.=========================+==--. | TomeNET Guide | +=========================+- | Latest update: 30. December 2012 - written by C. Blue, http://www.c-blue.de/ | for TomeNET version v4.5.2 - official websites are: | http://www.tomenet.net/ (main site), | http://koti.mbnet.fi/mikaelh/tomenet/ and http://www.c-blue.de/rogue.html | | IF YOU GOT THIS GUIDE WITH THE PROGRAM DOWNLOAD, IE IN A CLIENT ZIP FILE, | THEN FIRST THING YOU SHOULD DO NOW IS GO TO www.tomenet.net AND DOWNLOAD THE | LATEST COPY OF THIS GUIDE TO MAKE SURE YOU AREN'T LOOKING AT OUTDATED INFO! | | If your text editor cannot display the guide properly (needs fixed-width font | like for example Courier), simply open it in any web browser instead. +--- | Welcome to this guide! | Although I'm trying, I give no guarantee that this guide | a) contains really every detail/issue about TomeNET and | b) is all the time 100% accurate on every occasion. | Don't blame me if something differs or is missing; it shouldn't though. | | If you have any suggestions about the guide or the game, please use the /rfe | command in the game or write to the official forum on www.tomenet.net. \ Contents -------- (0) Quickstart (If you don't like to read much :) (0.1) Start & play (0.2) Command reference & key sets (0.3) Important inscriptions (0.3a) The auto-inscription feature (0.4) Typical slang/abbreviations (0.5) Some hints and warnings (READ!) (1) Introduction (1.1) What is TomeNET? (Where can I get the latest sources?) (1.1a) Where do I get in contact? (1.2) What is a rogue-like game? (1.2a) Where do I find more information about rogue-like games? (1.3) Goal and progress of TomeNET players (1.3a) Sauron, Morgoth and the Nazgul (1.3b) How to encounter the final boss: Morgoth, Lord of Darkness (2) Installation & setup (2.1) Installing TomeNET (2.1a) Installing sound and music packs (2.1b) Audio controls and config options (2.1c) Editing sound and music configuration (2.1d) "Promoting" TomeNET on Steam ;) (2.2) Starting TomeNET and getting to play on an internet server (2.3) Client options (2.4) Installing voice chat (3) Creating a character & starting to play (3.1) Creating a new character; character modes (3.2) The display (user-interface) (3.2a) The encumberment bar (3.3) Behaviour, chat messages and chat modes (3.4) Start-up equipment & how to use it (3.4a) Item basics (3.4b) Items that are always tradable (3.5) Preparing the first time for fighting enemies (3.6) Creating basic macros & inscribing items (IMPORTANT) (3.7) Creating macros for ranged attacks & abilities (spells) (3.7a) Ability codes [contained within (3.7)] (3.7b) Quick'n'dirty macros (3.7c) The macro wizard (3.7d) Specifying directions and targets (3.8) Example macro sets (3.9) Macros with special keys (3.9a) Creating a chat macro for your party (3.9b) Alternative macros: Calling objects by their name (3.10) Experience, level-ups and skill points (3.11) Death, ghosts and looting (4) The world (4.1) Running, picking up items, fighting (4.1a) Auto-retaliation (4.2) Level and owner of items (4.3) Dungeon and tower types (4.3a) The jail (4.4) Terrain (4.5) Towns, shops, the dungeons (4.5a) Shops (4.5b) Towns & town dungeons (4.5c) Dungeons (4.5d) Dungeon bosses (4.6) Pits and vaults (4.7) Traps & trap kits (4.8) Level & vault feelings (4.9) Navigating on maps (4.10) Houses (4.10a) Player stores (4.11) Malicious effects players can suffer (4.11a) Drain effects (4.12) Malicious effects monsters can suffer (4.13) Quests and Events (4.14) In-game time system (5) Item and monster details (5.1) Melee weapons, brands (5.1a) Melee weapon types (5.2) Ranged weapons, brands (5.2a) Fire-till-kill mode (5.3) Slaying vs brands (5.4) Martial Arts, brands (5.5) Weight of weapons and armour (5.6) Resistances & caps, Immunities, Susceptibilities (5.7) Qualitative classification of items, identifying & selling items (5.7a) Types of Identification (5.8) Special abilities of items (5.9) What does item xxx do exactly? (5.9a) Activatable items (5.9b) Artifacts and artifact resets (5.10) Destruction of items by elemental attacks (5.11) Monster attack mechanism, Armour Class, damage caps (5.12) Monster attack types and brands (5.13) Earthquakes (5.14) Curses (5.15) Vampirism (5.16) Invisibility (5.17) How abilities, resistances and boni stack (5.18) Monster auras (5.19) Experience-draining items (5.21) Digging (5.21a) Digging - Exact calculation (5.21b) Digging - Common example values (5.21c) Digging - Further information (5.22) Recharging (5.23) Monster loot types (5.24) Wraithform (6) Character details (6.1) Attributes (6.2) Skills, opposed skills (6.2a) Maiar skill modifications (6.3) Abilities (6.4) Races (6.5) Classes/Professions, titles, melee blows/round (6.5a) Start-up Blows/Round Table (6.6) Sanity (or insanity..) (6.7) Mimicry details (6.7a) Polymorph rings (6.7b) Druid form details (6.7c) Useful low-level humanoid forms for weapon-using mimics (6.8) Magic spells and prayers (6.8a) Spell failure rate (6.8b) Runes & Runemastery (6.8c) Runespell tables (6.9) Parties, Iron Teams, Guilds (6.10) Magic Device skill/ability details (6.11) Parrying and blocking (6.12) Fighting/shooting techniques (6.13) PvP mode (6.14) Miscellaneous character properties (7) Tactics & strategy (7.1) Preparing the inventory for diving into the dungeon (7.2) Preparing the equipment for diving into the dungeon (7.3) Surviving critical situations (7.4) Spoiler files (7.5) Monster tactics (7.6) Town/dungeon related hints (8) Miscellanous (8.1) 'The Art Not To Die' (8.2) Character dumps (8.3) Golem creation (8.4) Artifact creation (8.5) Alternative ruleset 'RPG Server' (8.5a) Special server type 'Arcade Server' (8.6) Troubleshooting (0) Quickstart ============== (0.1) Start & play ------------------ If you are using Linux, you will find additional information about how to compile the game under '(2.1) Installing TomeNET'. -Get the latest client from the project's main official site www.tomenet.net or from http://koti.mbnet.fi/mikaelh/tomenet/getting-started.php (Mikael's site, which features a monster-search, and this nice introduction in pictures) and www.c-blue.de/rogue.html (my own site). The game client is named something like 'tomenet-???-client.zip', extract it to C:\TomeNET for example. -Either run 'TomeNET-main.bat' to directly connect to official main server (recommended), or run TomeNET.exe and choose a server (Enter 85.118.45.235 to connect to the official main server). NOTE: The official main server's hostname is "europe.tomenet.net", the meta server's hostname is "meta.tomenet.net" (the meta server is the server that presents you the list of actual game servers). -Create a character, Half-Troll warrior is good for beginners. The server should now allow you to manually choose your stats. In case you chose a (Half-Troll) warrior, try this: STR 18/30, CON as high as possible, INT as low as possible, spare points into DEX, WIS or CHR. If you decided to play a paladin make sure you have at least DEX 10. In case you can't reach STR 18/30, go for STR 18/20 instead, which should give you 2 attacks with a war hammer, your starting weapon. Then increase CON and WIS as high as possible, INT as low as possible, spare points (you shouldn't have any ;) into CHR. (Paladins use WIS for casting spells.) If for some reason you can't even reach STR 18/20, at least go for STR 18/10, again DEX not below 10, then right after spawning in town discard the war hammer you start with and instead go buy a whip from store '3' (weapon store) or '4' (temple). This should give you a solid 2 attacks per round. If you decided to create a rogue, ensure that you have at least a STR of 15, and a pretty high DEX (the rogue's main stat) of 18/10. This will give you 3 attacks per round when dual-wielding your light starter weapons. Rest goes into CON or INT (rogue's main stat for spell-casting). If you made a druid, put couple of points into all, DEX, STR and CON, and keep your WIS relatively high since it's important for druidic spell-casting. Explanation: CON affects your hit points, more CON -> more HP. STR (and DEX) determine your number of attacks per round. 18/30 in STR is enough to get 3 attacks per round with very light weapons, regardless of how you modify your DEX. To get the 3 blows per round (bpr) you'll need to sell your heavy sword and buy a light weapon (3.0 lb or less) like dagger or whip. That is more efficient than 1 or 2 bpr with your original sword! Later on when your character becomes more powerful you can switch back to heavier weaponry. Warriors don't really need INT so you should reduce it to spend the points on other attributes. WIS isn't really needed either, but it can be useful to endure sanity-reducing effects. (If you are new to the game, it is NOT recommended to choose one of these: Istar, Priest, Shaman, Adventurer. Details about how STR and DEX affect startup blows/round are given in (6.5a).) -Make sure you DO NOT chose 'PvP' mode. It's a restricted special thing that has nothing to do with the normal gameplay at all! (See (6.13) for info). -It's strongly recommended to not choose 'fruit bat' body either :). Now you're in the game and should see the town of Bree. -To chat, press the colon key ':' . Don't hesitate to ask other players if you have any problems with getting started. (For details about chat features see (3.3).) -To run, press SHIFT + where direction keys are on the number pad 7,8,9, 4,6, 1,2,3. Running often requires that Numlock is turned off (press the 'Num' key above your number key pad on the right side of your keyboard, so the green light is off). If SHIFT+ doesn't work on your system, you can press the dot '.' followed by a direction key. (If you use rogue-like keys, see section (0.2)!) You can also use the arrow keys to move, but the numpad is better since it allows you to move diagonally too, which is very important. -You can wear/wield your armour/weapons by pressing 'w' and choosing them from your inventory which is displayed in the bottom right window. -You can pick up items if you stand on them and press 'g'. Items that are especially valuable in the beginning are magic wands and staves, so make sure to pick those up, identify them with a scroll of identify, and sell them to the magic shop in town. -You can drop items with 'd' or destroy items with 'k'. -You can enter stairs down/upwards by standing on them and pressing the corresponding key '<' or '>'. -You can press '?' to get an in-game help about keys and commands. -Nearby the town there's often a 'training tower' which is a good place to start because if you die there nothing will happen except a slight loss of experience and gold. Ask people where the dark-green '<' symbol (the tower entrance) is found. Usually to the lower-right of the town centre. -If you die outside of the training tower you will usually turn into a ghost. This ghost cant wear any items, so it's a good idea to care about being revived. To get revived, either visit the temple in town (it's a green '4') or ask another player to read a 'Scroll of Life' while standing next to you. While you're a ghost you can freely float up/down by pressing '<' and '>'. -If you have any journals like 'Guide to Middle Earth' or 'The Gazette' in your inventory (bottom right window) you should read those by pressing 'r' to read. -If your character gains a new level it also gains skill points. To distribute those, invoke the skill screen with 'G'. (See 3.10, 6.2 and 7.5.) -If you don't like your character and want to delete it, you may commit suicide by pressing SHIFT+q or CTRL+k and double-confirming the following questions with 'y' and '@'. -To drop items, privately chat with other players, or advance beyond a certain level you will need an admin to 'validate' your account. Usually, all you have to do is to keep playing/stay online for a bit until an admin logs in, notices that you are new, and validates your account. If that doesn't seem to happen, ask an admin directly, when you see one chatting (Admin's names are displayed in dark blue in the chat). If the server's intro screen mentions to send an email to an admin, try that and specify your account name in it. -Press '@' key to see a list of players who're currently online. Note that a yellow '(I)' before a name stands for 'invalid', and means that this player is still awaiting account validation by an admin. Also, if a grey '(O)' is in front of a player name, it means that player is using an outdated client. It's very important to keep your client up to date! If another player's character level is displayed in light blue colour, that means he is within sensible level range of you to form a party! Press SHIFT+P for party menu. One of you has to create the party and add the other one. -Note that your character's "speed" may change. Speed is the factor telling you how fast your character can move, fight or perform any other kind of action. If your character's speed gets increased (for example by drinking a potion of speed) you will see a green indicator (for example 'Fast +10') at the bottom line of the main window. If your character loses speed, for example by carrying around too many heavy items in your inventory, you will see a light brown indicator (for example 'Slow -3') at the bottom line instead. It is recommended that you continue reading at (3.2) now, or glance at (7.3) first ;) (0.2) Command reference & key sets ---------------------------------- Can be different depending on OS / configuration. Keys: The first key is of the 'original Angband key set', the second key is of the 'rogue-like' key set. Some people prefer to use that one. You can change it in the options menu, which you invoke with '=' key. Walk into a direction: Original key set Rogue-like key set Rogue-like (running) 7 8 9 y k u Y K U 4 6 h l H L 1 2 3 b j n B J N You can also use the arrow keys instead of the Numpad keys for movement. (Pressing '5' will make your character try and pick up an item, same as pressing 'g'). SHIFT+ runs into that direction. Numlock must probably be turned off, depending on your system. (Numlock is the key labeled 'Num' above the number key pad on the right side of your keyboard. A green lamp usually indicates whether it is on or off.) You can also run by pressing the dot '.' followed by a direction key. ; ; The 'walk' command, it allows you to walk one step. This is not really needed for anything usually, since you can just press the directional keys given above instead for walking. i i display your inventory. You can then press SHIFT + inventory slot letter to paste that item name into chat. You can also type \\ shortcut in chat to paste an item right into some text you are writing, eg "\\a" for the item in your inventory slot 'a)'. e e display your equipment. You can then press SHIFT + equipment slot letter to paste that item name into chat. You can also type \\ shortcut in chat to paste an item right into some text you are writing, eg "\\A" for the item in your equipment slot 'a)'. I I inspects an item, showing its special abilities in case it has some. To examine an item you must either have bought it from a shop or *identified* it. Mages can learn *ID* spell "Greater Identify", some shops offer *ID* service, or you can use a scroll of *identify*. If the item hasn't been *identified* yet, you will only see basic information. See (5.7) for more information about ID, *ID* and shops! If you examine weapons, it always tells you the weapon class (sword/blunt/axe/polearm) as well as if it's 1-, 2- or 1,5-handed. w w wear/wield an item from your inventory (weapons, armour, ammunition, tools, rings, amulets, etc). W W wear/wield an item, same as 'w', but tries to use the second available slot in case two inventory slots are both egligible. t T take off an item. x swap an item. This is basically like both "wear/wield" and "take off" in one command. This makes only sense if it is used with an item that has been _inscribed_ accordingly, for example "@x4": When the item is currently in the inventory, it will be equipped. If it already is equipped though, then it will be taken off. q q quaff a potion. r r read a scroll. E E eat. (Draconians can eat firestones to gain temporary special abilities, see (5.9).) F F fuel your light source. Use oil for lanterns, and torches to fuel another torch. f t fire ammo from your quiver. v v throw an item from your inventory. b (P) browse (peruse) a book. m m activate a skill (ie cast a magic spell, lay a trap, use an ability, use a technique, polymorph into a monster form or back to normal, cast a monster-spell while polymorphed, enter a combat stance). a z use (aim) a magic wand. z a use (zap) a magic rod. u Z use a magic staff. g g pick up an item from the floor. You have to stand on the item to do that. You can also pick up an item by pressing '5' on the number pad while numlock is turned off. Gold is always picked up automatically. C C see a character overview. L W look around your current sector/floor (use direction keys). M M display either the world map if you're not in a town or in a dungeon, otherwise display a minimap of the town or of your currentl dungeon level. If you want to see the world map while you're in town or in the dungeon, press ~ and choose "Wilderness map" there. You can scroll around the map via directional keys. s s search adjacent fields, objects or walls for hidden traps or doors. S # enter 'search mode'. You will search your adjacent fields once each turn. If you stand next to a room and you want to find its hidden door, turn this on and run along its walls until you find it. V V enter 'cloaking mode'. This can only be used by rogues. It will take a couple of turns to perfectly cloak your physical appearance and body warmth pattern, after which you will be completely invisible to monsters who use normal sight or infra-vision. Only a few monsters who are able to utilize ESP (telepathy) or have especially powerful detection will still notice you. Those are eyes, angels, Nazgul, nether guards, and unique monsters which are both smart and powerful at once. Taking damage (HP/sanity/experience), attacking, casting spells, reading scrolls, tunneling, bashing, picking up/ opening/closing/dropping/destroying things, using wands/staves/rods, activating items, or any other action that causes noticable noise immediately breaks cloaking! Auto-retaliation is disabled while cloaked, except for the Stormbringer (which will break the effect of course). Cloaking will also increase your searching, greatly increase your stealth, but decrease your speed. Sneakiness skill may very slightly reduce the decrease. Note: Cloaking has no effect on shoplifting; it breaks on entering any shop. Note: Although ESP is supposed to detect cloaked targets, for now it's still set to overrides ESP of other players for the sake of PvP usage, similar to invisibility. (Also see (5.16) for details on 'normal' invisibility.) A A activate an item. Usually an artifact, a dragon scale mail or a ring of polymorphing (shapechanging). T or + + tunnel (dig) through an obstacle or a wall. R R rest. Your hit points, mana and stamina will regenerate faster while resting. o o open something. c c close something. c while in a store: Paste an item name, its price and the store symbol into chat, in case you want to tell other players about it. You can also type \\\ shortcut in chat to paste an item right into some text you are writing, eg "\\\a" for the first item on the store page you are currently looking at. d d drop an item. $ $ drop some gold. You can use 'k' and 'm' for thousands or millions, example: 3k -> drops 3000. 