Dominions 3: The Awakening/Items

Default items

Every unit, commander and pretender in Dom 3 comes equipped with default predefined items per the unit type database. Most of these are of a mundane non-magic nature, although many nations have at least one recruitable troop type and/or commander with some kind of default magical equipment. Some pretender chassis come with default magical weapon(s) as well. Default items also include natural attacks (ie. claws, teeth, fists, etc.), some of which can also be magical or have an associated weapon-power effect (ie. poison, shock, etc).

Default items all have a preset resource cost, which cumulatively determines the overall resource cost of any unit eligible for recruiting. Such items cannot otherwise be created, lost, transferred or taken away from their owners and cannot be picked up on the battlefield, though they are 'removed' when a commander is given a forged item for that slot and 'reappear' if that slot is later freed up. Note that some default equipment is actually better than some forged items, so make sure to check the commander's stats before and after equipping same.

Forged items

In the mysterious and magical world of Dominions, hundreds of different magic items exist. Mages with sufficient paths can produce marvellous items if their nation has researched far enough up the Construction school of magic. These items can be equipped and transferred between commanders (unless they are cursed) and picked up on the battlefield, provided they have the appropriate item slot(s). :Note: Magi carrying a cursed item will drop it into the laboratory vault if they Wish for another item that requires the same equipment slot.

While all forged items offer some kind of in-game advantage, many have properties analogous to those of default equipment; for example, a suit of Weightless Chain Mail is similar to the default mundane chain mail, except it causes less fatigue when worn.

Unforgable Items

Like default equipment, certain magic items have the distinction of being both non transferable and 'unforgable' (ie. Champion's Trident, given to the victor of the Arena games). Other unforgable exceptions that can be transferred include the troll Bogus's Greenstone Armor and his ring Precious, and indy-commander Satina's Robes of the Sorceress. Unforgable items can also be acquired by means of a Wish spell.

Unique Items

While some default pretender weapons might be seen as unique, this moniker is only really relevant to forged items, since default equipment can't be transferred or removed anyways. Construction level 8 allows the forging of unique magical artifacts. These powerful unique items can only exist as a single instance within any Dom-3 game (ie. once forged, no player may make a second copy of that item). Some unique items are further cursed and once equipped cannot even be transferred between commanders. The only way to acquire a unique item possessed by another player (or unequip a cursed unique item) is to kill it's owner and pick it up on the battlefield, or have a friendly S9 mage Wish for it.

More information about forging and path requirements can be found here.

Weapons

There are over 450 different weapons and over 70 magical weapon-power effects in Dominions 3. Weapons can be roughly categorized in several different ways: default, magical vs non-magical, forged vs unforgable and/or unique, with much overlap between those categories.

Magical vs Non-magical

All forged weapons are considered magical, and some default weapons too. Magical weapons ignore the effects of glamor, ethereal or mistform. Weapon-power effects (ie. poison, shock, etc) are considered 'magical' for this purpose, even if the weapon they belong to is not.

Forged melee weapon statistics

• Lvl: Level of research needed in the Construction School to unlock the weapon (path requirements listed elsewhere).
• #h: Indicates whether the weapon is wielded 1h one-handed or 2h two-handed.
• Dam: Base weapon damage w/o added Strength, unless "No Strength" (no Str+) is stated. AP Armor Piercing AN Armor Negating.
• Att: The attack bonus or malus of the weapon. The higher attack the better chance the unit has of hitting the enemy.
• Def: Defense bonus or malus from the weapon. The more defense the more often your unit can dodge attacks.
• Lgth: The length of the weapon used to determine reppelling and whether the unit gets poisoned by some spiny units.
• Comment: This lists the special additional powers and abilities of the weapon. AoE# Area of Effect activates in the # of target square(s) on Hit Only activates if the weapon hits the enemy #x att/t Number of attacks per combat turn SR Shock resistance CR Cold resistance FR Fire resistance PR Poison resistance MR Magic resistance.

