Heroes

Heroes are playable characters capable of commanding armies. They develop their abilities by gaining levels in battles. Every hero has a set of skills and an inventory where he or she stores items and resources. The amount of heroes in your retinue is limited by your Hero Karma.

Heroes command units of a single type, such as Archers or Pikemen. Units cannot move about on their own. It is impossible to wage war efficiently with a lone hero. The more heroes you have, the greater the range of tactical decisions at your avail. For instance, one hero may be a spell caster, the second a spy and a scout, the third an archer and the fourth the archer's heavily armoured guardian.

Even though heroes can deal damage and move without an army, their real power lies in the units under their control. The hero shares combat abilities with the soldiers. Everything that affects the hero, such as artefacts or spells, also affects the soldiers. The number of soldiers under the command of a hero is limited by his Leadership skill.

Death

Fallen heroes can be summoned 24 hours after their death at any of your taverns. There is a chance that the hero's items will remain in his grave. This chance is reduced for deathbound items and items marked as SL have a 0% chance to drop.

Note: fallen heroes who have not been summoned in 30 days will be lost forever.

Skills

The hero's skill screen can be accessed by clicking on his portrait. Heroes level up by gaining experience in battle. They cannot advance beyond level 10. Each level grants a skill point that can be invested in any of the skills. Skills cannot be raised beyond 4. Schools and academies are required to raise skills to 3 and 4.

Note: the relation between attributes is non-linear. For instance, a 12% increase in Melee Attack means that the actual damage is increased by more than 12%, provided that the opposing Melee Defence stays the same.

Skills, like artefacts, affect the basic value of the attributes (e.g., 50 HP for Volunteers).

• Close Combat
  Every point increases Melee Attack by 12%.
• Shooting
  Every point increases Ranged Attack by 12%.
• Stamina
  Every point increases Melee and Ranged Defence by 12%. It also increases HP by 5%.
• Logistics
  Every point increases AP by 12%.
• Leadership
  A hero with 0 Leadership can control up to 4 cohorts of units. Every point in Leadership increases this limit by 1 cohort. The amount of soldiers that form a cohort depends on the type of the unit.
• White Magic
  Allows your hero to use White Magic spells of a level equal to the level of this skill.
• Dark Magic
  Allows your hero to use Dark Magic spells of a level equal to the level of this skill.
• Espionage
  Decreases the visibility of the hero and allows him to enter rival cities to gather intelligence. A spy can find out the exact number of units under a hero's control, as well as the spells he is under. The distance at which this can be done depends on this skill, one tile per point.