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Ancient Domains Of Mystery An Interactive Adventure In A Fantastic World Copyright 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 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 Price of the Game To further the development of the game... The Horoscope Game-related Effects of Star Signs The Player Character The Races The Classes Alignment Skills Increasing Skills Marking Skills for Quick Selection Weapon Skills Weapon Skills and Attack Energy Attributes Experience and Advancement Magic & Spells Casting Spells from Books Known Spells Mindcraft Corruptions The Game The Main Screen The Monster Memory The Display The Player Character Screen Miscellaneous Commands Movement Speed The Dynamic Display 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 gave you against the ten minutes you probably need to 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 world. 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 circles the world. The inhabitants of Ancardia believe in the magical forces controlling the movements of the celestial bodies. Magic energies influence one's life depending 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 (when nobody usually 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 severely hampered. On the day of Silvernight good magics enjoy great advantages while evil magics are severely hindered. The weeks 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 your character's birthday). The star sign has some effects on the career of the character. Note that some signs are quite variable in the attributes they govern. Your character will also be slightly favored 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), Eloquence Dragon: Ferocity, Combat, Might, Rulership, Anger, Combat Magic Sword: Combat, Execution, Tactics, Strategy Falcon: Nobility, Hunt, Force of Personality Cup: Collected Knowledge, Experience, Camaradery 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, you are faster (+10 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%, combat magic is 10% cheaper in power points. 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 favors. 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 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 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 extremely long-lived 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 of even more slender build 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 a regular basis... mostly you will meet Gray Elves 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 themselves. 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. During 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 hair 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. Their 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 a 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 as 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 and maybe hurthlings). Their greatest enemies are the kobolds living in the tunnels below the mountains. They normally attack each other on sight. Gnomes are excellent crossbowmen who prefer to utilize light crossbows for ranged attacks. Gnomes train in the following skills: Gemology, Listening, Mining, Pick Pockets, and Ventriloquism. HURTHLING -- Hurthlings 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 hurthlings 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. Hurthlings rarely wear beards and generally prefer short-cut hair. They (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. Hurthlings generally mistrust outsiders and foreigners and shun them most of the time. A hurthling needs six meals a day to be happy and a comfortable bed to sleep in. Those few hurthlings who chose to be adventurers are mostly very talented thieves. Because of their small size and their low strength, hurthlings are not very well suited to be fighters. One of their favored sports is tossing rocks (with or without slings) at distant targets -- consequently many hurthlings are deadly shots both with slings and thrown rocks. Hurthlings have been known as hobbits in later ages and in other areas. Hurthlings 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 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 for many centuries in a kind of hibernation 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. Therefore, extreme temperatures influence them: when 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). Additionally, 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). Finally, each and every class will provide special powers to the character once a specific experience level is gained. The more powerful the character gets, the better these abilities will be. Some abilities are magical, some are natural talents, some are automatic, others must be used manually, but each and every ability will serve to simplify some aspect of your adventuring life. Special powers are gained at levels 6, 12, 18, 25, 32, 40 and 50. All these special powers are usually invoked (if this is necessary) with the C-x command -- if this keybinding does not work for you check your online help (press '?'-'K'). 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 are still dangerous. Archers are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Archery, Climbing, Concentration, Dodge, Fletchery, Listening, and Stealth. At higher levels archers are the most deadly marksmen in all Ancardia. At level 6 a missile attack takes up but 800 energy points. At level 12 the range for their missile attacks is doubled. At level 18 they are a lot more productive when applying fletchery. At level 25 missile attacks cost but 600 energy points. At level 32 they become able to completely dodge enemy missiles. At level 40 missiles attacks have a 20% chance to penetrate armor and at level 50 they are able to hit several targets with one missile. 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, Dodge, Find Weakness, Pick Locks, Stealth, and Two Weapon Combat. At higher levels assassins get a lot more deadly in their trade. At level 6 they can create poison from any potion (except for water and fruit juice). At level 12 their backstabbing powers get a lot more deadly. At level 18 the range of their missile attacks is increased by 30%. At level 25 their chance to score critical hits is increased by 20%. At level 32 the dodge bonus they gain is doubled. At level 40 they become immune to poison. At level 50 they receive a small chance to score instant killing hits. This chance is based upon the level of the target. 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 experienced 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. High-level barbarians are fearsome fighters. At level 6 they learn to deliver mighty blows that cause double damage (for the cost of 2500 energy points). At level 12 moving costs but 750 energy points. At level 18 they can deliver tremendous blows that cause triple damage (for the cost of 4000 energy points). At level 25 they start to gain +1d4 additional hit points per level. At level 32 barbarians gain a one-time bonus of +3 to strength and toughness. At level 40 they gain a +10 damage bonus with each melee attack when fighting as a true berserker (which basically means that they have to fight naked, e.g. without any armor, and switching the tactics rating to the appropriate setting). At level 50 melee attacks take up but 800 energy points when fighting as a true berserker. IMPORTANT: Note that both the mighty and the tremendous blow count only for the first blow, even if the character is delivering a series of blows (because he wields more than one weapon, etc.). 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 don't possess much equipment. This is balanced by their knack to stumble upon strange items. Apart from that, 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 a beast with their ethereal music. Bards are not trained in specific skills (except for Music), but rather receive a randomly determined group of skills. As bards advance in level they become more and more versatile. At level 6 they receive one additional free skill increase per advancement. At level 12 they gain +1d3 skill levels in 6 randomly chosen weapon skills. At level 18 they receive a base score of 80 + (10 * Learning score) + (20 * Mana score) in four randomly chosen spells. At level 25 they receive 6 random skills (or improve their abilities in up to 6 skills). At level 32 they double their hit point regeneration speed. At level 40 they double their mana point regeneration rate. At level 50 they receive a bonus of +6 to all attributes. BEASTFIGHTER -- Beastfighters are partly mystic, partly primitive warriors who 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. With increasing experience, beastfighters perfect their natural fighting style and their attunement to the wild beasts. At level 6 they become poison resistant and at level 12 their wild fighting style makes them stun resistant. At level 18 movement costs them but 700 energy points. At level 25 they can summon 2d2 cave bears or silver wolves for the cost of permanently losing one mana point (which eventually regenerates after a lot of time has passed). At level 32 they become able to exchange positions with hostile monsters. At level 40 they can stun opponents on critical hits and at level 50 they gain +6 to both strength and toughness. 