KBAP Info Thread

[DGDobrev]

With the upcoming release of the English version of KBAP, and the uncertainty whether the Russian guide will be translated in English at all, I've decided to act on my promise and start adding info from time to time. I'll keep it short and simple and I'll make sure that it provides few spoilers. In the beginning, I'll be hard pressed to use an approximate translation of the game content, which I'll check with the official English translations once the game has been launched. A very good friend of mine is buying the game and will lent me his copy for comparison.

EDIT: for now I'll be using the official site for name comparison.

I. Quests and contracts.

In KBAP, we have quests and contracts. Quests follow a certain story line, while the contracts are "bounty hunt"-type - you must find and kill an enemy hero or a special monster. You will not always be given the exact location, so you should really read the contract text.

Note: Both quests and contracts count towards the "Quests Completed" value.

There is one issue with the contracts. Since the enemy heroes roam the maps freely, you can kill them at will. However, if you do so, you will lose the option to get the contract for their head. This will mean one completed quest less, which is undesirable.

II. Medals.

In KBAP, we have medals. Each medal boosts various in-game statistics and characteristics (hero, unit, etc.). There are 8 general and 2 class-specific medals. Striving towards obtaining at least the most important medals is highly desirable. You can view what each medal does in-game and what the requirements are. In general, medals improve leadership, critical hit chance, resistance to all types of damage (except astral), experience in battle, experience gained by the pet Dragon, the rage when fighting enemy heroes (through a bonus in the beginning of the fight), traps (up to 3 traps in the beginning of the battle) and the damage caused by poisoning and burning. Class specific medals include:
- Warrior - + Attack, + Rage
- Paladin - + Defense, + Damage of all Paladins, Inquisitors and Priests
- Mage - + Intellect, + Mana

Note: The Trap medal upgrades are gained only when a friendly or enemy stack steps onto the trap and dies from it. The Battle Alchemy medal (improve damage from burn/poison) is improved only when your unit successfully poisons or burns the enemy.

The medals - going in-depth

1. General medals.
These medals are available to all classes.

- Grand Strategy
Requirements: win a specific number of battles without suffering casualties.
Level 1 - +200 Leadership, 10 battles without losses
Level 2 - +500 Leadership, 30 battles without losses
Level 3 - +1000 Leadership, 50 Battles without losses

- Battle Alchemy
Requirements: successfully ignite or poison an enemy troop
Level 1 - +10% to burning/poisoning post-effect damage / 50 successfully poisoned/burned enemy troops
Level 2 - +20% to burning/poisoning post-effect damage / 150 successfully poisoned/burned enemy troops
Level 3 - +30% to burning/poisoning post-effect damage / 400 successfully poisoned/burned enemy troops

- Head Hunter
Requirements: kill a number of enemy heroes
Level 1 - +5 rage at the start of a battle against an enemy hero/10 killed heroes
Level 2 - +10 rage at the start of a battle against an enemy hero/30 killed heroes
Level 3 - +15 rage at the start of a battle against an enemy hero/50 killed heroes

- Trapper
Requirements: completely destroy an enemy troop using the Trap spell.
IMPORTANT: Destroying a troop of summoned creatures with the Trap spell DOES NOT count.
NOTE: Destroying an OWN troop with the Trap spell does count, with the exception of the summoned creatures.
Level 1 - 1 trap is set on the battlefield/+25% damage to the Trap spell/10 destroyed troops by the Trap spell
Level 2 - 2 traps is set on the battlefield/+50% damage to the Trap spell/50 destroyed troops by the Trap spell
Level 3 - 3 traps is set on the battlefield/+100% damage to the Trap spell/100 destroyed troops by the Trap spell
Additional info:
- The traps set on the battlefield are worth a lvl 2 Trap Spell
- traps are not set on battles with living items and bosses
- each trap is set between 2 and 4 squares from a randomly selected troop

- Dragon Slayer
Requirements: Kill a number of dragons.
Level 1 - +10% experience of the pet dragon/1 killed dragon
Level 2 - +30% experience of the pet dragon/10 killed dragons
Level 3 - +50% experience of the pet dragon/100 killed dragons
NOTE: The number is absolute, so if an enemy army has 30 dragons, for example, the counter will increase by 30.

- Guardian Angel
Requirements: Use the spells or abilities mentioned in the medal a specific number of times.
Level 1 - +3% resistance to all types of damage/50 uses
Level 2 - +5% resistance to all types of damage/150 uses
Level 3 - +7% resistance to all types of damage/400 uses

- Treasure Hunter
Requirements: open a number of chests and treasure boxes.
NOTE: both world map and battlefield chests count.
Level 1 - +3% experience per battle/40 opened chests
Level 1 - +5% experience per battle/80 opened chests
Level 1 - +7% experience per battle/120 opened chests

- Blind Rage
Requirements: total amount of rage used when utilizing your pet's abilities.
Level 1 - +1% critical hit chance/1000 rage used
Level 1 - +3% critical hit chance/7000 rage used
Level 1 - +7% critical hit chance/21000 rage used

2. Class-specific medals.

2.1. Warrior

- Reptile Slayer
Requirements: Kill a number of reptilian armies.
Level 1 - +1 Attack/5 killed reptilian armies
Level 2 - +2 Attack/10 killed reptilian armies
Level 3 - +3 Attack/15 killed reptilian armies
Clarification: an army is considered reptilian when the reptilian stacks have higher combined leadership than any other stack type.
Example 1: 40% of the leadership reptiles, 30% of the leadership humans, 30% of the leadership elves. This is a reptilian army.
Example 2: 40% reptiles, 40% humans, 20% elves. This is considered a neutral army, as there are 2 equally strong stacks.

- Iron Knight
Requirements: Use the spells mentioned in the medal a specific number of times.
Level 1 - +5 rage/20 uses
Level 1 - +10 rage/70 uses
Level 1 - +15 rage/150 uses

2.2. Paladin.

- Undead Slayer
Requirements: Kill a number of undead armies.
Level 1 - +1 Defense/5 killed undead armies
Level 2 - +2 Defense/10 killed undead armies
Level 3 - +3 Defense/15 killed undead armies
Clarification: an army is considered undead when the undead stacks have higher combined leadership than any other stack type.
Example 1: 40% of the leadership undead, 30% of the leadership humans, 30% of the leadership elves. This is an undead army.
Example 2: 40% undead, 40% humans, 20% elves. This is considered a neutral army, as there are 2 equally strong stacks.

- Warrior of the Light
Requirements: Use the spells mentioned in the medal a specific number of times.
NOTE: Use of troop abilities of the same type DOES NOT count.
Level 1 - +20% to the damage of all Paladins, Inquisitors and Priests/50 uses
Level 2 - +30% to the damage of all Paladins, Inquisitors and Priests/150 uses
Level 3 - +40% to the damage of all Paladins, Inquisitors and Priests/450 uses

2.3. Mage.

- Illiteracy Exterminator
Requirements: Destroy a number of orcish armies.
Level 1 - +1 Intellect/5 killed orcish armies
Level 2 - +2 Intellect/10 killed orcish armies
Level 3 - +3 Intellect/15 killed orcish armies
Clarification: an army is considered orcish when the orcish stacks have higher combined leadership than any other stack type.
Example 1: 40% of the leadership orcs, 30% of the leadership humans, 30% of the leadership elves. This is an orcish army.
Example 2: 40% orc, 40% humans, 20% elves. This is considered a neutral army, as there are 2 equally strong stacks.

- Fire Mage
Requirements: Use the spells mentioned in the medal a specific number of times.
Level 1 - +5 Mana/70 uses
Level 2 - +10 Mana/210 uses
Level 3 - +15 Mana/600 uses

III. Attributes.

Attributes are basically the same as they were in KBTL. The most notable improvement concerns the intellect attribute. Every point in intellect improves the spell damage by 5% and every 7 points improve it by 15% (stacks). Every 20 points in intellect improve the duration of certain buffs or debuffs by 1 turn. In addition to that, your units' chance to poison/burn/shock/freeze improves by 1% per point of Intellect.