2m -> drops 2000000. D D disarm a trap. This yields experience points, depending on the trap type. (Note that you won't get experience points for disarming traps via magic spells or magic devices.) Also see (4.7) for details about traps. k CTRL+D destroy an item. (Note that artifacts are indestructible.) G G skills screen. B f bash/force something (ie a stuck door). l x look at a player/monster/object (use direction keys for targetting). Similar to targetting, while looking you can press 'p' to switch to manual cursor positioning, allowing you to look at a specific grid, then press 'l' again to confirm. (Unimportant side note: The look command also sets the entity you are currently looking at as your target, even if it would not make much sense because you are for example just looking at another player who isn't even hostile towards you. This means that you will aim at the entity you looked at in case the '*t' command is unable to acquire a new valid 'real' target when you use a ranged attack that requires a target. This behaviour has no real effect on gameplay though it just looks odd in those rare cases it happens :-p.) j attempt to steal from players (not recommended!). U O use undead powers (use this if you died and became a ghost). Using these will drain your experience. If you ran out of experience points, your ghost fades away (= you character will be completely erased). NOTE: Undead powers are currently not available. CTRL+S spike a door (using iron spikes, the door will be jammed). p p Concentrate on opening your mind for telekinesis. ("You open your mind.." and "You close your mind.") You need to open your mind in order to receive items from other players by telekinesis. If you are not concentrating, they will receive an according message, telling them that using telekinesis on you is currently not possible. Hit 'p' again to stop concentrating and close your mind. Certain spells of the mindcrafter class might also require players in the same party to open their minds in order to work or to affect them as intended. h sell/buy a house or change house parameters. See (4.10). P O party screen. Form/disband/modify a party with other players here. In a party you will share experience points if you are within 7 character levels to each other and on the same dungeon/tower level respectively the same worldmap/wilderness sector. See (6.9) for details! For winners (queens/kings/empresses/emperors) the range is 11 levels instead of 7. SPACE Stop executing repeatable actions such as searching, tunnelling or disarming traps. Also stops fire-till-kill. < or > go upstairs/downstairs. Press '>' to use a void gate (violet '+'). Void jump gates teleport you to their counterpart and vice versa. If you take staircases up/down, you'll receive the stair-GoI buff, see (0.4) for details on that. { inscribe an item. } remove inscription from an item. / in general, use an item (combines q,r, etc..). This can be useful if you run out of macros for a specific action, for example if you already use @m0...@m9 and still have more spell books/scrolls in your inventory, you can inscribe the remaining ones @/0...@/9. Or you could create a macro *t/0- and bind it to a certain key, and then inscribe a useful wand or staff @/0 without having to pay attention to whether you're currently using a wand or staff there (or rod, of course), as a sort of 'special power button', for example a staff of slow monsters (very handy at low levels) or a wand of light to kill orcs, jellies, and other light-sensitive critters. Note that in the spell book example above, you could of course just use call-by-name instead so you won't need any inscriptions at all (3.9b) ! ~ display further information of your character. Point (3) here is especially helpful for mimics: The number shown in round brackets before each monster name is the number they have to enter for their 'Polymorph self into..' ability! @ displays a list of players currently on the server. Note that a yellow '(I)' before a name stands for 'invalid', and means that this player is still awaiting account validation by an admin. Also, if a grey '(O)' is in front of a player name, it means that player is using an outdated client. It's very important to keep your client up to date! (Same command as ~a) If another player's character level is displayed in light blue colour, that means he is within sensible level range of you to form a party! Press SHIFT+P for party menu. One of you has to create the party and add the other one. % edit your macros. & edit your auto-inscriptions. = edit your preferences. Most important entries here are.. User Interface Options: "Rogue-like commands" will change your keyboard layout to the original Rogue key definitions. "Flicker messages in recall" will allow you to see animated messages in the bottom left window (message history). "Always show lists in item/skill selection" will always show a list of possible choices if you use commands that require you to make a selection from a list of choices. A lot of audio options; note that on systems where the /page command won't produce a native beep sound, you can enable sound system paging instead here! (Of course you can also enable it on all other systems too, which might be nicer than the system beep). Game-Play Options: "Set 'AFK' mode automatically" will set you afk after some minutes of inactivity. "Automatically open doors" makes your character try to open a door just by moving towards it. "Automatically disarm traps" makes your character try to disarm a trap just by stepping onto it. "Automatically tunnel walls" makes your character tunnel through a wall just by moving towards it. "Scroll the screen more frequently" helps to avoid death by attacks that came from off-screen. However, this option can be a bit irritating. : type a chat message. To whisper privately, enter : You can also enter a slash command here. Press TAB to cycle between different chat modes, such as party-chat. For details about chat features see (3.3). For details about slash commands, see further below in this paragraph. There is also a /say command for talking to players nearby, and a /shout command for waking up monsters! See further below. ' lets you peek at the equipment of party members or players within sight. # displays the high scores (same as ~c). (Note: If you press this while browsing any text you can jump to a line number of your choice.) | displays the unique monster list (same as ~1). X quickly swap between two equippable items. They must be inscribed '@x0'. (It's basically just the macro 'x0' bound to shift+x key.) _ Two uses, regarding a) fountains or b) item piles: Main: Drink from a fountain. You must stand on the fountain to do this. Fountains can have good/bad/no effects. There is no fountain of death, neither one of detonations, so you won't get instakilled. If you see a message 'You feel less thirsty' that means the fountain was just plain water. A message 'You have quenched your thirst' means that the fountain had no effect on you, although it wasn't water. (Same as /sip command.) Secondary: If you press _ while standing on an item or a pile of items, you will get a message what item is currently below your feet. ? invoke an in-game help screen ! look at the in-game bulletin board. Players can write lines of text to it by using the /bbs command. K forcibly combines a level 0 item in your inventory with other items of the same type that aren't level 0. Be warned, that this will change the level of all the items involved to 0. CTRL+P view previous messages. Note: You can also press this when in chat prompt, to cycle backward through lines that you previously typed (also see CTRL+N). CTRL+O view previous chat messages. CTRL+X save your character & quit the game. (You should do this in town!) This also automatically saves some settings, like window positions on MS-Windows, or mixer settings (CTRL+U to change), and you will be asked to save a chat log. Note that if you exit the game just by clicking on the 'x' button in the game window's titlebar, these extra features will be skipped, and any changes in settings or window positions will be discarded. Q or CTRL+K lets your character commit suicide (permanently deletes it!). Characters who suicide won't drop items except for artifacts (if the server has ANTI_ARTS_HOARD enabled then no item at all will be dropped), nor will they keep the level static as it happens on a normal 'final death' (see (3.11) for details about static levels). CTRL+R redraw the screen (do this if it's messed up for some reason). (/refresh, /ref) CTRL+T take a screen shot. See /screenshot command below. TAB or CTRL+I displays lag-o-meter. CTRL+U Displays/exits the audio mixer settings. (Also see (2.1a).) CTRL+C Toggles music. (Shortcut for toggling it in the mixer settings.) CTRL+N Toggles audio. (Shortcut for master toggle in the mixer settings). Note: If you press this while in chat prompt, you can cycle forward through lines you previously typed (also see CTRL+P). Note: Mixer settings are saved automatically, provided you use CTRL+X to quit. (Compare troubleshooting section (8.6), problem 21.) ^ Allows to enter a CTRL character as command. \ Enter a command, bypassing the client's key map. Also allows to enter ^ next to enter a CTRL character as command. ) Clears the command buffer of pending key presses (used in macros). * Initiates targetting a monster, hostile player or location (used in macros). ( Initiates targetting a friendly player (used in macros). (Currently targets the most hurt player who is in your party, or the most wounded player in general if you aren't in a party.) There are also some commands that can be entered with ':' like a chat line. They all start with a slash '/' hence they're called slash commands: /help get a help about slash-commands. /afk toggle AFK (away from keyboard) mode if you have to take a quick break from playing. If your character is currently on the blacklist of merchants (because you got caught stealing from a shop!) your blacklist timer won't decrease while you're AFK! Note that your character won't need to consume food while afk _IF_ you are not already 'hungry' or even 'weak' from a lack of food! All other timed effects will continue to be processed (like magical effects such as haste/slowness/hallucination, pseudo-ID or wearing off of temporary stat drain from traps) and eventually wear off, _except_ for blacklist timer from being caught by a shop owner on attempting to steal. Also, other players cannot switch places with you by moving into you, use teleportation or word-of-recall on you, infect you with black breath by bumping into you, steal from you, form a blood bond with you or attempt to polymorph you while you are afk. /afk You can specify a reason that will be displayed to the other players, so they know why you are currently AFK or when you will be back. /bbs Add a line of text to the in-game bulletin board system. Players can look at the board by pressing the '!' key. (You can verify or compare the date with the /time command.) If is omitted, the current BBS contents will be shown, same as using the '!' key. /pbbs Same usage as /bbs, but only readable/writable for party members. So it's a party-internal BBS. To read its contents, type /pbbs without any . /gbbs Same usage as /bbs, but only readable/writable for guild members. So it's a guild-internal BBS. To read its contents, type /gbbs without any . /convertexclusive Attempts to convert your current character into a slot-exclusive character (either PvP-mode or IDDC aka Ironman Deep Dive Challenge). Warning: This process is NOT REVERSIBLE! To attempt to convert your character, type: /convertexclusive for example: /convertexclusive Gandalf /coin Flip a coin to get either heads or tails. The result is random and can be seen by other players who stand nearby. /deal Deals a card (completely random). The result is random and can be seen by other players who stand nearby. /dice Roll some dice, you must specify a number of dice from 1 to 100. The result is random and can be seen by other players who stand nearby. /dis DESTROYS every item in your inventory that has one of these (/dispose) inscriptions: terrible, cursed, uncursed, broken, worthless, average, good. Works only on items that actually can be destroyed. Skips 'flavoured' items that are not known to you yet (example: 'a blue potion {+,?}' or 'a malachite ring {+,?}'). Skips items which inscription contains more than a pseudo-ID tag. Also see /tag and /untag. Note that artifacts cannot be destroyed. /dis a DESTROYS items like /dis, and additionally destroys all items that have no inscription at all. Also see /tag and /untag. /dis b DESTROYS items like '/dis a' does, but skips identified ego items. It also skips exploding ammo, although it isn't really an ego item. /dr [tag] Without tag it equips all items in your inventory that are: not (/dress) cursed, not {worthless}, not {terrible}, known to you. With tag it just equips all items that contain that tag in their name or inscription somewhere (even if they are cursed). /bed Opposite of /dress. (/naked) (The /empty function is currently disabled) /empty Empty a potion from your inventory, leaving an empty bottle. Example: /empty c (if you have 'c) 3 potions of boldness', one will be emptied and 2 remain at 'c) 2 potions of boldness'.)) /evinfo Displays information about all ongoing events. /evinfo <#> Displays information about the specific event number #. Note: If you log out, your sign-up is cancelled automatically. /evsign <#> Signs you up for the event number #. Depending on the event, you might need to specify additional parameters after the number. If that is the case, you'll see a message telling you so, and speficying details what's missing. Note: If you log out, your sign-up is cancelled automatically. /ex or /examine or /extra Gives you detailed information about your character's status, such as how many actions you may perform per turn. A turn is a basic server timing unit, which for example is used to display the amount of fuel in your light source, or which will make you suffer poison damage each on each turn that passes if you're poisoned. Turns pass slower on deeper dungeon levels to make up for increased monster and player speed, keeping the game playable in real-time, see (4.14) for details. (Note that the server also has a type of internal turn counter, which counts a different sort of turns, one each frame. Usually, the server will run at 100 fps, so these turns pass much faster. It might be a bit confusing that both these units are just called 'turns' although they don't correlate, but you won't really have to worry about internal turns at any point, only the 'character turns' are of any importance and noticable by your character, for example, as mentioned above, when you're poisoned, suffering from a cut, waiting for your blacklist to run out, or any other matters.) Additionally, /ex will also display the following information: - how many resurrections you have left, if you are a normal-mode character; - which of your auras are currently active (if you have points in the corresponding aura skills); - the deepest dungeon level you have ever reached (same as checking '~7'); - extremities your current monster form possesses (if you're transformed into a monster form at the moment). This can be helpful to figure out what types of items you may equip while in this form. - forms you have learned if you're a druid, and their according polymorph codes so you don't have to look them up in (6.7b) if you forgot them; - pvp kills; - the in-game time and date, and whether it is day or night. (Note: If you want to know the server real-life time, use /time.) - how much more gold you may pick up before your character will automatically receive 1 experience point (to limit the amount of cash you can pick up before participating in certain events, such as Highlander Tournament or Ironman Deep Dive Challenge). /fe Repeat the level feeling. See (4.8) for more information. (/feeling) /fill fill an 'Empty Bottle' in your inventory with the water from a fountain. You must stand on the fountain to do this. /ftkon or /ftkoff Enables or disables fire-till-kill mode (see (5.2a)). Alternatively, you can toggle it in 'm' menu. /guild_adder Allows that player permanently to add other players to the guild too. Use the command a second time to revoke his rights again. /guild_cfg [ [ (/ignore) ignores all chat messages from the specified player. (Toggle) Also silences all paging attempts from that player. /ic ignore all normal chat messages which are neither private messages (/ignchat) nor party messages. ('Private mode' will be displayed after the player's name in the player overview screen which can be invoked by pressing '@', indicating that this player currently cannot read normal chat messages.) /info Sets an informative message that is displayed to other players in '@' screen, similar to an afk-message, except this message is displayed when you're not afk. For example do: /info Want to team up for Mordor! If you type /info without a message, it clears your info message. /lite a..w Refills your light source with an item from your inventory. Usually it's easier to just press 'F' instead. /mar Tells a prayer-user if he may use the prayer 'Martyrdom'. (/martyr) /me Write an emote. Example: /me hides. /mon Same as going to ~ menu and selecting 'Monsters': Will show your kill count of all matching monsters. Example: /mon D -> shows your greater dragons kill count. /motd Shows the current server notes that are displayed at login. (/snotes) /news Shows the login screen, same as ~f, but in monochrome. /note : Leave a note to another player. Note: You have to specify his ACCOUNT NAME, not a character name. That way, no matter which of his characters he chooses to logon, he always gets the note. /note Delete all pending notes that were addressed to that player. /notes Display all pending notes that you wrote to other players. /pnote Leave a note to the party you own. If is omitted, it will display the current note. If is just an '*' char, it will erase the current note. /gnote Leave a note to the guild you own. If is omitted, it will display the current note. If is just an '*' char, it will erase the current note. /obj Displays all objects known to you, same as ~4. (/object) /page Sends beeps to that player to help you getting his attention. (Using /ignore on a player will also prevent getting paged by him.) If you're on Linux and not hearing the page sounds, see problem 19 in the troubleshooting section (8.6). /paint (Also available by pressing 'h' for house menu.) Use a potion in your inventory to paint your house entrance in a similar colour. The potion is used up in the process. A potion of water removes the paint again. Painting your house can be useful for example to mark it for others to see that you run a player store. Further, you could choose the colour to indicate the type of items you offer, for example red for magic items similar to the red '6' town store. Note that players of incompatible character mode (everlasting vs non-everlasting) won't see each other's house paint. (See (4.10a) for more information about player stores.) /play Join/leave a mini-game (such as rugby on the field in Bree). Will at some point in the future be absorbed by /evsign and thereby become obsolete. /pstore (Also available by pressing 'h' for house menu.) Attempts to enter a player store next to you, even if it's your own house. So this command is good for 'testing' your own store. Usually you simply enter another player's store by trying to enter his house, which will preset you with the store screen. (See (4.10a) for more information about player stores.) /pvp Carries you into/out of the PvP arena. Only usable by pvp-mode chars. See (6.13) for details about PvP mode. /que gives a quest! It needs to be fulfilled before a certain period (/quest) of time passes (continues to expire even while not logged on). The player who completes it gets a great item as reward. It will appear in your inventory and carry an inscription indicating it's the quest reward. (See (4.13) for more info.) /rec -550 recalls you to -550ft, using an item inscribed {@R}. /rec 32 32 recalls you to Bree (Town at 32,32 world map coordinates), (/recall) using an item inscribed {@R}. See "(0.3) Important Inscriptions" for more info about Word of Recall. /ref redraw the screen (do this if it's messed up for some reason). (/refresh, or simply hit CTRL+R) /bug report a bug to the admin(s). /rfe Store a message/suggestion for the admin(s). /whisper Speaks in a low voice, so only players standing directly next to you can hear it. /say Speaks to players who are currently nearby your position, instead of sending your message to everyone on the server. /whisper Whispers to players currently standing right next to you. Others won't be able to hear it. /cough You cough noisily. Will disturb the sleep of monsters or at least make it less deep.. /shout Shout loudly, will wake up monsters. /scream Same as /shout, but also aggravates monsters in your current line of sight. (Same effect as scroll of aggravate monsters, see (5.9)). /shot or /shot (/screenshot) Takes a screen shot to a html file. If is omitted, it writes to 'screenshot?????.xhtml' by default, where ????? are increasing numbers. You may also use CTRL+T. You can view those xhtml files in most webbrowsers. /sip drink from a fountain. You must stand on the fountain to do this. Fountains can have good/bad/no effects. There is no fountain of death, neither one of detonations, so you won't get instakilled. (It's easier to press '_' instead of using the /sip command. Also see '_' key above, for additional information.) /tag [a..w] Tags all uninscribed items in your backpack by adding a '!k' inscription. Helpful for looting in conjunction with /dis command. If a slot (a..w) is specified, it only tags the item in that particular inventory slot (if not yet inscribed already). Will not affect equipped items. /tar (/target) Allows you to target a specific grid specified by X,Y as offset to your current character position. /testyourmight [rs] or shorter: /tym [rs] Displays damage and healing stats for your character, totals and averages over number of attacks and over time (# of seconds passed). Note: 'Numer of attacks' only counts successful attacks, ie not attacks that missed, were blocked/parried/dodged or nullified by invulnerability, etc. It however counts ALL attacks, for example aura hits too. /time Tells you the current date and time (of the server, not of your local timezone). /untag [] If . Will not affect equipped items (except for '/untag *'). Note that some parameters are special and therefore reserved, those are: /untag * will remove all inscriptions from all items in your inventory. /untag p will remove all pseudo-id tags from your inventory items. Note: This will work on equipped items too! /untag u will remove all unique-loot tags from your inventory items. /at Apply auto-inscription settings to current inventory. (/autotag) /undoskills Allows you to undo the skill points you assigned in 'G' menu last time. Use this to correct points you accidentally put into a wrong skill. NOTE: Logging off or gaining another level will reset undoskills, making it impossible to undo points spent previously. Also, it can only be used ONCE per level, so make sure you get your skill point distribution right on the second attempt. /version Displays the server version. (/ver) (0.3) Important inscriptions ---------------------------- To inscribe an item, press the { key. To uninscribe, press }. All items: Inscribing an item with an '!' followed by a key will cause that key to cease working on the item anymore. You may also specify several keys. A space or other non-related character will end the '!