There are many special abilities that are in the game. Special abilities are often inherent to creatures, though some can be added via spells or buffs. Some of them affect the unit's attributes, while others have other esoteric effects.
Some creatures are considered to be a special type of creature. They often have similar abilities, like most Undead creatures having cold resistance, or Demons having Spirit Sight. Sometimes these abilities are inherent to the creature type, sometimes they are not. Creature types also affect things like who can lead different creatures (Undead and Demons need Undead Leadership, and Magic Beings need magical leadership for instance). Mostly though, creature types are used for targeting special abilities, like how Rigor Mortis doesn't have any effect on creatures of the Inanimate type. Creatures can have multiple types.
| Name | Description | Hidden | Mod Tag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Animal | This creature is an animal. It is affected by the Animal Awe ability, and gets a bonus to morale when lead by a commander with the Beast Master attribute. Some spells only affect animals, while others cannot target animals at all. | N | #animal |
| Amphibian | This creature can travel on land and underwater. Is not affected by effects that target airbreathers. | N | #amphibian |
| Aquatic | This creature can only live underwater, and cannot come onto the land. Aquatic commanders can breathe with the Amulet of Air Breathing, but aquatic units can never leave the seas. Is not affected by effects that target airbreathers. | N | #aquatic |
| Blind | This creature naturally has no eyes and orients itself in another way. It cannot be affected by blindness, eyeloss or darkness. | N | #blind |
| Cannot Pass Rivers | This creature cannot pass over a river- even if they have flying, aquatic, swimming or it is frozen. Most vampires have this. | ||
| Coldblooded | This creature is cold blooded and receives additional 2 additional encumbrance for each level of cold scale. Cold resistance reduces this penalty by 10% per level. In addition coldblooded creatures are not affected by MA C'tis swamp disease ability. | N | #coldblooded |
| Demon | This creature is a demon. It can be affected by certain demon only spells. This creature must be lead by a commander with undead leadership. If there are no commanders with undead leadership, this unit will instantly route. Demons are immune to sleep, and do not dream. Demons generally (but not always) are summoned by blood rituals. | N | #demon |
| Divine Being | This creature is a divine being, like a pretender god. It's Attack, Defense and Strength are increased by 1 per friendly candle in the province, and it's health increased by 10%. Unfriendly candles do the opposite. They are immune to being charmed and have no upkeep. This ability is usually used on the mounts used by pretenders. | N | #divinebeing |
| Dungeon creature | This creature may appear in dungeon sites if you send a commander in to look for treasure. | Y | #dungeon |
| Female | This creature is considered female, and can only be seduced by male seducers, and gets a bonus vs female dream seducers. Units without this ability are assumed male. | N | #female |
| Floating | This creature floats in the air and can cross rivers. It is unaffected by the movement speed penalty from snowy provinces. It is immune to the Earthquake spell and other spells that only affects creatures on the ground. | N | #float |
| Flying | This creature can fly. If it's movement speed is less than 20, it is set to 20. Old age and other penalties do not affect this movement speed, though armor encumbrance does. The creature can cross most terrain using less map movement points, though it is hindered in caves. It also ignores mountain passes and rivers. It's patrol value and siege strength is doubled. In battles it can fly, unless there is a storm. Flying Assassins automatically can scale walls. | N | #flying |
| Horror (Doom) | This creature is a Doom Horror, and they appear during the Cataclysm. Summoned standard horrors have a chance to be upgraded to Doom Horrors, with a higher chance during the Cataclysm or if Astral Corruption global is active. Horrors generally attempt to target creatures with horror marks, and are less likely to attack mindless creatures. | Y | #doomhorror |
| Horror (Greater) | This creature is a greater horror, and they appear during the Cataclysm. Summoned Greater Horrors have a chance to be upgraded to Doom Horrors with a higher chance during the Cataclysm or if Astral Corruption global is active. Horrors generally attempt to target creatures with horror marks, and are less likely to attack mindless creatures. | Y | #greaterhorror |
| Horror (Lesser) | This creature is a lesser horror and they appear during the Cataclysm. Summoned Lesser Horrors have a chance to be upgraded to Greater Horrors with a higher chance during the Cataclysm or if Astral Corruption global is active. Horrors generally attempt to target creatures with horror marks, and are less likely to attack mindless creatures. | Y | #lesserhorror |
| Illusion | This creature is an illusion. It can be affected by spells that target illusions, even if they are mindless and should be immune. This creature needs to have a commander with Glamour Manipulator on the field, or it will instantly route. | N | #illusion |
