean F. | Nighon |
| Air | Emerald Isle | Harmondale | Tularean F. | Celeste |
| Water | Harmondale | Tularean F. | Bracada | Evenmorn Island |
| Earth | Harmondale | Tularean F. | *Stone City | The Pit |
| Spirit | Emerald Isle | Harmondale | Deyja | Erathia |
| Mind | Harmondale | Erathia | Tatalia | Avlee |
| Body | Emerald Isle | Harmondale | Erathia | Avlee |
| Light | N/A | Bracada | N/A | Celeste |
| Dark | N/A | Deyja | N/A | The Pit |
+--------+----------------+--------------+--------------+-----------------+
* Though I mentioned above that it is often best to purchase spells from the
lowest-tier guild possible, the one exception that can be made is the master
Earth guild of Stone City. Due to your party's high reputation there,
spells purchased from the master guild can actually be cheaper then those
purchased from the initiate or expert guilds.
The final thing I'd like to talk about as far as shopping goes is training.
As you might have noticed, the skill levels of the Training Halls in various
regions are all different. And as your party becomes more and more skilled,
they will have to seek out more and more skilled trainers to train them. The
chart below lists the various regions and the maximum levels to which they
will train your characters.
+--------------------------+-----------+
| Region | Max Level |
+--------------------------+-----------+
|Emerald Isle / Harmondale | ? |
|Erathia / Tularean Forest | ? |
| Stone City | ? |
| Tatalia / Avlee | ? |
| Nighon | ? |
| Celeste / The Pit | ? |
+--------------------------+-----------+
* Sorry, I really need to find out that information. I'll make a minor update
when I do.
Lastly, we have the preferred methods of travel across the continent: boats
and horse-drawn carriages. Granted, it is almost possible to spend the game
doing nothing but walking or warping from place to place, but early in the
game, when time and/or convenience is an issue, odds are you'll find yourself
dropping a negligible amount of coinage for easier travel. And also note that
it is impossible to reach Evenmorn Island without using a boat, so either way,
at one point, you're pretty much going to have to rely on these methods of
travel. The two charts below list the stable and boat schedules across the
continent.
+=================+
| Stable Schedule |
+=================+-----------------+--------------------+-------------+
| Origin | Destination | Days Available | Travel Time |
+-----------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------------+
| Erathia | Harmondale | Tue, Thu | 2 Days |
| | Tatalia | Mon, Wed, Fri | 2 Days |
| | Bracada | Tue, Wed | 3 Days |
| | Deyja | Mon, Thu | 3 Days |
| | | | |
| Tularean Forest | Harmondale | Thu, Sat | 2 Days |
| | Avlee | Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri | 3 Days |
| | Deyja | Tue, Fri | 2 Days |
| | | | |
| Harmondale | Erathia | Mon, Wed, Fri | 2 Days |
| | Tularean Forest | Tue, Thu, Sat | 2 Days |
| | The Arena | Sun | 5 Days |
| | | | |
| Avlee | Tularean Forest | Tue, Thu, Sat | 3 Days |
| | Deyja | Wed, Sun | 5 Days |
| | | | |
| Tatalia | Erathia | Tue, Thu, Sat | 2 Days |
| | | | |
| Bracada | Erathia | Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun | 3 Days |
| | Harmondale | Tue, Sat | 5 Days |
| | | | |
| *Deyja | Erathia | Mon, Wed, Fri | 3 Days |
| | Tularean Forest | Tue, Thu, sat | 2 Days |
+-----------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------------+
* Deyja is a tricky region when it comes to the stable schedule. Because the
region is nocturnal, the stables will be open when one day becomes the next,
more or less meaning that each "day" in Deyja offers two different fares.
