In the Heroes of Might and Magic series, the alignment is a characteristic of a faction. The alignment of a faction tells about its motives and philosophy, and the paths it chooses to reach its goals. It also has minor effects on gameplay.
Heroes II[]
The Knight, Sorceress and Wizard factions are considered Good and feature in Roland's campaign, and the Barbarian, Warlock and Necromancer factions are considered Evil and feature in Archibald's campaign.
Heroes III[]
There are three alignments in Heroes of Might and Magic III:
- Good (Castle, Rampart, Tower)
- Evil (Inferno, Necropolis, Dungeon, and the cancelled Forge)
- Neutral (Stronghold, Fortress, Conflux, all neutral creatures)
The alignment has almost no direct impact on the gameplay, and it is mostly used in the campaign storyline. The only things in the game which are affected by alignment are the Altars of Sacrifice (where good heroes can sacrifice artifacts, evil heroes can sacrifice creatures, and neutral heroes can do either), the Angelic Alliance (which eliminates morale penalties for mixing troops of any good or neutral factions), and a few of the Magical Terrains (Holy Ground grants a morale bonus to good creatures and morale penalty to evil creatures, Evil Fog grants a morale bonus to evil creatures and morale penalty to good creatures, and Clover Field grants a luck bonus to neutral creatures).
Heroes have the same alignment as the towns with which they are associated, not the towns in which they are hired. The Castle heroes, Knights and Clerics, will still be good when hired in a Dungeon town, for instance.
Heroes IV[]
There are six alignments in Heroes of Might and Magic IV: Life, Nature, Chaos, Death, Order and Might. Each of them except Might is associated with a school of magic. Each of the six town types is associated with an alignment, but even "neutral" creatures not recruitable at a town are associated with one or another of them as well.
- Life: Haven, allied with Nature and Order and opposed to Chaos and Death. Might heroes are Knights, magic heroes are Priests.
- Nature: Preserve, allied with Chaos and Life and opposed to Death and Order. Might heroes are Archers, magic heroes are Druids.
- Chaos: Asylum, allied with Death and Nature and opposed to Order and Life. Might heroes are Thieves, magic heroes are Sorcerers.
- Death Necropolis, allied with Order and Chaos and opposed to Life and Nature. Might heroes are Death Knights, magic heroes are Necromancers.
- Order: Academy, allied with Life and Death and opposed to Nature and Chaos. Might heroes are Lords, magic heroes are Mages.
- Might: Stronghold. All heroes are Barbarians, a might class.
Towns can hire heroes of their own alignment or their two allied ones, or in the case of the Stronghold, any might hero class. Mage guilds in the non-Strongold towns teach spells of their own alignment and a smaller selection from their allied alignments (Strongholds have no mage guilds).
Creatures gain a +1 morale bonus from being in the same army as creatures of their own or allied alignments and suffer a -5 morale penalty when in the same army as creatures from enemy alignments, and a -2 morale penalty when mixing Might-aligned creatures with other alignments. Creatures and heroes that visit a Temple of their alignment gain +2 morale for the next combat, while those of an ally alignment grant +1. Visiting an enemy alignment (or any Temple for Might) has no effect.
Heroes V[]
There are two alignments in Heroes of Might and Magic V, one of which each of the hero classes belongs to.
- Good (Knight, Ranger, Wizard, Runemage)
- Evil (Demon Lord, Necromancer, Warlock, Barbarian)
Alignment only matters for Sacrificial Altars, where, as in Heroes III, Good heroes can sacrifice artifacts and Evil heroes can sacrifice creatures.