Jaer The Wind Mage | ||||
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Type | Non-Champion | |||
Hiring Cost | 200 | |||
Upkeep Cost | 4 | |||
Prereq. | 10 | |||
Moves | 2 * | |||
Melee Attack | 1 | |||
Ranged Attack | 6 | |||
Defense | 5 | |||
Resistance | 6 | |||
Hit Points | 5 | |||
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Caster ( 7.5) Missile Immunity | ||||
Random Abilities | 1 (Mage) | |||
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Jaer the Wind Mage is one of the 35 Hero units featured in Master of Magic.
Jaer is a non-Champion Hero. He may randomly appear for hire if a wizard has at least 10 Fame points, in which case his Hiring Cost is 200 by default. Alternatively, Jaer 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.
Jaer boasts a strong Magical Ranged Attack, but with virtually no Melee Attack capabilities. He also has the innate ability of Missile Immunity, which protects him from several types of Ranged Attacks. This makes Jaer a valuable combat support unit, despite his other middling defensive properties.
Jaer's primary advantage is that he has the Wind Walking ability by default - which allows him and any unit stacked with him to Fly while on the overland map (but not during combat). He can therefore be used almost as a type of Ship to transport units between continents. Note also that Jaer receives an extra Random Ability from the "Mage" category to further boost his capabilities.
Jaer 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, Jaer may also cast the Guardian Wind and Word of Recall spells - assuming he has sufficient Mana to do so.
Jaer 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.
Jaer's Upkeep Cost is 4 per turn, unless he has randomly acquired the Noble trait.
General Description[]
Jaer the Wind Mage is a spell-caster who has studied the magical properties of air and wind, and can manipulate them to his advantage. His impressive long blond hair is swept about by the constant gales that surround this Wind Mage. Jaer's appearance indicates that he is probably a member of the High Elf race, but there is no confirmation of this.
Jaer wears a red cape with blue pants, and rides a dark-blond horse. He is probably best identified by a large bird-shaped jewel which seems to grow right out of his forehead (it might be held there by some band, which we cannot see).
Initial Properties[]
Note: All data below assumes Jaer 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[]
Jaer the Wind Mage's primary mode of attack is a Magical Ranged Attack of moderately-high strength. Unfortunately, until he can gain a significant amount of Mana, the number of times he can use this attack is pretty limited. Jaer also possesses an extremely weak Melee Attack, though this can eventually become useful after many Experience Levels have been acquired.
Jaer's Ranged Attack has a default strength of 6. Given a basic To Hit chance of 30%, he can be expected to deliver about 1.8 points of Damage with this attack, on average. It is not too impressive an attack, but is sufficient to damage most enemy units to some degree.
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 Jaer'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 Jaer 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.
Jaer'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, Jaer the Wind Mage 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 Jaer 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.
This vulnerability does not apply to enemy Ranged Missile Attacks, thanks to Jaer's innate Missile Immunity ability. Whenever such an attack strikes him, his Defense rating is temporarily boosted to 50, essentially making him totally immune! Very few units (mostly high-Experience and very-well-equipped enemy Heroes) would have anywhere near the amount of Ranged Attack Strength to penetrate this much armor. Note that a Slingers unit's attack, though marked by Boulders, is considered a Ranged Missile Attack.
Jaer possesses a below-average 5 Hit Points by default. This means that it doesn't take a lot of damage to kill Jaer, and puts him at danger whenever he is sent into battle.
As with most Heroes, Jaer 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[]
Jaer the Wind Mage 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, Jaer may need to use his speed to stay away from stronger enemies.
Note also that while he is on the overland map, Jaer and any units stacked with him gain the ability to Fly. This is thanks to Jaer's innate Wind Walking ability. Furthermore, Jaer's Movement Allowance determines the movement allowance of the entire stack! In other words, if Jaer can move 2 tiles per turn, any stack he is in can move 2 tiles per turn, regardless of the actual speed of the other units.
Note that the Flying ability does not apply during combat, and can cause problems if enemies are encountered while over an Ocean or Shore tile.
Spellcasting[]
Jaer the Wind Mage possesses the Caster ability by default, and initially has 7.5 Mana to spare (rounded down to 7). This Mana pool increases with Experience.