-sequence'. Example: You inscribe a 'Scroll of Artifact Creation' this way: !kd Now you cannot destroy or drop the scroll anymore (keys to destroy and to drop an item are 'k' respectively 'd'). You can inscribe an item by pressing '{' and uninscribe it with '}'. The !* inscription: '*' is a 'wild card' which stands for multiple inscriptions at once, inscribing an item '!*' will do all of these checks: !d Prevent dropping an item. !k Prevent killing (destroying) an item. !s Prevent selling an item to shop (!s). For example, if you found an artifact and you want to avoid (d)ropping it, (s)elling it, or (v) throwing it away accidentally you could either inscribe it !dsv or just !* . !v Prevent throwing an item away. != Automatically pick the item up from the floor. (!h Prevent selling a house key. Keys usually aren't used anymore though.) A very useful inscription for (heavily) cursed items: !w prevent wielding/wearing an item. This is very useful if you carry a cursed item in your inventory that you really don't want to equip by accident. Useful for characters who wield a boomerang not for throwing it, but rather because it provides magical boni: !f prevent firing an item (ie your equipped ranged weapon). If you use a sling, bow or crossbow and rather worthless ammo that you don't intend to pick up again, you may inscribe the ammo to make it disappear: !g makes ammo always break and never drop to the floor. Other !-inscriptions: !T prevent taking off a secondary item. !F prevent filling a light source with this item. (Ok, not really important.) !E prevent eating this item. (Note: !E may also prevent items from causing earthquakes, see below.) !q prevent quaffing this potion. !r prevent reading this scroll. !u,!a, !z prevent using a staff/aim a wand/zap a rod. !A prevent activating this item. The # inscription: This one makes all following inscription be appended directly behind the actual item name, instead of at the end of the item's full description. It can be especially convenient if the item has a very long name. Sometimes you can also use this to confuse your fellow players :-p Items that induce random teleportation, like a 'ring of teleportation' or 'weapon of the thunderlords': If the item is _not cursed_ then you may inscribe it with two dots '..' to prevent it from teleporting you! In order for the inscription to take effect in case you already have it equipped you will need to take it off and wield it again. The two dots can appear anywhere in the inscription, as long as they are not separated from each other. Example: A Long Sword Of The Thunderlords (2d5) (+10,+15) {NxFAReg..} Items that 'can cause Earthquakes': !E Prevents the item from causing an earthquake. This usually only works on the artifact "The Mighty Hammer 'Grond'". (Press keys ~d in the game to check server settings.) See (5.13) for more information about earthquakes. Word-of-Recall scrolls: @R500 will teleport you to depth 500ft (tower). @R-350 will teleport you to depth -350ft (dungeon). @RW32,32 will teleport you to sector 32,32 on the worldmap (Bree). World map ranges from 0,0 to 63,63. or even better.. @R This inscription makes the above versions sort of obsolete. If you have inscribed a word-of-recall item like this then you can just type the command /rec into chat to invoke the word-of-recall. Examples replacing above inscriptions: /rec 500 /rec -350 /rec 32 32 <- notice: No komma between the coordinates! NOTE: You must've already been at that depth or deeper in order to teleport there via WoR! IMPORTANT: In order to recall to a place on the world map, you need to have been there before, NOT while you were dead (ghost), but while you were alive! So don't try to travel to Gondolin as a ghost, the priest over there will reject you and you won't remember the place when you return and revive in Bree. Weapons, devices and spells: @O and its variants control the 'auto-retaliator' which is a mechanism designed to make your character automatically attack targets that are standing directly adjacent to you. For details about auto-retaliation see (4.1a)! Ammunition: != will make your character auto-pickup the ammo from the floor. !M makes ammunition stacks of same base type and same ego power stack even if +hit or +dam enchantments are not equal. Those will be averaged and rounded downwards. (Doesn't work for cursed or artifact ammo.) Wield the !M stack first, then also wield the stack you want to merge with the equipped ammo. !L inscribe stacks of ammo in your inventory !L to make them be automatically reloaded into your quiver as soon as the ammo you're currently using runs out. Note that you can place ammo in your inventory in the desired order for reloading by dropping it/picking it up again! Weapons that ricochet (sling ammo): !R Prevents ricochetting. Scrolls of Identify, Rods/Staves of Perception: !X If you pick up an unidentified item, you will automatically read a scroll to identify it. See (5.7) for more information about identification. An item that can be activated: @A1 pressing the keys 'A' and then '1' will activate that item. A potion: @q3 pressing 'q' then '3' will quaff that potion. A magic scroll: @r0 pressing the keys 'r' and '0' will read that scroll. etc.. you get the idea. :) You can also inscribe items just to remember their abilities. For example if you find an armour that is an artifact, and you found out it resists fire and acid, you might inscribe it {ResFire,ResAcid} so that you will remember what it does just by looking at it and reading the inscription. It can make your life easier if you wear lots of items that have different resistances or abilities. (0.3a) The auto-inscription feature ----------------------------------- Since it can be annoying to keep inscribing newly bought items again and again, there is an auto-inscription feature which you can access with '&' key. Remotely similar to the macro menu, a list of auto-inscriptions appears (which by default is empty). Press 'e' to edit the first auto-inscription. A cursor will appear, allowing you to input a partial item name. For example type in 'of Healing' (without the quotes). Hit ENTER key to confirm. Now the cursor will allow you to enter an inscription, a little bit further to the right on the screen. For example type in '@q1' (again without the quotes) and confirm with ENTER key again. Now you have just set up an auto-inscription that will automatically inscribe '@q1' whenever any item is added to your inventory which has a name containing 'of Healing', ie 'Potions of Healing'. Note that auto-inscriptions are case-sensitive, and only the first one in the list that actually matches an item is applied to it. You can use '?' as wildcard in the search string. For example if you want to distinguish between Rod(s) of Healing and Potion(s) of Healing, you can use 'Rod?Healing' and 'Potion?Healing' respectively. ('?' stands for any number (including zero) of any characters.) If you put a '!' as first character of a search string, it will force the inscription to overwrite existing inscriptions in any case (usually it only overwrites trivial inscriptions such as price discount tags). Auto-inscription files can be saved and will be loaded automatically in the same manner as macro files, if the filename matches your race, class, account or character name. If multiple matching files are found, the game will attempt to merge them accordingly. NOTE: In addition to this user-defined client-side auto-inscription list, there is also a server-side auto-inscription feature that can be enabled via client option 'auto_inscribe'. This option will add a predefined set of auto-inscriptions that might be generally useful for all types of characters, see (2.3) for details. (0.4) Typical slang/abbreviations --------------------------------- Art Artifact. Those can be 'Static arfifacts' from the a_info.txt file, also called 'True Arts'. Or they may be 'Randomly generated artifacts' also called 'Randarts'. In game you can press ~ 6 to search for any static artifact. (See (7.4) for more info about spoiler files.) Winners who beat Morgoth, Lord of Darkness will usually not be able to use static artifacts, but rely on randarts instead. Depending on the server settings, fallen winners might also not be able to use static arts. See (5.9b) for more information about artifacts. Auto-ID A special ability of some items. If you equip an item that grants you 'Auto-ID' all items you touch will automatically be identified! Items who grant their wielder Auto-Identification are highly sought after. Randart helmets or gloves sometimes have it. See (5.7) for more information about identification. BM Black Market (Store '7'). Cheeze Questionable action, not quite cheating but close to it. This can be transferring items to a store character (mule) or exploiting weaknesses in the game design instead of reporting them to the forum. DEW Dark-elven warlock. A very deadly monster that comes in packs and shoots high-damage mana bolts, glass cannon style. Dive A trip into the dungeon, usually quite deep compared to the diver's character level. DSM Dragon Scale Mail. Legendary pieces of armour. Excellents Items that pseudo-identified as 'excellent'. EA Extra Attacks. Rings, gloves or weapons which increase your number of blows per round with melee weapons. Quite expensive. FA Free Action (immunity to paralysis). FF Feather falling (Levitation). GoI Globe of invulnerability. This only exists as 'Stair-GoI', see further below. Gorth Room in the dungeon, divided into 4 chambers, similar to a pit. Also see 'Room', 'Pit' and (4.6). GV Greater Vault. (See 4.6) GCV Greater Checkerboard Vault (looks remotely like a checkerboard). ID, *ID* Identify and *Identify* magic respectively, which is used to reveal magic properties of unknown items. Scrolls of ID can be bought in store 5. See (5.7) for more information about identification. Iron Team A special type of party which can only be formed with newly created characters. Its members only gain experience if all members are online and on the same dungeon level. klevel, olevel Somewhat more technical terms, these stand for the exact type of item level that is meant in a certain context: k-level is the 'object kind level', which is given in k_info.txt. This is the object's base level and describes from which minimum dungeon floor level or minimum monster level you can expect to start getting that item type. The o-level is the 'real' object level that you'll see on an item you pick up. This can vary from the klev, depending on the dungeon floor depth and monster level you got the item from. Example: According to k_info.txt an Amulet of the Serpents has a klev of 25, so you can expect to start seeing this drop on dungeon level 25 (1250ft) or from level 25 monsters respectively. However, when you find such an amulet on say a dungeon floor at 4000ft, which equals dungeon level 80, an actual amulet you find might have a level requirement (olev) of 30. (Note: This is similar to mlevel vs rlevel for monsters.) Loot Items that have been dropped by dead monsters or players and are waiting to be picked up by someone. :) LV Lesser Vault. (See 4.6) mlevel, rlevel Somewhat more technical terms, these stand for the exact type of monster level that is meant in a certain context: m-level is the 'real' monster level that you'll also see when you have your character look at it. This level may actually be boosted and therefore be higher than you'd expect. This happens when you meet the monster on a floor that is far deeper than the level the monster usually starts to occur on. r-level is the base monster level, which you can see in game if you press ~ 7 and search for a particular monster. It describes the minimum floor level a monster is usually found on (although 'out-of-depth' occurances may be possible). Example: According to ~7, Ancient Red Dragons have a base level of 41. That means you'll usually start seeing them on dungeon floors of level 41 (2050 ft) and deeper, although there's always a slim chance that you meet a monster earlier than its base level (called OoD encounter). So we know now that the r-level of Ancient Red Dragons is 41. However, if you meet an Ancient Red Dragon on a much deeper dungeon floor, say 2400 ft, which would be the equivalent to level 48, when you look at the dragon you'll see it says level 42 instead of the expected 41. This means the dragon's level was actually slightly boosted because the dungeon floor's level was that much higher than the dragon's. So while the rlev of this dragon is still 41, its real level, the mlev, is 42. Some formulas used by the game use mlev, some use rlev. (Note: This is similar to klevel vs olevel for items.) Morgy Morgoth, Lord of Darkness. Final boss enemy in TomeNET. See (1.3) for details. Nest Originally also just called 'pits', nests only differ from pits in the monsters in them being strewn around in a randomly mixed manner while pits contain 'organized' rings and circles of monsters. The monsters in a nest are not completely random but follow certain schemes. For example all monsters in a 'clones nest' are exactly the same type. Also see 'pits'. olevel see klevel. OoD Out-of-depth. Means a monster or an item encounter that happened at a surprisingly shallow level, opposed to the base level for that monster (shown in ~7) or item (given in k_info.txt) where you would usually start expecting to find it. Vaults often containing OoD monsters and items, increasing threat and reward for the brave. Note: OoD is limited to at most +40 levels (happens in high-level vaults); unique monsters can actually only be up to 20 levels OoD (even in vaults) and, as a specialty, Great Wyrms of Power can only ever occur up to 10 levels OoD. Party A group of players who fight together and share experience. In a party you will share experience points if you are within 7 character levels to each other and on the same dungeon/tower level respectively the same worldmap/wilderness sector. You can invoke the party menu with shift+p key. See (6.9). Phase Door A short-range teleportation. Pit Pits contain monsters of a certain type, for example 'demon pits' or 'orc pits', with the monsters in them being placed in a somewhat 'organized' manner of rings and circles. Also see 'Nest' or 'Room'. Pits are often confused with special rooms. Pseudo-ID If a player keeps an unidentified item for a longer time he might 'feel' if the item is average, good, cursed or special. The item will automatically receive a 'pseudo-id inscription' then. Pseudo-id intensity and speed depend on the 'Combat' skill. It does not matter whether the player is acting, afk or idle. See (5.7) for more information about identification. PvP Player vs player. Describes the act of player characters fighting each other. If you want to fight other players to death, create a new 'pvp-mode' character. It's an option during the character creation process, much like 'everlasting mode' or 'normal mode'. For more information about pvp mode, see (6.13). Randart Randomly generated artifact. As opposed to 'Truearts' which are also called 'Static arts' from the file a_info.txt (you can search static arts by pressing ~ 6 in game). See 'Art' at the top of this section for more information. See (5.9b) for more information about artifacts. Res Resistance. Room The dungeon contains many rooms connected by passages. Some of the rooms are of special shape. Especially rooms containing a further, inner room similarly to pits are thereby often confused with those, mostly 'Gorths' (rooms divided into four chambers containing a lot of monsters), 'Checkerboard-Rooms' (rooms containing a checkerboard-like maze structure and a lot of monsters). rlevel see mlevel. Scumming Repeatedly using staircases up/downwards to make a level become recreated. Usually in hope of finding a specific monster on that depth. ('I scum 450..500 ft for Wormy'.) SI See invisible. Specials Items that pseudo-identify as 'special'. These are true arts or randarts. Static A level that is static will not change if you leave it but stay the same, permanently until it is unstaticed. All levels remain static for a short period of time after the last player leaves them to prevent scumming. Also, levels remain static if a player ghost-died (meaning he died ultimatively without possibility of resurrection) for a longer while depending on the dungeon level, see (3.11) for details about static-by-death levels. Static Art See 'Art' at the top of this section. Stair-GoI Stair-globe of invulnerability. This describes the magical protection that any player who takes a staircase up or down will receive a temporary buff of +100 AC and high chance to deflect any projections (bolts/balls/breaths/curses..) that hit him. True Art See 'Art' at the top of this section. Unique A monster that is named and exists only once. Although it can respawn for another player who hasn't defeated it yet, each player will receive loot only once from it. So if you engage a unique monster while playing together with a team mate, check if you have already killed it and if so let your team mate inflict the killing blow, so he will get the kill credited and the monster will drop loot accordingly. To verify whether you have already killed a unique, you may.. -check the unique monster list in '~' menu. -'l'ook at the monster, the name will be shown in dark grey if you already got kill credit for it. -watch the damage messages when you attack it, they will be shown in dark grey if you already killed it. -turn on the option 'unique_kill_credit' in '=' menu: It will beep if you hit a unique monster that you have already killed. It is good etiquette that you don't touch the (inscribed) loot a unique monster drops if it wasn't you who killed it in the end. That's precisely because every