+=================+
| Boat Schedule |
+=================+-----------------+--------------------+-------------+
| Origin | Destination | Days Available | Travel Time |
+-----------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------------+
| Erathia | Avlee | Mon, Fri | 4 Days |
| | Tatalia | Tue, Thu, Sat | 2 Days |
| | Bracada | Wed | 6 Days |
| | Evenmorn | Sun | 7 Days |
| | | | |
| Tularean Forest | Avlee | Tue, Thu, Sat | 3 Days |
| | Bracada | Mon, Wed | 6 Days |
| | Evenmorn | Sun | 7 Days |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| Avlee | Erathia | Mon, Wed, Fri | 4 Days |
| | Tularean Forest | Tue, Sat | 3 Days |
| | Tatalia | Thu | 5 Days |
| | | | |
| Tatalia | Erathia | Tue, Thu, Sat | 2 Days |
| | Avlee | Fri | 5 Days |
| | Bracada | Mon, Wed | 4 Days |
| | Evenmorn | Sun | 5 Days |
| | | | |
| Bracada | Erathia | Sun | 6 Days |
| | Tularean Forest | Sat | 6 Days |
| | Tatalia | Mon, Wed, Fri | 4 Days |
| | Evenmorn | Tue, Thu | 1 Day |
| | | | |
| Evenmorn | Tularean Forest | Sat, Sun | 6 Days |
| | Tatalia | Mon, Wed, Fri | 4 Days |
+-----------------+-----------------+--------------------+-------------+
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
\ \/ / O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|Section I: Basic Information|/ /\ \
_\ /_ | ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ/ \Ż
\ \/ / | O / /\ \
_\ /_ | K. Building a Team that Works for You | Ż/ \Ż
\ \/ / O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | / /\ \
_\ /_______________________________ | Ż/ \Ż
\ \/ /|Section I: Basic Information|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O / /\ \
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
One of the most important aspects of the game takes place before the game
even begins. I'm talking, of course, about building a team that works well for
you. The proper team combination in Might & Magic VII can literally make or
break you. Thus, this section is dedicated to helping you build that team,
from start to finish. First, we'll take a look at the nine character classes,
and which combinations of them tend to work the best. Then we'll look into
the other issues that go into making your party, namely race, starting skills,
and yes, even your characters' voices.
First and foremost, of course, there are the classes that make up your
party. Lots of different combinations can work, and depending on your play
style, that combination is going to be different. While I can't tell you
specifically which classes to choose, I can point out some of the skills
and traits which most good parties should possess. What follows is a short
list of some of the more important things to look for in a party, and you're
strongly advised to take them into consideration:
* A character who can at the very least master the self magic schools of
Mind, Body, and Spirit. Paladins, Druids, and Clerics can all do this,
with Clerics even being able to grandmaster them.
* A character who can at the very least master the elemental magic
schools of Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. Archers, Druids, and Sorcerers
can all do this, with Sorcerers even being able to grandmaster them.
* A character who can at the very least master the Repair Item skill.
Clerics, Paladins, and Knights can all do this, with Paladins and
Knights even being able to grandmaster them.
* A character who can at the very least become an expert in the Disarm
Trap skill. Classes capable of this include Archers, Rangers, Monks,
and Thieves, with Thieves even being able to grandmaster in the skill.
* A character who can at the very least become an expert in Alchemy.
Thieves, Clerics, Druids, and Sorcerers can all do this, with Sorcerers
being able to master and Druids being able to grandmaster the skill.
* A character who can at the very least become an expert Merchant.
Knights, Paladins, Archers, Druids, Thieves, and Clerics can all do
this, with Thieves being able to master and Clerics being able to
grandmaster the skill.
* At least one character (preferably two) with a decent amount of HP
and good fighting/armor capabilities. These include Knights, Monks,
Thieves, Paladins, Rangers, and Archers.
Moving right along, how exactly do the nine classes stack up against
one another? Section II. of the FAQ goes over each class in-depth, and
section VIII. of the FAQ contains the lists which detail exactly how
far each class can advance in all of the game's various skills. The
chart below, however, gives you a general overview of the classes' HP
and MP. It lists the starting HP and MP for each class, and then the
amount by which it will go up each level for the unpromoted, first
promotion, and second promotion classes:
+----------+----------------+------------------+------------------+
| | Starting Value | HP Per Level | MP Per Level |
| Class +-------+--------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+
| | HP | MP | Base | 1st | 2nd | Base | 1st | 2nd |
+----------+-------+--------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+
| Knight | 40 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Monk | 35 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Thief | 35 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Paladin | 30 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Ranger | 30 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Archer | 30 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Cleric | 25 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Druid | 20 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Sorcerer | 20 | 15 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
+----------+-------+--------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+
Now that you've at least put some thought into what kind of team you might
want to travel with, I would like to stop to note that most classes fall into
one of five different categories, which I will do into detail about below. Note
that for each category, I give a primary example as well as some suggestions on
how that particular team can be "tweaked" to better suit your style, but that
doesn't necessarily mean that those are the only possible team combinations that
would fall under that category:
The Default Team: KTCS. This team is set as Might & Magic VII's default team
for a reason: it's likely the most effective party combination in the entire
game when played well. The main components of this team would be the two
specialized magic classes (the Cleric and the Sorcerer) playing off the trengths
of the specialized fighting classes. While the Knight and the Thief are the
default applicants for this slot, either one may be replaced with a Monk for
more or less the same results.
