****** * High adventure in a * world of magic and cold steel *
*** **** *** ***
*** ** ** **
**** * ***** * ** **** ** **** ***** * ** **** **
******* *** *** ******** *** *** *** *** *** *** ******** *** ***
******* *** ** ** ** ** ** ** *** ** ** ** **
* **** *** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** *** ** ** ** ** **
** *** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
**** *** *** *** ** ** *** *** *** *** *** *** ** ** *** ***
* ****** *** ** **** **** ******* *** **** *** ** ** * **** **** **
**
Version 1.0.2 * **
October, 2010 ******
The Sangband Manual
(revision #22)
Author: Leon Marrick
sang@runegold.org
Sangband is a complex, single-player dungeon adventure game in which you,
the player, control a character in the Pits of Angband. During the course of
your adventures, you may learn long-forgotten secrets, collect wondrous objects,
and battle terrible foes. Perhaps, if you are very skilled, you may even defeat
the Dread Enemy himself: Morgoth, Lord of Darkness.
But only if you are very skilled indeed.
Sangband is a variant of Angband, which is a variant of Moria, which is a
descendant of Rogue. Its primary inspiration is the works of J. R. R. Tolkien,
among the greatest wordsmiths of the English language. You will also notice
some Dungeons and Dragons conventions, ancient and religious mythology, and the
fables and lore of the European Middle Ages.
Table of Contents
1. Overview of the Game
1.1 Loading and Creating Characters
1.2 The Novice's Guide
1.3 Interfaces (brief descriptions)
- The title screen
- The main screen
- The character screen
- The skills screen
- The help screen
- The options screen
- The knowledge screen
- The death interface
2. Your Character
2.1 Races
2.2 Character Attributes
- Basic Attributes
- Vital statistics
- Abilities
- Conditions
2.3 The character screen (in detail)
2.4 Skills
- The price of skills
- Oaths
- List of skills
2.5 Talents
- List of talents
2.6 Object Forging
- Supplies
- Forging Wargear
- Infusion of Wargear
- Alchemy
3. The World of Sangband
3.1 Symbols on your Map
3.2 The Town
- Buying and selling
- Getting quests
3.3 The Dungeon
- Terrain features and traps
- Mining
- Light
- Food and regeneration
- Stealth
- Level feelings
- Precognition messages
- Searching and detection
- The passage of time
3.4 Monsters
- Monsters are worth experience
- Monster information
- Monster attributes
- Player ghosts
3.5 Objects
- Learning about objects
- Object information
- Inventory, equipment, quiver
- Object types
- Object enhancement
- Object destruction
- Cursed objects
3.6 Object Attributes
- Damage dice and plusses
- Adjustments to stats and abilities
- Weapon attributes
- Immunities
- Resistances
- Survival attributes
- Character qualities
- Curses and other nastiness
4. Combat and Magic
4.1 Non-magical combat
- Quick review
- Melee (weapons)
- Melee (unarmed)
- Shooting
- Throwing
- Getting good at combat
- Details
4.2 Burglary
- Locking doors, stealing
- Monster traps
- Sneaking in the dark
4.3 Defence
4.4 Magic
- The four realms of magic
- Spellcasting
- Getting good at magic
- Spell projection types
- Hindering your foes
- Magical devices
5. Interacting with the Game
5.1 List of commands
5.2 Basic command information
5.3 Command descriptions
5.4 Interfaces
5.5 Options
5.6 Inscriptions
5.7 Macros and Keymaps
5.8 Preferences
5.9 Visuals, colors, and multimedia
6. Saving, Loading, Winning, Cheating, and Dying
7. Appendices
Appendix A: List of Internet resources
Appendix B: File structure
Appendix C: History of the game
Appendix D: Copyrights
Overview of the Game
This section briefly describes creating a character, playing your first
game, and the most important information displays. To learn more about these
things, consult the sections on your character and on interfaces.
(return)
Automatic and manual loading:
The game will automatically load any savefile named "player", or any
specified on the command line. If it can find the file "lib/save/global.svg",
it will load the savefile of your last living character.
If none of these methods works, the game will show a savefile management
screen. Using this interface, you can start a new character or load any
available savefile.
Loading or birth:
If the savefile loaded contains a living character, you may begin the game
where you left off or choose another character by typing 'C'. If the character
in the loaded savefile is slain, or no (valid) savefile was loaded, or you asked
to play a new game, you go to the character creation display.
Creating new characters:
You first choose a gender: Males weigh slightly more than females, but
this is not very important.
You then choose a race. This has a major effect on almost all character
abilities and special attributes. See the section on races for more details.
You may also set birth options at any time by pressing '='. Active options
are displayed on screen.
Rolling up:
If you set the "Allow specification of minimal stats" option, you choose
the minimum acceptable vital statistics (stats) for your character. Be careful
not to ask for too much. You enter stats as numbers: 16, 17, 18, 18/10, 18/20,
and so on.
Once you have done this, you are presented with another display showing
more information about your character. You also see this display whenever you
press 'C'. Reroll by pressing "r", or build up stats using points, until
satisfied.
You then give your character a name and begin play.
(return)
When you begin the game, you start out in a town with stores happy to sell
you whatever they stock and you can afford. Visit the stores and stop by your
very own home (the symbol '8'), where you can safely stash all sorts of useful
gear for later use.
Look at the left side of the screen, where all the most important info
about you is displayed. Reading from the top, you'll see your name, present
title, unspent experience, and money on hand. Your race (almost) never changes,
but you can gain more experience points by killing monsters and more gold by
selling the loot they drop.
Below these are the six vital statistics: Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom,
Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. Near the bottom, you will see your
armor class, hit points, and (if you learn magic) your spell points. Armor
class shields you from direct damage. Hitpoints are your life wrapped up in a
number, so run from anything that drops them too low, too fast.
Get familiar with some of the commands you have available to you, either by
reading the help, or by experimenting, whichever you prefer. If you mistype,
the game will offer to bring up a list of commands.
Okay, time to get playing! Type '$', and the skills screen appears. You
have earned just enough experience to choose some basic skills; it is a smart
idea to do this before entering the dungeon. The best choice for a new player
is either throwing or slings.
Pick up an inexpensive weapon (Weapon Smith), either some throwable flasks
of oil (General Store) or a sling and some shots (Weapon Smith), some light
armor (Armory, General Store), and - if you can afford them - one or two phase
door scrolls and potions of cure light wounds (Temple, Alchemy Shop). Once
you've earned a little money, invest in a lantern and a shovel or pickaxe. Now,
'w'ear a torch, your armor, and your weapon.
See that down staircase '>'? It's the entrance to the deadly, lucrative
dungeon. Head down (Once on top of the staircase, type '>').
Once you do that, you will find yourself in a dungeon of rooms and
corridors. Since you have already wielded a light source, you can see, even if
you are not in a magically lit room. Go off and explore the dungeon. When your
light runs out, re'F'uel it. When you get hungry, 'E'at some of the food your
character started out with.
When you meet your first monster, pepper it with sling shots (press 'f' to
fire) or throw flasks of oil (press 'v' to throw) until it reaches you, and hit
it with your weapon (move into it) until it's dead. If your HPs drop too low,
quaff a potion of cure light wounds, read a scroll of phase door, or run away.
When you get enough money and objects to sell, go back up to the town. If
you have questions, the '?' key is there to help.
Have fun!
(return)
The title screen
When you start up the game, a title screen appears, bearing the game logo,
a dragon image, and some credits. Also on this screen are the three most
important Sangband resources:
The Sangband home page at "http://www.runegold.org/sangband/" contains the
current source and executables, special files, helpful comments, hints, and
links, and the latest Sangband news.
Sangband changes maintainers every so often. The current one is Leon
Marrick. If you want to send him comments, or make sure your bug report gets
heard, use the email shown on the website.
The Angband Forum is at "http://angband.oook.cz/forum/"; it's filled with
helpful folks. If you want to talk about Sangband or ask for help, there's the
place to go.
The main screen
Once you clear the character display, you find yourself looking at the main
screen. This is divided into four parts:
1) The message line is located at the top of the screen; here all sorts of
messages are shown. If in the heat of combat you skip past one too many, you
can display it again by pressing control-P.
2) The left side of the screen is used to display important information.
3) Most of the screen displays your surroundings. You can take a closer look
by pressing 'l'ook (or e'x'amine).
4) The bottom line of the main screen shows various status displays, such as
your speed, ailments, depth, and so on.
You play the game in the main screen. For more details on the things you
can do, consult the section on commands.
The character screen ('C')
The character information display you see when first starting the game can
be recalled by typing 'C'. Here you can review your attributes, change names,
and save character dumps to file (which appear in the "lib/user" directory).
The skills screen ('$')
When you collect enough experience, you can spend it on skills by typing
'$' to open up the skills advancement screen. Press the arrow keys or the
appropriate letter to navigate the skills and press '+' to increase it. If you
make a mistake, you can press '-' to undo the error. You may also choose to
reduce a skill you raised at an earlier date with the '-' key, but your
experience will not be refunded.
The help screen ('?')
The online help system is available by typing '?'. You can also learn more
about the symbols you see on screen by typing '/', then the symbol you wish to
learn more about.
The options screen ('=')
You can adjust the way the game looks and behaves by typing '=' to enter
the options screen.
The knowledge screen ('~')
Detailed listings of known artifacts, objects, and monsters are available
through the knowledge menu, which you access by typing '~'. Here you can also
review the high score listings, what you have stashed in your home, and see how
many monsters you've killed and what quests you are assigned.
The death interface
If you should die, you will see a tombstone and be able to check out your
slain character one last time. Here you can:
- display the character screen and see your possessions,
- review the final messages,
- save information in a character dump,
- see the high score table, and
- fully identify individual items.
Your Character
(return)
There are fourteen different races that you may choose among, representing
most of the speaking peoples found in Tolkien's books, plus Gnomes and Giants.
Races differ in abilities, and tend to be better at some skills than at others.
Human:
A flexible and adaptive race, humans are found all over Middle-Earth, from
desert Harad to icy Horodwaith. They have no special adjustments to stats and
learn all skills at an average rate. This, combined with their solid hitpoints,
makes them effective adventurers. Humans have no infravision. They probably
get the best prices in stores, on average.
Elf:
Known as the Elder Race, and as the First-Born, Elves are famed for their
knowledge and craftsmanship. They are somewhat lighter, weaker, and less robust
than humans, but have superior wisdom and intelligence, learn magic more easily,
and are somewhat better at most basic skills. They are fond of bows, somewhat
weak in melee, and have no infravision. They resist light inherently.
Hobbit:
Hobbits are shy, retiring folk with enough good sense to share. They live
in homes with circular entranceways built partially underground, and are the
smallest of all the races. Although they have few hitpoints, they are highly
resistant to magic and can sometimes endure ailments that would lay other races
low. They are fairly poor at melee combat, but good at most other skills. In
particular, nobody can match a hobbit slinger or burglar. Hobbits are stealthy,
perceptive, and have innate infravision. They sustain dexterity inherently.
Gnome:
Gnomes are the pudgy pranksters of the dungeon; if they can kill something
in a humorous way, so much the better. They may be small and ugly, but can
outbargain and outwit just about anyone. They are among the frailer races, and
not powerful in combat, but are good at magic, unmatchable with devices, and --
most importantly -- are immune to paralyzation. Gnomes are highly intelligent
and have innate infravision.
Dwarf:
Dwarves are the headstrong miners and fighters of legend. They are strong,
intelligent, tough, and resistant to magic; although not very good at casting
spells, they make excellent priests and smiths. They are better than average at
melee combat, but don't know the first thing about bows. Dwarves have good
innate infravision and -- a major advantage -- can never be blinded. They do
have one big drawback, though: Dwarves are loudmouthed and proud, singing in
loud voices, arguing with themselves for no good reason, screaming out challenges
at imagined foes. In other words, dwarves have a miserable stealth.
Half-Orc:
The bastard offspring of humans and orcs, half-orcs are ugly, strong, and
have very bad attitudes. Their magic is a little suspect, as are most of their
skills, but they know how to fight and can take as much damage as they dish out.
Half-orcs have innate infravision and, like orcs themselves, resist darkness and
its effects.
Half-Troll:
Half-trolls are built like blocks of granite; no other race can match their
strength, their hitpoints, or their powers of recovery. Their combat prowess is
fearsome, they throw boulders with deadly force, their stomach capacity is
remarkable, and their skin becomes ever-stronger over time. Unfortunately, they
have poor general skills, need to eat a lot, and have a hard time in stores.
Half-trolls will be bad at anything that requires heavy thinking. They have
innate infravision and always have their strength sustained.
Dunadan: (easier to win with -- 20% penalty to score)
Dunedain are a race of hardy men from the West. This elder race surpasses
the abilities of other humans in every field and has superior vital statistics.
Despite these great advantages, they learn just as quickly as other humans do,
which makes them a great choice for players whose other characters die too
quickly. Dunedain always have their constitution sustained.
High-Elf: (easier to win with -- 20% penalty to score)
High-Elves are descended from those among the Elves who heard and answered
the call from the Valar at the very beginning of time, before the sun and moon
were made, and lived in the Blessed Realm for long ages before returning to
mortal lands. They are masters of all skills, and are agile and intelligent,
although their wisdom is a little suspect. No other race is quite as good at
magic. Despite these great advantages, they learn just as quickly as other
elves do, which makes them a great choice for players whose other characters die
too quickly. High-elves are able to see the unseen, and have innate resistance
to light.
Dark-elf:
Some elves prefer the darkness to the light, caverns to forests, sorcery
and necromancy to the magic of nature. Dark-elves are extremely intelligent,
make very good magicians, and can even hold their own in melee, but are not
nearly as good with missile weapons as are other elves. Some of their other
skills are also weak. They do, however, learn forging quickly and well. Dark-
elves always have their intelligence sustained.
Giant:
Eight feet tall, nine, even ten feet tall they stand, and thick and broad
in proportion. Giants have more hitpoints than any other race and make
formidable wrestlers. Their high strength and constitution make them decent
fighters, especially with clubs and thrown objects, good tunnelers, and they can
readily learn magic or object-creation. Unfortunately, all those tales about
the naivete and clumsiness of giants have a large grain of truth to them. No
other race is less perceptive than a giant, and none is more easy to spot.
Ent:
Ents are tree-like creatures, large, strong and wise. Their bark-like
exterior protects them from attacks, but they are vulnerable to fire. They can
handle weapons well, but dislike axes; they are clumsy with bows, crossbows, and
magical devices. Their harmony with nature makes them natural druids, and they
are in touch with priestly magics as well. Ents have no trouble walking through
forests.
Druedain (Woses):
The Drúedain are wild men, with squat bodies and limbs. They are a
versatile race not unsimilar to humans, though a little less educated and
friendly. They make decent fighters, as they are apt with many weapons; they
also are make excellent druids. Woses have no trouble walking through forests.
Beorning:
The beornings are descendants of Beor, and retain his ability to change into
the shape of a bear. They are excellent with all weapons and make natural
warriors, but are bad at spellcasting and devices.
Racial Adjustments:
STR INT WIS DEX CON CHR Hit Dice Infravision
Human 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0
Elf -1 +2 +1 +1 -2 +1 10 0
Hobbit -2 +1 +1 +3 +2 +1 9 3
Gnome -1 +2 0 +2 +0 -2 10 3
Dwarf +2 +2 -2 -2 +2 -2 13 4
Half-Orc +2 -1 -1 0 +2 -3 13 3
Half-Troll +4 -4 -1 -3 +3 -4 14 3
Dunadan +1 +1 +3 +2 +3 +2 12 0
High-Elf +1 +3 -1 +3 +1 +3 12 0
Dark-Elf -1 +3 0 +2 -2 -1 10 2
Giant +3 0 -2 -2 +2 -1 15 0
Ent +3 -2 +3 -4 +3 -1 15 0
Drúedain 0 -2 +1 0 +1 -2 12 0
Beorning +1 -1 +1 -1 +1 -1 12 0
All racial stat adjustments act as modifiers to your maximum internal
stats. A Half-Troll, for example, can raise his internal strength to 18/140,
but his dexterity only to 18/70.
Racial Abilities:
disarm device save stealth percep melee missile throw
Human 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Elf 7 7 7 8 7 3 7 7
Hobbit 9 7 10 8 10 1 7 7
Gnome 8 10 5 6 6 2 5 5
Dwarf 3 5 9 3 5 8 4 4
Half-Orc 3 3 3 4 4 6 3 5
Half-Troll 1 1 3 4 3 9 1 6*
Dunadan 6 8 7 6 8 7 7 7
High-Elf 10 9 8 7 9 5 9 9
Dark-Elf 9 8 5 7 7 4 5 5
Giant 2 4 5 3 1 5 4 4
Ent 1 3 5 3 5 8 5 5
Drúedain 5 4 5 5 6 5 5 5
Beorning 4 4 5 5 5 6 5 5
Abilities are ranked on a comparative scale ranging from 1 to 10.
* Half-trolls are bad with thrown weapons, though.
Racial Aptitudes:
Hum Elf Hob Gno Dwa HlO HlT Dun HiE DkE Gia Ent Dru Brn
sword 10 10 12 12 10 8 9 10 10 9 11 10 11 9
hafted 10 12 13 12 9 9 7 10 12 13 10 10 9 8
polearm 10 11 14 12 8 9 9 10 11 11 10 15 9 8
crossbow 10 11 11 9 10 10 10 10 10 11 13 11 11 9
bow 10 8 9 10 14 10 13 10 8 9 13 12 9 10
sling 10 10 7 10 13 10 15 10 10 10 13 12 10 10
throwing 10 10 8 10 12 10 8 10 9 11 10 10 10 9
wrestling 10 14 15 14 9 10 9 10 12 13 7 8 10 9
karate 10 8 10 10 12 13 15 10 8 11 13 8 10 10
spell level 10 9 11 9 11 11 12 10 10 8 10 10 10 11
mana 10 9 10 9 10 11 11 10 9 8 10 8 10 11
wizard 10 9 11 8 12 12 13 10 9 9 11 12 12 12
piety 10 11 11 10 8 11 11 10 11 10 12 9 11 12
nature 10 8 10 10 12 15 10 10 8 14 9 8 8 7
dominion 10 11 11 9 10 9 9 10 10 9 10 12 9 11
device 10 9 11 8 10 12 16 10 9 8 11 12 11 12
burglary 10 10 7 10 12 10 12 10 10 9 14 15 10 10
perception 10 9 8 9 11 11 12 10 9 8 15 10 8 10
stealth 10 8 7 10 15 10 13 10 8 9 15 15 8 10
disarming 10 10 7 10 10 10 12 10 10 11 13 10 12 11
dodging 10 9 8 10 10 10 20 10 9 10 15 20 9 9
saving throw 10 10 8 10 8 11 12 10 9 9 11 11 11 9
forge weapon 10 12 11 11 7 10 11 10 12 8 9 12 11 10
forge armor 10 12 11 11 7 10 11 10 12 11 9 12 12 10
alchemy 10 11 12 8 14 13 11 10 11 10 13 11 12 11
infusion 10 10 13 9 11 13 13 10 10 7 13 10 12 11
shapechange 10 10 9 10 11 9 12 10 12 10 12 12 9 8
Hum Elf Hob Gno Dwa HlO HlT Dun HiE DkE Gia Ent Dru Brn
Higher values mean that the skill is more expensive to raise.
For the non-magical combat skills, magical device, perception, stealth, and
disarming, a higher value also means that improving the skill has a somewhat
smaller effect on your ability. Elves, for example, are innately better at
karate than are dwarves.
(return)
Basic Attributes
Score:
Sangband uses a scoring system. You get points by defeating unique (named)
opponents. The lower your total skills, the higher the score you get for a
given victory. Your score never goes down: Investing in skills after defeating
an opponent only has an effect on the points you get for future victories.
Because there are relatively few limits on skill advancement, you can
become very strong indeed before you fight opponents. However, those who buy
fewer and less expensive skills to build their character get better scores.
Approximate equation:
(250 * monster_depth * monster_depth), divided by
(level of each skill, times the base cost of that skill, all summed
together)
- Plus: +100% for defeating Morgoth, or +50% for defeating Sauron
- Plus: square_root(gold / 1000).
- Choosing some difficulty options and races affects your score.
Experience:
As you kill monsters, learn about objects by using or eating them, cast
spells and pray prayers for the first time, disarm traps, and unlock doors
(listed in descending order of importance), you gain experience. Once earned,
experience can be spent on skills.
Power:
Your power depends on the level and base cost of your skills. The primary
effect of this is to increase hit points, but it also has other effects. The
maximum power level is 100.
Gold:
Gold is amazingly handy, because everything stores sell can be yours with
enough of the stuff. Characters start out with an amount of gold determined by
stats (lower is better, except charisma, where higher is better). Social class
greatly influences starting gold (higher is better).
Within the Pits of Angband lies more gold than you will ever find, more
seams of treasure than you will ever dig, and more monsters carrying loot than
you will ever kill.
Hitpoints:
Your hitpoints are your life wrapped up in a number; if they ever drop
below zero, you die. Resting will restore hitpoints, but you should always have
some quicker way to heal yourself on hand. Your maximum hitpoints depends on
your overall power and race, plus a constitution bonus (which can be
considerable). It also varies according to skill: Those who have taken the
Oath of Iron have the most hitpoints, Oath-bound magic-users have the fewest,
and all other characters fall somewhere in between.
Spellpoints:
If you use magic, you will also have spellpoints, or mana. Your maximum
mana depends on your magic power skill and your intelligence (if you are using
sorcery and necromancy) or wisdom (if you are using natural or holy magics).
Ways to recover mana faster than by resting are rare and greatly desired.
Mana goes down if you wear heavy armor, or are in any shape other than your
normal one.
Armor Class:
Armor class (AC) makes you harder to hit in melee, and reduces the damage
you take from almost all monster blows. You can raise it by equipping more and
better armor, by increasing your Dexterity, and by activating various temporary
effects. As time passes, you will find this value rising past 100, even to 150
and above at very high levels.
Fame and Titles:
As word of your accomplishments spreads, you earn new titles. Titles
describe what skills you're especially good at.
You can also gain fame, especially by fulfilling quests. The higher your
fame, the better the rewards you get from the Inn.
Luck:
On rare occasions you can become unlucky. Unlucky characters meet nastier
monsters and less interesting treasure. Although there is no way to magically
restore lost luck, it slowly recovers as you continue to explore the dungeon.
If you want to keep careful track of your luck, you can go into options ->
screen layout -> left panel, and activate the "luck" display.
Vital Statistics
You have six primary statistics, or stats. Each of them has important
effects, and how you juggle equipment to boost some stats at the expense of
others can greatly help or hinder your adventuring. Deep in the dungeon,
potions exist that can permanently raise your stats.
Values for stats:
Stats range from 3 to 18/220. The progression of stats goes from 3 -> 17,
18, 18/10, 18/20 -> 18/220. A value of 18/19 is the same as 18/10.
The lowest any stat can go is 3, a level that greatly reduces any abilities
that stat influences. The lowest "safe" figure for most stats is 7, but you
can't expect any significant bonuses until the stat reaches 18 or higher. Once
you get a stat that high, further increases will greatly enhance your abilities,
eventually making it possible to slay some truly formidable monsters. Stats top
out at 18/220.
Stats depend on your internal stats, the equipment you are wearing, your
shapechange, and various temporary conditions.
Strength:
Strength is critical to fighting effectively in melee and with missile
weapons. Increases in Strength increase damage, allow you to get more blows
with heavier weapons, and boost the effectiveness of shield bashes. Strength
also improves your tunneling ability, allows you to bear more weight without
being slowed down, and to wield heavier weapons effectively.
Intelligence:
Intelligent characters use magic devices, pick locks, and disarm traps more
effectively.
If you are using sorcery or necromancy, intelligence is your primary stat.
It controls how many spells you may learn, the amount of mana you have, and your
spell failure rate. If you are using holy or natural magics, wisdom controls
all of these things.
Wisdom:
Wise characters have a better chance of resisting magical spells cast upon
them by monsters. Wisdom is a priest or druid's primary stat.
Dexterity:
Dexterity is a combination of agility and quickness. A high dexterity may
allow you to get multiple blows with lighter weapons, and will significantly
increase your chances of hitting with any weapon and dodging blows from enemies.
Dexterity is also useful in picking locks, disarming traps, and protecting
yourself from some of the thieves that inhabit the dungeon. It affects your
rate of recovery from stuns.
Constitution:
Constitution determines your ability to resist physical damage and disease,
and your rate of recovery from poison, disease, and cuts. It makes a great
difference to the amount of hitpoints you have and the speed at which you
recover them, and so is a vital stat for any character.
Charisma:
Charisma represents a character's ability to influence others. A character
with a high charisma will receive better prices from store owners, whereas a
character with a very low charisma will be robbed blind.
Intrinsic Modifiers:
Learning any magic realm increases its spell stat by 2. If you also take
the Oath associated with that realm, this bonus increases to 4. Taking the Oath
of Iron increases the combat stats, and good wrestlers and users of Karate get
bonuses to strength and dexterity.
Abilities
In addition to your stats, certain basic abilities define your character.
They depend on race, stats, and skill level, and may be powerfully influenced by
wielded equipment and temporary conditions. You can most effectively keep track
of your abilities by using the Character screen.
Melee Ability:
The higher your melee ability, the more frequently you will hit in hand-to-
hand combat and the more critical hits you will get. Your race, dexterity,
melee weapon or barehanded skill, plusses to Skill on equipped items (except for
other weapons), and temporary effects are all factored into the skill value
displayed on your character screen. This also holds true for missile and
throwing ability.
Shooting Ability:
The higher your shooting ability, the more frequently you will hit with
missile weapons and the more critical hits you will get.
Throwing Ability:
All sorts of things, from flasks of oil, to boulders, to potions and
mushrooms, can be thrown effectively. The higher your throwing ability, the
more frequently you will hit with thrown objects, and the more damage and
critical hits you will get with special throwing weapons.
Saving Throw:
The higher your saving throw, the more likely you are to resist the side
effects of monster blows and spells, traps, your own magic (when it fails), and
mental attacks. Saving throw depends on race, wisdom, and your magic resistance
skill.
Stealth:
The ability to move silently about is very useful. If your stealth is good
enough, you can avoid fights, get in the first blow, and fight monsters one at a
time. Stealth depends on race, your stealth skill, and equipped objects.
Disarming:
The higher your disarming ability, the more quickly and safely you can pick
locks and disarm chests and traps. Race, your disarming skill, dexterity,
intelligence, and equipped objects all affect this ability.
Magical Devices:
Determines how likely you are to successfully use magical devices and most
activatable items - dragon scale mail being the exception. Race, magical device
skill, intelligence, and equipped objects all affect this ability. You need a
lot of skill to handle high-level wands, staffs, rods, rings, and amulets, and
also a fair amount for most other activatable items. Confusion, hallucination,
blindness, stunning, fear, berserk rage, and necro rage all reduce your ability
to use magical devices.
Perception:
The better your perception, the more likely it is that you will see traps
and secret doors automatically or by searching for them. Perception depends on
race, perception skill, and equipped objects.
Note that this ability has no direct relationship to your ability to sense
objects or hear monsters.
Infra-vision:
The higher your infravision, the further away you can see warm-blooded
creatures, even when invisible or not lit.