player can only get kill credit for each unique monster once. Uniques often have large escorts. Unique monsters will randomly respawn for winners, ie Kings, Queens, Emperors and Empresses. That means: The game will "forget" that you already defeated them, allowing you to defeat them once more. There are some exceptions though, the following monsters will never respawn: The Nazguls, Sauron, Michael, Morgoth, and all super-uniques that come after Morgoth, starting with Tik'srvzllat. WoR Word-of-Recall (teleports you into the dungeon and back or on the world map). See "(0.3) Important inscriptions" for more info. Wormy Wormtongue, Agent of Saruman. He drops great items. (0.5) Some hints and warnings (READ!) ------------------------------------- -To report a bug use the /bug command in the game. It allows you to type a line of text to explain the bug or problem you encountered. You can use the /bug command multiple times if one line is not sufficient for the amount of text you want to write. Alternatively, you can use the bug report section of the official forum at www.tomenet.net. Please DO NOT write bugs in chat in the game. -If you have a suggestion, use the /rfe command instead. It's used the same way as the /bug command (see above). Alternatively, use the forum at www.tomenet.net. -Starting at version 4.4.5, TomeNET supports audio, that is, sound effects and background music. To find out more, read (2.1a). -Usually characters expire (that means they are automatically deleted!) after 180 days of inactivity. Empty accounts (ie accounts that don't hold any characters) usually expire after 60 days. -Items on the ground (especially in towns) often disappear automatically after a while. So don't use the town or the wilderniss to 'store' loot. If you don't own any houses, you can use public houses that are accessible to everyone. Risk is of course that someone takes your items. -If you press CTRL+X to save&exit the game, you should do that in a safe town. Dungeons might change while you are logged off, and the next time you log on you might find yourself stuck inside a wall, where the previous dungeon had a wide room. Another problem is that if you don't leave in a town, your character will stay for another 20-30 seconds in the game before it finally disappears from the dungeon! If monsters were around, you might get killed easily during that time. -The items you find don't depend on your race or class but on monster level and depth and luck. -Don't drop artifacts inside houses if the server doesn't allow artifacts to be dropped inside player houses, or you will simply lose the artifact! -Items on the floor within a house don't form piles! If you drop too many items and space in the house runs out the dropped item may just disappear! -The massive iron crown of Morgoth must not be worn by non-Kings/Queens! Wearing it otherwise will kill you in a mighty blast. -Some special shops' features may currently not be available. (1) Introduction ================ (1.1) What is TomeNET? (Where can I get the latest sources?) ------------------------------------------------------------ TomeNET is an extremely advanced online multiplayer rogue-like role-playing game, derived from MAngband (Multiplayer-Angband). It's based on the stories of J.R.R. Tolkien mainly, hence the name "the Troubles of Middle Earth" or alternatively "the Tales of Middle Earth". The final goal in TomeNET is to destroy the fallen god Melkor who is known by the name of Morgoth, Lord of Darkness. The official websites are mentioned in the first couple of lines of this guide. Note that ToME and TomeNET although both coming from similar roots are actually quite different games that are maintained by different persons/teams. If you want to download the source code, you can get it from www.tomenet.net in the download section. (1.1a) Where do I get in contact? --------------------------------- Apart from downloading the game client and playing, you can also get in contact with other players and developers via the following media: -The forum at http://www.tomenet.net/. -IRC: Channel #tomenet on server irc.freenode.net (port 6667) (For help on Internet Relay Chat visit www.irchelp.org). The channels #tomenet, #tomenet.rpg and #tomenet.arcade relay chat from and to the main/rpg/arcade server, allowing you to read what's going on in-game, and to chat with players simply with any IRC client. -Voice chat via mumble, get it from http://mumble.sourceforge.net/. IP is 'europe.tomenet.net', port is '23348', password is 'tomenet'. For details see "(2.4) Installing voice chat". (1.2) What is a rogue-like game? -------------------------------- Rogue was a game basing only on alpha-numerical characters, like letters and numbers. It didn't have any graphics. Thus it could run on basically every simple computer. However it was not a text-adventure. Its game engine provides a grid for turn-by-turn movement and combat that the user looks at from high above. Here is a small "screenshot": ............... ...########.... ...#$.....#.... ...#..@...'.... ...#......#.... ...########.p.. ............... The @ is usually the player, the dots are empty fields. The # are walls. Here the player seems to be inside a building. In the upper-left corner some money is deposited. The ' is an open door. Outside of the building there is a p, which is usually some townsfolk. They are not always friendly and some tend to steal! Rogue was the first game of this kind, hence all games working with similar graphics and game engine are called rogue-likes. Other well-known rogue-likes are Nethack, Larn, Moria, Angband. (1.2a) Where do I find more information about rogue-like games? -------------------------------------------------------------- Links: http://www.thangorodrim.net/ http://yarns.felis7.civ.pl/ Newsgroups: rec.games.roguelike.* (1.3) Goal and progress of TomeNET players ------------------------------------------ The final goal that a brave adventurer could possible seek in TomeNET is to become King respectively Queen. To acquire this he or she must destroy the fallen god Melkor who is known by the name of Morgoth, Lord of Darkness. Morgoth is said to reside deep within the dungeons at around 5000 feet down in the earth. Getting there will be an extraordinary journey bearing unbelievable dangers but also fantastic treasure. Players on the same server can also play together by forming parties and sharing their experience! Players will acquire new ranks as their experience grows, allowing them to learn new abilities and to become stronger. Morgoth is said not to show up until his servant Sauron, the Sorceror has been killed. (See 1.5 for more information about Morgoth.) Players who defeat Morgoth, become 'winners' and get the title of King and Queen respectively, or Emperor/Empress if their character is of unworldly or hellish mode. When you win the game, an automatic chardump is generated in /lib/user called '-victory.txt' (see 8.2) which you can view with any text editor. Also, a screenshot is made automatically, displaying your situation, saved to '-victory-screenshot.xhtml'. (You can view xhtml files in most webbrowsers.) (1.3a) Sauron, Morgoth and the Nazgul ------------------------------------- Morgoth, Lord of Darkness commands nine Ring Wraiths, called 'Nazgul'. These corrupted souls of former ring-wearers are named.. Uvatha the Horseman, Adunaphel the Quiet, Akhorahil the Blind, Ren the Unclean, Ji Indur Dawndeath, Dwar Dog Lord of Waw, Hoarmurath of Dir, Khamul the Black Easterling and The Witch-King of Angmar. Morgoth has the ability to summon these, so you should destroy them all before facing him. Morgoth is also able to summon all other unique beings, so one of your tasks to prevail against him will be to kill off as many of the powerful unique foes as you can before facing him. Morgoth, the god of destruction, has reinforced his surroundings to be especially devastating to all living beings: If you get killed on a level where Morgoth, Lord of Darkness walks, your ghost will be destroyed too, even if you are everlasting! Beware! If you team up against him, he will grow stronger for every additional player who enters his dungeon level. Growing stronger in fact means that he gains a hit point and speed bonus. If a player leaves his level, he will weaken again. See the following paragraph (1.6) for more information. A very dangerous thing about Nazgul is that weapons get quickly destroyed if they come in contact with these corrupted beings. If you are a spell-caster who doesn't use his weapon to fight but just to profit from its magical abilities then it's strongly recommended to inscribe the weapon @Ox to avoid auto-retaliation, see (0.3) about inscriptions and (4.1a) about auto-retaliation. If you rely on melee weapons you must try to get your hands on an artifact since these resist Nazgul greatly! The Stormbringer also resists like an artifact. (It doesn't matter if the artifact is a random or a static one.) If your weapon gets destroyed you'll receive a warning message: "Your weapon *DISINTEGRATES*!" or "Your weapon is destroyed !" (The permanently cursed weapon 'Mighty Hammer of Grond' cannot be destroyed. See (5.9b) for more information about artifacts.) Your weapon itself will not damage the Nazgul if it doesn't have one of the mods SLAY_EVIL, SLAY_UNDEAD or KILL_UNDEAD. However, you might still be able to damage the Nazgul, if your raw to-dam bonus is high enough. Enchantments from rings, gloves or other items and the damage bonus from your skills will be the only factors which decide the damage you deal, in that case. For weapons which damage dice and to-dam bonus will not be counted (ie non- SLAY/KILL EVIL/UNDEAD weapons) you'll see the message: "The Ringwraith is IMPERVIOUS to the mundane weapon." Martial Arts users can fight relatively efficiently against Nazguls, but their chance to receive Black Breath is higher than for weapon users. If you come in contact with a Nazgul or a very powerful undead creature there is a chance that you will be infected by the Black Breath. This dark aura is able to infect other players if you come too close to them. It will drain your stats and permanently drain your experience. Slowly, but steadily. There are several possibilities to cure Black Breath, for example Sprigs of Athelas. Each Nazgul will drop a ring of power, which is a random artifact ring bearing the Nazgul's name. These rings have a lot of random mods (ie abilities) and will always provide invisibility (5.16) and experience drain (5.19). They are also always heavily cursed, cannot be dropped while cursed, and can re-curse themselves (5.14). In order to find Morgoth, players have to defeat Sauron, the Sorceror first. For more information about encountering Sauron and Morgoth, see next paragraph (1.3b). It is noteworthy that Sauron is able to boost his own spell-casting speed for as long as he finds himself or the area around his target blocked by Glyphs of Warding (also called Runes of Protection). Also, he might try to avoid going into melee range of players who he deems good at close quarters combat. In general, do not underestimate Sauron's power! (1.3b) How to encounter the final boss: Morgoth, Lord of Darkness ----------------------------------------------------------------- -Morgoth is found only at dungeon level 100 or deeper. -He won't show up until you killed Sauron, the Sorceror (who usually appears at dungeon level 99). -Morgoth and Sauron do not neccessarily spawn on each fitting dungeon level, sometimes you have to search for them, like for all other monsters/uniques. -If a player who hasn't killed Sauron yet or who has already beaten Morgoth enters a dungeon level where Morgoth is currently on, Morgoth will instantly teleport to a different dungeon level. -If there's already another player on that level who has beaten Sauron but hasn't acquired the title of a King or Queen yet, the 'intruder' player will be teleported to town instead and Morgoth will remain on the level. -If more than one player is on his floor, he will be a bit thougher than he appears to a solo player, depending on the number of players facing him. In details, for each additional player besides the first player joining his level, Morgoth gains +20000 hit points and +6 speed. So if a team of three challenges him, he will have 30000+2*20000 = 70000 HP and 30+2*6 = 42 speed. -There are no obstacles that can hold Morgoth back for long. See (1.3a) for more information about Morgoth. There are rumours of even more powerful beings than the Lord Of Darkness. Kings and Queens who seek new challenges shall try to enter the Nether Realm, a dungeon with dangers beyond imagination. Only those who destroyed Morgoth may enter. The Nether Realm can be very rewarding in terms of experience but also very deadly. Terrible foes are said to dwell there which aren't seen in the mundane world. (2) Installation & setup ======================== (2.1) Installing TomeNET ------------------------ Go to http://www.tomenet.net/ (or one of our personal pages) to download the latest client. Extract it to a new directory, preserving the pathnames. (Note: If you decide to download the 'test client' instead of the client of the latest stable version number, be aware that it might stop working correctly unexpectedly because it's undergoing development, possibly forcing you to redownload it.) Windows: -------- You may edit the file "TomeNET.ini" and do some changes to your likings, like setting up window positions (note that the game will remember window positions changed via dragging the windows around, which is an easier way), or choosing font size (look into lib/xtra/font directory to see available fonts). Further you can specify an account name and password to be filled in automatically, and various other things. Last but not least, you may use the following command-line options: -p for example -p19348 -l for example -lGandalf geheim -N for example -NDruidor for example 85.118.45.235 -q turns off loading/initializing of audio ('quiet mode') -w disables weather effects -u disables automatic LUA script updating -k don't disable numlock on client startup -m skip motd (message of the day) on login -v automatically save chat log on exit Linux (using pre-compiled binary): ---------------------------------- Make sure that ncurses and crypt libraries are installed, package names are usually libncurses5 and libgcrypt11. Enter the 'tomenet/' folder and type: ./tomenet to start the game. Linux (compiling from source): ------------------------------ (For using the pre-compiled client instead, see further below.) There are additional distribution-specific information on Mikael's website at: http://koti.mbnet.fi/mikaelh/tomenet/installation-linux.php (It's linked on www.tomenet.net -> "Links".) You can get the source from www.tomenet.net, also see (1.1). How to compile the game binary: Go into '/tomenet/src' where the file 'makefile' is located. Make sure you have the C-devel, X11-devel, ncurses, ncurses-devel and crypt libraries installed. The package names are usually: build-essential, xorg-dev, libncurses5, libncurses5-dev, libgcrypt11, libc6-dev. Since version 4.4.5 which supports music and sound via SDL, you also need libsdl-mixer-devel, libsdl, libsmpeg. Usual package names (SDL version 1.2): libsdl-mixer1.2, libsdl-mixer1.2-dev, libsdl1.2debian, libsdl1.2-dev, (preferably libsdl1.2debian-pulseaudio, eg under Ubuntu), libsmpeg0, libsmpeg-dev. If you don't want to use audio, edit the makefile and compare the two paragraphs titled 'Without SDL' and 'With SDL' and edit the makefile accordingly, to compile it without SDL audio support. NOTE: If you are compiling the above packages yourself, make sure that you install the specific audio format libs (smpeg, ogg..) _before_ you install libsdl-mixer, so its configure script will recognize those formats and enable support for the according file types. Enter these two lines: make clean make tomenet and the binary 'tomenet' will be created in this folder 'tomenet/src'. IMPORTANT NOW: If your makefile is an older version, you need to move the binary one level upwards, ie into 'tomenet/' ! If your makefile is newer, it might already have done that for you automatically. Go up one level into your 'tomenet/' folder. There type: ./tomenet to start the game. Configure TomeNET on Linux: --------------------------- To configure which windows are visible and what font they use and all sorts of other options, edit the file ".tomenetrc" which should be in your home folder (or specify alternative location via -f command-line option, see below). Note: If the game client's positioning of windows doesn't work on your system, you can use other means such as KDE's native window positioning (right-click the windows and modify the "special window settings" or "special application settings") or the tool Devilspie (should be in your default repository) if you're on Gnome or Xfce or anything else. 'gdevilspie' may also be available, which is a graphical version of devilspie. Alternatively to using the .tomenetrc file for window configuration, you can also set environment variables. These settings will override .tomenetrc: TOMENET_X11_FONT_SCREEN (height and width of main window cannot be changed) TOMENET_X11_WID_MIRROR, TOMENET_X11_HGT_MIRROR, TOMENET_X11_FONT_MIRROR TOMENET_X11_WID_CHOICE, TOMENET_X11_HGT_CHOICE, TOMENET_X11_FONT_CHOICE TOMENET_X11_WID_RECALL, TOMENET_X11_HGT_RECALL, TOMENET_X11_FONT_RECALL TOMENET_X11_WID_TERM_4, TOMENET_X11_HGT_TERM_4, TOMENET_X11_FONT_TERM_4 TOMENET_X11_WID_TERM_5, TOMENET_X11_HGT_TERM_5, TOMENET_X11_FONT_TERM_5 TOMENET_X11_WID_TERM_6, TOMENET_X11_HGT_TERM_6, TOMENET_X11_FONT_TERM_6 TOMENET_X11_WID_TERM_7, TOMENET_X11_HGT_TERM_7, TOMENET_X11_FONT_TERM_7 Use the 'export' command to set them, eg: export TOMENET_X11_FONT_SCREEN=8x13 export TOMENET_X11_WID_TERM_4=80 export TOMENET_X11_HGT_TERM_4=24 TOMENET_X11_FONT sets one font globally for all windows. It's overridden by the window-specific font variables listed above though. Depending on your system, some possible fonts are usually: 4x6, 5x7, 5x8, 6x9, 6x10, 6x12, 7x13, 7x14, 8x13, 9x15, 10x20, 12x24. Last but not least, you may use the following command-line options: -c force command-line interface instead of X11 etc. Use it if you want to run the client within a terminal. -e Create file 'tomenet.log' instead of displaying error messages in the terminal -f use a different config file than ~/.tomenetrc -i ignore the ~/.tomenetrc config file -l for example -lGandalf geheim -m skip motd (message of the day) on login -N for example -NDruidor -p for example -p19348 for example 85.118.45.235 -q turns off loading/initializing of audio ('quiet mode') -u disables automatic LUA script updating (You should NOT use this option!) -v automatically save chat log on exit -w disables weather effects Full command-line example: ./tomenet -p19348 -lGandalf geheim -NGandalf 85.118.45.235 If your name contains spaces, it is neccessary to put a '\' in front of each. Example: ./tomenet -p18348 -lIron\ Man geheimer 85.118.45.235 ..if your account name is 'Iron Man'. Mac OS X (using pre-compiled binary; tested with Snow Leopard 10.6.6): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Run the file 'TomeNET.run' to start the game. Mac OS X (compiling from source; tested with Snow Leopard 10.6.6): ------------------------------------------------------------------ Basically use the same instructions as for Linux above. Additionally: -To actually install gcc you will need to install the 'xcode' package, which contains gcc. Download the correct xcode version for your Mac OS X version from developer.apple.com. For this you will first need to create a developer account (choose the free account version of course). -Download the required packages (tar.gz/tar.bz2 files from ftp.gnupg.org, ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu and www.libsdl.org) listed in the Linux installation instructions above and extract, compile and install them each via the usual ./configure make clean make sudo make install command chain from a terminal window. Note: libsdl_mixer can be found on www.libsdl.org too, by clicking on the "Libraries" menu and searching for "mixer". If you have trouble installing those source packages, you could try to simply use MacPorts to fetch them, at http://www.macports.org/. Dependencies: -libgcrypt depends on