| Tumu The Assassin | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Type | Non-Champion | |||
| Hiring Cost |
 150 | |||
| Upkeep Cost |
3 | |||
| Prereq. |
 5 | |||
| Moves |
 2 | |||
| Melee Attack |
 3 | |||
| Defense |
 5 | |||
| Resistance |
 6 | |||
| Hit Points |
 6 | |||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
 Poison Touch 5 | ||||
| Random Abilities | 1 (Fighter) | |||
Tumu the Assassin is one of the 35 Hero units featured in Master of Magic.
Tumu 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, Tumu 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.
Tumu has a very weak Melee Attack. Though it improves with Experience and thanks to the Blademaster ability, Tumu's Melee Attack will never be as impressive as that of other Heroes. On the other hand, whenever Tumu makes a voluntary attack on an enemy unit, he also delivers a Poison Touch attack with a strength of 5. This attack can be very deadly to enemy units with low Resistance scores - but is largely useless against more resistant opponents.
Furthermore, Tumu always receives one additional Random Ability selected from the "Fighter" category. This may further boost his Melee Attack strength, or possibly turn him into a good support-hero.
Tumu may be equipped with the basic fare of Magical Items. He will not be able to cast spells, and thus can focus on gaining various bonuses to increase his attack strength or defensive properties.
Tumu's Upkeep Cost is 3 per turn, unless he has randomly acquired the Noble trait.
General Description[]
Tumu the Assassin comes from the hot lands near the equator, the lands of the Nomads. Trained by the finest assassins, he has learned the skill of concocting dangerous poisons, applying them to various weapons, and the proper use of these weapons during combat. Though he is not a very powerful warrior, his poisonous strike can still fell unsuspecting enemies.
Tumu is a dark-skinned, stern-looking man. He dresses in his customary regional attire, with a large light-blue turban and a long light-green robe. His neck is adorned by a set of thick golden rings. Tumu can be seen holding a sharp spear (whose tip is undoubtedly smeared in poison). He rides a black horse.
Initial Properties[]
Note: All data below assumes Tumu 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[]
Tumu the Assassin possesses two types of attacks: a Melee Attack of disappointing strength, and an additional Touch Attack delivering Poison Damage. Both attacks are employed whenever Tumu attacks or Counter Attacks. However, they are very different in many ways.
Tumu's Melee Attack has a default strength of only 3. With a basic 
30% chance to hit, he can be expected to deliver only about 
0.9 Points of Damage with this attack. He is therefore unlikely to pierce any but the most basic armor, and will struggle to inflict any damage on better-armored units.
Tumu's other attack is a Touch Attack delivering Poison Damage, and thus behaves very differently from his Melee Attack. Instead of inflicting damage that can be blocked by the enemy's Defense score, this attack challenges the target's Resistance score. The Poison Attack has a strength of 5, which means that the target must make 5 separate rolls, each between 1 and 10. For every roll that comes up higher than the target's Resistance score, the target suffers 1 point of Damage. Therefore, the target can suffer up to 5, but only if it fails all 5 rolls.
This Poison Attack is primarily useful against targets possessing a low Resistance score, and can inflict heavy damage to such units. Normal Units, in particular, are very vulnerable to it. On the other hand, any target with 10 or more is completely immune to the Poison Attack, as is any target possessing Poison Immunity.
Note that as a Touch Attack, Tumus Poison Damage is delivered simultaneously with his Melee Damage. This means that enemy 
figures killed by the poison still get to deliver their own Melee Damage back at Tumu. On the other hand, this Touch Attack is used both when Tumu makes a voluntary attack against his target, as well as when Counter Attacking to an enemy.
Defensive Properties[]
By default, Tumu the Assassin 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 Tumu 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.
Tumu possesses 6 Hit Points by default. This is a respectable amount for a low-level Hero, and should allow him to survive a few hits from low-tier Normal Units. He is not nearly healthy enough to take on any serious opposition though.
As with most Heroes, Tumu 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[]
Tumu the Assassin 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, Tumu may need to use his speed to stay away from stronger enemies.
