| Greyfairer The Druid | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Type | Non-Champion | |||
| Hiring Cost |
 150 | |||
| Upkeep Cost |
3 | |||
| Prereq. |
 5 | |||
| Moves |
 2 | |||
| Melee Attack |
 1 | |||
| Ranged Attack |
 8 | |||
| Defense |
 5 | |||
| Resistance |
 6 | |||
| Hit Points |
 5 | |||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
|
 Purify | ||||
| Random Abilities | None | |||
| ||||
Greyfairer the Druid is one of the 35 Hero units featured in Master of Magic.
Greyfairer is a non-Champion Hero. He may randomly appear for hire if a wizard has at least 5 Fame points, in which case his Hiring Cost is 150 by default. Alternatively, Greyfairer can be summoned using the Summon Hero spell (or through partial failure of the Summon Champion spell), and can occasionally be found as a Prisoner reward after a successful Encounter.
Greyfairer is a strong Magical Ranged Attacker, but with virtually no Melee Atack capabilities. This makes him a valid support unit, but until he can gain sufficient Experience Levels and extra 
Mana, he will contribute little to any battle. On the other hand, Greyfairer is an excellent scout and "early-warning system" of sorts, and can be used to Purify Corrupted lands. He has no Random Abilities, and so will be exactly the same each time you play the game.
Greyfairer also has the ability to cast spells, for which he will pay from his own Mana pool. In addition to any spell known to his employer, Greyfairer may also cast the Web, Ice Bolt and Petrify spells - assuming he has sufficient Mana to do so.
Greyfairer may be equipped with the mage set of Magical Items, contributing primarily to the strength of his Ranged Attack and spell-casting abilities. The lack of armor, however, makes him more vulnerable to enemy attacks.
Greyfairer's Upkeep Cost is 3 per turn.
General Description[]
Greyfairer the Druid is a human who has devoted his life to the study of nature, and particularly the mystical aspects of it. He can manipulate the magical energy that flows out of the land, and can even drive away any evil magic affecting it. As an accomplished Druid, Greyfairer is able to converse with the animals to learn about the regions he visits, thus gaining knowledge of its layout and any enemies traveling about.
Greyfairer's appearance is influenced greatly by his profession. He wears a crown of leaves, and is permanently marked by a traditional blue tattoo across his right eye. Greyfairer's hair is dark-blond, he sports a thin circle-beard, and is dressed in a simple purple robe. Greyfairer rides a white horse.
Initial Properties[]
Note: All data below assumes Greyfairer is at his lowest Experience Level, and without any Magical Items or Random Abilities - After all, any Hero can become devastatingly powerful after gaining several levels and powerful items. Please refer to the tables and chapters below for more information.
Attack Properties[]
Greyfairer the Druid's primary mode of attack is a Magical Ranged Attack of surprisingly-high strength. Unfortunately, until he can gain a significant amount of Mana, the number of times he can use this attack is pretty limited. Greyfairer also possesses an extremely weak Melee Attack, though this can eventually become useful after many Experience Levels have been acquired.
Greyfairer's Ranged Attack has a default strength of 8, which is very respectable for a budding Hero. Given a basic To Hit chance of 
30%, he can be expected to deliver about 
2.4 points of Damage with this attack, on average. This is strong enough to punch through most armor.
This Ranged Attack delivers Magical Damage. As a result, it does not suffer To Hit penalties when used at a distance. On the other hand, targets possessing Magic Immunity will almost invariably shrug off all damage from this attack. Furthermore, the attack is associated with the 
Nature Realm, and thus may be blocked partially or completely by spells like Resist Elements.
Note that Greyfairer's Magical Ranged Attack uses Mana from his own personal pool as ammunition. Each attack reduces his remaining Mana by -3. When he has only 2 or fewer left, he may not use his Ranged Attack anymore for the rest of the battle. Since this is the same Mana that Greyfairer uses to cast spells during combat, he must decide whether to use Ranged Attacks or cast spells depending on the situation on the battlefield. Mana is restored to full capacity at the end of each battle.
Greyfairer's Melee Attack has an initial strength of only 1, a token attack that is highly unlikely to cause any damage. Given a basic 30% To Hit chance, it can be expected to deliver no more than 0.3 points of Damage on average, and thus will almost always be completely blocked by any kind of armor. Nonetheless, with sufficient Experience, it can actually become useful against soft targets.
Defensive Properties[]
By default, Greyfairer the Druid has a rather-average Defense score of 5. This enables him to block, on average, about 1.5 points of Damage from any damage source. This can protect Greyfairer adequately from most low-tier Normal Units, but expect him to take damage often when fighting anything stronger, at least until he can gain plenty of 
Experience and/or acquire strong armor.