libgpg-error, which you will need to install too. -libsdl_mixer may complain about missing dependencies (at least Ogg Vorbis is required for TomeNET, since it's the official audio format - the rest is only needed if you add custom audio files in the according file formats): -Ogg Vorbis library (www.xiph.org -> libogg and libvorbis) for OGG file support, which is what the official TomeNET audio files are. -SMPEG library (icculus.org/smpeg) for MP3 file support. (libsdl_mixer's configure script May also list additional notes regarding the environment variable SMPEG_CONFIG, don't miss them.) -MikMod library (mikmod.raphnet.net) for various module music support. -FLAC library (flac.sourceforge.net) for FLAC file support. -If you mess with compiler-related environment variables and paths and for whatever reason get a 'compiler cannot create executables' error when trying to ./configure packages, just close the terminal and re-open it, to reset all vars. It is recommended to use the makefile called 'makefile.osx' for compiling. If for whatever reason you try to use an unmodified Linux makefile to compile then you might run into the following problems: -ncurses starts hiding some internal properties at v5.7+ which causes a dereference error when trying to compile main-gcu.c. This seems to be a Mac OS X specific problem since only the ncurses shipping with Snow Leopard has NCURSES_OPAQUE set to 1 while the Linux version has not. To fix it, add -DNCURSES_OPAQUE=0 to CFLAGS compiler options in the makefile. -For preprocessing LUA files the 'cpp' variant does not work, the 'gcc' variant must be used instead: Edit the makefile, locate 'cpp' and comment out the two cpp-related lines and uncomment the two gcc-related lines, if it's not already like that by default. -If the LIBS linker flags in the makefile say '-lcrypt' that will cause an error about library not being found. Change it to '-lgcrypt' to fix it. -If the LDFLAGS are empty the linker will throw a not-found error 22. Fix this by moving (or copying) the -L... library search-folder parameters from LIBS to LDFLAGS so it contains all lib paths. Configure TomeNET on Mac OS X: ------------------------------ See 'Configure TomeNET on Linux' above, it's basically the same. Mac OS X also uses the ".tomenetrc" configuration file which should be in your home folder, same as Linux. (2.1a) Installing sound and music packs --------------------------------------- Starting with version 4.4.5, TomeNET features a new SDL-based audio system, which provides sound effects and background music. To make use of it, all you have to do is download a sound and/or music pack and then install it. For downloading, go to www.tomenet.net and then click on 'Downloads'. Read on for instructions how to install those once you downloaded them. There are two ways, automatically (client does it for you) and manually (you unzip them to the correct location yourself): a) Automatic audio pack installation ------------------------------------ (See paragraph above for where to download audio packs.) Starting with client version 4.4.9, there is an automatic installer for sound and music pack: -WINDOWS/OSX: Make sure you have 7zip installed. It's a free, powerful multi-platform archiving tool (fit to replace WinRAR, WinZip etc). Get it from www.7-zip.org. LINUX: Make sure you have 7zip installed. The package name is p7zip. Note that some Linux distributions (Ubuntu) have another package called p7zip-full and the package p7zip is lacking certain parts. In that case install p7zip-full. -Download the files 'TomeNET-soundpack.7z' and/or 'TomeNET-musicpack.7z' and put them into your TomeNET folder. The automatic installation only recognizes these two file names. If you download audio packs that are named differently, simply rename them before attempting to auto-install them. -Launch the game, press '=' to enter the configuration menu, and press 'I' to invoke the auto-installer. -After it's done it should tell you to restart your client. (You might also get disconnected automatically, if the auto-installation takes a while. That is fine.) Just restart the game and press CTRL+U to look at the audio mixer. It should tell you that sound and/or music pack have been installed. In case you want to install the packs manually instead of using auto-install, read on. b) Manual audio pack installation --------------------------------- (See first paragraph of (2.1a) above for where to download audio packs.) Instead of automatic installation explained above you can also just manually unpack audio packs to your TomeNET/lib/xtra/ folder. Make sure the game isn't running while you do. Note: Some people have reported that the program 'WinRAR' seems to cause problems in some cases, giving them "file corrupted" errors. A powerful free and open source program that is guaranteed to work is '7zip' (a sourceforge project at the time of writing) downloadable at: http://www.7-zip.org/ You can get the official sound pack on http://www.tomenet.net/ in the download section, and also look for player-made sound or music packs in the forum! On Microsoft Windows, the easiest way to do this after you downloaded a sound or music zip file is to: ------------------------ 1. install 7zip, a free zip/unzip tool, if you haven't installed one already. 2. open a Windows Explorer window and navigate to your TomeNET folder. Then double-click the 'lib' folder to enter it. You should now now see a folder named 'xtra' being shown. 3. quit TomeNET if it's still running, just to be on the safe side (sometimes MS Windows may prevent files from getting overwritten if they are still in use by a running program). 4. double-click your downloaded sound or music pack zip file to open it in 7zip or whatever you use, and its contents should be displayed: Either a folder named 'sound' or a folder named 'music', depending on what kind of pack you just downloaded. Use the mouse to drag that 'sound' or 'music' folder over to the Windows Explorer window you prepared, right onto the 'xtra' folder, and let go. 7zip will now extract the sound or music folder into the xtra folder (while preserving the path structure). If you were extracting a sound pack or if you already installed a music pack previously then you will be prompted to overwrite files - choose "yes". Wait for the extraction process to finish. 5. Start or restart TomeNET and press CTRL+U in the game to view the audio mixer screen. If everything went smoothly it should say that a sound or a music pack or both have been found. If you don't have sound, make sure that your TomeNET.ini file (it's in your TomeNET folder, double-click it to view, can be opened with any normal text editor) says 'Sound=1' which it should by default if you haven't modified it earlier. Alternative instructions (Linux/Mac OS X/in general): ----------------------------------------------------- After you downloaded a sound pack or a music pack, extract it to your lib/xtra/ folder, preserving the archive pathname structure. You should end up with a folder lib/xtra/sound/ and lib/xtra/music/ respectively, which contain config files and further subfolders for either sound effects or background music. Now start or restart the game, and you should have sound. If you don't have sound, press CTRL+U for audio mixer: It should say that sound and music pack have been detected if everything went alright, otherwise you see a red error message. Also verify that your config file ("TomeNET.ini" on MS Windows, ".tomenetrc" in your home folder on Linux or Mac OS X) has 'Sound' set to '1'. (2.1b) Audio controls and config options ---------------------------------------- You can control mixer settings with CTRL+U key (or use CTRL+C to toggle music and CTRL+N to toggle the master mixer on/off). Note: Mixer settings are saved automatically, provided you use CTRL+X to quit. (Compare troubleshooting section (8.6), problem 21.) Also be sure to press '=' key to have a look at the audio options. If you want to temporarily disable all loading/initializing of audio then instead of editing the config file's 'Sound' entry you can just use the '-q' command-line option. If you want to use your own sound and music, and create audio packs for other players, read (2.1b) below. (2.1c) Manually editing sound and music configuration ----------------------------------------------------- You can easily replace or disable certain sound effects or music, or even create your own sound and music packs. All audio files are in the sub-folders 'sound' and 'music' in the folder TomeNET/lib/xtra/. You can just delete or replace the sound files and it'll apply as soon as you start/restart the game. For more specific editing, open the files 'sound.cfg' (in the sound folder) or 'music.cfg' (in the music folder, if a music pack has been installed) in any text editor that supports unix line breaks (Notepad++ for example) and start fine-tuning your audio. Both cfg files actually begin with some instructions on what file types are supported and about the structure of the files aka how to modify/add entries correctly. For example if you want to disable a certain sound effect, open sound.cfg in your text editor, locate the sound effect, and just put a '#' symbol at the beginning of the line - that will effectively disable the whole line. Note: Do not modify the file audio.lua, it has nothing to do with editing your sound or music. Don't worry though if you accidentally modified it, it'll be automatically restored next time you log on to the server. (2.1d) "Promoting" TomeNET on Steam ;) -------------------------------------- In Steam's "Games" menu choose "Add a non-Steam game to my library". Browse for the TomeNET.exe file and check it. Click on "Add selected programs". Now you can start TomeNET from your Steam library of games like any other game, and if you do so then your Steam status will show that you are playing TomeNET! (2.2) Starting TomeNET and getting to play on an internet server ---------------------------------------------------------------- To start the TomeNET client, run 'TomeNET.exe' or 'TomeNET-main.bat'. (If you run the '.bat' file, the meta-server steps will be skipped and you will be directly connected to the official main server instead.) Now TomeNET tries to connect to a meta-server which contains a list of all available TomeNET internet servers. After the meta-server has been queried, the list of available servers will appear in the main window. Choose a server that is near to your location to avoid high latency. (This step is reported to sometimes cause problems on Windows OS. If you don't see that list, or if other problems occur, see (8.6) for possible solutions.) Now you will be prompted to enter your account name and password. You can choose these freely, the server will save that information and use it to remember which characters belonged to you the next time you log on. IMPORTANT: If you get kicked out with an error message after entering account and password, it's likely because that account name is already in use by someone else so your password was recognized as 'incorrect' since it was most likely different from that user's password. Just try a different account name. A player usually has exactly one account that can hold up to 8 characters. In most cases newly created accounts have to be "validated" by a server administrator to enable you to use the whole functionality of TomeNET. For example it is common not to allow unvalidated players to drop items or money to the ground. This is done to prevent certain cases of abuse. If you accidentally chose an account name or character name which was already taken by another player, you will be disconnected with an error message. In that case, try again with different names. Now that you have logged in you can create a new player character which will represent you in the virtual world of Middle Earth! To do so, press 'N' key in your character overview screen (showing you empty character slots, since you haven't created any characters yet) and then enter a name for your character. You may use the same name as your account name, if you like. Players logged on to the game are identified by 3 names: -Nickname (character's name) -Realname (account name) -Hostname (The hostname of the connecting computer) The hostname is not really important. However, make sure that all of these 3 names may only consist of letters, numbers, spaces, and all other characters with an ASCII code between 32 (SPACE) and 122 ('z'). The realname and hostname must not be empty. The nickname (character name) needs to start with a letter ('A'..'Z' or 'a'..'z'). Newly created accounts are marked as 'not yet validated' and have certain limitations, which are: Cannot drop items or chat privately with other players, or advance beyond a certain level. You will need an admin to 'validate' your account. Usually, all you have to do is to keep playing/stay online for a bit until an admin logs in, notices that you are new, and validates your account. If that doesn't seem to happen, ask an admin directly, when you see one chatting (Admin's names are displayed in dark blue in the chat). If the server's intro screen mentions to send an email to an admin, try that and specify your account name in it. You may continue reading at (3.1), which explains details of the character creation progress. (2.3) Client options -------------------- By pressing the '=' key in game, you can access the options menu where you can tweak your client in some ways. Some of these options that aren't self-explaining or that are especially important are listed in detail here: (1 & 2) User Interface Options Rogue-like commands (rogue_like_commands) Toggles between normal key set and traditional rogue-like key set. Suppress server messages as far as possible (taciturn_messages) Will prevent some of the not-so-important server messages to be shown, for example 'You have ' when picking up an item. Don't display 'flavours' in item names (short_item_names) A 'Black Potion of Speed' will just be shown as a 'Potion of Speed'. Use additional predefined auto-inscriptions (auto_inscribe) Will provide a predefined (on server-side) set of item-inscriptions that will be applied automatically to some selected items, which are word-of-Recall items, various scrolls and a few potions. (These inscriptions are applied independantly of the custom auto inscription feature you can access with '&' key.) The server-side auto-inscriptions are currently: Scrolls of Phase Door: @r1 Scrolls of Teleportation: @r2 Scrolls of Word-of-Recall: @r3@R Rods of Recall: @z3@R Scrolls of Identify: @r5!X Scrolls of Trap Detection: @r8 Scrolls of Magic Mapping: @r9 Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger: @r0 Potions of Healing: @q1 Potions of Speed: @q2 Potions of Resistance: @q3 Potions of Restore-L-Lev: @q4 Note: Already inscribed items are not touched. Hide unusable skills (hide_unusable_skills) Skills that your character cannot use will not be displayed in the skill menu invoked by 'G' key. Also, (2) has all of the audio options. (See (2.1a) for more information.) (3) Audio Options A bunch of stuff here, mostly you might want to look at attack-sound effect frequency. Some people don't like to have those be played on each single attack, so you can tweak them here. (4 & 5) Game-Play Options Set 'AFK mode' automatically (auto_afk) Rogues might want to turn this off in order to sit out their blacklist timer in town. Double height of the map shown in the main window (big_map) Definitely enable this to see if you prefer it: It doubles the size of the game-play area displayed in the main window. Automatically open doors (easy_open) Your character attempts to open a door just by you moving into it. Scroll the screen more frequently (wide_scroll_margin) Should always be enabled! Will reduce probability for off-screen kills, since the screen scrolls much earlier when you come close to a border! Prevent floating for a short while after death (safe_float) For a few turns after your character dies you cannot float up or down with the '<' or '>' key. This prevents accidentally leaving the floor in case you were just trying to take a staircase right the moment you died, which would result in losing your items since the dungeon level would probably regenerate if you left it. Abort macro execution if an action fails (safe_macros) If any sub-action in a macro you execute fails then the whole macro/key queue will be discarded and cleared. This is useful if you for example have a spellcasting macro that would just do something weird in case you lost the according spell book and then tried to cast it anyway, accidentally. This only affects magic spells and monster traps. Clear @-inscriptions on taking item ownership (clear_inscr) When you pick up items that belonged to another player, any '@...' inscriptions will be rendered effectless by replacing the @ by a space. This is a security feature that is intended to prevent the inscriptions from interfering with the inscriptions on your own items. For example, your potions of healing might be inscribed @q1. If you now pick up a potion of heroism that someone else also inscribed @q1, it will be used the next time you press your 'q1' macro, because heroism potions are sorted in in the inventory before healing potions, which might cost your life if unlucky. Alternatively if you have this option turned off, you can just use the '}' key to uninscribe the items you get from someone else. Thin down screen flush signals to avoid freezing (thin_down_flush) Enabled by default, this discards all 9 of every 10 flush signals, so it reduces the animation delays to 10%. See below for an explanation of flush signals. Disable delays from flush signals (disable_flush) Completely disables the delay flush signals cause. Flush signals are signals sent by the server to make the client wait for 1 ms, which is used mainly to draw animations when casting spells or shooting, like the arrow flying or the balls of explosions. If you have a slow network or are lagging a lot, you may try to disable this. Certain animations might visually suffer from doing so. (8) Check Server Options Displays a list of the server rules and configuration. (A) Account options Here you can see if your account is valid. Invalid accounts are also indicated by a yellow 'I' in the players list you get with '@' key. Also, you can change your password here! (W) Window flags Here you can configure each of the program windows in detail. It is recommended that you have one dedicated window for 'Display chat', so you don't miss important messages during combat. (2.4) Installing voice chat --------------------------- While chatting in TomeNET is usually fine to communicate with other players and party members in particular, using a real voice chat via headset (headphones + microphone) can be much more effective, easier and more fun. To support voice chat, there is actually an official TomeNET 'Mumble' server running, Mumble being the name of the voice chat software. (The server part is actually called Murmur, Mumble is the name of the client part and the project name in general.) Mumble provides excellent voice quality at low bandwith usage, and is a free open source program, hence it is free of charge (both server and client). It also allows sending text messages in case you don't have a microphone, those can be automatically converted to speech, which is then read to the receipient. (This feature can be turned off in the menu 'Configure' -> 'Text-To-Speech'.) And same as Ventrilo or Teamspeak, Mumble allows for custom channel structures. Mumble is available for all major platforms, ie Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Instructions to join the TomeNET Mumble server for voice chatting: -Plug in a headset. -Download the Mumble client from http://mumble.sourceforge.net/ and install it. NOTE: If you are looking for the Linux version, it should be in your package repository. No need to visit the sourceforge project website in this case. -Go through the audio configuration (Audio Wizard) and possibly set up a key to push when you want your voice to be transmitted (or just select voice- activation, which will automatically transmit your voice when you speak). -Go to menu 'Server' -> 'Connect' -> 'Add New..' and enter this server information to add the official TomeNET Mumble server: Label: Choose any name you like, eg "TomeNET Voice Chat". Adress: europe.tomenet.net Port: 23348 Username: Choose any name you like, it's your nickname on the Mumble server. Click 'Ok', select the newly added server in the list and click 'Connect'. That's it. To change to a certain chat channel, simply double-click it. You can only hear people in the same chat channel (or in a parent channel). Troubleshooting Mumble: ----------------------- PROBLEM: You could connect fine, but after reinstalling Mumble you cannot connect anymore. SOLUTION: Go to "Settings" -> "Certificate Wizard", create a new certificate. PROBLEM: You get a message "the remote host closed the connection". SOLUTION: Can be caused by some firewalls interacting with mumble's quality of service optimizations. You can disable QOS in mumble: Windows/Linux: -click "Configure" -> "Settings". -look down to the bottom left corner and activate "Advanced". -click on "Network" on the left side panel. -deactivate/uncheck "Use Quality of Service". OS X: -in the top menu bar click "Mumble" -> "Preferences". -look up to the top right corner and activate "Advanced". -click on "Network" tab. -deactivate/uncheck "Use Quality of Service". (3) Creating a character & starting to play =========================================== (3.1) Creating a new character; character modes ----------------------------------------------- To create a new character, you press either 'N' or 'E' key in your account overview screen. 