IV. Hero advancement.

Hero advancement in KBAP differs greatly from KBTL. In KBAP you will get a certain amount of leadership and runes when you level up.

Leadership improvement:
Warrior - Hero level * 20
Paladin - Hero level * 15
Mage - Hero Level * 10

Rune giveaways. Each class gets 12 runes per each level up based on a simple table with 4 rows. At lvl 2, a random row is selected. At lvl 3, the row which is next in line is selected. When the last row is reached, the game will start at the first row on the next level up. This provides a certain randomness in the game, right from the start.
Legend: Row: Might/Mind/Magic runes

Warrior - 1: 6/4/2 ; 2: 5/5/2 ; 3: 6/3/3 ; 4: 7/4/1
Paladin - 1: 3/6/3 ; 2: 2/7/3 ; 3: 3/5/4 ; 4: 4/6/2
Mage - 1: 2/4/6 ; 2: 1/5/6 ; 3: 2/3/7 ; 4: 3/4/5

So, per each 4 levels the classes get:
Warrior - 24 Might, 16 spirit, 8 Magic runes
Paladin - 12 Might, 24 Spirit, 12 Magic Runes
Mage - 8 Might, 16 Spirit, 24 Magic runes

V. The Dragon - basic info and advancement.

In the beginning of the game, when you arrive in the world of Theana, you will be given the opportunity to select a pet dragon. Each dragon gives a unique bonus and starts with a basic ability - crushing blow, plus one additional ability that corresponds to his skin color.

You pet dragon advances on its own pace. Experience is gained while he's using his abilities. Refer to each ability for information about the experience per use. Dragon's abilities require rage, and the improper leveling of the dragon may cause some abilities to become unusable due to insufficient rage. Be very careful when selecting the abilities at level up.

Dragon color info:
Blue - +1 initiative to animals and dragons. Additional skill - Mana-Accelerator.
Red - +5 Rage. Additional skill - Mana-Accelerator
Purple - +1 Attack. Additional skill - Ball of Lightning.
Green - +1 Intellect. Additional Skill - Treasure Searcher.
Bronze - +1 Defense. Additional skill - Stone Wall.
Yellow - +2% Critical hit chance. Additional skill - Mystic Egg.
Pink - +5 Mana. Additional skill Ball of Lightning.

VI. Relative enemy strength based on location.

Once you manage to obtain a map, a new area of the world map will open up and you will be allowed to travel there via ship.
Note: If you found a map, but you already possess a map of that location, you will be given a random Wanderers' Scroll instead. Wanderers' scrolls range from relatively useless to extremely useful, and can be sold for a hefty sum of gold.

- Maps locations:
(Legend - Location: Maps that can spawn there)
Note: due to the randomness of the game, you may find various maps in that location. Even though a location may spawn 4 or more maps, for example, you should be aware that on each island or continent there is a limited number of maps which are pre-set in the beginning of the game. So, for example, a Verona Continent map may spawn on both Scarlet Wind and Rusty Anchor islands.

Debir: Scarlet Wind, Bolo
Scarlet Wind: Bolo, Rusty Anchor, Verona (70% probability)
Bolo: Rusty Anchor, Verona
Rusty Anchor: Verona, Dersu, Tekron (50%)
Verona: Dersu, Umkas, Elon, Tekron (50%)
Montero: Montero, Tekron, Umkas, Shatterra (50%)
Dersu: Verona, Uzala
Tekron: Dersu, Umkas, Sheterra
Umkas: Dersu, Uzala, Nameless island, Reha
Uzala: Elon, Nameless island, Reha
Elona: Sheterra, Nameless island, Reha
Nameless island: Sheterra
Reha and Sheterra spawn no maps.

Each island and continent provides a certain challenge. Using this table you can view the relative enemy strength on each map and plan your travels accordingly.

- Relative enemy strength
(the lower the number, the weaker the opponents in that area and vice versa)
Debir - 5
Scarlet Wind - 15
Bolo - 25
Rusty Anchor - 35
Verona - 45
Montero - 55
Dersu, Tekron, Umkas - 65
Uzala, Eloa - 75
Sheterra, Nameless island - 85
Reha - 95

VII. The Wanderers' Spells.

Wanderers' spells can be found when finding a second map of a location you have already uncovered (your hero will automatically exchange the map for a wanderers' scroll) or in various chests that are scattered throughout the islands and continents, as well as on the field of battle (including those that your pet dragon digs up through the Digger skill - I think it will be called Hunt). Getting such a scroll is a very rare occasion, as the chances for them to drop are very, very low. For example, the chance of getting a wanderers' scroll from a chest is 1/40 for EACH chest, so there is no guarantee you will get one in 40 opened chests. For that matter, there is no guarantee that you won't get 10 of them for those 40 opened chests - it's all a matter of luck.

NOTE: The wanderers' spells are used only on the world map, as they have unique properties. Each Wanderers' spell takes up a spot in your scroll capacity as well.

The Wanderers' scrolls include:
Mad Rage - +30 max rage for 2 battles
Magic Flow - +30 max Mana for 2 battles
Titan's Sword - +10 Attack for 2 battles
Titan's Armor - +10 Defense for 2 battles
Depth of Thought - +10 Intellect for 2 battles
Fortune's Smile - +15% critical hit chance for 3 battles
Flaming Eyes - +20% leadership for 1 battle
Ancient Knowledge - +50% experience per battle for 5 battles
Call of Death - summons a stack of undead creatures, provided there is a free slot for them in your army. The summoned units can be any undead troops (from Skeletons to Bone Dragons), except vampires in bat form.
Song of the Wind - summons a stack of creatures who "fly or love the wind" into the hero's army, provided there is a free slot for them. The number of summoned creatures is equal to the current leadership of the hero.
Units that can be summoned: Pirates, Sea Wolves, Tree Fairies, Lake Fairies, Highterrant, Dryads, Griffins, Royal Griffins, Lake Dragonflies, and Fire Dragonflies.
Call Collosus - Summons a stack of Level 5 units in the hero's army, provided there is a free slot for them. Using this scroll can spawn Any lvl 5 unit, ranging from Trolls and Ogres to Black Dragons. As usual, the leadership of the summoned troop is equal to the leadership of the hero.

NOTE: free slot means any free slot, including reserve. In this case, the info window will state that the new troops are found in the reserve.

VIII. Armor-bearer info.

Note: Armor-bearer is the term used on the KBAP english site. In my eyes, Sword-bearer, Squire and Follower look better, but I'll conform to the term they used there.

Armor-bearers in KBAP substitute the wives in KBTL. Each of them comes with special traits and/or skills, as well as a specific item slots. There are 7 armor-bearers total.

Well... some armor-bearers can wear dresses. I would surmise they will be transformed to robes. A male companion with a dress. EEEEEEK!!!

IMPORTANT NOTE: I'll give you that warning in advance. As in KBTL, when dismissing, your companion takes any item you have put on him, as well as something in addition, which is companion-specific.

1. Agvares.
Agvares is an incubus, loved by all women.

Item slots: Weapon, Armor/Dress, Gauntlets/Belt, Artifact
Found where: Sheterra
When dismissed: takes 30 000 gold
Innate traits: Improves the base attack of Dryads, Lake Fairies, Tree Fairies and Demonesses by 100%
Abilities: Troop Control
If you talk to the demon prior to a battle, you will have the option to tell him to control one of your troops. The selected troop gains +10 Attack and Defense, as well as one additional trait:
- +2 speed
- counterstrike - always retaliates
- ignition - sets enemies on fire for 3 rounds
- regeneration - when the troop attacks the enemy, it gains health (the dead units in the stack are not resurrected!)
- fire resistance - the selected troop gains +50% fire resistace for the duration of the fight
Penalties:
- The troop that Agvares will control is in auto-combat mode. You will have no control on it whatsoever, although you can buff it and resurrect fallen soldiers in its ranks.
- after Agvares has taken control is a troop in the previous battle, he gains 100% Mental fatigue. Mental fatigue is reduced by 10-15% after each battle. So in essence, you can use his ability once every 7-10 battles.