Experience[]
The following table illustrates how Tumu's various skills and attributes increase as he gains Experience. Bonuses from his innate Blademaster ability have already been taken into account in the values below. Attributes not appearing on this list do not improve with Experience. Also note that Tumu's chosen Random Ability may also increase with Experience, and may adjust any of the attributes listed below!
| Level Icon | Level Name | EP | Melee | To Hit | Defense | Resist | Hits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Hero |  0 - 19
|
3
|
30%
|
5
|
6
|
6
|
|
Myrmidon | 20 - 59
|
4
|
40%
|
6
|
7
|
7
|
|
Captain | 60 - 119
|
5
|
50%
|
6
|
8
|
8
|
|
Commander | 120 - 199
|
6
|
60%
|
7
|
9
|
9
|
|
Champion | 200 - 299
|
7
|
60%
|
7
|
10
|
10
|
|
Lord | 300 - 449
|
8
|
80%
|
8
|
11
|
11
|
|
Grand Lord | 450 - 599
|
9
|
80%
|
8
|
12
|
12
|
|
Super Hero | 600 - 999
|
10
|
90%
|
9
|
13
|
13
|
|
Demi-God | 1,000
|
11
|
100%
|
9
|
14
|
14
|
Average Damage Output[]
The following table shows Tumu's average Damage output with his Melee Attack, based on his current Experience Level. The effects of the Blademaster ability have already been taken into account in the values below. You can use the checkboxes to see the effect of some of the Random Abilities that Tumu may occasionally possess. Note that this table completely ignores bonuses from Magical Items, if any. Tumu's Poison Touch attack is not included because it depends on the Resistance of the target, averaging 5 - 0.5*Resistance, or zero for targets with 10+; it is unaffected by Tumu's level, gear, or enchantments.
|
Improvement Overview[]
Unlike other Heroes, Tumu seems to be more useful early on (and against early enemy units), becoming less useful compared to other Heroes as they gain Experience.
Tumu's Poison Touch is very dangerous to low-tier enemy units, and any unit that does not possess an impressive Resistance score. Unfortunately, the strength of this attack does not grow with Experience, and so it can become underpowered as tougher enemy units appear.
Tumu's Blademaster ability increases his To Hit score very rapidly. This would be terrific for his Attack strength, if not for two problems: His Melee Attack is very weak (and thus benefits little from this bonus), and his Touch Attack does not benefit from Blademaster at all. As a result, unless Tumu's primary attack strength can be boosted (either through Magical Items or thanks to a well-chosen Random Ability), he will end up under-powered.
Ability Overview[]
Blademaster[]
- This Hero receives +10 To Hit per every 2 Experience Levels.
Poison Touch 5[]
- During this unit's Melee Attack, each figure will also make a Touch Attack against the target, delivering 5 points of Poison Damage per attack.
- The target unit must make 5 consecutive Resistance rolls against each Poison Attack. For each roll the target fails, it receives 1 point of Damage.
- The Poison Damage is dealt simultaneously with the exchange of Melee Damage between the two units.
- The Poisoning also occurs when this unit Counter Attacks against an enemy assailant.
- This effect does nothing against targets possessing the Poison Immunity ability.
Random Abilities[]
When a new game is started, the program randomly chooses 1 additional ability for Tumu. 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:
 Agility
|
 Armsmaster
|
 Blademaster
|
 Charmed
|
 Constitution
|
 Leadership
|
 Legendary
|
 Lucky
|
 Might
|
 Noble
|
Whichever Random Ability is picked, it is permanent. Tumu will never re-randomize his abilities during the course of a single game. He may, however, pick a different ability in the next game.
If Blademaster is picked, it will upgrade Tumu's default Blademaster ability to its "Super" version. This gives +15% To Hit per Experience Level instead of the normal +10%. Note that after adding all the bonuses together, any leftover 5% is discarded.
Other abilities that can help Tumu include Might, Agility and Constitution. Might, in particular, helps offset Tumu's deficient Melee Attack strength, while the other two increase his survivability during combat.