Conditions
Your character may benefit or suffer from many different conditions. The
most important ones are displayed on the bottom row of the main screen. We
describe them as they are displayed, from left to right.
Hunger:
You need to eat every so often. If you eat too much, you become bloated
and slow down. If you eat too little, you become hungry (no special effects),
weak (slower recovery), feel faint (pass out every so often), and finally starve
(take damage every turn).
Temporary conditions:
Paralyzed : You cannot do ANYTHING until the effects wear off.
Wounds : Instead of recovering battle damage, you take additional damage
every turn.
Stunning : Your combat and spellcasting abilities decrease - slightly when
stunned, considerably when heavily stunned. If you are too
heavily stunned, you can be knocked out!
Blindness : You cannot see most monsters, it is harder to learn about objects
or what's around you, and get only vague information when many
things happen. You often miss monsters, and cannot cast spells
or read scrolls.
Confusion : You move and attack in random directions, cannot cast spells or
read scrolls, and have difficulty using magical devices.
Hallucination : You see weird stuff everywhere, cannot target anything, cannot
cast spells or read scrolls, and have difficulty using magical
devices.
Poison : Instead of recovering battle damage, you take additional damage
every turn.
Disease : Similar, but is harder to recover from.
Fear : You cannot attack monsters in melee, and find it slightly more
difficult to use missile weapons, throw things, cast spells, or
use magical devices.
Recall : You are about to teleport to the surface, or to the deepest level
of the dungeon that you have ever visited.
Darkness : You are standing in darkness and have no light source. You can
only read some scrolls (mostly dealing with escape, light, and
darkness) and only priests and necromancers can cast spells.
Without infravision, you will have trouble with many things.
There are many other temporary conditions, most of which are explained by
the objects or spells that cause them.
State:
You can sometimes be in one of several different states.
Rest : You are resting (doubles the rate at which you recover HPs and
mana).
Repeat : You are repeating an action (like tunneling).
Sneaking : You are sneaking around (greatly improves your stealth, but slows
you down)
Crossing : You are traversing rough or difficult terrain
Speed:
The faster you are, the less time you take to perform all kinds of actions.
It is vital not to become too slow. As you descend into the dungeon, you need
to find ways to hasten yourself temporarily and permanently.
A speed of +10 is double speed ("fast"), and one of +20 is triple speed
("very fast"). A speed of -10 is half speed ("slow"), and one of -20 is one
third speed ("very slow").
Permanent speed bonuses add to your base speed. Temporary effects may
increase or reduce speed by 10.
Depth:
How deep in the dungeon you are. This display may be colored: Greys
indicate relative safety, whites normal conditions, yellow-orange-red indicate
increasing danger or rewards, and violet means that you are on a special level.
(return)
The character information display allows you to review attributes, change
names, and save character dumps to file. The save character to file command
saves the character screen, character background, inventory and equipment, skill
levels, and the contents of the home.
This interface has four modes, which you may cycle through by typing 'h'.
Main character screen
First Row:
- Name, title, gender, and race
- Age : in years
- Height : in feet and inches or centimeters
- Weight : in pounds or kilograms
- Either social class (affects starting gold) or your greatest victory.
- Your base (undrained) vital statistics (stats) and sometimes their drained
values
Second row:
- Maximum hitpoints
- Current hitpoints
- Blows/Round : the number of blows you get per turn in hand-to-hand combat
- Hit Rate: the recent percentage of blows that hit monsters.
- Average Damage: the average damage you've done recently.
- Power : affects hitpoints and some other things
- Score : how well you are doing in the game. Always starts at zero.
- Unspent experience : the experience you've earned that you haven't yet spent
on advancing skills
- Gold : money on hand (in gold pieces)
- Max Depth : the furthest you've ventured down in the dungeon, and your recall
depth
- Maximum mana (spellpoints)
- Current mana
- Shots/Round : the number of shots you get per turn
- + to Skill : bonus to missile Skill
- Deadliness (%) : the missile damage you do is adjusted by this percentage.
- Melee : your hand-to-hand combat skill (inherent skill, plus bonuses)
- Shooting : your missile combat skill (inherent skill, plus bonuses)
- Throwing : your throwing skill (inherent skill, plus bonuses)
- Digging : your ability to dig through rock
- Saving Throw : your resistance to magic
- Stealth : how naturally quiet you are
- Perception : your ability to find traps and hidden doors
- Disarming : your ability to disarm traps and unlock doors
- Magic Device : your ability to use staffs, wands, rods, and activations
- Dodging : how good you are at automatically dodging melee blows and missiles
- Fame : how famous you are
- Infravision : how far you can see warm-blooded creatures, even when invisible
or in darkness
Descriptions of abilities go from awful -> very bad -> bad -> poor -> iffy
-> fair -> good -> very good -> excellent -> superb -> heroic -> legendary.
They improve as the abilities themselves do, but may decrease as you rise in
power or descend into the dungeon. A given disarming skill is much more
impressive at 500' than at 3000'.
History display
This is like the main display, except that the list of abilities is
replaced with a character history.
Attributes screen
Lists most of the non-combat attributes that equipment may posses. Shows
only known or obvious properties.
Vital Statistics:
In the top-center of this display are listed the internal values (the
permanent ones you have before any modifications) for your stats, any
adjustments through equipment items, any through character race, skills, and
conditions, the adjusted stats, and their drained values (if different).
Modifiers to stats are light green if the object does not also sustain that
stat and green if it does. If the object sustains a stat without affecting it,
a green 's' is displayed.
Numeric Modifiers:
The top-right and top-left of this screen shows other numeric modifiers.
- Stlth : Stealth
- Invis : Invisibility
- Aware : Awareness
- Disar : Disarming
- Devic : Magical Device
- Speed : Speed
- Infra : Infravision
- Tunnl : Tunneling
- Save : Saving throw
- Mana : Mana (spellpoints)
- Light : Light radius
Attributes:
The bottom of the screen displays most other non-combat attributes. White
'+' and colored '*'s indicate the presence of the attribute; colored 'X's
indicate that this attribute is canceled (you cannot have it).
- Fire : plus = resist fire, star = immunity to fire
- Cold : plus = resist cold, star = immunity to cold
- Elec : plus = resist electricity, star = immunity to electricity
- Acid : plus = resist acid, star = immunity to acid
- Pois : plus = resist poison
- Fear : plus = resist fear
- Blind : plus = resist blindness
- Confu : plus = resist confusion
- Light : plus = resist bright light
- Dark : plus = resist darkness
- Sound : plus = resist sound
- Shard : plus = resist shards
- Nexus : plus = resist nexus (teleportation and alteration magic)
- Nethr : plus = resist nether (necromantic power)
- Chaos : plus = resist chaos (alteration, disorder, and unmaking)
- Disen : plus = resist disenchantment
- Food : plus = slow digestion
- Feath : plus = feather fall, no falling damage
- Shine : plus = shining object. +1 to total light radius
- Regen : plus = faster regeneration of hitpoints and mana
- ESP : plus = telepathy (see all nearby monsters with minds)
- SeeIn : plus = see invisible
- FrAct : plus = free action (no paralyzation, protection against slowing)
- HLife : plus = hold life (you lose less to drain-exp attacks)
- NFuel : plus = object requires no fuel
- Steal : plus = requires feeding
- NoMag : plus = forbids the use of magic
- Telep : plus = random teleportation
- Aggra : plus = aggravation (monsters immediately wake up)
- Drain : plus = slow but continual exp-draining
- Curse : plus = curse, yellow star = heavy curse, red star = perma-curse
Combat screen
Lists most of the attributes that affect combat. The left row displays
attributes that affect melee, the right, those that affect shooting.
- Blows : adjustments to melee blows
- Might : adjustments to missile weapon multiplier
- Shots : adjustments to shooting speed
- Add Skill : adjustments to hit chance
- Deadliness : adjustments to the damage percentage bonus
- Slay Animal : bonus when attacking animals
- Slay Evil : bonus when attacking evil creatures
- Slay Undead : bonus when attacking the undead
- Slay Demon : bonus when attacking demons
- Slay Orc : bonus when attacking orcs
- Slay Troll : bonus when attacking trolls
- Slay Giant : bonus when attacking giants
- Slay Dragon : bonus when attacking dragons
- Acid Brand : bonus against creatures not resistant to acid
- Elec Brand : bonus against creatures not resistant to electricity
- Cold Brand : bonus against creatures not resistant to cold
- Fire Brand : bonus against creatures not resistant to fire
- Pois Brand : bonus against creatures not resistant to poison
- Blessed : melee weapon may be used by pious characters
- Vorpal : gets more critical hits
- Impact : throws monsters back, bonus against rocky creatures
- Tunneling : tunneling weapons get a bonus against rocky creatures
- Light : bonus when attacking creatures susceptible to light
- Throwing : plus = good for throwing, star = perfect balance
- Two-handed : plus = usually needs two hands, star = always does
(return)
You can normally raise as many skills as you have the experience to afford.
The major exception is that you need to choose between becoming a pure
spellcaster, a pure burglar, a spellcaster/fighter/burglar, or a pure fighter.
Any of these, however, can become great at object-creation.
The Price of Skills
Striking a balance:
You should strike a balance between focusing on too few skills (the cost to
raise skills goes up rapidly with level) and too many (which fritters away your
hard-earned exp). Raising too many skills that depend on objects (most kinds of
combat or forging, say) can also cause real problems with managing your
inventory; you won't have enough space for everything.
As mentioned before, the fewer times you raise skills to defeat a given
opponent, the higher your score.
Minimum experience:
The minimum experience required to raise skills goes up with character
power, but the experience you get from killing monsters increases very rapidly
as you descend into the dungeon.
Practice:
The price to raise certain skills goes up if you haven't used that skill
much. For example, if you've never used edged weapons, and suddenly raise your
Swordsmanship skill 20 points, you can expect to pay considerably over the odds.
This is an excellent reason not to raise a skill too far, too fast. This only
applies to skills that directly earn you experience - any of the combat skills,
burglary, disarming, magic, and magical devices.
You practice skills whenever you gain experience and whenever you do
physical damage to a monster.
When a skill is more difficult to raise because of lack of practice, the
skills screen will display its cost first in grey, then in yellow, orange, and
red.
Reduction in cost for similar skills:
If you raise a skill, the cost to raise any similar skills up to that level
is reduced. For example, if you raise Swordsmanship to 30, then also raising
Jousting to 30 costs 1/2 the exp it would normally. This reduction also applies
to the second skill's effect on your score and on character power. Therefore,
raising Swordsmanship and Jousting costs a combined total of 18 for all
purposes.
Oaths
The most powerful warrior arts and the most awesome magics require intense
commitment. This commitment is represented by Oaths. Taking an Oath is
binding; you can never retract it. You can never take more than one Oath.
The Oath of Iron:
The Oath of Iron is the greatest of commitments; none who refuse to take it
can learn the most powerful warrior arts. Inductees can spread their blows out
among weaker monsters, can handle heavy weapons with ease, have better combat
stats, get the most bonuses to missile might and shooting speed, the most
hitpoints, and have access to several very powerful talents. However, they can
learn no realm of magic, and their magic devices suffer a 33% penalty.
You gain access to the Oath of Iron by raising a combat skill to level 45
or above.
The Magic-users' Oaths:
Each realm of magic also has an Oath. Wizards may take the Oath of
Sorcery, Priests subscribe to the Covenant of Faith, Druids join Yavanna's
Fellowship, and Necromancers bind themselves to the Black Mystery. You gain
access to the magic-user Oaths by choosing that realm of magic, and then
raising the specialist skill for that realm (wizardry, holy alliance,
etc.) to 20.
Spellcasters that have taken the Oath associated with their realm cast
spells at full power, have another +2 bonus to their spell stat, and eventually
get plenty of mana. However, they also are worse for their skill in all kinds
of non-magical combat, have a hard time with heavy armor, and get fewer
hitpoints. Spellcasters that haven't taken any special Oath have only a few of
these limitations, but get 40% less mana, and cast spells at 75% maximum
strength.
Joining the Burglars' Guild:
If you have not taken any other Oath, and attain a skill of 20 in
Burglary, you may join the Burglars' Guild. This lets you take fullest
advantage from further increases in Burglary (otherwise the effect of a skill
above 20 is halved). Most of the advantages to joining the Guild depend on
your Burglary skill, but all Brothers and Sisters of the Guild get monster
awareness bonuses, which make it safer to navigate darkened rooms. They also
get a +2 bonus to Dexterity, an increase to critical hit chance when fighting or
shooting out of a darkened area, and can (if skilled at fighting) attack
multiple weaker monsters at once.
The most important disadvantage to joining the Guild is simply that you
cannot take any other Oath, placing the most powerful magics and warrior
techniques out of your grasp. You get slightly fewer hitpoints than a normal
character. Also, shopkeepers are more wary of you: your charisma drops by 2
(in addition to the penalty for learning how to steal).
List of Skills
Swordsmanship (cost - 12):
Determines hit chance and critical hits with swords and other bladed
weapons. Allows characters to wield heavier weapons without penalty and handle
two weapons at once more effectively.
Bladed weapons are relatively light and easy to use. Many a hero of old
has chosen them; their battle-blades still exist. However, most swords do not
have the raw power that the greater hafted weapons and polearms possess.
Swordsmanship reduces the cost of other skills: Jousting by 1/2, Clubbing
by 1/4.
Clubbing (cost - 12):
Determines hit chance and critical hits with blunt weapons. Allows
characters to wield heavier weapons without penalty and handle two weapons at
once more effectively.
Hafted weapons tend to be heavy, sometimes very heavy, but potentially do
more raw damage than either swords or polearms. They are also effective against
monsters that resist edged weapons (swords and polearms). Critical hits with
blunt weapons occasionally stun monsters.
Clubbing reduces the cost of other skills: Swordsmanship by 1/4, Jousting
by 1/4.
Jousting (cost - 12):
Determines hit chance and critical hits with pole-mounted edged weapons
(spears, axes, halberds, quarterstaves, etc.). Allows characters to wield
heavier weapons without penalty and handle two weapons at once more
effectively. Increases any armor bonus that polearms provide (bonus can be up
to five times normal).
The more powerful polearms often require two hands to use, a real
disadvantage. However, many polearms grant significant bonuses to armor class,
and critical hits with polearms directly rob monsters of energy.
Jousting reduces the cost of other skills: Swordsmanship by 1/2, Clubbing
by 1/4.
Archery - Xbows (cost - 9):
Archery - Bows (cost - 9):
Archery - Slings (cost - 7):
Determines hit chance, critical hits, and power and number of shots with
crossbows, bows, and slings. Crossbows get higher missile multipliers, bows get
extra shots, and slings get both. Characters that have taken the Oath of Iron
get the most bonuses and specialist spellcasters get the fewest. Slingshot are
considered blunt weapons, and are therefore a good backup for characters who
rely on bladed melee weapons. Arrows and bolts are considered to be edged.
Archery - Xbows and Archery - Bows reduce the cost of the other by 1/3rd,
and of Archery - Slings by 1/6th.
Archery - Slings reduces the cost of both Archery - Xbows and Archery -
Bows by 1/6th.
Throwing (cost - 9):
Determines hit chance with any thrown object. Increases the damage and/or
power of many kinds of thrown potions. With special throwing weapons,
determines chance of critical hits and damage multiplier. This skill can make
carrying around flasks of oil, mushrooms, or boulders quite handy, and allow you
to turn potions you wouldn't want to drink and well-balanced weapons into deadly
missiles.
Wrestling (cost - 12):
Affects hit chance and damage when wrestling. Sufficient increases in this
skill increase strength and also dexterity, allow you to bash doors and chests
with greater force, tunnel more rapidly, and recover from stuns more quickly.
Good wrestlers get an HP bonus of up to 50.
Wrestling requires that you not wield a weapon (You can carry a shield,
however). This combat method doesn't work on non-material beings unless you are
blessed, and will hurt you if you try it on highly poisonous or acidic
creatures, elementals, or vortexes, but is fully effective against monsters that
resist edged and/or blunt weapons. Wrestling does a lot of damage and sometimes
allows you to rob monsters of energy by throwing them to the ground. You need
to be quite strong to be a truly effective wrestler.
If you are a good enough wrestler, and have taken the Oath of Iron, you can
turn your skin to stone (65) or go into a berserk fury (80) at will. Very
skilled wrestlers who are not wielding a weapon get special immunities: free
action at a skill of 86, resist sound and stunning at 92, and resist confusion
at 98.
Karate (cost - 11):
Affects hit chance and damage when using karate. Sufficient increases in
this skill increase dexterity and also strength, allow you to dodge better and
become slightly more stealthy, and recover from stuns more quickly.
Karate requires that you not wield a weapon (You can carry a shield,
however). This combat method doesn't work on non-material beings unless you are
blessed, and will hurt you if you try it on highly poisonous or acidic
creatures, elementals, or vortexes, but is fully effective against monsters that
resist edged and/or blunt weapons. Karate does a fair amount of damage and
often inflicts momentary stunning, confusing, or slowing. You need to be quite
dexterous (and also strong) to be a truly effective user of karate.
If you are good enough at karate, and have taken the Oath of Iron, you can
sometimes go into a brief trance-like state (90) in which you are highly
resistant to damage. Very skilled karate users who are not wielding a weapon
get special immunities: free action at a skill of 86, resist sound and stunning
at 92, and resist confusion at 98.
Spellcasting (cost - 16):
Determines the level of spells that can be cast and the raw power of most
spells.
Magical power (cost - 12):
Determines the maximum amount of mana you have to spend on magic spells.
Specialist spellcasters can raise this skill to the maximum, spellcasters that
have not taken an Oath cannot raise it above level 50, and non-spellcasters
cannot raise this skill at all.
Wizardry (cost - 6):
Determines spell failure chance and reliability for wizards. Allows you to
learn about base monster mana faster, and even be able to make good guesses
about current mana (especially for well-known monsters). Protects against mana
draining attacks.
If you are not a wizard, learning wizardry grants access to a few of the
spells that wizards use as talents: detect magic (40), semi-controlled
teleportation (70), and mana recovery (75).
Holy Alliance (cost - 6):
Determines prayer failure chance and reliability for priests. Yields
warnings (above about level 55) of demonic creatures, up to and including real-
time detection. Provides a substantial degree of protection from their blows,
increases critical hit chance*. Eventually increases intrinsic light range
(this is the only way to get a light radius of five). Reduces the damage you
take from light, and eventually renders you invulnerable to holy orbs. Controls
the duration and effectiveness of protection from evil spells. Improves your
chance of sensing cursed and blessed items. You cannot learn both Holy Alliance
and Blood Dominion.
If you are not a priest, learning holy alliance also gives you two special
talents: sense evil (30) and restore stats (75).
* The extra critical hit chance and protection granted by Holy Alliance, Nature
Lore, and Blood Dominion is greatest for those who have taken the Oath of Iron,
middling for those without a magic realm, and relatively low for magic-users.
Nature Lore (cost - 6):
Determines lore failure chance and reliability for druids, and their
ability to forecast the weather. Yields warnings (above about level 55) of
natural creatures, up to and including full real-time detection. Provides a
substantial degree of protection from their blows, increases critical hit
chance. Makes you learn about any monster faster. Improves personal protection
and hit chance in forested terrain. Improves your ability to learn about
mushrooms.
If you are not a druid, learning nature lore also gives you two special
talents: detect animals (25) and mend self (50).
Blood Dominion (cost - 6):
Determines ritual failure chance and reliability for necromancers. Yields
warnings (above about level 55) of undead creatures, up to and including full
real-time detection. Provides a substantial degree of protection from their
blows, increases critical hit chance. Reduces the damage you take from
darkness, and makes it much less likely that you will get the Black Breath. You
cannot learn both Holy Alliance and Blood Dominion.
If you are not a necromancer, learning blood dominion also gives you two
special talents: sense undead (25) and restore experience (85).
Magical Device (cost - 16):
Determines success rate with magical devices and all activatable items
except dragon scale mail, and increases their power when used. Makes recharging
less likely to blow up items. Allows you to learn the true effects of magical
devices and activatable items more quickly and to automatically sense charges
(70).
Burglary (cost - 12):
Allows you to steal objects from monsters, lock doors, and get highly
effective sneak attacks against sleeping monsters and backstabs against fleeing
ones. Renders you far more silent in all kinds of non-magical combat, and
allows you to set deadly traps for unwary monsters. Burglars become worse with
heavy melee weapons but much better with light ones as their skills improve. If
you raise Burglary to the point at which you can steal (level 4), shopkeepers
start to mistrust you; your Charisma drops by 2. You must join the Burglars'
Guild to get the full effect of increasing your skill past 20 (otherwise it is
halved).
Burglary reduces the cost of other skills: Disarming by 3/4, Stealth by
1/3, Dodging by 1/3.
Burglary grants three talents: Detect and Nab objects (40), poison ammo
(55), and hit and run (70). It also grants three special abilities: stealing
(4), locking doors (7), and trap-setting (10).
See the section on burglary.
Perception (cost - 7):
This talent improves your ability to find traps and hidden doors. A
relatively small investment in it gives you hints on unidentified object quality
much more often (this is very useful, and a good reason to pay attention to this
skill early). It also improves the chance to get full numerical data on the
power of magical devices and activatable items and to automatically sense
charges.
Perception biases all sort of sighting and awareness rules in your favour.
For example, it allows you (above about level 18) to sometimes "hear" unseen
monsters nearby. Take this skill high enough, and you will start to get
precognition messages (which can be extremely helpful for a truly skilled
character). Perception can even help you find essences.
Perception grants one talent: Sense area (55).
Stealth (cost - 6):
Decreases the amount of innate noise and also most kinds of directed noise
you make. When you are deliberately "sneaking", when your skill is high
relative to dungeon depth, or when you are moving about in total darkness, the
effects of this skill are maximized. Increases the power of various
camouflaging and concealment magics. Most importantly, stealth makes it more
likely that monsters will be generated asleep and reduces the rate at which they
enter the dungeon.
Stealth reduces the cost of Burglary by 1/3rd of its own cost.
Stealth grants two talents: Sneaking (10) and superstealth (75).
Disarming (cost - 4):
Improves your ability to safely disarm traps and chests and unlock doors.
The higher you raise it compared to dungeon depth, the more likely that you will
get guaranteed safe disarming (magic, in contrast, is always slightly chancy),
and be able to automatically avoid any trap you walk onto unawares. A skill
of 100 provides perfect disarming and protection. With very high skill (or high
skill relative to current depth), you can sometimes loot traps as you disarm
them!
Disarming reduces the cost of Burglary by 3/4ths of its own cost.
Dodging (cost - 6):
Improves ability to retain spellpoints when wearing heavy armor. Gives
you a guaranteed armor class even if you are wearing no armor. Is the most
important factor in your ability to dodge missiles, both magical and physical,
and some kinds of traps. Also gives you protection against melee attacks
(especially attempts to steal).
Other factors can help or hurt your dodging ability and, in extreme cases,
make the game act as though you had no skill at all. See the talent "dodging"
for how to maximize your dodging ability. Your character screen takes all
factors into account.
Dodging reduces the cost of Burglary by 1/3rd of its own cost.
Spell resistance (cost - 4):
Increases your saving throw against magical and mental attacks (blinding,
confusion, paralyzation, etc.). Attention paid to this skill can save your
life...
Weaponsmithing (cost - 11):
Once you raise it to 15, allows you to forge melee and throwing weapons
as well as bows and missiles from components found in the dungeon. Note: you
also need to be moderately skilled in using the weapon type you are making to
get good results.
Armor forging (cost - 14):
With a skill of 15, allows you to forge armor from components found in the
dungeon. Armor forging is very powerful, because there are almost no object
qualities that cannot be had with enough skill, good enough components, and a
dash of luck.
Alchemy (cost - 6):
Allows you to create potions, scrolls, rings and amulets. You need a skill
of 10 to create potions and scrolls, and a skill of 35 to create rings and
amulets.
A relatively high magical infusion or alchemy skill is essential for
reliably finding essences, especially deep in the dungeon (Perception also helps
a little).
Magical infusion (cost - 13):
Infusion is among the most powerful of skills, because it allows you to use
magical essences to control the powers that armor, weapons, and missiles get,
pack essences into potions that explode violently when thrown, and make more
potions and scrolls using a given number of essences. You need an infusion
skill of 10 to infuse forged items.
A relatively high magical infusion or alchemy skill is essential for
reliably finding essences, especially deep in the dungeon (Perception also helps
a little).
Infusion grants one talent: Recharging with essences (30).
Shapechange (cost - 14)
Shapechanging allows you to take the form of many different beasts, modifying
your stats, resistances, and more. Some forms are only available in combination
with the nature lore or blood dominion skill. Press ']' to change form. See the
shapechanging section for more details.
(return)
The game will notify you of any new talents you get as you raise skills.
Typing '[' brings up a list of talents. If you have at least one talent,
you can browse (get extra information about) it by typing '*', or mark it (get
notification when it is again available for use) by typing '!'.
List of Talents ('[')
Turn skin to stone:
Increases your armor class substantially. Requires a wrestling skill of 65
and the Oath of Iron.
Berserk fury:
Drives you into a berserk fury, which greatly increases your strength,
melee skill, and hitpoints, but hinders archery and throwing, reduces your
armor class, and leaves you exhausted. Requires a wrestling skill of 80 and
the Oath of Iron.
Resist damage:
Lets you go into a brief trance-like state in which you take only 2/3rds
damage from all forms of attack. Requires a karate skill of 90 and the Oath of
Iron.
Learn about monster:
Gives you partial information about a single monster, especially about
attributes that would determine which weapon you might use against it. Requires
the Oath of Iron.
Detect magic:
Reveals most kinds of magical items nearby, which is very helpful for
finding concentrations of neat loot. This talent does not reveal essences.
Requires a wizardry skill of 40. Wizards use a spell instead.
Phase warp:
Semi-controlled teleport. At levels not much above the minimum, is only
slightly better than a phase door, but at high levels, gives good control of
movement. Requires a wizardry skill of 70. Wizards use a spell instead.
Tap magical energy:
Allows you to regain mana by tapping magical devices (especially staffs and
wands). This can be a very useful ability indeed, because ways to magically
recover mana are rare. Requires a wizardry skill of 75. Wizards use a spell
instead.
Sense evil:
Detects evil monsters (even invisible ones) nearby. Requires a holy
alliance skill of 30. Priests use a prayer instead.
Restore stats:
Instantly restores all of your vital statistics to maximum. Requires a holy
alliance skill of 75. Priests use a prayer instead.
Sense animals:
Detects natural creatures (even invisible ones) nearby. Requires a nature
lore skill of 25. Druids use a technique instead.
Mend self:
Reduces cuts, stuns, blindness, poison, and disease. Requires a nature
lore skill of 50. At very high skill levels, allows you to heal yourself
rapidly. Druids use a technique instead.
Sense undead:
Detects all undead monsters nearby. Requires a blood dominion skill of 25.
Necromancers use a ritual instead).
Restore experience:
Restores your skills. This talent is very powerful, but you need a blood
dominion skill of 85 to use it. Necromancers use a ritual instead.
Sense charges:
Those skilled with magical devices often automatically sense charges on
wands and staffs. If this automatic sensing fails, this talent guarantees
success. Requires a magical device skill of 70.
Detect and Nab objects:
Does either of two things: 1) Detects objects and gold in the current room
and/or in line of sight, 2) Fetches an object in line of sight to you, even if a
monster is on top of it. The maximum weight of the object goes up with skill.
