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Ancient Domains Of Mystery
An Interactive Adventure In A Fantastic World
Copyright 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 by Thomas Biskup.
All Rights Reserved All Over The World
Dedication
----------
To my parents for always allowing me to choose my path in life.
To Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax for inventing the most wonderful
pastime ever.
Table Of Contents
-----------------
Introduction
The Coming of Chaos
The Stars & The Omens of Birth
The Player Character
The Races
The Classes
Alignment
Skills
Increasing skills
Weapon skills
Attributes
Experience and Advancement
Mindcraft
Corruptions
The Game
The Main Screen
The Display
Miscellaneous Commands
Movement
Dice
The Inventory
Filtering the stuff list
Spells
Shops
Wishing
Saving the Game
How to start -- a beginner's guide
Appendix A: Credits
Appendix B: Customizing ADOM
Appendix C: Command Line Options
Appendix D: Customizing the keymap
Introduction
------------
Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM for short) is a rogue-like game,
which means that it is a single-user game featuring the exploration of
a dungeon complex. You control a fictional character described by
race, class, attributes, skills, and equipment. This fictional
character is trying to achieve a specific goal (see below) and succeed
in a difficult quest. To fulfill the quest you have to explore
previously undiscovered tunnels and dungeons, fight hideous monsters,
uncover long forgotten secrets, and find treasures of all kind.
During the game you explore dungeon levels, which are randomly
generated each game. You might also encounter certain special levels,
which present a particular challenge or are built around a certain
theme.
IMPORTANT: If you are a first-time player you should read the 'How to
start' section of this manual.
The Coming of Chaos
-------------------
For 6000 years the world of Ancardia was left untouched by the
incursions of Chaos, but finally the sinister forces of evil and
darkness have found this young and teeming world. In a remote
mountain complex, huge dungeons were formed by great magical powers.
They seem to contain some kind of dimensional gate, which allows
terrors from unknown dimensions to enter the world of Ancardia and
wreak havoc.
For years nobody understood the true cause of sudden ambushes by evil
monsters, incursions by hideous monster armies, and the rising tide of
Chaos. Finally Khelavaster, the great sage, uncovered an ancient
prophecy foretelling the Coming of Chaos -- a dark and sinister time,
when the skill, power and valor of a single hero would determine the
future of the world. The ancient scrolls of prophecy hinted at a
remote mountain range -- the Drakalor Chain -- which was destined to
be the final battle ground for an epic fight between Chaos and Order.
Khelavaster quickly made this known to all the intelligent races of
Ancardia.
Within weeks many heroes set out to find the source of the chaotic
forces and destroy it. Khelavaster was among the first to enter those
dungeons. Many heroes have followed him since then but no one has
ever returned from the dungeons. Thus the forces of Chaos continue
their conquest and threaten to defile Ancardia...
You are one of those young heroes willing to risk your life to defeat
the forces of Chaos, gain fame, fortune, power, and ultimately save
your world and your people. After weeks of arduous travel you have
finally reached the center of the Drakalor Chain and now face the
entrance to those dungeons of mystery, which must contain a means to
save your world. You were told to visit a small village by the name
of "Terinyo" and talk to the village elder for he might have the
latest information about the region. Steady yourself and be prepared
to engage in a heroic struggle for the fate of your home world!
The Price of the Game
---------------------
ADOM is available for free as long as you honor the license of the
game (either see the file 'license.doc' or type 'adom -b' at your
command line. If you want to thank me (Thomas Biskup) for creating
ADOM, maintaining it, fixing all discovered bugs, providing support
and generally spending a lot of time on the game and if you are having
fun with the game, please consider rewarding my efforts by sending a
postcard to the following address from wherever you are living:
Thomas Biskup
Timmerbrinksweg 37
45896 Gelsenkirchen
Germany
I *love* receiving postcards from all over the world. Weigh the fun
ADOM provided to you against the ten minutes you probably need to send
write and send such a postcard -- and if you find that you like and
enjoy the game -- please do it. I'm really not asking much... am I?
To further the development of the game...
-----------------------------------------
There is an institution called 'World Charts Download Top 100 Games'
available on the Internet which lists the favorite games of netizens
all over the game. You can vote for ADOM on this chart (at the point
of this being written ADOM holds place #2 on that list). The further
ADOM advances to the top the more I am encouraged to add even more
nifty and exciting features to the game (if people like my game, my
work has meaning and this greatly boosts my enthusiasm). To vote you
just need to visit the following WWW page and follow the links at that
place:
http://www.worldcharts.com/gld.html
The Horoscope
-------------
The sky of Ancardia is covered by a myriad of stars. One moon is circling
the world, too. The inhabitants of Ancardia believe in the magical forces
controlling the movements of the celestial bodies. Magic energies influence
ones life dependent on the time of birth.
Each month is named after a particular star sign. One year has 12 months,
each with four weeks of seven days each. In addition there are two special
days in each month which don't belong to any week. The first day in a month
is Darknight, when no moon is visible. The 16th day of a month is called
Silvernight, when the moon shines brightly. Darknight is considered to be a
dangerous day followed by a night filled with evil magics. In contrast
Silvernight is a joyful day (where usually nobody works) and is followed by
a night full of feasts and reveries.
During the day of Darknight all evil magics are very strong while good
magics are severly hampered. On the day of Silvernight good magics enjoy
great advantages while evil magics are severely hindered.
The weeks usually are named Oneweek, Twoweek, Threeweek and Fourweek.
Thus a typical month is structured like this:
Day Specific Name
----- -------------
1 Darknight
2- 8 Oneweek
9-15 Twoweek
16 Silvernight
17-23 Threeweek
24-30 Fourweek
The following twelve star signs are used to name the months:
Spring ........ Book .......... 2
Wand .......... 3
Unicorn ....... 4
Summer ........ Salamander .... 5
Dragon ........ 6
Sword ......... 7
Autumn ........ Falcon ........ 8
Cup ........... 9
Candle ........ 10
Winter ........ Wolf .......... 11
Tree .......... 12
Raven ......... 1
When the game is started a star sign is determined (together with the
birthday of your character). The star sign has some effects on the career
of the character. Note that some signs are quite variable in the attributes
they govern. Also he will be slightly favoured during the month named after
his star sign. Finally characters tend to be very lucky on their birthday.
You might want to consider these factors when creating a character.
Raven: Death, Messengers, Companion, Tricks
Book: Knowledge, Learning, Laws
Wand: Laws, Neutral Magic, Leadership
Unicorn: Grace, Beauty, Purity, Innocence, Dignity
Salamander: Magic (especially fire), Eloquency
Dragon: Ferocity, Combat, Might, Rulership, Anger, Combat Magic
Sword: Combat, Execution, Tactics, Strategy
Falcon: Nobility, Hunt, Force of Personality
Cup: Collected Knowledge, Experience, Comradery
Candle: Hope, Life, Serenity, Transition
Wolf: Hunt, Ferocity, Community with Nature, Devotion, Loyalty
Tree: Tradition, Inflexibility
The game itself begins on the first day of the month of the Unicorn.
Game-related effects of star signs
----------------------------------
Each star sign has specific game effects which will be enumerated
below:
Raven
*****
Harder to trick by deceptions, messengers will reach you faster,
youself are faster (+5 to speed), companions are more powerful, +2 to
initial Perception.
Book
****
Lawful tendencies (it's harder to change), one free skill increase
per level, increased chance to learn spells.
Wand
****
Lawful tendencies (it's harder to change), spells for neutral casters
are 10% cheaper in power points, +2 to initial Charisma, starts out
with lawful tendencies but gets +2 to Mana and 10% more power points
if neutral initially.
Unicorn
*******
Harder to corrupt by Chaos effects, hard to change to a different
alignment once lawful, +2 to initial Appearance.
Salamander
**********
Fire magic is 20% cheaper in power points, +1 to initial Charisma, +3
to initial Mana, +20% to power points (always).
Dragon
******
50% increased effects from Tactics settings, -3 to initial Willpower,
+2 to initial Strength, +1 to initial Toughness, costs to increase
weapon skills are reduced by 10%.
Sword
*****
Positive modifiers from Tactics settings are increased by 50%, costs
to increase melee weapon skills are reduced by 20%, +1 to the initial
Learning score.
Falcon
******
Very good at surviving in the wilderness, +2 to initial Willpower, +1
to initial Charisma.
Cup
***
Requires 10% less experience points to advance in level, receives one
free skill advance every two levels, learns spells more effectively
(20% better than others), +2 to initial Learning.
Candle
******
Heals faster, the gods are more forgiving when asked for favours.
Wolf
****
+3 to initial Perception, +3 to initial Willpower, food is more
nutritious for you (by +10%).
Tree
****
It's generally hard to change alignment, +5 to initial willpower.
The Player Character
--------------------
To be able to fight Chaos, you will have to create a fictional
character, often called the player character (or PC). This character
will be chosen from one of the intelligent races of Ancardia, will
undergo long and hard hours of training to learn a profession and many
skills enhancing his chance to defeat evil and finally save the world.
All these concepts are explained in detail in the sections below.
The Races
---------
In ADOM, a wide variety of fantasy races can be chosen for your player
character. Each race has certain advantages and disadvantages and
receives different equipment and attributes. Each race also gains
some default skills as their cultural heritage (see the section on
skills for a complete list of all available skills in the game). You
can choose among the following races:
HUMAN -- Humans are the most generic of all races. They tend to be
adaptable, suited for every profession and generally well equipped.
They are also very fast learners. While humans do not have any other
special advantages, they don't suffer from any disadvantages either.
Humans train in the following skills: Climbing, Food Preservation,
Haggling, and Swimming.
TROLL -- Trolls are extremely huge and strong creatures with large
muscles, pointy teeth, big horns and a lot of hair all over their
body. They are nearly always in a bad mood. Most races shun them
because of this. Trolls are by far the strongest and the dumbest race
available in this game. They make for excellent fighters and lousy
magicians. Trolls are somewhat disadvantaged by their great size
(good targets!) and the great amounts of food they need to sustain
their bulk. They also learn very slowly and need a lot of experience
points to advance in their profession. On the positive side, they are
by far the toughest and strongest race in the game and heal real fast.
Trolls train in the following skills: Athletics, Bridge Building, Food
Preservation, Gemology and Mining.
HIGH ELF -- High Elves are a beautiful race of immortal creatures.
High Elves are of slender build, nearly six feet 10 inches tall and
generally have golden or auburn hair and amber or purple eyes. Their
ears are very pointed and their skin is very fair. They live in the
forests, where they like to hunt, frolic, engage in musical and
romantic affairs and generally have a good time. They tend to shun
the other races, partially because of their arrogance and partially
because they have had conflicts with most other races in their long
history. High Elves are excellent fighters (great shots with their
deadly long bows!) and mages. Their magical powers are especially
noteworthy. On the negative side, they are not very well-liked and
somewhat frail.
High Elves train in the following skills: Dodge, Listening, Literacy,
and Stealth.
GRAY ELF -- Gray Elves are the most noble of all elven races. Their
beauty is ethereal, they move with unsurpassed grace and are among the
greatest mana-wielders in the game. Gray Elves look similar in
appearance to High Elves, although most of them sport silver or golden
hair and purple or light blue eyes. They are even of more slender
built than their lesser cousins. But besides their great beauty, they
are arrogant and haughty beings, generally disliked by most other
races, that have contact with them (which is next to no one on regular
basis... mostly you will meet a Gray Elf in a chance encounter -- if
you notice them at all!). Gray Elves tend to regard all the non-elven
races as lesser beings, more closely related to animals than to "True
Beings", as they like to call themself. They are also even more
frail than their lesser cousins, which they balance with a greatly
enhanced agility and magical powers, of which other races only dream.
