Battlefield enchantments

Spells that change a whole battlefield: how long they last, who they touch, which ones need another spell first, and what ends them early.

verified 6.37updated 2026-10-02 · Jake6 min read

Most battle spells hit a target or an area. A few do something larger: they change the field itself. A storm rolls in, the light goes out, heat or cold settles on everyone, a mist hides the far side. The manual’s spell tables mark these with the flag BE, short for battlefield enchantment. The glossary calls the same thing a battle enchantment. This page covers what they have in common. For how a mage is ordered to cast anything in battle, see combat magic.

Everything below is from the manual and the Dom6 Inspector. Nothing has been measured by us.

BE and BF are different flags

The spell tables use two flags that sound alike. BF means the spell’s effect reaches the entire battlefield. BE means the spell is an enchantment that stays active while its caster is still present. Many spells that buff a whole army carry only BF: the effect lands on the units and is then a matter for the units. A BE spell is one that holds a state on the field itself, and it is tied to its caster.

Cost

A battle spell that costs 100 fatigue or more also needs a gem of its main path, plus one more for each further full 100. Most battle enchantments sit well above that line, so almost all of them need gems. The manual’s table and the Inspector agree on the counts:

• Solar Eclipse: 1 Fire gem.
• Heat from Hell: 2 Fire gems.
• Fire Storm: 3 Fire gems.
• Darkness: 4 Death gems.
• Soul Drain: 5 Astral gems.

They also take longer to cast than most spells, according to the manual, which makes the caster exposed for longer. The caster also needs those gems in the commander’s inventory before the battle starts. Both points are covered on the combat magic page, and gems explains how they are won.

How long one lasts

The manual gives three bounds.

• Some last for the length of the battle. The manual says “some”, and does not say which.
• A battle enchantment ends if its caster dies. The Inspector’s text for Fire Storm, Quagmire, Darkness and Relief repeats this for each.
• Whatever else is going on, every enchantment and temporary magic effect ends when the sun sets, which the manual’s long-battle table puts at round 100. At that point the field falls under Twilight, as the spell of that name would do. Later rounds add Nightfall or Daybreak at 150, defenders routing at 170, and a final kill-off at 200.

So a battle enchantment is worth casting early and keeping its caster alive.

The Inspector describes Solar Eclipse as lasting “only a little while” and covering a limited area, while the manual flags it BE like the rest. Neither source gives a duration or an area in numbers.

Who it touches

The scope varies from spell to spell, and the spell’s own text is the only guide.

• Everyone. Heat from Hell and Grip of Winter strike every unit on the field with heat or cold until they fall unconscious and then die. Heat from Hell is stronger in warm provinces and Grip of Winter in cold ones. Fire Storm burns everyone too. Blood Rain lowers everyone’s morale.
• The enemy only. Legion’s Demise sends illusory attacks at the enemy and all their allies, and the illusions become deadly once they have done enough harm.
• Friends only. Relief lowers the fatigue of all friendly units, and Friendly Currents helps the caster and allies move further and tire less, though only underwater. Divine Channeling raises the skill of friendly priests of low power.
• Everyone but a few. Astral Tempest hurts every unit that has a mind and makes casting harder for most magic users. Soul Drain damages every soul on the field and feeds the caster.
• The field, not units. Mist, Rain, Storm and Blizzard change the weather. Mist hampers the precision of spells and missiles and stops clouds from clearing. Rain and storm make clouds clear faster, and storm also grounds flyers and makes shooting harder. Quagmire turns the ground to swamp and penalises most fighters there.
• Summons. Howl and Fields of the Dead carry the BE flag and bring units to the field. The manual notes that battle summons are not permanent and last only as long as the battle.

Spells that depend on each other

The Inspector’s descriptions record a few rules that tie one spell to another. They are the closest thing to a stacking rule that we can cite.

• Nightfall can only be cast while Twilight is active.
• Twilight cannot be cast in darkness, and it is dispelled by battlefield lights and by darkness. Fire Storm also lights the field and weakens night effects.
• Blizzard can only be cast in regions of neutral or slight heat. In cold provinces Storm turns into a blizzard, and rain falls as snow.
• Rain and rainy storms make fire spells harder to cast; snow keeps the fire-putting-out part but not the extra fatigue.
• Wrathful Skies is strongest during a storm.

The manual says nothing about what happens when two casters on opposite sides cast competing enchantments, or when two of the same spell are cast.

Resistance

Some battle enchantments keep acting on units over the course of the fight and call for a magic resistance check each time. The manual says these follow the same penetration rules as an ordinary spell, and that a skilled caster or a penetration item improves the odds. The combat magic page has the roll.

What the manual leaves out

• Which battle enchantments last the whole battle, and which end sooner.
• Whether a second copy of the same enchantment does anything, or whether enchantments of opposed kinds cancel.
• What happens to an enchantment when its caster is unconscious or routs rather than dying.
• How much weather effects such as rain or mist change the numbers. The Inspector gives effects in words.
• It spells out the Twilight line at round 100 but does not say whether a spell cast on that round still takes effect.