Cori91: Hello guys!

Started playing MM3 not long ago. I already played MM6-7 years before as a newcomer, but I always wanted to play all of them (beside 1-2, those seem too old school).

Anyways I started playing and bought a Short Sword with +2 Might stat. Does it increase my damage by +2? Can't find any info about it online.

I have a Flashing Spear, which is like 1-9 damage + 5 electricity from "flashing". But the short sword does 2-6 damage +2 Might, which is?? +2 Damage then? Not sure.

Or any other stat, how do they work? Do they boost spells? Or they are just a check to get new spells, and otherwise useless?
Endurance is calculated somehow class by class, and speed i guess it just who has more comes first?

Bookwyrm627: A quick google check indicates the stats work like in MM6-8, which means the stats provide a bonus to affected characteristics. The bonus depends on the stat reaching certain thresholds.

Here's a partial table pulled from a GameFaqs FAQ (https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/564551-might-and-magic-iii-isles-of-terra/faqs/36599)
Stat Range || Adjective || Bonus
[Beginning of the table excluded for brevity]
7-8 || Very Low || -2
9-10 || Low || -1
11-12 || Average || +0
13-14 || Good || +1
15-16 || Very Good || +2
17-18 || High || +3
19-20 || Very High || +4
21-24 || Great || +5
[Rest of the table excluded for brevity]

So that +2 Might bonus on that short sword would boost your damage IF the +2 boosts your might to/oast the next numerical threshold.

The Flashing part of the spear provides a direct bonus to that weapon's damage in the form of electricity damage (which some monsters may resist, and some may not).

Might affects damage, Endurance affects max hp, Speed affects AC and probably some aspect of combat turn order. This is just a partial list of things stats effect. The linked FAQ has more information about various things.

dtgreene: Worth noting that, as stats get higher, the breakpoints get further apart. In fact, after a certain point I believe it takes something like 25 points for each +1 bonus.

HP from endurance is per level, and is retroactive; in other words, you don't need to raise your Endurance early unless you need that HP early, and you don't need to hold off on leveling before you raise Endurance. Note that this means that Endurance losses (from status effects, for example) will lower your max HP (though, interestingly enough, current HP isn't affected; this is one of the ways HP can exceed its maximum). (Worth noting that this is a change from previous installments, where your HP increases are affected by your base Endurance at the time of level up, and later changes don't change your HP.)

SP is based on Intelligence for Sorcerer/Archer, Personality for Cleric/Paladin, and the average of the two for Druid/Ranger. (Note that I don't remember whether it's the stats or the bonuses that are averaged, and I don't know how rounding is handled.) Again, it's possible for SP to exceed its maximum.

Speed affects initiative; once you enter melee, fast characters will attack before slow characters. This is most useful when it allows a character to attack before the enemy.

Your Flashing Spear will probably outdamage that Short Sword in most situations.

Worth noting that World of Xeen handles stats the exact same way.

Just noticed you asked about learning spells:
* Stats do not determine whether you can learn a spell.
* To buy a spell, your current level needs to be high enough. If you somehow find a way to temporarily boost your level, you can buy higher level spells, and you won't lose them when the spell wears off. Note that this requirement is only in MM3; the Xeen games removed this restriction.
* You can also find spells in the wild; these spells ignore the level requirement. They also ignore the price of the spell; this is especially for teaching spells to hybrids (Paladin/Archer/Ranger), who normally have to pay double. Most spells can be found somewhere in MM3; only some can in MM4,and none can in MM5.
* Worth noting that Druid/Ranger spellcasting's usefulness becomes less useful with each game. In MM3, Druid/Ranger get unique spells, including Walk on Water, which, seeing as the game world consists of a bunch of islands, is rather important. In MM4, Druid/Ranger don't get any unique spells, and are limited to spells that, at level 5, cost 10 or less; furthermore, they don't even get a few spells that would qualify, including one particular spell that is mandatory for completing the game. MM5 uses MM4's lists, except that, at any given shop, Druid/Ranger has a more limited spell selection.

UndeadHalfOrc: Hello!
I'm in the same boat as you, except when I bought the six pack in 2010,
I started from the beginning and completed MM1 and MM2,
which are the HARDEST ones in the series, by far.
It took me 12 years to beat MM1, because that game frustrated me due to its lack of minimap and
random HP gains (both issues fixed by MM2).
I'm currently midway thru MM3 (lev 37) and so far that game has been a cakewalk compared to MM1-2.

MM6 is the hardest game after MM1 & MM2, by quite a bit.

dtgreene: In fact, after a point I found armor to not be worth the trouble. Consider that:
* AC only applies to physical attacks. In particular, when fighting enemies that use magic (which includes things like dragons), AC is completely useless.
* When your HP is reduced to -10, your armor breaks, and you need to go back to town and pay a blacksmith to repair it, which quickly becomes annoying. In MM3, this only applies to your chest piece, but in the Xeen games, this applies to all your armor, which is enough to make armor not worth the trouble, at least for me.
* There's other ways to boost your AC, if you decide you *really* need it in a certain area.

By the way: If you are able to reduce the damage you take to 0 via Protection from Elements, Power Shield, or some combination of them, you also become immune to any side effects of the attack, like status ailments. There is one area, in particular, that goes from unfair (complete with party wipes) to easy if you just put up Power Shield on everyone.

GeistSR: Two-handed all the way. Far too many cases where AC doesn't apply to worry about shields.

UndeadHalfOrc: HEROISM in MM3

I made extensive tests with the Heroism spell, because manuals and FAQs are less than clear
and contradict each other.

Turns out, it's only a boost to "To Hit" - it does NOT increase the number of hits as it does in MM2.
Here is the proof. My level 1 barbarian with 13 might, called "Heroism Test" is wielding a lowly steel hand axe, so roughly
10 damage per hit on average, and my lv 41 cleric just casted Heroism on him.
I enter the ARENA and have every other character Block but him.
If Heroism boosted level (for # of attacks purpose) he would one shot most of the weaker creatures in the Arena.
I tested it with "Where are we" which displays Monster HP, even better.
He deals roughly 10 dmg, and only 3-4 dmg on monsters that resist physical damage like Zombies.

I will test the same spell extensively in World of Xeen when I'm playing that game and attained a sufficient level with my Cleric, to see if they changed the formula.

dtgreene: That's actually my impression of how that spell works in Xeen.