Dominions 3: The Awakening/Items

Basic items

These are the default armor and weapons of units in the game. Their properties are analogous to those of forged items; for example, a suit of chain mail is similar to the forged Weightless Chain Mail except it causes more fatigue when worn. Basic items may not be traded, though they are removed when a commander is given a forged item for that slot. If you later remove the forged item, the original Basic Item reappears at the commander's slot. Note that some Basic Items are actually better than some of the (lesser) forged Items. Make sure to check the commander's stats before and after equipping him with an forged item.

Forged items

In the mysterious and magical world of Dominions, hundreds of different magic items exist. Mages with sufficient skill can produce marvellous items of the forge if they have researched the recipes or blueprints for these items with the Construction school of magic. These items can then be equipped by all Commander units be it mages, warriors, Pretender Gods or void summons as long as they have appropriate item slots.

More information about forging can be found here.

More information about items of air 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.

Default

Every unit, commander and pretender in Dom 3 comes equipped with default weapons. Most of these are of a mundane non-magic and/or unforgable 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 cannot be transferred or taken away from their owners and cannot be picked up on the battlefield.

Forged vs Unforgable

Unforgable weapons all have the distinction in that they exist in the game primarily as default equipment or as easter eggs (e.g. Champion's Trident). They cannot be created by the player, and with very few exceptions cannot be transferred between commanders or 'picked up' on a victorious battlefield. Such exceptions include the troll Bogus's Greenstone Armor and his ring Precious, or indy-commander Satina's Robes of the Sorceress. Unforgable weapons 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). Unforgable weapons can be acquired by means of a Wish spell however.

Forged weapons OTOH have to be created by the player after researching in the Construction magic school and can only be equipped on a commander or pretender. While all forged weapons offer some kind of combat advantage or power, some forged weapons are considered magical while some are not. Forged weapons can be transferred between commanders (unless they are cursed) and picked up on the battlefield. Magi carrying a cursed item will drop it into the laboratory vault if they Wish for another item that requires the same equipment slot.

Magical vs Non-magical

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. Many non-magical forged weapons can still offer useful combat bonuses in spite of their inherent disadvantage vs glamour/ethereal/mistform enemies.

Unique

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. 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. 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.

Melee weapon statistics

• Weapon damage: This is the damage from weapon without added strength unless "No Strength" is stated
• Attack: The attack bonus or malus of the weapon. The higher attack the more often the unit hits the enemy
• Defense: Defense bonus or malus from the weapon. The more defense the more often your unit can dodge attacks
• Length: The length of the weapon used to determine repeling and if the unit gets poisoned by some spiny units
• 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 Piercing

Notable non-Unique Forged Melee Weapons

Name	#H	Dam	#/R	Att	Def	Lgth	Comment
Fire Brand	1h	12 AP	1/r	4	1	2	AoE1 Fire
Frost Brand	1h	16	1/r	4	2	2	AoE1 Cold

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.