Further complicating this, Greyfairer possesses a below-average 5 Hit Points by default. This means that it doesn't take a lot of damage to kill Greyfairer, and puts him at danger whenever he is sent into battle.
As with most Heroes, Greyfairer possesses a default Resistance score of 6. This makes him somewhat vulnerable to Curses and other combat maledictions. It will take at least 
4 Experience Levels before he can become immune to some of these effects, assuming no Magical Items or Random Abilities augment it.
Other Properties[]
Greyfairer the Druid has a basic Hero's Movement Allowance of 2. This is good for speeding up his movement on the overland map, through plain land tiles like Grassland and Deserts. During battle, Greyfairer may need to use his speed to stay away from stronger enemies.
Despite being a ground unit, Greyfairer enjoys a massive bonus to his Sight Range, thanks to the Scouting ability he has by default. The level of this scouting ability is 3, which means that he can see 3 tiles in any direction on the overland map (including diagonals). As a result, Greyfairer can be used either to map the land or to spot incoming enemy armies from a great distance.
Purification[]
- Main article: Purification
Similarly to some Normal Units like the Shamans or Priests, Greyfairer the Druid provides a basic but reliable method of clearing away Corruption from the lands surrounding your towns. This is important when playing against any wizard proficient in 
Chaos magic, as they tend to cast all sorts of spells that cause Corruption.
To clear away Corruption, Greyfairer first moves into the tile he wishes to cleanse. Then, issue the order to "Purify", in the unit's command menu.
When working alone, Greyfairer will take the same amount of time to Purify a tile as it takes for Shamans or Priests: about 5 turns per tile, regardless of its Terrain type. The process can be sped up by teaming him up with additional Purifying units and and ordering them all to Purify simultaneously. The fastest purification speed possible is 2 turns per tile, and is achieved with only 4 such units (including Greyfairer himself) working simultaneously. Additional Purifying units contribute nothing to the effort.
Once a tile has been cleared of Corruption, it resumes bestowing any nearby town with the same bonuses it had before being Corrupted.
Spellcasting[]
Greyfairer the Druid possesses the Caster ability by default, and initially has 7.5 Mana to spare (rounded down to 7). This Mana pool increases with Experience.
Greyfairer may cast any combat spell known to his employer. In addition, regardless of whether they are available to the employer, Greyfairer also has access to Web, Ice Bolt and Petrify. Some spells, including these three, may be unavailable for casting until Greyfairer can gain some Experience and increase his available Mana.
Note also that Magical Ranged Attacks will draw 3 Mana from Greyfairer's pool each time they are used. This will reduce the remaining Mana for spellcasting. Fortunately, Mana is completely replenished at the end of each and every battle.
To cast a spell with Greyfairer during combat, you must select Greyfairer, press the "Spell" button, and then select "Druid" from the pop-up list. If Greyfairer is out of Mana, out of Movement Points, has been killed or is otherwise incapacitated, his name will not appear on this list.
Note that using Greyfairer to cast spells does not reduce your own available Spell Casting Skill or Mana - he is completely independent and uses up his own skill and Mana.
Finally, the Caster ability also allows Greyfairer to augment your wizard's own Spell Casting Skill. To perform this, place Greyfairer in the same tile as your Fortress town. While he is inside this town, your Spell Casting Skill is increased by half the value of Greyfairer's Caster skill, rounded down.
Experience[]
The following table illustrates how Greyfairer's various skills and attributes increase as he gains Experience. Attributes not appearing on this list do not improve with Experience.
| Icon | Level Name | EP | Melee | Ranged | To Hit | Defense | Resist | Hits | Mana |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Hero | 0 - 19
|
1
|
8
|
30%
|
5
|
6
|
5
|
7.5
|
|
Myrmidon | 20 - 59
|
2
|
9
|
30%
|
6
|
7
|
6
|
15
|
|
Captain | 60 - 119
|
3
|
10
|
40%
|
6
|
8
|
7
|
22.5
|
|
Commander | 120 - 199
|
4
|
11
|
40%
|
7
|
9
|
8
|
30
|
|
Champion | 200 - 299
|
5
|
12
|
40%
|
7
|
10
|
9
|
37.5
|
|
Lord | 300 - 449
|
6
|
13
|
50%
|
8
|
11
|
10
|
45
|
|
Grand Lord | 450 - 599
|
7
|
14
|
50%
|
8
|
12
|
11
|
52.5
|
|
Super Hero | 600 - 999
|
8
|
15
|
50%
|
9
|
13
|
12
|
60
|
|
Demi-God | 1,000
|
9
|
16
|
60%
|
9
|
14
|
13
|
67.5
|
Average Damage Output[]
The following table shows Greyfairer's average Damage output with each of his attacks, based on his current Experience Level. Note that this table completely ignores bonuses from Magical Items, if any.
|
* Magical Ranged Attacks do not suffer To Hit penalties for distance. Therefore, the values in this column apply at any distance.
