Armor Negating - Armor Negating is a damage modifier that ignores 100% of enemy protection when dealing damage. For example, a spell that deals 20 AN damage that hits a target with 20 protection will ignore 20 of that protection, dealing on average 20 damage.

AN damage is often capable of being resisted in other ways, such as requiring a Magic Resistance check. Shock damage is notable in that it is always AN, and is resisted by Shock Resist (SR). Spells or effects that deal AN damage without any resist are both rare and powerful.

Area of Effect of an attack or spell. The number after aoe refers to how many squares are targeted. For example, aoe 2 spell would target two adjacent squares on the battlefield.

Armor Piercing - Armor Piercing is a damage modifier that ignores 50% of enemy protection when dealing damage. For example, a spell that deals 20 AP damage hits a target with 20 protection. That spell will ignore 10 of that protection, dealing on average 10 damage.

This effect can stack with other forms of armor penetration, notably Piercing Damage. Piercing Damage ignores 20% of protection, and a damage source that is both Piercing and AP will ignore 60% of enemy protection. This is achieved by first reducing the protection by 50%, then the remaining prot by another 20%. Or for the mathematically inclined Effective protection = Nominal protection * (1 - 0.5) * (1 - 0.2).

Fire damage is the most common form of AP magical damage, and crossbows are the most common form of AP damage available to generic units.

Arcoscephale - A common nickname or shorthand used when discussing the nation Arcoscephale.

This refers to either Army of Lead or Army of Gold. These are Alteration 9 Earth spells (Earth 5 and 3 earth gems to cast in battle) that are some of the best late game buffs available. They share a shorthand because both are battlefield wide buffs that provide ironskin to the caster's entire army, the primary reason for casting one of these spells. They differ in that Army of Lead will give all friendly units ironskin and +4 Magic Resist, while Army of Gold will give all friendly units ironskin and +5 Fire Resist.

Battlefield - Often used when describing spells which target all units on the battlefield (aoe bf, bf wide, bf clear and so on).

Items which give increase the paths of mages who carry them, e.g. the Water Bracelet that increases a mage's Water path by one, as long as it has at least one already.

Fire/Frost/Shadow Brand - One-handed weapons valued for being cost effective gear capable of killing large numbers of chaff quickly by applying AOE damage on attack.

Fire Brands provide +5 Fire Resist, are Armor Piercing, and deal 14 Armor Piercing AOE fire damage to the entire square every swing. Forging requires 5 Earth and 5 Fire gems, making for a reasonably efficient top tier thug weapon, notable in that the fire damage AOE will clear undead chaff such as skeletons that are immune to the effects of the other two brands.

Frost Brands provide +5 Cold Resist, and deal 12 AOE cold damage to the entire square every swing. Forging requires 5 Water gems, making for an extremely efficient top tier thug weapon. Does not clear undead swarms.

Shadow Brands are Armor Piercing, and deal 5 Armor Negating but MR Resisted AOE damage to five squares every swing. If this AOE damage is applied, there is a chance for the unit so damaged to have their strength reduced. This large AOE is not limited to enemy troops, and can hit the wielder of the Shadow Brand. The AOE does not affect lifeless troops such as longdead skeletons. Forging requires 10 Death Gems and 5 Earth Gems, making it an inefficient thug weapon.

Capital

Units/Mages that can only be recruited from the capital.

Weak units which are easy to mass and usually easy to kill. Examples of chaff are units like militia and wolves.

Cold Resist

Dominions Enhanced - A large and prevalent mod that adds a large number of national spells, generic spells, nations, summons, items, and heroes. The most common mod outside of Worthy Heroes and Enhanced Pretenders (which DE includes).

Meaning 1: To kill another player by extinguishing their dominion

This is the result of having more, stronger temple checks than your opponent, whether by simple temple count, or supplemented by the use of heretics, stealthy preachers, blood sacrifice, and dominion conflict bonuses either as an innate national property, or due to possessing certain Thrones or the Gigantomachia global enchantment.

