Changes the physical world. Alteration spells can give units increased strength, resistance to fire, and the like. They can also change the weather. – Illwinter.

Alteration is a very handy school. It's best-known for its "buff" spells, which alter your teammates to make them significantly tougher to harm through conventional means. Barkskin, Stoneskin, and Ironskin are the trademark examples, but there are other options provided by other paths. There are also "debuff" spells, such as Blindness & Shrink, but not as many.

This school also provides a fair amount of attack spells, altering targets in ways that deal severe damage to them (such as Combustion and Incinerate). Deep in the school, you'll find methods of converting foes into useless forms, such as a pathetic animal (Curse of the Frog Prince, Polymorph) or a pile (Bone Melter, Liquify, Disintegrate).

Rituals also change the form of things; Pyromancers & Geomancers can use their Gems to transmute stuff into Gold, Nature Mages can change their own forms in an attempt to learn a different perspective of magic, and super-powerful Astral Mages will eventually be able to derive whatever they want from the universe (see Wish for more details). Earth Mages can also alter Fortress walls if they're skilled enough (Crumble, Iron Walls), and will even be able to raise forts in a single turn (Wizard's Tower), though these Rituals are deep in the school.

• Fire primarily allows you to set fire to stuff (even allowing you to prime yourself to combust in a pinch), but it also provides Cold Resistance.
• Air can shape the wind to help you out, but is best known for turning teammates into fog or creating Phantasmal Warrior illusions out of thin air.
• Water primarily allows you to freeze/slow and melt/quicken stuff (the former is more effective underwater), but it also provides Fire Resistance.
• Earth is the source of Stoneskin and Ironskin, along with strengthening magic, but it can also be used to catch others with the ground or to destroy gear. It also provides Shock Resistance, and can provide other resistances on a personal basis.
• Astral primarily allows you to alter your fate (Twist Fate, Luck), but can also be used to alter time (Time Stop) and space (Body Ethereal). It also allows you to alter the allegiances of Magic Beings.
• Death lets you alter the life force of beings, making them weaker (Weakness) or even stealing their HP (Drain Life), but it also lets you make things more "dead" (Hand of Dust, Disintegrate, and technically Skeletal Legion). The caster can use it to make themselves Invulnerable and/or Pierce-Resistant.
• Nature is the source of Barkskin, but it also allows you to alter beings in a less-drastic manner. You can make them bigger (Enlarge, Swarm, Mother Oak), smaller (Shrink), or even entirely different beings. It also allows the caster to self-apply a broad array of Elemental Resistances, such as Poison Resistance.

• Earth & Nature Get Iron Pigs
• Fire & Water Boil and Manifest Vitriol a strong spell when spamable.
• Fire & Astral Inner Sun is situational backup plan, while Solar Eclipse grants nations acces to Darkness that don't have reliavle Death.
• Water & Nature get two great spell of thug-spell Mossbody and anti-supercombatent Bone Melter.
• Water & Death Stygian Skin thug spell.
• Earth & Death a advance warfare spell of Blight to infict pelalies on emey provences.

Alteration 0

Spell	Paths	Description	Effect
Air Shield	1
Twist Fate	1
Hand of Dust	1

Alteration 1

Spell	Paths	Description	Effect
Charge Body	1
Aim	1
False Fetters	2
Fists of Iron	1
Earth Grip	1
Earth Might	2
Personal Luck	1
Skeletal Body	1
Hand of Death	2
Eagle Eyes	1
Poison Touch	1
Resist Poison	1
Barkskin	1

Alteration 2

Spell	Paths	Description	Effect
Combustion	1
Resist Cold	1
Phantasmal Warrior	1
Mirror Image	1
Resist Fire	1
Quicken Self	1
Ice Shield	1
Resist Lightning	1
Stoneskin	1
Armor of Achilles	1
Earth Meld	2
Cheat Fate	1
Weakness	1
Enlarge	2

Alteration 3

Spell	Paths	Description	Effect
Immolation	2
Mistform	2
Ghost Wolves	3
Numbness	2
Ironskin	1
Luck	1
Protection	1
Mossbody	11

Alteration 4

Spell	Paths	Description	Effect
Wind Guide	2 1
Liquid Body	1
Quickness	2
Slow	2
Encase in Ice	2
Temper Flesh	1
Destruction	3
Curse of Stones	3 3
Body Ethereal	1
Stygian Skin	11
Elemental Fortitude	1
Swarm	1 1
Shrink	2