Gray Elves train in the following skills: Dodge, Listening, Literacy,
and Stealth.
DARK ELF -- Dark Elves are as evil as Gray Elves are beautiful. Many
millennia ago they were exiled into the Underdark after a long and
hateful war with the other elven sub-races. Dark Elves worship
Lol'th, the evil demon queen of all spiders. In the millennia beneath
the earth, they were corrupted by the dark secrets they managed to
unearth. Their skin is as black as their souls. In contrast their
heir is of pure white color. Dark Elves are of very slender frame and
slightly smaller than their surface-dwelling cousins. Dark Elves are
hated and feared by almost everyone (because of their cruelty and lack
of mercy). They possess great magical talents, are very nimble and
have an excellent perception in the underground. Because of their
long absence from the sunlight, they are almost blind when adventuring
in the daylight. Their greatest enemies are their surface cousins.
Despite the general evil disposition of this race over the centuries,
they have spawned some very rare individuals, who have left their
homelands and are eternally remembered in legends and song because of
their valor, goodwill and courage.
Dark Elves train in the following skills: Alertness, Climbing, Find
Weakness, and Stealth.
DWARF -- Dwarves are a small, hardy and taciturn race. They barely
grow to be four and a half feet. They body is stocky and their
endurance is legendary. Dwarves are especially proud of their long
beards and their great craftsmanship with metals. The dwarven race
has spawned the greatest of all smiths. Their skill in forging
weapons and armor is unsurpassed, as is their greed for gold. They
are able warriors, brave to the fault, have an excellent sight in the
underground and are experts at detecting secret doors and traps.
Dwarves train in the following skills: Climbing, Detect Traps,
Metallurgy, Mining and Smithing.
GNOME -- Gnomes are the smaller cousins of dwarves. They live in
rolling hills and wooded valleys. They are great connoisseurs of gems
and the best gem carvers known in the whole world. Gnomes are famous
for their very black humor and their great magical skills. They are
about four feet high and not so stocky like dwarves. They groom their
beards very well, although they generally favor short cropped beards.
Gnomes are great leather workers and gnomish boots are a quality
product every race greatly enjoys (except trolls maybe). Their
greatest enemies are the kobolds living in the tunnels below the
mountains. They normally attack each other on sight.
Gnomes train in the following skills: Gemology, Listening, Mining,
Pick Pockets, and Ventriloquism.
HOBBIT -- Hobbits are the smallest of the little people. They grow to
be an average three to three and a half feet high. They are sturdy
and brave. Most hobbits prefer to walk without shoes. Their feet are
very well accustomed to this, as they sport a leathery sole and are
covered with thick and bushy hair. Hobbits rarely wear beards and
generally prefer short-cut hair. Hobbits (mostly) are not an
adventurous people. They enjoy their burrows, like to farm and sit
together to tell stories. Their greatest pride are their beautiful
gardens and the good tobacco they produce. Hobbits generally mistrust
outsiders and foreigners and shun them most of the time. A hobbit
needs six meals a day to be happy and a comfortable bed to sleep in.
Those few hobbits, that chose to be an adventurer, are mostly very
talented thieves. Because of their small size and their low strength,
hobbits are not very well suited to be fighters.
Hobbits train in the following skills: Archery, Cooking, Food
Preservation, Gardening and Stealth.
ORC -- Orcs belong to the dark races, created in the same dark pits as
trolls. They mostly are the arch nemesis of many of the intelligent
races, as they reproduce quickly and enjoy plundering, killing and
spreading havoc in general. The average orc is five and a half to six
feet high, weighs 130 to 150 pounds and has a gray to black skin.
Their eyes glow red in the dark. Orcs shun sunlight, as it tends to
hurt their eyes greatly. Because orcs mostly live in the underground
they are very good at detecting secret doors. Orcs make for good
fighters and are also known to spawn mighty priests serving their
cruel war deity, Gruumsh, the One-Eyed and All-Seeing.
Orcs train in the following skills: Backstabbing, Climbing, Find
Weakness, Metallurgy and Mining.
DRAKELING -- Drakelings are humanoid lizard-like creatures about six
feet tall. They weigh 150 to 200 pounds and are covered with blue or
green scales. They speak with a hissing accent and normally wear few
clothes (besides their armor and weapons). Drakelings are able to
spit a powerful acid at enemies, although this fatigues them. The
origins of the Drakeling race are hidden in a past long forgotten.
They reappeared some years ago and quickly spread across the
continent. Sages believe, that they remained in a kind of hibernation
for many centuries, which only recently ended. Drakelings are good at
everything. They are very deadly shots with a weapon unique to their
race, the drakish scurgar.
Drakelings are cold-blooded creatures. Therefor extreme
temperatures influence them: if it gets cold they slow down. On the
other hand great heat is beneficial for them as it speeds up their
reflexes.
Drakelings train in the following skills: Alertness, Food
Preservation, Music, and Swimming.
The Classes
-----------
In ADOM every character belongs to a certain profession, which
describes, what he learned in his youth. This profession is called a
class and determines his special abilities and starting equipment
(equipment is also dependent on race). Also each class receives a
skill package to account for the knowledge you gain during your
apprenticeship (see the section on skills for a complete list of all
skills available in the game). The following classes can be chosen:
ARCHER -- Archers are deadly shots. Although the name of their class
seems to imply this, not all of them prefer to use bows. The race of
an archer has great influence on their preferred missile weapon.
Archers are expert fighters in missile combat, rarely missing their
targets and trained to hit the vital spots of their opponents. In
close combat archers are less formidable, although they still are
dangerous.
Archers are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Archery,
Climbing, Concentration, Dodge, Fletchery, Listening, and Stealth.
ASSASSIN -- Assassins are a dark and mysterious class. They are
trained to end the life of their opponents quickly and silently. Many
of them favor poisons to achieve this goal.
Assassins are trained in the following skills: Alchemy, Alertness,
Archery, Backstabbing, Climbing, Detect Traps, Find Weakness, Open
Locks, and Stealth.
BARBARIAN -- Barbarians hail from the harsh northern lands of
Ancardia, from the roughest mountain peaks, the wildest hills and the
most remote forests. What they lack in equipment they more than
equalize with their great strength, enormous toughness and deadly
weaponry. Barbarians are very well accustomed in the arts of battle
and are well prepared to cope with the dangers of the wilderness.
Barbarians are trained in the following skills: Athletics, Climbing,
Dodge, First Aid, Herbalism, Stealth, Survival, Swimming, Two Weapon
Combat, and Woodcraft.
BARD -- Bards are musicians, entertainers and entrepreneurs. They try
to make an easy living by telling good stories for a meal. Most of
them are below average fighters and possess not much equipment. This
is balanced by their knack to stumble upon strange items. Also bards
make fast friends with strange beings at times. A bard starts his
dungeoneering life with one loyal monster or animal companion. Once a
bard has become friends with another being, this friendship lasts for
a lifetime. Many legendary bards in Ancardia were accompanied by
monster or animal companions of equal fame. It is said that talented
bards are able to calm the spirit of the beast with their ethereal
music.
Bards are not trained in specific skills (except for Music), but
rather receive a randomly determined group of skills.
BEASTFIGHTER -- Beastfighters are partially mystic, partially
primitive warriors, which excel at weaponless combat. They are
lightly armored but extremely tough and fearsome opponents due to
their weaponless fighting style. They are well accustomed to
wilderness settings and very resistant to poisons -- especially to
animal poisons. The more experienced a beastfighter becomes, the more
deadly he is in melee combat.
Beastfighters are trained in the following skills: Athletics,
Climbing, Dodge, Healing, Herbalism, Listening, Stealth, Swimming, and
Survival.
DRUIDS -- Druids are nature priests. They worship the Old Gods and
regard all nature as a holy thing to worship and protect. Their
specialty are spells of nature and protection. It is said that no
animal will willingly harm a druid.
Druids are trained in the following skills: Climbing, Concentration,
First Aid, Healing, Herbalism, Listening, Literacy, Survival,
Swimming, and Woodcraft.
ELEMENTALISTS -- Elementalists are magicians specialized on dealing
with the four elements: fire, water, earth and air. Their spells
specifically deal with those elements and their magic equipment
reflects this preference, too. Elementalists normally don't use
written magic but employ powers they harness from within. Their magic
thus is somewhat limited in one way and a lot more powerful in other
ways. Elementalists generally use a less scientific approach to magic
than wizards usually do.
Elementalists are trained in the following skills: Climbing,
Concentration, Gemology, Healing, Listening, Literacy, Metallurgy, and
Swimming.
FARMER -- Even among the most average folks there are some valiant and
larger-than-life persons which are born to become more than their
parents and grand parents. After the news about the impending danger
had spread throughout the lands, those people started their journey to
the location in the Drakalor Chain which might change their destiny --
and the destiny of their world. Farmers are neither great fighters
nor skilled magicians but they possess inner strength and endurance
from years of labour. Often they are accompanied by their trusted
dogs. They are accustomed to hunger and hardship and often have very
little to loose compared to the amount of fame they might be able to
win. Equipped with a broad knowledge about herbs and food they are
probably the best prepared class (except for barbarians and
beastfighters) for extensive travels.
Farmers are trained in the following skills: Archery, Bridge building,
First Aid, Food Preservation, Gardening, Haggling, Herbalism,
Smithing, Stealth, Survival, and Woodcraft.
FIGHTER -- Fighters are simple warriors, who learned, how to best face
an opponent in melee combat. Most of them are well armed and armored.
Fighters are tough and strong due to their physical training.
Fighters are trained in the following skills: Athletics, Archery,
Dodge, Find Weakness, Metallurgy, Stealth, Swimming, and Two Weapon
Combat.
HEALER -- Healers are exactly that -- masters of the arts of healing,
well equipped with magical healing items and means to examine
patients. Most of them are very robust and resistant to poisons and
diseases. Healers are not great fighters. They prefer to save lives
than to take them, although they are nonetheless able to live through
fights.
Healers are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Concentration,
Cooking, Find Weakness, First Aid, Healing, Herbalism, and Literacy.
MERCHANT -- Merchants are masters of trade and bartering. They almost
all are very wealthy, charming and experts in communication. Each
merchant specializes in trading with a certain type of magical items
during their apprenticeship. At the beginning of their career they
are equipped with a sample of items to trade with (or use them).
Merchants are neither well-armed nor well-armored and have to be
careful in fights. Should they encounter one of the rare dungeon
shops, they probably will make some great deals.
Merchants are trained in the following skills: Appraising, Detect Item
Status, Gemology, Haggling, Herbalism, Literacy, Metallurgy, Pick
Pockets and Survival.
MINDCRAFTERS -- Mindcrafters use a very exotic and very different
magic. They utilize their mental powers to evoke astonishing effects.
Mindcrafters are very rare and only few people ever have heard about
them. While they are physically weak, they are mentally extremely
strong and resistant.
Mindcrafters are trained in the following skills: Concentration, Find
Weakness, Gemology, Haggling, Herbalism, Literacy, Music, and Stealth.
MONK -- Monks are able martial artists striving to achieve perfect
mastery of body, mind and spirit. They are experts at fighting
unarmed, very good at dodging attacks and strong of will. Monks need
to be unencumbered to be able to use their special martial art powers.