2. Gaudi.
Young, aspiring paladin, sworn to fight all evil.

Item slots: Weapon, Armor, Gauntlets/Shield, Regalia
Found where: Nameless island
When dismissed: takes 25% of Amelie's gold
Innate traits: doubles the CURRENT critical hit chance for every troop in your army when attacking demons or undead units. (note: max crit chance is 95%)
Abilities: Training - Gaudi will train Paladins from Knights for 100 gold each and Inquisitors from Priests for 25 gold each.

3. Jim Crowd.
A young man with now scarred face.

Item slots: Weapon, Armor, Boots, Regalia/Artifact
Found where: Scarlet Wind Island
When dismissed: takes any pirates, sea wolves, marauders, robbers and devilfish from the hero's army.
Innate traits: +1 speed and morale to all pirates, sea wolves, marauders, robbers and devilfish in the hero's army
Abilities: training - he can train robbers to marauders (5 gold each) and pirates to sea wolves (7 gold each)

SPECIAL: Handsome again!
If you find the "Blood of the Goddess" potion (it is guaranteed for sale in Tekron), and talk to Jim and let him use it, all of his scars will disappear (not on the picture though). If this happens, he will gain new abilities and his items slots will be different.

Item slots: Weapon, Armor/Dress, Boots, Artifact
New abilities: +700 leadership

4. Moro Dark (or Moron Dark, direct translation )
A former knight who sold his soul to the dark forces. Fighting evil, he's constantly striving to cleanse his soul.

Item slots: Weapon, Armor, Helm, Belt/Regalia
Found where: Elon
When dismissed: takes nothing, except for any items you've equipped on him
Innate traits: +3 Attack (Hero), +1 Morale to all undead
Abilities: Struggle with the Darkness; Training

- Struggle with the darkness
Mauron Dark has a special parameter, called "Power of Darkness". When he joins, it's at 100%. After each battle, it is modified by:
-5, if there are undead in the enemy army
-4, if there are demons in the enemy army
+2, if there are demons in your army
+1, if there are undead in your army
Each of these modifiers is standalone. So, for example, if there are both demons and undead in your and enemy army, the modifier will decrease by: -5-4+2+1=-6.

When the parameter reaches 0%, you will get a very special and powerful item "Shard of Darkness". When equipped, it improves the Attack of all Black Knights by 10 and grants them the "always retaliates" ability.

-Training
Training is based on the current "power of darkness" value.
If it is above 0%, Mauron trains all Skeletons into Skeleton archers (2 gold per unit), and all Knights to Black Knights (50 gold per unit)
If it is 0%, Mauron trains all Swordsmen to Archers (5 gold each) and all Black Knights to Knights (50 gold each)

5. Moldok.
Strong and lazy orc, ready to serve for food.

Item slots: Shield, Weapon/Shield, Belt/Regalia, Artifact
Found where: Uzala, costs 1000 gold to recruit
When dismissed: takes 1000 gold for each day of service (1000 * days he's been with you)
Innate traits: +1 speed and initiative to all orcs
Abilities: Trophy Acquisition
There is a specific counter which improves by 1 or 2 after each battle. It is 0 at start, and when it reaches 15, Moldok will take 50% of the gold your char has received in the last battle. This will infuriate Amelie to such extent, that she will start with full rage the next battle, regardless of her current rage amount. When takes his "share of the spoils of war", the counter resets to 0.

6. Trigger.
Young and extremely talented mechanic, specializing in optic improvements.

Item slots: Weapon, Helm, Belt/Gauntlets, Boots
Found where: The Big Channel, Tekron
When dismissed: takes 20% of the current gold
Innate traits: improves the critical hit chance of all ranged units by X%
Ranged units are: Skeleton Archer, Archer, Cannoneer, Catapult Goblin, Elf, Hunter, Goblin, Royal Thorn, Thorn Hunter, Alchemic, Cyclops, Beholder, Evil Eye, Droid Mechanic.

X% chance is determined by the current skill level of Trigger and is 10/15/20/25%
Level 1 is granted at start - 10%
Level 2 is granted after 34 battles (3% per battle) - 15%
Level 3 is granted after 50 more battles (2% per battle) - 20%
Level 4 is granted when you give 100 magic crystals to Trigger to further his research - 25%

7. Elenhel.
Elvish sorcerer, who fervently studies the secrets of the arts of magic.

Item slots: Shield/Gauntlets, Dress, Belt/Regalia, Artifact
Found where: Verons
Special: Hero must have 20 or more intellect to persuade him to join you. TIP: 10 current intellect and +10 intellect wanderers scroll combo works.
When dismissed: takes 5000 gold
Innate traits: +4 intellect (hero)
Abilities:
- Mana recharge - when you ask him to, he will fully restore your mana. Recharge time of this ability is 5 battles.
- Wanderers' Scroll Lore - when you recruit him, you can get a "Fortuna's Smile" scroll from him right away. After that for every 30 battles, he will create a new Wanderers' scroll. He will let you know when he's done, and you will be able to take the scroll from him if you talk to him.
IMPORTANT: When Amelie reaches level 40 OR if she's done 10 battles with Elenhel as a companion while she's over level 40, Elenhel will suddenly decided that he's learned enough from Amelie and will ask her to leave. You can either allow hm to leave (he'll take all the equipped items with him) or tell him to stay put or else! If you select the latter, you will fight him. If you win, he will remain your faithful servant forever and will give you 15 mana potions in exchange for his life.

IX. Super bosses info.

Forenote: all bosses always retaliate.
Forenote: you cannot use your dragon during boss battles.

1. Driller.

Found in: Montero Shafts.
Special: changes position after taking a certain amount of damage, withdrawing to another position, father back on the bridge.
(Legend: stats, separated by a slash provide the value for each difficulty, e.g. 50/50/70/80 - easy/normal/hard/impossible)

Boss stats:
Attack: 50/50/70/85
Defense: 40
Initiative: 2
Resistances: Physical (20%), Fire (10%), Poison (80%), Magic (0%)
Special abilities: Mind Spell Resistance (any spell or effect that affects the mind of the target), Poison Immunity (provides 80% poison resistance, cannot be poisoned), Mechanical (Always neutral morale, resistant to poison (50%), resistance against mind damage (-50%), cannot be healed or resurrected)
Health on easy and normal difficulties: 7000 in position one, 14000 in position 2, 28000 in position 3.
Health on hard difficulty: 9800 in position one, 19600 in position 2, 39200 in position 3.
Health on impossible difficulty: 14000 in position one, 28000 in position 2, 56000 in position 3.

Special attacks:
Right hand attack - attacks 3 cells at once (triangle shaped) in front of his right hand (star shaped). Does not harm allies. 2500-3000 damage (physical).
Driller attack - attacks 2 cells at once in front of his left hand (drill shaped). Does not harm allies. 2500-3000 damage (physical).
Line attack - attacks all cells in a straight line. 1500-3000 damage (physical).
Summon droids - summons a number of droids to aid him. Chances between battle and mechanic droids is 50/50. IMPORTANT: Mechanic droids can REPAIR the Driller!
Retreat - after he takes a certain amount of damage (refer to the info above), he will retreat back on the bridge.
Stalactite destruction - EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!!! After the Driller has withdrawn down the bridge, one the next move he will destroy parts of the stalactites hanging above it, effectively removing an entire part of the battlefield (the last 3 complete rows). Any unit that is caught under the rubble, will be completely obliterated.

Note: When the boss retaliates, the damage is usually 2.5 times lower than the usual.