Requires a burglary skill of 40.
Poison ammo:
Allows you to use certain mushrooms and potions to poison ammunition; such
missiles do extra damage to all monsters not resistant to poison. Requires a
burglary skill of 55.
Hit and run:
Casts a spell around you; when you next hit a monster in melee, or steal
from it, you will execute a phase door. The neat thing is that the monster gets
no chance to retaliate. Requires a burglary skill of 70.
Predict weather:
Druids rely on this talent to tell them what the weather is like. The
accuracy of weather predictions goes up with perception skill, and down as you
descend into the dungeon. A druid needs to wait some time between forecasts,
but may get automatic reports when the weather changes (again, depending on
perception skill and dungeon depth).
Sense area:
Magically maps the local area, revealing walls and floors (but not objects
or monsters). Requires a perception skill of 55. Eventually gains extended
range.
Sneaking:
When you use this talent (or type the 'S' (or '#') key), you start to sneak
around. This slows you down but makes you more stealthy (depends on stealth
skill). Also, the higher your Burglary skill, the more likely that you will get
especially deadly sneak attacks (much more effective than the ordinary sleeping
monster bonus) on sleeping monsters. Requires a stealth skill of 10.
Superstealth:
Temporarily makes you partially invisible. Power depends on stealth and is
in addition to any equipment bonuses to invisibility. Requires a stealth skill
of 75.
Recharging:
Allows you to use essences to recharge wands, staffs, and even rods. This
method is riskier to you than normal recharging, but is much less likely to blow
up the item you are working on. Of course, you have to find the right kind of
essences first. Requires a magical infusion skill of 30, and a magical device
skill of 30.
Weapon forging:
Allows you to create weapons using components. Requires a weapon forging
skill of 15. Increases in skill greatly improve your ability to make powerful
weapons.
Armor forging:
Allows you to create armor using components. Requires an armor forging
skill of 15. Increases in skill greatly improve your ability to make powerful
armor.
Bowmaking and Fletchery:
Allows you to create bows and ammunition using components. Requires a
bowmaking skill of 15. Increases in skill greatly improve your ability to make
powerful bows and missiles.
Alchemy:
Allows you to create potions, scrolls, rings, and amulets using bottles,
parchments, and essences. Requires an alchemy skill of 10. Increases in skill
greatly improve your ability to make powerful weapons.
Dragon-breathing:
If you are in dragonform, you can use this talent to consume essences and
breathe them out in powerful breaths. The amount of damage you do depends on
your total power and on the type of essence you choose (the more likely the
breath is to be resisted, the more damage it does).
Of course, you have to find a way to turn into a dragon first...
Warrior Talents ('p')
Lunge
Attack a monster two squares away. Suffer a penalty to attack from the
distance. Requires the Oath of Iron.
Whirlwind Attack
Attack all monsters nearby in a spinning attack. Requires a weapon, and a
weapon skill of 30 or more.
Circle Kick
Attempts to stun all monsters surrounding you, becoming more powerful with
your karate skill. Requires a karate skill of 30 or more.
Impact Blow
Attack and knock back a monster. Requires a blunt weapon and hafted skill
of 30.
Earthquakes
Call the walls down around you to provide cover. Requires a blunt weapon,
the oath of iron, and hafted skill of 60.
Other skills-based abilities
Dodging Ability:
Dodging skill is the most important factor in overall dodging ability, as
shown on your character screen. However, several other things can make a big
difference.
Conditions: When paralyzed, blinded, confused, hallucinating, or stunned, your
dodging ability is greatly reduced. An extremely high dodging skill (above 95)
allows you to ignore most of these conditions.
Dexterity: You need a Dexterity above 7 to dodge much at all. Each point above
this increases your potential dodging (assuming you have the skill).
Weight: Carrying too much relative to your strength reduces your dodging
ability, and wielded shields are by far the worst offenders. However, increases
in dodging skill boost the percentage you can carry without penalty.
Special: Some spells increase dodging ability temporarily. Burglars moving in
the dark get a bonus. It is hard to dodge in the water.
(return)
Supplies
When using an object-forging talent, you usually need some kind of input.
You can only create weapons, armor, and missiles in the town (except in ironman
mode).
Components:
Components of metal come in several different types; the higher level the
component, the more powerful the weapon, armor, or missiles that can be forged
from it. Certain components add special qualities to the items they create;
mithril is unusually light, adamantium unusually heavy, and both ignore acid and
fire.
Bottles:
You need empty bottles to create potions. You start saving empty bottles
as soon as you get your alchemy skill up to 10. Bottles come in several
varieties; the higher level the bottle, the less likely potions made from it
will shatter when frozen.
Parchments:
You need blank parchments to create scrolls. You start saving parchments
as soon as you get your alchemy skill up to 10. Parchments come in several
varieties; the higher level the parchment, the less likely scrolls made from it
will burn or be destroyed by acid.
Essences:
Essences are foci of concentrated magic; they slowly gather near objects
and monsters with strong attributes of a particular type. Every poisonous snake
on a newly created level has some chance of having attracted an essence of
poison, fire-branded weapons might have attracted essences of fire, and potions
of cure critical wounds might have attracted essences of healing. Objects and
monsters generated while you are exploring the level cannot have attracted
essences, because they haven't stayed in one place long enough.
Essences cannot be detected with magic; you have to find them the old-
fashioned way, by thoroughly investigating places where you think they might be.
The higher your Magical Infusion (and also Perception) skills, the more essences
you will find. Essences are more numerous but harder to spot deep in the
dungeon. Once you find an essence, you pick it up by moving onto it. It
automatically goes into a special pouch slot in your equipment; you may
'I'nspect or e'x'amine this pouch to see what essences you have.
Forging Wargear
What you need:
Weapon, armor, and missile forging all compete for the same kind of input:
components. The more skilled you are, and the better the component you choose,
the greater the maximum power of the object you create.
You also need some moderate skill in using any weapon you forge, or it will
be less powerful. For example, if you don't have any throwing or clubbing
skill, then you cannot make such powerful throwing or blunt weapons.
Object types:
The actual power of the forged item greatly depends on your choice of base
object. Melee weapons and body armor can have a lot of attributes; other kinds
of armor and missile weapons have somewhat less, and ammunition has only a few.
Also, the higher level and more powerful the base object, the fewer extra
attributes it gets.
Reducing failure chance:
Forging may fail, and when it does, things go boom. You reduce your
failure chance by increasing your skill, using higher quality components, and
choosing low-level base object types (daggers versus executioner's swords).
You can give your forged items names by inscribing them.
Infusion of Wargear
When you forge wargear with essences in your pouch, you will be asked if
you want to use essences to directly alter your forged item. If you say yes,
you see the "Add essences" screens. There are four screens: Sustain/Slay,
Resist, Qualities, and Bonuses. You navigate among them by typing '<' and '>'.
Pressing RETURN starts the forging. Pressing ESC cancels everything.
Investing essences:
On all screens, you see a list of object attributes (such as Resist Cold or
Sustain Strength), each followed by an indication of the essence type and the
minimum amount needed to get it. If you have at least the required amount of
essences of that type, the essence type is displayed in grey. Otherwise, it is
shown in dark grey. You navigate to the attribute you want by typing '8' and
'2', then invest essences by typing '+' and '-'. As you invest essences, the
number invested appears, colored grey, white, light blue, blue, and violet as
your likelihood of success increases. Investing the minimum gives you a 30%
chance of success. Investing until the indicator is violet (quite expensive)
gives you a 90% chance of getting that attribute; this is the highest possible.
Applying bonuses:
On the bonuses screen, you also need to specify which bonus you plan to
apply, as objects may have up to three. Usually, however, you just need to
adjust the first one (by typing '+' and '-'). Navigate to the attribute you
want, and type '4' and '6' to change to the bonus you want (usually the first).
Once you have assigned that attribute a non-zero bonus, you can then invest
essences (by typing '+' and '-'). Note that the cost of bonuses depends greatly
on the size of bonus you ask for. Asking for a bonus of 3 is more expensive
then asking for 3 different bonuses of 1.
Be careful:
Object infusion can be extremely powerful, but you have to be careful. The
greater the percentage of total power you try to specify using essences, the
more likely it is that the forging will fail, and that you will lose everything.
Infusion skill helps a lot with this. The infusion screens display a
"Potential" indicator; it changes colors from green to light green, white,
yellow, orange, red, and dark grey as things get increasingly dangerous.
Again: forging is very, very chancy. Magic-using smiths and alchemists
are notorious for rearranging the landscape. If you fail, just remember that
there are lots more essences and components waiting to be found.
Alchemy
Making potions (requires a skill of 10):
Potion-creation requires essences and bottles. You can only make potions
that you are aware of and whose essence cost you can meet. The higher your
alchemy skill, the higher the maximum level of potions you can make.
Alchemy can fail, and when it does, the potion you are working on explodes
violently. You increase your success rate by choosing low-level potions, high-
level bottles, and by raising your alchemy skill.
You can often make more than one potion using a given number of essences;
the amount depends on the value of the potion and your infusion skill. Making
more than one potion at a time is especially risky, but increases in infusion
skill help.
Alchemy - making scrolls (requires a skill of 10):
Scroll-creation is very similar to potion-creation except that you use
parchments instead of bottles.
Alchemy - making rings and amulets (requires a skill of 35):
Making rings and amulets needs both components and essences. The level of
object you can make depends on alchemy skill and component quality. Failure
chance depends on the level of the item you are trying to create and on your
skill.
Infusion - making potions of essences:
Requires an Infusion skill of 15. Uses the same talent as ordinary potion-
making (so you also need enough Alchemy skill to make potions).
Potions of essences ("magical grenades") can do a lot of damage, whether
you throw them, quaff them, or use them in traps. Damage depends on the number
of essences you pack in and on your Infusion skill. The type of essences you
use also has an effect: the basic elements do the most damage, the esoteric
magics do the least. If you pack too many essences in, and fail to use a sturdy
enough bottle, your potion might explode...
Average damage:
skill * 1.4 (up to 140) for one essence
skill * 2.2 (up to 220) for two essences
skill * 2.8 (up to 280) for three essences
Note: You can make multiple potions of essences at one time. Unlike the
case when making ordinary potions, there is no extra risk to doing this.
The World
(return)
Special
@ The character
Features that do not block line of sight
. A floor space 1 Entrance to General Store
. A trap (hidden) 2 Entrance to Armory
^ A trap (known) 3 Entrance to Weapon Smith
; A glyph of warding 4 Entrance to Temple
' An open door 5 Entrance to Alchemy Shop
' A broken door 6 Entrance to Magic Shop
< A staircase up 7 Entrance to the Bookseller
> A staircase down 8 Entrance to your Home
. Water (blue) # Lava (red)
Features that block line of sight
# A secret door # A wall
+ A closed door % A mineral vein
+ A locked door * A mineral vein with treasure
+ A jammed door : A pile of rubble
+ Tree (green)
Objects
! A potion, flask, or bottle / A pole-arm
? A scroll, book, or parchment | An edged weapon
, A mushroom (or food) \ A hafted weapon
- A wand or rod } A missile launcher
_ A staff { A shot, arrow, or bolt
= A ring ( Soft armor
" An amulet [ Hard armor
$ Gold or gems ] Misc. armor
~ Lights and chests ) A shield
` Junk, Sticks, Skeletons, etc. & (unused)
* An essence + A gemstone
% A component # A boulder
Monsters
$ Creeping Coins , Mushroom Patch
* Storm + Giant Gemstone
| Weapon mimic (also /, \, [, ]) # Rock monster
! Potion mimic ? Scroll mimic
& Major Demon ~ Animated torch, fish, etc.
a Giant Ant A Angelic being
b Giant Bat B Bird
c Giant Centipede C Canine (Dog)
d Dragon D Ancient Dragon
e Floating Eye E Elemental
f Feline F Flies and Dragon Flies
g Golem G Ghost
h Humanoid H Hybrid
i Icky-Thing I Minor Demon
j Jelly J Snake
k Kobold K Killer Beetle
l Giant Louse L Lich
m Mold M Mummy
n Naga N (unused)
o Orc O Ogre
p Human P Giant Human(oid)
q Quadruped Q Quylthulg (Pulsing Flesh Mound)
r Rodent R Reptile/Amphibian
s Skeleton S Spider/Scorpion/Tick
t Townsperson T Troll
v Vortex V Vampire
w Worm or Worm Mass W Wight/Wraith
x (unused) X Xorn/Xaren
y Yeek Y Yeti
z Zombie Z Zephyr Hound
Any of these symbols may be changed using preference files, accessed using
the command '%'. You may review what a symbol means by typing '/'.
(return)
You begin your adventures in the town. It consists of eight buildings,
each with a shop entranceway (and one also with an inn), and is well populated.
The first time you are in town it will be daytime, but the sun rises and sets as
time passes. Nighttime in the town can be dangerous...
Townspeople:
Most townsfolk go about their daily tasks, paying little or no attention to
you unless provoked. However, there are slippery-fingered thieves and armed
killers that you need to avoid. Fights do break out, so be prepared. Since
your character grew up in this world of intrigue, no experience is awarded for
killing the town inhabitants, though you may acquire treasure.
Stores
You enter buildings by walking onto their entranceways, which (in text
mode) are represented by numbers from 1 to 8 or the '+' sign.
A new display then replaces the old. For most buildings, you see the name
and race of the store owner, the name of the store, and the maximum number of
gold pieces that the store owner will pay for any one item. Below it is
displayed the inventory; if it is numerous, you may display another page by
typing space. Near the bottom of the screen is displayed a list of commonly-
used commands.
- 'g' or 'p': get/purchase an item.
- 'd' or 's': drop/sell an item.
- 'I': inspect an item (reveals any known special properties, reads spellbooks)
- ESC: leave the store.
The General Store:
Sells foods, drinks, cloaks, robes, torches, lamps, oil, shovels, picks,
spikes, and ammunition for missile launchers. Buys items of these types (except
robes) and some others.
The Armory:
Buys and sells every kind of armor except cloaks.
The Weaponsmith's Shop:
Buys and sells melee weapons, missile launchers, and ammunition.
The Temple:
Buys and sells blunt weapons, healing and restoration supplies, and various
other holy items.
The Alchemy Shop:
Buys and sells potions and scrolls.
The Magic User's Shop:
Buys and sells rings, amulets, wands, rods, and staffs.
The Bookstore:
Buys and sells spellbooks.
Your Home:
Here you may store objects that you cannot carry on your travels or will
need later. You may check the contents of your home when in the dungeon by
using the '~' command.
The Inn (named):
Offers quests for especially dangerous foes.
Buying and Selling
Store owners have individual personalities; often their names are a
valuable hint. Some can offer a great deal of money, but never seem to hold any
sales; others cannot pay nearly what your valuable items are worth, but often
give great deals. The price of items that change hands depends on their base
cost, how well your and the store owner's races get along*, your Charisma, and
the innate greediness of the store owner.
* Everyone likes his or her own race best.
* Humans will trade with anyone, and nobody really hates them.
* Dwarves and orcs are at war; dwarves and elves don't much get along.
* Nobody loves a Half-Orc or Half-Troll but another orc or troll.
Stores never have everything in stock; as time passes, their inventory
slowly changes (but only when you are in the dungeon). Store owners fully
identify everything you sell them; you also become aware of objects of that
type.
Bargaining:
Price also depends on one factor more: your skill at bargaining. The
shopkeeper will immediately go to his final price on low-priced items, but for
more valuable things, you need to haggle a little. As you glance over a store's
inventory, you will notice that some prices are in grey rather than white; they
are items that you should bargain for.
If you are selling something, a typical haggling session starts with the
shopkeeper assuring you that a good price is something like 50-70% of what the
item is really worth. You demand maybe twice or three times this, and the
bargaining begins. You bring your price closer to the shopkeeper's offer, and
he then does the same for you. The best way to change a price is to enter "-20"
or "+20", instead of retyping a new figure. After some rounds, you and the
shopkeeper will meet somewhere in the middle.
The key to success is to change your price neither too little (which will
insult the shopkeeper) nor too much (which is a sign of inexperience, and will
be taken advantage of). Some shopkeepers like to haggle more, other are
impatient and demand good offers, but you have always have enough leeway to
succeed.
If you've gotten the shopkeeper to admit his final price, and you close the
sale, your reputation with him goes up. If you accept a bad deal (no "Final
offer"), your reputation goes down. The higher your reputation as a haggler,
the more items that the shopkeeper will just go straight to his final price on
(he knows he can't fool you). It is quite possible to get a shopkeeper to
immediately offer the final price on just about everything.
Just be careful not to antagonize the shopkeepers too much. You have to
work at it, but you can get any shopkeeper mad enough to throw you out of the
store. When this happens, you can't get back in for quite some time, perhaps
three or four days. Fortunately, shopkeepers are forgiving souls: as time
passes, they will forget any unhappiness you've caused them. Shopkeepers also
forget an insult every time you buy or sell anything; if you want to get back in
the Temple's good graces, buy some potions of Cure Light Wounds. One at a time.
There is an option to auto-haggle, but be warned: Those who blithely
accept the shopkeeper's prices pay a markup. The higher the value of the item,
the higher that markup; it is nothing for anything under 250 gold and up to 33
percent for really expensive things.
Stores can upgrade their inventory:
Every time you buy something new, especially something valuable, from a
store, it has more money to spend on items it wouldn't normally carry. As time
passes, and you continue to patronize particular stores, you will notice two
things: firstly, the shopkeepers will start paying special attention to you,
and secondly, that they will begin to stock a few unusual items. It takes quite
a while, but stores can significantly upgrade their inventory over time.
Be aware that shopkeepers mark up the prices of these unusual items. For
valuable things, this markup can be considerable.
Investing in stores:
You can also give shopkeepers money directly by investing in their store.
Use the '*' command, then type 'I' to invest money. In addition to making the
store more likely to stock nice stuff, investing in stores also improves the
shopkeeper's attitude, and may make him forget any bad bargains.
Shopkeepers can retire and be replaced:
Shopkeepers do retire, but only very rarely. The new shopkeeper benefits
from all of the money you've spent at the store, and has a good (but not
perfect) idea of how good a haggler you are.
If you completely buy out a store's inventory, the shopkeeper may offer to
retire. He'll demand a fortune, though.
Getting quests
You take on quests by going to the Inn and choosing one from the list. As
you succeed in more quests, and take on greater challenges, the rewards for
success can become great indeed.
When you accept a quest, you have lots of time to prepare for it. However,
once you enter the quest level, you cannot leave for any length of time without
running a risk of failing the quest. Failure reduces your prestige, and you may
get poorer rewards from the quest-givers until you recover their respect.
Be warned: If you are not a really good player, "moderate" and "difficult"
quests can get your characters killed fast!
(return)
All levels other than 0 (or zero feet) lie within the dungeon. Each level
of the dungeon is fifty feet high, and is divided into large rectangular regions
(several times larger than the screen) by impenetrable walls. Once you leave a
level, you will never again find your way back to that region of that level, but
there are an infinite number of other regions at that same depth that you can
explore later. Monsters move about just as you do, and you may see them again.
Terrain
The following terrain types affect movement, combat, or both. Because they
less frequently take advantage of terrain, monsters benefit more from favorable
and suffer less from unfavorable terrain than your character does.
Rubble:
Greatly slows down any creature that cannot bore or pass through rock.
Ends LOS, stops missiles, bolts, and beams, and reduces the radius of ball
spells. Grants the character and monsters within it some protection from melee,
ranged, or magical attacks. Rubble may dissolve to normal floor.
Water:
Cannot be passed by fiery, earthbound monsters, slows down other most other
monsters. Slows you down, and cannot be crossed if you are carrying too much.
You and your enemies are easier to hit when in water, and most spells
(especially water-based ones) gain in strength. It is hard to dodge in water.
However, fire-based spells become much less powerful, so find a lake if you
battle Smaug. Water may evaporate.
Lava:
Can be passed by any character, but inflicts substantial fire damage (less
for players with feather fall - they're light on their feet). All monsters
other than fiery or strong flying creatures will not cross. Water and cold-
based spells suffer and fire-based spells become more powerful against a target
in lava. Lava may freeze to rubble or normal floor.
Trees:
Slows down characters not familiar with druidic techniques, and all non-
natural monsters that neither fly nor pass through rock. Ends LOS, stops
missiles, bolts, and beams, and reduces the radius of ball spells. Grants the
character and monsters within it some protection from melee, ranged, or magical
attacks. Trees can burn.
Permanent walls:
You can dig through most walls but some are impenetrable. The dungeon is
surrounded by these kinds of walls and some special rooms are made of them.
Staircases:
Staircases allow your character to ascend or descend from one level to
another, and are represented by "<" (up) and ">" (down). Each level has at
least one up staircase, and two down staircases, unless it is the home of Sauron
(level 99/4950') or Morgoth (level 100/5000'), whom you must kill before
staircases will appear. Otherwise, the staircases are guaranteed, but they may
be difficult to find. Once you leave a level, you can never return to it. If
you found an artifact, identified it, and left it on the level, it is
permanently lost. Watch out for spells and traps that can suddenly force you
off the level.
Secret doors:
Many secret doors exist in the dungeon, and may lead to anything from a new
section of the dungeon level to an empty closet. As your familiarity with the
dungeon grows, you will know where many secret doors are likely to be. Secret
doors always look like granite until found. You find hidden doors using the
's'earch command, or magic.
Locked and stuck doors:
Doors may be locked or stuck; getting through them may not be easy. Your
disarming skill makes all the difference to your ability to handle locks, but
you can also bash doors down, take a pickaxe to them, or blast them open with
magic.
Monsters are also slowed down by doors; you can earn yourself valuable time
by jamming or locking them.
Open doors:
Open doors (if unbroken) may be closed. If a monster is in the way, you
instead attempt to slam the door: The monster gets a free turn, then you
attempt to close the door. If you succeed, the monster retreats out of the way
and loses a turn.
Traps:
Traps also await you in the dungeon. They look like normal terrain until
found, too often by your being caught by one. They start out weak and easy to
disarm, but can get truly nasty further down...
You find hidden traps by using the 's'earch command. Many characters can
also use magic and everyone can use the appropriate magical device. Be warned:
although magical disarming is convenient, it is never a sure thing.
Rooms:
The Pits of Angband contain many kinds of rooms, including some that house
hordes of monsters, contain extraordinary items, or are filled with deadly
traps. Some special rooms, known as vaults, are extremely dangerous and
lucrative.
Mining:
There is much treasure in the walls of the dungeon, just waiting for an
industrious adventurer to come and dig it out. Once you can afford it, and if
you can handle the weight, bring a shovel or pick along. Your ability to tunnel
depends on strength, weapon weight, and any special digging bonus the weapon
provides. Your success depends on these factors and the strength of the wall:
granite is very hard, quartz is hard, magma is soft, and rubble is very soft.
As you get richer, the treasures in the wall won't seem so appealing
anymore, but keep an item or spell of tunneling handy. Not only do all sorts of
special vaults lie deep below the surface, some completely enclosed by solid
rock, but smart adventurers deliberately alter the dungeon to make the most
dangerous breathers and summoners manageable.
Exploring
Light:
Your character must have some source of light in order to see, unless the
area around him is magically lit. Depending on the items he has equipped, he
may have a light radius of one (torches with low fuel), two (a lantern or well-
fueled torch), or more, up to a rarely-attained maximum of five. Never risk
being without light ... unless you know what you are doing.
A torch or lantern (usually) burns fuel, and may be refilled (use the
'F'uel command) with other torches or flasks of oil respectively. It is
rumoured that other light sources exist which never need replenishing. Light
sources can be lit or doused (use the '(' command). When lit, they will
illuminate the surrounding area, even when placed on the floor. They will
automatically light up when equipped, and will neither shed light nor use fuel
in your backpack.
In addition you may get access to spells which permanently light up areas
of the dungeon; these can be truly handy, because a monster you can see coming
is much less dangerous.
Darkness:
But darkness can be useful too. Unseen monsters are harder to hit with
physical attacks, and take less damage from spells (because you can't aim at
them precisely). You, likewise, are harder to hit if in and surrounded by
darkness, and will take less damage from ranged attacks. Depending on your
skills, staying in darkness may yield other advantages as well.
Food and Regeneration:
Never risk being without food. You must eat every so often in order to
avoid starvation. The speed at which you consume food depends on your race
(trolls and giants need to eat a lot) and the items you wear.
The speed at which you regenerate is doubled when you are resting (so rest
in place instead of staying in place whenever possible), and is also affected by
various object attributes and temporary conditions.
Noise:
Characters make a certain amount of noise all the time; this innate noise
decreases as stealth improves. Moving more quickly increases noise somewhat
because you perform more actions in a given period of time. Resting, sneaking,
and (if you have any stealth skill) moving in the dark all reduce base noise
substantially.
To base noise is added extra noise. Every time you engage in combat, cast
most kinds of spells that hurt monsters, bash a door or a chest, kill a monster,
or wreck the dungeon, you make extra noise. Extra noise dies down over time.
Sleeping monsters will be disturbed by noise, especially if you are nearby
and/or are in line of sight. You may deliberately make noise by using the Bash
command.
Searching and Detection:
The dungeon is full of secret doors and hidden traps. Perception skill is
crucial for automatically finding traps and secret doors as you move around,
especially deep in the dungeon where they become very hard to find. You can
also actively hunt for hidden things by typing 's' to search for a turn. This
is much more effective and requires less perception skill. However, the most
powerful way to reveal traps and secret doors is magic: spells exist that make
finding doors and avoiding traps a easy task.
The one thing that no magic spell can find for you is essences. Once your
Magical infusion skill is at least 15, you start to notice essences, both
automatically and by deliberately searching. As you descend into the dungeon,
be sure to keep raising your Magical infusion skill (raising Perception helps
also, but not as much), because high-level essences are much harder to find.
Level Feelings:
Spend enough time on a given level and you will get a message describing
it. The more interesting the choice of adjectives, the more dangerous and
lucrative the level is likely to be. At the same time, the depth indicator
located at the bottom-right corner of the main screen will change color. Whites
and yellows indicate relatively quiet levels, but oranges and reds mean danger
and rewards.
Things that boost level feelings include: out of depth monsters (small
effect), out of depth uniques (larger effect), out of depth objects, artifacts
and other powerful kinds of objects, and very unusual rooms.
You will occasionally get the message "You feel there is something special
about this level.", indicating that this is either a quest level, or that there
is an active player ghost lurking there. Artifacts and special rooms do not
make a level special.
Precognition Messages:
If your Perception skill is great enough, you will start to get
"precognition" messages indicating the presence of many of the individual
monsters, objects, and special rooms that boost level feelings. Unlike level
feelings, they appear immediately. The higher you raise your Perception, the
more specific - and accurate - these messages become.
The Passage of Time
Both monsters and characters gain energy each turn and use it to perform
actions. Any creature that moves at normal speed gains 10 energy per game turn;
any monster move and most character actions take 100 energy. Some monsters move
at double speed and you can too, if you quaff a Potion of Speed. Actions still
take the same amount of energy, but they and you gain twice the energy each
turn. Further down, monsters lurk that move even faster, and rare items exist
that allow you to keep pace. If you can, avoid being slower than your foes.