Notable non-Unique Forged Melee Weapons

Name	Lvl	#h	Dam	Att	Def	Lgth	Comment
Axe of Sharpness	0	1h	10 AP	1	0	1	-
Hunter's Knife	0	1h	3 AP	2	0	1	-
Stinger	0	1h	6 AP	1	1	4	-
Sword of Sharpness	0	1h	8 AP	1	2	2	-
Sword of Sharpness	0	2h	12 AP	2	3	3	-
Thorn Staff	0	2h	5	3	5	4	on Hit: Strong Poison
Doom Glaive	2	2h	16	2	2	4	AoE1 Curse + Decay
Duskdagger	2	1h	2 AN	2	0	0	-
Dwarven Hammer	2	1h	8	0	-1	0	Forge Bonus 25%
Faithful	2	1h	7	1	3	1	Lucky
Frost Brand	2	1h	16	4	2	2	AoE1 12 AP Cold
Gloves of the Gladiator	2	2h	3	1	1	0	4x att/t
Holy Scourge	2	2h	4	3	-2	3	2x att/t; 3x dam vs Undead/Demon
Lightning Rod	2	2h	3	2	4	4	SR 100%
Sceptre of Authority	2	1h	4 AP	1	0	1	+25 Leadership, Combustion
Serpent Kryss	2	1h	4 AP	2	1	0	PR 50%; on Hit: Death Poison
Smasher	2	1h	10	1	0	1	on Hit: 20 AN Shatter
Star of Heroes	2	1h	12	4	-2	2	on Hit: Destroy Armor
Thunder Whip	2	1h	10S AN	0	0	5	no Str+, Shock res negates
Elf Bane	4	1h	12 AP	1	0	1	on Hit: 999 vs Magic (MR negates)
Fire Brand	4	1h	12 AP	4	1	2	AoE1 14 AP Fire
Flambeau	4	2h	13 AP	4	2	3	+12 AP Fire; grants Holy Pyre
Flesh Eater	4	1h	14	3	0	2	on Hit: Chest Wound
Heart Finder Sword	4	1h	7	0	1	2	on Hit: 999 vs Living (MR negates)
Herald Lance	4	1h	6	1	1	4	3x Dmg vs Undead/Demon; grants Solar Rays
Lightning Spear	4	1h	4	1	1	4	on Hit: +10 AN Shock
Rat Tail	4	1h	9	5	0	5	2x att/t; no Str+; Animal Awe; on Hit: Greater Fear
Rune Smasher	4	1h	7	2	1	1	+2 vs MR
Skull Staff	4	2h	3	2	4	4	Death Magic +1
Skull Standard	4	2h	1	-2	-3	5	Fear +5; grants Panic
Snake Bladder Stick	4	1h	5P AN	0	1	3	no Str+; AoE4 Poison Cloud
Staff of Corrosion	4	2h	3	2	4	4	grants Acid Bolt
Summer Sword	4	1h	9	0	1	2	Supply +100; grants Tanglevines
Sword of Swiftness	4	1h	9	1	4	2	2x att/t
Thistlemace	4	1h	3	-1	-1	1	on Hit: Strong Poison; Nature Magic +1
Vine Whip	4	1h	=0	3	0	5	on Hit: Entanglement
Wand of Wild Fire	4	1h	4 AP	1	0	1	grants Fireball
Bloodthorn	6	1h	4	2	0	0	on Hit: Steals Life; Blood Magic +1
Demon Bane	6	2h	17	6	2	3	x2 Dmg vs Demons; FR 100%
Demon Whip	6	1h	=2	2	0	5	AoE1 14 AP Fire
Evening Star	6	1h	9	6	2	2	on Hit: 12 AP Fire & Weaken -2 Str
Gate Cleaver	6	2h	29 AN	-1	-1	3	+50 Siege Bonus
Hell Sword	6	2h	9	0	0	0	FR 50%; Berserker; on Hit: Steals Life
Rod of the Phoenix	6	1h	-2	-2	0	0	grants Incinerate
Shadow Brand	6	1h	12 AP	4	1	2	AoE5 +5 AN (MR negates) & Weaken -2 Str
Staff of Elemt Mstry	6	2h	3	2	4	4	CR & FR 50%; FAWE Magic +1
Staff of Elemt Mstry	6	2h	3	2	4	4	SR 50% & Stoneskin; FAWE Magic +1
Staff of Storms	6	2h	3	2	4	4	cast Storm; On Hit: 10S AN; grants Lightning Bolt
Stndrd of the Damned	6	2h	1	-2	-3	5	Fear Aura +5; grants Drain Life
Star of Thralldom	6	1h	10	6	-2	2	AoE1 False Fetters (MR negates)
Treelord Staff	6	2h	3	2	4	4	Forest Survival; Nature Magic +2
Wave Breaker	6	2h	10	3	3	4	x3 Att/t; Cast Friendly Currents; Waterbreathing
Wraith Sword	6	2h	9	2	3	3	on Hit: Steals Life