2. The Enormous Spider.

Found in: a cave on Dersu Island.
Special: changes position after taking a certain amount of damage (3 positions available)

Boss stats:
Attack: 22/22/31/37
Defense: 24
Health: 30000/30000/42000/60000
Initiative: 100 (always gets the first turn)
Resistances: Physical (30%), Fire (0%), Poison (80%), Magic (30%)
Special abilities: Mind spell resistance, Poison immunity (80% Poison resistance, cannot be poisoned)

Special attacks:
Right feet attack - attack both squares in front of his two right feet. Damage: 1500-2000 (physical)
Left feet attack - attack both squares in front of his two left feet. Damage: 1500-2000 (physical)
Bite - attacks a unit directly in front of his mouth. Damage: 1200-2300 (physical) and inflicts poison damage that reduces the stack's attack by 20% and inflicts 10-20% of the total health of the stack of poison damage.
Summon spiders - summons cave, poisonous, or fire spiders on the battlefield. In the first summoning attempt, he will always spawn 4 stacks of spiders. After that chances are: 30% that he will summon 2 stacks and 70% that he will summon 3 stacks. The chances of summoning the aforementioned spiders are: Cave spiders (40%), Poisonous Spiders (40%), Fire Spiders (20%). If there are no free spots on the battlefield (for example, you brought royal thorns and filled the battlefield with thorns), no spider stacks will be summoned.
NOTE: The longer the battle is, the bigger the summoned spider stacks will grow!
Spiderweb - if the boss is attacked from range, he will retaliate by webbing the unit that just attacked him, effectively paralyzing it for 2 turns.
NOTE: the webbed ranged unit cannot move and will not be able to use a ranged attack (but it may be able to attack an adjacent square - at least in my game it could in certain situations, I'll have to run some tests, since I may be wrong).
Change position - the boss will change position in one of the 3 available spots (only to him) when he has less than 80%/60%/40% of his maximum health.

Note: When the boss retaliates, the damage is usually 2.5 times lower than the usual.

3. Dersu-Kumatu.
The giant frog which the orcs on Dersu island worship as their God.

Found where: Dersu
Special: changes position after taking a certain amount of damage (3 positions available)

Attack: 35/35/49/60
Defense: 30
Health: 40000/40000/56000/80000
Initiative: 8
Resistances: Physical (0%), Fire (-20%), Poison (50%), Magic (20%)
Special abilities: Mind spell resistance

Special attacks:
Left palm attack - attacks a target in front of his left palm, inflicting 1500-2000 physical damage.
Right palm attack - attacks a target in front of his right palm, inflicting 1500-2000 physical damage.
Bite - attack a target right in front of the boss' head, inflicting 1500-3000 physical damage.
Spit - attacks all targets, inflicting 1000-1300 poison damage.
Summon snakes - summons a number of snakes, swamp snakes or royals snakes. Chances are: 20% that he will summon 2 stacks of snakes, 80% that he will summon 3 stacks of snakes. Snake type chances: Snakes (40%), Swamp snakes (40%), Royal snakes (20%). All snakes can move and attack on the next round. If there are no free spots on the battlefield (for example, you brought royal thorns and filled the battlefield with thorns), no snake stacks will be summoned.
Change position - the boss will change position in one of the 3 available spots (only to him) when he has less than 80%/60%/40% of his maximum health.

Note: When the boss retaliates, the damage is usually 2.5 times lower than the usual.

4. Gremlion (Archmage Zilgadis).
The monster that the elven archmage Zilgadis has turned into. He is very strong, very resilient and can summon gremlin towers!

Found where: The Mirror Tower, Elon

Attack: 50/50/70/85
Defense: 60
Health: 77000/77000/107800/154000
Initiative: 15
Resistances: Physical (0%), Fire (20%), Poison (0%), Magic (80%)
Special abilities: Mind spell resistance, Mechanical

Special attacks:
Summon gremlin tower: the boss can summon up to 5 powerful gremlin towers, but no more than 1 per turn. Chances are: 60% that he will summon an Evil Gremlin tower and 40% that he will summon a Friendly Gremlin tower. Both gremlin towers act the same way as they do during improvement or suppression of items. The Friendly gremlin tower can summon the following troops: Elf, Hunter, Lake Fairy, Dryad, Werewolf Elf, Unicorn, Black Unicorn, Ent, Ancient Ent, Emerald Green Dragon, Ancient Bear, Troll, Royal Snake.
NOTE: If there are no free spots on the 5 cells on the battlefield (for example, you brought royal thorns and filled them with thorns) where the boss puts the towers (that is on the second cell in front of the boss), no gremlin towers will be summoned and the boss will skip a turn.
The gremlin towers have the following characteristics:
Friendly gremlin: Health 10000-15000, Attack 3, Defense 3, Intellect 30.
Evil Gremlin: Health 8000-12000, Attack 3, Defense 3, Intellect 30.
Both towers have the following resistances: Physical (0%), Fire (20%), Poison (0%), Magic (80%).

Right hand attack - attacks all cells that are in front of his right hand, including the one that is directly in front of the boss. Damage: 5000-7000 (physical)
Left hand attack - attacks all cells that are in front of his left hand, including the one that is directly in front of the boss. Damage: 5000-7000 (physical)
Mass attack - attacks all enemy units on the battlefield. Damage: 2700-3500 (magic)
NOTE: when attacking, the boss will select the hand that can strike more enemies at once.

As usual, when retaliating, the boss inflicts 2.5 times less damage.

5. Ktahu.
An enormous ancient lizard, ruler of all the lizards on Rehau.

Found where: Reha
Special: changes position after taking a certain amount of damage (6 positions available)

Attack: 60/60/84/102
Defense: 60
Health: 86000/86000/120400/172000
Initiative: 12
Resistances: Physical (0%), Fire (0%), Poison (20%), Magic (0%)
Special abilities: Mind spell resistance

IMPORTANT: Right in front of his unarmored hand is a dead zone cell - a spot where the boss can't attack. You know what to do with it.

Special attacks:
Armored hand attack: attacks all 3 cells at once in front of his armored hand. Damage: 6000-8000 (physical)
Side attack: any enemy that is found on the farthermost cells next to both his feet get attacked by both hands and knocked back (knockback is canceled if you unit encounters another one on the way).
Mass attack: attacks all enemies at once. Damage: 3000-4000 (physical)
Summon lizards: summons 4 stacks of lizards. Chances are: 28% that he will summon Gorguls, 28% - T-Rexes, 14% Bronthors, 14% Gorguanas, 14% Highterrants.
Change position: the boss will change positions at a regular basis, especially if:
- he has never moved, and he has less than 60% health left
- there is a unit in his "dead zone" cell. Chances are 70% that he will move in that case.
Restrictions: the boss cannot move in 2 turns in a row.
Note: if the boss is stomping his feet, this means that he will move in the next round.

As usual, when retaliating, the boss inflicts 2.5 times less damage.

6. Baal.
The ruler of the Sixth house of Hell, Baal, is back for his revenge.

Attack: 66/66/92/112
Defense: 66
Health: 126666/126666/177332/253332
Initiative: 15
Resistances: Physical (0%), Fire (80%), Poison (0%), Magic (20%)
Special abilities: Mind spell resistance

Special attacks:
General sword attack - attacks an occupied cell by an enemy unit on the row of cells in front of him. If there is a unit behind it, it gets a hit as well. Damage: 7000-8000 (physical)
Flying sword - throws his sword that attacks a random enemy and the 2 closest to it. Damage: 5000-6000 (physical)
Arena destruction - when Baal's health goes down to 60% or less, the boss throws his sword which creates a deep crack in the arena. On the next turn he will stomp and will destroy that portion of the arena. Units, close to the segment that flies away will take 500-1000 physical damage, and units that were standing on it, and completely obliterated.
Summon demons - the boss summons demons on every cell in front of him, pushing back any unit that may had occupied that cell, while inflicting fire damage on all enemy units (yours and Bill Gilberts). Damage: 500-1000 (fire)

SPECIAL: In this fight you have the help of Bill Gilbert. His stats are:
Attack 25
Defense 25
Intellect = Amelie's Intellect
Mana: 200
Spells: Haste lvl 3, Bless lvl 3, Battle Cry lvl 3, Fit of Energy lvl 3, Teleport lvl 3, Armor of God lvl 3.
Troops: Inquisitors, Archers, Horsemen, Knights, Guardsmen
Leadership = Amelie's total Leadership

As usual, when retaliating, the boss inflicts 2.5 times less damage.