'N' is the normal way for creating a new character. 'E' is for creating a so-called 'exclusive' (or 'dedicated') character: There are two character slots in your account that can be used for creating a character dedicated to each of these special ways of playing: a) Ironman Deep Dive Challenge (IDDC, see (4.13) for details) b) Player versus Player (see 'PvP' further below in this section) If you create such an exclusive character, you will be unable to use it for anything else. The point of having exclusive character slots is to ensure that even if your account is full of characters, you still have one slot available to participate in IDDC and in PvP gameplay. Note: A dedicated IDDC character will be killed and erased if it fails to enter the IDDC dungeon (that is if it acquires any experience outside of it) or if it recalls out of it at one of the static towns. The kill message will be: "XXXX was killed by indetermination". However, since this is your first character, just press 'N' to start the creation progress, enter a character name, and continue reading. First you may choose your gender. This will not have actual influence on your strengths or weaknesses. Next you have to choose your class. Spellcasters like Istari or Shamans are physically weaker and especially hard to play for beginners. If you choose a spellcaster, be aware that his casting ability depends on either his INTelligence or his WISdom, depending on the actual class. For more information about classes and their pros and cons see (6.5). Spellcasting involves using 'macros' (see (3.6)) and might be a bit difficult for beginners. Classes definitely NOT recommended for beginners are: Istar (mage), Priest, Shaman, Adventurer. Then you have to choose your race. Humans are good allrounders, while the other races are more or less specialized. For example half-trolls are usually quite dumb but very strong, and hobbits are quite nimble and intelligent but not very strong. For more information about races see (6.4). A half-troll warrior might be the best choice for a beginner to try since he is tough and has less chance of dying instantly in case you make a more serious mistake. Also you don't have to worry about the spell-casting system for now. Note that the availability of various races will depend on the class you chose, some class-race combinations are not possible. Now you will see your six basic attributes STRength, INTelligence, WISdom, DEXterity, CONstitution, CHaRisma. IMPORTANT NOTE: For fighters (rogues also belong to these, ie all characters that rely on close combat) that use weapons, it is important that you have enough STRength and DEXterity to execute at least two attacks per round, called bpr (blows per round, see (6.5a)). Sometimes this requires you to get rid of your initial weapon and buy a very light weapon, for example one of these: -dagger or main gauche (sword class), -whip (blunt class), -hatchet (axe class) or -spear (polearm class). (For more information about the different weapon classes see (5.1a).) Sometimes it is even possible to start out with 3 bpr (warriors mostly). Depending on the server configuration, starting at TomeNET version 4.2.0, there are 2 alternative stages of character creation that may follow now. 1) The old way - random stats: (deprecated) You see the short names for the 6 stats written from the left to the right on the very bottom of the screen, and you're asked to choose a stat order. You have to determine how important each of the 6 stats is to you by defining an order. The first attribute you choose will be raised most. However, know that all your stats are randomly modified slightly, each character that you create even with same race and class will be a bit different. Sometimes you are lucky and get really high attributes at the beginning. And sometimes you get more gold to start with. If you don't like the resulting stats after you finished character creation, suicide and start over. 2) The new way since 4.2.0 - chosen stats: You see your 6 stats written below each other, followed by a base number (10). Right above them you see your free points (30) that you may distribute on the stats. Use the numpad (numlock turned on) to navigate and increase or decrease your stats until you used up all free points. Hit ESC when you're happy with your choice. In general, if you play a character that relies on close combat, try to at least match the STR and DEX values shown in the table in the column titled 'Min. recommended, if possible'. If you can do that then you should start with at least 2 bpr with a light weapon, or even with your starting weapon. If your starting weapon already gives 2 bpr you could still examine even lighter weapons in stores to find one that gives you one more bpr i.e. 3 bpr and just discard your starting weapon. Now you can choose a difficulty level you wish to play on. Options are n) Normal g) no Ghost H) Hellish e) Everlasting It is recommended that you choose either n) to play a normal character or g) to play a normal character without a ghost. You can also choose e), that will give your character an infinite amount of resurrections, while 'normal' characters often have a limited amount of lives (depending on the server configuration). Mode: 'Normal' -------------- A normal character will turn into a ghost if he dies. The ghost can be revived by either visiting a temple or another living player using a magic scroll of life when standing adjacent to the ghost. The ghost will return to the world of living under the cost of a lot of experience but at least the player can resume playing. If the ghost dies, the character will finally be erased permanently, watch out! Depending on the server configuration the number of times a ghost is limited, standard is 3 lifes. Mode: 'Everlasting' ------------------- Create an everlasting character for an infinite amount of resurrections. Everlasting characters can become king/queen, but cannot enter the high-score. Other character types cannot use items that belong to everlasting characters. Exception: Word-of-recall scrolls can be exchanged between an everlasting and a non-everlasting player! Non-everlasting and everlasting characters can't be in the same party. If an everlasting King/Queen dies, he won't be destroyed but lose the King/Queen status. To regain it, he needs to find another player who hasn't killed Sauron and Morgoth yet and team up with him, because those two won't (re)spawn for the everlasting player. Since it was often asked: Non-everlasting and everlasting players can revive each other without problems. Everlasting characters can additionally use the 'Instant Resurrection' feature offered by town temples, see (4.5a). Mode: 'Unworldly' (no-ghost) ---------------------------- Unworldly characters are like normal characters, but they have only one life. So if they die they cannot revive but are completely erased (no ghost will be created.) Note: This is the traditional rogue-like gaming mode. Mode: 'Hellish' (extra hard no-ghost) ------------------------------------- These are unworldly characters with extra penalties: -1 point malus on each of the 6 character attributes -healing is reduced by 25% -AC is reduced by 50% -ESP only works within radius of 20 squares -any speed changes above or below +0 are reduced by 50% -max number of melee attacks per round is reduced by 1. Mode: 'PvP' ----------- This is a special restricted mode that has nothing to do with normal gameplay. If you're new to the game, it's absolutely not recommended to choose this. More information about 'PvP' mode is given in (6.13). Unworldly characters will receive 25% bonus on their high score. Hellish characters receive 50% bonus on their high score. Last you can choose a body modification. It's strongly recommended for beginners to choose 'normal body' and NOT 'fruit bat'. ;) Body: 'Fruit bat' (Batty) ------------------------- A fruit bat is like a normal character, just not in humanoid shape but in bat form! Fruit bats cannot equip weapons, body armour, boots or gloves. These restrictions won't change even if they choose a class which can make use if mimicry and thereby mimic a humanoid form (druid fruit bats would in fact be the most ineffective choice). However, fruit bats are twice as fast as normal characters at the beginning (they get a flat +10 speed bonus added) and their melee attacks are somewhat vampiric, making them leech life on each hit, replenishing their hit points. Fruit bats are said to make good explorers. If you're new to the game, it's absolutely not recommended to try and play fruit bat. Note that race and class will have influence on how much experience you will need to gain a new character level. For example, High-Elves already know a lot, so experience is hard to gain for them. In fact they will need 130% more experience than a human. Creation of your character is now finished and you are asked to press a key to start the actual game. Do so and take a minute to read the text that will appear. It is called news or motd (message of the day) and often contains important server-specific information or announcements to the players. (3.2) The display (user-interface) ---------------------------------- After you logged in with a character you will now see yourself (you are the '@' symbol, except if you chose 'fruit bat' body, then you'll be a 'b') in the town of Bree in the main window. You can move around in all 8 directions by using the number pad keys! You can run by pressing the SHIFT key together with a direction key. IMPORTANT: To run (SHIFT+direction) make sure that the Numlock key above your number key pad on the right side of your keyboard is turned off. A green lamp will usually indicate whether it is on or off. Running will not work while awake monsters are in your line of sight, except for the starting town of Bree, where running is always possible. You can also use the arrow keys to move, but the numpad is better since it allows you to move diagonally too, which is very important. You can wear/wield items with 'w' (weapons, armour, light source..) You can pickup items with 'g'. Drop items with 'd'. Destroy items with 'k'. You can see a list of players who are currently online with '@' key. Other players eligible to form a party with you have their level displayed in light blue colour in this list. Press SHIFT+P to invoke the party menu. You can chat with other players (say hello ^^) with ':' key. The top right window will give an overview of your character attributes and miscellanous abilities. The bottom right window will show the contents of your backpack, also called inventory. All characters except ghosts have a backpack. The bottom left window will show combat- chat- and server-messages. If most of the windows stay totally empty, see (8.6) for possible solutions. To the left border in the main window you see a short overview of your most important stats: -starting with your race -your class -your current title (the title will change as you gain experience levels by fighting monsters), -followed by your character level -your amount of experience -and your cash ('Au' stands for Aurum, latin for gold) -the 'encumberment' bar (blank at the beginning) -a mini lag-o-meter bar displaying your 'ping' by coloured plusses, 1 plus symbol means your latency is below 50ms, each further plus symbol means 50ms more, so if you see +++ your latency is between 100 and 149 ms. -your 6 character attributes: STRength, INTelligence, WISdom, DEXterity, CONstitution, CHaRisma, -your current sanity (sound means you are completely sane, this might drop, for example if a mindcrafter blasts your mind with psionic energy, leaving you mad) -then comes your Armor Class (AC) which describes how well you are protected by all the armor you're currently wearing. -The next two values are most important and will change all the time while fighting monsters. They are your Hit Points (HP) and Mana Points (MP), current/maximum values. Mana points are very important for wizards, since they determine which spells and how many of them you can cast. The current hit points (Cur HP) tell you if you are injured. If they drop below zero you die! If they are the same as your Max HP then you are fully rested and physically healed. -Next entry is your stamina (ST), if you chose a class that makes use of it. Stamina may allow you to employ special techniques accessed with 'm'. -Below stamina is a 'flag bar' which displays certain combat-related modi of your character, if available to your class: -Combat stance (Bl = balanced, Df = defensive, Of = offensive, see (6.2)) -Dual-wield mode (DH = dual-hand aka default, MH = main hand only, see (6.2)) -Fire-till-kill toggle (FK = enabled, see (5.2a)) -Project spells toggle (Pj = enabled, see (6.8)) Below that, there are further status indicators such as -your current world map location (sector 32,32 aka the starter town of 'Bree' when you log in for the first time) and the 'AFK' status indicator -as well as your food indicator ('full' by default). Note that if you don't eat when you become hungry you might get paralyzed sporadically and eventually even die of starvation! By the way: If you enter the game and find that you don't like your character and want to recreate it from scratch, you can suicide by pressing 'Q' (capital Q), followed by confirming the question if you really want to suicide with 'y' and then finally verify your suicide with '@' key. Note that a suicided character is completely and permanently gone (as is a no-ghost/hellish character on mundane death). Also see (0.2) for some details about suiciding. (3.2a) The encumberment bar --------------------------- Between AU and the mini lag-o-meter is a line indicating if you are encumbered in any way. This line is blank by default, but may start to show little coloured icons if your character becomes overburdened in some way. If you are new to the game, you can skip the rest of this chapter for now, as long as your encumberment bar doesn't show any icons in it, and continue reading at (3.3) down below. This line consists of the following icons that may show up: (Order: From left to right) Brown ( Your armour is too heavy (tohit/sneakiness penalty). Red / Your weapon is way too heavy for you. You will receive extreme penalties on melee combat. Orange \ Your weapon isn't fit for your character (e.g. priest using non-edged non-blessed weapons like swords). You'll receive a big penalty on hit chance and damage. Yellow / You are using a 1,5-h weapon together with a shield. This is possible, but you will receive a penalty on hit chance and damage. Green | You are using a 1h weapon two-handed and get a small bonus from that (works only for some of the weapons). Red [ Your shield is way too heavy for you. You will receive extreme penalties on block chance. Red } Your ranged weapon is way too heavy for you. You will receive extreme penalties on ranged combat. Yellow } You are using a shield on your arm, reducing your accuracy with your ranged weapon. Light-red 'F' You are martial arts user and your backpack is too heavy, so that you don't receive Free Action from MA! See (5.4) for more detailed information. Yellow ( You are martial arts user and your armour is too heavy. You might receive various penalties (see (5.4)). NOTE: Up to client version 4.4.2 this can stand for both, the meaning described above and the meaning of 'Blue (' described below. Starting with 4.4.2a, these two were separated into yellow and blue '(' icon. Blue ( You're a rogue or using primarily rogueish skills such as dodging or dual-wield which depend on especially flexible armour (meaning: Your total armour weight must not be too high), but your armour is exceeding that limit! You will lose some of the benefits, see (5.5)! Violet ( Your armour is so heavy that it reduces your MP. This only affects classes that have a mana pool. Violet ] a) Your gloves are not made for spellcasting or too heavy, reducing your MP. b) Your headgear is too heavy, impacting your ability to cast mindcrafter school spells, reducing your MP. Only affects characters who have trained in one or more of the mindcrafter schools. Also see (5.4) and especially (5.5) for more information about encumberment, and for specific details about penalties that are applied. (3.3) Behaviour, chat messages and chat modes --------------------------------------------- You can chat with other players by pressing the colon key ':' once you have joined a game with your character. In general, don't hesitate to ask questions. Players are usually willing to help you with the beginnings. Keep in mind that players often don't have time to look at the chat while they are fighting monsters, that means if you write to someone while he is in the dungeon, he often likely won't notice your message. Politely try again after some time. You can scroll back the messages using CTRL+P, or look at chat-only messages using CTRL+O. Please do not use foul language in chat. If you do, depending on the server settings you might end up in jail. Also, foul language is filtered by default. If you want to turn that off, press = 2 and toggle the client option "censor_swearing". (Requires client version newer than 4.4.8a, or the 'test client' download.) You can also enter slash commands in the chat line. For details about slash commands see (0.2). To type a private message to someone, enter : Example: Hi! <- goes to everyone C. Blue:Hi! <- goes privately to the character named 'C. Blue' In chat messages you can type a double colon '::' to force output of a normal colon ':' instead of having it interpreted as separator for a private chat message. Most smileys are recognized automatically and don't require you to enter a double colon. You can use colours in messages. To change the message colour, put a { followed by a colour code somewhere into your message line. Example: {pHi! <- results in a 'poison-coloured' Hi! I see some {vh {Bto the east <- results in "I see some h in the east" where the 'h' is violet. The rest of the message is light blue (standard colour). If you cannot see coloured messages in your secondary Tomenet windows other than the big main window, check your client option settings by typing =1 and looking for 'Flicker messages in recall' (recall_flicker). Set it to 'yes'. If you want to type the character '{' in a chat message, rather than using it for a colour code, type it twice '{{'. It will become '{'. Here is a list of colour codes (try not to annoy your fellow players :)) d black b blue B light blue D dark grey g green G light green s slate (grey) r red R light red (pink) W white u umber U light umber w bright white y yellow o orange v violet a acidic c cold e electric f fire p poison L light flicker h half-multi m multi A dark flicker S sound C confusion H shards I invulnerability M disruption shield Character names in chat lines have different colours to indicate their status: White Normal player. Light blue Everlasting player. Dark