| Immobile | This creature cannot move in combat or on the strategic map. It cannot use teleport rituals that require the unit to walk through a portal, or maneuver themselves, like gate, or cloud trapeze. Generally the only way to teleport an immobile unit is the Teleport ritual. | N | #immobile |
| Inanimate | This creature is innanimate, and has no important physiology. Innanimate creatures can be affected by the 'shatter' spell, and are generally immune to spells that affect blood or cause bleeding, or do 'internal damage' like frozen heart. They also do not die if affected by the headloss affliction and have no head. Inanimate creatures do not heal at the start of the turn. | N | #inanimate |
| Lance User | This creature can use a lance, even if it not flying or mounted. Centaurs have this ability. | Y | #lanceok |
| Magic Being | This creature is a magic being. It can be affected by certain magic being only spells. This creature must be lead by a commander with magic leadership. If there are no commanders with undead leadership, this unit will instantly route. | N | #magicbeing |
| Mindless | This creature is mindless. Its' morale is 50, making it incredibly resistant to routing. It is immune to mind affecting spells, and is usually ignored by Horrors. | N | Any creature with it's morale set to 50 is considered 'Mindless' |
| Plant | This creature is a plant. Their deaths do not add to the province's bodycount, and they cannot be raised as undead from abilities like the 'Reanimators' bless. Some spells or items can only be used by plant beings. | Y | #plant |
| Poly Immune | This creature cannot be polymorphed or transform itself using rituals. This is a hidden tag. | Y | #polyimmune |
| Poor Amphibian | This creature can travel on land underwater, but it's combat speed is halved, it's attack is lowered by 1, it's defense is lowered by 2 and its encumbrance is increased by 1 while underwater. | Y | #pooramphibian |
| Pretender | This creature is a Pretender God or Disciple. It's MR and Strength are increased 1 the number of friendly candles in the province, and it's HP is increased by 5% per friendly candle. Enemy dominion reduces these stats by the same amount. Pretenders are always blessed in their own dominion, and never blessed outside of it. Any troops accompanying the Pretender in their own dominion are automatically blessed at the start of combat. Pretenders can not be polymorphed, or charmed. Pretenders spread their Dominion as though they were 3 temples. | Y | N/A |
| Prophet | This creature is the Prophet of a Pretender God. They are always blessed, even on the Strategic Map. They gain a bonus +2 to attack and defense, +1 strength and +5% HP per candle, and +1 MR per 2 candles of friendly dominion (And lose the same in enemy dominion). Their morale is set to 30 unless already higher. They are set to 3 Priest levels, or +1 if already 3 or higher. Prophets can never be charmed or enslaved. You can appoint a new prophet 6 months after the current prophet has died. Prophets spread dominion as though they were a temple. | Y | N/A |
| Sacred | This creature is sacred and can be affected by the bless spell, and any bless effects the player controlling it may have. They can also be targeted by enemy spells and abilities that affect sacred units, like Unholy Weapons or the Halt Heretic Ability. | Y | #holy |
| Snow Move | This creature is not affected by snow in the province for it's map move speed. In Battle their combat speed is also not slowed. | Y | #snow |
| Spiritform | This creature has no physical body, and cannot have their physical form changed. They are immune to spells like stoneskin or polypmorph. | Y | #spiritform |
| Storm Immune | If this creature has flying, it can fly during a storm. If it also has Aquatic it can fly underwater. | Y | #stormimmune |
| Stonebeing | This creature is made of stone, and is immune to the petrification affliction. | Y | #stonebeing |
| Survival (Forest) | Movement in forest provinces costs 2 less movement and the creature only uses half supplies in forests. Also applies to cave forests. | Y | #forestsurvival |
| Survival (Mountain) | Movement in mountain and highland provinces costs 2 less movement and the creature only uses half supplies in mountains. In addition the creature can cross mountain passes no matter the temperature. | Y | #mountainsurvival |
| Survival (Swamp) | Movement in swamp provinces costs 2 less movement and the creature only uses half supplies in swamps. In addition the creature is immune to MA C'tis disease dominion in swamps. Also applies to drip caves. | Y | #swampsurvival |
| Survival (Waste) | Movement in waste provinces costs 2 less movement and the creature only uses half supplies in wastes. Also applies to Crystal Caves. | Y | #wastesurvival |
| Swimming | This creature can swim and cross rivers. If fighting underwater, it's defense is only lowered by 1 and it's encumbrance increased by 1, instead of the full 'poor amphibian' penalty. | Y | #swimming |
| Undead | This creature is undead. Undead creatures can be affected by certain undead only spells and is immune to others. Undead are immune to sleep, and do not dream. Undead generally have no not need to breathe, have spirit sight, are immune to cold and poison damage and have either 30 or 50 morale, but not always. | Y | #undead |
Auras are an ability that a creature can have where they are surrounded by some sort of force or effect. The most common auras seen in the game are heat or chill auras, which come baked in on many creatures, but there are many others that use the mechanic.