X. Game mechanics concerning poisoning and burning post-effects.

The most important post-effects we'll be discussing is poisoning and burning, as well as the damage associated with them.
Each unit that has "poisonous" ability can poison the enemy on attack. The Bone dragon's special ability "poison cloud" has 90% chance to poison any enemy around the bone dragon. Dragons have 50% chance to ignite the enemy they attack, as well as any enemy that is directly behind their target. Their special skills also have a chance to ignite any target that they come into contact. The fire Spiders can also ignite the target that attacked them.

The chance of getting a post-effect is influenced by Intellect. Each point in intellect adds an additional 1% chance to get a post effect, regardless of its type.

So, let's get down to business. Damage calculation concerning burning and poisoning damage:

Basic formula:

Damage = Burn/Poison Factor * random number (0.05-0.1) * Current total troop health * Medal Bonus

where:
1) Burn/Poison factor is equal to - Leadership of the troop who inflicted the post-effect/Leadership of the Target
Restrictions: min 0.1, max 1.0. The factor can only range between these 2 values.
Special: Burn/Poison factor for spells is always 1.0. It is also 1.0 for the summoned Phoenix's ability Fire storm.
2) Current total troop health - the current total health of the troop that has received the post effect.
3) Medal bonus - the bonus from the Battle Alchemy medal. According to the level of the medal, the bonus is 10/20/30%, so the multiplier will be 1.1/1.2/1.3.
Restrictions: if a friendly unit is poisoned by friendly unit's attack that has a post-effect, the multiplier is 1, regardless of the level of the medal.

XI. LIVING ITEMS INFO.

The living items in this game behave the same way as they did in KBTL. In certain occasions, their morale improves. In others, their morale increases. Having this knowledge in advance is very, very important, as you can plan your battle equipment and have it suit you much longer without any item going out of control. An item going out of control is a major problem in the early game, especially on the higher difficulties, where suppressing it may result in serious losses (or it may even be impossible).

In this post I will simply give the info what increases or decreases the morale. I will not go in-depth on the item properties or stats. You can easily view them in-game.

1. Jackboots.
Basic morale: 80 After suppression: 90 Increases: never Decreases: -5 after each battle

2. Bracers of Rage
Basic morale: 100 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: -1 to -4 after each battle (random)

3. Ogre's Club
Basic morale: 45 After suppression: 50 Increases: never Decreases: -2 after each battle

4. Diplomat's Sign.
Basic morale: 50 After suppression: 50 Increases: never Decreases: to 0 when used (goes out of control)

5. Arianna's Ring (Anga's Ruby)
Basic morale: 20 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: from 0 to -5 after each battle

6. Royal Snake's Ring (upgrade from Snake ring)
Basic morale: 20 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: -10 if there were snakes in the enemy army

7. The Virgin's Ring
Basic morale: 100 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: from -1 to -5 after each battle

8. King's Hammer
Basic morale: 100 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: -7 if there were dwarves in the enemy army

9. Elven Crown
Basic morale: 30 After suppression: 100 Increases: +1 after each battle Decreases: -8 if there were elves in the enemy army, -4 if there were undead in your army

10. Bloodsucker sword.
Basic morale: 50 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: -1 after each battle

11. Bow of the Thousand Souls.
Basic morale: 20 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: -2 after each battle

12. Wizard's Mantle.
Basic morale: 50 After suppression: 50 Increases: +30 for 6 magic crystals Decreases: according to the formula -ClassK*IntK, where:
ClassK - factor based on the hero class: 1 Mage/2 Paladin/3 Warrior
IntK - factor based on the current intellect: 3 (Int<10), 2 (Int between 10 and 20), 1 (Int 20 or more).

13. Mask of Hate.
Basic morale: 30 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: from -3 to -7 after each battle

14. Undertaker's mask.
Basic morale: 1 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: -1 after each battle

15. Inquisitor's Sword.
Basic morale: 10 After suppression: 100 Increases: +1 after each battle; +2 if there were undead in the enemy army Decreases: -4 if there were humans or elves in the enemy army, -3 if there were warriors of the light (Inquisitors, Paladins)

16. Sword of Balance.
Basic morale: 50 Increases: +5 if there were demons or undead in the enemy army Decreases: -5 if there were humans or elves in the enemy army
Special: when morale reaches 100, it turns into Sword of Light. when it reaches 0, it turns into Sword of Dark.

17. Sword of Light.
Basic morale: 50 Increases: +5 if there were demons or undead in the enemy army; +2 if there were humans or elves in your army Decreases: -5 if there were humans or elves in the enemy army; -2 if there were demons or undead in your army
Special: when morale reaches 0, it turns into Sword of Balance.

18. Sword of Dark.
Basic morale: 50 Increases: +5 if there were humans or elves in the enemy army; +2 if there were undead or demons in your army Decreases: -5 if there were undead or demons in the enemy army; -2 if there were humans or elves in your army.
Special: when morale reaches 0 it turns into Sword of Balance.

19. Dragon Slayer Sword.
Basic morale: 50 After suppression: 50 Increases: +9 if there were dragons in the enemy army Decreases: -5 after each battle

20. Crown of Blackthorn.
Basic morale: 50 After suppression: 50 Increases: +2 after each battle Decreases: -22 if there were thorns in the enemy army

21. Hunter's Boots.
Basic morale: 100 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: from -1 to -4 after each battle

22. Steam Armor.
Basic morale: 50 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: -5 after each battle

23. Ring of Power.
Basic morale: 50 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: from -1 to -5 after each battle

24. Fairy's dress.
Basic morale: 100 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: from -1 to -3 after each battle

25. Archmage's Staff.
Basic morale: 50 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: -5 if there were Archmagi in your army.

26. Staff of Insanity.
Basic morale: 20 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: from -1 to -4 after each battle

27. Staff of the Great Druid.
Basic morale: 50 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: -1 after each battle; -3 of there were animals in the enemy army

28. The Hand of Necropolis.
Basic morale: 50 After suppression: 100 Increases: +1 of there were humans, elves or dwarves in the enemy army Decreases: -1 after each battle

29. Silver horn.
Basic morale: 100 After suppression: 100 Increases: +2 if there we dwarves in the enemy army Decreases: -5 after each battle; -5 if there were elves in the enemy army

30. Shaman's Skull.
Basic morale: 5 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: -1 after each battle

31. Black Helm.
Basic morale: 50 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: -2 after each battle

32. Paladin shield.
Basic morale: 50 After suppression: 100 Increases: +1 after each battle; +1 if there were demons in the enemy army; +2 if there were undead in the enemy army Decreases: -5 if there were demons in your army; -8 if there were undead in your army.

33. Demon's Tongue.
Basic morale: 50 After suppression: 100 Increases: never Decreases: from -1 to -3 after each battle

XII. Contract heroes info.

Every hero listed here has a contract, associated with him. In order to successfully complete it, you need to speak with the contract giver and then fulfill it. If you kill the enemy hero before you accept the contract for his head, you will forfeit the quest (although it won't count as a failed quest). As such, it is imperative to be aware of the contract heroes in advance.

