History VideoGame / HeroesOfMightAndMagic

** In ''III'', many [[SetBonus combo artifacts]] are this. While they provide some really [[GameBreaker game-breaking]] effects (such as +21 to all your skills when most heroes might only get to 17 in any one area normally, or the famous Cloak of the Undead King), most of them are nearly impossible to assemble in the average game due to how rare the pieces are (if they are spawned at all). Even the ones that can be assembled often takes up a lot of equipment slots, rendering that hero basically only good for one thing (a hero with the Cornucopia will basically never want to see combat ever again).

** The first game also lacked pretty much any story in the game itself beyond the overall storyline of being one of four lords vying to become ruler of all Enroth; the four campaigns were the ''same'' except for different starting towns and each lacking the map about conquering the lord you'd picked, the map descriptions were bare bones, and there were no new story events in the maps, far from the voiced briefings and in-map events of ''II'' onward.

** The first game also lacked pretty much any story in the game itself, the four campaigns were the ''same'' except for different starting towns and each lacking the map about attacking the lord you picked, the map descriptions were bare bones and there was no new story events in the maps, far from the voiced briefings and in-map events of ''II'' onward.

** The fourth game splits magic into five types and makes each type associated with one of the factions (except the [[BarbarianTribe Stronghold]], who are an AntiMagicalFaction) - Life Magic for the Haven, Nature Magic for the Preserve, Chaos Magic for the Asylum, Death Magic for the Necropolis, and Order Magic for the Academy. Each faction has two other factions it sees as allies and two it sees as enemies, not unlike ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''.

** In the fourth game, these are often quite funny, for instance, a spellcaster with flaming red hair will be seen [[Literature/TheWitches removing her wig]]. Also, flying units usually avert StationaryWings.

* IceMagicIsWater: In ''III'' the ''Ice Bolt'' and ''Frost Ring'' spells belong to the ''Water magic'' school. ''Water Elementals'' are immune to these spells, and can be upgraded into ''Ice Elementals''.

* OurElvesAreDifferent: In H5, there are the Sylvan wood elves and the Dungeon dark elves. Both hate each other [[spoiler:thanks to a demon's EvilPlan]]. The old setting had at least three races of elves, though only one of them properly showed up in the ''Heroes'' games (the High/Wood/Light elves. The Vori Snow Elf had a ''half-elf'' and ended up represented by the High/Wood/Light-elven Rampart town for ''Heroes Chronicles'').

* StandardFantasySetting: Yes and no for the original verse. The ''setting'' isn't quite standard (as evidenced by the fact that ClarkesThirdLaw has an entry on this page), but you wouldn't know that from just playing the ''Heroes'' games. Played straight for the Ashan continuity.

** ''The Shadow of Death'' acts as [[spoiler:Sandro]]'s ProtagonistJourneyToVillain, though he wasn't a good person to begin with, the campaign tells the tale of his rise to power and how he basically [[spoiler:started the Restoration Wars]]. It also explains why [[spoiler:Sandro can be found in a prison during the necromancer campaign of the third game]].

** Pit Fiends in ''III'' will scratch their asses.

** No matter how many angels you've got in your army, nobody ever seems to object when you march right into a conquered Necropolis or outpost of Hell and, instead of razing it to the ground, violate nature by recruiting unnatural horrors to do your presumably virtuous bidding. Though it should be noted that having creatures from different castles serving under a single hero tends to decrease their morale.

** Watching cutscenes makes it clear that canonically the events of all the games took place over a much shorter time period and involved much smaller armies than gameplay suggests.

* DeathlyDiesIrae: First lines of ''Dies Irae'' are used in the title theme of ''V''. The title screen features human and demon fighting in a battlefield full of corpses.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: In the Ashan universe: every side has their good and bad sides. The Haven town? It has both KnightInShiningArmor as well as KnightTemplar types, in addition to slavery or subjugation of orcs and their brethren (in fact, [[spoiler:some major enemies in ''VI'' are KnightTemplar angels]]). The Sylvan town has a nasty history of division with the dark elves. Mages of Academy town created orcs and other creatures as slaves, dwarves also has their villains. Necromancers have {{Anti Hero}}es and {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s in addition to villains, as well as in Dungeon side. Only demons are AlwaysChaoticEvil, and even [[AntiVillain then]]...

* BookEnds: In a way in the first game - the first mission requires the player to capture a vilage called Gateway, guarded by a single dragon. The last mission requires the player to capture a Dragon City, guarded by twenty of them.

* LuckManipulatonMechanic: ''V'' has an ability that adds an extra roll for all luck-based abilities.

** The Gremlins in ''III''. Basic gremlins are cheap, usually numerous when a Tower hero is hired with them, and generally weak on an individual basis. The ''Master'' Gremlin, however, uses a ranged attack, whose attack power scales greatly with their numbers.

* LuckManipulationMechanic: ''V'' has an ability that adds an extra roll for all luck-based abilities.
* MagikarpPower: The Arcane Omniscience skill for wizards in ''V''. A wizard who wants to learn this will be forced to rely on their army and low level spells until their level is in the mid 20's. After it's learned, they can cast every spell in the game with maximum mastery.