Improvement Overview[]
As with any other Hero, Greyfairer can eventually become very powerful as he gains Experience. Nonetheless, he is quite weak at the lower levels.
With additional levels, Greyfairer's Caster ability will allow him to cast more spells, or to perform several more Magical Ranged Attacks in each battle. This can turn him into a powerful ranged attacker or support hero.
It is important to note that none of Greyfairer's other abilities will improve with Experience. This is one reason why Greyfairer is often seen as somewhat inferior to other strong spell-casters.
Ability Overview[]
Caster ( 7.5)[]
- This Hero may cast spells during combat, withdrawing Mana from his/her own personal Mana Pool to do so.
- The Hero may spend only 7.5 per battle (rounded down to 7. This Mana Pool is reset at the end of each battle - assuming the Hero survives at all.
- With each Experience Level gained, this Hero receives a permanent bonus of +7.5.
- Spellcasting takes up all of the Hero's remaining Movement Points for the turn.
- While this Hero is inside his/her employer's Fortress town, the owner's Spell Casting Skill is increased by half the value of the Hero's Caster ability.
Scouting 3[]
- Increases the unit's Sight Range to 3. On the overland map, this unit can now reveal the fog-of-war and detect enemy units within 3 tiles of its position (including diagonals).
Purify[]
- This unit can Purify Corrupted tiles.
- To use this ability, travel to the Corrupted tile and select the "Purify" command.
- A single unit purifies a tile in 5 turns. Each additional unit simultaneously performing Purification in the same tile accelerates the process.
- The maximum rate - 2 turns to purify a tile - is achieved with 4 units working simultaneously. There is no benefit to adding more units.
Random Abilities[]
Greyfairer the Druid has no Random Abilities. Therefore, his various attributes will be exactly the same each time you play the game. This makes Greyfairer more predictable. He will never be any less or more useful than this article describes.
Equipment[]
Greyfairer the Druid has the following item slots:
| Icon | Name | Items that fit here |
|---|---|---|
|
Staff Slot | Staff or Wand |
|
Jewelry Slot #1 | Any Jewelry |
|
|
Jewelry Slot #2 | Any Jewelry |
This set-up is unique to mage-type Heroes, and allows them to significantly boost their magical abilities. The Jewelry pieces can be used to augment defensive properties instead (in order to increase Greyfairer's survivability), but might also combine offensive and defensive capabilities to make a well-rounded Hero.
Recommended Items[]
The mage set-up doesn't leave much choice in terms of items, as it will strictly increase Greyfairer's magical prowess. However there are several possible outcomes from mixing and matching various bonuses.
Weapon[]
- With a Staff Slot, Greyfairer is limited to using either a Staff or a Wand (with Staves often being stronger). In both cases, virtually any bonus will be useful! Spell casting skill bonuses (extra Mana) may eventually be less valuable than attack bonuses or To Hit though.
- Note that a Staff may give Defense bonuses, and might even be recommended if it does - protecting Greyfairer from enemy spells and Ranged Attacks.
- Furthermore, both weapons can give a Spell Save bonus. This can be very valuable to Greyfairer as he reaches Experience Level 5 ("Champion"), since he can now cast the Petrify spell. With Spell Save bonuses, this spell may be very difficult to resist, and thus very potent. Keep this in mind.
- Finally, note that neither weapon will improve Greyfairer's Melee Attack. All bonuses apply only to his Ranged Attack.
Jewelry[]
- Greyfairer can wear up to two pieces of Jewelry, and thus can mix-and-match bonuses from these items to get both a good magical prowess increase and some good defensive properties. Going for only one or the other may prove useless - try to get some of both.
- If you can acquire an item with a Movement Allowance bonus, a +1 or +2 may be extremely useful for Greyfairer. Not only do they allow him to avoid enemies more effectively during combat, but they also improve his ability to perform as a fast-moving scout - one of his best applications.
- Defense bonuses from Jewelry are important in order to protect Greyfairer from enemy Ranged Attacks and direct-damage spells, since like all mages he is quite fragile. Resistance can also prove beneficial, at least until Greyfairer acquires formidable Resistance on his own through Experience.