Monks take vows of poverty at their initiation to prevent distraction
through worldly means.
Monks are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Athletics,
Concentration, Dodge, Find Weakness, Healing, Literacy, and Stealth.
NECROMANCER -- Necromancers are practitioners of the dark arts.
Though not very effective in melee combat their spells are deadly and
dangerous. Their most horrible power though is the ability to animate
corpses and use them as slaves. Luckily only humanoid corpses can be
used in this evil way. Necromancers are outlawed and despised in most
places and feared and avoided like the plague in all other locations.
Necromancers are able to command the slaves they create. Their slaves
will follow these commands without questioning. To invoke a command you
need to press 'C-x'.
Necromancers are trained in the following skills: Alchemy, Appraising,
Concentration, Find Weakness, Herbalism, Literacy, Necromancy, and
Stealth.
PALADIN -- Paladins are noble fighters (from the point of view of
their respective race... an orc paladin is _very_ different from a
human paladin). They are well trained both in physical activities
(not as well as fighters but still very good) and in philosophical
activities (not as good as priests but...). Paladins generally are
very well equipped by their respective churches. Many of them possess
blessed items.
Paladins are trained in the following skills: Athletics,
Concentration, Dodge, Healing, Law (if they are lawful initially),
Literacy, Stealth, Swimming, and Two Weapon Combat.
PRIEST -- Priests serve the various gods. They receive magic powers
from their gods but are servants for their whole lifetime. Many of
them carry holy items.
Priests are trained in the following skills: Concentration, Detect
Item Status, First Aid, Healing, Herbalism, Literacy, and Music.
RANGER -- Rangers are fighters favoring natural environments. They are
excellent trackers and masters at fighting with two weapons. Most of
them are wearing light armor to retain their mobility but in turn are
well armed. Many rangers carry missile weapons.
Rangers are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Archery,
Athletics, Climbing, Food Preservation, Healing, Herbalism, Survival,
Swimming, Two Weapon Combat, and Woodcraft.
THIEF -- Need we say more? For the sake of completeness: Thieves are
very good at stealing, opening locks, finding and disarming traps and
other criminal activities.
Thieves are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Appraising,
Climbing, Detect Traps, Disarm traps, Listening, Open Locks, Pick
Pockets, and Stealth.
WEAPONSMITH -- Weaponsmiths are crafty men and women able to create
new weapons, repair damaged metal equipment and improve items.
Weaponsmiths normally are well-equipped and carry the tools of their
trade. They are strong and resilient, hardened by many hours of
strenuous work.
Weaponsmiths are trained in the following skills: Appraising,
Athletics, Concentration, Detect Traps, Find Weakness, Haggling,
Metallurgy, and Smithing.
WIZARD -- Wizards are masters of the 'art'. They wield great
magically powers and are able to create fireballs, lightning strikes
and magical protection spells. Their great magical powers are
balanced by their mediocre fighting abilities. Most mages spend their
life studying books and conducting arcane experiments in hidden
laboratories and thus have next to no time to practice their physical
skills.
Wizards are trained in the following skills: Alchemy, Concentration,
Find Weakness, Healing, Herbalism, Literacy, Stealth, and
Ventriloquism.
Alignment
---------
One very important characteristic of the persona you are creating is
his alignment. ADOM depicts the epic struggle between Law and Chaos
and your character needs to take one side! Either your PC will side
with Law and bring order to the multiverse or your PC will side with
the everchanging forces of Chaos and bring chaos, change and upheaval
to the world. There even might be a third way, but will your PC find
out how to proceed on this path?
Generally alignments represent the basic moral ideas and beliefs of
the character. A lawful character believes in law, order, the welfare
of the whole community, tradition, peace and happiness. Chaotic
characters enjoy change, are creative but are also quite selfish and
generally are an unorganized lot. Many of the more extreme chaotic
beings are downright evil, many extreme chaotics are quite mad.
Lastly there are the neutral beings, which apply the best or worst
principles of both sides to make up their basic belief system.
All in all the system is not as "black and white" as it might seem.
There are many shades. Nonetheless the basic axis looks like this:
Chaos <-----------------> Neutrality <-----------------> Law
In ADOM every being has an alignment. Your PC's initial alignment
depends on his race: High Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits are lawful
initially, while Trolls, Orcs and Dark Elves are chaotic. All other
races are initially neutral. Choosing to be a necromancer also alters
the alignment towards Chaos. If your character starts out as a Druid,
he will always be neutral.
In ADOM these alignments are sorted into five categories. A shortcut
describing the current category your PC belongs to will always be
listed on the screen to represent your PC's current position. The
following five symbols are possible:
L+ : The character is extremely lawful. He might be able to become a
very powerful Champion of Law.
L : The character is lawful. He can become a Champion of Law.
N : The character has not yet chosen a side, but prefers to remain
unaligned.
N= : The character is as close to total neutrality as possible for a
mortal.
He can become a Champion of Balance.
C : The character is chaotic. He can become a Champion of Chaos.
C- : The character is extremely chaotic. He might be able to become a
very mighty Champion of Chaos.
There are also four "in-between" alignments which show your characters
tendencies. Generally the alignment is still rated according to the
first letter of the alignment description (L for lawful, N for neutral
and C for chaotic). Nonetheless these in-between alignments indicate
that a change to the alignment described by the second letter might be
impending due to your PC's actions. The following special alignment
descriptions are possible:
LN : Lawful with tendencies towards Neutrality.
NL : Neutral with tendencies towards Law.
NC : Neutral with tendencies towards Chaos.
CN : Chaotic with tendencies towards Neutrality.
Thus the complete range of alignment order from Law to Chaos looks like this:
L+ -- L -- LN ---- NL -- N -- N= -- N -- NC ---- CN -- C -- C-
L A W F U L N E U T R A L C H A O T I C
Now the final question: what effect does alignment have upon the game?
Depending on the alignment a different deity is worshipped. Some
items might be more or less useful for your character depending on the
alignment. Other beings might react in different manners depending on
the alignment. There are lots of things that can happen... try to
find out for yourself.
Skills
------
Each character possesses a certain number of skills, which allow for
actions that cannot be simply described by class, level and race.
Skills are rated as a score of 0 to 100. The score given can be
assumed to be the average chance of success in percent when trying an
average feat. This chance is lowered when trying something difficult
and raised when trying something simple. There is always a chance for
automatic success and automatic failure.
A NOTE ON HIGH SKILL SCORES: High skill scores are generally very
helpful although they can be particularly effective with some specific
skills. All skills below marked with a '+' will make ADOM behave in a
special way if the score is greater than or equal to 80 or equal to 100.
If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will
internally always make two skill checks when one was requested by the
circumstances and use the better result.
If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill
checks whenever requested to do one and will also use the best result.
Some skills need training material so that you can improve them. On
the skill screen in the game such skills are marked with a '(mr)', if
training material still is required (and thus currently no improvement
is possible) or with '(ma)' if the required training material is
available. Skills, which need such material, are marked with a [!]
below.
Skills can be marked so that you can select often used skills
a lot faster. How to do this is described at the end of this section.
Not all of the skills listed below are immediately available to
your character. Some are available to everyone by default, some skills are
determined by your race and some by your class. If you would receive a
skill due to class _and_ race, the skill score will be higher than normal.
The following skills are available during the game (skills marked with a
[*] are default skills available to everyone):
Alchemy: Alchemy allows you to brew magical potions. To use this
skill you need to collect the ingredients required to mix magical
potions. Also it would be useful to have the recipe for a potion at
hand.
Alertness [+]: This skill is used automatically. It helps to
sense traps and invisible monsters although it is not too effective
(which basically means that an active search for traps with the
respective skill has a much higher chance of success). It can save
your character from some nasty surprises at times. It's also *very*
helpful when trying to dodge combat magic, since high reflexes (as
created by a high alertness skill) will help to dodge combat magic
with lightning speed. Finally a high skill value grants some minor DV
bonusses, +1 at 75+, +2 at 90+ and +4 at 100.
Appraising [+]: This skill allows to estimate the value and
power of unknown items. Items are rated on the following scale:
horrible
terrible
poor
mediocre
fair
good
great
superb
amazing
A score of poor and below should be considered to be a warning.
Handle such items with great care!
Archery: This skill increases your skill with missile weapons.
Archers receive a bonus of +1 to hit per 10 points in this score and a
bonus of +1 to damage per 20 points in this score. All other classes
receive a bonus of +1 to hit per 25 points in this skill and a bonus of +1
to damage per 40 points of skill score. This skill also slightly increases
the range of your missile attacks on a successful skill check (which is done
automatically whenever you use a missile).
Athletics: This skill is a passive skill. It is used to raise your
physical attributes by training your muscles and movement powers. Whenever
you raise a level, this skill influences your chance to raise a physical
attribute. Athletics works especially well for characters with low (< 10)
to very low (< 5) physical attributes. This skill also slightly influences
your looks.
Athletics also effect your speed score. At 70+ you gain +1 to
speed, at 75 you gain +2 to speed, at 80 you gain +3 to speed, at 85
you gain +4 to speed, at 90 you gain +5 to speed, at 95 you gain +6 to
speed and at 100 you gain +8 to speed.
Backstabbing [+]: This skill increases your chance to hit and
your chance to score a critical hit when you attack friendly or
neutral monsters.
Bridge Building [!+]: This skill allows to build bridges.
Climbing [*+]: This skill is used to climb out of pits and holes.
Concentration: This skill influences the time required to
regenerate lost magic points. A high skill value also makes it easier to
learn new spells.
At score 75+ you regain mana points a lot faster, this once
more increases at 90+ and finally at 100.
Cooking [!+]: Cooked food is more nutritious and less prone to rot
away. Very effective if used on corpses. You need a cooking set to
use this skill.
Courage: It is difficult to be a cold-blooded warrior when you
are surrounded by dozens of enemies in a horrible fray. Usually your
PC will receive disadvantages in combat when surrounded and attacked
by lots of opponents. Once a certain critical number of attackers is
surpassed (two for fighters, paladins, rangers, monks, barbarians and
beastfighters; one for all others) your combat abilities will
deterioate. Your character receives a -1 to hit per monster above the
critical number, the monsters above the critical nmumber receive a +2
to hit per such monster and your chances to hit with missiles are
reduced by -4 per such monster above the critical number...
...unless you know this skill. This skill will allow you to
remain calm and cold-headed in bloody situations and thus mass attacks
by monster hordes might be less effective. It's a skill you need to
learn somewhere *in* the game.
Detect Item Status: This skill is automatically used to determine
the {cursed|uncursed|blessed} status of items. This skill is comparable to
the automatic ability of priests (in version of ADOM older than 0.9.0) to
discover the status of an item.
Detect Traps: This skill must be explicitly used to discover
hidden traps. It also helps to avoid known traps. The 'Search' command
also activates this skill.
Disarm Traps [+]: This skill allows to disarm previously
discovered traps. Be careful... if you fail a check badly, you might
spring the trap!
Dodge: This skill increases your Defensive Value. The higher
your dodge skill the more points will be added to your DV (+1 for
Dodge 1-30, +2 for Dodge 31-50, +3 for Dodge 51-65, +4 for Dodge
66-75, +5 for Dodge 76-83, +6 for Dodge 84-90, +7 for Dodge 91-95, +8
for Dodge 96-99 and +10 for Dodge 100). Dodging is also in a minor
way helpful for evading combat magic cast on you (Alertness is more
helpful since it trains the subconscious reflexes, which are more
important since combat magic is so fast).