Jaer may cast any combat spell known to his employer. In addition, regardless of whether they are available to the employer, Jaer also has access to Word of Recall and Guardian Wind spells. Some spells, including these two additional spells, may be unavailable for casting until Jaer can gain some Experience and increase his available Mana.
Note also that Magical Ranged Attacks will draw 3 Mana from Jaer'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 Jaer during combat, you must select Jaer, press the "Spell" button, and then select "Wind Mage" from the pop-up list. If Jaer 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 Jaer to cast spells does not reduce your own available Spell Skill or Mana - he is completely independent and uses up his own skill and Mana.
Finally, the Caster ability also allows Jaer to augment your wizard's own Spell Skill. To perform this, place Jaer in the same tile as your Fortress town. While he is inside this town, your Spell Skill is increased by half the value of Jaer's Caster skill, rounded down.
Experience[]
The following table illustrates how Jaer's various skills and attributes increase as he gains Experience. Attributes not appearing on this list do not improve with Experience. Also note that Jaer always receives an extra Random Ability which may also increase with Experience, and may adjust any of the attributes listed below!
Icon | Level Name | EP | Melee | Ranged | To Hit | Defense | Resist | Hits | Mana |
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Hero | 0 - 19 | 1 | 6 | 30% | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7.5 | |
Myrmidon | 20 - 59 | 2 | 7 | 30% | 6 | 7 | 6 | 15 | |
Captain | 60 - 119 | 3 | 8 | 40% | 6 | 8 | 7 | 22.5 | |
Commander | 120 - 199 | 4 | 9 | 40% | 7 | 9 | 8 | 30 | |
Champion | 200 - 299 | 5 | 10 | 40% | 7 | 10 | 9 | 37.5 | |
Lord | 300 - 449 | 6 | 11 | 50% | 8 | 11 | 10 | 45 | |
Grand Lord | 450 - 599 | 7 | 12 | 50% | 8 | 12 | 11 | 52.5 | |
Super Hero | 600 - 999 | 8 | 13 | 50% | 9 | 13 | 12 | 60 | |
Demi-God | 1,000 | 9 | 14 | 60% | 9 | 14 | 13 | 67.5 |
Average Damage Output[]
The following table shows Jaer'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. You can use the checkboxes to see the effect of some of the Random Abilities that Jaer may pick at the start of each game.
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* 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, Jaer can eventually become very powerful as he gains Experience. Nonetheless, he is quite weak at the lower levels.
With additional levels, Jaer's Caster ability will allow him to perform several more Magical Ranged Attacks in each battle (or cast more spells). This can turn him into a powerful ranged attacker or support hero.
If Jaer ends up with a Random Ability that increases at each level, this can significantly boost his capabilities. In particular, Arcane Power will quickly raise Jaer's Magical Ranged Attack strength. Alternatively, an extra level of Caster will improve his Mana pool faster than normal.
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 Skill is increased by half the value of the Hero's Caster ability.
Wind Walking[]
- While on the overland map, this unit is capable of Flying.
- If this unit is stacked with other units, all units receive the ability to Fly while on the overland map. Furthermore, the entire stack's Movement Allowance is determined by the Wind Walking unit's Movement Allowance.
- Note that the Flying bonus disappears for the duration of combat. This can be a problem for instance when starting a battle over Ocean terrain when some or all units in the stack cannot Fly or Swim.
Missile Immunity[]
- Any Missile Attack performed against this unit will temporarily raise the unit's Defense score to 50 - allowing it to block virtually any incoming damage.
- Magical or Boulder attacks do not trigger this effect, and will damage the unit as normal.
Random Abilities[]
When a new game is started, the program randomly chooses 1 additional ability for Jaer. This is called a Random Ability. The selection is done completely at random (while observing a limit on the strength of certain abilities) from the list below:
Arcane Power | Caster | Charmed | Lucky |
Noble | Prayermaster | Sage |
Since he only gets one pick, Jaer will never be able to upgrade any of these to its "Super" version.
Whichever Random Ability is picked, it is permanent. Jaer will never re-randomize his ability during the course of a single game. He may, however, pick a different ability in the next game.