An abbreviated speed-to-energy table:
(very slow creatures can get as little as 1 energy per turn)
-20 speed: 3 energy
-15 : 4
-10 : 5
-5 : 6
normal : 10
+5 : 15
+10 : 20
+15 : 25
+20 : 30
+25 : 35
+30 : 38 (energy only goes up very slowly above +30 speed)
Regeneration and recovery:
Every 10 game turns, you regenerate some hitpoints and mana (unless you are
ill or wounded), and get hurt by cuts and poison. Temporary conditions count
down, rods recharge, and light sources use fuel. Every 100 game turns, you
digest some food. Every hundred thousand game turns equals one day; the town
spends half that time in darkness and the other half in light.
Every 10 game turns, every monster on the level gets a chance to recover
from all temporary conditions. Every 100 game turns, monsters regenerate
hitpoints.
(return)
Monsters are worth experience:
Defeat a monster, and you will gain experience. The amount you gain
depends on the base monster value (which goes up rapidly deeper in the dungeon).
This is divided by your own total experience value: the combination of spent
plus unspent experience, ranging from 1 to 100. Note that raising skills has no
effect whatsoever on this value.
Your Monster Memory:
When you see a monster for the first time, all you know are its physical
attributes and whatever information the monster description may provide. As you
fight and kill monsters, use various attacks on them, probe them with magic, and
get killed by them, you learn more about their strengths and weaknesses.
You recall this memory in one of two ways: 'l'ooking at / e'x'amining the
monster and then pressing 'r' for recall, or by pressing '/' and typing the
monster's letter.
Unlike object memory, monster memory can be passed on even after your
character dies, by loading his savefile and creating a new character.
The Monster Health Bar:
A good way to keep track of a specific monster is to target it. When you
do so, its health bar appears on the left side of the main screen, just below
the hitpoint and mana indicators. Similar health bars are also used when
looking around and when displaying the closest monsters.
The health bar uses several colors to tell you more about the monster.
Frightened - violet, Confused - brown, Stunned - light blue, Sleeping - dark
blue. Otherwise - dark and light green when healthy, and yellow, orange, and
red when wounded.
The health bar is bracketed in green when you have direct line of fire to
the monster, in white when monsters block your line of fire, and grey when walls
or something else non-passable does.
Extra monster health bars:
You can display additional monster health bars on the left side of your
main screen or (in most interfaces) in separate windows. Consult the options
section for more details.
Monster attributes:
The special attributes of monsters can make all the difference to the
danger they pose to you. Some of the more interesting are listed and described.
Hitpoints : Some monsters die easily, others can withstand almost anything.
Armor : Some monsters are easy to hit with melee blows or missiles, others
very difficult.
Awareness : Some monsters will stay asleep even if you dance in front of them,
others are ever vigilant. The distance that monsters can perceive you
(if you are not in line of sight) also varies greatly.
Color : The color of a monster can be a valuable hint; different kinds
of power and magic are associated with particular colors.
Multi-hued : Changes colors randomly. Often you can tell what a dragon
can breathe by watching it flicker.
Invisible : Cannot be seen with normal sight.
Warm-blooded : Some monsters can be seen with infravision, others can not.
Telepathy : Some monsters are always visible with telepathy, others are
rarely visible, and others still never visible.
Uses symbol : Appears exactly like whatever terrain it is on.
Shining : Can be seen even in shadow
Groups : Monsters may appear in groups, or have escorts.
Multiply : Some monsters breed explosively!
Drops : Monsters may drop anything from nothing at all to large quantities
of marvelous objects.
Experience : The experience you get from killing monsters varies greatly.
Regenerate : Recovers battle damage unusually quickly.
Evasive : Monster is especially hard to hit with melee blows, missiles, or
bolt spells.
Clouds : Monster constantly releases clouds of venom, fire, etc. around it.
Approaching such creatures is especially hazardous.
Bash Door : Most monsters (but not all) can either bash down or open doors.
Everyone can close doors, and some characters can lock or bar doors to
delay their foes considerably.
Pass Wall : Ghosts and some other creatures can float right through ordinary
walls.
Flying : Can float or fly over hostile terrain or monster traps.
Hurt by ... : Monsters can be especially susceptible to light, rock remover,
fire, or cold.
Resistant to ... : Monsters can be especially resistant to edged and/or blunt
weapons, any or all of the elements or poison, or any of the esoteric
magics.
Cannot be ... : Monsters can be immune to fear, slowing, stunning, sleeping,
or confusion.
Spells : Monsters may fire physical missiles, breathe, cast spells to hurt and
hinder you, blink and teleport you and themselves, heal and cure and
restore themselves, haste themselves or other monsters, summon more
opponents, and many other things!
Casting speed : Be careful of monsters that cast spells very often, especially
if they also move quickly.
Smart : Monsters can be skilled at choosing spells, somewhat skilled, or
unskilled.
Breath Powerfully : Dragon breaths lose less power with range.
Archer : Can fire physical missiles most of the time.
Morgul-Spells : Poisonous missiles, and cold, poison, and darkness spells
become much more nasty.
Spells of Udun : Fire become Hellfire, a dreadful combination of darkness and
fire.
Blows : Monsters can do great damage and inflict nasty effects in melee. A
few monsters never miss.
Detecting monsters:
There are many ways to find out if monsters are nearby. Bright light
reveals all but invisible creatures; if you can light up an area, you are much
less likely to be surprised. Many spells and magical devices, and some talents
detect monsters, and you may perhaps be able to find and wear an item that
grants telepathy.
A number of skills can also be very helpful here, as they allow you to
sense nearby creatures. The effect of each skill is given below.
Nature Lore: powerful detection of natural creatures
Holy Alliance: powerful detection of demonic creatures, some ability
to sense evil at high level
Blood Dominion: powerful detection of undead creatures
Wizardry: some detection of magic-users with mana at high level
Stealth: If you are in pitch darkness, gives you a significant bonus
when listening for monsters
Perception: perception skill may reveal invisible creatures adjacent
to you, and at high level this skill can help you hear distant
monsters not mentioned above
Burglary (Guild): general bonus to hearing and sensing ability
Player Ghosts:
Player ghosts vary from game to game depending on the name, sex, race, and
spell realm of the adventurer or legendary Hero whose bones file was used during
ghost creation. Should your character die, information about him will often be
added to a new bones file, inside the folder /lib/bones, and a future game might
bring him back from the dead...
Should a ghost be slain, he may vanish forever, or he may re-emerge later
in a new, more powerful form!
(return)
The mines far below the surface are full of objects just waiting to be
picked up and used. The treasures of long-forgotten kingdoms, dragon's hoards,
heirlooms, wizard's stashes, and the plunder from every age of the world unite
with the scattered earthly possessions of all the foolish adventurers who died
before you to offer unimaginable wealth for those bold enough to seize it.
Learning about objects
Learning about objects:
When you begin the game, most objects are unknown to you, and an important
task is to learn more about them so that you can use them reliably. The
standard way to learn about an object is to identify it, but scrolls of Identify
and Staffs of Perception don't come cheap. They also don't work on everything;
mushrooms cannot be identified with magic.
Full identification:
Some items have special powers. Ego-item descriptions usually tell you
everything, but artifacts are known only by legend. A number of items (usually
artifacts and ego-items) may have random powers. To learn absolutely everything
about an object, read a scroll of *identify* on it. Such scrolls are rare and
expensive; if you don't have access to one, try using the object a lot and
inscribing it.
Fully identified objects have light blue indexes, identified objects have
white, and unknown objects grey.
Scanning wargear automatically (Pseudo-ID):
The first time you walk over a weapon, missile, or piece of armor, you
examine it for anything unusual. Your ability to learn about wargear depends on
your perception skill, modified by any bonuses to awareness granted by equipped
items.
When you wear or wield such an item, you examine it again, this time more
closely and with a greater chance of success. Given a decent perception skill,
you have a pretty good shot at learning something. Be careful though: Objects
may be cursed and need special magic to remove!
Scanned objects are marked with the following inscriptions
Item description low perception high perception
average item: "unknown" "average"
item with plusses "good" "good"
ego-item (weapon of flame) "good" "excellent"
artifact (unique item) "good" "special"
cursed artifact "cursed" "terrible"
cursed ego-item "cursed" "worthless"
cursed ordinary object "cursed" "cursed"
failed to learn anything "unknown", no message appears
Once you equip the weapon or armor, and if it is actually better (or worse)
then the inscription claims, you will eventually learn more about it as you use
it in battle. An ego-item that was originally marked "unknown" will first be
revealed as "good", then as "excellent".
Characters who have taken the Oath of Iron are especially good at scanning
wargear, and (if their perception skill is fairly high) will be able to
instantly identify any weapon or armor they equip.
Sensing other wearable objects:
You can often learn about rings and amulets by putting them on, and, if
that doesn't work, by wearing them for a while. This also gives you experience.
However, rings and amulets are often cursed...
Learning about magical devices:
You can learn the name of magical devices that you successfully use; when
you do, you get experience.
If your perception and/or magical device skills are good enough, you can
learn about the charges on wands and staffs, especially low-level ones. Bonuses
to awareness also work here.
Use most magical devices often enough, especially if your perception and
magical device skills are high, and you will eventually learn more about the
damage they do or the power they have. You may check this information by using
the 'I'nspect command.
Learning about potions and scrolls:
There are three ways to learn about potions and scrolls: You can sell
them, identify them, or learn about them by using them. Learning by using is
risky but highly rewarding. Not only do you get a lot of experience this way
(if the object is unsensed), but many scrolls and potions are more powerful when
you read or quaff them unaware (and unsensed). If you quaff unaware every
potion that attacks stats, and every one that improves them, your total stat
gain will improve by about 4.
Learning about mushrooms:
You must eat mushrooms in order to learn about them. There are some very
useful 'shrooms out there, but also some truly nasty ones...
Object information
'I'nspecting a specific object will pop up a special display that tells you
useful things about the object kind, legends and lore, and specific object
attributes.
Known attributes of equipped items are displayed in the character screen
display (type 'C' to bring up the character screen, then press 'h' to cycle
through the information). This interface is helpful when you want to optimize
your equipment.
All object types that you are aware of are listed in the knowledge menu
('~'), option 5: "Known objects".
Inventory, equipment, quiver
Your inventory (backpack) and equipment (your person):
You pick up objects by moving on top on them (if you have the "auto_pickup"
option on), or by using the 'g'et command. You may carry up to 23 different
items or piles of items, and have 12 areas of your body where wearable equipment
may go. Press 'i', and you see the contents of your backpack; press 'e' and you
see what you are wearing. Both listings toggle open and closed when you press
the space key. Items on the floor display in similar fashion.
When choosing items, you switch between inventory and equipment by pressing
'/', and switch between the floor and either of these two by pressing '-'.
Carry too much weight, and you will begin to slow down, making it easier
for monsters to kill you. The point at which your load thus hinders you depends
on your strength.
Your quiver:
Your equipment includes a quiver, which may hold up to ten different kinds
of ammunition or throwing weapons. Once placed in the quiver (using the wield
command), they normally sort in the quiver slots just as they do in the
backpack. You may lock items into a specific slot, and make shooting and
throwing a lot more convenient, by inscribing it with inscriptions similar to
"@1", or "@f1". Wherever you store them, ammunition and throwing weapons still
take up space; you lose an inventory slot for every 99 missiles (or fraction
thereof), or every 19 throwing weapons, that you place in the quiver slots.
Ammunition and throwing weapons on the floor will automatically combine with
similar items in the quiver, which makes cleaning up after a big fight much
easier.
Object types
Wands:
Known wands stack, combining their charges. Such a stack may be heavier,
but can be recharged more safely and effectively. A wand must be recharged
every so often.
Staffs:
Staffs never stack unless in stores. If stacked, the number of charges
that they display is prefixed by a quantity indicator (e.g. "(2x 13 charges)",
which shows that each of two staffs have 13 charges. Staffs may be bulky, but
they have lots of charges, recharge well, and are highly durable.
Rods:
Rods always stack. A stack of rods with at least one charging member will
show an appropriate inscription. When zapped, a rod is "timed out" for a given
number of turns. Unlike wands and staffs, rods recharge automatically. Each
recharging rod in a stack contributes to the total recharge rate; if three out
of five rods are charging, the stack's total timeout period will decrease by
three per normal player turn.
Chests:
Chests are difficult and dangerous to open, as they usually contain both
traps and locks. If you succeed, you may be rewarded handsomely. If your
disarming skill is so poor that the chest refuses to open, you can bash it into
submission. Of course, bashing does break things...
Scroll of Word of Recall:
The Scroll of Word of Recall deserves special mention. Read in the
dungeon, it brings you back to the town. Read in the town, it takes you as deep
in the dungeon as you have ever gone. This spell takes a little time to take
effect, so don't expect it to save you in a crisis. Should you mistakenly read
a Scroll of Word of Recall, you may cancel it by reading another.
Ego-Weapons and Armors:
Some rare weapons and armors have special abilities. These are called ego
items, and are feared by great and meek.
Dragon Scale Mails:
These extremely rare pieces of armor come in many different colors, each
protecting you against the relevant dragons. They also occasionally allow you
to breathe as dragons do!
Artifacts:
There are rumours of incredibly rare, unique artifacts which are even more
powerful than ego items. Some artifacts are standard, and you may already know
of their fame, while others will certainly be unfamiliar to you and will need to
be fully identified (*identified*).
Artifacts cannot be destroyed, although they can be disenchanted. Once you
find an artifact, and either sell it or identify and leave it behind, you lose
it forever.
A small number of artifacts, known as Set Items, are designed to be used in
conjunction with related items. Equipping an entire set of these items will
grant the wearer additional bonuses and abilities. Item sets generally consist
of two items, but may include more. You may 'I'nspect an identified artifact to
see whether it belongs to a set.
Object enhancement
Weapons and armor may have bonuses to Skill, Deadliness, and armor class;
it can be very useful indeed to increase these values by reading scrolls of
Enchant Weapon and Enchant Armor.
- The higher the plusses are above the object's normal values, the harder it
is to raise them further.
- The larger the pile of objects you try to enchant, the more likely it is that
you will fail. However, ammunition and throwing weapons are unusually easy
to enchant.
- You can sometimes break curses on objects and even turn them into ego-items
by enchanting them.
Object destruction
Objects may be damaged or destroyed on the floor, in your backpack, and
(sometimes) even damaged while you are wearing them.
- Acid destroys armor, weapons, missile launchers, ammunition, scrolls,
parchments, staffs, and chests. It may damage equipped armor that does not
ignore acid.
- Electricity destroys rings, amulets, wands, and (on rare occasion) rods.
- Fire destroys torches, arrows, missile launchers, hafted weapons and polearms,
gloves, boots, cloaks, shields, soft body armor, spellbooks, scrolls, parch-
ments, staffs, and chests.
- Frost, sound, and shards destroy potions and empty bottles. Force can also
destroy them, but only when they are on the floor.
- Many other types of magic can blow objects on the floor around, destroy them,
or even change ("polypile") them.
- Equipped items with plusses can be disenchanted.
- Magical devices can be destroyed by failed recharges.
Cursed Objects
Many cursed items exist in the Pits -- either left behind as the result of
failed attempts to create magical items, or deliberately placed by gleeful evil
sorcerers who enjoy a good joke when it gets you killed. These horrible objects
look perfectly innocent, but will detract from your character's stats or
abilities if worn. In most cases, you cannot remove them without breaking the
curse first. In fact, some are so badly cursed that even this will not work,
and more potent methods are needed.
If you wear or wield a cursed item, you will immediately feel deathly cold,
and the item will be marked "cursed". On rare occasion, the item will transform
into something truly dangerous.
Shopkeepers will refuse to buy any item that is known to be cursed.
(return)
All combat methods other than Karate and Wrestling require equipment, and
all benefit greatly from various qualities that your equipped items may possess.
Defence is similarly equipment-dependent.
Damage Dice and Plusses
Example 1: A Dagger (1d4) (+6,+4)
Damage Dice:
All objects have damage dice, which express how much damage they do when
thrown. For example, if you throw this dagger, it will do 1d4 damage (one die
with four sides). Melee weapons (like this one) also use their damage dice in
hand-to-hand combat.
Bonus to Skill:
The dagger above increases melee Skill by 6. This bonus improves your
chance to strike a monster and the number and quality of critical hits. Except
for certain rare gloves, armors seldom have bonuses to Skill. Some have small
penalties.
Bonus to Deadliness:
The dagger above increases melee Deadliness by 4. This increases the
damage of every blow you land. Except for certain rare gloves, armors seldom
have bonuses to Deadliness.
Example 2: a Pair of Hard Leather Boots [3, +8]
Bonus to Base Armor Class (AC):
All armors have bonuses to base AC. The boots shown increase this value
by 3. Some weapons also have bonuses to base armor class, usually because they
help keep monsters further away from you or parry blows.
Bonus, Plus to Armor Class (AC):
Armor of unusually good quality or that is magical also increases your
plus to AC. These boots add an additional 8 to AC, giving them a total bonus of
11. Only rare weapons do the same.
Basic object attributes
Armor Class:
Armor Class, or AC, lessens your chances of being hit by any monster blow,
and also reduces the pure damage hits inflict. AC reduces cutting and stunning
from melee attacks, and your chances of being hit by thrown physical objects
(such as boulders or arrows). It has no effect on magic.
Adjustments to Vital statistics and Abilities
Stat Bonuses:
Any kind of wearable item may affect one or more stats. See the section on
your character to find out more about what altering a stat does.
Sustain Stats:
Any kind of wearable item may sustain one or more stats. This ensures that
the attacks of your foes never lower that stat.
Stealth:
Certain cloaks, boots, and (more rarely) other items lessen the amount of
noise you make when moving around the dungeon. This is very handy for avoiding
fights and getting in the first hit. Stealth also reduces the noise you make in
combat, but the effect is less noticeable.
Awareness:
Some rings, headgear, and various other items improve your chances to
reveal secret doors and find traps before they find you, allow you to "hear"
unseen monsters near to you, and make it somewhat more likely that you will
successfully pseudo-ID objects.
Infravision:
Some headgear and (more rarely) other items increase the range at which you
can see warm-blooded creatures, even those that would otherwise be invisible.
Tunneling:
Some gloves and weapons allow you to dig through rock more effectively.
All special digging tools have a bonus to tunneling.
Speed:
Boots, rings, and other items that hasten you are rare and powerful, for a
fast player can perform several actions in the time it used to take to do just
one. Players moving at speed -10 are half as fast as normal, at +10 are twice
as fast as normal, and at +20 are three times as fast as normal. The maximum
useful speed is (roughly) +35.
Invisibility:
You can become partially invisible; the greater your invisibility rating,
the more likely it is that most monsters will move about randomly instead of
attacking you. This is true especially if you stay quiet and do not aggravate
them. Invisibility from equipment and temporary sources combine, and characters
in and surrounded by pitch darkness are harder to see. Many monsters, however,
are hard to fool; the undead, invisible creatures, uniques, and hurt, nearby, or
wary monsters are especially watchful.
Disarming:
Increases your ability to disarm traps and chests and unlock doors.
Devices:
Certain amulets and gloves improve your chance of using magical devices and
activatable items. Note that they do not increase damage or enhance effects;
only increasing your Magical Device skill does that.
Save:
Improves your resistance to magic and various hindrance attacks.
Mana:
Increases your mana.
Light Radius:
Pushes your light radius outwards. Only the best light radius applies.
Weapon Attributes
Damage bonuses (only the best applies):
Slay Evil : +10 against evil
Slay Animal : +10 against animals (weapons of Slaughter Animal get +15)
Slay Orc : +10 against orcs and orc-like creatures
Slay Troll : +18 against trolls
Slay Giant : +18 against giants
Slay Undead : +18 against undead (weapons of Dispel Undead get +27)
Slay Demon : +18 against demons (weapons of Smite Demon get +27)
Slay Dragon : +18 against dragons
Brand Acid : +10 against everything not resistant to acid
Brand Elec : +14 against everything not resistant to electricity
Brand Fire : +14 against everything not resistant to fire
Brand Cold : +14 against everything not resistant to cold
Brand Pois : +14 against everything not resistant to poison
Impact : +14 against rocky creatures
Tunneling : +14 against rocky creatures (if bonus to tunneling >= 1)
Light : +14 against creatures susceptible to light
Kill Dragon : +27 against dragons
Brand Flame : +22 against everything not resistant to fire
Brand Venom : +22 against everything not resistant to poison
Blows:
Gives you extra melee blows.
Extra Shots:
Rare missile launchers may allow the player to shoot more quickly than
normal. Each shot takes a fraction of a turn, making your target appear to move
in slow motion. Those skilled with bows and slings get innate extra shots.
The amount of time you take to fire a shot is 200 / shots. The value for
shots is usually 2, so a shot normally takes 100 energy (one turn).
Extra Might:
Rare missile launchers have a greater than normal missile damage
multiplier. For example, a "Sling of Extra Might (x3)" multiplies damage, not
by two like lesser slings, but by three. The true missile weapon multiplier is
never known for sure until the object is identified.
Throwing:
A number of weapons can be thrown effectively; you can determine which ones
by 'I'nspecting them. Such weapons get various bonuses when thrown, but
eventually break if used in melee.
Perfect Balance:
Some weapons can be thrown with unusual force, adding 50% to the amount of
damage done (before any slay/brand bonuses) should it hit.
Vorpal (Concussive):
Vorpal (or Concussive) weapons get lots of critical hits, and reduce the
effect of monster resistances.
Blessed:
Blessed weapons may be used by pious characters without penalty.
Impact:
Weapons of impact do +14 damage to rocky creatures and will often force
opponents back.
Tunneling:
Weapons that grant a bonus (at least +1) to tunneling do +14 damage to
rocky creatures.
Light:
Weapons of permanent light do +14 damage to creatures susceptible to light.
Two-handed Wield Required:
Glaives, Halberds, Quarterstaff, and all digging tools require two hands to
wield.
Two-handed Wield Desired:
A fair number of large, powerful weapons must be wielded in two hands
unless the player has amazing strength (normally around 18/130 - 18/160,
depending on weapon weight).
Immunities
If you should ever be fortunate enough to find a piece of equipment that
grants immunity to an element, you will take no damage from that element. Be
warned that immunity does not extend to your backpack; the stuff you are
carrying in inventory can still be destroyed on rare occasions.
Immunity to Acid:
You take no damage from acid. Worn items will not be affected by acid.
Staffs, missiles, weapons, armor, and scrolls in your backpack become highly
resistant to destruction.
Immunity to Electricity:
You take no damage from electricity. Rings, wands, and rods in your
backpack become highly resistant to destruction.
Immunity to Cold:
You take no damage from cold. Potions in your backpack become highly
resistant to destruction.
Immunity to Fire:
You take no damage from fire. Spellbooks, scrolls, staffs, and burnable
weapons, missiles, and armor in your backpack become highly resistant to
destruction.
Resistances
Resistances from equipment cannot be combined; you either have it or you
don't.
Resist Acid:
You take one-thirds damage from acid. Staffs, missiles, weapons, armor,
and scrolls in your backpack become a little more resistant to destruction.
Your equipment is attacked by acid half as often.
Resist Electricity:
You take one-thirds damage from electricity. Rings, wands, and rods in
your backpack become a little more resistant to destruction.
Resist Cold:
You take one thirds damage from cold. Potions in your backpack become a
little more resistant to destruction.
Resist Fire:
You take one-thirds damage from fire. Spellbooks, scrolls, staffs, and
burnable weapons, missiles, and armor in your backpack become a little more
resistant to destruction.
Resist Poison:
You take one thirds damage from poison.
Resist Light:
The damage you take from light is reduced. You cannot be blinded by bright
light.
Resist Darkness:
The damage you take from darkness is reduced. You cannot be blinded by
darkness.
Resist Sound:
The damage you take from sound is reduced. You cannot be stunned by sound
or by a few other kinds of distance attacks.
Resist Shards:
The damage you take from blasts of shards is reduced. You cannot be cut by
shards.
Resist Nexus:
The damage you take from nexus attacks is reduced. You cannot be randomly
teleported or altered by nexus, and will sometimes resist being warped around by
gravity.
Resist Nether:
The damage you take from nether is reduced. You cannot lose experience to
nether.
Resist Chaos:
The damage you take from chaos is reduced, and you are immune to all the
nasty things chaos can do to you. This resistance does not make you resistant
to confusion.
Resist Disenchantment:
Rarest of all the resistances, this reduces damage from disenchantment
attacks and renders your equipment immune to disenchantment.
Ignore acid, electricity, fire, and cold:
Some objects cannot be damaged or destroyed by elemental attacks.
Survival Attributes
Resist Fear:
Renders you fearless.
Resist Blindness:
Protects you from being blinded.
Resist Confusion:
Makes you incapable of being confused. Also reduces damage from blasts of
confusion.
Character Qualities
Slow Digestion:
Reduces your need to consume food.
Feather Fall:
Renders pit traps and trap doors harmless, makes walking on lava a bit less
dangerous, and reduces some effects of gravity and wind attacks.
Light:
Some weapons and helms shine with inner light. Wearing any number of such
objects will increase your illumination radius by one.
Regeneration:
Players who regenerate recover hitpoints twice as quickly as normal, and
mana 3/2rds as quickly. They also need to eat more.
Telepathy (ESP):
It is not easy to acquire this, but players who do can see intelligent
monsters nearby. Mindless monsters never appear, and semi-intelligent monsters
only appear occasionally.
See Invisible:
Allows you to see and target monsters invisible to ordinary sight.
Free Action:
Protects you from paralyzation and most slowing attacks. Because
paralyzation can instantly kill you, keep an eye out for this important survival
aid.
Hold Life:
Offers a high degree of protection from attacks (but not items) that lower
skills.
No Fuel:
Some light sources shine eternally.
Curses and other Nastiness
Soulsteal:
Some weapons need to be fed with the blood of your foes. If they hunger,
and you do not feed them, they will suck away your lifeforce.
No Magic:
A few objects are so unmagical that you cannot cast spells while using
them.
Random Teleportation:
Some foul rings, amulets, and boots randomly take control of your movement
and whisk you around the dungeon.
Aggravate:
Aggravation effectively reduces your stealth to nil, immediately waking up
all monsters nearby. Some rings and amulets possess curses that aggravate, and
some weapons and armors are so powerful that no creature can ignore them.
Drain Exp:
Objects that drain experience are perilous, because they slowly but surely
erase your accumulated memories. Of course, you can keep killing monsters to
replace the experience which you lose.
Hidden Curse:
Certain rare weapons and armor bear foul magics so well concealed that
they only reveal themselves when you wear the item. When activated, a hidden
curse hideously transforms the object into something quite dangerous.
Light (ordinary) Curse:
Many wearable objects have light curses. A scroll of Remove Curse will
purge all ordinary curses from equipped items.
Heavy Curse:
The curses on some objects are less easy to remove. If a ordinary scroll
of Remove Cure fails, find and read one of *Remove Curse*.
Permanent Curse:
There is a great and terrible Ring, seen by perhaps one character in ten
thousand, that can never be removed once put on.
Combat and Magic
(return)
Without using magic, you may attack monsters in hand-to-hand (melee)
combat, by using missile weapons, or by throwing objects at them.
Quick Review (any kind of weapon)
1) Sabre (1d7)
1 die rolling 7. The average damage of a die with 7 sides is 4.
(seven plus one, divided by two, is four).
