Mace

Mace
Slots
Base Value	100 /  100
Special Properties	Magical Melee Attack
Possible Bonuses (Item)
Melee Attack	+1  +2  +3
Defense	+1
Mana	+5
Possible Item Powers: Item Power Req. Spellbooks Stoning 2 Resist Elements 2 Resist Magic 2
Possible Bonuses (Artifact)
Melee Attack	+1  +2  +3  +4
To Hit	+10%  +20%  +30%
Defense	+1
Mana	+5  +10
Possible Item Powers: Item Power Req. Spellbooks Holy Avenger 3 Stoning 2 Resist Elements 2 Giant Strength 3 Elemental Armor 4 Resist Magic 2 Magic Immunity 5 Phantasmal 6 Haste 7 Flaming 2 Destruction 5 Lightning 5 Chaos 6 Death 3 Power Drain 4 Vampiric 5

A Mace is a type of Magical Item which can be equipped on any Hero possessing an appropriate slot. The bonuses on the Mace will enhance that Hero's performance, particularly his/her Melee Attack.

As with any Magical Item, Maces can have a total mix of up to 4 different bonuses and/or Item Enchantments. Maces are a compromise between the Sword's low Attack bonuses and high Defense bonuses, and the Axe's high attack bonuses and no Defense bonuses. Unfortunately, as a result of this compromise, Maces are often inferior to both other Melee weapon types.

As with any other melee weapon, Maces can receive Item Enchantments that alter the Hero's attack, making it more dangerous in one way or another. Very few Maces will alter a Hero's Ranged Attack or other attack types (if he/she has any at all), and that is always thanks to specific Item Enchantments.

Description Edit

Maces are by far some of the oldest melee weapons ever made: a simple bone or sturdy branch can be used as a striking tool. Over the millennia, men have made maces more efficient by making one end (the "head") heavier and more deadly, and the other sturdier (the handle). Proper balance allowed countless soldiers to bash each other mercilessly ever since. The Mace made a particularly good comeback with the introduction of heavier armor, since the force of the impact is what causes the damage - even if the armor cannot be penetrated.

Maces are sturdy enough to block enemy attacks, and thus can confer a small defensive advantage. However, they are not as useful in this regard as the blade of a Sword. Maces do tend to cause more damage to their target, of course, due to the sheer forces they exert - but cannot equal the hacking power of a good Axe. Thus, the Mace is a jack-of-all-trades, the non-specialist of the melee weapon family.

The Basic Item Edit

The Mace is one of many possible Magical Item types in Master of Magic. Magical Items can be Crafted by a wizard (tailored to the specific needs of a Hero under the wizard's employ), found as rewards for defeating a suitably-dangerous Encounter (in which case the item already has a set of pre-defined bonuses), bought from Item Merchants or even given as gifts from the gods.

Any Mace can be equipped on a Hero, if said Hero possesses an appropriate weapon slot. Maces can only fit into the following slots:

Sword Slot

Bow Slot

Sword & Staff Slot

Heroes that do not possess any of the above slots may never be equipped with a Mace.

When any Mace is equipped on a Hero, that Hero's  Normal Melee Attack becomes a  Magical Melee Attack. The only effect this has is that the Hero no longer triggers any Weapon Immunity possessed by target creatures when making a Melee Attack on those creatures. It does not confer a  +10% To Hit bonus like  Magical Melee Weapons confer to Normal Units.

Any additional attack strength bonuses on a Mace will only apply to the Hero's  Melee Attack. Any Item Enchantments imbued into a Mace that directly alter the Hero's attack, such as adding Special Damage to it, also apply only to the Hero's Melee Attack. A few Item Enchantments, however, have a complex effect that can end up altering the Hero's other attacks, if he/she has any.

Crafting a Mace Edit

It is possible to create a new Mace (like any other Magical Item) using the Item Crafting process. This is initiated by casting either the Enchant Item spell or the Create Artifact spell, though there are differences in the potential strength of the new Mace depending on which spell is chosen.

During Item Crafting it is possible to select a Mace as the type of Magical Item being created. This sets the default cost of casting the item-crafting spell to  100.