Other melee weapons

This section contains a number of weapons that don't fit into the category of normal weapons:

• Natural weapons: These include attacks like Bite, Claw, Talons, Tentacle and Hoof often found on animals or monsters. These attacks often have 0 length meaning that a monster attacking with a Bite would get poisoned from Atlantian Coral Armor. They often have little damage, relying on the creature's strength.
• Sleep Vines: Found on Mandagoras and Manikins, the sleep vines do little damage but they also cause fatigue on their target and are potentially devastating.
• Drain Life: Some units such as Illithids and Vampires attack by draining life from their targets at close range. This attack does damage on the target and transfers at max 5 HP per hit to the attacker.
• Paralyze: Paralyze is found on some units, notably Disposed Spirits and void summons, this touch attack paralyzes the target if it fails to resist the attack. Additional paralyzis counts as damage so units with only Paralyze as attack can kill units.
• Drain Strength: This is another attack found on void summons and unded. This attack damages the strength of the target for duration of the battle and eventually starts doing damage.
• Touch of Leprosy: This is a rare attack found on some Foul Spawn. This attack causes Disease upon a successful strike.

Ranged Weapons Statistics

• Weapon damage: This is the damage from weapon without added strength unless "No Strength" is stated
• Precision: The precision of the ranged attack. The higher precision the closer to intended target the shot lands
• Range: How many grid-squares the object can fly. Press g on the battle view to see the grid.
• Ammo: Number of ammunition in the weapon. If the weapon runs out of ammo in battle it cannot be used during that battle or other battle in same turn. Weapon ammo is replenished during turn processing.
• One-handed or two-handed: Whether the weapon is wielded with one or two hands.
• Special statistic: This contains the special statistics of the weapon such as Magical or Armor Pierrcing

• Swords
• Axes
• Daggers
• Missile Weapons
• Hammers, Maces and Mauls
• Flails
• Morning Stars
• Spears & Pikes
• Halberds & Glaives
• Staffs & Rods

Armor

Armor, ranging from leather cuirases to magic armor, contribute to the Protection value of the unit. The more protection the unit has the more harder it must be hit before it takes damage. Heavy armor encumbers and reduces the defence of the unit, and spellcasting causes a greater amount of fatigue when wearing armor. Armor is less effective on units with high natural protection. The Protection bonus from armor counts only half against Armor Piercing attacks and not at all against Armor Negating attacks. Commanders wear magic armor on the Body slot.

• Body Armor
• Shields
• Helmets
• Boots

Misc. items

Rings

Rings are magic items forged by mages which go to the Accessory slots of the commander. There are great many different types of rings which effects range from increased Attack the increased magic powers.

Talismans and necklaces

Forged by mages, the various Talismans and Necklaces go to the Accessory slot of a commander. There is a vast number of different talismans and necklaces ranging from the Disease causing but Fire Gem generating Fever Fetish to the Crystal Coin that empowers Astral magic skill.

Other accessories

Dominions 3 has a huge number of magic items that go to the Accessory slot of a commander. They range from Magic Carpets to Barrels of Air and wall-shaking horns.