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Might and Magic seriesGender and alignment in Might and Magic I(14 posts)solved(14 posts)solved
(14 posts)solved
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Posted August 14, 2014
So, I'm planning my party to play Might and Magic I: Secret of the Inner Sanctum. I know how stats and race affect characters so that's not a problem. But I'm wondering: how do gender and alignment affect the game? Do certain certain quests or locations become accessible depending on gender and alignment? Is there a specific configuration of gender and alignment that is the most advantageous? Is it better to stick to the same alignment and gender? I read on a site that an all-female party had a distinct advantage. Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
This question / problem has been solved by Waltoriousimage
Posted August 14, 2014
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SummonerYuna: So, I'm planning my party to play Might and Magic I: Secret of the Inner Sanctum. I know how stats and race affect characters so that's not a problem. But I'm wondering: how do gender and alignment affect the game? Do certain certain quests or locations become accessible depending on gender and alignment? Is there a specific configuration of gender and alignment that is the most advantageous? Is it better to stick to the same alignment and gender? I read on a site that an all-female party had a distinct advantage. Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
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There is one location in the game that favors female characters. I'm pretty sure this place is the only place that gender matters. All locations are accessible to all genders, but females will have an easier time in this location. Alignment is even less important. It can also change during the game based on your actions, but is easy to restore using a spell (or by paying for the service at a Temple). If you want more spoilery details, read below.

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---EVEN MORE SPOILERS---
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In the town of Portsmith, there are certain spots on the map that will drain the life from any male characters that step on them. This is related to the secret of Portsmith, which you may find a quest about. Completing that quest is also much easier for female characters. However, there is actually a way to change gender in the game, so if you have a mixed-gender party you can become all-female in order to tackle those areas. You can also switch back later. If you don't want to bother with that, and don't care which gender your characters are, then creating an all-female party at the beginning will mean you have no trouble with Portsmith.

Alignment comes into play for a certain series of quests. In these, you will be judged based on how you react to certain things, and eventually rewarded if you acted in accordance with your alignment. Since different characters have their own alignments, it's easiest to do these quests if all characters have the same alignment. But, these quests aren't a big deal and honestly there are much better ways to gain money and experience, and I barely bothered with them. Alignment can also affect what items you can equip. Certain magical items will be restricted to certain alignments. I'm not sure if it's possible to predict which, so this may not help you decide on alignment during character creation. During the game, your party's alignment will shift towards evil if you tend to always attack monsters on sight, rather than trying to bribe them or even surrender to them. If you don't always attack your alignment might shift towards good. You can restore your characters' original alignments at a Temple or through a spell. Practically, this means you will always be slipping towards evil, because attacking monsters is much better than letting them take all your money. Then you just restore your alignment if you need it for an item or something. in the end it's not a big deal and I hardly ever worried about my alignment.

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---END SPOILERS---

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I personally played with a mixed-gender party (half male, half female) and a mixture of alignments. It was fine, and I had a blast.
Post edited August 15, 2014 by Waltorious
Posted August 14, 2014
To add to Waltorious comprehensive answer:
Alignment shift in combat only seems to happen if attacking "good" creatures like Centaurs and Pegasi.
When I played MM1 (or was it MM2?) my Cleric's alignment shifted from Good to Neutral and her ability to Turn Undead decreased dramatically.
Posted August 15, 2014
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PetrusOctavianus: When I played MM1 (or was it MM2?) my Cleric's alignment shifted from Good to Neutral and her ability to Turn Undead decreased dramatically.
I didn't know that alignment affected spells like that. That's kind of cool, actually. I guess this means one should be sure to make any cleric characters have good alignment?
Posted August 15, 2014
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PetrusOctavianus: When I played MM1 (or was it MM2?) my Cleric's alignment shifted from Good to Neutral and her ability to Turn Undead decreased dramatically.
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Waltorious: I didn't know that alignment affected spells like that. That's kind of cool, actually. I guess this means one should be sure to make any cleric characters have good alignment?
Either is't the alignment itself that is important, or it's the alignment shift.
Logically I'd think a Good cleric would be better at it.
I found an old post I made somewhere else, and it turns out it was indeed MM1, and the alignment shift went directly from Good to Evil.

EDIT: Someone else then replied:
"The only information on this I can find anywhere is in one of the FAQs. "Watch out if your alignment slips. Clerics won't be able to cast Turn Undead.". So it might be either an alignment change or being Evil.

Still, my cleric was Evil from the start and Turn Undead worked wondrously (failing from time to time of course, but it worked most of the time), but at some point it just stopped working altogether. No apparent reason really, I was just walking around killing monsters for experience. I even tried restoring alignment (even though the cleric was Evil all the time) and that did nothing."
Post edited August 15, 2014 by PetrusOctavianus
Posted August 15, 2014
Interesting. My guess is that Jon van Caneghem originally wanted alignment to be more important but in the end it wasn't a fully fleshed-out mechanic. I honestly can't remember if my cleric ever stopped being able to cast Turn Undead. I have the vaguest of memories that she did, but can't remember if I solved it or just ignored it. I also don't remember what her alignment was, but it was probably Good, since that seems more appropriate for a cleric to me.
Posted August 16, 2014
In my game I had a good cleric whose ability to cast turn undead vanished when he shifted to Evil. I'm pretty sure it's not alignment but alignment shift that matters. An evil cleric can cast turn undead as well as a good one, so long as they don't suffer from alignment shift.