2) Gets a critical hit (an average critical hit might add two extra dice).
3 dice rolling 7, each with an average value of 4.
3) If you get special damage multipliers (from, say, your missile launcher),
apply to the average value of the damage dice you roll.
4) Roll three dice, each with an average of 4, to get an average damage of 12.
5) Player has a Deadliness value shown on his character screen of 50%.
12 + 50% bonus --> 12 + 6 --> average damage of 18.
6) Finally, the special bonus for troll slaying weapons against trolls is added.
18 + 16 bonus --> average damage of 34.
Missile and throwing weapons work exactly the same way, except that the
first benefit from a launcher multiplier and the second from a special thrown
weapons multiplier.
Melee (weapons)
Number of Blows:
On the left side of your character screen is displayed the number of blows
you can get per turn. If your weapon is too heavy for you to wield properly,
you get one blow. Otherwise, you get between two and six blows, depending
solely on weapon weight, Dexterity, and Strength. It is possible for items to
give you extra blows.
Your Weapon:
All weapons have damage dice displayed after their name (1d4, 2d5, etc.);
they are its single most important attribute, the expression of what is like to
wield in battle.
Edged weapons, pole-mounted weapons, and blunt weapons each use a separate
skill. You may 'I'nspect the weapon to learn what skill it uses.
Combat Skill:
You need to have enough Skill to hit monsters regularly; do what it takes
to keep it high. All equipped items - other than your missile launcher and
ammunition - can affect your melee Skill. Many other factors can make you
better or worse in combat, but the display on your character screen tracks
almost all of them.
Critical Hits:
Your total combat Skill not only allows you to even hit a monster, but also
determines how often you get critical hits. Critical hits are vital for any
serious fighter using any weapon, especially ones rolling few dice. You know
you just got a critical hit when you get any combat message other than "you hit
the {monster name}".
In melee, critical hits add between two and five dice; in archery or when
using throwing weapons, they add between one and three.
Deadliness:
Deadliness acts as a percentage bonus to damage. You may inspect your
current bonus on the character screen. High-level characters may have bonuses
of 200% displayed on their character screens, and therefore triple the damage
they do with the Deadliness multiplier alone. All equipped items can affect
your Deadliness.
Brands and Slays:
Some remarkable weapons do extra damage to various kinds of monsters; a
Dagger of Fire, for instance, would do extra damage to creatures not immune to
fire. Slays, in contrast, do extra damage to particular monster races, so wield
that Mace of Orc Slaying if you come upon any orcs. Only the best applicable
quality is used; they do not combine.
Bonuses from slays and brands are applied after all other damage
adjustments, except monster resistances. Being more skilled with the weapon you
wield increases the effect of the brand.
Melee (unarmed)
Unarmed Combat:
The unarmed combat methods, Karate and Wrestling, are known as martial
arts. When using a martial art, you gain additional blows as you increase
your skill in the martial art.
They are effective against almost all sorts of monsters, are relatively
inexpensive to learn, and really come into their own against monsters that seem
to resist everything. But be warned! You need to be blessed (Scrolls of
Blessing work) to do damage to non-material beings, and touching certain kinds
of monsters can be quite painful...
You can get (temporary) slays and brands with martial arts, or you can use
the brand offered by some rare gauntlets. You can also get critical hits on
occasion, especially if you have skill in Piety, Blood Dominion, or Nature Lore,
or get vorpal blows or sneak attacks. Bonuses (and penalties) to Skill from
non-weapon equipment count when using martial arts, but bonuses to Deadliness do
not.
Damage Display:
The melee section of your character screen changes when you use a martial
art. Instead of displaying Skill and Deadliness, it shows the approximate
average damage you did with your last ten or twenty hits. If your skill,
strength, or dexterity change significantly, you have to engage in combat to get
more accurate figures.
The Martial Arts:
Wrestling depends on your skill and strength. Raise both high enough, and
you can do a large amount of pure damage. Wrestlers can often throw or tackle
their foes, robbing them of energy (and thus effectively slowing them down).
Karate depends on skill, dexterity, and (to a lesser degree) strength.
While it doesn't do as much direct damage as wrestling, no other combat method
can hinder your foes quite as much. Given enough skill, you can stun, slow, or
confuse your foes - and a hindered monster may soon enough be a dead one.
Special abilities:
Most scrolls, potions, spells, or talents that grant extra powers or
abilities to melee are fully effective when used with martial arts.
Shooting
Ranged fire with missile launchers is a non-magical method of doing damage
at a safe distance.
Setting up to Shoot:
Slings shoot shots and seeker shots, bows shoot arrows and seeker arrows,
and crossbows shoot bolts and seeker bolts. Simply equip the weapon and keep
plenty of ammunition to hand.
The Quiver Slots:
Ammo is best kept in special quiver slots. You may "wield" up to ten
different piles of ammo, then fire them just as you would those in the backpack.
Ammo in the quiver will use space in your backpack.
Shooting:
You shoot at a monster by typing 'f' (or 't' in the rogue-like command
set), then selecting a missile you would like to fire. This activates the
targeting interface described in the section on commands.
Number of Shots:
On the right side of your character screen is displayed the number of shots
you can get per turn. The number of shots depends on skill, plus any bonus
shots that the weapon provides. Extra shots are not fired all at once; instead,
each shot takes less time, making monsters appear to move in slow motion.
Your Launcher:
All launchers have a multiplier to damage: for example, a Longbow (x3)
would multiply the normal damage of the ammo it fires by three. This multiplier
is applied before the brand/slay bonus and after everything else.
Brands and Slays:
Ammunition occasionally possesses the same kinds of slays and brands found
on melee weapons. Missile launchers are also capable of imparting slays and
brands.
Throwing
Throwing objects requires less skill than using missile weapons, and can be
an important combat method. For novice adventurers, throwing flasks of oil and
boulders can be a life-saver, and there are rumours of objects deep in the
dungeon that can do large amounts of damage when thrown. All objects have
damage dice, but most do not display them. If you think an object should do
nasty things to your foes, it's certainly worth trying to throw it at them, just
to see if anything happens.
Getting ready to throw:
To throw an object, you use the 'v' command and select any item in your
backpack, on your person, or on the floor. This activates the targeting
interface described in the section on commands.
Number of throws:
You may never throw more than one item per turn.
Hitting more often:
Get close to what you're aiming at, especially when your skill is
relatively low. Improve your throwing skill, and wear things (rings, for
example) that increase your overall combat Skill.
Special throwing weapons:
A boulder with damage dice of 10d9 does an average of 50 damage. It gets
no Deadliness bonuses from equipment, no slays or brands, and cannot get
critical hits.
However, special throwing weapons (weapons like throwing knives and
javelins that are designed for throwing), get the following advantages:
- They benefit from all Deadliness bonuses other than those granted by your
melee and missile weapons.
- They may have slays or brands.
- They not infrequently get critical hits.
- They get a special damage multiplier. This ranges from 2 to 10, depending
on throwing skill and whether you are a specialist spellcaster, a specialist
warrior, or anyone else. Perfectly balanced weapons (marked "well-balanced")
increase this multiplier by 50%.
- They seldom break when thrown (just be careful not to use them in melee).
Potions:
Another way to make good use of a high throwing skill is to hurl potions at
your foes. The damage they do (or the power they have) depends on potion type
and your throwing skill.
Getting good at combat
Non-magical combat can be very powerful, but only if you work at it. You
increase the damage you do by:
1) Raising your base damage dice. Increasing the number of dice both adds
damage and makes the attack more reliable (because the damage done is more
likely to be close to the average). Increasing dice sides adds damage without
affecting reliability.
2) Increasing your total combat Skill. This may mean
- increasing your melee or missile skills,
- getting better plusses to Skill from equipment,
- wielding a lighter weapon,
- choosing a weapon that your race prefers, or
- using spells and objects that temporarily enhance your abilities.
This last can make all the difference when fighting tough monsters.
3) Getting more critical hits. Critical hits are important; the fewer base dice
your weapon or ammo has, the more important they are. It is possible to double
the average damage you do with critical hits alone. You can get more criticals
by:
- raising your total Skill,
- attacking sleeping monsters (especially if you are sneaking),
- increasing your piety, nature lore, or blood dominion skills, or
- wielding vorpal weapons.
4) Increasing your Deadliness. Deadliness may not seem powerful at first, but
it can eventually triple the damage you do on every blow. Once you get your
base damage and critical hits up high enough, Deadliness can make you
formidable.
5) Having the right slay or brand for the job. If you're serious about melee,
have more than one weapon on hand. Also, watch out for monsters that resist
either edged or blunt weapons (virtually no monster resists both).
6) Taking the Oath of Iron. The advantages include:
- better bonuses to missile weapon multiplier and shooting speed.
- better thrown weapon multiplier.
- better critical hit bonuses from piety, nature lore, and blood dominion.
- better wrestling and karate damage.
- heavy weapons are much easier to handle.
- no limits to combat-related skill increases.
Winning "unwinnable" fights
Some monsters are simply too tough to just clobber; fortunately, there are
scrolls, potions, mushrooms, and magical devices that can turn a losing battle
into a major victory. If your enemies seem too tough to kill now, maybe they
won't be after you've enhanced yourself, hindered them, and chosen the right
battlefield.
Details
Monster Susceptibilities:
- Susceptible to fire
Bonus to damage of fire brand is increased by 50%.
- Susceptible to cold
Bonus to damage of frost brand is increased by 50%.
Monster Resistances:
- Resistant to edged weapons (common to rocky, bony, and metallic monsters)
Swords, polearms, arrows, and bolts do no damage on almost 2/3rds of hits.
- Almost immune to edged weapons (common to rocky and metallic monsters)
Swords, polearms, arrows, and bolts do no damage on about 5/6ths of hits.
- Resistant to blunt weapons (common among incorporeal beings)
Hafted weapons and sling shots do no damage on almost 2/3rds of hits.
- Almost immune to blunt weapons (common among incorporeal beings)
Hafted weapons and sling shots do no damage on about 5/6ths of hits.
Vorpal/piercing and concussive weapons reduce the effect of the above monster
resistances.
Noise-making:
Combat is noisy. The stealthier your are, and the higher your burglary
skill, the less extra noise you make.
Wielding two weapons:
You can wield two weapons of the same type (edged, blunt, or pole-mounted
weapons), as long as both require only one hand to wield and, together, they are
relatively light (depends on your strength). When wielding two weapons, your
total Skill drops significantly (depending on total weapon weight).
If you wield two weapons, you get one chance to hit with each weapon. For
each blow, you first attempt to hit with your primary weapon (the one held in
your sword arm) and, if that misses, your secondary weapon. If one weapon runs
out of blows, you continue with the other until it, too, has expended them all.
Your total number of blows does not increase. Your digging ability is the
better of that granted by either weapon.
Wielding two weapons is particularly helpful against evasive creatures, and
against those who resist edged or blunt weapons.
Special shield bonuses:
Most melee weapons fit comfortably in one hand, keeping your shield arm
free. If you have a shield on your arm, you can automatically take advantage of
opportunities to bash, gain a significant amount of standard protection (shields
have a high base armor class), and sometimes even deflect non-magical missiles
or partially protect against shards.
Shield bashes:
When fighting hand-to-hand, you will occasionally get in a shield bash if
you are wearing a shield on your arm. The frequency of shield bashes depends on
dexterity, melee combat skill, and the level of monster you are fighting.
Characters with no magic realm get in more shield bashes, as will those who do
little damage in melee otherwise. The effectiveness of shield bashes depends
mostly on shield size and weight, with a bonus for strength. When you bash a
monster, you will inflict damage, and possibly stunning or even confusion. You
may also stumble, and lose normal melee blows.
Two-handed weapons:
Some weapons require two hands (but many of these can be wielded in one
hand by very strong players). Any shield worn is transferred to your back.
This negates base armor protection and removes the special shield abilities
described above, but has no effect on magical protection, resistances, or other
attributes.
Ranged fire inaccuracy:
Distance from the target has a significant effect on the accuracy of ranged
fire and throwing. You may need to get quite close to hit tough monsters,
especially if your skill is relatively low. Inaccuracy and obstructions can
make aiming into diagonal slits (and in some cases around multiple sharp
corners) very difficult. Firing out of a slit yourself, however, is
advantageous.
Special Notes:
In order to attack a creature that you can't see in a wall or door, you
must issue the Tunnel or alter adjacent grid command.
(return)
Various special burglary actions can be used by typing the '+' (alter) key,
and then moving towards a monster (to steal), a passable grid (to set a trap),
or a door (to lock it). Burglars cannot use most of these abilities when
shapeshifted.
Stealing (requires a skill of 4):
All monsters that yield items or gold when killed may also be a source of
similar loot to thieves. The most lucrative targets are those monsters that
drop good or even excellent treasure, but they tend also to be unusually
difficult to steal from. Increasing your Burglary skill, choosing sleeping
monsters, moving in darkness, becoming more dextrous, and finding ways to become
invisible will all improve your chances. Stealing soon after your previous
attempt, stealing from thieves, or from wary monsters will all reduce your
chances.
There are few things more satisfying than making off with some arrogant
wizard's hat. But theft is not all fun and games. Every time you steal, the
monsters get warier. Steal too often in a short period of time, and you may
very quickly get hunted down.
Locking doors (requires a skill of 7):
Burglars may lock closed doors; locking a door makes it more difficult for
monsters to open. The power of the lock increases with skill.
Monster Traps
Trap-setting (requires a skill of 10):
Of all the many things that only burglars can do, setting traps is the most
important. Depending on your burglary skill, you may have between one and six
traps active at any one time. It takes three turns to set up a trap (this is
normally automatic but, if disturbed, you'll have to issue the command a few
times).
You then load the trap with one or more objects by typing '+', and moving
towards an existing monster trap. Traps may be loaded with melee weapons,
missile weapons, potions, scrolls, wands, staffs, rods, or anything that can be
thrown. You can only load the trap with one kind of object; the two exceptions
to this are that you need to supply a missile weapon with suitable ammunition,
and that you can pack in boulders to your heart's content.
The damage traps do depends on your burglary skill and on the objects you
use. A skilled burglar can make traps which use magical devices that he cannot
understand, wield weapons that he cannot lift, and fire missiles with deadly
accuracy regardless of combat skill.
Monsters and Traps:
A trap is like getting a free chance to do damage without being in harm's
way. The damage of most items other than scrolls and ordinary thrown objects
varies depending on burglary skill.
Whenever a monster enters the grid containing the trap, several things can
happen. Firstly, ghosts and evasive monsters get a (large) chance to ignore the
trap entirely. Secondly, smart monsters get a chance to disarm the trap, and
all non-ghostly monsters get a chance to smash it. If the trap is neither
avoided nor destroyed, it goes off. Monsters become wary of traps if they see
one activate; you are well advised to place them in the darkness.
A single non-perfectly balanced weapon will get melee blows, a missile
launcher will fire one or more shots, a potion will smash, a scroll will be
read, a charged wand, staff, or rod will activate, and anything else will be
thrown.
Most weapon attributes (Skill, Deadliness, multipliers, slays, brands, and
number of blows or shots, but not critical hits) are treated much as they are in
normal combat. Traps are great ways to use powerful weapons that you have no
training for; a Mace of Burning can do real damage!
Burglars and Combat
Light Weapons, Sneak Attacks, and Backstabs:
Burglars are better with light weapons than anyone else. With them, they
can get quite significant bonuses to combat Skill. Conversely, their penalty
for heavy weapons goes up with skill until it is twice the normal amount.
Martial arts are unaffected. Your character screen display takes all of this
into account.
Burglars get extra bonuses against sleeping monsters. If they go into
sneaking mode and melee a sleeping monster, they may sometimes be able to land
sneak attacks, which act as unusually powerful critical hits. Note: You cannot
sneak-attack a monster, then use a wand of sleep monster on it, then sneak
attack it again.
Burglars can also backstab fleeing opponents (this acts as a general
increase to hit chance).
Sneaking in the Dark
Most characters have trouble exploring in the dark, as they need light to
find objects, see monsters, and know where the walls are before bumping into
them. However, alternative solutions exist to all of these problems. If you
raise your Burglary, Perception, and Stealth skills high enough to get access to
the "Detect and Nab Objects", "Sense Area", and "Sneaking" talents, and your
Disarming skill higher than the current dungeon level, your only remaining
problem will be monsters. While no certain method is available for spotting
monsters without light, characters with good Perception and Stealth skills can
"sense" and "hear" most of the monsters in a totally darkened room. Guild-
Burglars have an advantage here.
Although sneaking in the dark can be very dangerous (you can't read a
scroll of Teleport, for example), a character skilled at Stealth becomes much
quieter, and a character skilled in Burglary is more deadly in combat, better at
theft, and a much better dodger, especially if he is both in and surrounded by
darkness. All characters take only 2/3rds damage from magic and missiles if in
and surrounded by darkness.
(return)
Healing:
If your hitpoints drop below zero, you die. Always have something to
quickly restore them.
Escaping:
A trapped adventurer is a dead adventurer. Always have a way to get out of
trouble.
Detecting:
The best defence is being prepared. Know your enemies, and know where they
are.
Defending against pure damage:
Your armor class (AC) reduces the chance that most kinds of melee attacks
(except gazing and stealing) will hit you. It reduces the pure damage inflicted
by most melee attacks (acid, electricity, fire, frost, and poison attacks being
the exceptions), and makes it less likely that they will stun or cut you. It
also protects against shots, arrows, bolts, boulders, missiles, and certain
kinds of traps, but not against magic.
Each piece of armor has a base AC value and possibly also a magical bonus.
Add the two together, and you have the total protective value of the item. For
example, a Chain Mail (-3) [14, +6] increases your AC by 20. Note the "(-3)".
It is a (small) penalty to melee Skill; heavy armor restricts your movement
slightly.
Special note: shields worn on the back have a base AC value of zero.
Cuts, poison, and stunning:
Many monsters can inflict special kinds of physical damage on you, such as
opening wounds, poisoning, or stunning. After you start earning a little money,
plow some of it back into potions or mushrooms of cure wounds, and keep them
handy at all times. If a monster manages to heavily stun you, get away fast!
Character-hindrance:
There are many monsters capable of casting spells to blind, confuse, slow,
and paralyze you, plus quite a few other nasty tricks not mentioned here. Free
Action eventually becomes critical to your survival and you should keep stuff
that fixes blindness and confusion on hand. Your Saving Throw protects against
these and other attacks.
Elemental and magical attacks:
Acid, Electricity, Fire, and Cold are the basic elements; many monsters use
them. Because the maximum damage they can do to you is very high, becoming
resistant is important. Unlike with other attack types, you can resist, double
resist, and be immune to the elements. Double resistance is the combination of
a permanent resistance (from equipment) and a temporary one (from a spell).
Temporary resistances are also known as oppositions. Immunity to any of the
elements is hard to get.
Poison is deadly and not so easy to resist. You can double-resist (resist
and oppose) poison.
There are many kinds of magical attacks; most can be resisted, some can
not. Those capable of doing the most damage are darkness, chaos, and nether.
For more detail, see the section on object attributes.
Reductions of Experience and Stats:
Even when your character is starting out, there are rare traps and monsters
capable of lowering his stats and attacking his skills. In addition, a strong,
unresisted elemental attack can occasionally lower a stat. Slowly, these
dangers increase until it becomes very important that you find objects that
provide hold life and sustain at least your critical stats.
Theft:
Nobody is more annoying than a thief. You've just found that cool
spellbook or nifty weapon and now it's gone. You can gain a significant degree
of protection from theft by increasing your dodging skill and your dexterity,
and can always collect your stuff from the thief's corpse. Unfortunately,
thieves are smart enough to stash away the money they take from you.
Rumours:
It is rumoured that certain undead possess a very deadly touch...
The same rumours whisper that Athelas has remarkable curative properties...
(return)
The Four Realms of Magic
Wizardry:
Wizardry is the magic of power: the power of the elements, of chaos and
confusion, of nexus and planar travel, and of pure mana. Wizards can befuddle
their enemies, vanish into thin air, and wield all sorts of esoteric powers.
Wizardry can be tricky to use, however; miscast spells can unleash all sorts of
wild magic.
Special realm skill: Wizardry
Piety:
Piety is the channeling of divine force; those allied to Heaven have
extraordinary powers to heal and Judge. They wield light against the darkness
of evil, the darkness of ignorance, the darkness of the hidden and unknown. The
pious can dispel and banish, wield holy fire, and expose the very minds of their
enemies to the untrammeled might of God.
Pious characters can only wield blunt (hafted) and blessed melee weapons
effectively. If they chose to wield any other kind of weapon, they get a
penalty to melee skill, a reduced light radius, and their prayers are more
likely to fail.
Special realm skill: Holy Alliance
Druidic Lore:
Druids and druids alone understand the lore of nature; the earth, the sea,
and the sky are at their beck and call. They wield the elements like no other
magic-user can, and alter the weather itself to enhance their powers. Druids
may shapeshift into many marvelous forms, wither their foes, and have powers to
heal and recover second only to the pious.
Special realm skill: Nature Lore
See the sections on weather and shapeshifting below.
Necromancy:
Black hexes and red blood, foul rituals: dread, terrible necromancy.
Users of the Dark Arts wield night, nether, life-draining and dispelling, pure
mana, poison, and mental powers to crush all who stand against them, and can
ritually enhance their powers to achieve horrific strength. Great in power
although necromancy is, it can be very dangerous when cast incautiously. A
necromancer is well advised to pay attention to his saving throw.
Special realm skill: Blood Dominion
See the section on shapeshifting below.
Spellcasting
The magics of the major realms are found in books, seven for each realm.
Three are readily available in stores, the other four are harder to find.
Getting spell information:
You may browse books of your realm. When browsing, you may get more
information about individual spells that are not too high-level by pressing
their letter. Spells that you have cast successfully will display any power or
damage information. This information usually updates to reflect temporary
conditions (weather being the major exception), so you get up-to-date
information on the approximate current power of your spells.
Be aware that the true usefulness of some spells only becomes apparent with
much experimentation.
Gaining new spells:
You do not need to learn new spells. You may cast any available spell.
Casting spells:
You may cast any learnt spell that has a spell level less than or equal to
your Spellcasting skill.
You cast spells by typing 'm' or 'p', choosing a spellbook, and then a
spell. If you don't have enough mana to cast that spell, the failure chance is
increased, you may lose a point of constitution, and you may faint dead away
(especially if you didn't have nearly enough mana). Having chosen a spell, you
then try to cast it. Failing means that priests and druids just lose their turn
(and their mana), but wizards may unleash wild magic and necromancers get
attacked by the dark forces they failed to bind.
Mana:
Your mana depends on your magic power skill and your spell stat. All
spellcasters lose a percentage (not a fixed amount) of mana for wearing heavy
armor; specialist spellcasters are most affected. You can reduce this penalty
by increasing your dodging skill.
Spell failure chance:
Your spell failure chance depends on the spell itself (some spells are
inherently hard to cast), the minimum skill required to cast the spell, your
spell stat, and your special magic-user skill. Your special magic-user skill
also has an important effect on the reliability of many spells.
Those using wizardry or necromancy suffer if they wear gloves that do not
provide free action, increase dexterity, or enhance magic mastery skill.
Priests suffer likewise if they wield an unblessed edged weapon. Stunning
(especially if heavy), fear, and lack of mana all make magic harder to use.
Priests and Necromancers can cast spells in the dark, though both suffer
an increase in spell failure. Priestly spells will decrease in potency, and
necromatic spells will increase in potency.
Weather:
The knowledge of weather is an art, not a science. However, it is believed
that values for wind, temperature, and humidity are generally near average with
only occasional extremes. It is also rumoured that each of these three
components of weather affect two kinds of druidic magic; one benefits from low
values, another benefits from high ones. In contrast, attempting to use
techniques in unfavorable weather works poorly, if at all.
Druids have a talent that allows them to forecast the weather. Weather
forecasting becomes more accurate with Nature Lore skill, and less accurate as
you travel further below the surface.
Shapeshifting:
There are two kinds of shapechanges. Druids (and necromancers) can take on
the form of various creatures for as long as they like. Certain other magics
and elixirs can also change your shape, but their effects last only for a short
time.
In all cases, you can return to your normal form by typing ']'. You lose a
third of your mana whenever not in your normal form, and your magical device
skill usually drops, but you often gain some infravision. Various effects can
be checked by using the Character screen.
Goat : Slow digestion, can eat almost anything safely.
Bear : Hard hitter, tough and strong.
Mouse : Weak, but incredibly stealthy. Never aggravates. Perceptive.
Hound : Telepathy.
Cheetah : Fast and dexterous but not very strong.
Lion : No fear, excellent bare-clawed fighter.
Dragon : Good fighter, bonuses to various stats. Can breath using essences.
Ent : Strong, wise, resist poison and cold, free action, see invis, great
at tunneling. Cannot have feather fall, cannot be immune to or
resist fire, lousy dexterity.
Troll : Extreme regeneration and toughness. Dumb. No feather fall.
Bat : Fast but weak. Infravision, feather fall, and resist blindness.
Lich : Fast, invisible, strong versus cold, poison, but hit hard by fire.
Vampire : Strong, smart, fast, with a safe lifeforce.
Extra damage from light, less from dark.
Werewolf: Strong, hale, and fearless. Good bare-clawed fighter.
Serpent : Strong, stealthy, and great at wrestling.
Angel : Wise and strong and imbued with light.
Golem : Strong against magic, but blocked from it.
Eagle : Swift and silent, but weak of attack.
Fire Vortex: Wreathed in fire, and protected from it.
Getting Good at Magic
1) Take a spellcaster's Oath to tap the full power of a realm. You take an
Oath by selecting the special realm skill in the skills screen, and typing '*'.
2) Use the right magic for the monster. Most combat spells are resisted by
some monster races; some actually do extra damage against certain foes.
3) Use spells in the right tactical settings. Many magics only reveal their
true usefulness in particular environments; these often differ greatly from
those that may be familiar to you from other games of this type.
4) Be aware of special conditions. Druidic magic relies heavily on the
weather; if conditions are sufficiently adverse, natural magic just fizzles out.
Wizards, Priests, and Necromancers all also have magic that works best when cast
repeatedly, or when other spells are cast previously, or when a lot of light
exists nearby. The spell comments will mention such matters.
5) Test unfamiliar spells. All attack and hindrance magics are known to be
effective, but the best way to use them may not be easy to discover. In
general, the more random or resist-able the spell, the more powerful it can be
when used appropriately.
Spell Projection Types
The names of spells and magical devices sometimes give you information
about what areas they affect and what shapes they take.
"Bolt", "Missile"
Fires a magical bolt in a direction or at your chosen target. Are stopped
by the first monster or wall in their way; monsters in walls take full damage.
Some also "Beam" upon occasion.
"Beam", "Spear", "Lance", "Line", "Spark"
Fires a beam of magic in the direction you choose, or towards your target.
They are quite useful because they do full damage to every monster in a straight
line. Wands and Rods of Light work this way. A few beam spells ("spark") have
short ranges.
"Arc", "Cone", "Breath"
Fires an arc, centered in the direction of the target. These are
relatively short-range spells, because arcs lose energy as they expand.
Monsters in walls take no damage. All monster breaths are arcs.