Find weakness: This skill increases your chance to score a
critical hit when fighting monsters.
First aid [*+]: This skill allows to stop bleeding wounds and
even might allow you to recover some hit points... but only if those
hit points were lost very recently.
Fletchery [!+]: With this skill you can create new arrows and bolts.
You need a fletchery set and some wood to use it.
Food preservation: This skill is automatically used. Certain
types of food (mainly corpses) decompose over the time and finally
vanish. Food preservation helps to prevent such food from decomposing. If
given enough time food will nonetheless decompose... this skill only helps
to slow down the process.
Gardening [+]: This skill enables the character to plant herbs and
to later harvest them. This might come handy since some herbs have
magical properties.
Gemology [+]: This skill is used to identify gems and separate them
from worthless pieces of glass.
Haggling [*]: This skill allows to haggle down prices for
item. Charisma is also important but a PC good at haggling probably
will have few problems to make a bargain. Please note, that although
you might have bargained successfully at times, the price for
individual items won't necessarily go down, since ADOM drops all
fractions and rounds prices.
Healing: Healing covers long-term treatment of wounds and
diseases. Long-term treatment is used automatically. A high healing skill
allows for a quicker hit point recovery. Also the chances to survive
wasting sicknesses are greatly increased by high healing skill.
Herbalism: Herbalism cover both plant and herb lore. A character
skilled in herbalism will be easier able to recognize some of the strange
plants that grow in the dungeons. Also, when collecting herbs, such a
character will have a definite advantage over unskilled characters.
Law [+]: Law allows you to notice (maybe) whenever you go
beyond law and commit a chaotic act.
Listening [*]: This skills allows to better notice sounds. It is
automatically checked whenever the need arises. If you want your character
to be very very perceptive, you should take care of your skill value in
this skill.
Literacy [+]: This skill governs your ability to read and
write texts. If your learning score is at least 10 and you are
neither a barbarian or a beastfighter you will receive this skill for
free.
Metallurgy [+]: This skill is automatically used. When you discover
metal ingots it allows for automatic identification (not always, but...).
It is of great importance to weaponsmiths. It can also be actively used to
determine the type of metal an item is produced from (the item needs to be
identified for this). The higher your skill score is the more detailed the
results will be.
Mining [+]: This skill determines your ability in building
tunnels. You'll need to use a pick axe to do that. The higher the
skill is, the less time you need to dig a tunnel section.
Music [+]: This skill controls your ability to play musical
instruments. Some people contend that it is possible to tame wild
animals if you are a very skilled musician.
Necromancy: This dark and forbidden art allows the user to
create undead creatures which will serve him (or her). But there is a
price to it... and don't forget to bring the necessary corpses for
animation.
It's also important to note, that Necromancers using this
skill are a lot more versatile than simple dabblers in necromantic
affairs. Necromancer receive a wide variety of choices for the type
of undead they wish to create (starting with level 6).
Pick locks: This skill allows to open locked doors, chests and
hatches. To utilize it you need some kind of thieves picks. If a
lock is trapped, the trap will probably be sprung when successfully
unlocking the door without disarming the trap.
Pick pockets: This skill allows to steal small items from the
pockets of certain monsters. Not every monster will carry treasures
around, not every treasure will be accessible and finally you always risk
making your victim very angry (at least if your victim notices your
attempt).
Smithing: Smithing allows the PC to repair damaged or destroyed
metal items. It is hard to use, because you need the necessary tools to
practice it, the material to work with and finally you have to find a
smithy.
Stealth [+]: This skill prevents some monsters from noticing
the character. If you are very good at it you might be able to sneak
past monsters or mount a surprise attack.
Survival [+]: This skill allows the character to gather food while
travelling through the wilderness. It can be very handy since more
than one adventurer already starved while in the wilderness.
Swimming: This skill enables you to traverse bodies of water. To
fail an attempt to swim can be very deadly nonetheless.
Tactics: This skill modifies the bonuses and penalties yielded
by the 'T' command (see the command list), which allows to control the
fighting techniques of a character. No character starts out with this
skill -- you'll have to learn it somewhere.
Two weapon combat: This skill increases your offensive power when
fighting with two weapons. Your chance to hit is increased by +1 per 20
points in this skill.
Ventriloquism: This skill can be used to confuse monsters.
You try to project another voice and if successful, this helps to
confuse monsters for two or more turns. This skill is very difficult
to use effectively.
Woodcraft [+]: Whoever uses this skill is able to act competently
while crossing woods and trying to work on trees. Many woodcutters
and rangers learn this skill.
Increasing skills
-----------------
Skills can be increased in several ways.
If you practice a skill quite a lot, you might receive automatic
increases in your skill score from time to time.
You are also allowed to raise your skill score when you advance to
a new level. Increasing skills in this way is not very effective since you
normally are not allowed to increase your skills by a lot of points when
advancing a level. Practicing the skill often and training a little bit
(it is said that some skilled trainers are living in the area known as the
Drakalor Chain) can help a lot in this regard.
Marking Skills for Quick Selection
----------------------------------
By using the 'A' command you can mark skills with a number from 0 to
9. This allows you to quickly select skills you like to use very
often in a speedier way. If you have marked one or more skills and
press the 'a' key, you will be asked whether you want to use a marked
skill or choose from the complete list.
Since many skills in ADOM are passive (automatically used), it
might be a good idea to mark such skills like 'Detect Traps', 'First
Aid' and others.
Weapon skills
-------------
Every character also has some weapon skills he can train. Weapon
skills can only be increased one way: by practice. Basically this
means that your skill will increase after a certain number of
successful attacks (hits). Depending on the weapon type, this can
result in increases in to-hit and to-damage ratings. Hand weapons
also can yield a bonus to the characters DV. If a character achieves
Grand Mastery with a melee weapon, he is allowed to attack _twice_ per
round with that weapon.
For melee weapons the following numbers are used:
Weapon Level To hit To damage DV Level
------------ ------ --------- -- -----
0 0 0 0 unskilled
1 +1 0 0 basic
2 +2 0 0 basic
3 +2 +1 0 basic
4 +2 +1 +1 skilled
5 +3 +2 +1 skilled
6 +5 +2 +1 skilled
7 +5 +3 +2 skilled
8 +6 +4 +2 excellent
9 +7 +5 +3 excellent
10 +9 +6 +3 excellent
11 +10 +7 +4 Mastery
12 +12 +8 +4 Mastery
13 +14 +10 +4 Mastery
14 +16 +11 +5 Mastery
15 +18 +12 +6 Grand Mastery
If a character wields two melee weapons the DV modifier is calculated
by taking the DV modifier of the weapon in the right hand plus
one-half of the DV modifier of the left hand weapon. If the character
fights without any weapon he will receive DV bonusses but once.
Wielding a shield does not count as fighting unarmed since it impedes
your mobility.
Missile weapon skills yield a +2 to hit and +1 to damage for every
skill level and an additional +1 to damage for skill levels 2, 4, 6,
8, 10, 12 and 14. Missile weapon skills have no effect on the
characters' DV but instead the range of your missiles is increased by
+1 for each 3 skill levels.
The following table shows the number of required successful weapon
checks to advance to the level in question (after achieving a new
level you start collecting marks from scratch):
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Marks 15 25 40 65 105 170 275 445 720 1165 1885 3050 4935 7985 12920
NOTE: If your character is fighting too defensively he won't get any
marks for successful attacks (which basically means that you should
not use the 'very defensively' and 'coward' settings of the 'T'
command, if you want to increase your weapon skills).
NOTE: The weapon skills in ADOM reflect the practical experiences a
character is able to make during his adventuring career. The
class-inherent fighting capabilities (e.g. fighters being more capable
at fighting than wizards) is already taken into account by granting
to-hit bonuses after advancing in level. Thus all weapon skills can
be trained by all classes and races for the same cost.
Attributes
----------
Basically every character is described by eight attributes which
represent his abilities by birthright. Every attribute is rated from
1 to 99 (in theory). 10 is an average score, 8 is slightly below
average, 5 is quite bad, 3 is horrible, and everything below this is a
real hindrance. 13 is a good score, 15 very good, 17 exceptional, 20
very high and everything above this of epic proportions. It should be
remembered, that the average PC is rated higher than normal
individuals of his (or her) race, because PCs are meant to be true
heroes. The absolute maximum for all attributes is 99, which is
probably equal in power level to demi-gods.
The potential maximum attribute scores are based on the initial
attribute scores. The maximum for an attribute is dependent on the
base score and the player race. These maximums can only rarely be
exceeded by natural training. This is a long and ardous process.
Only magical methods can exceed these limits with ease.
Attributes are rated as either primary attributes or secondary
attributes. Secondary attributes are derived from primary attributes
and often are greatly influenced by your experience level, class and
race. The following attributes are used:
STRENGTH: Strength describes your ability to inflict damage in combat,
determines your carrying capacity and influences your chance to hit
opponents in melee combat. The initial hit points are also partially
based upon strength.
LEARNING: The learning score describes, how easily your character
learns new things, how good the PC is at increasing skills and how
easily magical spells are learned. Your ability to read and write
(no, that's not automatic!) is also influenced by this score.
WILLPOWER: This attribute describes the strength of your will. The
higher it is, the better your PC is able to resist attacks affecting
his mind. Willpower influences your initial hit points and your
initial magic points.
DEXTERITY: This attribute rates your agility, nimbleness, speed and
many other things. A high dexterity allows you to better dodge enemy
attacks and traps. PCs with low dexterity are clumsy and
slow-moving... easy prey for your enemies. Dexterity is also very
important when attacking with missile weapons.
TOUGHNESS: This attribute rates your physical resistance, your
endurance, your constitution and your resistance to pain. Toughness
is a major factor influencing the number of hit points of your
character.
CHARISMA: This attribute describes the personality of your character.
PCs with high charisma are outgoing, friendly and easily make friends,
while characters with low charisma are disliked by many people and
have difficulties interacting on a friendly and enjoyable basis.
APPEARANCE: This attribute describes the looks of your character. PCs
with high appearance are good-looking and draw attention, while
characters with low appearance are unattractive or simply ugly but
also draw attention (unfriendly attention most of the time that is!).
MANA: This attribute describes the luck of your character, his
attunement to the forces of magic and his resistance to magic. Mana
is a prime determinant for magical power.
PERCEPTION: This attribute describes the general perception ability of
your character. Perception is very important. It influences how far
you can look in dungeons. Characters with low perception have
problems finding secret doors, hearing noises and noticing certain
traps -- they also can't see very far in the dungeons. Characters
with high perception are very alert and notice slight details. They
have superior vision and good hearing.
The following secondary attributes are used:
DEFENSIVE VALUE (DV): The defensive value determines how hard you are
to hit. It starts at 1, 10 is about average, and, in theory, it is
not limited in its value. The higher the value is, the harder you are
to hit. This value is influenced by race, class, dexterity,
equipment, burden level, hunger and dozens of other factors.
PROTECTION VALUE (PV): PV determines how many points of damage are
stopped, when your PC is hit by a physical attack. This value can be
positive (which means that you have adequate protection) or negative
(which means that your are carrying some kind of cursed items making
it easier for your enemies to inflict wounds upon you). This value is
influenced by your toughness, your equipment and several minor
factors.
HIT POINTS: Hit points represent how much punishment your character
can take before dying. The higher this value is, the better for you!