Other abilities will likely mean that Tumu will not become very powerful even with plenty of Experience, especially when powerful enemy units begin to appear. Nonetheless, abilities like Leadership, Legendary and Noble may turn him into a useful support hero.
Equipment[]
Tumu the Assassin has the following item slots:
| Icon | Name | Items that fit here |
|---|---|---|
|
Sword Slot | Sword, Mace or Axe |
|
Shield Slot | Shield, Chainmail or Platemail |
|
Jewelry Slot | Any Jewelry |
This set-up contributes primarily to Melee combat. This is excellent for Tumu, who is essentially a Melee-oriented unit.
Recommended Items[]
Tumu has several deficiencies, all of which can be covered by the right items. There is increased incentive to augment Tumu's Melee Attack strength, but this should not come at the expense of better defensive properties. In any case, without items Tumu can end up severely under-powered.
Weapon[]
- Tumu will need a powerful Melee Attack in order to remain useful, and thus could do well with a strong Axe. On the other hand, a Sword can receive good Defense bonuses, and thus be a better choice.
- It is important to examine Tumu's Random Ability when choosing his weapon. If he took an ability that augments his damage output, then a Sword with Defense bonuses is recommended. If Tumu's survivability is increased by his Random Ability, go for a Mace or Axe.
- To Hit bonuses are useful early on, but will become less useful as Tumu's Experience Level rises, thanks to the bonuses from his Blademaster ability. Brute Attack Strength bonuses will be better at that point.
- You may safely ignore any weapon that gives extra Mana ("Spell Skill"), as Tumu may not utilize that bonus.
Armor[]
- As with most Melee-oriented Heroes, Tumu will likely benefit from the heaviest armor you can get. The only exception is when Tumu picks Agility as his Random Ability (or Constitution, to a lesser extent) in which case Defense bonuses are less important.
- Both Resistance and Movement Allowance bonuses can be helpful for Tumu, but neither is too important.
Jewelry[]
- Any of the non-magic-related bonuses given by Jewelry are great for Tumu. A good mix of defensive and offensive bonuses is often best. If Tumu has picked a Random Ability that augments one of these properties, then it is less essential to get a Jewelry item with the same bonuses. In any case, all except the magic-related bonuses ( Mana or Spell Save) are welcome. Again, To Hit bonuses will likely be useless once Tumu reaches high Experience Levels.
Acquisition[]
Tumu the Assassin 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 Tumu[]
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 Tumu 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 Tumu (more on this below).
- Tumu must not have already been killed in battle.
Since the game randomly chooses which Hero appears during this event, there's no guarantee that Tumu 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 Tumu 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), Tumu 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 Tumu (you can always refuse), you may give him any name you choose - he will be known as "<name> the Assassin". His overland unit will appear at your Fortress town or, if that town's garrison is full, next to your Fortress town.
Summoning Tumu[]
As a non-Champion hero, Tumu the Assassin can be summoned using either the Summon Hero or Summon Champion spells. However, Summon Champion only has a chance to bring Tumu 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 Tumu will appear when these spells are cast, unless all other Heroes are unavailable.
Again, you get a chance to agree or refuse to hire Tumu. If you agree, he will appear in your Fortress town and/or next to it.
If Tumu 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 Tumu[]
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 Tumu[]
For most wizards, losing Tumu 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 Tumu back to life after he has died. In this case, Tumu returns to your Fortress town, with no Magical Items, but keeping all Experience he had prior to his death.
You may repeatedly resurrect Tumu each time he dies.
Upkeep Costs[]
Once Tumu 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 Tumu leaving your employ. This is not permanent however: Tumu may still be acquired in any of the above methods with no penalty.
Note that if Tumu picks the Noble Random Ability, he will demand no Upkeep Costs - and instead contribute 10 to your treasury every turn!
Alternate Names[]
Other wizards can also have a Assassin, but they are different characters (what happens to one has no effect on the others), and go by different names, as follows:
Assassin |
Player | Alternate Name |
|---|---|---|
| Human (0) | Tumu | |
| Wizard 1 | Altahza | |
| Wizard 2 | Shaka | |
| Wizard 3 | Huracus | |
| Wizard 4 | Kaizlar |