Group and Square Mothers

Semantics

Mother Spell: Its Effect Goes With It

Square Mothers

Group Mothers

Spells

What spells are square mothers?

What spells are group mothers?

Semantics

Mother Spell: Its Effect Goes With It. Some spells are cast on one spell target, but give an effect to many other spell targets “nearby”. These spells are called mother spells. Under the hood, they work by automatically casting child spells onto the other targets to carry their effect. (Usually, the child spells are non-visible, so you can't see them, only their effects.)

Every mother spell has the semantics: Its effect goes with it. This means:

• Shared lifetimes. If the mother spell is dispelled or expires, its entire effect immediately ceases. (All of its child spells are immediately dispelled.)
• Disjoint children. Every mother spell keeps track of its own children separately. A single spell target can have any number of copies of the same mother spell, and any number of copies of the same kind of child spell, without problems.

Square Mothers. A square mother usually casts child spells onto the 4 adjacent squares, or onto the 9 squares in a 3x3 diamond.

• If the child spells are non-visible, then they last as long as the mother spell does.
• If the child spells are visible, then they can be dispelled one at a time by any square-dispel effect.
• Shared lifetimes, part II. If the child spells are visible, and all of them are dispelled, then the mother spell immediately dispels itself.

Group Mothers. A group mother is an individual spell that gives some bonus effect to all minions in its group (including its own host).

• Shared lifetimes, part III. When the host dies, the mother spell's entire effect ceases (since all individual spells are automatically dispelled when their host dies).
• If the host leaves the group, the mother spell's effect ceases immediately for that group (since its effect goes with it, and it's no longer in that group).
• However, the mother spell still continues to affect its own host (in its host's new group).
• When the host joins another group, the mother spell's effect immediately affects its new group.

Wherever the host goes, so goes the effect!

Spells

What spells are square mothers?

• Ill Winds: This spell remains visible, and it casts 4 non-visible child spells.
• Drought, Justicars' Reserve, Law of the Land, Vale of Peace: These square mothers are non-visible, and they cast visible child spells.
• Mirage: This spell is a mother of 4 non-visible “attracting” spells, which it casts into the adjacent 4 squares.
• Siren Song: This spell is a grandmother of 4 non-visible helpers, each of which is a mother of 4 non-visible “attracting” spells! It ensures proper “mother” semantics that its effect goes with it, e.g. when its host leaves the board or teleports across the board.

What spells are group mothers? The first column lists all spells that are group mothers. You cast these directly. The second column lists all spells that create recruits who each have one or more non-visible group mothers.

v2.10.00 Last updated 2005/08/05