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. At higher levels, druids become extremely attuned to nature itself. At level 6 they learn to evade wilderness encounters whenever they choose to do so. At level 12 they regenerate power points twice as fast as usual while in the wilderness. At level 18 they become immune to all weather effects. At level 25 they are able to summon 1d3 major animals as servants at the cost of 1d3 mana points (an almost permanent loss, as it only regenerates after a very long period of time). At level 32 they regenerate hit points twice as fast as usual while in the wilderness. At level 40 they become immune to lightning. Finally, they suffer 10% less corruption from all such attacks at level 50 due to their close connection to nature. 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. Experienced elementalists use very special powers provided by their close elemental attunement. At level 6 they become fire resistant, at level 12 they become shock resistant. At level 18 they are immune to all weather effects. At level 25 they are able to breathe water. At level 32 they can unleash an elemental storm at the cost of 120 power points which fires a random bolt (fire, lightning or frost) into each of the eight available directions, starting from the position of the elementalist. At level 40 they can summon an elemental as a pet. This forces them to permanently sacrifice two mana points (which eventually regenerate -- albeit after a very long period of time). At level 50 they can automatically burrow through stone (at the cost of 20 power points and 1500 energy). FARMER -- Even among the most average folks, there are some valiant and larger-than-life persons who are born to achieve 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 labor. Often they are accompanied by their trusted dogs. They are accustomed to hunger and hardship and often have very little to lose 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, Cooking, First Aid, Fletchery, Food Preservation, Gardening, Haggling, Herbalism, Smithing, Stealth, Survival, and Woodcraft. The more experienced farmers become, the better they adjust to their hard circumstances of life. At level 6 their carrying capacity is doubled due to their training and experience with moving around great loads during harvest time. At level 12 they need only half as much food as everybody else (except for monks who also know how to survive on very little). At level 18 they are learn to pick herbs with a lot more skill to select the better ones. At level 25 they learn about making iron rations from corpses. At level 32 they receive better chances to increase their physical attributes and physical attribute potentials. At level 40 they gain a +3 bonus to strength and toughness. At level 50 they have become so much attuned to basic nature that all corruption effects are reduced by 30%. FIGHTER -- Fighters are simple warriors who have 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. With increasing experience, fighters become more able to efficiently use armor as a means of protection. Only the PV bonus of helmets, body armor, shields, gauntlets, cloaks, girdles, and boots will be improved in this way. At level 6 a fighter gains +15% to PV from such items, at level 18 this bonus is increased to +30%, at level 32 it's +40%. At level 12 fighters gain a +50% bonus to DV adjustment provided by the dodge skill. At level 25 their chance to score critical hits is increased by 10%. At level 40 fighters are able to use a powerful bash attack which causes more damage (+20%) and has a greater chance to stun their opponents. The downside of this attack is that it costs 500 additional energy points to use. At level 50 fighters learn to use a powerful all-round attack costing 3500 energy points. This attack can be used against every opponent in the immediate vicinity of the fighter. 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 rather 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. Experienced healers have a vast array of means at their disposal to soothe the pain of living beings, to treat diseases and poisons and to prevent suffering. At level 6 they regenerate wounds at twice the normal speed, at level 12 they triple their recovery rate. At level 18 they become able to use both the Healing and the First Aid skill on others (and not only themselves). Starting with level 25 they automatically gain access to the following spells: Calm Monsters, Cure Light Wounds, Slow Poison and Cure Disease (with each additional level their knowledge increases). Starting with level 32 they gain 2d3 additional hit points per level. At level 40 they gain access to the following spells: Cure Serious Wounds, Neutralize Poison (again their knowledge increases with each new level). At level 50 they almost immediately recover from the effects of disease, bleeding and poison and gain a +8 bonus to their toughness score. 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). 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 will probably make some great deals. Merchants are trained in the following skills: Appraising, Detect Item Status, Gemology, Haggling, Herbalism, Literacy, Metallurgy, Pick Pockets, and Survival. Experienced merchants become true masters of their trade -- being able to sell almost anything to anyone and also being able to haggle for the best prices. At level 6 shop prices for merchants will be lowered by 20%. At level 12 their carrying capacity is doubled. At level 18 shop prices will be lowered by 40%. At level 25 they no longer are affected by any kind of weather. At level 32 shop prices are lowered by 60%. At level 40 they learn to calm monsters by giving away items. At level 50 their carrying capacity is tripled (due to their enormous talent of organization). 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 have ever 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. Experienced mindcrafters master various mental powers. At level 6 they learn to quickly recover from confusion attacks. At level 12 they become able to sense the amount of enemies within a limited area (e.g. the current level). Starting with level 18 they gain +1d6 additional power points per level since they manage to unlock previously untapped mental energy sources. At level 25 their willpower is increased by +5. At level 32 they can block some of the corruption they suffer when contacting beings of Chaos. At level 40 they unlock even more unused areas of the brain and from then on gain +3d5 additional power points (cumulative with the bonus from level 18) per level. At level 50 they finally manage to resist some of the damage they suffer when contacting undead: damage is halved (see the section on mindcraft for details). 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 by worldly means. Monks are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Athletics, Concentration, Dodge, Find Weakness, Healing, Literacy, and Stealth. The further monks advance, the more they hone their movement skills and unarmed combat powers. At level 6 monks learn to use a circular kick with which they can hit every opponent in the vicinity (but also all friends, so be careful). Using this kick costs 2500 energy points. At level 12 a normal move costs them but 800 energy points, at level 18 but 600 energy points. At level 25 monks become able to change positions with hostile opponents. At level 32 they can score instant kills in melee combat against up to human-sized creatures. At level 40 they can do so against humanoids of any size. At level 50 they have become so attached to the flow of the universe that they actually are able to resist Chaos to a certain limit -- Chaos effects are lowered by 10%. 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. With increasing experience, Necromancers master all aspects of undeath. At level 6 they slowly develop a resistance to all special attacks from undead (like strength drain or paralyzation). The base chance for resistance is equal to 40% + 1% per level of the necromancer. At level 12 they learn to turn undead. At level 18 they are able to raise all humanoid corpses in sight as ghuls. These corpses quickly decompose and turn to ashes after a number of turns. Each animated corpse drains 10 power points. At level 25 they can use the dreaded Shadow Touch, which allows them to absorb the life energy of enemies when fighting bare-handed and wounding an enemy. At level 32 they can raise all corpses in sight as wraiths (similar to the power at level 18). Each animated corpse drains 20 power points. At level 40 they have to pay but one-half of the usual Necromancy cost (see the skill description) when animating undead of a power level up to spectres. At level 50 they finally learn to overcome Death herself and are able to return to the living when killed, if there Toughness at the point of death was 10 or higher. Coming back in this way demands a high price. They lose one-half of their toughness and one-half of their hit points permanently. 