"Ball", "Storm" (storms have a larger radius)
If you target a specific monster, such spells explode centered at that
location. Otherwise, they travel in the direction you choose, and explode as
soon they hit a monster or wall, or reach their maximum range. Monsters in
walls take no damage. These spells only do full damage to the single grid at
the center of the explosion, but can affect monsters that can't see you. Many
monster spells are balls.
"Orb", "Sphere"
Orbs are ball spells that do full damage to every grid they affect, and
usually have small explosions.
"Dispel", "Confuse/Slow/Frighten/etc. Monsters"
A fair number of spells affect all monsters in line of sight (no walls,
rubble, or trees between you and them, up to a range of 20).
{various}
Ball spells that center on you do full damage to all adjacent grids. Ball
spells can take the form of starburst explosions; they do full damage to all
grids they affect, but are less likely to hit grids further away from the
center.
There are also many different kinds of special projections, such as walls
of fire, beam storms, seeking vortexes, lingering clouds, and so on.
Special notes:
Monsters that you cannot see take half damage from magic, for the same
reasons that make non-magical combat less effective against them. Monsters that
are only partially visible take two-thirds damage from magic.
Hindering your foes
If it looks too tough to kill, perhaps you can knock it down a bit. There
are few monsters that cannot be hindered in some way if you work hard enough at
it.
Sleep:
Sleeping monsters can't hurt you - until they wake up again.
Slow:
If you can slow a monster, you are well on the way to killing it.
Slowed monsters eventually return to normal speed.
Stun:
Bashing, strong electrical attacks, and some other things can stun
monsters, reducing their spellcasting and melee ability.
Confuse:
Monsters may be confused by bright light (blinding), confusion attacks,
or spells of confuse monster. They move randomly about and cannot cast
any spells until the effects wear off.
Fear:
Most monsters can be frightened. Those that are will attempt to teleport
away (if they have such a spell) or run. Monsters slower than you will
charge and go down fighting if nearby.
Mana:
Wait for the monster to run out of mana; most monsters have a limited
amount of mana. It may take a long time for them to run out, but once
they do, they'll need a while to recover. Be aware that some monsters
can magically recover mana.
Magical Devices
Wands, staffs, and rods are an important part of many adventurers'
arsenals, and some specialize in their use. In addition to these items, certain
rare rings and amulets can be 'A'ctivated and there are rumours of weapons and
armor with extraordinary powers.
If you depend on magical devices much, it is important to have a high
enough magical device skill. This applies especially to magical devices that
hinder monsters.
Getting exact damage information:
If you use magical devices often enough, you will eventually get the
message "you feel you know more about...". 'I'nspect the object, and you may
very well see extra numerical information about damage, etc. This takes a lot
of the guesswork out of using staffs, wands, and rods to fight your battles.
Recharging:
Wands and staffs have to be recharged every so often. The failure rate of
recharging depends on item type (wands are more fragile than staffs), item
level, your magical device skill, and the power of the recharging spell you are
using. A high magical device skill makes magical recharging much safer.
Interacting with the Game
(return)
This game supports two different command sets: Original and Roguelike.
The original keyset takes advantage of the number pad and frees up more space
for macros on a regular keyboard. If you lack a numberpad, however, the
roguelike keyset is likely to be the better choice.
Original keyset
Walk 7 8 9 Run 7 8 9 Alter 7 8 9
4 6 Shift + 4 6 Ctrl + 4 6
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
a Aim a wand A Activate an artifact
b Browse a book B Bash a door or Yell
c Close a door C Character description
d Drop an item D Disarm a trap/Desanctify a glyph
e Equipment list E Eat some food
f Fire an item F Fuel your lantern/torch
g Get objects on floor G (unused)
h (unused) H (unused)
i Inventory list I Inspect an item
j Jam a door J (unused)
k Destroy an item K (unused)
l Look around L Locate player on map
m Cast a spell or pray a prayer M Full dungeon map
n Repeat last command N (unused)
o Open a door or chest O (unused)
p Perform a combat talent P (unused)
q Quaff a potion Q Save and quit (or retire)
r Read a scroll R Rest for a period
s Search for traps/doors S Start/stop sneaking
t Take off equipment T Dig a tunnel
u Use a staff U (unused)
v Throw an item V Version info
w Wear/wield equipment W (unused)
x (unused) X (unused - switch weapon macro)
y (unused) Y (unused)
z Zap a rod Z (unused)
! Interact with system ^A (special - debug command)
@ Interact with macros ^B (unused)
# (unused) ^C (special - break)
$ Advance skills ^D (unused)
% Interact with visuals ^E Toggle choice window
^ (special - control key) ^F Repeat level feeling
& Interact with colors ^G (unused)
* Target monster or location ^H (unused)
( Light or douse a light source ^I (special - tab)
) Take a screen shot ^J (special - linefeed)
{ Inscribe an item ^K (unused)
} Uninscribe an item ^L (unused)
[ Use talents ^M (special - return)
] end shapechange ^N (unused)
- Walk (flip pickup) ^O (unused)
_ (unused) ^P Show previous messages
+ Alter grid ^Q Show quests
= Set options ^R Redraw the screen
; Walk (normal pickup) ^S Save and don't quit
: Take notes ^T (unused)
' (unused) ^U (unused)
" (unused) ^V Repeat last command
, Stay still for one turn ^W (special - wizard mode)
< Go up staircase ^X Save and quit
. Run ^Y (unused)
> Go down staircase ^Z (special - borg command)
\ (special - bypass keymap) | Change barehanded combat method
` (unused) ~ Check knowledge
/ Identify symbol ? Help
TAB Rest in place macro
F1 - F12 Unused (available for macros)
Print Screen Take a screenshot (in some ports)
Mouse commands (not available in all ports)
- left double-click: Look around
- right click: Display interface preferences (where available)
Roguelike keyset
Walk y k u Run y k u Alter y k u
h l Shift + h l Ctrl + h l
b j n b j n b j n
a Aim a rod A Activate an artifact
b (walk - south west) B (run - south west)
c Close a door C Character description
d Drop an item D Disarm a trap/Desanctify a glyph
e Equipment list E Eat some food
f Force (bash) a door or Yell F Fuel your lantern/torch
g Get object on floor G Gain new spells/prayers
h (walk - west) H (run - west)
i Inventory list I Inspect an item
j (walk - south) J (run - south)
k (walk - north) K (run - north)
l (walk - east) L (run - east)
m Cast a spell or pray a prayer M Full dungeon map
n (walk - south east) N (run - south east)
o Open a door or chest O (unused)
p Pray a prayer or cast a spell P Browse a book
q Quaff a potion Q Save and quit (or retire)
r Read a scroll R Rest for a period
s Search for traps/doors S Jam a door (Spike)
t Fire an item T Take off equipment
u (walk - north east) U (run - north east)
v Throw an item V Version info
w Wear/wield equipment W Locate player on map (Where)
x Examine area X (unused - switch weapon macro)
y (walk - north west) Y (run - north west)
z Zap a wand Z Zap (use) a staff
! Interact with system ^A (special - debug command)
@ Interact with macros ^B (alter - south west)
# Start/stop sneaking ^C (special - break)
$ Advance skills ^D Destroy item
% Interact with visuals ^E Toggle choice window
^ (special - control key) ^F Repeat level feeling
& Interact with colors ^G (unused)
* Target monster or location ^H (alter - west)
( Light or douse a light source ^I (special - tab)
) Take a screen shot ^J (alter - south)
{ Inscribe an item ^K (alter - north)
} Uninscribe an item ^L (alter - east)
[ Use talents ^M (special - return)
] end shapechange ^N (alter - south east)
- Walk (flip pickup) ^O (unused)
_ (unused) ^P Show previous messages
+ Alter grid ^Q Show quests
= Set options ^R Redraw the screen
; Walk (normal pickup) ^S Save and don't quit
: Take notes ^T Dig a Tunnel
' Repeat last command ^U (alter - north east)
" (unused) ^V Repeat last command
, Run ^W (special - wizard mode)
< Go up staircase ^X Save and quit
. Stay still for one turn ^Y (alter - north west)
> Go down staircase ^Z (special - borg command)
\ (special - bypass keymap) | Change barehanded combat method
` (special - escape) ~ Check knowledge
/ Identify symbol ? Help
TAB Rest in place macro
F1 - F12 Unused (available for macros)
Print Screen Take a screenshot (in some ports)
Mouse commands (not available in all ports)
- left double-click: Look around
- right click: Display interface preferences (where available)
(return)
Canceling a Command:
Virtually all commands can be canceled at any point before execution by
hitting the ESC key.
Command Counts:
Any command that can be repeated, or that can manipulate more than one
object, can take a count. By default, most that do are automatically given a
count of 99. Although most commands that usually need a quantity will ask for
one, for other commands a quantity is only sometimes desired. Hence command
counts. For example, to tunnel into a wall exactly 50 times, you would type a
zero ("0"), then "50", followed by a return. Then use the tunnel command. All
commands that use quantities will stop if you are disturbed, accomplish your
intended task, hit any key, or when the count expires.
Doing More with Less Effort:
The section on making macros describes how to:
- quickly switch to a shovel or backup weapon,
- fire a missile or cast commonly used spells with a single keystroke,
- prevent accidental use of valuable equipment,
- and many other things
Interfaces:
See the "interfaces" section for more details about powerful and complex
commands.
(return)
Command names are followed by one or two characters: The first is that
used in the original keyset; the second, that used in the roguelike keyset (if
different).
Object commands
Inventory list (i) :
Display a list of objects in your backpack.
Equipment list (e) :
Display a list of objects you are currently wielding, wearing, carrying in
your quiver, or otherwise have immediately to hand.
Drop an item (d) :
Drop an item from your inventory or equipment onto the floor. If the grid
you are standing on has 20 objects already, or cannot hold objects, the object
will wind up nearby. This command takes half a turn.
Destroy an item (k) / (Ctrl-D) :
Destroy an object in your inventory or on the dungeon floor. If the
"verify destroy" option is ON, you must verify this command. This command takes
a full turn.
Wear/Wield equipment (w) :
Wear or wield an object in your inventory or from the floor. Since only
one object can be in each slot at a time, if you wear or wield an item into a
slot that is already occupied, the old item will first be taken off. If there
is no room in your inventory, it drops to the floor. This command takes a full
turn.
Take off equipment (t) / (T) :
Take off a (uncursed) piece of equipment and return it to your inventory.
If there is no room in your inventory for the item, your pack will overflow and
you will drop the item after taking it off. This command takes half a turn.
Switch primary and secondary weapon (X) :
Exchange whatever weapon you have wielded with the first weapon in your
inventory inscribed {@0} or {@w0}. This is very handy for swapping in and out
shovels. This command takes a full turn.
Movement Commands
Stay still -- with normal pickup (,) / (.) :
Stay in the same square for one move. If you normally pick up objects you
encounter, you will pick up whatever you are standing on. You may also use the
"5" key (both keysets). This command takes a full turn.
Walk -- with normal pickup (;) :
This command activates every time you press a direction key; it moves you
one step in the given direction. This command takes a full turn.
Walk -- flip pickup (-) :
Walk. If you normally pick things up, don't. Otherwise, do. This command
takes a full turn.
Run (.) / (,) :
This command is very useful for rapid dungeon exploration. It will move
you in the given direction, following any bends in the corridor, until you
either have to make a choice between two directions or are disturbed. Most
players run by holding down Shift and pressing a direction key.
Go up staircase (<) :
Ascends an up staircase. Going up a staircase will take you to a new
dungeon level unless you are at 50 feet (level 1), in which case you will return
to the town. This command takes a full turn.
Go down staircase (>) :
Descends a down staircase. Going down a staircase will take you to a new
dungeon level. This command takes a full turn.
Special Action Commands
Get objects (g) :
Pick up objects and gold on the floor beneath you. Picking up gold takes
no time, and objects take 1/10th of a normal turn each (maximum time cost is a
full turn). You may pick up objects until the floor is empty or your backpack
is full.
Rest (R) :
You recover from wounds twice as quickly by resting than by repeatedly
staying still. This command can be told to stop automatically after a certain
amount of time, or when various conditions are met. In either case, you always
wake up when anything disturbs you, or when you press any key.
After typing 'R', use "*" to rest until your hitpoints and mana are
restored, and "&" to rest until you are fully "healed". This command may accept
a command count (used for the number of turns to rest), and takes a full turn.
Easy rest (TAB) :
Actually a macro, this command automatically makes you rest until your HPs
and mana are restored or you are disturbed. It is included to cut down on wrist
stress and allow more effective waiting.
Search (s) :
Search for hidden traps, secret doors, and essences in nearby spaces. More
than a single turn of searching will be required in most cases. This command
can take a count, which is useful if you are confident of finding something
eventually, since the command stops as soon as anything is found. This command
takes a full turn.
Toggle sneaking mode (S) / (#) :
If you have a stealth skill of at least 10, allows you to start and stop
sneaking. See the talent "sneaking" for more details.
Dungeon and Object Alteration Commands
Tunnel (T) / (Ctrl-T) :
Dig through barriers, mine treasure found in wall seams, and otherwise
alter the dungeon to your liking. This command may take a count and requires a
full turn.
Open a door or chest (o) :
Open a door or chest. If locked, you will attempt to pick the lock based
on your disarming ability. If you open a trapped chest without disarming the
traps first, they will activate. Some doors will be jammed shut and may have to
be bashed open. This command takes a full turn.
You may set the "easy_open" option to open doors that you walk into.
Close a door (c) :
Close a door. Some monsters cannot open doors, so shutting them can be
quite useful. If a monster is in the way, you instead attempt to slam the door:
The monster gets a free turn, then you attempt to close the door. If you
succeed, the monster retreats out of the way and loses a turn.
Broken doors cannot be closed. This command takes a full turn.
Jam a door (j) / (S) :
Jam a door (so that it needs to be bashed down). Many monsters can simply
open closed doors, and can eventually get through a locked door. You may
therefore occasionally want to jam a door shut with iron spikes. Each spike
used on the door will make it harder to bash down the door, up to a limit of
eight. This command takes half a turn.
Bash a door (B) / (f) :
Bash down jammed doors. Your door bashing ability increases with strength
and weight. Bashing open a door can (briefly) throw you off balance, makes a
lot of noise, and sometimes ruins the door. All doors can be bashed; jammed or
spiked doors will not open any other way. You may also bash chests. This
command takes a full turn.
Disarm a trap or chest / Desanctify a glyph (D) :
You can attempt to disarm known traps or glyphs on the floor or on chests.
If you have a disarming skill close to the trap level, disarming by hand will be
safer than using magic; otherwise, magic is preferable. If you fail to disarm a
trap, there is a chance that you will blunder and set it off. This command
takes a full turn.
Alter (+) :
This special command allows the use of a single keypress to select any of
the dungeon alteration commands above (attack, tunnel, bash, open, disarm,
close), and, by using macros or keymaps, to combine this keypress with
directions.
For burglars, it also allows stealing, door-locking, and setting traps.
This command takes a full turn.
Spell and Prayer Commands
Browse a book (b) / (P) :
Open a readable book and read the spells. You may select spells by
pressing their index letter; as you do, extra information appears (unless the
spell level is greater than your spellcasting skill). This command takes no
time.
Gain new spells or prayers (G) :
When you are able to learn new spells or prayers, the word "Study" will
appear on the status line at the bottom of the screen. You then issue this
command and choose a book with unlearnt magics. Pious characters get a prayer
at random; characters of all other realms may choose. This command takes a full
turn.
Cast a spell or Pray a Prayer (m and p) :
Cast a known spell or prayer. This command takes a full turn.
Player Manipulation Commands
End/Default shapechange (]) :
Return to your normal state if you have previously transformed yourself
into any creature.
Object Manipulation Commands
Eat some food (E) :
Eat some food or a mushroom. This command takes a full turn.
Fuel your lantern/torch (F) :
You can refuel lanterns with flasks of oil and torches with other torches.
In general, two flasks will fully fuel a lantern and two torches will fully fuel
a torch. This command takes half a turn.
Light or douse your light source (left-parenthesis) :
Light sources illuminate the nearby dungeon when lit; most also use fuel.
You can choose between saving fuel or getting light to see. This command takes
half a turn.
Quaff a potion (q) :
Drink a potion. This command takes a full turn.
Read a scroll (r) :
Read a scroll. Most scrolls which prompt for more information can be
aborted (by pressing escape), which will stop reading the scroll before it
disintegrates. This command takes a full turn.
Inscribe an object ({) :
Inscribe an object. The inscription appears inside curly braces after the
object description. The inscription is limited to the particular object (or
pile) and is not automatically transferred to all similar objects, unless the
"Merge Inscriptions when Stacking" option is on.
Uninscribe an object (}) :
Remove the inscription on an object. This command will have no effect on
inscriptions added by the game itself (such as "{cursed}").
Magical Object Commands
Activate an object (A) :
You have heard rumours of special wearable items deep in the Pits, ones
that can let you breath fire like a dragon or light rooms with just a thought.
Should you ever be lucky enough to find such an item, this command will let you
activate its special power. This command takes a full turn.
Aim a wand (a) / (z) :
Use a staff (u) / (Z) :
Zap a rod (z) / (a) :
Uses the indicated kind of magical device. This command takes a full turn.
Throwing and Missile Weapons
Fire an item (f) / (t) :
You may fire ammunition if you are wielding a missile weapon that uses it.
See the non-magical combat section for more information. This command takes a
full turn unless you are using a weapon of extra shots.
Throw an item (v) :
You may throw any object carried by your character. See the non-magical
combat section for more information. This command takes a full turn.
Targeting Mode (*) :
Aim directly at a specific monster or grid. See the interfaces section for
more information.
Information Commands
Help (?) :
Brings up the on-line help system.
Observe an object (I) :
Display extra information about a specific object. If you know nothing
about the object, you see generic information about the object kind. If you
have identified or otherwise know the object, a object description will also
often appear. If you have fully *identified* an object, you will recall all the
special object attributes. This command takes no time.
Character Description (C) :
Display extra information about your character. From this screen, you can
change names, review attributes, or save your character information ("character
dumps") to file.
Look around (l) / (x) :
Look around at nearby monsters (to determine their type, health, and
carried objects) and objects (to determine their type). It can also be used to
find out what objects (if any) are under monsters or traps, what terrain a
monster is in, and what is under the player. See the interfaces section for
more information. This command takes no time.
Check knowledge (~) :
This command allows you to display
- high scores
- known artifacts
- known monsters
- monster kill count
- known objects
- contents of your home
- quests.
Identify Symbol (/) :
Find out what a character represents. For instance, by pressing "/", then
".", you will learn that the "." symbol stands for a floor. If you press
return, you'll see a list of special uses for this command.
If you ask about a type of monsters, such as 'r' - rodents, and you have
knowledge of any, the game will offer to show monster recall. Type 'y' to
display monsters sorted non-unique then unique, 'l' to list by level, 'k' or 't'
to list by number of kills, and any other key to cancel. The list will normally
start at the monster closest to your current depth.
You may also use this command to ask about all monsters (type Control-A),
unique monsters (Control-U), non-unique monsters (Control-N), or killed monsters
(Control-K).
This command takes no time.
Full screen map (M) :
Show a map of the entire dungeon on screen. Only the major dungeon
features will be visible because of the scale, so even some important things may
not show up. This command is particularly useful in locating where the stairs
are relative to your current position, or for identifying unexplored areas of
the dungeon. This command takes no time.
Locate player on map (L) / (W) :
Scroll the map view around, looking at all sectors of the current dungeon
level, until you press escape, at which point the map will be re-centered on the
player if necessary. To scroll the map around, press any of the direction keys.
The top line will display the sector location, and the offset from your current
sector. This command takes no time.
This command also has another use: it automatically adjusts the map panel
to give you a better view in your direction of travel. If worried about
offscreen monsters with nasty ranged attacks, this is one way to protect
yourself.
Game Version (V) :
Learn what version of the game you are playing.
Message Commands
Repeat level feeling (Ctrl-F) :
Displays your feeling about the dungeon level. If you are currently on a
quest, a description of it will also appear. This command takes no time.
View previous messages (Ctrl-P) :
Shows you all the recent messages. You can scroll through them or exit
with ESCAPE. This command takes no time.
Take notes (:) :
Allows you to take notes, which will then appear in your message list
(prefixed with "Note:"). This command takes no time.
Saving and Exiting Commands
Save and Quit (Ctrl-X) :
Save your character to file and exit the game.
Save (Ctrl-S) :
Save the game but don't exit it. Use this frequently (or turn on the
autosave option) if you are paranoid about having your computer crash (or your
power go out) while you are playing.
Save and Quit, or Retire (Q or Ctrl-K) :
Save your character to file and exit the game. If you have defeated
Morgoth, use this command to retire.
Preferences Commands
Interact with options (=) :
Set and review options. See the options section for more information.
Interact with macros (@) :
Create, load, and save macros and keymaps. See the macro and keymaps
section for more information.
Interact with visuals (%) :
Change, load, and save visual preferences that determine how objects,
monsters, and dungeon features display. See the visuals section for more
information.
Interact with colors (&) :
Change the basic colors used by the game. This command only works on some
systems. See the visuals section for more information.
Extra Commands
Toggle Choice Window (Ctrl-E) :
Toggle the display in any sub-windows (if available) that are displaying
your inventory or equipment.
Redraw Screen (Ctrl-R) :
Update the screen to adapt to various changes in global options, and
redraws all of the windows. It is normally only necessary in abnormal
situations, such as after changing the visual preferences or changing display
modes.
Save screen shot (right-parenthesis) :
Save a "snap-shot" of the current screen to a file. You may choose "text"
(plain text, most suitable for the newsgroup), "forum" (output with vBulletin
markup codes which can be pasted into posts on the Angband Forum), or "html"
(for websites and other purposes). The screenshot will be saved in your user
directory.
In some ports, you also have the option of taking graphical screenshots by
typing the Print Screen key. This has the disadvantage of producing larger
image files, but the advantage of showing exactly what's on your screen
(graphics, sub-windows and all) at any moment, even when the game is not
waiting for a command.
Repeat last command (Ctrl-V), also (n) / (') :
Repeat the previous command, selecting the same objects, spells, etc., you
choose last time. For example, if you have just Read a Scroll, chose a Scroll
of Enchant Object, and chose your Longsword as the object to enchant, this
command will do all these things again with a single keystroke.
Special Keys:
Certain special keys may be intercepted by the operating system or the host
machine, causing unexpected results. In general, these special keys are control
keys; often you can disable their special effects.
It is often possible to specify "control-keys" without actually pressing
the control key, by typing a caret ("^") followed by the key. This is useful
for specifying control-key commands that might be caught by the operating
system.
Pressing backslash ("\") before a command will bypass all keymaps, and the
next keypress will be interpreted as an underlying command key. The backslash
key is useful for creating macro actions which are not affected by any keymap
definitions that may be in force. For example, the three-character sequence
"\.6" will always mean "run east", even if the "." key has been mapped to a
different underlying command.
UNIX-specific notes:
If you are playing on a UNIX or similar system, then Ctrl-C will interrupt
the game. The second and third interrupt will induce a warning bell, and the
fourth will induce both a warning bell and a special message, since the fifth
will quit the game, after killing your character. Also, Ctrl-Z will suspend the
game, and return you to the original command shell, until you resume the game
with the "fg" command. There is now a compilation option to force the game to
prevent the "double ctrl-z escape death trick". The Ctrl-\ and Ctrl-D and Ctrl-
S keys should not be intercepted.
Windows-specific notes:
If you playing on Windows, you may need to turn off num lock in order to
run. If you are playing a IBM port under Windows, and see what appear to be
very strange colors, right-click on the executable, go to "Program Properties ->
Screen -> Usage, and make sure that the program runs in full-screen mode.
(return)
Conventions
When you have entered most game interfaces, you can expect common commands
to do logical things.
Scrolling lists and reading text:
Get/leave help: '?'
Forward (slow): '8', 'k', Return (hold down the shift key to go faster)
Forward (norm): '6', 'l', '+', '=', space
Forward (fast): '3'
Backward (slow): '2', 'j'
Backward (norm): '4', 'h', '-', '_'
Backward (fast): '9'
Cancel: Escape (shows previous file, if any)
Show text: '&' ('!' toggles case sensitivity)
Find text: '/' ('!' toggles case sensitivity)
Jump to a line: '#'
Display a file: '%'
Indexed lists (help navigation, selecting stuff):
Type the index corresponding to the item you want. If you have a keymap or
macro active on that letter or number (not a recommended practice!), type '\' to
bypass it.
Get help: '?'
Forward: arrow keys
Backward: arrow keys
Action: Return (usually)
Setting options or selecting stuff:
See instructions for details, but the following keys usually work the same
way.
Get help: '?'
Accept/Cancel: See instructions
Forward: '8', 'k', arrow keys, Return
Backward: '2', 'j', arrow keys
Increase: '+', '=', sometimes also '6' and 'l'
Decrease: '-', '_', sometimes also '4' and 'h'
Movement: '>', '<', '6', '4' (only some interfaces need this)
Set to Yes/On: 'y'
Set to No/Off: 'n'
Toggle: '5', 't'
Objects
Walking over objects, Picking them up:
Moving and picking up objects happen in separate turns. Whenever you walk
onto objects, you have the option of spending additional time (1/10th turn per
object) to pick them up.
There are three different ways of handling objects you walk on; you choose
the one you prefer by setting a pair of options.
Maximal information: Set the option "query_floor" to ON.
Minimal distraction: Set "always_pickup" and "query_floor" to OFF.
Automatic pickup: Set "always_pickup" to ON and "query_floor" to OFF.
Selecting Objects:
You may select objects in your backpack (your inventory), on your person
(your equipment), or on the floor underneath you.
space, *) Display or hide a list
/) Toggle between inventory and backpack
-) Use objects on the floor
.) Select the first object on the floor
a-z) Select the object with that index letter
A-Z) Select the same object, but only once you verify your choice
0-9) Select a specific object (if inscribed or in the quiver)
Targeting
The Targeting command:
The target command ('*') makes it possible to set up a location or fix a
monster as the point which you want future missiles and spells to aim for. Some
other commands also allow use of the targeting interface (normally by typing
'*'). However you begin targeting, you have a number of options available to
you.
ESCAPE) Exit targeting mode. Cancel target.
p) Return to the player.
o) Start looking at all grids (exact control).
m) Start looking only at monsters (if any monsters are around).
+) Look at next monster or interesting grid.
-) Look at previous monster or interesting grid.
r) (If cursor is on a monster) recall monster information.
t) Target grid or monster.
Space See monster's carried objects (if looking)
Return Continue looking
If you have the "use old target by default" option on, be careful about
clearing targets on the floor when done.
Targeting -- line of fire:
Line of fire (LOF) is reflexive: if you can hit it with bolts or missiles,
it can hit you -- and vice-versa. However, you (and your foes) have wider
fields of view, and can see many things that can't be hit directly. The monster
health bar serves as a handy indicator: When a monster is not in LOF, its
health bar is bracketed in grey. If it is in LOF, it will be bracketed in green
if you can fire upon it directly with arrows or bolts, and white otherwise.
If using targeting mode to aim a missile, you are not allowed to select a
monster not in direct line of fire (although you can target its grid by typing
'o', then 't').
Targeting -- mouse interaction:
In some ports, you may use the mouse to make looking around and targetting
more convenient. Left double-click engages looking/targetting. When
targetting, left double-click sets a target.