- Again, Spell Save bonuses can be terrific - especially if both Jewelry pieces bestow them - for use with the Petrify spell. With a -8 Spell Save bonus (can be up to -12 with a similar Staff!) it will be possible to reliably petrify even some of the most resistant enemies!
- Both Attack and To Hit bonuses will apply to both of Greyfairer's attacks, but don't expect them to actually make his Melee Attack useful against any but the weakest enemies. Also, without significant Mana bonuses he may not be able to use his Ranged Attack often enough for it to make the most of such bonuses. If possible, try increasing Mana by at least a little bit.
Acquisition[]
Greyfairer the Druid can be acquired in one of four different methods:
- By hiring him as he comes to visit your Fortress town,
- By casting the Summon Hero or Summon Champion spells,
- By rescuing him from an Encounter zone,
- By Resurrecting him after he has been killed in battle.
Hiring Greyfairer[]
Every once in a while, a Hero will arrive at your Fortress town to ask for employment. The frequency of this event depends on your current Fame score, the number of Heroes already under your employ, and whether or not you have particular Retorts that affect this chance.
In order for Greyfairer to appear for hire in this way, you must meet several requirements:
- You must have at least 5 Fame points.
- You must have sufficient Gold in your treasury to hire Greyfairer (more on this below).
- Greyfairer must not have already been killed in battle.
Since the game randomly chooses which Hero appears during this event, there's no guarantee that Greyfairer will ever appear. The chance, however, increases if the number of other valid Heroes dwindles (such as when most other Heroes have died in battle).
The default Hiring Cost for Greyfairer is 150. This is reduced to 75 if your wizard has the Charismatic Retort. If you do not have this much Gold at the start of a turn (after paying all Upkeep Costs), Greyfairer will not appear for hire. In fact, if he is picked as the Hero who approaches you, and you lack the money to hire him, you are effectively forfeiting your chance to hire any Hero this turn.
After agreeing to hire Greyfairer (you can always refuse), you may give him any name you choose - he will be known as "<name> the Druid". His overland unit will appear at your Fortress town or, if that town's garrison is full, next to your Fortress town.
Summoning Greyfairer[]
As a non-Champion hero, Greyfairer the Druid can be summoned using either the Summon Hero or Summon Champion spells. However, Summon Champion only has a chance to bring Greyfairer to you if all Champions are unavailable at the time.
Once the spell is completed, the game chooses a random Hero to bring to your Fortress from a list of all available and valid Heroes. Therefore, there is no guarantee that Greyfairer will appear when these spells are cast, unless all other Heroes are unavailable.
Again, you get a chance to agree or refuse to hire Greyfairer. If you agree, he will appear in your Fortress town and/or next to it.
If Greyfairer is hired through the use of Summon Hero or Summon Champion, there is no need to pay any Hiring Cost. However, you may still need to pay an Upkeep Cost (see below).
Rescuing Greyfairer[]
On defeating an Encounter of at least moderate difficulty, there is a small chance that your reward will include a Prisoner previously held captive in this Encounter zone.
The game can randomly pick any non-Champion Hero to be rescued in this way - except Heroes that have already died while in your service. Your Fame and Gold are disregarded, and there is no need to pay any Hiring Costs.
Note that if the army that beats that particular Encounter already contains 9 units, you will never be rewarded with a Prisoner.
Resurrecting Greyfairer[]
For most wizards, losing Greyfairer in battle removes him from the game permanently. He will never appear again.
For 
Life-wielding wizards, however, who have access to the Resurrection spell, it is possible to bring Greyfairer back to life after he has died. In this case, Greyfairer returns to your Fortress town, with no Magical Items, but keeping all Experience he had prior to his death.
You may repeatedly resurrect Greyfairer each time he dies.
Upkeep Costs[]
Once Greyfairer is in your employ, you must pay him an Upkeep Cost of 3 at the start of each and every turn. Failure to pay this price due to lack of Gold results in Greyfairer leaving your employ. This is not permanent however: Greyfairer may still be acquired in any of the above methods with no penalty.
Alternate Names[]
Other wizards can also have a Druid, but they are different characters (what happens to one has no effect on the others), and go by different names, as follows:
Druid |
Player | Alternate Name |
|---|---|---|
| Human (0) | Greyfairer | |
| Wizard 1 | Tholin | |
| Wizard 2 | Greenleaf | |
| Wizard 3 | Blackhawk | |
| Wizard 4 | Feylass |