Once the Mace is selected, the Item Crafting menu will show all bonuses and Item Enchantments that can be imbued into it. Click the desired options to add them to the weapon, or click a selected option to remove it. Regardless of which item-crafting spell was selected, a Mace can only take up to 4 different bonuses and/or Item Enchantments - just like any other item in the game.

Each additional bonus will increases the value of the item by a set amount. The more powerful the bonus or enchantment, the more it raises the item's value (see list below). An item with higher value costs more  Mana to create, and thus may take more than one turn to complete.

Maces do not have any distinct advantage over other Melee weapons - in fact they are designed not to. A Mace can be imbued with slightly higher  Melee Attack bonuses than a Sword, and slightly better  Defense bonuses than the Axe, but gives up dominance in both fields when compared to a Sword or Axe.

This is primarily important at times when small bonuses make a great difference - such as during the early game, or when equipping a low-level Hero. In fact, when using Enchant Item (see below), a Sword is always superior to a Mace.

On the other hand, when choosing a weapon for an already-powerful Hero, the choice between Mace, Axe and Sword is much less relevant - and thus any one of the three weapons will do, especially if it has powerful Item Enchantments imbued into it. If you acquire a good Mace for such a Hero, use it.

Enchant Item Edit

The Enchant Item spell limits the strength of the bonuses that can be imbued into a Mace, and also the types of Item Enchantments that can be added to it.

As a result of these limitations, there is no reason (in game terms) to use Enchant Item to create a Mace: a Sword can take better  Defense bonuses than a Mace, and an Axe can significantly help any Hero with a  Thrown Attack - whereas the Mace has no advantage over either of these.

Naturally, if you're not planning to add any serious  Defense bonuses, and your Hero has no  Thrown Attack, you can always choose the Mace as an aesthetic decision. In this case, you'll get no benefit from the other weapon types, and no disadvantage from having chosen a Mace.

Available Bonuses Edit

Bonus Type	Options	Extra Cost	Description
Attack Strength	+1	+50	Increases the Hero's maximum damage output with a Melee Attack by the listed amount. Average damage output increases accordingly, subjected to the Hero's  To Hit score.
	+2	+100
	+3	+200
Defense	+1	+50	Increases the maximum amount of  Damage this Hero can block from direct-damage attacks. Average blocked damage increases accordingly, subjected to the Hero's To Block score.
Mana	+5	+200	Increases the amount of  Mana available in each battle for casting combat spells and/or for making  Magical Ranged Attacks. This bonus has no effect if the Hero lacks the Caster ability.

Available Item Enchantments Edit

Name	Required Spellbooks	Extra Cost	Effects
Resist Elements	2	+100	Permanent Resist Elements: Hero receives  +3 Resistance against Nature and Chaos effects, and  +3 Defense against  Magical Ranged Attacks.
Stoning	2	+150	Adds Stoning Touch -1: When this Hero makes a Melee Attack, each figure in the target unit must Resist at  -1 or die instantly.
Resist Magic	2	+200	Permanent Resist Magic: Hero receives  +5 Resistance against all ill-effects.

Create Artifact Edit

The Create Artifact spell allows Maces to be imbued with much more powerful bonuses and/or Item Enchantments. Certain limitations still apply, based mainly on the type and number of Spellbooks you possess, and the amount of  Mana you wish to spend on creating the item.

Unlike with Enchant Item (see above), with Create Artifact the Mace does have a small advantage over other weapons. It has slightly-better  Melee Attack bonuses available than a Sword, and still has an advantage over the Axe in available  Defense bonuses. However, since it excels in neither offense or defense, it can sometimes be seen as a pointless compromise.

Note: The Create Artifact spell is not inherently more expensive than Enchant Item, it only allows purchasing more expensive bonuses and Item Enchantments. It is possible to create the same (low-value) Mace with both spells at no extra cost. Thus, if Create Artifact is available, there is no reason to use Enchant Item at all.