(return)
Various concepts mentioned below:
"disturb" : Cancel any running, resting, or repeated commands
"flush" : Forget any keypresses waiting in the keypress queue, including
any macros in progress
"fresh" : Display any pending output on the screen
Options you may want to change to your preferences include:
- Roguelike commands, if you are used to the commands used in certain other
roguelike games.
- Checking that the hitpoint warning is non-zero can save your character's life.
- Set the delay factor to two or more if you want to see pretty ball
explosions and whatnot.
- Playing around with the lighting options in the Visual Interface section
can be a lot of fun.
Saving options:
The current options are automatically stored in your savefile when you next
save the game. You only need to save options explicitly if you want future
characters started 'from scratch' (not from a previous character) to use your
preferred defaults.
- {savefile name}.prf : affects only that character
- {race name}.prf : affects all characters of that race
- user.prf : affects all of your future characters
The rules on usage do not fully apply to other kinds of preferences because
only options are saved in savefiles, but the same file names work the same way
in all cases.
Birth Options
You may only change birth options when starting up a new character.
Allow specification of minimal stats [birth_autoroll] (on) :
Allows you to specify minimum stats when creating a character. Characters
are randomly generated until one is found to meet your requirements.
Restrict the use of stairs/recall [birth_ironman] (off) :
Can never go up. Can never use recall until you win the game. No stairs
are ever placed under you when you change levels. Adds 40% to score.
Ironman Play:
"Go down into the dungeon. Return with Morgoth's Crown or not at all."
In Ironman mode, you can never go up any staircase, and can never return to the
surface by any means, until victorious. If by accident you do, you must
immediately return to the dungeon.
Some forms of Ironman play require that you visit no stores before going
into the dungeon, or that you must use a down staircase as soon as you see it
("crash-dive ironman"), but they are variants on the basic theme.
Lock the doors of stores and the home [birth_no_stores] (off) :
Cannot use any stores or your home. If you are not playing ironman, adds
15% to score.
Do not create artifacts [birth_no_artifacts] (off) :
No artifacts will appear. Adds 10% to score.
No stairs back the way you came [birth_no_return_stair] (off) :
Never generate a staircase back to the level you came from, even if you
used a staircase. If you are not playing ironman, adds 5% to score.
Monsters exploit players weaknesses [birth_smart_cheat] (off) :
Allow monsters to know what spell attacks you are resistant to, without
having to learn them by trial and error, and to use this information to choose
the best attacks. Adds 7% to score.
Option Set #1: Game Behavior
Rogue-like commands [rogue_like_commands] (off) :
Selects the "roguelike" command set, which uses eight of the letter keys to
move the character about. This command set can be really useful if you have no
number pad, and some people just naturally prefer it. However, the original
command set has considerably more unused keys available for macros and keymaps.
Verify destruction of objects [verify_destroy] (on) :
Gives you an "are you sure" message when you try to destroy an object.
Pick things up by default [always_pickup] (off) :
Display things before picking them up [query_floor] (on) :
When "always_pickup" is on, the game assumes you want to pick up any object
you encounter. If "query_floor" is off, you pick up objects automatically.
Otherwise, you are shown a list and prompted to pick up.
When "always_pickup" is off, the game assumes you want to pick things up
selectively. If "query_floor" is off, you get a one-line description of the
object or pile. If "query_floor" is on, you see a full list, including weights.
In either case, you can start picking things up by typing "g".
When standing still, you are never charged extra time for picking up
objects. When walking, you always take a second partial turn to pick up
objects; each object picked up takes 1/10th of a turn.
Never haggle in stores [never_haggle] (off) :
You never haggle in stores, regardless of the markup the shopkeeper asks
(which is very little or nothing on inexpensive stuff, but can be as great as
33% on extremely valuable items).
Use old target by default [use_old_target] (off) :
Forces all commands which normally ask for a direction to use the current
target if there is one. Use of this option can be dangerous if you target
locations on the ground, unless you clear them when done.
Run past stairs [run_ignore_stairs] (on) :
Ignore stairs when running.
Run through open doors [run_ignore_doors] (on) :
Ignore open doors when running.
Run past known corners [run_cut_corners] (off) :
Cut sharply around known corners when running. This will result in faster
running (which matters if you are fleeing), but may cause you to run into a
lurking monster.
Merge inscriptions when stacking [stack_force_notes] (on) :
Force otherwise identical objects to merge, even if one has an empty
inscription and the other does not. The resulting stack keeps the non-empty
inscription.
Merge discounts when stacking [stack_force_costs] (off) :
Force otherwise identical objects to merge, even if they have different
discounts. The resulting stack keeps the largest discount.
Allow quantity specification [allow_quantity] (on) :
Prompt for a quantity when necessary, instead of defaulting to a single
object. If you prefer to enter command counts before commands instead of typing
quantities when prompted, turn this option off.
Change savefile names [change_save_names] (off) :
When you start a a new character, a "base name" is created from the full
name. It is used for the savefile, character-specific preference files, and
character dumps. The base name normally does not change after birth, but if
this option is on, it will change whenever you rename your character.
Traditionally, the Macintosh port allowed base names to change after birth
and most other ports did not.
Allow accents in output files [xchars_to_file] (on) :
Accents in your character name or other text will be preserved in various
output files such as character dumps. They will be saved using your system's
character encoding. If this option is off, character dumps will be saved in
plain ASCII; this is recommended for newsgroup posts.
Option Set #2: Disturbance and Warning
Disturb whenever any monster moves [disturb_move] (on) :
Disturb the player when any visible monster moves, appears, or disappears,
whether in line of sight or out of it. This increases safety, but may cause
trouble when you have telepathy and are trying to rest.
Disturb whenever map panel changes [disturb_panel] (on) :
Disturbs you when the map panel shifts. This slows down your exploration,
but makes it easier to avoid leaving a detected area.
Disturb whenever player state changes [disturb_state] (on) :
This option causes you to be disturbed whenever the player state changes,
including changes in hunger, resistance, confusion, etc.
Disturb whenever boring things happen [disturb_minor] (on) :
This option causes you to be disturbed by various minor things, including
monsters bashing down doors, beginning to run out of fuel, and changes in the
weather.
Alert user to critical hitpoints [alert_hitpoint] (on) :
Make a noise and flush all pending input when your hitpoints reach the
hitpoint warning. Make certain you also adjust the hitpoint warning.
Ring bell on error [ring_bell] (on) :
Make a bell sound when errors occur (such as typing an invalid key).
Activate quick messages [quick_messages] (on) :
Allows the use of any keypress as a response to the "(+)" prompt, except
when you are badly wounded.
Compress messages in savefiles [compress_messages] (off) :
Compress the savefile, saving only the most recent player messages. This
can cut the size of the savefile substantially, but will result in the loss of
message information.
Flush input on various failures [flush_failure] (on) :
This option forces the game to flush all pending input whenever various
failures occur, such as failure to cast a spell, failure to use a wand, etc.
This is very useful if you use macros, as it will prevent you from walking
towards monsters when your spells fail.
Flush input whenever disturbed [flush_disturb] (on) :
This option forces the game to flush all pending input whenever the
character is disturbed. This is useful if you use macros that take time, since
it will prevent you from continuing your macro while being attacked by a
monster.
Delay on failure [delay_failure] (on) :
The game pauses for a fraction of a second whenever various failures occur,
such as failure to cast a spell, failure to use a wand, etc. This helps prevent
you taking unplanned steps (and thus wasting a turn in the middle of a battle).
Colored messages when hit hard [colored_hit_msg] (on) :
The harder you are hit, the more colorful the damage message will be.
Special colors for hurt character [colored_hurt_char] (on) :
Your character symbol will change color depending on your health.
Option Set #3: Visual Interface
Map remembers all seen grids [remember_seen_grids] (on) :
Memorize all floor grids that have ever been lit up by you. This gives
you a visual record of which areas you have explored on the current level.
Use special colors for torch-lit grids [torch_light] (on) :
If the option "floor_lighting" is also on, floor grids that are only lit
by your own light source or light sources on the floor will appear yellow. If
the option "wall_lighting" is on, walls may be colored in the same way (if some
terrain prefs are tweaked). Turning this option off will slightly increase the
speed of the game.
Use special colors for field of view [sight_light] (on) :
If the option "floor_lighting" is also on, those floor grids that you can
see directly appear bright, and all other known grids appear darkened. If the
option "wall_lighting" is on, walls will be colored in the same way. Turning
this option off will slightly increase the speed of the game.
Use special colors for wall grids [wall_lighting] (on) :
If either the option "torch_light" or "sight_light" is on, wall grids will
change color depending on lighting conditions. Turning this option off will
slightly increase the speed of the game.
Use special colors for floor grids [floor_lighting] (on) :
If either the option "torch_light" or "sight_light" is on, floor grids
will change color depending on lighting conditions. Turning this option off
will slightly increase the speed of the game.
Highlight the player with the cursor [highlight_player] (off) :
Place the visible cursor on the player. This looks fine on terminals, but
not on most graphical displays.
Flush output after various things [fresh_after] (off) :
Flush all output not only after every player command, but also after every
round of processing monsters and objects, and after every message. This
maximizes your information, but may slow down the game (especially on slower
machines) and on faster machines you cannot see the results anyway.
Don't hide traps when objects pile on them [traps_display_on_top] (on) :
Traps display on top of objects, and you need to look at the grid to
determine if any objects are underneath. If this option is not selected,
objects hide traps.
Show dungeon level in feet (or meters) [depth_in_feet] (off) :
Display dungeon depths in feet (meters if the "use_metric" option is used)
instead of levels.
Show labels in equipment listings [show_labels] (on) :
Display "labels" (what an object is being used for) for objects in all
equipment listings.
Show weights in all object listings [show_weights] (on) :
Display weights (in pounds or kilograms) of objects in all inventory,
equipment, store, and home listings.
Show flavors in object descriptions [show_flavors] (on) :
Display "flavors" (color or variety) in object descriptions and information
screens, even for objects whose type is known. This does not affect objects in
stores.
Use Metric (SI) measurements [use_metric] (off) :
Display a variety of measurable quantities using metric measurements.
Conversions are: 3 meters ~ 10 feet, 1.0 kilograms ~ 2.2 pounds.
Menus pop up when selecting various things [always_show_list] (on) :
If selecting anything from a list, that list will automatically pop up.
Move old messages to sub-window automatically [message_to_window] (off) :
If this option is on, and a sub-window is set to display messages, messages
will be automatically pushed off the main screen to the sub-window, instead of
manually through keypresses. However, at present this option will still work if
the sub-window is closed or moved off-screen, so use with caution!
Option Set #4: Screen Display
Window Flags:
Some platforms support multiple windows, which can display all sorts of
useful information.
inventory: Display the character's inventory (and equipment when
requested).
equipment: Display the character's equipment (and inventory when
requested).
character screen: Display the main character screen.
equip attributes: Display the character screen's equipment attributes
section.
visible monsters: Display visible monsters. The names of those that have
killed at least one of your ancestors are in red, those
that have never been seen before by this character are in
light blue, uniques are in violet, and other monsters are
in white.
nearby objects: Display objects in line of sight.
messages: Display recent messages and notes.
overhead view: Display an overhead view of the dungeon.
monster recall: Display a description of the target monster.
object recall: Display a description of the most recently selected
object.
list of commands: Display the most commonly-used commands for quick reference.
Screen Layout:
Show more things (like text) in tall display: (off) :
Various interfaces, such as stores, lists, and help, appear in the tall
(46+ row) display. This option is most helpful to those with large screens.
Show the largest map the screen will allow: (on) :
Maximizes dungeon size at the expense of a slightly less "clean" appearance.
Minimum vertical view distance: (2) :
Fully documented on-screen, but note that this allows you to get "center on
player".
Minimum horizontal view distance: (4) :
Fully documented on-screen.
Customized left panel rows:
Below the monster health bar on the left side of the main screen is empty
space suitable for displaying information that's important to you.
(blank line) : Useful for spacing out information
Health : Shows the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. closest monster. Very useful
to see offscreen breathers! Uses the same colors and
brackets as the main health bar.
Kill Count : Number of monsters you've killed
Score : Current score
Fame : Fame. Same as that displayed on the character screen
Time : How much time your character has spent alive. Deliberately
does not show minutes -- the passage of time is "fuzzy".
Luck : How unlucky are you? Green is normal luck, yellow, orange,
and red indicate trouble.
Regeneration : How rapidly do you recover hitpoints and mana?
red -> orange -> yellow -> white (normal) -> light green ->
green -> light blue -> blue -> violet
Quest Status : Appearance and number of quest monsters
Active Target : Last known direction and distance of your target monster or
location. Especially helpful if you have the option "use
old target by default" set.
Realm-Specific : Temporary conditions gained through magic, such as priestly
blessing. Especially useful for Wizards, Priests and
Necromancers.
Attack Modify : Elemental and vorpal blows, temporary bonuses to shots, hit
and run, etc.
Oppositions : What elements (acid, elec, fire, cold, pois) do you tempor-
arily oppose (over and above any equipment resistances)?
Fear/Bold/Hero : Are you afraid, bold (immune to fear), heroic, or berserk?
Protection & ..: Are you blessed, shielded, protected from evil, resistant
to damage, and the like?
Weather : What is the weather like? Extremely useful for Druids.
humid: 'D' for dry, 'W' for wet. Uses the colors yellow ->
brown -> white -> grey -> white -> green -> blue
wind : 'S' for still, 'B' for blowing. Uses the colors
violet -> blue -> white -> grey, and back again
temp : 'C' for cold, 'H' for hot. Uses the colors blue ->
white -> grey -> white -> yellow -> orange -> red
Noise : How much noise are you making? colors are dark grey -> grey
white -> yellow -> orange -> red. Also notes aggravation.
Invisibility : Are you invisible (makes you harder to find and to hit), and
if so, how strongly are you hidden from normal sight?
slate-> white-> light blue-> blue-> violet
Option Set #5: Difficulty and Assistance
Allow character to avoid death [beginner_play] (off) :
You can cheat death. If you do, your score will be placed in "()"s. This
is, in truth, a cheat, but many people find it helpful when first learning the
game.
Know complete monster info [cheat_know] (off) :
You can know all about monsters. Score is reduced by 33%.
Miscellaneous Options
User Interface:
Some ports of this game allow you to specify various user interface and
multimedia preferences, such as turning on and off graphics and sound.
Hitpoint warning:
If non-zero, is the percentage of maximal hitpoints (x10) at which you
start to get special warnings and cannot use most keys to clear messages. It is
also used as the cut-off for using red to display both hitpoints and mana, and
(if the "colored hurt char" option is active) for displaying your character in
red.
Delay Factor:
The "delay_factor" value, if non-zero, will slow down the visual effects
used for missile, bolt, beam, and ball attacks. The actual time delay is equal
to "delay_factor" squared, in milliseconds. A value of five works well on many
machines.
Autosave:
You may set the game to save your character every so often by using the
autosave option. Tweak the timer to control the frequency of autosaves.
Options Commands
Load a user preference file:
Reads user preferences (including options) from a file you choose.
Normally used when preferences don't load automatically, and you want to rewrite
them to a file that will.
Save options to a file:
Saves options to file. See the preferences section for help on what
filename to use (the file "user.prf" usually works). Because options are
automatically saved when you save the game, you only have to do this if you want
to set up a default set of options for multiple adventurers.
(return)
You use the '{' and '}' keys to inscribe and uninscribe objects. The
inscription on an object can have all sorts of effects.
To designate a main and backup weapon:
Inscribe both with "@w0". The 'X' command will replace whatever melee
weapon you are wielding with another so inscribed. You may also inscribe these
or other weapons with "@w1", etc., and wield weapons 0, 1, 2 and so on as
desired.
To have a given command always use the same spellbook:
Inscribe it with "@m#", or "@p#", replacing the '#' with whatever character
you desire. This allows you to set up macros to cast a spell knowing that it
will never choose the wrong book. Similar inscriptions make archery very
convenient, and allow you to always use a given magical device with the same
keystrokes.
In general, if you inscribe anything with @{any command}{any
character}, you can issue the command, and type the character, to use the first
legal inscribed object.
To automatically use a given object with a given command:
Inscribe the object with "@X*", where 'X' is the letter of that command in
the underlying keyset.
To prevent accidental use of an object with any command:
Inscribe it with "!x", where 'x' is the letter you type to issue that
command. If you are very paranoid, inscribe it with "!*"
To learn when an object that recharges automatically is ready for use:
Inscribe it with "!!". This is handy for everything from your Rod of Trap
Detection to dragon scale mail.
To automatically pick up an object:
Inscribe it with "=g". Especially useful for anything you throw or fire.
To give a object a special name:
A shovel inscribed "#named 'Deepdelver'" will be called "a Shovel named
'Deepdelver'". One inscribed "@w0#'Deepdelver'" will be called "a Shovel
'Deepdelver' {@w0}". This part of the inscription should always go last.
Inscriptions for fun and profit:
Try inscribing the first monster killed by a weapon, hidden object
abilities, and where you found the item or who dropped it.
Automatic inscriptions:
The game also inscribes objects automatically. Some of these inscriptions
will disappear when the item is identified, and you may overwrite others.
"broken" : Object is broken in some way.
"cursed" : Object is cursed.
"empty" : Object has no more charges (and you know this).
"indestructible" : Object cannot be destroyed.
"tried" : Used an object, didn't learn anything about it.
"50% off" : Object is worth 50% less than normal.
(return)
Quick Tutorial
Necromancers are forever casting spell "a", Magic Bolt, in spellbook "a",
Beginner's Curses. In both keysets, that's "maa", plus "." to target the
nearest monster. Wouldn't it be nice if you could do all this with a single
keypress? You can.
Choose an unused command (we shall pick "'" by way of example). Bring up
the macro/keymap screen by typing "@". Press "8" to create a keymap, and the
game will ask you for a trigger. Type "'". You then shift to the action field,
where you input all the commands you want "'" to perform when pressed. In this
case, you would enter: "maa.", and press return.
Now save your new keymap by typing "6", and either allow the game to choose
your character's name for the preference file, or (if you want all of your
characters to use the same keymap) save to "user.prf".
This is only the beginning. What you can do with a spell, you can do with
arrows, Rods of Trap Location, resting, activating stuff, talents, searching;
all sorts of command combinations can profitably be macroed. Macros and keymaps
are even more flexible when used in combination with object inscriptions.
In all cases, you remember the exact series of keypresses you need to
issue, pick an unused trigger key, and fill in the action field.
Basic information
Macros:
Macros allow you to use a single keypress to activate a series of
keypresses. They fire off in almost all cases: when the game is waiting for a
command, is showing a menu, is asking you to enter text, etc. The only time
they don't activate is when you already have a macro active.
You may use any key as a macro trigger, but it is recommended that you not
use ordinary letters. You fill out the action field with the same commands you
normally use.
Keymaps (sometimes known as "command macros"):
Keymaps only fire off when the game is waiting for a command. You may not
use special keys (like F1-F12) as keymap triggers, and must use underlying
commands in the action field (a list of such commands is supplied below).
Effects of one on the other:
Macros are often affected by keymaps; you may bypass keymaps in macros by
putting a "\" before any action key. Keymaps are never affected by macros.
Examples
Macros are so handy that players (Jim Lyon in particular) have compiled
lists of helpful tricks.
To clear any pending messages:
Insert some "\e"s (escapes) before and/or after your keymaps and macros.
Be careful about skipping past important info! If you want to be a little more
careful, use "\s"s (spaces) instead.
To learn how to represent any key:
Some keys cannot be entered simply as numbers or letters. To figure out
how to include the escape key in an action, for example, you bring up the
macro/keymap screen, type 3: Query a macro, and press escape (ESC) when asked
for a trigger. This will tell you that an escape is represented by "\e".
Rest as needed:
Keymap a trigger key to "R*\r". This is also helpful when waiting for a
monster to approach, because you recover mana and HPs twice as quickly than when
staying in place. Sangband already has a macro of this type, mapped to TAB.
Fire ammunition from quiver slot 0 (zero) at the closest monster:
Macro a trigger key to "f0." ('f', '0', period). If you get too many
messages afterwards, you can also add some '\s's.
Activate the Phial:
Macro a trigger key to "Af\s\s".
Destroy an item or a pile on the floor:
Macro a trigger key to "099\rk-.y". This expands to
'0' - enter a command count.
'99' - enter the maximum possible quantity.
'\r' - press return.
'k' - issue the kill command (in the roguelike keymap, this would be ^D).
'-' - choose the floor.
',' - choose the top floor item (never chooses anything in inventory).
'y' - confirm the kill.
'\e' - stop destroying things.
In Depth
Not all keys can be entered as simple numbers or letters:
\e : escape (useful for clearing the message line)
\r : return
\n : newline (is normally treated the same as return)
\s : space (' ')
\\ : backslash ('\')
\^ : caret ('^')
^X : control-X (other control keys use the same system)
\x80 : character in position 0x80 (in hex: decimal equivalent would be 128)
Listing of underlying commands:
Underlying commands are usually the same as those in the original keyset,
but there are important exceptions:
Underlying command Original keyset Roguelike
5 , .
. . ,
;1 (move = ';') 1 b
;2 2 j
;3 3 n
;4 4 h
;6 6 l
;7 7 y
;8 8 k
;9 9 u
Q ^C ^C
w0 X X
^V n '
Adding accents
On some systems, you may include accents and special characters in your
character's name and in various other places by using encodes. Encodes start
with an open bracket ( [ ) and end with a close bracket ( ] ). Between the
brackets is either a two-character set or a name. Two character sets always
specify the accent, then the letter itself.
` grave accent ' acute accent ^ circumflex ~ tilde
" umlaut * ring (circle) / slash (as in o-slash)
Therefore, typing ['a] will get you a-acute.
(return)
Information about options, usage of extra windows, command macros, and
keymaps can all be stored in preference files. In addition, you can customize
the game in many other ways and save these preferences to file.
The priority order of preference files
Whenever the game starts up, and whenever it creates or loads a character,
it opens various preference files and modifies various things according to
instructions in them. The preference files below are listed in descending order
of priority: anything in higher files overrides anything in a file below it.
Be aware that these rules apply only for this variant.
"/lib/user/{base name of character}.prf"
May contain options, color definitions, attr/char remappings (what
monsters, objects, and features look like), and many other things. Anything in
this file is guaranteed to override anything in any other file.
What is the "base name" of your character? It is the name of your
character, usually with non-alphabetic, non-numeric characters translated to
'_'s, and (on IBM/DOS) shortened to eight characters. You may check the base
name by trying to save macros or keymaps.
Your character's savefile
Always contains your current options and window settings. Never contains
macros, keymaps, or visual preferences (these all need to be saved in an
external file). Options saved in a savefile will (usually) remain active even
after the character dies and is reborn. The major exception is the cheating
options: they are reset.
"/lib/user/human.prf" (replace "human" with your race)
Used to store race-specific preferences. It is best to edit this file
after saving it. Race names are as expected, except that "half-troll" becomes
"h-troll" on some systems.
"/lib/user/warrior.prf" (replace "warrior" with your magic realm)
Used to store realm-specific preferences; especially valuable for tweaking
custom side panel rows. It is best to edit this file after saving it. Realm
names are "warrior", "wizard", "priest", "druid", and "necromancer".
"/lib/user/user.prf"
Any preferences that you want to apply to all of your characters should go
here.
Many players need no other preference files and can stop reading here.
"lib/pref/user.prf"
This file is loaded just before the one above it. Links to system-specific
user-preference files, which tend to be used by porters to customize the game in
ways that they think users of their system will appreciate.
"lib/pref/tiles.prf": The visual preferences file.
Is the gateway to all attr/char remappings and therefore controls what
everything looks like on screen. Each of the below files controls game visual
appearance in a specific display mode; some link to system-specific sub-files.
".../ascii.prf": Pure ASCII text display mode
".../font.prf": Extended text display mode
".../chargraf.prf": Pseudo-graphical font display mode (not currently
used)
".../graf16-g.prf": Adam Bolt graphics (for everything) display mode
".../graf16-f.prf": Adam Bolt graphics (plus font) display mode
".../graf32-g.prf": David Gervais graphics (for everything) display mode
".../graf32-f.prf": David Gervais graphics (plus font) display mode
"lib/pref/pref.prf"
This is the source of most default settings except for char/attr
remappings. It contains the default values of options, the keymaps for the
original and roguelike keysets, and the default inventory colors. Links to the
file "message.prf", which controls the colors of messages. Links to system-
specific general preference files (pref-{sys}.prf). These contain system-
specific keymappings and allow the game to recognize your keyboard.
message.prf: Message colors. Each message can be assigned to a type; each
type may have one or more sounds and a color associated with it.
Writing your own preference files
All preference files use a common system to store information. You must be
careful of two things:
1) Make sure that the file will actually be loaded. It needs to be one of the
files mentioned above, or be called by one of those files.
2) Watch out for automatic preference dumps. If you try to edit anything
between the special markers, your changes will be lost. The solution is to skip
past all the automatic stuff and put your changes at the bottom, below the last
marker.
List of preference file instructions:
%:user.prf
Open up the file "/pref/user.prf" or "/user/user.prf" and read it. If both
files exist, rules in the latter have priority.
R:0:w/@
The monster, with index 0 (zero), will be white ('w'), and be represented
with a '@'.
K:50:v/~
The object, with index 50, will be violet ('v'), and be represented with a
'~'.
K:60:+10:+14
The object, with index 60, will use the graphical tile at row 10, column 14
(the plus means "add 128 to the number").
F:1:w/250:y/250:s/250
The feature, with index 1 (ordinary floor), will normally be white (color
1), and be represented by the character in ASCII position 250 (a centered dot).
Under torchlight, it will glow yellow. When darkened, it will be slate grey.
L:247:+2:+15
The flavor, with index 247 (Black Spotted mushroom), will use the graphical
tile at row 2, column 15.
E:90:r
Tval 90 (wizard spellbooks) will display in the inventory and other
listings in light red ('r').
A:R*\r
The next key listed will be mapped to this set of actions (can be either a
keymap or a macro).
C:0:x
The previous action listed is a keymap, is active in the original keyset
(set 0), and will be activated by typing 'x'.
P:1:^O
The previous action listed is a macro, is active in the roguelike keyset
(set 1), and will be activated by typing 'control-O'.
V: 1:w:White: 0:255:255:255: 1
The color in position 1 is requested by typing 'w', is called "White", has
a kvalue of 0, a red value of 255, a green value of 255, a blue value of 255,
and translates to color 1 (itself) in 16-color mode.
X:rogue_like_commands
The "rogue_like_commands" option will be off.
Y:rogue_like_commands
The "rogue_like_commands" option will be on.
W:2:10:1
Window #2 (the first sub-window), will display window display #10 (display
list of commands), and be active (1) as opposed to inactive (0).
M:1:w
Message type 1 (standard hit message) will appear white.
D:5
The delay factor will be 5 (5 * 5 = 25 milliseconds).
H:3
The hitpoint warning will be at 30%.
a:1:1000
Autosave is on; games will be saved every 1000 turns.
t:1:0:0:2:4
The main window will use the standard (short) display, we will not be using
the special (tall) display to display help and other things, the dungeon map
will not be fitted precisely to screen, the number of rows from the vertical
edge at which the map scrolls will be 2, and the number of rows from the
horizontal edge at which the map scrolls will be 4.