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 are generally 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. With increasing experience, paladins gain holy powers fueled by their strong beliefs and their religious upbringing. Due to the nature of these powers, they are not able to use them if they aren't in decent standing with their deity. At level 6 they can cure disease once per 1000 turns. At level 12 they gain the ability to turn undead (this action costs 3000 energy points to use). At level 18 they can discover the alignment of a beast by simply looking at it. At level 25 they receive a protective aura which gives them +1DV per 2 levels against chaotics (if they are lawful), lawful ones (if they are chaotic) or non-neutral opponents (if they are neutral) while in melee combat. At level 32 they can use a healing touch once per 1000 turns to cure (level - 24)d6 points of damage. When reaching level 40 they become highly resistant to some special melee attack powers used by undead beasts and demons (specifically, they become resistant to strength drain, toughness drain, sickness and paralyzation). At level 50 they are strengthened by their beliefs so much that all corruption effects are reduced by 30% PRIEST -- Priests serve the various gods. They receive magical 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. With increasing experience priests gain holy powers fueled by their strong beliefs and their religious upbringing. Due to the nature of these powers, they are not able to use them if they aren't in decent standing with their deity. At level 6 priests can turn undead. At level 12 all spell costs are reduced by 10%. At level 18 all spell costs are reduced by 25%. At level 25 all spell costs are reduced by 50%. At level 32 priests are allowed to pray twice as often as anybody else. At level 40 they are able to destroy minor undead (skeletons, zombies, ghuls, shadows, ghosts, wights, wraiths, ghost bats, slow shadows, mummies, corpse fiends and shadow centipedes). At level 50 they are able to destroy major undead (liches, spectres, vampires, revenants, skeletal warriors, ghost lords, shadow trolls, master liches, shadow lords, greater mummies and steel zombies). 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, Dodge, Food Preservation, Healing, Herbalism, Survival, Swimming, Two Weapon Combat, and Woodcraft. The more experience rangers gain, the more attuned to nature they become. At level 6 they are a lot more capable to survive in the wilderness through the means of the Survival skill as they find a lot more food in far less time. They also become immune to all negative weather effects since they have by now learned to avoid all related problems. At level 12 rangers are no longer slowed down by terrain effects. At level 18 the range of all missile attacks is increased by +4. At level 25 the can automatically evade all wilderness encounters. At level 32 and 50 the weight of two weapons used at the same time can be doubled/quadrupled without incurring negative effects. Starting at level 40 movement costs but 750 energy points. Note for the special power at levels 32/50: usually your to-hit adjustment for fighting with two weapons is determined in the following way: * Take (Two-weapon combat / 20) as a basic bonus. * Subtract 6 if you are not playing a ranger. * Subtract MAX(0, (Weight of the two weapon / 10) - 6). If you are a ranger of level 32-49 it is "Subtract MAX(0, (Weight of the two weapon / 20) - 6)" If you are a ranger of level 50 it is "Subtract MAX(0, (Weight of the two weapon / 40) - 6)" THIEF -- Need we say more? For the sake of completeness: Thieves are very good at stealing, opening locks, finding and disarming traps and other secretive activities. Thieves are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Appraising, Backstabbing, Climbing, Detect Traps, Disarm Traps, Listening, Pick Locks, Pick Pockets, and Stealth. Highly experienced thieves are masters of stealth, trickery and robbery. At level 6 thieves automatically use the search command on every step they make. At level 12 they get a lot more deadly with backstabbing attacks. At level 18 they become able to pilfer shops due to their exceptional agility and skill (but take care of experienced shopkeepers -- they might be very vigilant!). At level 25 thieves learn very deadly (and dirty!) fighting tactics allowing them to stun humanoid monsters with critical hits (a good kick at the right time does wonders). At level 32 they manage to pick the best stuff from other folks' pockets, occasionally even discovering highly valuable items. At level 40 their speed is increased by +20. At level 50 they are invisible as long as they are adjacent to a wall due to their exceptional stealth (but make sure that you don't carry any light source!). 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. Weaponsmiths perfect their skills at higher experience levels. At level 6 they become able to melt all metal items into ingots. At level 12 they can forge items four times as fast as everyone else. At level 18 they gain a +4 bonus to strength. At level 25 they automatically recognize all metal types. At level 32 weaponsmiths become immune to fire. At level 40 they gain a +8 bonus to toughness. At level 50 they automatically know the damage caused by unidentified melee weapons. WIZARD -- Wizards are masters of the 'art'. They wield great magical 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 lives 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. With increasing power, wizards become more and more skilled in the magical arts. At level 6 all spell costs are reduced by 10%, at level 12 all costs are reduced by 20% and at level 18 all costs are reduced by 40%. Starting with level 25 they slowly gain experience in one randomly chosen spell per level. At level 32 they become able to recharge wands (but no wand can be recharged more than once by a wizard). Recharging costs 50 power points per charge. If the wizard tries to overcharge the wand, he risks losing one mana point permanently. At level 40 wizards learn to uncurse items. This permanently costs one mana point. At level 50 they finally get basic knowledge in all commonly known spells. 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 sides! Either your PC will side with Law and bring order to the multiverse or your PC will side with the ever-changing 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 a 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. Some of the more extreme chaotic beings are downright evil, many extreme chaotics are quite mad. Lastly, there are neutral beings who 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 Hurthlings are lawful initially, while Trolls, Orcs and Dark Elves are chaotic. All other races are initially neutral. Choosing to be a necromancer also alters your alignment towards Chaos. If your character starts out as a Druid, he will always be neutral. In ADOM these alignments are divided 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. Still, he has a minor tendency towards Law. N= : The character is as close to neutrality as possible for a mortal. He can become a Champion of Balance. N- : The character has not yet chosen a side, but prefers to remain unaligned. Still, he has a minor tendency towards Chaos. 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 character's 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 alignment, a different deity is worshipped. Some items might be more or less useful for your character depending on his alignment. Other beings might react in a different manner depending on 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 so 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 '(mr)', if training material is still required (and thus currently no improvement is possible) or with '(ma)' if the required training material is available. Skills that 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 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 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. It would also 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 bonuses, +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 proficiency 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 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. The skill also slightly influences your looks. Athletics also affect 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 (or on hostile monsters if they don't notice you). Bridge Building [!+]: This skill allows you 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. Scores of 75+ allow you to regain mana points a lot faster; the rate increases again at 90+ and 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 deteriorate. Your character receives a -1 to hit per monster above the critical number, the monsters above the critical number receive a +2 to hit per such monster and your chances to hit with missiles are reduced by -4 per monster above the critical number... ...unless you know this skill. It 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 versions 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 helpful in a minor way 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. It also makes it more likely to find corpses of monsters you slay. Gardening [+]: This skill enables the character to plant herbs and harvest them later. 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 items. 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. Additionally, the chances to survive wasting sicknesses are greatly increased by a high healing skill. Herbalism: Herbalism cover both plant and herb lore. A character skilled in herbalism will be better able to recognize some of the strange plants that grow in the dungeons. Additionally, when collecting herbs, such a character will have a definite advantage over unskilled characters, because unskilled characters only will be able to find cursed herbs. Law [+]: Law allows you to notice (maybe) whenever you go beyond law and commit a chaotic act. It will also make known to you particularly lawful acts. Listening [*]: This skill allows to notice sounds better. It is automatically checked whenever the need arises. If you want your character to be 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 nor 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 made 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 digging 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. Using this skill permanently drains your Mana attribute, although it is said that your Mana very slowly regenerates itself (but this really seems to be a tedious process). It's also important to note that Necromancers using this skill are a lot more versatile than simple dabblers in necromantic affairs. Necromancers 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 unless you disarm the trap before picking the lock. 