---
The Alternate Team: RAPD. Basically, "Alternate Team" refers to any team
that is a strong departure from the Default Team. Whereas the Default Team
consisted of two specialized spellcasters and two specialized fighters, I
give you as a prime example for the Alternate Team Might & Magic VII's four
poster children for diversity: the Ranger, Archer, Paladin, and Druid. Of
course, this is the most loosely-defined team, and just about any character
on this team can be switched out for someone else at whim. However, too
much change will probably cause this team to fall under one of the other four
categories.
---
The Magic Team: RSCD. This is a team more focused on the magical side of
things as opposed to the physical. The Druid accompanies the specialized
spellcasting of the Cleric and Sorcerer, and the Ranger offers not only
additional magical support, but an important role as the lone fighting-
oriented character on the team. The Ranger can be replaced with a Monk, a
Thief, or an Archer for similar effect, but Knights and Paladins are not
reccomended on the grounds that neither of them can disarm traps very well.
The Druid can also be replaced with another specialized spellcaster, if
desired. A slightly distant, but still very workable variation of this team
consists of a Paladin, Archer, Cleric, and Sorcerer, or PACS.
---
The Power Team: KAPT. The flip side of the coin from the Magic Team is
the Power Team. This team focuses as much on fighting as possible without
handicapping your team too badly in the magic department, but even so, the
reliance entirely on the Archer and Paladin for spellcasting, as well as the
lack of a master alchemist might make this a somewhat difficult team to play
for the novice player. While the Archer and Paladin are more or less
intregal parts of the team, the Knight and Thief are still pretty much
interchangeable with the Monk. However, it is reccomended that you not
replace the Thief, as that would leave your team entirely lacking in the
Alchemy and Identify Item skills.
---
The Extreme Team(s): CSSS or KMTR. The Extreme Team is generally created
for the sole purpose of challenge, and is generally not reccomended for
novice players. Though there are many, many different team combinations that
fall underneath this category (including most teams that are tweaked beyond
fitting in any of the other four categories), the two main versions, as shown
above, are more extreme versions of the Power and Magic Teams. A Cleric with
three Sorcerers is a vet favorite in which magic rules supreme... if you live
long enough to use it, that is. For customization, one or two of the
Sorcerers on the team may be replaced with any combination of additional
Clerics or Druids. In any event, the lack of the ability to disarm traps,
among other things, will pose a problem for this team. Conversely, the
Knight, Monk, Thief, Ranger team is probably one of the hardest teams in the
game to play as. Expect to rely heavily on scrolls, wands, and potions if
you want to survive, and as a last-ditch effort, consider lessening your
problems by replacing the Monk or the Thief with a Druid (replacing the
Knight is not reccomeded as it would leave your team without a good Reapir
Item skill). Not only will this give you a decent amount of magical power to
work with, but because the magic is all weighted down on one character, it
will also force you to take a hard look at the seven main schools of magic
and determine which ones truly deserve the highest priority, and which ones
can either wait until later or be left to the Ranger. A learning experience,
to say the least.
Once you've decided which classes to assign to your party members, the next
consideration would be race. You may choose from the human, elf, dwarf, and
goblin races to create your party. Race, unlike class, does not have such
long-ranging effects on the game. Rather, it merely affects the character's
starting stats and resistances. Different races have different strong and weak
points, which I will discuss more throughly below. This will be followed by
a chart detailing each race's specific starting statistics, and then another
one detailing each race's exact starting resistances:
Humans are the most balanced race of them all. They have no strong or
weak points, and are generally suitable for just about any of the nine
classes. Humans also start off with a small resistance to Body magic.
---
Elves are, as to be expected, the most magical of the races. They
possess high levels of Intelligence and Accuracy, which make them ideal
Sorcerers and Druids. They make fairly good Archers, as well, though
their poor Might and Endurance stats make them a poor choice for just
about any other class. Elves also possess an inntate resistance to Mind
magic.