Meaning 2: (also known as Popkill) Factions whose dominion kills population

Refers to nations whose dominion kills population, derived from the modding command #domkill. EA Therodos, MA Ermor, MA Asphodel, LA Lemuria, LA R'lyeh fit into this category.

Dominions Random Number - The DRN, or Dominions Random Number, is the core randomization mechanic of Dominions. It is 2d6 exploding. That means two normal six-sided dice are rolled and summed, and any time a die comes up as a 6, the six is kept and the die is rolled again. However, for each successive roll, 1 is subtracted. See random-number-generator for more information.

The randomizer in the DRN is not truly random, and distribution is not truly even, but the details of this are not clear.

Early Era - Comes before a nation name and is used to distinguish between nations that exist in multiple eras. for example, EA Ulm, MA Ulm, LA Ulm.

Elemental - Often used when speaking about different types of elementals. For example, water ele or W ele is water elemental.

Refers to nations whose troops have the Glamour ability. Typically these units have average strength and HP, but extremely high stats, stealth, and the ability to not be seen on the world map. Elves are particularly fond of starting wars by taking large numbers of enemy provinces via stealth, are masters of hit-and-run tactics, and typically have some of the most efficient thug chassis' in the game. Can also refer to said units directly.

Fire Resist

Fire and Shock Resist - The most useful set of resistances, often lumped together because of the incarnate Earth bless that provides both resistances.

Foul Vapors - A particularly effective poison-based battlefield wide spell capable of single-handedly winning battles. Particularly associated with MA Ctis.

gem generator - item which generate gems. Two types of gem gens exist, those which generate temporary gems for battles, and those which generate permanent gems every month. Permanent gem gens are rarer than temporary ones and are usually only available as unique items at Construction 8.

Gifts from Heaven - A particularly effective Earth/Astral evocation that drops boulders from the heavens onto the battlefield. The accuracy is abysmal, but the spell has massive damage output.

Gift of Health - A nature global that provides bonus HP and healing to friendly troops while inside your dominion. The total HP gained for combat and the chance to heal an affliction are based on the total number of friendly candles in the province where the unit resides.

This is one of the few ways to heal non-living units such as Tartarians.

Independents - Any unit or mage that is not a national recruit, but is unaffiliated with players at large. This could refer to troops attacking due to an event, a mage tied to a province you want to recruit (such as a Crystal Sorceress), or provinces you are trying to expand into during the early game that are not owned by anyone yet.

Late Era - Comes before a nation name and is used to distinguish between nations that exist in multiple eras. for example, EA Ulm, MA Ulm, LA Ulm.

Legions of Steel - A common acronym of the battlefield buff spell Legions of Steel. This spell requires Earth 3 to cast, and with an AOE of 25 will buff a large number of troops with +3 protection on each piece of their armor for the remainder of the battle. Legions of Steel is an early research target for earth nations, and is found at Construction 3.

Middle Era - Comes before a nation name and is used to distinguish between nations that exist in multiple eras. for example, EA Ulm, MA Ulm, LA Ulm.

Marignon - A common nickname or shorthand used when discussing the nation Marignon.

Refers to nations whose base units are simian in nature. Kailasa, Bandar Log, Patala. Technically Lanka is also in this category, however the playstyle is sufficiently distinct from the other monkey nations that they are rarely included.

Magic Resist

Non-Aggression Pact - A temporary peace treaty between two nations. There are two common forms of NAPs.

The first is a NAP that exists indefinitely until one player informs the other that they would like to break the NAP, at which point the NAP will continue to exist for a period of time specified at the creation of the NAP before breaking. The most common amount of time is three turns, and would be written as NAP 3.