Your maximal hit points are listed in brackets. Your hit points can
decrease through combat wounds, traps, magical attacks and many other
things. As soon as your current hit points are lower than your
maximum hit points, you start to heal wounds. How fast you heal
injuries depends upon race, class, toughness, healing skill,
equipment, general conditions and several minor factors.
POWER: Magical power is described by a certain number of power points.
To cast a spell (if you are able to do so) you have to spend a certain
amount of power. If you do not have enough power points to cast a
certain spell, your life energy will slowly be drained instead. Be
careful -- this might kill you! Your maximal power points are listed
in brackets. Power is influenced by mana, class, race, experience and
willpower.
Experience and Advancement
--------------------------
Each PC in ADOM is rated by his experience level. Every character
starts at level 1 (a newly created adventurer) and might be able to
advance to higher levels by collecting experience points. Experience
points are mostly gained by killing monsters, but there might be other
ways to learn... try to find out for yourself.
To advance to a higher level, you have to collect a certain number of
experience points. How many points you have to collect for your next
level is determined by the following categories: race, class and
attributes. Generally, you need more experience points to advance if
you are very good in one or more of these categories and that you need
less experience points to advance if you are below average in one or
more of those categories.
Whenever you have earned a certain amount of experience points, you
increase in level. Increasing in levels is a very good thing to do,
because this brings many benefits. Whenever you increase levels, you
get better in combat, receive more hit points and more magical power
(depending on your class and race). You are also allowed to increase
your skill values. The number of skill improvements depends on your
learning score. Finally, you get a chance to raise (or lower) your
attributes. This decision is made by the game and is heavily
influenced by your class, your experience level and your actions
during game play. There are finite limits to the number of times you
might be able to increase attribute scores in this way. Once you have
reached your natural potential, no more training of whatever kind will
help to increase attributes. Only magical means will further enhance
your attribute scores.
Mindcraft
---------
The art of Mindcraft is a very strange discipline. Many believe it to
be just another type of magic, but the truly enlightened know that it
is a very different way of using one's inner strengths and willpower.
Mindcrafters utilize their mental powers to generate astonishing
effects. The arts of Mindcraft and magic do not work very well
together. Only long meditation and inner peace will allow one to
awaken the mental powers within, while magic seems to encourage active
and curious minds.
The following sections will describe the mental powers available to
Mindcrafters. The number in brackets mentions the level at which the
power will become available.
Be warned! The powers of Mindcraft come at a price. Artificial beings
are immune to mental powers and undead are a great danger to all
Mindcrafters. Their corrupted and insane minds are able to backlash
the mental powers upon the Mindcrafter, harming or killing him. Also
walls are not able to block the powers of the mind -- so be careful
about what might be lurking behind the next wall before wildly
employing Mindcraft. Many beings don't like others trying to toast
their brains.
Mental powers are fed with power points and if the character does not
have enough power points to activate the power, he is at a loss. Some
powers are continuous and cost power points each turn.
The following special powers are available in the game (W is the
shortcut for willpower, L for the level of the Mindcrafter):
Teleport Control (1) - The ability to control your destination when
teleporting.
Confusion Blast (1) - A linear blast which disturbs the minds of your
opponents and confuses them.
Confusion Wave (3) - Similar to Confusion Blast, but effects all
beings within a certain range.
Mind Blast (6) - A mental attack trying to destroy the brain cells of
the victims. Damage: [{(W + L) / 6} + 1]d5.
Mental Shield (9) - A mental defense, which effects both defensive and
protection values of the character. DV: + [(L + W) / 5], PV: + [(L +
W) / 8]. Continuous power.
Mind Wave (12) - A mental attack similar to Mind Blast with the
difference, that it effects all beings within a certain range.
Telekinetic Blast (15) - A projected force which might shatter doors
and is able to physically damage beings. Damage: [(W / 5) + L]d3
Eyes of the Mind (18) - A hypersense which allows the character to
sense creatures and beings with a certain range.
Greater Mental Blast (25) - A more advanced form of Mind
Blast. Damage: [{(W + L) / 8} + 1]d9.
Greater Telekinetic Blast (30) - A powerful force ball causing a lot
of physical damage to beings. It might even be powerful enough to
shatter stone. Damage: [(W / 5) + L]d6
Regeneration (35) - A defensive power which allows the Mindcrafter to
heal his wounds. Continuous power.
Teleport Self (40) - A power allowing the travel to remote places
within the blink of an eye.
Teleport Other (45) - Similar to teleport self, but can be used on
other beings.
Greater Mental Wave (50) - Similar to Greater Mental Blast, but
affects all creatures within a certain range.
Corruptions
-----------
The forces of Chaos slowly start to get a grip on the world of
Ancardia. Rumor has it that the dark magics used by the forces of
Chaos and their presence itself have corrupting effects on all living
beings on Ancardia and even on the environment itself. Strange
mutants have been sighted and formerly normal humans suddenly were
horribly changed.
Be prepared to be faced with these dangers and try to avoid becoming
transformed into a horrible being of Chaos. Although the powers might
seem advantageous, they nearly always will bring doom (or so they
say).
The Game
--------
ADOM is started by typing
adom
at your command prompt. After some moments the game will start.
First you will have to enter a name for the character you are going to
play. The name has no further influence on game play but serves to
individualize your character. If you just press ENTER instead of
entering a name, the game will christen your character with a default
name. Next you have to choose whether you want your character to be
male or female. This has some influence on game play (in ADOM female
characters are more agile, male characters are slightly stronger).
When this is done you will be asked whether you want to choose a
specific race and class or let fate decide your future. If you decide
to go for a specific race and class you are free to choose any of the
races and classes described above. Otherwise you will have to go for
what fate deems to be appropriate.
Next the background of your character will be described. The game
will mention your sex and race (in case fate is responsible for your
race) and then detail your life prior to starting to adventure. Every
character lives through four major phases of development: early
childhood, childhood, youth and young adulthood. For each phase
certain events are generated. These events serve to detail your PC
and influence his attributes. Finally you will get to know your
class, your area of specialization (if available) and your starting
age.
After all this you will be dumped directly into the game. You are
assumed to have entered the first dungeon level and from that point on
everything is based on your actions.
The Main Screen
---------------
Most of the time you will see the main game screen, which contains
most of the interesting information about your character, your
surroundings and your condition.
The following sample shows how a game screen might look:
------------------------< Begin Screen copy >----------------------------
The skeleton fails to hurt you.
################
#..../.%.......# #########
#.####.........######.......#
######### #.# #............../.......#
#.......### #.# ########/#######.......#
#......./.############# #.# #.# ######### #######
#.......#./...........############.###########.#####################.....#
####.######.............^..z@............................................#
#.# #....<......############.###########.#####################.....#
#.# #...........# #.# #######/# #.....#
#.# ##/########## #.# #.......# #.#####
#.# #.# #.# #.......# #.#
#.# ##/############ #.# #.......# #.#
####/#### #......^......# #####/### ######### #.#
#.......# #.....###.....# #.......###############################.#
#.>.....# #.....# #.....# #......./...............................#
#.......# #.....# ####### #.......#################################
######### ####### #########
Geffrey St:19 Le: 9 Wi:14 Dx:12 To:22 Ch: 8 Ap: 8 Ma:11 Pe:15 N
DV/PV: 10/4 H: 27(27) P: 3(3) Exp: 1/139 D: 1 M: 346
-------------------------< End Screen copy >-----------------------------
The first two lines of the screens are reserved for messages which
explain certain events and actions. If more text is issued than fits
into those two lines, a (more) prompt will appear. To continue you
have to press SPACE (or Z). If you are expecting many messages in one
turn, which you don't want to read, you also can press ENTER. All
messages will scroll through without waiting for a confirmation. If
you later want to look at one of those messages, you can still use the
':m' command (see below).
The last three lines contain information about your character in the
following order:
Name: Let's guess what this is :-)
St: The strength score of your character.
Le: The learning score of your character.
Wi: The willpower score of your character.
Dx: The dexterity score of your character.
To: The toughness score of your character.
Ch: The charisma score of your character.
Ap: The appearance score of your character.
Ma: The mana score of your character.
Pe: The perception score of your character.
DV: The defensive value of your character.
PV: The protection value of your character.
H: The hit points of your characters.
P: The magical power of your character.
Exp: The experience you have to collected up to now and your
experience level. The first number stands for the number of
experience points you already have earned and the second number
describes your current experience level.
D: The number of the current dungeon level.
M: The number of moves you have made.
A sequence of up to two characters describing your alignment (more
about this in the section on alignment).
All lines between these two screen parts are used to display the map
of the current dungeon level (as far as you have explored it).
Specific characters are used to represent items, monsters, locations
and other stuff.
The Display
-----------
During game play everything you encounter is represented by certain
symbols on the map. Symbols are simple colored characters. Some
symbols have more than one meaning. This section explains the various
symbols and their potential meanings.
--- Map Symbols (dungeon) ---
# Rock or wall = Water
/ Open door T Tree
+ Closed door 0 Pool or hive
. Floor, passage, tunnel + Tombstone
& Forge or other special place | Webs
< Stair leading upwards > Stair leading downwards
_ Altar * Hole
^ Known trap 8 Gate
--- Map Symbols (wilderness) ---
^ Mountains . Road
~ Hills = Water
& Forest * Entrance
" Plains or Swamp o Buildings
--- Item Symbols ---
[ Protective gear, shields \ Wands
& Necklace ? Scrolls
( Hand weapon & Tools
} Missile weapon ~ Bracers
* Rocks % Food
/ Missiles $ Gold
= Rings { Music instruments
" Books
--- Monster Symbols ---
Monsters are grouped into specific categories to make it easier to
differentiate them. The following scheme is used (with some
exceptions):
a Ants A Aquatic beings
b Bees B Bats
c Centipedes C Chaos creatures
d Dogs & other canines D Dragons
e magical Eye E Elementals
f Felines F Fantastic beasts
g Grungy humanoids G Ghosts
h Humanoids H giant Humanoids
i Insects I Imps & other minor demons
j Jellies & oozes J (unused)
k Kobolds K berserKers & barbarians
l Lizards L Liches
m Mimics M Mummies
n (unused) N Natural beasts
o Orcs O Ogres
p Pixies P Plants
q (unused) Q (unused)
r Rodents R Rust monsters
s Snakes S Spiders
t Townsfolk T Trolls
u Underdark humanoids U Unicorns
v (unused) V (unused)
w Worms W Wyrms
x grues X eXtra-planar beings
y (unused) Y constructs
z Zombies & other lesser undead Z greater undead
& greater demons @ (demi-)humans
[ animated armor * will o'wisp
The Player Character Screen
---------------------------
ADOM provides a screen with most of the important statistics you might
want to know about your PC. Usually (as per default command set) this
screen is invoked by pressing '@'.
The PC screen is divided into several parts dedicated to
certain aspects of the PC.
The upper left half of the screen is dedicated to the attribute scores
of your PC. It lists all the attribute names in the first column (in
yellow, if not yet maxed out or in brown if maxed out in the natural
way), followed by the current unmodified attribute score. The next
column lists the natural maximums for the attribute scores. They can
be raised by long and hard training but usually only magic will be of
quick help when trying to pass these limits. See the section on
attributes for more details. The next column displays temporary
attribute bonusses (e.g. from certain potions), followed by a column
listing special bonusses (e.g. due to magical items). The last column
shows the total score for each attribute. If your attribute score is
raised, it will be displayed in green, if it's lowered by some means
it will be displayed in red, if it's equal to the maximum score
possible it will displayed in brown and in all other cases yellow is
used.