1. Rock Porter.
Get where: Debir, Captain Bogard
Find where: Debir, coastline (random location)

2. Curvy Eyes.
Get where: Debir, Captain Bogard
Find where: Debir, Marauders' Cave

3. Monster from the Abyss.
Get where: Debir, Magic Tower
Find where: Debir, coastline (random location)

4. Hungry Beast.
Get where: Debir, Sebastian the Healer
Find where: Montero, obelisk guard

5. Robin Goodman.
Get where: Scarlet Wind, the Tavern
Find where: Scarlet Wind, after opening an unguarded chest

6. Recruiter Hector Norbu.
Get where: Scarlet Wind, Arianna's Castle
Find where: Scarlet Wind, SW coastline

7. Richard the Cruel.
Get where: Scarlet Wind, Arianna's Castle
Find where: Scarlet Wind, the middle of the island

8. Thomas Torkve
Get where: Scarlet Wind, the bell-tower in the graveyard, from Father Maximus
Find where: Montero underground or Elona underground (random)

9. R14-Gromozeka
Get where: Bolo island, Lin Thorwald, Ancient Catacombs entrance.
Find where: Bolo island, Ancient Catacombs

10. Zag-Zag.
Get where: Bolo Island, tent, from Egerd the Toothless
Find where: Rusty Anchor, western coastline

11. Greenskin.
Get where: Rusty Anchor, next to the tavern, from Dirty Maccon
Find where: Rusty Anchor, the ship-castle

12. Odin Allem (approximate translation)
Get where: Verona, peasant Corwin
Find where: Verona, Bristol Castle

13. Hangi.
Get where: Temple of Love, between Verona and Montero
Find where: Montero, Tottorro castle

14. Ftagn.
Get where: Montero, from Deboshire
Find where: Montero, Montore Castle

15. Crazy miner.
Get where: Montero Underground, Wheels' factory, from Master Dagon
Find where: Montero, obelisk guard

16. Necromancer Meshmere.
Get where: Montero Underground, Factory, Factory owner Vargan
Find where: Montero underground, Ollum Castle

17. Iron Fist.
Get where: Montero Underground, Brigade Leader Torrum
Find where: Montero, obelisk guard

18. Corruscane.
Get where: Utryaska's Tent, Uzala
Find where: Uzala

19. Grog Ripper.
Get where: Umkas, White Mother Bear
Find where: Umkas, roaming the island

20. Archaros.
Get where: Tekron, the Tavern
Find where: Tekron, appears after getting the quest

21. Spirits of Sorrow.
Get where: Tekron, in front of the Temple of Mourning
Find where: Tekron, Temple of Mourning

22. Master Scorn.
Get where: Shattera, Home of Master Raffa
Find where: Shattera, roaming

23. Von Cracov.
Get where: Shattera, Home of Sargatas
Find where: Shattera, Beast Cave

24. Samman.
Get where: Shattera, when entering it, from Christopher Lane
Find where: Shattera, Sammail's Castle

25. Vlad Vegeto.
Get where: Nameless Island, Suffering tree
Find where: Nameless Island, in a building

26. The Great Uchkuk.
Get where: Elon, Mage's Tower, from Magister Metheus
Find where: Elon, Telion Castle

27. Shenobi.
Get where: Elon, Telion Castle, from King Eliot
Find where: Elon, Anorion Castle

28. Marakash.
Get where: Reha, Home of Overseer Harrus
Find where: Reha

29. K'Tahu.
Get where: Reha, Temple of the Sleeping Snake, from High Priest Asur
Find where: Reha, Mahpell Cave

30. Zilgadis.
Get where: Elon, Mage's Tower, from Magister Metheus
Find where: Elon, the Mirror Tower

XII. Usable quest items info.

The is a number of quest items that can be used to certain benefit - or penalty! This is why I decided to add this chapter as well. So, these are the quest items you can use and the effects that will follow:

1. Amulet of Revelations - the quest from the Temple of Hope in Debir - adds 50 Leadership.
2. Notes - acquired from a lizard on Reha - you can read the documents.
3. Letter in a Bottle - the quest of Von Hausen, Rusty Anchor - 3 of them represent a poorly written help message, one of them has a map inside. If you decide to take the map, you MUST put a fake one in its place, or Von Hausen will attack you and the quest will fail.
4. Head of a Statue - the quest for assembling the statue on Nameless island - if you use it, you'll gain 2 Might Runes.
5. Traveller's Diary - Uzala, the quest from Vasdergam the dwarf - if you open it, you will read about his travels. There is a chance to find 3 "Fireball" scrolls.
6. Lew Klisan's soul - Elon, the quest for returning Lew Klisan's soul - you can talk to the soul by using the bottle.
7. Snake Priest's Sign - Reha, the quest for opening the Cave of Memories - if you use it, you'll gain 1 Magic Rune.
8. Hipocratus - Sheterra, the quest for the escaped slave - if you use him, he will restore all your mana to the maximum. 5 charges.
9. Red branch - Reha, the quest of protecting Ubogo tribe - if you use it, you will gain 3 rage.
10. Summer beer - Verona, the quest you undertake in the tavern - when you make the beer, and use it, you will gain 1 Song of the Wind Wanderers' scroll.
11. Meteorite Je-Lo-Pi - Elon, the quest for bringing the fallen star - if you use it, you can talk to the meteorite.
12. Potion of Power - Reha, the quest for obtaining the Temple of the Sleeping Snake's secrets - if you use this vile drink, you'll gain 5 rage, but you will lost 1 point of intellect.
13. Zombie's Parcel - Nameless island, the quest for bringing the parcel to peasant Corwin in Verona - if you use it, you'll gain 30 000 gold, but the quest will be considered failed.
14. Antidote - Rusty Anchor, the quest for bringing the antidote to the owner of the tavern - if you use it, you'll gain 5 mana.
15. Destroyer of Chains - Sheterra, the quest for saturating the sword with dragon souls - if you kill even 1 dragon (but the sword isn't saturated yet), and use it, you'll gain 1 Might Rune, and the counter will be reduced by 1.
16. The Grass of Memories - Reha, the quest for returning Xar's memories in the Temple of the Sleeping Snake - if you use it, you can overhear the two gods talking about Amelie's conception and birth.
17. Demon's Tongue - Sheterra, the quest for bringing a new tongue to Fasmodey the Demon - if you use the tongue that Mulcidar gave you, you'll gain 1 point of Intellect.

Additional items and info:
1. The Sword of the Inquisitor - this is the weapon that you gain when you kill Thomas Torkve. If you return it to Priest Maximus on the Scarlet Wind island (graveyard area), he may give you in EXCHANGE for the sword:
- 4 scrolls - Resurrection, Exorcism, Bless and Light of Life
- 35000 gold - IMPORTANT: If you play a Paladin hero, she WILL NOT take the money!
2. Jim Crowd - your first available companion. If, when talking to him for the first time, you say that the looks are not important, the more important is what lies within him, and then get amazed that he saved a girl from a shark, he will give you the Shark Tooth amulet (+5% XP and +5% gold per battle).
3. If you kill the Driller boss, and then talk to master Neotar about an extraordinary weapon, in the Lever Factory will appear a new weapon: the Self-Loading crossbow (it can be upgraded).
4. When you complete the Abyss quest given to you by Lan Mandrake in Tekron (The Big Channel location), he will sell you the "Dragon cloak" item (+15% hero defense, +15% spell damage).
5. The dwarf on the wharf in Tekron sells the "Blood of the Goddess" item. If you use it, you'll gain 150 leadership. If you have Jim Crowd as your companion, talk to him and give him the potion, he will become handsome again and will change his regalia/artifact slot to artifact slot and will give you an additional 700 leadership (as long as he's with you).

[travelingoz]

Wow DG! What an excellent intro! Must have taken you ages!

Just 1 small correction.

Note: The Trap medal upgrades are gained only when an enemy stack steps onto the trap and dies from it.

Actually upgrades when any stack dies on the trap regardless of it's origin. So all of your units including summoned stacks like Heavenly Guards (Royal Griffin's phantoms) or Phantom spell stacks count too. You should also add that upgrade is limited to 1 point per battle.




Hint/Spoiler?: A quick way to upgrade this medal at the start is to wait until there is only 1 or 2 units left in an enemy stack, cast trap next to it and use the Archamage's "move" ability to slide the enemy units onto the trap!

[DGDobrev]

That is completely correct. However, there is one thing about the trap medal. Sometimes, it's more of a curse than a boon. The traps are set in a random fashion and may sometimes hinder your strategy plans for the battle. That is something I don't enjoy

As for the names, they may undergo a certain change, I don't know If they do, I'll fix it promptly as soon as I get the english version of the game from my friend.