By the way, you seem become more good if you bribe monsters instead of fighting them. If you bribe them with 1 gp they'll attack anyway, so you won't lose the XP.
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PetrusOctavianus: Still, my cleric was Evil from the start and Turn Undead worked wondrously (failing from time to time of course, but it worked most of the time), but at some point it just stopped working altogether. No apparent reason really, I was just walking around killing monsters for experience. I even tried restoring alignment (even though the cleric was Evil all the time) and that did nothing."
Are you sure you aren't thinking about MM2? That game suffered from what seemed like an integer overflow bugcausing turn undead to fail.

http://www.gog.com/forum/might_and_magic_series/mm2_turn_undead_not_working_as_ofter_as_it_should
Posted August 16, 2014
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ZFR: In my game I had a good cleric whose ability to cast turn undead vanished when he shifted to Evil. I'm pretty sure it's not alignment but alignment shift that matters. An evil cleric can cast turn undead as well as a good one, so long as they don't suffer from alignment shift.

By the way, you seem become more good if you bribe monsters instead of fighting them. If you bribe them with 1 gp they'll attack anyway, so you won't lose the XP.
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PetrusOctavianus: Still, my cleric was Evil from the start and Turn Undead worked wondrously (failing from time to time of course, but it worked most of the time), but at some point it just stopped working altogether. No apparent reason really, I was just walking around killing monsters for experience. I even tried restoring alignment (even though the cleric was Evil all the time) and that did nothing."
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ZFR: Are you sure you aren't thinking about MM2? That game suffered from what seemed like an integer overflow bugcausing turn undead to fail.

http://www.gog.com/forum/might_and_magic_series/mm2_turn_undead_not_working_as_ofter_as_it_should
The part you quoted was something I quoted of another player.
Posted August 16, 2014
Ah, I see. Still I'm pretty sure the other player must have gotten confused with MM2 then.

Basically: In MM1 turn undead stops working if your alignment changes.
In MM2 alignment doesn't change. Turn undead stops working after reaching a high enough level (16?) and continues to behave erratically after that.
Post edited August 16, 2014 by ZFR
Posted August 16, 2014
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ZFR: Ah, I see. Still I'm pretty sure the other player must have gotten confused with MM2 then.
That's quite possible.
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ZFR: Basically: In MM1 turn undead stops working if your alignment changes.
In MM2 alignment doesn't change. Turn undead stops working after reaching a high enough level (16?) and continues to behave erratically after that.
I wonder if the Amiga version of MM2 has the same problem?
I will probably replay MM2 soon, using the Amiga version, so it will be something to look out for.
Downside of Amiga version is no importing from MM1. OTOH one can find items up to +64 instead of "just" +32.
Posted June 20, 2015
Long after.. A brief followup regarding clerics and alignment. My neutral Cleric became good because we bribed too often. I had to pay to have him restored to neutrality so he could destroy undead again.

In ancient D&D the handwaving would have been your god is pissed at you, so you lose powers. MM1 doesn't try to model ancient D&D, but it's strongly influenced by it in a variety of ways.
Posted June 20, 2015
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ZFR: Ah, I see. Still I'm pretty sure the other player must have gotten confused with MM2 then.

Basically: In MM1 turn undead stops working if your alignment changes.
In MM2 alignment doesn't change. Turn undead stops working after reaching a high enough level (16?) and continues to behave erratically after that.
One other thing that isn't obvious: Casting Turn Undead will prevent Holy Word from working in the same battle. (I suspect the reverse is true, but testing it would require an undead enemy to survive Holy Word, which I believe is impossible.)

A couple bugs with Holy Word in MM2 DOS:
1. The spell doesn't age the caster, even though the manual says it should.
2. If the spell doesn't kill any of the first 10 enemies, but does kill the rest, the 10th enemy will disappear from the screen. This is solely a visual glitch; the enemy is still there.

By the way, in Might and Magic 2, some enemies have gender based immunity to physical attacks; if your character is the wrong gender, that character won't be able to damage the enemy with a physical attack. Does that mechanic make any sense at all?
Posted June 21, 2015
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dtgreene: By the way, in Might and Magic 2, some enemies have gender based immunity to physical attacks; if your character is the wrong gender, that character won't be able to damage the enemy with a physical attack. Does that mechanic make any sense at all?
Must be another cishettrans conspiracy.
Posted June 22, 2015
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ZFR: Must be another cishettrans conspiracy.
Hunh? I've never seen that term before.
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Might and Magic seriesGender and alignment in Might and Magic I(14 posts)solved(14 posts)solved
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