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 and to improve weapons and armor. 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 player 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 traveling through the wilderness. It can be very handy since more than one adventurer already starved 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. Note that fighting with two weapons costs 800 energy points plus the maximum of the weapon speeds for the weapons being used, minus 4 energy points per skill point 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 are normally 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 as 'Detect Traps', 'First Aid' and others. Weapon Skills ------------- Every character also has some weapon skills he can train. Weapon skills can only be increased in 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 character's DV. For all weapons the following titles of mastery are used. Weapon Level Level ------------ ----- 0 unskilled 1 basic 2 basic 3 basic 4 skilled 5 skilled 6 skilled 7 skilled 8 excellent 9 excellent 10 excellent 11 Mastery 12 Mastery 13 Mastery 14 Mastery 15 Grand Mastery For melee weapons, the following numbers are used to mirror the experience of a character with the weapon of his choice (note how different weapon types yield different advantages): UNARMED FIGHTING 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +6 +6 +9 +10 +10 +10 +12 +12 To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +6 +6 +8 +10 +10 +12 DV Modifier 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6 +8 +10 +12 DAGGERS & KNIVES 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20 To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +11 +12 DV Modifier 0 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 CLUBS & HAMMERS 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +11 +12 DV Modifier 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +6 MACES & FLAILS 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +11 +12 DV Modifier 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +6 SWORDS 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +11 +12 DV Modifier 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +6 AXES 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 To-Damage Modifier 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +12 +14 +16 DV Modifier 0 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 WHIPS 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +8 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20 +22 +24 To-Damage Modifier 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +7 +9 +11 +13 +15 +17 +19 DV Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +10 +11 +12 +13 +14 +15 POLEARMS 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20 To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +11 +12 DV Modifier 0 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +8 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20 +22 TWOHANDED WEAPONS 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20 To-Damage Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +6 +8 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +21 +25 +30 DV Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +6 +8 STAVES 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20 To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +5 +6 +6 +7 +8 +10 DV Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +5 +7 +9 +11 +14 +17 +20 +23 +26 +30 +35 +40 If a character wields two melee weapons, his 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 bonuses 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 character's DV, but instead, the range of your missiles is increased by +1 for every 3 skill levels. The shield skill yields a +2 bonus to DV per level in that skill. The trick is that you can't get a higher bonus to your DV than twice your shield DV bonus (e.g. if your shield yields a +4 DV bonus, the shield skill can't provide more than +8 to DV). Shield skill marks are gained when you manage to block an attack with your shield (e.g. the attack would have hit without your shield DV bonus). A prerequisite for gaining more shield skill marks is to use a shield that would allow you to benefit from a higher shield skill. You also must not fight with berserk tactics (see the 'T' command). When you are using two shields, you will only gain the better skill bonus of the two, not both, since two shields are too unwieldy to be used effectively. 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). Note that missile weapons require but one-half as many marks. Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Melee 15 25 40 65 105 170 275 445 720 1165 1885 3050 4935 7985 12920 Missl 7 12 20 32 52 85 137 222 360 582 942 1525 2467 3992 6460 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 defensive' and 'coward' settings of the 'T' command, if you want to increase your weapon skills). NOTE: The number of marks required to increase a weapon skill is partially dependent on the class of your character. True spellcasters (wizards, necromancers and elementalists) need twice as many marks as listed above. Semi-spellcasters (priests and druids) actually need 50% more marks than listed above. Farmers are so skilled in the use of polearms that they need 20% less marks to increase in their use. All other classes need to collect the number of marks specified above. NOTE: A character can hone his melee skills only to a certain amount when fighting against the same monster. After a certain time (a certain number of turns), he will have picked up all the specific tricks and moves of the monster and will no longer gain any weapon skills by fighting that specific beast. The more powerful a monster is, the more you usually will be able to learn from it. NOTE: Fighting with two whips at once is not recommended since this is *very* difficult since you have to avoid getting entangled in your weapons. Rules-wise this means that you will require a lot of speed to fight effectively with these two whips. Weapon Skills and Attack Energy ------------------------------- Attacking with a weapon without the appropriate skill requires 1000 energy points. If you attack with a weapon you are skilled with, the attack energy required is reduced according to the following table: Skill 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Cost 1000 980 960 940 920 895 870 845 815 785 750 710 665 615 560 500 Fighting with two weapons costs [800 plus the maximum of the two attack energy values for the weapons in question] energy points (although possession of the Two Weapon Combat skill can lower this). 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 surpassed by natural training. This is a long and arduous process. Only magical methods can exceed these limits with ease. Attributes are rated as either primary or secondary. Secondary attributes are derived from primary attributes and are often 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 score 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 easy-going 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 see 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 (HP): 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 POINTS (PP): 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 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. A 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, 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 go up a level, 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. Magic & Spells -------------- The world of Ancardia is steeped in powerful magic. Although these forces have been far stronger in earlier ages and slowly seem to be declining in might, they are still a major force to be reckoned with. The world of Ancardia is the home of many powerful wizards of various schools and specialization. Priests are also able to use magical spells very similar to the ones utilized by wizards (although the sources for these powers are very different). All magic is fueled by mana, the magical energy called the fifth element by some. In ADOM the mana attribute of the player character is the major factor in determining how well he is able to channel magical spells (although both race and profession also have great influence on this). Spells have to be learned from books. When reading such a book, the character meditates about the forces and magical patterns which are required to create the magical effect in question and attunes himself to the mana flow of the world in such a way as to be able to activate the specific spell. How well he is able to do this depends on a number of factors -- among them the Learning attribute, the Concentration skill, the class and more. ADOM uses a special number to describe the current attunement to the mana flow of Ancardia for each and every spell the character learns. The more often a spell is cast, the less close the