[DGDobrev]

I think that's doubtful. Making an editor and setting it up will require complete revision and re-working of the game.

Maybe if there is another version of KB series, it may have an editor. The good question is what will it be about, since we already created the Bill Gilbert Legend and we already saw through Amelie's life as a young princess. Maybe the travels of Bill Gilbert and Amelie? Or a quest for becoming a worthy warrior/paladin/mage to earn a proper status and the hand of the princess? Who knows.

Still, this is an info thread about KBAP, so it's not exactly the proper place to discuss this.

travelingoz
Just 1 small correction.

Note: The Trap medal upgrades are gained only when an enemy stack steps onto the trap and dies from it.

Actually upgrades when any stack dies on the trap regardless of it's origin. So all of your units including summoned stacks like Heavenly Guards (Royal Griffin's phantoms) or Phantom spell stacks count too. You should also add that upgrade is limited to 1 point per battle.

Hint/Spoiler?: A quick way to upgrade this medal at the start is to wait until there is only 1 or 2 units left in an enemy stack, cast trap next to it and use the Archamage's "move" ability to slide the enemy units onto the trap!

Well, I did some testing, and it is an incorrect assumption. You can get the starting enemy stack worth in trap points in one battle. If they are 10 at start and you lure them in all in a trap that will kill them, in the end of the fight you will get 10 points to the trap medal counter. In addition to that, summoned units (of any kind, any alignment) do not count. It is in the description of the medal.

Medal info+requirements and post-effect game mechanics added.

[travelingoz]

Yes, after i saw your previous comments i also did some checking and it would appear that summoned units do not count. I am sure they did and you only got 1 credit per battle when the Russian version was first released. Perhaps these were bugs not originally intended and corrected by the subsequent patches..

[DGDobrev]

Ok... I did some testing in order to go a bit in-depth on the intellect stat. I'm sure the people who like playing a mage hero will rub their hands in expectation.

So, here's what can be achieved theoretically:

Forenote: There is a possibility of spawning 2 Apprentice's Dress. I had this happen in at least 2 of my playthroughs, so I can say this for a fact. So having 2 magess' dresses is completely plausible and normal.

Own equipment:
Helm - BattleMage's Helm - +1def/+3 INT
Weapon - Archmage's Staff - +5INT/+20% Lightning Damage (spell and archmage attack)
Armor/Dress - Magess' Dress - +4INT/+800 Leadership/+30% Archmagi crit rate
Boots - Mystic's Boots - +2INT/Improved slow/haste spells
Regalia/Artifact - Royal Snake Ring - +5INT/+3 damage to all snakes in your army
Shield/Artifact - Moneylender's Ring - +5INT/-30% gold in battle
Belt/Gloves - Well of mana belt - +3 Mana/Round, +20% mana regen rate
Artifact - Ancient Amulet - +4INT/+15 mana (10 magic runes after 50 victories)
Total: 28

Elenhel companion: (+4INT bonus)
Shield/Gloves - Scaly Shield - +2def/+3INT
Dress - Magess' Dress - +4INT/+800 Leadership/+30% Archmagi crit rate
Belt/Regalia - AntiMage's Diploma - +2def/+2INT/+25% magic resist (absolute)
Artifact - Dead Skull - +5INT/+5 Atk
Total: 18

Skills:
Language lore - +6INT
Dissertation - +6INT
Scouting - +3INT
Learning - +3INT
Total: 18

Additional:
Ring of Intellect - +3INT (permanent after 30 battles)

EDIT: Additional 2: Illiteracy Exterminator medal - +3 intellect

Grand total: 28+18+18+3=67 + 3 =70
That is before bonuses from game objects and altars that add +1 INT. So generally, a mage hero can have over 70 INT.

70 INT transforms to:
+70% to get a post-effect (burn/slow/poison/weaken, etc.)
70*5=350% more damage from spells - but that's not all!
70/7=10, so 9. 10x15=150% more damage from spells, so 350+150=500% more damage from spells!!! (considering the 5% per point, 15% every 7 points bosuses)
Certain spells duration/power improved by 3 (every 20 points improve it by 1, so 3x20)

And it can go even further I'm uncertain if the pain skull/Snake ring/Moneylender's ring/Ring of Intellect can spawn twice. I've never seen 2 pain skulls in my games. But there's plenty of room for improving a mage. I think I'll do a fun test game to prove how far it may go sometime in the future.

EDIT: Actually the maximum basic value is 70 - the mage has a medal that adds up to 3 intellect.

[DGDobrev]

The thing is that the mage is the easiest to calculate, because he has only one decent companion for him - Elenhel, the elvish mage with +4 intellect bonus. The Paladin and the Warrior can utilize various equipment+follower combos and it will be very tough to calculate the best possible one. Besides, as a Warrior and as a Paladin one would want to balance Attack and Defense so that he can get a balanced hero - not a Berserk with 50+ attack and under 10 defense, or a "Tough" hero with 60+ defense and under 10 attack.

Both values seem accurate at the first glance:

- Agvares has: weapon, armor, Belt/Gloves and Artifact slots, so with a warrior with 2 weapons and Mauron, 50 attack doesn't seem that far:
Warrior:
Nomad's Helm +1
Ktahu's Claw +7
Armor - there is no armor with + attack
Boots - Princess' Boots +2
Dress/Regalia - Black Widow's Dress +3
Weapon/Shield - Ice Axe level 3 +5 (or another +5 atk weapon)
Belt/Gloves - Hunter's Gloves +3
Artifact - Dead Skull +5

Agvares:
Weapon - Singing Dagger +5 (or another +5 atk weapon)
Armor/Dress - if you luck out with a second black widow dress, you can add +3, but I've never seen a second one
Belt/Gloves - Battle Gloves +2 (or hand of necropolis +2)
Artifact - Dragonite +3

Skills:
Heroism +6
Power of Spirit +3
Medal +3

Total: 48 (51 with a second black widow dress)

- Moldok, the orc has the following slots: Weapon/Shield, Shield, Belt/Regalia, Artifact. He is the best companion for a "Tough" hero:
+8 from Mithril shield
+11 from skills
+7 from the Axe of Ice lvl 3
+4 from Paladin's shield
+3 from hero-equipped shield
+4 from armor
+4 from helm
+4 from artifact (Stone eye is back)
+5 from artifact (Royal Griffin King's portrait, KBAP-item)
+2 from gloves
+4 from Belt (Ogre's belt is back too)
+5 from boots (Bronze boots)
Well - that's 61 defense for starters.

Both these values are roughly calculated. This means they can go even higher.

And now, it's time to get back to the starter post and add the contract hero info.

EDIT: Done
EDIT 2: Fixed - Bronze boots is not KBAP item. We had it in KBTL too.
EDIT 3: Fixed the warrior's formula for max attack.

[BB Shockwave]

Yep, Royal Griffins get bad morale when Dragons are present (-2 actually). There is a Mind skill that raises neutral troop (animals) morale, so that's the only way you can counter-balance this. I used Tirexes instead of dragons to avoid this problem. (HINT: When you get Birth of Giant scrolls, save game and travel to different islands before using them. It is pre-set what they give you, but you get different troops on different islands).

Regarding spell changes questions from various people, here are the biggest changes:

-Gift, Last Hero (it was useless anyway) are gone.
-Oil Cloud and Shroud are merged into one Distortion spell now and it is more powerfull in the archer damage reduction too.
-Battle Cry is a mass spell on Level I already (very usefull for a warrior)
-Magic Shackles is leadership-dependent now, meaning it won't work on troops above the set leadership amount. In my walkthrough on Normal, this was never a problem but I guess it will be harder to use on Impossible due to larger enemy armies.
-There is a Summoning skill that improves the abilities of summoned units, maybe it's just my experience but this seems to affect the HP and damage of the Phoenix and the Evil Book too, as they are more effective now.