If the Caster ability is picked, it will increase Jaer's available Mana for spellcasting by 2.5 (to a total of 10) per every Experience Level - including the first level.
Probably the most beneficial ability however will be Arcane Power, which increases Jaer's Ranged Attack strength by +1 per level (on top of the bonus from Experience). Prayermaster can also come in handy, since it gives bonuses to each unit in Jaer's stack, and this Hero will often be in the company of many other units (since he is often used to transport them around).
Equipment[]
Jaer the Wind Mage has the following item slots:
Icon | Name | Items that fit here |
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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 Jaer'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 Jaer's magical prowess. However there are several possible outcomes from mixing and matching various bonuses.
Weapon[]
- With a Staff Slot, Jaer 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 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 Jaer from enemy spells and Magical Ranged Attacks. Remember of course that Jaer has innate protection from Ranged Missile Attacks, so the usefulness of this is somewhat lower. Resistance bonuses may actually be preferable - protecting him from Curses and other spells.
- Finally, note that neither weapon will improve Jaer's Melee Attack. All bonuses apply only to his Ranged Attack.
Jewelry[]
- Jaer 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.
- Since Jaer's Wind Walking ability is his primary advantage, any Movement Allowance bonuses you can acquire will be excellent - they will speed up the movement of any stack in which Jaer is present, and thus allow him to transport whole armies at a very fast pace, across any kind of Terrain.
- Defense bonuses from Jewelry are important in order to protect Jaer from enemy Magical Ranged Attacks and direct-damage spells. Remember that Jaer's Missile Immunity will protect him from Ranged Missile Attacks, but not from magical attacks. As a result, Resistance can also prove beneficial, at least until Jaer acquires formidable Resistance on his own through Experience.
- Mana bonuses will also be helpful, as they will either increase the number of Ranged Attacks that Jaer can perform, or increase his ability to cast spells. The need for these bonuses will diminish as Jaer gains extra Mana through his own Experience.
- Spell Save bonuses can be useful, but are not necessary if you possess few Curses or other similar spells.
- Attack Strength and To Hit bonuses will apply to both of Jaer'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 Magical 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[]
Jaer the Wind Mage 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 Jaer[]
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 Jaer to appear for hire in this way, you must meet several requirements:
- You must have at least 10 Fame points.
- You must have sufficient Gold in your treasury to hire Jaer (more on this below).
- Jaer must not have already been killed in battle.
Since the game randomly chooses which Hero appears during this event, there's no guarantee that Jaer 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 Jaer is 200. This is reduced to 100 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), Jaer 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 Jaer (you can always refuse), you may give him any name you choose - he will be known as "<name> the Wind Mage". His overland unit will appear at your Fortress town or, if that town's garrison is full, next to your Fortress town.
Summoning Jaer[]
As a non-Champion hero, Jaer the Wind Mage can be summoned using either the Summon Hero or Summon Champion spells. However, Summon Champion only has a chance to bring Jaer 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 Jaer will appear when these spells are cast, unless all other Heroes are unavailable.
Again, you get a chance to agree or refuse to hire Jaer. If you agree, he will appear in your Fortress town and/or next to it.
If Jaer 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 Jaer[]
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 Jaer[]
For most wizards, losing Jaer 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 Jaer back to life after he has died. In this case, Jaer returns to your Fortress town, with no Magical Items, but keeping all Experience he had prior to his death.
You may repeatedly resurrect Jaer each time he dies.
Upkeep Costs[]
Once Jaer is in your employ, you must pay him an Upkeep Cost of 4 at the start of each and every turn. Failure to pay this price due to lack of Gold results in Jaer leaving your employ. This is not permanent however: Jaer may still be acquired in any of the above methods with no penalty.
Alternate Names[]
Other wizards can also have a Wind Mage, but they are different characters (what happens to one has no effect on the others), and go by different names, as follows:
Wind Mage |
Player | Alternate Name |
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Human (0) | Jaer | |
Wizard 1 | Graydon | |
Wizard 2 | Aquilon | |
Wizard 3 | Shadowin | |
Wizard 4 | Arcus |