The upper right half of the screen contains a list of miscellaneous
data. First you'll see the current speed rating. If you also enjoy a
temporary speed bonus it will be displayed in square brackets. This
is followed by a verbal approximation of that rating. Then the screen
lists your current financial status, potential debts, the name of your
deity, and the elapsed amount of game time. The next entries are
concerned with your omens of birth and star sign. First you'll see
the number of the day on which you were born in the ancardian year
followed by your star sign. Then you'll see the *current* month in
the game (both by number and by name). The next line describes the
*current* day in the game, both by it's number in the current month
and by its absolute number in the current game year (so that you can
compare it to your birthday). Finally the state of the moon (full,
new, waxing, waning) will be described. The last entry in that
section displays the age of your character.
In the middle of the screen you'll see the encumbrance data for the
PC. In order you'll see current encumbrance, the minimum encumbrance
to be considered burdened and the respective minimum levels for being
considered strained and very strained.
Below you'll see the data for melee combat, kicking and missile
combat.
Miscellaneous Commands
----------------------
During game play commands are issued by pressing one or more keys.
Whenever you find a description like 'C-x' you are expected to press
the Control-key and the key 'x' at the same time to invoke the
corresponding command.
The following default commands are normally available:
C-t Activate trap at current position
a Apply skill
< Ascend stairway
Z Cast spell
C Chat with monsters
H Change highlight mode
T Change tactic
L Check literacy
E Clean ears
c Close door
w s Continuous search
( Create short character log
) Create verbose character log
[ Create screenshot
> Descend stairway & Enter location (in the wilderness)
! Dip (something) into (potion)
A Display skills and quick-mark skills
B Display background
P Display bill
: b Display burden levels
= Display configuration variables
\ Display chaos powers
: c Display companions
$ Display current wealth
C-e Display elapsed game time
@ Display extended character information
/ Display identified items
K Display kick damage
: k Display killed monsters
: m Display message buffer
M Display missile statistics
: w Display monster wound status
: g Display name of your deity
q Display quest status
R Display recipes
x Display required experience
V Display version
C-w Display weapon skills
W Display weapon statistics
D Drink
d Drop item(s)
C-d Drop items in a comfortable way
e Eat
l Examine environment
: d Extended drop
: p Extended pay
: u Extended use
g Give item to monster
h Handle something
C-o Issue order to companion (reaction heavily depends on your charisma)
i Inventory
k Kick
C-l Look
I Miscellaneous equipment
1 Move to the southwest
2 Move to the south
3 Move to the southeast
4 Move to the west
6 Move to the east
7 Move to the northwest
8 Move to the north
9 Move to the northeast
n Name monster/yourself
? Online help
o Open door
p Pay
; Pick up items primitively (fast)
, Pick up items
C-p Pick up items comfortably
_ Pray
Q Quit game
r Read
C-r Redraw screen
O Sacrifice
S Save and quit game
s Search
: = Set variable
t Shoot/Throw missile
: s Swap position with monster
C-a Switch auto-pickup on/off
C-k Switch the required (more) key
C-u Unlock door
U Use item
C-x Use class power
m Use special ability
u Use tool
Wait
. Wait
5 Wait
w 1 Walk to the southwest
w 2 Walk to the south
w 3 Walk to the southeast
w 4 Walk to the west
w 5 Walk on the spot
w 6 Walk to the east
w 7 Walk to the northwest
w 8 Walk to the north
w 9 Walk to the northeast
F Wipe face
z Zap wand
In the game you will encounter multiple screens containing tables,
lists, etc. Whenever you are given the choice to get out of one of
those screens by pressing the 'Z' key, you can also press the space
bar. The 'Z' key is always listed in the help lines because of
historical reasons (and because it's easier to display than the ' '
;-)
It is possible to redefine the keybindings. Appendix D details the
process involved.
Movement
--------
You can move into eight directions by pressing the relevant number key
displayed in the following movement grid:
7 8 9
\|/
4 -5- 6
/|\
1 2 3
To attack a monster simply try to move into the field the monster is
standing on. This will result in a melee attack.
If you opt for faster movement you can activate the so-called
'walk-mode' by pressing 'w' followed by a direction key. This will
make your character walk into the chosen direction until he meets
something of interest. Movement will cease as soon as one of the
following things happens:
* Your direction of choice is blocked.
* A monster appears in your immediate vicinity.
* Items are lying at your current position.
* Something special (e.g. a stairway) is located at your current
position.
* A move will bring you into the immediate vicinity of a monster.
* You are stunned, confused or blinded.
* Your hunger status changes.
* You are bleeding, sick or poisoned.
Generally activating 'walk-mode' is a good way to cover long distances
which have been explored before. To make full use of the vast array
of available tactical options, you should not use 'walk-mode' when
exploring unknown locations.
Walk-mode also allows the character to wait in place (e.g. to
regenerate lost hitpoints or power points). Just press 'w' for
walk-mode and the '5' for waiting in place. Walk-mode will abort, if
a monster enters your immediate vicinity, your equipment weight or
your hunger level changes or 50 turns have gone by.
If you are using the numeric keypad remember to press NUM LOCK.
Speed
-----
Actions in real life rarely are synchronous. Rather beings act
individually, move with different speeds and generally are slower of
faster than others. ADOM simulates this by using a 'speed system'.
The core notion of this system is that every character and monster has
to collect a certain amount of energy to be able to act. Some beings
are able to gather this energy faster and thus can act at higher
speed, others gain this energy more slowly and thus act in a slower
way.
To be able to act once in ADOM your character needs to
accumulate at least 1000 energy points. Every acting being has a
'speed rating' (SR) and a current energy rating (CER). ADOM divides
each player turn into a number of segments. In each segment every
being on the current level adds its speed rating to its current
energy. Each being that passes the '1000 energy minimum' with its
current energy rating is allowed to act. Afterwards the CER is
reduced by 1000 (in most cases).
All Player Characters start with a basic speed rating of 100
which basically means that they can act once every 10 segments. This
rating can be modified by class (monks and beastfighters get faster
with more experience), dexterity (a score of 17 or higher can be
helpful), encumbrance level (the more you are encumbered the slower
you get), alcohol level (being drunk is not a good idea in all cases),
satiation level (a full stomach makes you move slower... starving
doesn't help either), your Athletics skill and special items. Being
born under the sign of the Raven also helps.
Your energy can never be lower than 1 (although this spells
certain doom) and is not limited by any value. The sole limit is that
you can act only once per segment (even speed scores of 2000+ can't
help in this respect... although they are impossible to attain in any
case).
Most monsters also have a base speed rating of 100, although
there are exceptions. Be prepared to face charging speed
monstrosities occasionally.
Finally you need to understand that some items don't increase
your overall speed score but might limit the energy costs for certain
actions (e.g. seven league boots could require you to expend but 500
energy points to be able to move -- thus you could move faster but all
other actions would be resolved at normal speed).
Dice
----
Roleplaying games mostly use dice to determine random events. Paper
games rely on several kinds of dice -- most often 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12-
and 20-sided dice are used. Computers are not limited by arbitrary
die forms and thus enjoy the freedom to use any kind of dice
imaginable as a random number generator.
Roleplayers use an abbreviated way of describing the number of dice to
be rolled to generate a random number. Basically a certain number of
dice is rolled, all the face values are added and maybe a modifier is
added or subtracted to generate a total. This is normally abbreviated
as
{x}d{y}+{z}
and means to roll {x} dice with {y} faces and finally to add the value
{z}. {z} can be positive or negative. If {z} is not mentioned, it is
assumed to be zero.
EXAMPLES: 1d20 means to roll one 20-sided die to generate a number
between 1 and 20. 2d6 means to roll two 6-sided dice to generate a
number between 2 and 12. 4d4+3 means to roll four 4-sided dice and
finally add 3 to generate a number between 7 and 19. 3d13-9 means to
roll three 13-sided dice and subtract 9 to generate a number between
-6 and 30.
The Inventory
-------------
Every PC normally carries quite a number of items -- some of them
belong to the initial equipment, others are found during the
adventure.
All the items worn or equipped are displayed upon pressing the 'i'
key. If you want to change your equipment (either by wearing an
additional item or by removing an item currently used) you simply need
to press the letter preceding the bodypart in question. If an item
was equipped, it will automatically be removed. If no item was used
you will automatically be shown a list with items which might be
useful on that bodypart.
Items normally have to be identified by some means to get more than
just some general information. Some items are identified by using
them (e.g. weapons and armor), others have to be identified by magical
means. When identified, every item might list a number of values
which further describe the powers of the item.
Armor must be worn to have any effect. Weapons must be wielded to
have effect. Rings, bracers and necklaces must be worn to be useful.
Items are generally rated as uncursed, cursed or blessed. Cursed
items cannot be removed when worn and mostly do not function with full
effect. They also are susceptible to damage more often. Blessed
items are of very high quality and might exert some additional powers.
They are more difficult to damage. Uncursed items represent average
items.
Items also might be broken or rusty. There might be means available
to repair or improve such items... try to find out about this for
yourself.
In the following section, the items are listed by category with all
possible modifiers. The following abbreviations are used to describe
the modifiers:
CHA - Number of charges remaining
DAM - Damage dice (given in the dice notation explained above)
DVM - DV modifier
MDM - Missile damage modifier
MEM - Melee attack modifier
MIM - Missile attack modifier
PVM - PV modifier
ATM - Modifier to a specific attribute
The following item descriptions are available. First the item type is
listed, then the possible modifiers follow. Not all modifiers always
appear, this depends on the specific item. The kind of visible
modifiers can be determined by the type of brackets surrounding them:
<bracers> [DVM, PVM]
<shield> (MEM) [DVM, PVM]
<armor> (MEM, MIM) [DVM, PVM]
<gauntlet> (MEM, MIM) [DVM, PVM]
<cloak> (MEM, MIM) [DVM, PVM]
<girdle> (MEM, MIM) [DVM, PVM]
<helmet> (MEM, MIM) [DVM, PVM]
<boots> (MEM, MIM) [DVM, PVM]
<wand> (CHA)
<melee weapon> (MEM, DAM) [DVM, PVM]
<missile weapon> (MIM, MDM) [DVM, PVM]
<missile> (MIM, DAM)
Any item (in theory) can be followed by {ATM}, which means that the
item in question grants the specified bonus to the mentioned
attribute. Any weapon can be followed by (p), which means that the
item is poisoned.
Finally the number of charges for wands will only be visible, if you
zapped that specific wand successfully or identified that specific
wand. In other words: if you identify 'tin wands' as 'wands of magic
missiles' you still won't know the number of charges of a newly found
'wand of magic missiles' (although it will be correctly identified in
all other respects).
Filtering the stuff list
------------------------
Besides those items you carry directly on your body (which can be
viewed by pressing 'i') you also have a backpack which might contain
large numbers of items (directly viewable by pressing 'I'). At times
you need to retrieve an item from that backpack and this can be a very
tiring process, if you are carrying a large number of items.
Therefore ADOM contains a mechanism to filter the list of items in the
backpack, so that only certain item types are displayed and it's
easier to find the item you are looking for.
Whenever it is possible to apply a filter to the items in the
backpack, the last line of the screen will display the current filter
and the possible commands to select a certain item type. In all cases
(except for '#' -- which stands for all items) you can select a
certain category of items by pressing the symbol, which usually
represents those items. The following keys are used to filter the
items in the backpack:
[ all wearable items
& all amulets and tools
, all bracers (this is an exception to the 'image rule' since some
systems wait for a second key to be pressed after the '~' used for
bracers and this would make this feature somewhat tiresome to use).
