Morale

Morale can play a large role in combat. Basically, every creature except for the undead, can be influenced by morale. High morale gives you a chance to act again in combat. Low morale can potentially freeze you and cause you to lose that unit's turn. The Heroes III manual lists the specific effects of morale, but it bears repeating. The following factors can influence morale:

Leadership skill: +1 to army morale per level (basic, advanced, or expert)
All units in army are of one town type: +1 to army morale
More than two town types of creatures in army: -1 to army morale per town type of creatures beyond two
Any undead in army: -1 to army morale
Mirth spell: +1 or +2 depending on spell skill
Sorrow: -1 or -2 depending on spell skill
Visiting special map sites: +1 to +2 depending on type of site visited

The following creatures have individual morale considerations:

Undead: All have neutral morale
Minotaur: can never go below +1 morale

What does morale actually do for you? Well, one morale gives you a +4.2 percent chance of acting again, two morale gives you a +8.3 percent chance of acting again, and three morale gives you a +12.5 percent chance of acting again. Negative morale has the same percentage chance of freezing a unit. Each unit has a chance to be affected by morale, so high morale can result in a lot of double attacks. For that reason, the leadership skill is a very important one to learn. With it, you can be inflicting double attacks and movements in virtually every battle. Artifacts that boost morale, as well as sites on the map such as rally flags, can really help out significantly. Certain spells, such as mirth, can have a positive effect on morale, although the percentage chance for a second act can never go beyond 12.5 percent.

Morale can only affect a unit when it is conducting its turn, so morale cannot allow a second counter attack.

Luck

Luck is just as important as morale, and luckily, there is a skill that can enhance that quality in your troops as well. The following factors can affect luck:

Luck skill: +1 luck per level (basic, advanced, expert)
Visiting luck sites: +1 or +2 depending on site
Fortune spell: +1 or +2 depending on spell skill
Misfortune spell: -1 or -2 depending on spell skill

What luck does is give you a chance of inflicting double damage. At one luck, you have a 4.2 percent chance for double damage, at two luck, the chance is 8.3 percent, and at three luck the chance is 12.5 percent. As with morale, your chance cannot go any higher than that. So say good luck shone on a group of ten griffins - that group, which would normally attack for 30-60 damage, would do 120 damage!

Unlike morale, luck can affect you even if it's not your stack's turn. So if you are retaliating against an enemy attack, you still have a percentage chance for good luck. For units that can strike twice, only one of the attacks can benefit from good luck, but it can be the first or second strike. There is no such thing as bad luck in the game; it can only help you.

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