For example, Ulm and Abysia agree to a NAP 3 on turn 10. Both nations benefit from having a relatively secure border, until Abysia decides it wants to invade Ulm. On turn 20, Abysia informs Ulm that they are breaking the NAP. Usually this counts as the first turn, so Ulm has turns 20, 21, and 22 to prepare for Abysia’s invasion. Abysia’s invasion can begin on turn 23 without violating the NAP.

The second is a NAP that lasts for a specific period of time and then automatically expires. A NAP for 15 turns would still be written as NAP 15, however usually the length of time specified makes it clear which NAP variant is being proposed.

For example, Ulm and Abysia agree to a NAP 15 beginning on turn 10. On turn 25 the NAP automatically expires, and the nations can either negotiate to extend the NAP or let it expire.

It is highly recommended that players be very careful when forming NAPs to ensure that no miscommunication has occurred. For example, it is possible that in the first example Ulm thought it had three turns after the initial turn before Abysia could attack, and thinks itself protected on turns 21, 22, and 23 when in actuality Abysia’s invasion will begin on turn 23. It is important to spell out all the terms and conditions of your agreement, and be aware that not all games have binding diplomacy.

Factions whose dominion kills population (also sometimes known as Domkill)

Refers to nations whose dominion kills population. EA Therodos, MA Ermor, MA Asphodel, LA Lemuria, LA R'lyeh fit into this category.

Poison Resist

Recruit Anywhere - Either when a unit can literally be recruited anywhere (like Marignon's Flagellants) or when a sacred unit is not limited to the capital and can be recruited out of any fort.

Short for the spell Rigor Mortis, enchantment 6, generally troublesome to deal with.

Refers to nations that draw inspiration from Roman history. Ermor, Pythium, Sceleria, Lemuria.

Super Combatant - A supercombatant, or SC, is a heavily equipped unit that is powerful to start with and can cast some or all of the most powerful self-buffs in the game, such as Soul Vortex and Phoenix Pyre. These guys are traditionally capable of taking on armies.

An SC is built on a limited and exclusive collection of Commander chassis. SCs are often given 50+ gems worth of equipment and should be able to take out entire armies with that equipment. An SC Chassis often, if not always, has more than 60 HP and 3 or more inherent forms of damage mitigation from abilities or magic paths. They are more vulnerable than they were in Dominions 4, so they must be carefully equipped and only used solo when you are certain that the opponent cannot counter it. SCs are commonly used alongside armies because many anti-SC strategies will fail if the opponent is unable to isolate the SC, and the tactics for killing an SC may be different from optimal tactics against an army.

Shinuyama - A common nickname or shorthand used when discussing the nation Shinuyama.

Strength of Giants - A common acronym of the battlefield buff spell Strength of Giants. This spell requires Earth 3 to cast, and with an AOE of 25 will buff a large number of troops with +4 strength for the remainder of the battle. Strength of Giants is an early research target for earth nations, and is found at Enchantment 3.

Shock Resist

Slow to Recruit - A mage or unit that takes multiple fort turns to recruit because it has a Command Point requirement of 4 or greater.

Thugs - Mages with good stats who are given gear to efficiently raid lightly defended enemy lands for economic disruption and gain. The term "thug" can also be applied to units specifically geared to counter other thugs or super combatants. Usually the single most important rule when designing a thug is to keep it cheap, both in gold and gem expenditure. An example of an efficient thug is a Sidhe Lord with a Frost Brand and a Vine Shield who self buffs with Bless, Barkskin, and Mistform before attacking. For a more detained explanation of the topic see Thug.

Thunder Strike - A particularly effective shock-based Air evocation that has extremely high AN damage on target square and a low damage stun chance in surrounding squares. Extremely long range.

Underwater.

Xibalba - A common nickname or shorthand used when discussing the nation Xibalba.

Weapons of Sharpness - A high level Earth buff that grants a large number of troops the modifier Armor Piercing, dramatically increasing damage output.

Tir na n'Og - A common nickname or shorthand used when discussing the nation Tir na n'Og