( all melee weapons
} all missile weapons
/ all missiles
{ all musical instruments
= all rings
\ all wands
! all potions
? all scrolls
" all books
% all food
$ gold
* gems
Spells
------
Pressing 'Z' will display all the spells you know and some additional
data concerning them. Following each spell you will notice two
numbers. The first one describes how well you memorized the spell. It
is decreased whenever the spell is cast (by an amount determined by
the power level of the spell, your attributes and some more
factors). If this number is reduced to 0 or less, the spell is
forgotten and you no longer are able to cast it. The second number is
the number of power points you need to expend to cast the spell in
question. If you do not have that many power points you can still
cast the spell. But beware -- this is very dangerous. The strain
imposed by casting a spell in such a way could kill you, if you are
not completely healed.
Shops
-----
On certain levels of the dungeon, adventurous merchants have opened
their shops to provide supplies for the various bold adventurers
exploring the dungeons. The risky environment is made up for by the
huge gains possible by selling rare (and even magic!) items to heroes
venturing down the dungeons. Since most of them are carrying large
amounts of gold, the trade seems to be going very well. Needless to
say that only daring and powerful merchants are willing to undertake
the risks of opening shops deep in the dungeons.
If you enter a shop, you will be expected to look around, barter and
buy stuff. You can leave without buying or selling anything, but
remember that at times shops might contain important or powerful
items.
To buy something in a shop, you have to pick it up first. The
shopkeeper then will block the exit (there seem to be so many thieves
around nowadays) and wait for you to pay (which is done by using the
'p' command). If you do not have enough money, you probably will have
to leave the item(s) behind.
You can also sell items in a shop to raise some more funds. Not every
shop will buy everything as most of them are rather specialized
(e.g. on potions or scrolls). If you want to sell something, just
drop that item. The shopkeeper will immediately tell you how much he
is willing to pay and then you can decide whether or not to accept the
offer.
Wishing
-------
In ADOM you might encounter magical wishes. Wishes are a powerful
form of magic, which allow a variety of effects.
ADOM supports two types of wishes. You can wish for abstract things
and concepts like friends, money, wealth, strength, health and other
things.
You also can wish for items. Such wishes can be very useful, since
ADOM features many powerful and rare items. If you do not want to
wait for a certain item, just wish for it, as soon as you receive a
free wish. Since wishes are powerful but not very precise magic, you
only can wish for very general items. For example, it's not possible
to wish for 6 blessed long swords (+6, 1d8+6) but rather you would
have to wish for long swords or mithril plate mails.
Saving the Game
---------------
To save a game in progress you just have to press the 'S' key and
answer the following question with a 'y'. The game will be saved and
you can restore it later to continue your game. You should make sure
that you have enough free space on your disc before saving the game,
as ADOM will otherwise crash. You need about 30000 bytes plus 12000
bytes per level that you have explored. Levels with lots of monsters
or items need more space. Generally three free megabytes should be
enough for any one game (no matter how deep you venture).
To restore a saved game, just start ADOM and type the name of the
character you played, when ADOM asks you to do so. ADOM will
automatically recognize, whether a saved game under that name exists
and load it. You can also restore after starting the game when ADOM
asks whether you want to generate a new character or restore an old
one. If you choose the latter option a tiny menu will display the
available games to be restored (if there are any). Please note, that
this menu only displays a maximum of 20 saved games (without telling
you that there might be additional saved games). This should be
sufficient for most purposes.
How to start -- a beginner's guide
----------------------------------
ADOM is not a simple game -- at least if you are really trying to win
and don't just play to have fun and pass some time. ADOM is also very
different from other roguelike games like Nethack, Angband and Rogue
in that it offers a lot more detail and uses a different approach in
certain respects. The following advice might be helpful for both the
hardened veteran of other roguelike games and ADOM:
* Try to talk to people. The 'C'hat command is an absolute necessity
to get anywhere in the game. At times it even pays to talk to
so-called monsters.
* Take care about your satiation. Finding enough food to survive is
important in ADOM. Once you learn the tricks you'll have no
problems to cope with this, but in the beginning this might be a bit
difficult.
* Pleasing your gods by offering sacrifices is a wise thing to do. If
you are in dire straits and need help, they might listen to your
prayers.
* Know when to fight and when to run.
* If a dungeon seems to be impossibly difficult maybe you should look
elsewhere first.
* There are a number of places and situations in ADOM which require
the careful use of tactics.
* Not every monster is meant to be defeated. It's possible to kill
everything but don't be surprised if some opponents put up a _very_
tough fight.
* Make sure that you have at least read the introduction in this
manual so that you understand what the game is all about.
* During the game you should refer as often as necessary to the online
keyboard map ('?'-'K') and this manual ('?'-'M').
Appendix A: Credits
-------------------
Many people were involved in the creation of ADOM. At this point I'd like
to thank my great testers, who sacrificed their precious time to test the
work of a madman. Thanks (in alphabetical order) for their efforts in
testing pretty buggy alpha software and enduring endless program crashes
go to:
* Thomas "Where are the keys to those doors?" Dembach
* Kilian "Do this... and that... and that... and that..." Guenther
* Tim "Lord Gek" Jordan
* Stefan "Infocom Man" Jokisch
* Nicole "Rabid Dog" Lubinski
* Michael "Wow... I can eat corpses?!?" Niewoehner
* Jens "I generally don't like games" Spitczok v. Brinski
* Jochen "That's not the fault of my Amiga!" Terstiege
* Andreas "Where's the 'fclose'?" Willenbrink
Miscellaneous credits (for inspiration, ideas, more testing and
similar contributions) currently go to:
* Boudewijn Wayers for providing some space on his FTP site for this
game and for creating the first ADOM WWW page.
* Cenk Ergan for providing the new official ADOM FTP site and for
providing web space (I yet have to use :-} ).
* Dan Shiovitz, for doing all the work necessary to create the newsgroup
rec.games.roguelike.adom (look out for the CfV!).
* Richard Fowler, for maintaining the FAQ for ADOM. Direct all questions to
thinker@texas.net.
* Erwin Mascardo, for being the first FAQ maintainer.
* Sandra Whiting, for being a wonderful proofreader for the manual and for
creating a Winword-based manual.
* R. Dittmer, for creating another Winword-based manual (and he was the first
one to do so).
* Thomas Friedetzky, for creating a TeX-based manual for ADOM.
* Daniel Quaroni (goat@pelican.cit.cornell.edu), for maintaining the
spoiler files for ADOM.
* Jason Konrad MacEachern for being one of the first two spoiler file
maintainers and helping to get them started.
* Erwin Andreasen for providing a termcap entry for Linux, which seems to
solve the color problems many people seem to have.
* Jochen Terstiege, for his tireless efforts and support while porting
ADOM to the Amiga, while debugging Windows 95 to make it work with
ADOM and for his endless zeal in searching for bugs.
* Simone Heidenfelder for her help in creating the star signs for ADOM.
* Evan Gibson, for providing a launcher interface to ADOM for OS/2.
* Jonathan Santaana, for proofreading many of the text files.
* Eric Bazin, Matt Chatterley, Aaron Dutton, R. Dittmer, Frank
Duphorn, Bridget Farace, Evan Gibson, Jeff Goodson, Adam Horowitz,
Ken Iwasa, Tim Jordan, Nicholas Kenyon, John Lame, Perttu Laurila,
Cameron Lay, Philipp Lucas, Derek Ludwig, Joshua Malmquist, Erwin
Mascardo, Jonathan Santaana, Don Stauffer, Greg Wheatley, Gerry Kevin
Wilson and Krey Younger for providing (some really great) suggestions.
* Michael Allchin for being the first one to send a postcard (see
the introduction in this manual or section E of the general readme
file for more information about this topic).
* Mike Sands from New Zealand for sending the most original postcard I
up to now received.
* Jurriaan Kalkman for being the first to provide some great songs for
the Mad Minstrel.
* Evan Gibson and Jeff Goodson for providing additional songs for the
Mad Minstrel.
* Dave Decot (for a certain scroll -- wherever you are, contact me)
* Thanks to Boris Blazevic for giving me the decisive hint for fixing one
of the most annoying bugs ever.
Credits for additions to the source code go to:
-----------------------------------------------
* William Tanksley for providing a new random number generator for ADOM
with lots of possibilities and for providing many helpful comments
about improving the source code in general.