attunement of the character to the mana flow will be as his actions change the mana flow and force him to re-attune him by again studying spellbooks. Thus this number decreases with each spell casting until it is finally reduced to zero and the character is no longer able to cast the spell. On the other hand, a character becomes more efficient in casting a specific spell if he does so very often. Training allows him to adjust the various factors involved in casting a spell until he maximizes the gain from such a spell. This learning factor is described by the term 'Spell Effectiveness'. The character needs to cast a spell 'x' times to increase his effectiveness with that spell by +1. The value 'x' depends on the current effectiveness (the better you already are, the harder it is to improve) and can be determined like this: If the current effectiveness is '+x', the character needs to cast the spell 'x + 1' times to become even more efficient. If the character is neither a wizard, elementalist, druid, priest, or necromancer, this number is tripled. If the character is either a magician (wizard, elementalist or necromancer) and tries to cast a priest spell or if he is a cleric (druid or priest) and tries to cast a wizard spell, this number is doubled. Effectiveness has various effects: it increases the range and/or damage of combat spells, it heightens the effects of personal and healing magic and so on. Each spell description lists those effects. Finally, high effectiveness with a spell reduces the costs for casting such spells. For each 5 levels of effectiveness with a given spell, the spell costs are reduced by 1 power point per casting. Note that this reduction can't reduce the cost to a level lower than half the original cost. IMPORTANT: Effectiveness can never be increased to a level higher than twice your learning score. If, on the other hand, your learning score is reduced below a certain spell effectiveness, the effectiveness rating will remain at its current level. Casting Spells from Books ------------------------- It is also possible to cast a spell from a spellbook if you already have learned the particular spell. Doing so costs quintuple the amount of power points usually required, takes up 3000 energy points (casting from a book takes more time since you have to loudly invoke the text) and does not reduce your current spell knowledge. It also does not destroy the spellbook after a limited amount of readings, either. Since casting a spell from a book simply consists of following the instructions in the book, the spell effectiveness for the spell in question is not increased. Known Spells ------------ This section summarizes the various spells known in Ancardia. Please note that it should be considered to be but a short summary of the various spells -- there might be yet unknown powerful castings. First the spell name is listed. If two names are given, separated by a /, the first one is the name commonly used by members of the arcane professions (wizards, elementalists and necromancers), while the second name is the one used by members of the clerical professions (priests, druids and paladins). Then you'll find in brackets the profession groups specifically suited to learning the spell. Effectively, this means that members of those profession groups will have an easier time to understand and learn the spell. Increasing effectiveness also is simpler for members of those groups. For them the costs are determined as explained above. For members of the 'other' profession group, the costs are doubled. For characters neither having an arcane nor a clerical profession, costs are tripled. Paladins using clerical magic only pay double the normal cost to increase effectiveness. Lastly, you will find a description of the spell effects. The descriptions include formulae to determine range, damage and duration for spells. These formulae use certain abbreviations: W - Willpower of the PC. M - Mana of the PC. L - Level of the PC. E - Spell Effectiveness for the given spell. R - Maximum range (as determined by the range formula). r - Remaining range points when target is hit. It also uses a maximum function denoted as M{x, y}, which means "take the maximum of x and y". The minimum function m{x, y} is defined accordingly. Finally, the die-rolling notation is used (see the respective section in the manual for details). Example: A damage of M{L + 2, W - 2}d6 + (L + W) / 4 means that to determine damage, you first choose the maximum value of your level + 2 and your willpower - 2. Roll the appropriate number of d6 and add to the result a number determined by adding level and willpower divided by 4. Confusing, eh? Feel assured that you don't need to understand this to be able to play ADOM -- it just helps those die-hard tacticians. MAGIC MISSILE / MINOR PUNISHMENT (Arcane) This spell allows the caster to launch a minor energy bolt against his enemies which is able to bounce off obstacles. Range: W / 4 + L / 4 + 2 Damage: M{2, (L + E) / 3}d4 + r LIGHTNING BOLT / DIVINE WRATH (Arcane, Clerical) This spell permits the user to launch a bolt of electrical energy from his hands. Be careful as this bolt tends to bounce off obstacles. Range: W / 4 + L / 4 + 2 Damage: M{4, (L + E) / 3}d6 + r IDENTIFY / ENLIGHTENMENT (Arcane, Clerical) By invoking this spell, the caster is able to identify a previously unknown item in his equipment. LIGHT (Arcane, Clerical) This spell lights up a magically or naturally darkened area. Diameter: M{4, (L + W) / 4} DARKNESS (Arcane, Clerical) This spell is the reversal of the Light spell. It magically darkens a bright area. Diameter: M{4, (L + W) / 4} CURE LIGHT WOUNDS (Clerical) This spell cures one minor wound. 1d8 + 1 + E points of damage will be restored. KNOCK / DIVINE KEY (Arcane) This spell unlocks and opens one locked door. Traps are not activated by this spell but rather circumvented. The caster must stand adjacent to the door. DISARM TRAP (Clerical) With this spell one trap can be deactivated permanently. The caster must be adjacent to the trap to be disarmed. FIRE BALL / MAJOR PUNISHMENT (Arcane) This spell makes the caster explode in a violent fireball engulfing everything in his vicinity. The caster is not harmed by the magical energies. Note that the explosion even penetrates walls since the magical energies creating the fire are build up on the elemental plane of Mana and rock or stone on the material plane is no concern on the plane of Mana. Diameter: M{2, W / 8} Damage: M{3, L / 4 + 2}d6 + L + E ICE BALL / FROZEN FURY (Arcane) This spell summons a deadly ice storm in the vicinity of the player, consisting of hail and frozen crystals. The caster is not harmed by the magical energies. Note that the storm even penetrates walls since the magical energies creating the storm are build up on the elemental plane of Mana and rock or stone on the material plane is no concern on the plane of Mana. Diameter: M{2, W / 8} Damage: M{3, L / 4 + 2}d7 + L + E LIGHTNING BALL / HEAVENLY FURY (Arcane) This spell summons a violent hail of thunderstrokes in the vicinity of the player. The caster is not harmed by the magical energies. Note that the thunderstrokes even penetrate walls since the magical energies creating the lightning are build up on the elemental plane of Mana and rock or stone on the material plane is no concern on the plane of Mana. Diameter: M{2, W / 8} Damage: M{3, L / 4 + 2}d8 + L + E ACID BALL / RAIN OF SORROW (Arcane) This spell creates a downpour of acid in the vicinity of the character. The caster is not harmed by the magical energies. Note that the rain even penetrates walls since the magical energies creating the acid are build up on the elemental plane of Mana and rock or stone on the material plane is no concern on the plane of Mana. Diameter: M{2, W / 8} Damage: M{3, L / 4 + 2}d9 + L + E BLESS (Clerical) Application of this spell blesses one person (no items!). The target will be more effective in combat and also enjoys some more luck. Duration: 1d{W} + (M + E) * 2 SLOW MONSTER (Arcane) The target of this spell moves and acts with half its effective speed. Duration: 3d{W + E} CALM MONSTER (Arcane, Clerical) Usage of this spell allows to calm down enraged monsters. CURE SERIOUS WOUNDS (Clerical) This spell cures a major wound. 2d10 + 2 + E points of damage will be restored. CURE CRITICAL WOUNDS (Clerical) This spell cures a terrible wound. 4d8 + 4 + E points of damage will be restored. HEAL (Clerical) This spells heals a life-threatening wound. 