grey No-ghost / hellish player. Violet Player character is king / queen. Dark blue Player is admin. Red Player is a ghost (ie dead). Yellow Player is a PvP-mode character. Chat modes: ----------- After pressing ':' key to enter chat mode, you may press TAB key to switch between the three chat modes: -normal -party chat: All messages are sent exclusively to your own party. -level chat: All messages are sent to everyone on your dungeon level. -guild chat: All messages are sent to all your fellow guild members (if any). Note: While TAB cycles forward, you can also press CTRL+U to cycle backwards, CTRL+A to switch to 'normal' mode, CTRL+T to switch to 'party' (team) mode, CTRL+G for 'guild' mode and CTRL+L for 'level' (floor) mode. Also you can use the following prefixes in the beginning of a chat line, to get similar behaviour as in one of the chat modes just for one line: !: Sends the following text to your current party. $: Sends the following text to your current guild. #: Sends the following text to everyone on your dungeon level. Note: While in town this will instead become a /say. %: Sends the following text to yourself (has some use in macros). +: Sends the following text to the last person who whispered us a private message, so it's sort of a 'reply' function. Note that you can use CTRL+p and CTRL+n while in chat mode (':' key), to repeat a message or command you previously typed. (3.4) Start-up equipment ------------------------ Every new player has some items right from the beginning, stored in the inventory (bottom right window). As a warrior you will have a chain mail and a weapon, for example a sword. Start-up equipment always has level 0 and cannot be used by other players! You should now equip your start-up items, since they won't help you if they stay inside the backpack. Press the key 'w', you will be asked which item you would like to wear or wield, choose the letter in front of the item inside your inventory, for example e) if the sword is the fifth item in your backpack. Equip both, sword and armor this way, or whatever items you start out with - some characters start with a cap and a cloak, others with an axe.. You can also equip a lightsource like a torch or lantern this way. If it is night in town that will help you to see anything. Inside a dungeon you should always make sure that you have a lightsource equippped. Startup items that you don't want to use you may simply destroy with 'k'. In town, you can see rectangular blocks that rensemble buildings. These are the town stores. They each have an entrance, rensembled by a number '1' to '7' as well as '9' and '+' symbols. These are the different shops that you can enter to sell or buy items. It is recommended that instead of using your torches, buy a brass lantern from store '1' (General Store), because a lantern provides more light, increasing your radius of sight in the darkness. Also buy a flask of oil for your lantern to refill it if it runs out of oil (press SHIFT + f). Press '?' to see an in-game introduction and overview of the keys and commands that you may use. For example 'e' will show your currently equipped items. You can chat with other players using the ':' key. This way you can also enter certain commands like /fill to fill an empty bottle with water of a fountain. At the beginning, all players receive a parchment with their start-up equipment. It's the "Gazette". Press 'r' to read it. It may contain some notes about the server or hints for newbies. (3.4a) Item basics ------------------ When you've logged in and look at your inventory (your backpack, basically), ie the items your character starts with, you will see various item names that give you some sort of idea what the item is good for, along with some cryptic numbers and brackets. The meaning of these will be explained here: a Ration of Food {0,+} Pretty straightforward, this is an item that you can consume if you get hungry. To do so, use SHIFT+e to 'eat' this item. The {..} part means the following: The number in it is the level required to use this item. 0 means that you started out with this item, ie it was given to your character on birth. The '+' symbol means that you OWN the item. If it was someone else's ration then you would see his name written there instead of the '+', for example: a Ration of Food {0,Gandalf}. If the owner died and the item hasn't been picked up yet by someone else who meets the level requirements, it will display a '-' instead of a name, meaning it has been owned, but the owner died. Example: a Ration of Food {0,-}. If you own an item or found an item, then the level requirements won't matter. Even if they are much higher than your level, you can still use it. The level requirements are only important for TRADING an item: If the character who receives the item is too low to match the level requirement, he won't become the owner of the item and therefore will be unable to use the item until he reaches the level. He can still carry the item in his inventory though, but it will be displayed in dark grey to him, indicating that it isn't usable yet. Note that you usually can neither trade nor sell items that are level 0. Food is an exception to this rule, since it can be traded (but not sold). a Chain Mail {0,+} (-2) [14,+0] The {..} part is already known, it's the same as for the ration described above. What's new is the [..] part, which all types of armour have: The (-2) part is a to-hit malus. This armour reduces your to-hit value by 2, because of its bulkiness. Lighter armour has -1 or no to-hit malus, heavier armour may have even more than -2. Rectangular brackets [..] describe 'Armour Class' or short AC. AC is a number that tells you how well the item helps to protect you when a monster (or a player whom you duel) hits you. The first number stands for the item's 'base AC'. All 'Chain Mails' have the same base AC of 14. All 'Metal Caps' have a base AC of 3, and so on. The second number, here a +0, can vary: It is this item's magical enchantment. It is simply added to the base AC to determine the total AC this item provides. For example a Chain Mail [14,+3] is magically enchanted 3 times, and therefore will provide you with 17 AC instead of just 14, ie 14+3. Armour class helps for both: Reducing the chance to get hit, and reducing the actual damage you suffer in case you are hit. Likewise, if you fight an acidic monster for example, the acid might damage your Chain Mail, and turn it into for example a Chain Mail [14,-2]. This Chain Mail only provides you with 12 AC. You can 'repair' it if you want to, by buying 'Scrolls of enchant armour' from store 5 in town. These will try to enchant a piece of armour, so if you are lucky you can just use two of them on your armour and end up with a Chain Mail [14,+0] again. Note that enchanting has a chance to fail, depending on how high an item has been enchanted already. a Long Sword {0,+} (2d6) (+0,+0) Again the {..} part is already know. What's new for all types of weapons is the (2d6) and the (+0,+0) part: Like in Dungeons & Dragons, on which rules some aspects of the game are loosely based, when your character attacks a monster (or another player), dice are cast to determine the amount of damage your blow deals. The (2d6) mean that when you hit someone with this weapon, two dice of six sides each are cast, so you may deal anything from 2 to 12 damage randomly. (The real damage the target suffers can possibly be further reduced by the target's armour class or protective magic.) Similar to armour, weapons can be enchanted too. This is the second pair of brackets: (+0,+0). The first +0 means that this weapon has no magical enchantment to its hit chance, ie how likely it is to hit a target. The second +0 means that this weapon has no magical enchantment to the damage it deals. Example: a Long Sword (2d6) (+5,+6) would add 5 to your hit chance, which isn't very much, but still better than nothing. Probably worth more is the fact that it also adds 6 to your damage dealt! This means on each attack it will deal 2d6 +6 damage, which would be anything from 2+6 to 12+6, ie 8..18. As you can see, this is a considerable improvement over 2..12 of an unenchanted Long Sword. Note that training weapon-related skills will also add to your overall +damage bonus. So your character might have +34 to-damage using a mere Long Sword (2d6) (+9,+15), with the remaining +19 damage coming from your 'Sword-Mastery' skill that you trained. Also note that often it can be better to wield lighter weapons instead of heavier weapons, if you can attack more often during each round with them. Example: A light dagger might allow you to attack 3 times, while a heavy two-handed sword will only allow you one swing each turn. Here you will have to do some math with the weapon dice, your total +damage from weapon and skill, and the number of blows/round you get with each weapon, to find out which setup is best for your character at a given time. a Long Bow {0,+} (x3) (+0,+0) Ranged weapons all have a 'multiplier' given in the first pair of round brackets, and the (+hit,+dam) enchantments already known from normal melee weapons. The multiplier, here x3, means two things: a) how far you can shoot b) by how much the damage dealt by your arrow (or shot or bolt, depending on the weapon type) will be multiplied. This means that enchanting a ranged weapon's damage is especially effective because the +damage bonus will also be multiplied by the weapons's factor! Example: a Long Bow (x3) (+2,+4) will actually add not +4 but 3x+4 = +12 damage to each shot! This is why archers should try to visit store 5 as soon as possible to buy some 'Scrolls of enchant weapon to-dam' from it, to enchant their bows or other ranged weapons. a Wooden Torch {0,+} (with 2500 turns of light) Not much new here, except that this item has a 'timeout' given in turns. After having this item equipped for 2500 turns (about half of that in seconds, very roughly), the torch will be depleted and not produce any more light, so you can drop/destroy/sell it, or press SHIFT+f to add a fresh torch from your inventory to your almost depleted one, thereby refueling it (this makes sense if you are using a torch that provides special magic powers). If you buy a shovel or pick from store '1' to dig up treasure veins, it looks like this: a Pick {+,1} (0,+2) (+1) The to-hit and to-dam bonus do not count for fighting, but instead slightly help digging. The main factor though is the (+1). For digging tools, this bonus describes their main digging power. The to-hit and to-dam effect is rather small compared to this main factor. Also, the weight of your digging tool also has a little effect (the heavier the better). Later on in the game you might find 'ego' digging tools, for example: a Pick of Digging {+,9} (+5,+9) (+1) (+3) It's basically same as the normal pick, except it has a second (+3) mod at the end. This belongs to the 'of Digging' suffix and, same as the (+1), further increases the digging ability, in the same way the (+1) does. So overall you can just view it as if it was a Pick (+4) (1 plus 3). (See (5.21) for details about digging.) (3.4b) Items that are always tradable ------------------------------------- Certain items can always be traded, no matter the item level or owner mode (ie everlasting vs non-everlasting vs pvp). They will in turn receive a 100% value discount on trading. Those items are: -Any kind of food -Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger -Scrolls of Word of Recall -Amulets of the Highlands -Game pieces (eg chess, heavy ball) (3.5) Preparing the first time for fighting enemies --------------------------------------------------- Before you enter a dungeon by stepping onto a staircase leading into the earth (looks like this: '>') and pressing the staircase symbol '>' you will have to buy some more items for the following reasons: At the very beginning a single enemy who is a little bit stronger could kill you easily without you having a chance to escape. At the same time, slaying strong opponents at the very beginning will give very much experience, thus making your character rise in experience levels and in power very quickly! Going deep down into the dungeon with a very low character level in hope of meeting a monster that gives lots of experience while at the same time is not too hard to kill is called "diving" and often is kind of suicide while sometimes very rewarding. However, buying certain items will greatly raise your chance of escaping from dangerous situations alive or even slaying tough opponents. Also, by buying an item (like magic potions or scrolls) your character will remember what it 'looks like' and instantly recognize it if you find some of the same type in the dungeon. If you find a potion/scroll unknown to your character you will have to either use it or sell it to a shop or use a scroll of identify to find out what it is. So to prepare for hunting in the dungeon, buy: -Potion of Heroism (maybe just one, for when you encounter a unique monster) -Potion of Cure Light/Serious Wounds -Scroll of Phase Door The more you can buy of those the better. At least buy one potion of Heroism and Cure Serious Wounds. And if you still have spare money (this one costs a lot) a -Scroll of Word-of-Recall. (See "(0.3) Important inscriptions" for more info.) (3.6) Creating basic macros & inscribing items ---------------------------------------------- Macros are absolutely obligatory, you _will_ need them, so read this carefully and if something isn't explained well, ask your fellow players to clarify. In turn-based single-player rogue-like games you always have enough time to press "q" (quaff a potion) followed by the according inventory slot, for example b) (if there is a potion of cure critical wounds in the second inventory slot). However, TomeNET is multiplayer and real-time. This means you don't have enough time to look at your inventory and search the correct letters for items which you might need *this instance* to avoid certain death. Often situations get hectic, for example if all of a sudden dark-elven warlocks come around the corner while you are engaging a pack of wolves, then you need kind of a panic button that quickly transports you out of trouble. To comply with this need, a macro system has been implemented, allowing you to program freely choosable keys of your keyboard to perform a series of other keypresses or commands when pressed. These macros can also interact with certain items of your inventory by using "item inscriptions". You can inscribe items (usually with the '{' key) as often as you like to, the inscription is for example useful if an item has special abilities that you want to remember by looking at it. To remove an inscription, use the } key. You would for example inscribe an Elven Cord Armor that you know helps you to resist the effects of poison. Then it might look like this in your inventory: Before: d) an Elven Cord Armor [6,+20] (+1) {+,10} After: d) an Elven Cord Armor [6,+20] (+1) {+,10} {resists poison!} Inscriptions don't just help you to remember the abilities of certain items, they can also interact with the macro system and other aspects of the game. Usually if you want to quaff your potion of Heroism or read a scroll of Phase Door, you would press keys 'q' 'c', q for quaff, then c for third inventory slot for example, or 'r' 'd' (r for read, then d for the fourth inventory slot, if your scroll resides here). However, if you just picked up another potion, your inventory order might be changed and you had to remember the new positions of your vital potion and scroll. Now we are going to create three macros that will instantly quaff the potions or read a scroll of recall, no matter where in the inventory they exactly are, on a single keypress! Inscribe the potion of Heroism "@q1", the scroll of Phase Door "@r1" and the potion of Cure Light Wounds "@q2". It should look like this now: b) a potion of Heroism {+,1} {@q1} c) a potion of Cure Light Wounds {+,1} {@q2} d) a scroll of Phase Door {+,1} {@r1} Now we will create macros that make use of these items. Invoke the macro menu by pressing '%' key. Then choose "(a) Enter a new action" and enter the following two characters and press Enter: q1 Now choose "(h) Create a hybrid macro", then press the F1 key. Now enter a new action, this time q2 instead of q1. Create another macro, this time hit F2. Then Enter the third macro, r1, and choose F3 key. Have your TomeNET client save the macros to a file on your hard disk, in your TomeNET directory at \lib\user by choosing "(s) Save macros" and entering a filename, or simply confirming the shown default file name which is the same as your character (recommended!). Now if you press F1 you will automatically quaff the potion of Heroism, F2 for Cure Light Wounds and F3 to read the scroll. You are ready to enter the dungeon now. If you still have some spare money, buy a flask of oil to fuel your lantern if it runs out, as well as some rations of food in case you get hungry. The next time you log on, you may load your previously saved macro file by invoking the macro menu again ('%'), choosing "(l) Load macros" and entering the filename. If you saved the macros to the same name as your character, they will be automatically loaded, saving you that hassle. An even simpler way to create macros is the 'macro wizard' described in (3.7c). The macro recorder: ------------------- Note that instead of entering an action string (such as 'q1' or 'r5'), the macro menu also provides a 'macro recorder', which when invoked will record all your key presses until you enter the macro menu again. Then the keys you pressed will be the default action that you can directly bind to a trigger key by choosing normal, command, or hybrid macro. Note that while it is probably overkill to create macro hotkeys for items which aren't as important as healing or teleportation, inscribing them can still be helpful because it allows you to easily access them. Example: You inscribed your flasks of oil @F1 . Now if your lantern is running low on oil you just type the keys 'F' (to fill) and '1' instead of having to search your inventory for the correct slot letter the oil flasks reside at. Same goes for other items that aren't used in time-critical situations during combat but nevertheless regularly, like scrolls of identify. If two items have the same inscription, for example Potions of Cure Critical Wounds @q1 and Potions of Healing @q1, the item which is above the others in your inventory is chosen. So in this example you'd first use up all CCW potions, then use the healing potions because CCW are located above healing potions in your inventory. You can uninscribe items with the '}' key. Loading macros automatically: ----------------------------- If you save your macros to a filename that is the same as your character's name and add a '.prf' at the end, it will be automatically loaded as you join a game with your character, which is very helpful! Example: If your character is named 'Kinkan', save the macros to Kinkan.prf to have them loaded automatically. Note: If you're using a Linux version, remember that the file system is case-sensitive, so don't save your macros to 'kinkan.prf' since your character actually starts with a capital 'K' or the file won't be loaded. Make sure the filename and character-, class- or race-name are exactly the same ('Dwarf.prf', 'High-Elf.prf', 'Ranger.prf'..). Another option is to save the macros to a file named 'global.prf' (all lower case letters). This is a special macro file that will always be loaded, for all characters of yours. You can also save macros to .prf or to .prf, like Warrior.prf to have them being auto-loaded on all characters of that class. Priority order (latter one overrides prior one): These files are meant to store client options and configuration, you should NOT use them for macros: ----------------------------------- pref.prf (global for all OS and users on the system) user.prf (global, for the specific user) pref-.prf (loaded if under the specific operating system) graf-.prf OR font-.prf (loaded if using graphics / ascii font on the specified system) user-.prf (loaded if under the specific operating system) These files can be used for saving your macros to without problems: ------------------------------------------------------------------- 'global.prf' (is always loaded for any character the player logs in with. be sure to use all lower-case letters, not 'Global.prf'!) .prf (for the specific race) .prf (for the specific class) .prf (for the specific character the player logged in with) It is recommended to use only race/class/account/character preference files for storing your macros. Command macros: !WORKS DIFFERENT FROM MOST ROGUE-LIKES! --------------- Command macros are only executed if the game isn't currently waiting for a specific input, for example "quaff which potion?" or while you're typing chat messages. That means they won't "disrupt" any other command which is currently being run. This is convenient for keys which you use in chat, but can be dangerous if you define vital macros as command macros. It is recommended to make your most important macros normal macros or at least hybrid macros (for example a "panic key" macro). Command macros don't work in shops. Hybrid macros: -------------- Use 'create hybrid macro' instead of 'create normal macro' in case you don't want the macro to appear on hitting the corresponding key in a normal chat message (for example useful for '-' key so it won't prevent you from inscribing your word-of-recall scrolls). Hybrid macros still work within input requests such as "quaff which potion?", just not in STRING INPUT such as chat lines, polymorph-codes or money amounts. Hybrid macros don't work in shops. Delete macros: ---------------- If you accidentally bound a macro to a key which wasn't free, for example the key 'r' which is used to read a scroll, you can reset the key by -pressing % to invoke the macro menu -choosing '(d) - delete macro' -pressing the key wich you want to reset. (3.7) Creating macros for ranged attacks & abilities (spells) ------------------------------------------------------------- Note: This section is becoming pretty advanced. If you want to try an easier method but miss a nice fundamental explanation on the way macros work, you may just jump to (3.7c) now, where the comfortable macro wizard is explained! Those macros basically consist of three parts. 