Alteration 5

Spell	Paths	Description	Effect
Cold Resistance	3 1
Incinerate	3
Solar Eclipse	31 1
Phantasmal Army	4 1
Fire Resistance	3 1
Bone Melter	32
Iron Warriors	2
Lightning Resistance	3 1
Maws of the Earth	3 1
Shatter	3
Enfeeble	2 1
Invulnerability	3
Drain Life	4
Wooden Warriors	2

Alteration 6

Spell	Paths	Description	Effect
Blindness	1
Boil	31
False Horror	3
Frozen Heart	1
Wave Warriors	3 1
Iron Bane	3 1
Petrify	5
Control	3 1
Battle Fortune	3 1
Soul Vortex	3
Skeletal Legion	4 1
Darkness	4 4
Army of Giants	3 1

Alteration 7

Spell	Paths	Description	Effect
Phoenix Pyre	2
Fog Warriors	5 3
Prison of Sedna	3 1
Marble Warriors	3 1
Doom	4 1
Bone Grinding	7 1
Curse of the Frog Prince	2
Creeping Doom	3 1
Mass Protection	3 1

Alteration 8

Spell	Paths	Description	Effect
Conflagration	2
Warriors of Muspelheim	4 2
Quickening	2 1
Liquify	4
Warriors of Niefelheim	4 2
Ground Army	4 2
Will of the Fates	4 4
Time Stop	6 1
Disintegrate	2
Polymorph	3 2

Alteration 9

Spell	Paths	Description	Effect
Army of Gold	5 3
Army of Lead	5 3
Arcane Domination	7 7
Army of Rats	7 5

Alteration 1

Spell	Paths	Description
Distill Gold	1 1	An inefficient alchemy spell.

Alteration 2

Spell	Paths	Description
Alchemical Transmutation	1 1	An inefficient alchemy spell.

Alteration 3

Spell	Paths	Description
Inner Sun	11 1	The caster will, if killed, explode, dealing damage to all undead nearby who fail a magic resistance check. It's unclear how to use this ritual strategically, but it's very cheap.

Alteration 4

Spell	Paths	Description
Wolven Winter	3 5	See remote attacks.
Blight	21 5	See remote attacks.
Arouse Hunger	3 8	See remote attacks.

Alteration 5

Spell	Paths	Description
Transmute Fire	2 1	An efficient alchemy spell.
Baleful Star	3 7	See remote attack.
Mother Oak	5 50	A gem generating global enchantment.

Alteration 6

Spell	Paths	Description
Manifest Vitriol	21 3	See summons.
Earth Gem Alchemy	2 1	An efficient alchemy spell.
Iron Pigs	31 9	See summons.
Crumble	5 20	Deals 250 siege damage to a fortress in a nearby province. Note that siege damage/repair happens after magic rituals in the turn order sequence, so if the defenders have greater siege defense than the army besieging the fortress, they may be able to repair the walls before you can storm the fort.
Transformation	2 8	Transforms the caster into a random animal, assuming the spell doesn't go awry. See Transformation.

Alteration 7

Spell	Paths	Description
Phantasmal Attack	4 8	A remote attack spell, causing ~50 independent phantasmal troops to attack the target province.
Sea of Ice	6 80	A global enchantment preventing normal movement between underwater provinces and land provinces.
Iron Walls	5 10	Adds 1000 to the current and maximum wall strength to the fortress in the current province. Lasts 1 turn per additional gem put into the spell. Siege reports only look at the base wall strength, which means the report will say the walls are completely undamaged until all 1000 from Iron walls is gone.

Alteration 8

Spell	Paths	Description
Fata Morgana	7 90	A province defense boosting global enchantment.
Wizard's Tower	4 50	Creates a permanent fort with 750 wall strength in a province you control.

Alteration 9

Spell	Paths	Description
Wish	9 100	See wish for details on all the things you can wish for.
Utterdark	9 100	This global enchantment plunges your world into perpetual darkness.

magic
Concepts	blood-hunting • communions • empowerment • gems • items • magic-sites • research
Categories	combat-magic • Ritual Magic • Notable Spells
Paths	fire • air • water • earth • astral • death • nature • blood • Holy
Schools	conjuration • alteration • evocation • construction • enchantment • thaumaturgy • blood • Divine