10d6 + 10 + E points of damage will be restored. CURE DISEASE (Clerical) Application of this spell will cure a deadly disease, illness or sickness. NEUTRALIZE POISON (Clerical) By using this spell, the caster is able to neutralize poisonous substances in his blood stream. INVISIBILITY / VEIL OF THE GODS (Arcane) This spell hides the target from mortal eyes. Only by magical means can the target be discovered. Be warned: attacks on others will allow them to see you. There are also several kinds of beasts that are able to see through such magical disguises. Duration: {L + E + 3}d6 DESTROY UNDEAD / DISPEL UNDEAD (Clerical) This spell is particularly suited to annihilate undead creatures completely. The caster must be adjacent to the target creature. Damage: {L + 1}d6 + W + E SLOW POISON (Clerical) This spell slows down the effects of poison in one's body. Several castings might even succeed in completely neutralizing the poison. TELEPORTATION / ETHEREAL BRIDGE (Arcane) This spell instantly transports the target to another physical location. Without special magical means, the caster is unable to control the place of arrival. REMOVE CURSE (Arcane, Clerical) This spell allows you to turn cursed items into uncursed items. GREATER IDENTIFY / GREATER ENLIGHTENMENT (Arcane, Clerical) This spell will detail the powers of one item, especially its hidden powers (like the ability to grant special immunities or resistances etc.). EARTHQUAKE (Clerical) This very powerful spell effectively causes the earth to shake. It's especially useful in the underground to collapse tunnel systems, open new passages and slay hordes of enemies. Be warned that some locations are structurally too hard to be affected by an earthquake. REVELATION (Clerical) This spell reveals special abilities of the character (e.g. magical resistances and immunities). KNOW ALIGNMENT (Clerical) This spell allows the caster to determine the alignment of one target. CREATE ITEM / DIVINE FAVOUR (Arcane, Clerical) Application of this spell will bring a random item into existence. Artifacts can't be created but other powerful items definitely are a possibility. SUMMON MONSTERS (Arcane, Clerical) This spell calls a number of monsters into existence... which sadly are not necessarily peaceful. PETRIFICATION (Clerical) The target of this spell probably will be turned to stone... forever. FROST BOLT / NETHER BOLT (Arcane, Clerical) This spell causes an icy bolt to spring from the hands of the caster. Range: W / 4 + L / 4 + 2 Damage: M{4, (L + E) / 3}d6 + r ACID BOLT (Arcane, Clerical) This spell allows the caster to hurl a bolt of vicious and deadly liquid at his opponents. Range: W / 4 + L / 4 + 2 Damage: M{4, (L + E) / 3}d8 + r FIRE BOLT / HELLISH FLAMES (Arcane, Clerical) Application of this spell allows the caster to hurl a fiery bolt at his enemies. Range: W / 4 + L / 4 + 2 Damage: M{4, (L + E) / 3}d6 + r STRENGTH OF ATLAS / LORDLY MIGHT (Arcane) This spell allows the caster to carry tremendous loads. Beware -- his combat strength is not increased, only his carrying capacity! You should also make sure that you are not too overloaded when the spell ends. Duration: (W + E) * 20 MAGIC LOCK / SEAL OF THE SPHERES (Arcane) By using this spell, the caster can magically lock a door. IMPROVED FIREBALL / INVOKED DEVASTATION (Arcane) This spell is similar to its lesser cousin (see above) with the major difference that it causes more damage and can be hurled at targets far away. Note that the explosion penetrates even walls since the magical energies creating the fire are built up on the elemental plane of Mana and rock or stone on the material plane is of no concern on the plane of Mana. Range: Line of Sight Diameter: M{2, W / 8} Damage: {2 + (L + E) / 5}d8 + L FARSIGHT (Arcane, Clerical) This spell increases the range of view of the caster greatly. Duration: (M + E) * 10 WEB (Arcane) This spell engulfs everything in its path in sticky webs, probably slowing down or completely stopping the movements of weaker monsters. Range: M{3, m{12, (W + E) / 4}} STUN RAY / LESSER DIVINE TOUCH (Arcane, Clerical) This spell dazes the targets and makes them move with little coordination. Range: M{3, m{12, (W + E) / 4}} DEATH RAY / GREATER DIVINE TOUCH (Arcane, Clerical) This spell instantly slays the target (if it does not manage to resist in some way, that is!). Range: M{2, m{16, (W + E) / 8}} MAGIC MAP / KNOWLEDGE OF THE ANCIENTS (Arcane, Clerical) This spell maps major parts of the currently unknown regions of the area you explore. MYSTIC SHOVEL / DIVINE DIGGER (Arcane, Clerical) This spell allows you to penetrate stone in order to dig tunnels. Be warned -- some materials are so hard that even magic won't have any effect! Range: M{2, m{10, (W + E) / 5}} BURNING HANDS / BAPTISM OF FIRE (Arcane, Clerical) This spell engulfs a target adjacent to the caster in searing flames. Damage: m{15, L}d3 + L + E SCARE MONSTER / HOLY AWE (Arcane, Clerical) This spell is used to create terror and fear within living, intelligent opponents. Duration: (L)d4 turns + E 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 strength 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 a person 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 and mindless 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. Additionally, 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. Your mindcrafter also might want to avoid contact with corrupted monsters. Sages claim that corrupted minds will transfer some of the corruption to the contacting mind. 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 damage beings physically. Damage: [(W / 5) + L]d3 Eyes of the Mind (18) - A hypersense which allows the character to sense creatures and beings within 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 magic 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. After passing the title screen, you will have to choose whether to start a new game, restore an old game or page through this manual. The restore option will provide you with a list of available saved games from which you can restore a game. Please note that you can't restore a game when your character died in that game. If you choose to create a new character, ADOM first of all will randomly determine your birth date, your star sign and give some details about the effects of the events surrounding your birth. Then you will have to decide whether to choose a specific class and race to play or whether you want ADOM to choose for you. In both cases you will have to determine the gender of your character. This has some influence on game play (in ADOM female characters are more agile, male characters are slightly stronger). If you allow fate to decide the details, ADOM will randomly choose the race and profession of your character, otherwise you will be presented with lists for both from which you have to choose. Then 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, 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 your 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 just entered one of the major valleys in the Drakalor Chain 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 Sp: 100 -------------------------< 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 want to look at one of those messages later, 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 second number stands for the number of experience points you already have earned, the first number describes your current experience level. D: The number of the current dungeon level. Sp: The speed rating of your character. Optionally the number of turns that have passed can be displayed in this area. 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 or wilderness area (as far as you have explored it). Specific characters are used to represent items, monsters, locations, and other stuff. The Monster Memory ------------------ One of the utilities provided by ADOM is the so-called monster memory. This utility helps the player to memorize useful monster data, like monster DV and PV, average hitpoints, number of attacks, average damage, and special powers. The monster memory can be invoked in two ways: either you 'l'ook around and demand more information upon looking at a monster or you invoke the '&' command and enter the name of a specific monster race (e. g. 'goblin' or 'white baby dragon'). If you have encountered the monster before, you will receive information based upon your observations. This can be as little as the physical description to as much as complete data about the combat stats and powers of a monster. It is important to note that the monster memory takes into account the abilities of your character. Based upon his Learning score, his Perception score and some skills, it is more or less likely that the character will learn something from his observations. This also means that your character might mistake powers for something else. If a monster resists a fireball due to its innate magic resistance the character still will believe that the monster is immune to fire (just to name on example). Only later experiences will remedy this observation. Additionally, the monster memory is not persistent. Between two games (that is: from one character to the next) it will get erased. This is so (compared to other games, which keep such a memory) because monsters in ADOM are pretty dynamic. They have varying levels and can gain experience like the PC. This effectively means that a monster can be very different between two games. Since observations thus are very subjective, it would be pretty misleading to keep such data between two games. It is my firm belief that the monster memory should serve to mirror the observations of the actual character and not those of the player. If you want to have a hint through, use some sheets of paper and a pen (or pencil). 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 places | 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 & Necklaces ? Scrolls ( Hand weapons & 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 distinguish 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 Vortices 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 bonuses (e.g. from certain potions), followed by a column listing special bonuses (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 be displayed in brown. 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 its 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 your PC. In order, you'll see the current encumbrance, the minimum encumbrance to be considered burdened and the respective minimum levels for being considered strained and very strained. Below this, 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 & Leave location (in the wilderness) Z Cast spell C Chat with monsters H Change highlight mode T Change tactics 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) : W Describe weather ! 