Available Bonuses Edit

Bonus Type	Options	Extra Cost	Description
Attack Strength	+1	+50	Increases the Hero's maximum damage output with a Melee Attack by the listed amount. Average damage output increases accordingly, subjected to the Hero's  To Hit score.
	+2	+100
	+3	+200
	+4	+400
Defense	+1	+50	Increases the maximum amount of  Damage this Hero can block from direct-damage attacks. Average blocked damage increases accordingly, subjected to the Hero's To Block score.
To Hit	+10%	+400	Increases the Hero's average damage output with a Melee Attack by X percent of his/her total  Melee Attack strength.
	+20%	+800
	+30%	+1,200
Mana	+5	+200	Increases the amount of  Mana available in each battle for casting combat spells and/or for making  Magical Ranged Attacks. This bonus has no effect if the Hero lacks the Caster ability.
	+10	+400

Available Item Powers Edit

Name	Required Spellbooks	Extra Cost	Effects
Holy Avenger	3	+500	Permanent Bless and Dispel Evil: Hero receives  +3 Defense and  +3 Resistance, only against spells and creatures from the Death and Chaos realms. During melee combat against Fantastic Units from either realm, The lead figure in the target unit must Resist at  -4 or die instantly.
Resist Elements	2	+100	Permanent Resist Elements: Hero receives  +3 Resistance and  +3 Defense against various types of Nature and Chaos attacks and ill effects.
Stoning	2	+150	Adds Stoning Touch -1: When this Hero makes a Melee Attack, each figure in the target unit must Resist at  -1 or die instantly.
Giant Strength	3	+300	Permanent Giant Strength: Hero receives  +1 Melee Attack strength.
Elemental Armor	4	+500	Permanent Elemental Armor: Hero receives  +10 Resistance and  +10 Defense against various types of Nature and Chaos attacks and ill effects.
Resist Magic	2	+200	Permanent Resist Magic: Hero receives  +5 Resistance against all ill-effects.
Magic Immunity	5	+700	Permanent Magic Immunity: Hero cannot be harmed by most harmful spells and Special Attacks, and receives  50 Defense against all  Magical Ranged Attacks.
Phantasmal	6	+1,500	Adds Illusion Damage to the Hero's  Melee Attack: Target units without Illusions Immunity or Magic Immunity cannot make  Defense rolls against this attack.
Haste	7	+2,000	Permanent Haste: Hero's Movement Allowance is doubled. Whenever the Hero makes any Melee, Ranged or Counter attack, he/she makes 2 complete attacks in a row (for no extra Movement Points cost).
Flaming	2	+300	Hero receives  +3 Melee Attack strength.
Lightning	5	+800	Adds Armor Piercing Damage to the Hero's  Melee Attack: The target's  Defense score is reduced by 50% when blocking this attack.
Destruction	5	+1,000	Adds Disintegration Damage to the Hero's  Melee Attack: The lead figure in the target unit must  Resist or be Disintegrated.
Chaos	6	+2,000	Hero's  Melee Attack is halved in strength, but delivers Doom Damage: It makes no  To Hit rolls and the target may not make any  Defense rolls.
Death	3	+400	Adds Death Damage to the Hero's  Melee Attack: The lead figure in the target unit must Resist at  -3 or be destroyed.
Power Drain	4	+500	Adds Power Drain Damage to the Hero's  Melee Attack: Target unit with Caster loses  2-20. Targets without Caster are unaffected.
Vampiric	5	+800	Adds Life Stealing Damage: Target unit makes  Resistance roll and loses life accordingly. Hero is also healed accordingly. Targets killed primarily by Life Steal come back as Undead, under the Hero's employer's control.

Acquiring a Pre-Defined Mace Edit

The game data files contain 250 items that were designed by Simtex - each with its own pre-set name, bonuses and/or Item Enchantments. 26 of these items are Maces.

There are three different ways by which you can acquire one of these pre-defined Maces:

• By winning a difficult Encounter.
• By purchasing it from a traveling Item Merchant.
• As result of a random Event called "The Gift".

It is often better to acquire items in this way, as it means you do not need to spend any time or  Mana to create them. However, since the offered item is chosen at random, and since all 250 items have pre-defined bonuses and enchantments, you may or may not receive an item that's really suitable to your needs.

Furthermore, many of the pre-defined items possess Item Enchantments that cannot legally be added to them via Item Crafting.

Maces as Treasure Edit

Whenever an Encounter zone of sufficient difficulty level is cleared of its initial defenders, the winning army may receive a Mace (or any other Magical Item) as a reward.