Credits for various minor tidbits of ideas go to:
-------------------------------------------------
Jon Abbott, Julian Arnold, Charlie Ball, Florian Beck, Richard
Sheaves-Bein, Ian Michael Bell, Douglas Bonar, Mike Bowen, Massimo
Campostrini, Zachary Sundance Davies, Gregory Dean Dearing, Robert
DeLoura, Leen Droogendijk, Nick Duffek, Torsten Edelmann, Robert
Fermier, Mike Ferry, John Thomas Flanagan, John Fouhy, Richard Fowler,
Lucas French, Jeff Goodson, Jurriaan Kalkman, Joel Kamentz, Jonathan
Katz, Chris Keiner, Janne Keskinarkaus, Sami Kivela, Tero Laiho, Jeff
Lait, Timo Laitila, Sami Luoma-Pukkila, Joshua Malmquist, Dan Martin,
Russ Melanson, Justen Meltz, Paul Mosquin, Dirk Jan Out, Ross
Morgan-Linial, Ronald Neumann, Mikko Parviainen, Kent Peterson, Martin
Read, Ian Roberts, Will Rogers, Daniel Rutter, Osku Salerma, Jussi
Salomaki, Andrew Schoonmaker, Katie Sehorn, Aaron B. Simpson, Joe
Slater, Christian Sommerer, Nicholas Stallard, Kjetil Svendsberget,
Erno Tuomainen, Uoti A. Urpala, Greg Wooledge and Scott Yost
Credits for bug reports go to:
------------------------------
Travis Acton, David L. Adam, Adina Adler, Steven Aitkin, Erwin
Andreasen, Craig Arnold, Julian Arnold, Antti Arola, David Assaf,
Robert Au, Penny Baker, Scott Barcik, Eric Bazin, Charles Bell, Chip
Bell, Timo Berthold, Neil Blaber, Eric Bleich, Erik Inge Bolsoe,
Michael Brassell, Adam Paul Bronson, Larry Brown, Christian Caesar,
Greg Cambridge, Massimo Campostrini, Bobby Chan, Paul Chapman,
Kok-Leong Chin, Will Chose, Gian Paolo Costantino, DeWitt Clinton,
Frits Daalmans, Zachary Sundance Davies, Adam Dawes, Greg Day, Jeff
Derenne, Joseph W. DeVincentis, Dominic DiPalantino, Leen Droogendijk,
Nick Duffek, Conrad Dunkerson, Frank Duphorn, Krid Dusitsin, Grant
Dvorak, Peter Ebbeson, Torsten Edelmann, Jacob Eliason, Georgy Evseev,
Bridget Farace, Robert Fermier, Mike Ferry, Dean Fitzgerald, John
Flanagan, Steve Flynn, John Fouhy, Richard Fowler, Lewis Futrell, Ben
Thomas Galehouse, Alan Gallauresi, Jamie Gannon, Ashley Garrett,
William Gauvin, David Gerber, Evan Gibson, Christopher J. Gibson,
Patrick Goguen, Jeff Goodson, Richard Graham, Jonathan Michael
Greenberg, Bruce Alan Greenwood, Joe Groszkiewicz, Matthew Grove, Tom
Hanlin, Joseph R. Hauser, John Mark Hawley, Jarkko Heino, Jukka
Heiskanen, Patrick Hjelt, Iiro Hietala, Karl Hiller, Eric Hilsdale,
Adam Horowitz, Markku Hunnakko, Eino Iivari Ii, Chris Ingersoll, Eric
Robert Jablow, Robert Johnston, Stefan Jokisch, Sheldon B. Jolson, Tim
Jordan, Nuutinen Juha, Jurriaan Kalkman, Martha B. Kapouch, Matti
Karppanen, Richard Kenan, Janne Keskinarkaus, Eino Keskitalo, Chris
D. Koeberle, Elmar Kolkman, Mikolaj Konarski, Juha Krapu, Tom
Kronmiller, Antti Kuusela, Scott Vander Laan, Paul Labuda, Jeff Lait,
Timo Laitila, John Lame, Jukka A. Lang, Justin Larue, Christian
Lassem, Perttu Laurila, Michael A. Laux, Clark Lawton, George Leidolf,
Tommi Leino, Ville Leminen, Tony Leneis, Jerry C. Lin, Terry C. Lin,
Stephen Lin, George C. Lindauer, Ilkka Lindblom, Oskar Linde, David
Lodge, Nicole Lubinski, Philipp Lucas, Derek Ludwig, Matthew Maclean,
Paul Marshall, Dan Martin, Erwin Mascardo, Chris Mathews, Chill
McCrear, John McGrady, David McGrath, Chuck McKenzie, Justen Meltz,
Mikhail Moldavskiy, Katy Mulvey, Jan Erik Mydland, Jefferson Ng, Yen
Nguyen, Yrjo Sakari Niemela, Michael Niewoehner, Toni Nikkanen, Blair
Nilsson, Ivar Nilsson, Tyler Novak, Tom Nowacki, Georg Oberwinkler,
Dale Ondeck, Gunnar Opsommer, Niilo Paasivirta, Kris Parker, Tom
Parker, Kenneth Paulson, Kent Peterson, Pasi Tapani Pirhonen, Antti
Pitk"am"aki, Colin Pritchard, Alexander Purikov, Joska Pyykko, Brian
Ramos, Michael Rams, Toni Rasanen, Derek S. Ray, Martin Read, Sam
Reisner, Judd Reiffin, Adam K. Rixey, David J. Robertson, Steve
A. Robinson, Jean-Philippe Rodriguez, Gerald W. Rutsch, Daniel Rutter,
Rich Ryker, Osku Salerma, Mika Salovaara, Nate Sarbin, Ben Sayer, Mark
W. Schmelzenbach, Jonathan Schmidt, Markus Schwarz, Michael Searle,
Zoe Seekins, David Shafer, Scott Shaw, Erlend Simonsen, Aaron
B. Simpson, Klaus Sommerer, David Soule, Toni Stauffer, Benjamin
Stein, Matthew Stephans, Dave Storey, Mika Sutinen, Kjetil
Svendsberget, Martin Svensson, Bruno Tabbia, Avier Taylor-Paul, Jochen
Terstiege, Justin Thiessen, Mirko Thoele, Marcy Thompson, Matthew
Trevor, Erno Tuomainen, Uoti Urpala, Olivier Della-Valle, Jeff
Vandenberg, Ryan Vurlicer, Pete Warren, Olaf Weber, Mason Wheeler,
David Whitcombe, Steven White, Matt Whitfield, Sandra Whiting, Aaron
Williams, Andy Williams, Jason Willoughby, Gerry Kevin Wilson, Dan
Winsor, Greg Wooledge, Stephan "W" Wrammerfors, Scott Yost, Krey
Younger, Ben Zealley and Colin Zealley
Appendix B: Customizing ADOM
-----------------------------
It is possible to set certain default values for ADOM with the
standard configuration file. The name of the file and its location
depends on the system you are playing ADOM on. The system-related
readme file (readme.linux, readme.dos or readme.amiga) accompanying
this distribution will give you more details about this. The
configuration file can contain certain variables, which control parts
of ADOMs behaviour. This file is a plain ASCII file.
Generally a line in the configuration file can start with or without a
'#'. If the line starts with a '#' it is considered to be a comment
and will be ignored. Otherwise ADOM expects to find something that
looks like this:
<variable> = <value>
For example a line might contain the following text:
Name = 'Big Bang'
or
Recovery = 400
ADOM recognizes a certain number of variables which have a specific
meanings. Each variable must have a value of a certain type. Allowed
types are strings, numbers (only whole integers) and Boolean values
('true' and 'false'). Strings which contain whitespaces must be
enclosed by ' (see above).
ADOM variables also can be set during the game with the ': =' command
which requires the user to enter a line in the format explained above.
The following variables currently are recognized:
Allow_Default_Names
*******************
true, false: defaults to 'false' and allows you to determine whether
the default names will be allowed or not
Auto_Open_Doors
***************
true, false: will ask automatically whether you want to open or unlock
a door
Auto_Lock_Nearest
*****************
true, false: if set to true, the targeting code (used for missile
weapons and a few spells) will automatically use the nearest monster
as the new target, if no monster was locked before.
Auto_Pickup
***********
string containing the symbols of items chosen from the following
categories, which are to be picked up whenever you move on a field
containing items of that type:
[ Armor, shields, cloaks, boots, girdles, gauntlets and helmets
* Gems and rocks
& Necklaces, amulets and tools
( Melee weapons
} Missile weapons
/ Missiles (except for stones)
= Rings
\ Wands
! Potions
? Scrolls
~ Bracers
% Food
$ Gold
{ Instruments
" Books
Check_Item_In_Hand
******************
true, false: if set to 'true' you will be asked if you want to wield
an item other than a pick axe, a torch or a melee weapon
Class
*****
any of the available classes
Colored_Menus
*************
true, false: if set to 'false' you won't have to endure the colored
menus (and yes, there probably will be configurable colors for the
menus at some point in the future although it's pretty low priority
for me).
Colored_PC
**********
true, false: if set to 'false' the player icon '@' will be displayed
in white -- otherwise the color is dependent on your class.
Compact_Kill_List
*****************
true, false: if set to 'true' the final kill list will be compacted by
printing more than just one killed monster type per line.
Display_Key_Code
****************
true, false: if set to 'true' you will see the keys you pressed during
a multi-key command
Fast_Missile_Readying
*********************
true, false: will prompt you whether you want to add a (heap of)
missiles to your missile slot when the missile slot is empty
Fast_More
*********
true, false: if set to 'true' any key will be accepted when the
'(more)' prompt is displayed. Setting this variable to 'true' is
equivalent to pressing 'C-k' once at the start of the game.
Fated_Gender
************
true, false: if set to true, ADOM will select the gender for your character
Low_Hitpoint_Warning
********************
true, false: if set to true ADOM will beep (or flash the screen if
beeping is impossible but flashing is possible on your system) if the
hitpoints of your character fall below 20% (or 15 -- whichever is
lower).
Message_Buffer_Size
*******************
A number, which describes the size of the message buffer in lines. The
value is required to be between 50 and 10000.
Metric_Measuring
****************
true, false; if set to true, your height and weight will be printed
according to metric measuring
Name
****
the default name for your PC
Nice_Stuff
**********
true, false: if set to true the stuff list will display cursed items in
red and blessed items in green.
Persistence
***********
a numeric value; determines the number of steps that will pass when
you use the 'walk mode' to search in one place (see -> Continuous
search via 'w s'); the default value is 50
Quitters_Allowed
****************
true, false: if set to 'true' all games in which you quit will also be
recorded in the highscore
Race
****
any of the allowed races -- don't forget the ' for races like High Elf
Random_PC
*********
true, false; determines whether a randomly rolled character will be
used each time you start ADOM
Recovery
********
a numeric value; determines the number of steps that will pass when
you use the 'walk mode' to wait in one place; the default value is 50
Reverse_Message_Order
*********************
true, false: determines the order in which the messages are displayed
in the message buffer; true means that the latest messages will be
displayed at the bottom, false means that the latest messages will be
displayed at the top; 'true' is the default value
Sex
***
male, female
Short_Log_Format
****************
string: the string is used by ADOM to create a log file. The string
contains one character for each set of information to be included in
the log file. The following options can be used:
a: Achievements (attribute changes, ...)
b: Background of the PC
c: Spells
d: PC data (attributes, ...)
e: Effects of corruption
i: Items in the inventory
k: Kill list of the PC
l: Skills
m: Items in the backpack
s: Screenshot
w: Weapon skills
The default is: "dbim".
Sorted_Skills
*************
true, false: if set to 'true' the skill list will be ordered
alphabetically
Starvation_Warning
******************
true, false: if set to 'true', ADOM will beep if you are in danger of
starving.
Uncursed_String
***************
string: some people don't seem to like the word 'uncursed' ADOM uses
to describe an item that is neither cursed nor blessed. You can
define an alternative by using this environment variable. Be careful
about what you do since ADOM does not check your definition and using
'cursed' or 'blessed' is possible, too. Moral: he who confuses
himself gets what he deserves.
Verbose_Level_Messages
**********************
true, false: defaults to 'false'; if set to 'true', level messages
will be displayed whenever you enter a special level, otherwise only
on the first time
Verbose_Log_Format
******************
string: This string has the same format as 'Short_Log_Format'. ADOM
internally does not care about the format of the two strings (and
which one is longer). The intention of these two environment
variables simply is to allow the user to have two different means of
creating a logfile. The default is: "sdbwcleimka".
Walk_Carefully
**************
true, false: if set to 'true' ADOM will abort from Walk-Mode as soon
as you spot a non-tame monster.
If you initially do not have a configuration file, ADOM will create
one for you.
APPENDIX C: Command Line Options
--------------------------------
ADOM can be supplied with some command line options to make it do
certain things. Up to now the following command line options are
supported:
-c <file>: forces ADOM to use <file> as configuration file
-d: display the directories being used by ADOM
-h: display the available command line options
-k: use the standard keymap
-l <name>: load the saved game <name>
-m: use monochrome display
-n: forbids ADOM to use any configuration file
-o: prints the used compiler options
-r: create keymap reference file 'keyref.kbd'
-s: prints the complete highscore to stdout.
-v: display the current version of ADOM.
The syntax for calling ADOM with options is:
adom [-c <file>] [-d] [-h] [-k] [-m] [-n] [-o] [-r] [-s] [-v]
Important note: If you have changed the default keymap, but would like
to have a reference file of the original bindings, you need to call
ADOM like this:
adom -k -r
(It's important that the '-k' is set before the '-r'!)
APPENDIX D: Customizing the keymap
----------------------------------
ADOM allows you to customize the keybindings used during the game for
invoking commands to a certain extent. When ADOM is started it
searches for a file called 'adom.kbd' (or '.adom.kbd' on Linux
systems) in your data directory (call 'adom -d' to determine your data
directory). This file contains a description of its syntax, which
should answer all questions. Customizing a keymap to a very specific
system requires quite some work on your side if you want to use
special keys and such stuff (you will need to know the ASCII codes
your system generates when a special key is pressed).
Note that customization is possible only to a certain extent.
If you would like to have a printed reference of your own keymap
bindings at hand, you can enter
adom -r
at your command prompt. This will make ADOM to create a file called
'keyref.kbd', which contains the current bindings and can be printed
on any line printer. Check it for the details about how to define new
key bindings.