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 i Inventory C-i Invoke mindcraft C-o Issue order to companion (reaction heavily depends on your charisma) 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 & Recall monster memory 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 : t Switch the dynamic display 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 For details about the dynamic display see the end of this section. 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 (see the appropriate section of the manual for details). Movement -------- You can move into eight directions by pressing the respective 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. Beings rather act individually, move with different speed and are either slower or 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 only 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 changing 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 carried out at normal speed). This is also true for weapon skills which are able to reduce the amount of energy required to stage an attack (see the section on weapon skills for details). SPECIAL NOTE: If you are setting your tactics level to 'coward' and then simply move around without attacking anything, such a move only costs 800 energy points *if* your hitpoints are reduced to one-third their starting value or below (panic does that to you -- and since ADOM basically is a heroic game we'll ignore other wound effects). Remember this when you try to run away! The Dynamic Display ------------------- The dynamic display is used to present detailed information about the actions of the player. It either can display the current turn number (an internal game counter), the current speed rating of the display or the energy cost of the last action of the player character. Usually the current speed rating is displayed. Note that the 'energy cost for the last action' display option does not necessarily show the expected value for energy costs below 1000. This is so because ADOM's internal rating system for action costs relies on relative measurements (e.g. if your potion of speed results in an 800 energy point cost for movement and due to your class you also would be able to move for 800 energy points, this is scaled to a cost of 100000 / {100 + [(100000 / 800) - 100] * 2} = 666 energy points). If you don't understand the formula, simply look at the source code. ;-) Not understanding it is *not* a sign of being stupid ;-)) 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 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 body part 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 body part. 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 any 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, 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] <gauntlets> (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 ------------------------ Beside 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 your 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 * all gems Beasts of Burden ---------------- While many players seem to enjoy carrying around heaps of stuff, this is not really recommended. If your PC carries a lot of stuff, he'll get hungrier soon. This in turn means that you probably will have to carry more food, which can get damaged and further burdens you. ADOM uses several burden levels (from burdened over strained to very strained and overburdened) to mirror this fact. Each burden level comes with a growing need for food. Take care! 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 other factors). If this number is reduced to 0 or less, the spell is forgotten and you are no longer 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. See the extended section on spells for more details. 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 magical!) 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 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 allows 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 can also 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 can only wish for very general items. For example, it's not possible to wish for 6 blessed long swords (+6, 1d8+6), but you would rather have to wish for long swords or mithril plate mails. If your wish is not formulated precisely you might get something other than what you are expecting -- so be careful! 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. Depending on your screen resolution even less games might be shown (e.g. 16 under DOS). 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 veterans of other roguelike games and beginners of 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. Make sure that you don't carry too much. Being burdened (or even strained) means that you'll get hungry more often. * Remember the 'T'actics command and also remember to run away. Doing this in coward mode probably is a good alternative to dying in a hopeless fight. Come back on a better day. * Remember that it is possible to enter any wilderness area by using the '>' command. If you feel the need to drink potions, zap wands or whatever while traveling through the wilderness and ADOM won't let you, enter a wilderness area first. * 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 is 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. * 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 have received up to now (although Richard Fowler is a close second). * 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) * Many thanks to Greg Wooledge, Bill Hodgeman, Christian Schlittchen, David G. Kahane and Olaf Weber for doing some low-level debugging in 099g7 to find the cause for an annoying crash. * Thanks to Boris Blazevic for giving me the decisive hint for fixing one of the most annoying bugs ever. * Thanks to the "Epsilon"-Testers of ADOM 0.9.9 Gamma 9 (Richard Fowler, Stefanie Woll, Barry Kearns, Chris Ingersoll) without whom that version would have been delayed even more. * Special thanks to the "Epsilon"-Testers of ADOM 0.9.9 Gamma 10 who put up with five prerelease versions and helped to ensure that Gamma 10 will be a hallmark of stability for versions to come -- you did great work (in no particular order): Lana Bowman, Katie E. Sehorn, Andy Williams, Richard Fowler, Stefanie Woll, Barry Kearns, Christian Caesar, Derek Ludwig, Greg Wooledge, Joseph W. DeVincentis, Martin Gelter, Raymond Martineau and William Tanksley. Credits for the monster memory ------------------------------ First of all, I have to thank all folks who pushed me again and again to add this feature. You were all right... it adds so much to the game that it was really worth it. Then there were many who provided descriptions for monsters or refined existing monsters -- thanks to all of you since you have really helped to make ADOM a much better game: Josef Addleman, Ryan Allan, Laurence R. Brothers, Matt Chatterley, John M. Cho, Torsten Edelmann, John Thomas Flanagan, Florian Gerich, Chris Ingersoll, Stefan Jokisch, Chris D. Koeberle, David Loewenstern, Dwight McDowell, John Michaud, Tom Nowacki, Adam K. Rixey, Tom Sanders, Katie Sehorn, Ashe Stickney, William Tanksley, Adam Taylor, Aaron P. Teske, Kevin Wilson, Greg Wooledge, Peng Zhou Special thanks in this respect go to Richard Fowler and Stefanie Woll for doing so many monster descriptions that I'm still marvelling at their enthusiasm and perseverance. Richard in particular wrote up more descriptions than anybody else without ever complaining -- without his extreme perserverance and talent, ADOM 0.9.9 Gamma 7 probably would still be very far away. 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 many helpful comments about improving the source code in general. Credits for various minor tidbits of ideas go to: ------------------------------------------------- Jon Abbott, Shawn Adams, Atte Aholainen, Ryan Allen, Julian Arnold, Charlie Ball, Jason Barnes, Thomas Beaumont, Florian Beck, Richard Sheaves-Bein, Ian Michael Bell, Holger Bettag, Jakob D. Bindslet, Tobias D. Bindslet, Erik Bock, Erik Inge Bolsø, Douglas Bonar, Mike Bowen, Lana Bowman, David Brady, Jackson Bross, Laurence R. Brothers, Harald Büsching, Jeff Butler, Paul Byrne, Massimo Campostrini, Christian Caesar, Bennett V. Campbell, Brian R. Carl, J. B. Cattley, Nikolaus Davidson, Zachary Sundance Davies, Gregory Dean Dearing, Robert DeLoura, Alexander Dressler, Leen Droogendijk, Nick Duffek, Martha Dumas, Aaron Dutton, Torsten Edelmann, Martin Fanta, Robert Fermier, Mike Ferry, John Thomas Flanagan, John Fouhy, Richard Fowler, Lucas French, Martin Gelter, Florian Gerich, Daniel Giaimo, Jeff Goodson, Morris Greenberg, Nicole Hall, Sami Hangaslammi, Richard Harang, Mark Humphreys, Eugene Hung, Eben Howard, Chris Ingersoll, Charles Allen Jones, Jurriaan Kalkman, Joel Kamentz, Jonathan Katz, Dan Kaufman, Barry Kearns, Chris Keiner, Richard Kenan, Janne Keskinarkaus, Eino Keskitalo, Sami Kivela, Teemu Kokki, Antti Kokkonen, Tero Laiho, Jeff Lait, Timo Laitila, Nicholas Lawson, Tommi Leino, Tommi Lind, Daniel Lundberg, Sami Luoma-Pukkila, Mark D. Mackey, Kevin Magee, Joshua Malmquist, Dan Martin, Raymond Martineau, Paul Marshall, Michael Meadows, Russ Melanson, Justen Meltz, Ed Morris, Paul L. Mosquin, Ross Morgan-Linial, Juergen Neitzel, Kotatsu Neko, Ronald Neumann, Michael Niedecken, Tom Nowacki, Dirk Jan