New spells:
-Create Evlin (Chaos) :transforms a corpse into an Evlin, if any unit steps on it a % of them dies instantly and the unit loses that turn. Undead are resurrected though. Evlin can even move 1 space and enter a unit next to them at the end of a round, but they can attack your own troops too. Use the Dragon's kick ability or headbutt to push enemies into them, but AI usually waltzes into them anyway.
-?????? (Distortion) - not sure what it will be called in english: Does great damage to Undead and demons, and double damage to summoned units. This includes not just phantoms but units summoned with gremlin towers, dryads, etc...
-Transfer Rage (Order): Transforms a percentage of Rage into Mana, to a Max of 55 rage into 29 mana (I think). A must-have for boss battles but usefull otherwise too.
-Wake Dragon (Distortion): Wakes up the dragon so you can use his abilities again that round. Costs mana, and the dragon burns a % of your total mana too after use, upgrading the spell minimizes this.
-Death Star (Chaos): Powerfull damage spell, inflicts astral damage (no resistance) on all targets in a star-shaped area. Hard to use without damaging your own units.
-Summon Animals (Order): Instant summon of an Intellect/Leadership size of animals, they can attack on that round. Upgrading it will give you higher level creatures (max of 4) and more leadership
-Avenging Angel (Order): Cast it on your troop, if it is attacked, magic lightning strikes the attacker (works for ranged attacks and magic attacks like shaman axe too). Same as Magic Shield, duration decreases after number of attacks.
-Turn back time (Distortion): Same as Reaper's time back ability in Legend! At max level works on Level 5 too, so everyone except Black Dragons. Important to note that the stack you use it on won't be able to attack twice in that round - worth using it on units that already attacked that round and took heavy damage.

[DGDobrev]

XIII. Morale.

In a nutshell, morale shows your troops' motivation to fight for you. If their motivation is high, they'll fight even better, as if they're not themselves. If their motivation to fight is low, they'll fight poorly.

Morale can go up and down when mixing troops, learning hero skills (like the conviction skill in the Mind tree), using unit abilities, or when receiving positive or negative effects in battle. You can check the current morale by examining the unit info at all times.

Here's how morale affects the units fighting capabilities:
+3 Morale (High) - +30% to base Attack and Defense; +40% critical hit chance
+2 Morale (Good) - +20% to base Attack and Defense; +30% critical hit chance
+1 Morale (Positive) - +10% to base Attack and Defense; +20% critical hit chance
0 Morale (Neutral) - no positive or negative bonuses
-1 Morale (Low) - -20% to base Attack and Defense; -25% critical hit chance
-2 Morale (Bad) - -35% to base Attack and Defense; -50% critical hit chance
-3 Morale (Critical) - -50% to base Attack and Defense; -100% critical hit chance

NOTE: AI troops do not receive any morale penalties regardless of the current race composition of their troops.

XIV. Race relations and how they affect the morale.

It is very important to study the race relations in advance. You should be aware that some races dislike other, some races simply hate others, others tolerate everyone. There are also a few races like to be only with their own kind.

NOTE: If a race relation is not shown here (like humans and elves, humans and dwarves, etc.), this means that these races tolerate each other and have no remorse when fighting side by side, thus there are no morale bonuses or penalties when mixing them up.

NOTE: Some units have innate traits that affect race relations. For example, Paladins, Priests and Inquisitors have the "Devoted to the Light" trait and they suffer no morale bonuses when there are undead in the army. The Emerald Green Dragons have the "Hates Giants" trait, which reduces their morale by -2 if there are Giants in the army. Royal Griffins have the "Hates Dragons" trait, which reduces their morale by -2 if there are dragons in the army. Refer to the units' traits for further information.

So, here we go:

1. Humans.
- presence of undead in the army - Morale -1
- presence of demons in the army - Morale -1

2. Elves.
- hero army consists of elvish troops only - Morale +1
- presence of dwarves in the army - Morale -1
- presence of orcs in the army - Morale -1
- presence of lizards in the army - Morale -1
- presence of demons in the army - Morale -1
- presence of undead in the army - Morale -2

3. Demons.
Demons consider all other races inferior, so they get neither positive, nor negative bonuses regardless of the troop setup.

4. Lizards.
- hero army consists of lizard units only - Morale +1
- presence of undead in the army - Morale -1
- presence of dragons in the army (with the exception of the bone dragon, as it is Undead) - Morale -1

5. Orcs.
- hero army consists of orcish units only - Morale +1
- presence of lizards in the army - Morale -1
- presence of demons in the army - Morale -1
- presence of undead in the army - Morale -2
SPECIAL: When an orcish unit kills an enemy, it always gains the maximum positive morale for the duration of the battle, in anticipation of the big spoils of war. Morale +10

6. Dwarves.
- hero army consists of dwarven units only - Morale +1
- presence of elves in the army - Morale -1
- presence of lizards in the army - Morale -1
- presence of undead in the army - Morale -1
- presence of demons in the army - Morale -2

7. Undead.
The Undead are equally indifferent towards all races.

8. Dragons (with the exception of the bone dragons, as it is Undead).
- presence of lizards in the army - Morale -1

Going in-depth: unit abilities

1. Harmony Aura (Druid) - all elves in the army, with the exception of the Druid, gain +1 morale.
2. Enormous Lizard (T-Rex) - all lizards in the army, with the exception of the T-Rex gain +1 morale.
3. Robber (Robber, Marauder) - all level 1-2 Human units lose 1 morale (peasant, bowman, priest, swordsman)
4. Demonologist (Demonologist) - the Demonologist gains +1 morale if there are demons in the army.
5. Valor (Knight) - Knights gain +1 morale
6. Tree Faerie (Dryad) - the presence of the Dryad in the army boosts the morale of all thorns and ents by +1.
7. Defender of Beauty (Unicorn) - Faeries and Dryads gain +2 morale
8. Commander (Guardsman) - swordsmen and bowmen in the army gain +1 morale.
9. Orc Commander (Ogre) - all orcs in the army, with the exception of the ogre gain +1 morale.
10. Likes Emerald Green Dragons (Giant) - the presence if Emerald green dragons in the army improves the morale of the Giant by +1
11. Mechanical (Droids) - always neutral morale
12. Hates Giants (Emerald Green Dragon) - the presence of Giants in the army reduces the Emerald Green Dragons' morale by -2
13. Hates Dragons (Royal Griffin) - the presence of dragons in the army reduces the morale of the Royal Griffin by -2
14. Cloud of Darkness (Necromancer) - the Necromancer's attack affects all 1-4 level creatures, with the exception of the Undead, reducing their morale by -1 for 3 turns.
15. Devoted to the Light (Priest, Inquisitor, Paladin) - does not receive penalty when there are undead in the army.
16. Cursed (Undead spider) - with a probability of 50% curses a level 1-4 enemy, reducing its morale by -1 for 3 turns.
17. Perfection (Royal Griffin) - all human units and griffins gain +1 morale.
18. Dark Commander (Black Knight) - all undead units in the army gain +1 morale.
19. Tolerance (Black unicorn, Werewolf Elf in both wolf and elf form) - does not receive negative morale bonuses if there are undead in the army.

[BB Shockwave]

Originally Posted by DGDobrev

XIII. Morale.

NOTE: AI troops do not receive any morale penalties regardless of the current morale of their troops.

Sorry, that's not so... AI troops do not receive penalties due to Racial composition, that's true. But their Attack/Defense and critical chance are affected when they are low or high on morale.

Also some stuff that increase morale:

1 Positive effect: +1 Morale
1 Negative Effect: -1 Morale
More then one Postive effect: +2 Morale
More then one negative effect: -1 Morale


More units that increase morale:

-Death Knights: +1 Morale to all Undead.
-Royal Griffins: +1 Morale to all Humans/Elves. (This includes Pirates and Assassins too)
-Ogres: +1 Morale to all Orcs
-Knights: +1 Morale to themselves
-Dryads: +1 Morale to Ents and Thorns