---
Dwarves are a very sturdy race, possessing high Might and Endurance
statistics. This, unfortunately, is offset by their poor Accuracy and
Speed. They are a decent choice for any of the heavy fighting classes,
though you should consider going with a goblin instead, but dwarves do
make fairly ideal Clerics, at the very least. Dwarves also begin with
slight resistances to Earth and Water magic.
---
Goblins are the ideal fighters of the game, with strong Might and
Speed skills. Their Intelligence and Personality is poor, more or less
relegating their use mainly to the heavy fighting classes. Goblins
make ideal Knights, excellent Monks and Thieves, and good Rangers, as
well (by the time a goblin Ranger delves into the realms of magic,
you'll have likely been able to compensate for their low Intellect and
Personality). Goblins tend to make poor choices for just about any of
the other classes, however. On a final note, goblins begin with small
resistances to Fire and Air magic.
+=====================+
| Starting Statistics |
+=====================+-----+-------+--------+
| Attribute | Human | Elf | Dwarf | Goblin |
+-------------+-------+-----+-------+--------+
| Might | 11 | **7 | *14 | *14 |
| Intellect | 11 | *14 | 11 | **7 |
| Personality | 11 | 11 | 11 | **7 |
| Endurance | 9 | **7 | *14 | 11 |
| Accuracy | 11 | *14 | **7 | 11 |
| Speed | 11 | 11 | **7 | *14 |
| Luck | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
+-------------+-------+-----+-------+--------+
*All stats which begin as 14 are strong points for that particular race, and as
such will go up by 2 for evey 1 bonus point spent, and will add 2 points to the
pool for every point taken away below 14.
**All stats which begin as 7 are weak points for that particular race, and as
such will only go up by 1 for every 2 bonus points spend, and will only add 1
point to the pool for every 2 points taken away below 7.
+==========================+
| Starting Resistances |
+==========================+-------+--------+
| Resistance | Human | Elf | Dwarf | Goblin |
+------------+-------+-----+-------+--------+
| Fire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Air | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Water | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Earth | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Mind | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Body | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
+------------+------------------------------+
Next up, we'll address the issue of starting skills. While skills can be
picked up quickly and easily not too long into the game, that's still no reason
not to put at least a little thought into the skills you choose to start off
with. For each class, two skills are predetermined- a weapon skill and some
other skill descriptive of the class. Past that, you may choose two additional
skills from a preassembled list with which to begin the game with. Each skill
will start your character with something in their inventory which will allow
him or her to utilize said skill. The Shield skill, for example, starts your
character off with a shield in their inventory, making weapons and armor good
choices for starting skills (though, as we've already noted, each class already
starts out with a weapon skill, so choosing a second usually isn't a good idea).
From both a financial and usefulness standpoint, magic skills are by far the
best choices for starting skills. Not only are magic skills expensive, but you
also get two spells for free. Failing a magic skill, the next best selections
for your magicians are Learning and Meditation, again because of their higher
cost to learn during the game. For your fighting-oriented classes, the best
choices, again from both a financial standpoint and also considering what you
might actually be using early on, include some of the more useful miscellaneous
skills (like Disarm Trap) and armor skills. Though as a notable exception, I
should make note that because the Archer does not start with a melee weapon, the
Spear isn't a bad choice to start with, though financially it makes more sense
to start with two schools of magic.
Whatever your selections for skills, attempt to think somewhat ahead when you
choose. Don't pick skills you won't end up using or developing. A Paladin, for
example, can probably stand to skip Leather armor and go straight for Plate at
first chance. And furthermore, there are a lot of questionable additions to the
starting skill lists for each class, as I mentioned earlier. Just because a
character can start with a particular skill doesn't neccessarily mean they're
going to be very good with it at all. For a good example, starting a Monk off
with the Sword skill is for all practical purposes a pretty bad idea. On the
flip side of things, there are a lot of good skills for each class that you are
unfortunately unable to start with. Paladins, for example, can't start off with
Mind or Body magic, which really sucks.