Out, Brian J. Parker, Mikko Parviainen, Nick Pelis, Kent Peterson, George Petryk, Brian M. Pope, Tommi Raina, Anand Ramakrishnan, Martin Read, Ian Roberts, Will Rogers, Daniel Rutter, Osku Salerma, Jussi Salomaki, Andrew Schoonmaker, Katie E. Sehorn, Aaron B. Simpson, Ole Martin Skarås, Joe Slater, Christian Sommerer, Frank Thomas Sronce Jr., Nicholas Stallard, Walt Stoneburner, Kjetil Svendsberget, Adam Taylor, Chuan-Tze Teo, Ijon Tichy, Erno Tuomainen, Uoti A. Urpala, Andrew Vance, Ryan Vurlicer, Tim Wadsworth, Markus Warg, Olaf Weber, Mason Wheeler, Steven A. White, Andy Williams, Stefanie Woll, Greg Wooledge, Scott Yost, Lev Zakrevski, Vadim Zeitlin and Peng Zhou Credits for bug reports go to: ------------------------------ Travis Acton, David L. Adam, Josef Addleman, Adina Adler, Fernando Espinosa Aguilar, Steven Aitkin, Ben Allen, Jason Allen, Mats Andtbacka, Erwin Andreasen, Craig Arnold, Julian Arnold, Antti Arola, Erik Aronesty, Alex G. Arzamastsev, Jon Åslund, David Assaf, Robert Au, Ola Augun, Victor R. Austin, Penny Baker, Scott Barcik, Ian Barkley-Yeung, Jason Barnes, Eric Bazin, Tom Beaumont, Charles Bell, Chip Bell, Richard Benjamin, Timo Berthold, Neil Blaber, Eric Bleich, Eric Bock, Erik Inge Bolsoe, Lana Bowman, Konstantin Boyandin, Michael Brassell, Gareth Brisbane, Adam Paul Bronson, Jackson Bross, Laurence R. Brothers, Larry Brown, Owen Brown, Harold Buesching, Gareth Bushill, Peter Bystrov, Christian Caesar, Greg Cambridge, Massimo Campostrini, J.B Cattley, Bobby Chan, Paul Chapman, Kok-Leong Chin, Leslie Choong, Will Chose, Scott Cohan, Mathias Cohen, Kipling Cooper, Gian Paolo Costantino, DeWitt Clinton, Frits Daalmans, Zachary Sundance Davies, Jeff L. Davis, Adam Dawes, Warrick Dawes, Greg Day, Daniel Josef Dekok, Jeff Derenne, Simon Devet, Joseph W. DeVincentis, Tomas Dill, Dominic DiPalantino, Ondrej Dobias, Leen Droogendijk, Gerry Drouing, Michel Dubois, Nick Duffek, Conrad Dunkerson, Chris Dunthorne, Frank Duphorn, Krid Dusitsin, Grant Dvorak, Peter Ebbeson, Torsten Edelmann, Erno Ekebom, Jacob Eliason, Tony Elmroth, Georgy Evseev, Martin Fanta, Bridget Farace, Michael C. Ferguson, Robert Fermier, Mike Ferry, Timothy K. Firman, Dean Fitzgerald, John Flanagan, Steve Flynn, Johan Forsberg, John Fouhy, Richard Fowler, Lewis Futrell, Ben Thomas Galehouse, Alan Gallauresi, Jamie Gannon, Ashley Garrett, William Gauvin, Manuel Gebauer, Martin Gelter, David Gerber, Svante Gerhard, Daniel Giaimo, Evan Gibson, Robert E. Gibson, Christopher J. Gibson, Joe Giroux, Patrick Goguen, Jeff Goodson, Richard Graham, Jonathan Michael Greenberg, Morris Greenberg, Bruce Alan Greenwood, Jason C. Griego, Joe Groszkiewicz, Matthew Grove, Richard J. Haag, Walter Hafner, Sami Hangaslammi, Tom Hanlin, Richard Harang, John William Harris, Dag Trygve Truslew Haug, Joseph R. Hauser, John Mark Hawley, Jarkko Heino, Harri Heinisuo, Jukka M. Heiskanen, Philipp Hendricks, Iiro Hietala, Karl Hiller, Eric Hilsdale, Patrick Hjelt, Adam Horowitz, David Howdon, Thomas Houser, Eugene Hung, Markku Hunnakko, Jim Hunziker, Diane Hutton, Eino Iivari Ii, Lauri Ilvas, Chris Ingersoll, Eric Robert Jablow, Johan S. Janssen, Raf Janssens, Josh Jersild, Robert Johnston, Stefan Jokisch, Sheldon B. Jolson, Charles Allen Jones, Tim Jordan, Nuutinen Juha, Jani Kärkkäinen, David G. Kahane, Jurriaan Kalkman, Jaakko Kalliosalo, Martha B. Kapouch, Matti Karppanen, Howard Katz, Robert Kazmierczak, Barry Kearns, Richard Kenan, Juha Kerätär, Janne Keskinarkaus, Eino Keskitalo, Jani Kivisola, Panu Klemola, Chris D. Koeberle, Elmar Kolkman, Mikolaj Konarski, Peter Kosinar, Matt Kracht, Juha Krapu, Tom Kronmiller, Antti Kuusela, Scott Vander Laan, Paul Labuda, Jeff Lait, Timo Laitila, John Lame, Jaakko Lämsä, Jukka A. Lang, Justin Larue, Christian Lassem, Perttu Laurila, Ammon Lauritzen, Michael A. Laux, Nicholas Lawson, Clark Lawton, Craig Lay, George Leidolf, Tommi Leino, Ville Leminen, Tony Leneis, Jerry C. Lin, Terry C. Lin, Stephen Lin, George C. Lindauer, Ilkka Lindblom, Oskar Linde, Miika Linden, Tuomas Lintunen, Tomasz Lisowski, David Lodge, David Loewenstern, Nicole Lubinski, Philipp Lucas, Derek Ludwig, Mark Mackey, Matthew Maclean, Kevin Magee, Joshua Malmquist, Jens Markmann, Paul Marshall, Dan Martin, Raymond Martineau, Erwin Mascardo, Chris Mathews, Paul Matlock, Lisa Maynard, Robert N. M. McCrea, John McGrady, David McGrath, Chuck McKenzie, Michael Meadows, Martin Meldrum, Justen Meltz, Mark Mercer, Aki J. Moilanen, Mikhail Moldavskiy, Jason Monson, Galen Morgan Moore, Jacob Morzinski, Paul L. Mosquin, Katy Mulvey, Jarmo Muurim"aki, J. Murphy, Marko Musnjak, Jan Erik Mydland, Peter Nadeau, Juhan-A Nakkalajarvi, Jefferson Ng, Yen Nguyen, Daniel Nielsen, Antti Niemela, Yrjo Sakari Niemela, Michael Niewoehner, Toni Nikkanen, Blair Nilsson, Ivar Nilsson, Tyler Novak, Keir Novik, Tom Nowacki, Shawn Oakey, Georg Oberwinkler, Anders Olin, Ronny On, Dale Ondeck, Gunnar Opsommer, Niilo Paasivirta, Rob Palkowski, Lena Pammer, Kris Parker, Tom Parker, Mikko Parviainen, Kenneth Paulson, Steven Pearson, Nick Pelis, Stefan Perrson, Kent Peterson, Pasi Tapani Pirhonen, Antti Pitk"am"aki, Joseph Price, Colin Pritchard, Sami Luoma-Pukkila, Alexander Purikov, Serge Purikov, Joska Pyykko, Julie Rak, Brian Ramos, Michael Rams, Jarkko Rantavuori, Toni Rasanen, Derek S. Ray, Martin Read, Sam Reisner, Judd Reiffin, Yonatan Ivan Rivera, Adam K. Rixey, David J. Robertson, Steve A. Robinson, Jean-Philippe Rodriguez, Gerald W. Rutsch, Daniel Rutter, Rich Ryker, Osku Salerma, Jussi Salomäki, Paavo Salonen, Mika Salovaara, Steven Salter, Tom Sanders, Mike Sands, Colin Sansam, Nate Sarbin, Ben Sayer, Giuseppe Scarpi, Mark W. Schmelzenbach, Jonathan Schmidt, Markus Schwarz, Michael Searle, Zoe Seekins, David Shafer, Scott Shaw, Richard Sheaves-Bein, Mark Shipton, Andrew Shkolnikov, Scott Shorter, Kaarel Sikk, Simone Silvestrini, Erlend Simonsen, Aaron B. Simpson, Håvard Slåttbråten, Benton G. Smith, Dave Slutzkin, Klaus Sommerer, David Soule, Frank Sronce, Toni Stauffer, Benjamin Stein, Matthew Stephans, Peppe Stolpe, Dave Storey, Konstantin Stupnik, Mika Sutinen, Kjetil Svendsberget, Martin Svensson, Bruno Tabbia, Adam Taylor, Avier Taylor-Paul, Chuan-Tze Teo, Jochen Terstiege, Justin Thiessen, Mirko Thoele, Marcy Thompson, Matthew Trevor, Mattia Trivellone, Jurek Trzepla, Erno Tuomainen, Chris Underwood, Mark Underwood, Uoti A. Urpala, Otto Urpelainen, Tuukka Urpi, Kimme Utsi, Toni Vaatainen, Olivier Della-Valle, Andrew Vance, Jeff Vandenberg, Kimmo Varrio, Peter H. Verder, Ryan Vurlicer, Henning Wackernagel, Tim Wadsworth, Markus Warg, Pete Warren, Justin Webb, Olaf Weber, Alex Weldon, Mason Wheeler, David Whitcombe, Steven White, Matt Whitfield, Sandra Whiting, Herb Whitney, Aaron Williams, Andy Williams, Jason Willoughby, Andrew Wilson, Gerry Kevin Wilson, Dan Winsor, Greg Wooledge, Stephan "W" Wrammerfors, Ian Barkley-Yeung, Scott Yost, Krey Younger, Russ Yuncker, 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 ADOM's 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 whitespace 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. Invalid variables will be highlighted in red color. The following variables are currently 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_Doors *************** true, false: ADOM will automatically ask you whether you'd like to lock a door while closing it, if you have an appropriate key. By default this variable is set to 'true'. 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 = Rings \ Wands ! Potions ? Scrolls ~ Bracers % Food $ Gold { Instruments " Books Base_Delay_Factor ***************** number: determines the number of hundreds of a second ADOM delays actions (like two steps for a fireball, etc.). The default value is 10. To prevent input errors ADOM only accept values in the range of 0 to 100. No_Book_Spellcasting ******************** true, false: If set to true you no longer will be prompted about whether to learn a spell from a book or cast it from the book. 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 Class_Mask ********** string consisting of characters chosen from the following list: a - Fighter b - Paladin c - Ranger d - Thief e - Assassin f - Wizard g - Priest h - Bard i - Monk j - Healer k - Weaponsmith l - Archer m - Merchant n - Farmer o - Mindcrafter p - Barbarian q - Druid r - Necromancer s - Elementalist t - Beastfighter If you choose to randomly select your class (with the 'F'ate option during character creation) the classes in 'Class_Mask' won't be selected. Thus you can cross out certain classes you do not like. 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 20 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 Race_Mask ********* a string consisting of one or more of the following characters: a - Human b - Troll c - High Elf d - Gray Elf e - Dark Elf f - Dwarf g - Gnome h - Hobbit i - Orc j - Drakeling If you choose to randomly select your race (with the 'F'ate option during character creation) the races in 'Race_Mask' won't be selected. Thus you can cross out certain races you do not like. 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 Reload_Missiles *************** true, false: if set to true, ADOM will query you, whether you want to equip another missile once you run out of ammunition. 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. Zap_Wands_In_Hand ***************** true, false: if set to 'true' ADOM will ask whether to zap wands currently equipped in the left or right hand. Otherwise such equipped wands will be ignored. 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.