The game may select (at random) any item whose total value does not exceed the remaining treasure points given by the Encounter. Thus, the more difficult the Encounter, the more potential there is to receive a high-value item.

If the selected item's value is significantly lower than the remaining treasure points, the game will try to select additional rewards (possibly more items).

Maces from Item Merchants Edit

Item Merchants have a certain chance to appear at the start of any overland turn. This chance is primarily influenced by the wizard's current Fame score. When the roll dictates that a Merchant should appear, the game selects an item at random from the entire list of all 250 pre-set items.

Item Merchants will only offer the selected item if the wizard has 3 times as much  Gold as the value of the item itself. Charismatic wizards need only 1.5 times as much  Gold as the item's value, since they pay half-price for any item. If you lack sufficient Gold at the start of the turn, the Item Merchant will simply not appear this turn.

Maces as Gifts Edit

Finally, an Event called "The Gift" may occur at random at the start of any overland turn, bestowing a Mace (or any other Magical Item) to your wizard, for no cost whatsoever. This event can choose any of the 250 pre-defined items, including any of the 26 available Maces.

List of Pre-Defined Maces Edit

Below is a list of each Mace present in the default game-data files.

Note: The ItemMake program which is supplied with the game allows users to alter the list of pre-set items at will: you can change any of these items (within the same constraints as those of a Create Artifact spell), add new ones, or remove existing ones from the list. Therefore the list below may or may not match your game-files.

Image	Name	Total Value	Bonuses and Item Enchantments
	Cannes Mace	200	+1 Melee Attack,
			+1 Defense.
	Deathbringer	500	Death
	Pummel Mace	550	+1 Melee Attack,
			+10% To Hit.
	Idspispopd	600	+1 Melee Attack,
			+1 Defense,
			+10% To Hit.
	Mauler	850	+4 Melee Attack,
			+10% To Hit.
	Iron's Mace	1,000	+1 Melee Attack,
			+1 Defense,
			+20% To Hit.
	Skull Smasher	1,100	+3 Melee Attack,
			+20% To Hit.
	Mace of Disintegration	1,100	Destruction.
	Peppermace of Gates	1,150	+3 Melee Attack,
			+1 Defense,
			+10% To Hit.
	Merlin's Nails	1,250	Power Drain,
			+3 Melee Attack,
			+1 Defense,
			+10 Mana.
	Freya's Friend	1,350	Power Drain,
			Holy Avenger,
			+3 Melee Attack,
			+1 Defense.
	Fist of Destruction	1,550	Destruction,
			Death,
			+1 Melee Attack.
	Storm Mace	1,600	Flaming
			Lightning
			+3 Melee Attack,
			+5 Mana.
	Intimidator	1,600	+1 Melee Attack,
			+1 Defense,
			+30% To Hit,
			+5 Mana.
	Jan's Hammer	1,700	+4 Melee Attack,
			+1 Defense,
			+30% To Hit.
	The Inquisition	1,700	+4 Melee Attack,
			+1 Defense,
			+30% To Hit.
	Whirlwind	1,750	Giant Strength,
			+2 Melee Attack,
			+1 Defense,
			+30% To Hit.
	Morphain's Friend	1,800	Elemental Armor,
			Stoning,
			Magic Immunity,
			+4 Melee Attack,
	Fang's Avenger	2,100	Vampiric,
			+4 Melee Attack,
			+1 Defense,
			+20% To Hit.
	Dracken Mace	2,300	Power Drain,
			Magic Immunity,
			+3 Melee Attack,
			+20% To Hit.
	Club of Chaos	2,650	Chaos,
			+2 Melee Attack,
			+1 Defense,
			+10% To Hit.
	Thor's Hammer	2,950	Lightning,
			Holy avenger,
			+4 Melee Attack,
			+30% To Hit.
	Hand of God	3,050	Holy Avenger,
			Haste,
			+2 Defense,
			+10 Mana.
	Maul of Bathory	3,750	Vampiric,
			Elemental Armor,
			Haste,
			+4 Melee Attack.
	World Ender	4,950	Chaos,
			Destruction,
			Phantasmal,
			+4 Melee Attack.
	Orc Smasher	4,950	Chaos,
			Destruction,
			Phantasmal,
			+4 Melee Attack,