The chart below details the possible starting skills for each class, as well
as each class's two "predetermined" starting skills:
+----------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| Class | Starting Skills |
+----------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| Knight | Sword + Leather (Predetermined) |
| | --- |
| | Axe / Bow / Mace / Spear |
| | Chain / Shield |
| | Armsmaster / Body Building / Perception |
| | |
| Monk | Unarmed + Dodging (Predetermined) |
| | --- |
| | Dagger / Staff / Spear/ Sword |
| | Leather |
| | Armsmaster / Body Building / Identify Monster / Perception |
| | |
| Thief | Dagger + Stealing (Predetermined) |
| | --- |
| | Bow / Sword |
| | Dodging / Leather |
| | Alchemy / Disarm Trap / Identify Item / Merchant / Perception |
| | |
| Paladin | Mace + Spirit Magic (Predetermined) |
| | --- |
| | Axe / Dagger / Sword |
| | Leather / Shield |
| | Armsmaster / Body Building / Merchant / Repair Item |
| | |
| Ranger | Axe + Perception (Predetermined) |
| | --- |
| | Bow / Dagger / Sword |
| | Dodging / Leather |
| | Armsmaster / Body Building / Disarm Trap / Identify Monster |
| | |
| Archer | Bow + Air Magic (Predetermined) |
| | --- |
| | Axe / Spear / Sword |
| | Leather |
| | Armsmaster / Learning / Perception |
| | Fire Magic / Water Magic |
| | |
| Cleric | Mace + Body Magic (Predetermined) |
| | --- |
| | Leather / Shield |
| | Alchemy / Learning / Meditation / Merchant / Repair Item |
| | Mind Magic / Spirit Magic |
| | |
| Druid | Dagger + Earth Magic (Predetermined) |
| | --- |
| | Mace |
| | Leather |
| | Alchemy / Learning / Meditation / Perception |
| | Body Magic / Spirit Magic / Water Magic |
| | |
| Sorcerer | Staff + Fire Magic (Predetermined) |
| | --- |
| | Dagger |
| | Leather |
| | Alchemy / Identify Item / Identify Monster / Meditation |
| | Air Magic / Earth Magic / Water Magic |
+----------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
And lastly, though one might not think it such an important consideration,
please believe me when I say that the voices you choose for your characters are
indeed something to strongly think about before setting off on your adventure.
There's nothing like getting far into a game of Might & Magic VII, only to find
yourself restarting because if that whiny bitch on your team says just one more
thing, you're going to wring her Goddamn neck. To the best of my ability, I
have listed the various voices the game offers for your characters below, and I
make some attempt to steer you away from some of the worse ones. Though the
voices are interchangeable with the portaits, each portait has its own
"default" voice to go with it. For the purposes and ease of listing them out,
each voice is identified by the portait it goes with:
The first human male voice is your general, all-around typical hero-type
guy voice. With a go-get-'em attitude and a hearty taste for adventure, this
is a great voice to lead your team to victory.
---
The second human male (discernable from the first guy because he has a
scar over his eye) has a voice a lot like the first guy, only with a fun
English accent. And it's not one of those pompus accents, it's more like a
80's hair metal rocker accent, which is quite kick-ass to say the least. A
good choice, so long as you don't have anything against the Brits.
---
The third human male (it's becoming very hard to tell these guys apart) is
where the voice acting starts to fall apart. The first two guys were good
actors. They pulled off the "kick-ass typical hero guy" voice quite well.
This guy tries, and more or less fails. He sounds more like what he is- a
bad actor painfully delivering his lines.
---
The fourth human male (the Arab guy) has one of the most kick-ass voices
In the game, in my humble opinion. The overall tone of the voice is laid
back and calm, but still with that underlying tone of how dead he's going to
make you. Highly reccomended.
---
The first male elf (the one with the absolutely blank and empty stare on
his lifeless face) has a voice and personality more or less descriptive of
his portait. It gets on my nerves pretty fast, but then again, that's just
me.
---
The second male elf (the one suppressing an obnoxious grin) has about five
seconds before I drop-kick his miserable little ass across the room. There's
just something about a guy with an extremely high-pitched, extremely over-
excited voice that fills me with a burning desire to destroy him. I doubt
you'll be overly fond of him, either.
---
The first dwarven male (the one with the darker hair) has a quite
stereotypical dwarven voice. Brash, raucous, but overall not that
irritating. Reccomended, if that's the style you're going for.
---
The lighter-haired dwarven male has a voice more like the first human
male. Think a dwarf voice with more of a "typical hero guy" tone to it. Not
that bad, overall, but I'd just as soon go for the first guy over him.
---
The fat goblin male (the first one) has a voice that's too forced to sound
particularly pleasant. The second one is a lot better.
---
The skinnier goblin male has one of the best voices in the game. He's got
the IQ of a below-average toaster, and he probably won't be a