Auras all have a value displayed like Dread (6). This value is how many tiles are affected by the aura per turn (approximately). The tiles can either be on the tile the creature is standing on, adjacent to the creature with the aura, or adjacent to another affected tile. Auras with a value higher than 10 can spread up to two tiles away from the creature or other affected tiles instead of only one. The same tile can be hit multiple times by the same aura. Some auras generate clouds. If a cloud is generated on a tile that already has an identical cloud, it may increase the cloud strength level, or spread that cloud in a larger area. Auras that generate clouds can not stack higher than strength level 2.
| Name | Description | Mod Command |
|---|---|---|
| Chill | The creature is surrounded by frost clouds. The Aura Strength is increased by 1 by approximately 2 levels of cold scales in the province, and reduced by heat scales. Clouds generated by auras can not stack higher than level 2. See Clouds for more information. Clouds | #cold (value) |
| Dread | The creature is surrounded by an aura of Dread. Dread works identically to fear, but is negated by creatures with True Sight, Spirit Sight or Blind. See fear for more information. fear-aura | #dread (value) |
| Fear | The creature is surrounded by an aura of fear. Creatures affected by fear have their morale lowered and need to make morale saves or route. Every level of fear increases the number of tiles affected, and every 5 levels of fear increase the morale check by 1. See Fear for more information. fear-aura | #fear (value) |
| Heat | The creature is surrounded by heat clouds. The Aura Strength is increased by 1 by approximately 2 levels of heat scales in the province, and reduced by cold scales. This aura is removed when underwater. Clouds generated by auras can not stack higher than level 2. See Clouds for more information. Clouds | #heat (value) |
| Heat (Underwater) | The creature is surrounded by heat clouds. The Aura Strength is increased by 1 by approximately 2 levels of heat scales in the province, and reduced by cold scales. This aura works both underwater and on land. Clouds generated by auras can not stack higher than level 2. See Clouds for more information. Clouds | #uwheat (value) |
| Nightmare Aura | The creature is surrounded by an aura that causes damaging nightmares. Creatures effected must make an MR check or take 1 capped AN damage. This effect is considered a Glamour effect for MR and penetration, and is affected by the Undreaming ability. | #nightmareaura (value) |
| Plague Carrier | The creature is surrounded by disease clouds. Creatures inside need to make an MR check or become diseased. Not to be confused with the 'plague' aura. Clouds generated by auras can not stack higher than level 2. See Clouds for more information. Clouds | #diseasecloud (value) |
| Plague | This creature has been affected by the Plague spell. This aura is always level 2. Creatures must make an MR check or be affected by the Plague, causing them to take 1d2 damage and 1d4 fatigue damage every turn, and also giving them this aura as well. Inanimates and undead are unaffected. This is considered a Death effect for MR and penetration. | This aura can be granted to units via afflictions. It's bitmask is 8. |
| Poison Cloud | The creature is surrounded by a poisonous cloud. Creatures inside Poison clouds do 1 AN poison damage per level. Clouds generated by auras can not stack higher than level 2. See Clouds for more information. Clouds | #poisoncloud (value) |
| Sleep Aura | The creature is surrounded by an aura that causes nearby creatures to fall asleep. Affected creatures must make a MR check or fall asleep. This effect is considered a Nature effect for MR and penetration, and is affected by the Undreaming ability. | #sleepaura (value) |
| Soul Vortex | This creature has been affected by the Soul Vortex spell. This aura is always level 8. Creatures must make an MR check or suffer 1AN life drain damage, which restores health and fatigue to the creature with the Aura. This effect is considered to be a Death Effect for MR and penetration. | This aura can be granted via buff type 2. it's bitmask is 2048. |