?:{text}
A conditional expression. If true, allows another line to activate. The
tests include
AND - logical AND
IOR - inclusive OR
EQU - (string) equals
NOT - logical negation
LEQ - (string) less than or equal to
GEQ - (string) greater than or equal to
[,] - group expressions
$GRAF - 3-letter graphics abbreviation in "graf-***.prf" (graf-old, graf-
new)
$PLAYER - current character name
$RACE - current character race
$SYS - 3-letter system abbreviation in "pref-***.prf" (pref-ami, mac,
win,...)
See the usage in "lib/pref/pref.prf", etc.
(return)
Interact with Visuals: (command: '%') :
You may adjust the character and attribute (color) used to display objects,
monsters, and terrain features.
1) Update your preferences with a specific user preference file.
2) Save your current monster visuals to file.
3) Save your current object visuals to file.
4) Save your current terrain visuals to file.
6) Change monster visuals.
7) Change object visuals.
8) Change terrain visuals.
0) Reset visuals to their last saved values (undo all changes).
When changing visuals, you may type the following keys:
n: Advance one (wrap around if at the end)
N: Go back one (wrap around if at the beginning)
^n: Jump to a specific item (the '^' means Control-)
a: Change to the next color (wrap around if at color 15)
A: Change to the previous color (wrap around if at color 0)
^a: Specify color
c: Change to the next character in the ASCII sequence (wrap around if at 255)
C: Change to the previous character (wrap around if at 0)
^c: Specify character
A good way to get used to the interface is to choose option 6: change
monster visuals, note that the first "monster" is your character, and change it
from a white '@' to something silly. Leave, see how weird you look, come back,
and press '0' to reset the visuals.
Interact with colors: (command '&') :
In the interact with colors display, you have three options available:
1) Load colors from file.
2) Save colors to file.
3) Modify colors.
In the modify screen, you navigate between colors by typing direction keys.
When at the color you want to change, you then use the following keys.
i: Give the color a unique index character (so it can be requested)
n: Give the color a name
k: No effect (the game auto-calculates this value)
K: No effect
r: Increase the red in this color (wraps around at 255)
R: Decrease the red in this color (wraps around at 0)
g: Increase the green in this color (wraps around at 255)
G: Decrease the green in this color (wraps around at 0)
b: Increase the blue in this color (wraps around at 255)
B: Decrease the blue in this color (wraps around at 0)
v: Assign the color specific red, green, and blue values.
When making new colors, you should first give the color an index character
(it must be unique; the game will correct you if you use a character that
belongs to another color), and then type a name (such as "White"). When you
have done this, you can then immediately see the color changes you make.
Note that color 0 (black) should not be changed. If your system can only
display 16 colors, your changes to colors above #15 will not have any effect.
After changing colors, you may leave the modify screen for the main colors
screen, and choose option #3: Save colors to file. The colors will be saved at
the end of the file "lib/pref/color.prf", and will take immediate effect. You
may then use the new colors for monsters, objects, etc.
(return)
Saving and loading your character should be easy. So, sadly, is getting
him killed. Winning is a little harder, but the novice player can get special
assistance to improve his chances down in the dungeon.
Saving your Game
Saving your game is usually easy. You can use the save game command, or
(on some systems) a menu option. If you cannot save your game, you probably
have one of two problems:
1) The folder "{game}/lib/save" does not exist. Create this directory and
any others that are missing (see the list of files elsewhere in the docs).
2) You are using a multi-user machine and do not have write permission to
that file or directory.
Loading your Game
The game can load savefiles using several methods. In order, it:
1) Loads any file that you specify with the "-u" command line option. This
only applies to some ports.
2) Loads the first file specified in "save/global.svg", but only if that
character is alive.
3) Loads any file named "PLAYER" (capitalization may or may not be ignored).
4) Shows you a savefile management screen, allowing you to choose files
listed in "global.svg", type in another filename, or start a new character.
Location of the savefile directory:
- On single-user systems, it is {game directory}/lib/save/.
- On multi-user systems, it is within a game-created folder in your user
directory.
Dead characters:
If you load a dead character, the game will flash a message telling you
that it is using the slain adventurer's monster memory. You then create a new
character.
Savefile compatibility report:
Sangband loads files from Sangband 0.9.9 and later.
Winning The Game
Victory is slaying Morgoth, Lord of Darkness, before he or any of his
minions slay you. He rules his empire far deep in the Pits, at 5000 feet, one
hundred levels below the sunlit surface. Barring your way to him at 4950' is
Sauron, creator of the One Ring, whose power bears comparison with Morgoth
himself.
Vanishingly few adventurers ever return to the surface with the Iron Crown
of Morgoth, wrath-blackened cage of the Silmarils. Few ever wield the Hammer of
the Underworld, that dreadful maul which pulps an Ancient Dragon in a blow.
People have played this game for a decade and more without a single victory. If
you win -- are victorious without cheat, assistance, or subterfuge -- tell the
tale on the forum to those who have yet to taste that triumph!
Upon Death and Dying
If your character's hit points fall below zero, he dies. The dreaded
tombstone will appear, and you may check out his attributes and possessions one
last time.
Your character will leave behind a reduced save file, which contains only
the monster memory and your option choices, both of which new characters may
use. It is very helpful to know something about the monster that slew your
ancestor!
Cheating Death
One of the most important things about this game is that your character's
life is so important. Let him die, and you start over from scratch. This is
one of the secrets to this game's fascination; anyone who cheats death is really
not getting the full experience, and any Morgoth-slayers yanked from the jaws of
death are not full winners. But what if your characters seem to die all the
time (like mine!), and you really want to keep playing with the same guy? Well,
the game has a few answers for that too.
You may cheat death by toggling on the "cheat death" option. This keeps
your character ticking, and you get a running tally of your deaths on the
character screen. Trying to keep this number low is a great way to learn the
game.
Appendices
(return)
http://angband.oook.cz/forum/
The Angband Forum. It also covers all her variants, including Sangband.
Lots of friendly people. You may post character dumps there and ask for and
offer advice.
http://www.runegold.org/sangband
The Sangband home page. Contains the current source and executables, and
various interesting things like screenshots and news updates.
http://angband.oook.cz/index.php
The major Angband website, including official and unofficial news,
discussion, information, and various nifty utilities. Go to
"http://angband.oook.cz/ladder.php" to see the top scores for many variants of
Angband.
rec.games.roguelike.angband
The Angband discussion group on usenet.
http://www.thangorodrim.net/angband.html
A large, but slightly outdated, site that used to be the official Angband
portal.
http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/games/Angband/
The largest repository of Angband files (somewhat outdated).
http://angband.oook.cz/code
Put a code on the bottom of your posts that describes exactly how you play
Angband. Lots of fun.
http://www.mirc.com/
If you like interactive chat, there is a channel dedicated to Angband. Go
to this link, download mirc, and use it to connect to one of the Worldirc
servers (note: You do have to use a worldirc server). Then join the channel
#angband. You'll know you've got it right when you see other people (the
channel is always occupied).
(return)
This appendix lists most, but not all, of the files in the basic release
(your version will vary slightly).
{base game directory}
readme.txt : Startup information, changes, notes, credits, copyrights
/docs
/lib
{/docs directory}
compile.txt : Basic compilation information (source release only)
changes : Recent changes. See the website for older changes.
manual.txt : The game manual
{/lib directory}
/apex
/bone
/data
/edit
/file
/help
/info
/pref
/save
/user
/xtra
Some of these directories contain a file named "delete.txt", which is
included to make sure that directories are preserved.
{/lib/apex directory}
scores.raw : The high score list
{/lib/bone directory} various bones files created when characters die
{/lib/data directory} data files created when the game starts up
{/lib/edit directory}
artifact.txt : User-editable information about artifacts
ego-item.txt : User-editable information about ego-items
limits.txt : Maximum sizes of various arrays
monster.txt : User-editable information about monster races
object.txt : User-editable information about objects
quest.txt : User-editable information about quests
store.txt : User-editable store information tables
terrain.txt : User-editable information about terrain features
vault.txt : User-editable information about special rooms
{/lib/file directory}
a_cursed.txt : List of names for cursed random artifact armors
a_normal.txt : List of names for normal random artifact armors
dead.txt : The dreaded black screen of death
names.txt : Names to recombine for random artifacts
news.txt : The splash screen
smeagol.txt : What Smeagol says
smeagolr.txt : What Smeagol says when he's frightened
victory.txt : The victory screen
w_cursed.txt : List of names for cursed random artifact weapons
w_normal.txt : List of names for normal random artifact weapons
{/lib/help directory} Help files
{/lib/info directory} Various information and spoiler files
{/lib/pref directory}
Standard preference files. See the section on preference files.
{/lib/save directory} Saved games
global.svg : A list of savefiles that the game will load automatically.
{/lib/user directory}
Personalized preference files. See the section on preference files.
{/lib/xtra directory}
/font : Fonts used in (at least) the SDL and Windows ports
/graf : bitmapped graphics tiles, the background image
/music : A selection of tunes to play to
jukebox.cfg : the music configuration file.
/sound : basic sounds for various actions
sound.cfg : the sound configuration file.
(return)
The History of Sangband
Skills Angband, or Sangband for short, is the oldest variant of Angband
still active; many long-time players remember it with great fondness. It was
among the first roguelikes anywhere to introduce skills, shapechanges, fully-
fledged natural and necromantic realms, and special character talents. Whole
webpages have been devoted to its features, and many a game developer has been
influenced by them.
Sangband grew out of Chris Petit's interest in developing a version of
Angband with a skills system rather than character classes. It was first
released March the 3rd, 1994, using the Angband 2.5.x codebase as modified in
Bangband (another of his variants). When Chris Petit graduated, development
stopped for about a year at version 0.8.5 (released April 29th, 1994).
After that, Michael Gorse took over the project, re-releasing version
0.8.5, then taking the game up to 0.9.3 between 1995 and 1997.
Julian Lighton happened to stumble across Sangband, and (aided by Greg
Wooledge) found himself fixing bugs as he found them. First he made them
available on a website, then decided he had too much free time and took over
Sangband officially, releasing 0.9.4 in 1997 and 0.9.5 in 1998. His work sorted
out the major game bugs and updated the code to Angband 2.8.3.
In 2001, he passed the maintainership to Leon Marrick, who had played
Sangband almost since the beginning (first bug report in '95) and modeled parts
of his own variant on it. Scott Yost released beta 15, making a number of
helpful changes and bug fixes.
(more history between 2001 and the present will appear later)
The History of Angband
This file was last updated for Angband 3.0.1.
Make sure to read the Forum ("http://angband.oook.cz/forum/") for the most
up to date information about Angband.
Angband has an incredibly complex history, and is the result of a lot of work by
a lot of people, all of whom have contributed their time and energy for free,
rewarded only by the pleasure of keeping alive one of the best freeware games
available anywhere.
The version control files, if they existed, would span more than ten years time,
and more than six different primary developers. Without such files, we must
rely on simpler methods, such as change logs, source file diffs, and word of
mouth. Some of this information is summarized in this file.
Please be sure to read the copyright information at the end of this file.
Brief Version History:
First came "VMS Moria", by Robert Alan Koeneke (1985).
Then came "Umoria" (UNIX Moria), by James E. Wilson (1989).
Details about the history of the various flavors of "moria", the direct ancestor
to Angband, can be found elsewhere, and a note from Robert Alan Koeneke is
included in this file. Note that "moria" has been ported to a variety of
platforms, and has its own newsgroup, and its own fans.
In 1990, Alex Cutler and Andy Astrand, with the help of other students at the
University of Warwick, created Angband 1.0, based on the existing code for
Umoria 5.2.1. They wanted to expand the game, keeping or even strengthening the
grounding in Tolkien lore, while adding more monsters and items, including
unique monsters and artifact items, plus activation, pseudo-sensing, level
feelings, and special dungeon rooms.
Over time, Sean Marsh, Geoff Hill, Charles Teague, and others worked on the
source, releasing a copy known as "Angband 2.4.frog_knows" at some point, which
ran only on Unix systems, but which was ported by various people to various
other systems. One of the most significant ports was the "PC Angband 1.4" port,
for old DOS machines, which added color and various other significant changes,
only some of which ever made it back into the official source.
Then Charles Swiger (cs4w+@andrew.cmu.edu) took over, sometime in late 1993,
cleaning up the code, fixing a lot of bugs, and bringing together various
patches from various people, resulting in several versions of Angband, starting
with Angband 2.5.1 (?), and leading up to the release of Angband 2.6.1 (and
Angband 2.6.2) in late 1994. Some of the changes during this period were based
on suggestions from the "net", and from various related games, including "UMoria
5.5", "PC Angband 1.4", and "FAngband".
Angband 2.6.1 was primarily targetted towards Unix/NeXT machines, and it
required the use of the low level "curses" commands for all screen manipulation
and keypress interaction. Each release had to be ported from scratch to any new
platforms, normally by creating visual display code that acted as a "curses"
emulator. One such port was "Macintosh Angband 2.6.1", by Keith Randall, which
added support for color, and which formed the basis for the first release of
Angband 2.7.0.
In late 1994, Charles Swiger announced that he was starting a real job and would
no longer be able to be the Angband maintainer. This induced some amount of
uproar in the Angband community (as represented by the Angband newsgroup), with
various people attempting to form "committees" to take over the maintenance of
Angband. Since committees have never given us anything but trouble (think
"COBOL"), there was very little resistance when, on the first day of 1995, Ben
Harrison made his code available, calling it "Angband 2.7.0", and by default,
taking over as the new maintainer of Angband.
Between then and 1999, Ben Harrison transformed Angband, becoming (in many
people's minds) the most important contributor to the game since Robert Koeneke.
The first and most important change he made was a massive code-level cleanup.
This, combined with the development of a generic, OS-independant interface,
allowed simple porting to many new and existing platforms (including X11, IBM
machines, OS2, Windows, Amiga, and Linux), and made possible the explosion of
variants that adds such vigor to the game today.
Major changes made in this period include:
- macros and keymaps
- user preference files
- user-customizable template files for monsters, objects, ego-items,
artifacts, vaults, and terrain features.
- more powerful and efficient line of sight, lighting, grid refresh,
and spell projection code
- better string-handling
- new or rewritten inventory and equipment management, monster processing,
object creation and effects, and a whole lot more.
After the release of Angband 2.8.3 Ben's free time was more and more occupied by
his work. He released a beta version of Angband 2.8.5, introducing many new
features, but couldn't give as much attention to maintaining the game as he
wanted to.
So in March 2000, Robert Ruehlmann offered to take over Angband and started to
fix the remaining bugs in the Angband 2.8.5 beta. The resulting version was to
be released as Angband 2.9.0. Further bugfixes and a couple of new features -
including many in the realms of user-customizability, with greater control over
ego-items, player races and classes, monsters, items and artifacts - have led to
the current version.
Contributors (incomplete):
Peter Berger, "Prfnoff", Arcum Dagsson, Ed Cogburn, Matthias Kurzke, Ben
Harrison, Steven Fuerst, Julian Lighton, Andrew Hill, Werner Baer, Tom Morton,
"Cyric the Mad", Chris Kern, Tim Baker, Jurriaan Kalkman, Alexander Wilkins,
Mauro Scarpa, John I'anson-Holton, "facade", Dennis van Es, Kenneth A. Strom,
Wei-Hwa Huang, Nikodemus, Timo Pietil�, Greg Wooledge, Keldon Jones, Shayne
Steele, Dr. Andrew White, Musus Umbra, Jonathan Ellis
A Posting from the Original Author of Moria:
From: koeneke@ionet.net (Robert Alan Koeneke) Newsgroups:
rec.games.roguelike.angband,rec.games.roguelike.moria Subject: Early history of
Moria Date: Wed, 21 Feb 1996 04:20:51 GMT
I had some email show up asking about the origin of Moria, and its relation to
Rogue. So I thought I would just post some text on the early days of Moria.
First of all, yes, I really am the Robert Koeneke who wrote the first Moria. I
had a lot of mail accussing me of pulling their leg and such. I just recently
connected to Internet (yes, I work for a company in the dark ages where Internet
is concerned) and was real surprised to find Moria in the news groups...
Angband was an even bigger surprise, since I have never seen it. I probably
spoke to its originator though... I have given permission to lots of people
through the years to enhance, modify, or whatever as long as they freely
distributed the results. I have always been a proponent of sharing games, not
selling them.
Anyway...
Around 1980 or 81 I was enrolled in engineering courses at the University of
Oklahoma. The engineering lab ran on a PDP 1170 under an early version of UNIX.
I was always good at computers, so it was natural for me to get to know the
system administrators. They invited me one night to stay and play some games,
an early startrek game, The Colossal Cave Adventure (later just 'Adventure'),
and late one night, a new dungeon game called 'Rogue'.
So yes, I was exposed to Rogue before Moria was even a gleam in my eye. In
fact, Rogue was directly responsible for millions of hours of play time wasted
on Moria and its descendents...
Soon after playing Rogue (and man, was I HOOKED), I got a job in a different
department as a student assistant in computers. I worked on one of the early
VAX 11/780's running VMS, and no games were available for it at that time. The
engineering lab got a real geek of an administrator who thought the only purpose
of a computer was WORK! Imagine... Soooo, no more games, and no more rogue!
This was intolerable! So I decided to write my own rogue game, Moria Beta 1.0.
I had three languages available on my VMS system. Fortran IV, PASCAL V1.?, and
BASIC. Since most of the game was string manipulation, I wrote the first
attempt at Moria in VMS BASIC, and it looked a LOT like Rogue, at least what I
could remember of it. Then I began getting ideas of how to improve it, how it
should work differently, and I pretty much didn't touch it for about a year.
Around 1983, two things happened that caused Moria to be born in its
recognizable form. I was engaged to be married, and the only cure for THAT is
to work so hard you can't think about it; and I was enrolled for fall to take an
operating systems class in PASCAL.
So, I investigated the new version of VMS PASCAL and found out it had a new
feature. Variable length strings! Wow...
That summer I finished Moria 1.0 in VMS PASCAL. I learned more about data
structures, optimization, and just plain programming that summer then in all of
my years in school. I soon drew a crowd of devoted Moria players... All at OU.
I asked Jimmey Todd, a good friend of mine, to write a better character
generator for the game, and so the skills and history were born. Jimmey helped
out on many of the functions in the game as well. This would have been about
Moria 2.0
In the following two years, I listened a lot to my players and kept making
enhancements to the game to fix problems, to challenge them, and to keep them
going. If anyone managed to win, I immediately found out how, and 'enhanced'
the game to make it harder. I once vowed it was 'unbeatable', and a week later
a friend of mine beat it! His character, 'Iggy', was placed into the game as
'The Evil Iggy', and immortalized... And of course, I went in and plugged up
the trick he used to win...
Around 1985 I started sending out source to other universities. Just before a
OU / Texas football clash, I was asked to send a copy to the Univeristy of
Texas... I couldn't resist... I modified it so that the begger on the town
level was 'An OU football fan' and they moved at maximum rate. They also
multiplied at maximum rate... So the first step you took and woke one up, it
crossed the floor increasing to hundreds of them and pounded you into
oblivion... I soon received a call and provided instructions on how to 'de-
enhance' the game!
Around 1986 - 87 I released Moria 4.7, my last official release. I was working
on a Moria 5.0 when I left OU to go to work for American Airlines (and yes, I
still work there). Moria 5.0 was a complete rewrite, and contained many neat
enhancements, features, you name it. It had water, streams, lakes, pools, with
water monsters. It had 'mysterious orbs' which could be carried like torches
for light but also gave off magical aura's (like protection from fire, or
aggrivate monster...). It had new weapons and treasures... I left it with the
student assistants at OU to be finished, but I guess it soon died on the vine.
As far as I know, that source was lost...
I gave permission to anyone who asked to work on the game. Several people asked
if they could convert it to 'C', and I said fine as long as a complete credit
history was maintained, and that it could NEVER be sold, only given. So I guess
one or more of them succeeded in their efforts to rewrite it in 'C'.
I have since received thousands of letters from all over the world from players
telling about their exploits, and from administrators cursing the day I was
born... I received mail from behind the iron curtain (while it was still
standing) talking about the game on VAX's (which supposedly couldn't be there
due to export laws). I used to have a map with pins for every letter I
received, but I gave up on that!
I am very happy to learn my creation keeps on going... I plan to download it
and Angband and play them... Maybe something has been added that will surprise
me! That would be nice... I never got to play Moria and be surprised...
Robert Alan Koeneke koeneke@ionet.net
Posted by Geoff Hill on the Angband newsgroup on 2004-10-31:
Well, Alex and Andy are the true fathers of Angband. And probably
Andy most of all. He's a talented coder, and I *think* (I could ask
him, perhaps!) that Angband was partly driven by him looking for a
challenge. By this, that he found Nethack a little easy, so wanted a
beefed up hack type variant, and (U)Moria seemed a good base.
And he (and I to a lesser intent) were heavily involved in Warwick LP
Mud and it was a creative time in the games world - the internet was
still fairly fresh - we were using the Joint Academic Network (JANET)
and it is a wonder that anyone ever completed their education!
Andy, to the best of my knowledge, has not ever completed Angband,
although I have heard he has been playing Z (its been a while since I
asked).
When Andy and Alex graduated it was left playable and about 2/3 of the
release it became. Sean and I picked it up from then. I think Sean
was more of a driving force, because he wanted to move it forward to
release. In my case I was just keen to tinker the game balance (I was
the completion specialist, I guess) and add and amend some things.
So we added about 1/3 of the artifacts, monsters, vault types. Added
high resists (up until then we only had the elements). Added new
breathe types. Tweaked game balance. Tweaked player races and added
race special abilities. The most time consuming part was rewriting (or
in some cases writing from scratch) the monster descriptions. It took
me forever! And it is difficult to be creative at 4am after a night
in the bar. Qllqllzuup is witness to that (drunk when that one was
done!).
Some of the artifacts from that time are remarkably untested at
release. I still think of that '1/3' as being 'new' ones and not the
true artifacts, I guess because I had a hand in writing them. So,
ones like Deathwreaker, Tulkas, Bladeturner etc are relatively untried
before release.
One area that Sean and I had a difference in opinion was in the
'Tolkien' element. I felt that it should stay more true to the
Angband theme, and he was less bothered about that. I disagreed with
him putting in Gabriel, Azriel etc as frankly I felt they had no part
in a Tolkien based world. But, no matter, Azriel has made a point of
killing me ever since to put me straight ;-).
Sean and I released it to the wider world (with the help of Charles
Teague? I am not sure when he became involved, I would perhaps have to
ask Sean for more background asI am still in touch with him). Charles
may have become involved after release, or before, I am not certain.
At that point it was only set up to make on a SunOS system, so I
suspect that many people who are better coders than me then went mad
converting it to their own systems.
I suppose if one wanted to tweak the background paragraph with any of
the above, you could, but it is largely correct as it stands. Perhaps
for completness at Sean and I's involvement it could say
'Sean Marsh and Geoff Hill took Angband over when Alex and Andy
graduated from the University of Warwick. They updated Angband with
some much needed depth, and worked remotely with Charles Teague to
release it to the community. ' and then as before about frog-knows.
Charles was not at the Uni, of course. I forget his location, as we
only ever emailed him.
The existing paragraph somewhat suggests that Sean and I released a
'copy' known as frog-knows. I suppose in some respects it was the
first variant of Angband but as it was the only version release it
became vanilla?
If so, that is ironic really, given comments earlier in this thread...
(return)
VMS Moria Version 4.8
Version 0.1 : 03/25/83
Version 1.0 : 05/01/84
Version 2.0 : 07/10/84
Version 3.0 : 11/20/84
Version 4.0 : 01/20/85
Modules :
V1.0 Dungeon Generator - RAK
Character Generator - RAK & JWT
Moria Module - RAK
Miscellaneous - RAK & JWT
V2.0 Town Level & Misc - RAK
V3.0 Internal Help & Misc - RAK
V4.0 Source Release Version - RAK
Robert Alan Koeneke Jimmey Wayne Todd Jr.
Student/University of Oklahoma Student/University of Oklahoma
Umoria Version 5.2 (formerly UNIX Moria)
Version 4.83 : 5/14/87
Version 4.85 : 10/26/87
Version 4.87 : 5/27/88
Version 5.0 : 11/2/89
Version 5.2 : 5/9/90
James E. Wilson, U.C. Berkeley
wilson@ernie.Berkeley.EDU
...!ucbvax!ucbernie!wilson
Other contributors:
D. G. Kneller - MSDOS Moria port
Christopher J. Stuart - recall, options, inventory, and running code
Curtis McCauley - Macintosh Moria port
Stephen A. Jacobs - Atari ST Moria port
William Setzer - object naming code
David J. Grabiner - numerous bug reports, and consistency checking
Dan Bernstein - UNIX hangup signal fix, many bug fixes
and many others...
Copyright (c) 1989 James E. Wilson, Robert A. Keoneke
This software may be copied and distributed for educational, research, and
not for profit purposes provided that this copyright and statement are
included in all such copies.
Umoria Version 5.2, patch level 1
Angband Version 2.0 Alex Cutler, Andy Astrand, Sean Marsh, Geoff Hill,
Charles Teague.
Angband Version 2.4 : 05/09/1993
Angband Version 2.5 : 12/05/1993 Charles Swiger
Angband Version 2.6 : 09/04/1994 Charles Swiger
Angband Version 2.7 : 01/01/1995 Ben Harrison
Angband Version 2.8 : 01/01/1997 Ben Harrison
Angband Version 2.9 : 10th April 2000 Robert Ruehlmann
Copyright (c) 1997 Ben Harrison, James E. Wilson, Robert A. Koeneke
This software may be copied and distributed for educational, research, and not
for profit purposes provided that this copyright and statement are included in
all such copies. Other copyrights may also apply.
The Sangband copyright
Sangband 0.1 - 0.8.5 : Jun 28, 1994 Chris Petit
Sangband 0.8.5 - 0.9.3 : Apr 04, 1997 Michael Gorse (mgorse@wpi.edu)
Sangband 0.9.4 - 0.9.5 : Jul 14, 1998 Julian Lighton (jl8e@fragment.com)
Sangband 1.0.0 : May 26, 2007 Leon Marrick
Copyright (c) 2007
Leon Marrick, Ben Harrison, James E. Wilson, Robert A. Koeneke
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License. Parts may also be
available under the terms of the Moria license. For more details, see
"/docs/copying.txt".
The Sangband Manual Copyright
The Sangband Manual is copyright (c) 2007 Leon Marrick (-LM-)
This work, or any portions thereof, may be freely adopted, revised,
translated, or converted into other formats, with or without explicit
permission, as long as this copyright is retained on major portions and credit
given otherwise. Other arrangements may be made by application.
Informal Bibliography
This work draws upon the following sources:
The Umoria 5.5.2 documentation
Probable authors: Robert Alan Koeneke and/or James E. Wilson
The Angband 2.0 documentation
Probable authors and revisors: Alexander Cutler and/or Andy Astrand
The Angband 3.0.3 documentation
Authors and revisors: Ben Harrison, Robert Ruehlmann, and others.
The Oangband 0.5.2 documentation
Authors and revisors: Leon Marrick, Bahman Rabii.
The Angband Macro FAQ
Author: Jim Lyon
The Angband FAQ, parts 1 and 2
Authors and revisors: Jason Holtzapple, Ben Harrison, James Andrewartha