1. Clearing the keyboard buffer (to avoid your character locking up in an attack queue if you hammer the trigger button for a ranged attack). 2. Designating a target. 3. Attacking the designated target. What does the macro look like? (Note: Keys could vary depending on your key set definitions. Throwing might be 't' instead of 'v' etc.) For.. a) casting a magical spell Press 'm' to see your choices of casting magical spells. Let's assume you see this menu then: a) check dodge chance b) cast a spell Now we want 'b'. Press it to see a list of your magical books in your inventory. Let's assume you have learned spell 'a)' from book 'b)' in your inventory. Since the order of your books could change if you pick up new items or drop old ones, we will inscribe your magical book that is currently at position 'b)' like this (press '{' key to inscribe): @m2 The '2' is our own choice. We could've used 7 or 0 if we wanted to. Note that it must be a single digit! @m20 does not work. Now we can create the macro. -Press '%' to invoke the macro menu, -press 'a' to enter a new action, -enter: \e)*tmb2a- This means: \e) clear the keyboard buffer *t designate the closest enemy as the target for the spell (if there is an enemy)! m invoke the ability menu b choose 'b) cast a spell' 2 use the magical book which is inscribed @m2 a use spell 'a)' from this book - use previously designated target as direction, if that target is actually valid. Otherwise cancel the spell! -press ENTER key to accept that macro, -now hit 'h - create a hybrid macro' -hit the key you want to bind this macro to, for example the 'F1' key. F-keys are a good choice for macros, since they're not used otherwise. -To save your macros, press 's - Save macros' and enter a filename of your choice. If you want your macros to be loaded automatically when you log in with your character, save them to '.prf'. For example to 'Gandalf.prf' if your character is called 'Gandalf'. If your macros are not automatically loaded, you'll have to do it manually after logging in, by pressing % and choosing 'l - Load macros', then specifying the according filename. Note that if your character gains additional abilities that show up in the 'm' menu, it might happen that 'b) cast a spell' becomes 'c) cast a spell' which would require you to redefine your macros. Fortunately there is a way around this, by using Ability Codes instead of letters to pick a skill to use. See 'Ability codes' below. Further, in (3.9b) a way of casting spells (or using items in general) without relying on inscriptions at all will be explained! b) throwing an item at a monster (or player) Throwing would be done by pressing 'v', followed by the item and either one of the 8 directions or '*t' to designate the closest enemy as the target. The macro: -Press '%' to invoke the macro menu, -press 'a' to enter a new action, -lets assume the item you want to throw is at position 'c)'. It's 'c) 3 potions of blindness'. You could now either specify the slot 'c)' in the macro or you could inscribe the potions @v1 and replace the c in the macro string by a 1. Inscribing has the advantage that if the potions change their location in your inventory you could still throw them. If you use 'c' you'd just throw the item at position 'c)' even if the potions are currently 'd)'. Examples: enter: \e)vc*t or \e)v1*t This means: \e) clear the keyboard buffer v throw an item c OR 1 choose 'c) 3 potions of blindness' OR choose the item for throwing which is currently inscribed @v1 *t designate the closest enemy as the target! -press ENTER key to accept that macro, -now hit 'h - Create a hybrid macro' -hit the key you want to bind this macro to, for example the 'F2' key. F-keys are a good choice for macros, since they're not used otherwise. -Don't forget to save your macro by pressing 's - Save macros' if you plan to use it again. c) firing your equipped ranged weapon (sling, bow, crossbow) The keys we need are 'f' to fire and a direction key or *t to simply target the closest enemy. The macro: -Press '%' to invoke the macro menu, -press 'a' to enter a new action, -Since ammunition for firing or a boomerang is always at a fixed position in your equipment, we do not need any inscriptions on the weapon or ammunition - the game knows which item we want to use since there's only one possible choice. enter: \e)*tf- This means: \e) clear the keyboard buffer *t designate the closest enemy as the target! f fire an item (boomerang, if equipped) or fire ammunition (if launcher & ammo is equipped) - use previously designated target as direction, if it's still valid, otherwise cancel firing! -press ENTER key to accept that macro, -now hit 'h - Create a hybrid macro' -hit the key you want to bind this macro to, for example the 'F2' key. F-keys are a good choice for macros, since they're not used otherwise. -Don't forget to save your macro by pressing 's - Save macros' if you plan to use it again. d) zapping a magical rod or aiming with a magical wand Rods are used by 'z' (zap a rod) and wands by 'a' (aim a wand), followed by the item and either one of the 8 directions or '*t' to designate the closest enemy as target. The macro: -Press '%' to invoke the macro menu, -press 'a' to enter a new action, -lets assume you want to aim the wand at position 'c)'. It's 'c) a wand of magic missiles'. You could now either specify the slot 'c)' in the macro or you could inscribe the wand @a0 and replace the c in the macro string by a 0. Inscribing has the advantage that if the potions change their location in your inventory you could still throw them. If you use 'c' you'd just throw the item at position 'c)' even if the wand currently is at 'd)'. Examples: enter: \e)*tac- or \e)*ta0- This means: \e) clear the keyboard buffer *t designate the closest enemy as the target! a aim a wand (or 'z' to use a rod here) c OR 0 choose 'c) a wand of magic missiles' OR choose the item which is currently inscribed @a0 (or @z0 for a rod) - use previously designated target as direction, if it's still valid, otherwise cancel firing! -press ENTER key to accept that macro, -now hit 'h - Create a hybrid macro' -hit the key you want to bind this macro to, for example the 'F2' key. F-keys are a good choice for macros, since they're not used otherwise. -Don't forget to save your macro by pressing 's - Save macros' if you plan to use it again. What happens if you leave out the '\e)' part? Well, that means the commands that aren't processed yet will stay in the buffer and wait for execution. Example: You hit the macro *tf- 30 times rapidly. Now your character will shoot 30 times with his bow. However, since he's quite slow, this might take him 30 seconds! You now sit in front of your keyboard and watch your character process all the remaining 30 shots. If suddenly an enemy appears that needs you to teleport away because it's too dangerous, you couldn't press any key until the 30 shots are finished. The character is 'locked'. The ')' in the macro '\e)*tf-' clears all previous keypresses and hence allows you to hammer the macro without fearing a lock. (3.7a) Ability codes -------------------- A problem with the 'm' key is that it not only brings up your magic spells but a menu containing all skills you can use. Those can be arrow fletching or dodging for example. Now you would have to rewrite your macros each time you gain another ability, since entries in 'm' menu might shift if a new skill gets inserted somewhere. To avoid this, you can directly choose which skill (ie spell-casting) you want to use in your macros, by specifying the "ability code"! Here is a list of all available ability codes: 3 Use innate power (for mimicry-users) 4 Toggle Fire-till-kill mode, usable by anyone. See (5.2a). 5 Fighting techniques (see (6.12)) 6 Shooting techniques (see (6.12)) 8 Check your dodge chance (for dodging skill) (included in '6' now: 9 Create ammunition (for archery skill)) 10 Set a monster trap (for trapping skill, see (4.7)) 11 Cast a magic spell / recite a holy prayer 12 Draw a rune (for runecraft). 13 Change combat stance (for combat stances skill) 14 Check your chances of parrying and blocking (for melee fighters, see (6.11) for details about these abilities) 15 Toggle 'Aura of Fear' if you have trained the according skill. 16 Toggle 'Shivering Aura' if you have trained the according skill. 17 Toggle 'Aura of Death' if you have trained the according skill. After the ability code has been entered you need to press Enter to confirm it. In a macro, this is done by '\r' (one of the so-called escape sequences). Example for a macro that directly specifies the ability code to cast the magic spell "a) Manathrust" from book "a) Beginner Cantrips" on the closest monster: \e)*tm@11\r2a- What does that mean? \e -> escape any pending input request, if there is any (so we don't have to press ESC before casting the spell in case we're currently 'L'ooking around or something) ) -> clear the keyboard buffer (removes all pending keypresses that haven't been processed yet due to slow character speed, so we become instantly ready to perform our mana thrust spell _now_) *t -> choose the closest monster as target m -> invoke an ability @ -> specify an ability code directly 11 -> the code for 'cast a magic spell/recite a holy prayer' \r -> press Enter to confirm 2 -> cast from book 2 (inscription on the book must be @m2) a -> cast spell "a)" (Manathrust) - -> use previously designated target as direction, if it's still valid, otherwise cancel the spell! (That macro basically does the same as: *tmb2a- ..assumed that entry 'b)' in the ability menu (invoked by 'm') is 'b) Cast a spell'. Except for escaping and clearing the keyboard buffer.) An even better way to cast spells is to not rely on book inscriptions, but to cast spells by name instead. That way you won't have to redo spells when your books change. See (3.9b) for details, or (3.7c) for the 'macro wizard', which uses cast-by-name by default for all macros you create in it (yet can also handle call-by-inscription). (3.7b) Quick'n'dirty macros --------------------------- Macro actions can be complex and hence time-consuming to enter and prone to errors furthermore. To allow you to quickly hack in macro actions, there's the Quick'n'Dirty option in the macro menu, which will accept short cut characters instead of the usual full macro. On entering the macro action, those characters will be automatically expanded to their real functionality. They are: P for using a mimic's innate power Example: Pd Uses innate power 'd)', which is the first real innate spell after the three polymorph powers themselves, which always comprise a) to c). I for using a mimic's 'transform-into-specific' power. Example: I191 This will become \e)@m3\rc191\r (transform into a Grizzly Bear). Clients of versions greater than 4.4.8c also support entering a monster name instead of its code, example: I@Fruit bat\ F for employing a fighting technique Example: Fa (Use fighting technique 'a)', which usually is 'sprint'.) S for employing a shooting technique Example: Sa (Use shooting technique 'a)', which is probably 'flare'.) M for casting a spell Example: M@Phase Door\ Becomes \e)m@11\r@Phase Door\r (cast spell 'Phase Door'.) R for drawing a rune Examples: Rcbaa or Rc\raa to draw 2 or just 1 rune. (The last two 'a' being spell modifier and spell form respectively.) T for setting up a trap Example: T13 Set up the monster trap inscribed '@m1' or '@1' loaded with item inscribed '@m3' or '@3'. (Becomes '\e)m@10\r13'.) s for changing a stance Example: sa (switches to stance 'a)' ie balanced combat stance.) @...\ for using call-by-name (spell/item name must be between '@' and '\') (Examples have been given above, in some spell casting explanations.) All other keys are taken over unmodified, like 'f' for firing a ranged weapon. Also, '\e)' is automatically prefixed, and the most fitting macro type automatically chosen (depending on the trigger key). Additional examples: Example 1: Firing your ranged weapon would just be.. *tf- (which gets expanded to '\e)*tf-'.) Example 2: Assumed your book is inscribed @m1 as usual, and you want to cast spell a). What you can simply enter in the q'n'd field is: *tM1a- and it will automatically be expanded to the real macro '\e)*tm@11\r1a-'. Example 3: Assumed you have the spell Manathrust somewhere in your books and want to cast it by name, what you enter in the q'n'd field is: *tM@Manathrust\- and it will automatically be expanded to '\e)*tm@11\r@Manathrust\r-', voila. Example 4: Casting phase door would be.. M@Phase Door\ (expanded to '\e)m@11\r@Phase Door\r'.) (3.7c) The macro wizard ----------------------- The easiest (and therefore most limited) way to create a macro is to invoke the built-in macro creation wizard. If you are new to the game and too impatient to figure out how to create macros manually, you might want to give this a try. To invoke it, enter the macro menu by pressing '%', then press 'z' to bring up the wizard. The wizard will lead you through three steps with detailed on-screen instructions, allowing you to create macros from a couple of pre-defined command choices which should cover almost all situations. If the option 'Rogue-like commands' is set to 'yes' when creating a macro in the macro wizard, rogue-like command keys will be used in the macro action. (The macro type, ie command/hybrid/normal will be chosen automatically for you, same as when using Quick'n'Dirty macro creation.) NOTE: Whenever the macro wizard asks you to enter a partial name of an item to use in the macro you may alternatively enter an item inscription instead if you prefer that! This works simply because item inscriptions are part of the 'item name' which the macro wizard parses. Example: If you create a macro to quaff a potion and the wizard asks you to enter the potion name or part of it you may instead just enter @q1 and the resulting macro will attempt to quaff potions inscribed @q1. (3.7d) Specifying directions and targets ---------------------------------------- Whenever you use an attack spell or a wand or rod that cast bolts or balls, the game prompts you to enter a direction. In our macros so far we have answered that question by specifying '*t' instead of an actual direction ie one of: 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9. We have learned that '*' means 'acquire target' and 't' means 'choose closest hostile target'. The '*' key can also be pressed as a command key, ie on its own without any direction request from the server. Press '*' and it will ask you to set a target, which you can do by pressing 't' again to choose the closest hostile entity. There are, however, more ways to specify a direction or to use the target command, especially since client 4.4.6 which added the '-' option, and 4.4.6b which added the '+' option. Details follow: The 'Set Target' command (key '*') that sets a target for spells or item uses that follow, or which can be invoked as a sub-command from a 'Direction?' request, may be answered with.. ------------------------------- -'q' key to drop current target without acquiring a new one. -'t' or '5' key to choose closest hostile target. -'p' to target a grid position manually via movement keys (1..9), confirm with 't' or '5' key. The 'Direction?' request from commands that require a direction, may be answered with.. --------------- -a direction key such as 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9. Note that direction '5' will only aim at yourself if you have no valid target set. Otherwise, the '5' key will aim at your target instead. -'*' key to invoke built-in target command (see above). -'-' key to use a previously acquired target or cancel the spell/item use/ shot if there is no valid target currently set. The '-' option is only available in client version 4.4.6 and higher. -'+' key, same as '-' except that it won't cancel the action if no valid target was found, but prompt you for manual input instead (hit ESC to cancel, 5 to target your own grid, or any direction key to fire into that direction). Note that the key '-' is not a command key, but just gets ignored when pressed elsewhere than in direction-requests. This means that you can create 'hacky' macros, for example such as *t/1- that will work with both, magic devices that take a direction and those that don't, since the '-' will just be ignored for those that don't. Example macros: --------------- *tz0- Will zap rod 0 at the closest hostile entity. If there is none, the rod will not be zapped, conserving the rod's energy. z0*t Zaps rod 0 at the closest hostile entity. If there is none, the rod will be zapped anyway, with yourself as target. This could be useful if it's for example a Rod of Fire Balls and you are being attacked in close combat by an invisible monster. *qz05 Your current target is cleared and the rod 0 is zapped at your own location, ie '5'. This could be useful if you want to clear out piles of loot with a rod of acid balls, effectively destroying all lesser items that cannot resist acid and melt from it. (3.8) Example macro sets ------------------------ (For the meaning of '\e)' see below (3.9). I recommend to have all your macros start with the '\e)' sequence to avoid character lock-ups due to queued keypresses that have to be processed.) An example macro set for fighters or archers: --------------------------------------------- This macro set is already in your /lib/user folder! If it's not there, download the latest client from www.tomenet.net or our personal pages. You can load this macro file by hitting % to invoke the macro menu, then enter 'l' to load a macro file, and specifying its filename, which is depending on your operating system: linux_fighter.prf or windows_fighter.prf (On Mac OS X use linux_fighter.prf.) If you plan on using it for a longer time, immediately save it again with the filename being identical to your character name, example: Killer.prf if your character is named 'Killer'. (You can save macros by choosing '(s) Save macros' in the macro menu. Note: The example macro sets are write-protected to avoid overwriting.) Of course you can just use any other potion/scroll instead of those mentioned, as long as you put the according inscription on that item. (To inscribe an item press '{' key, to uninscribe press '}'.) Key Purpose of the Macro The macro Inscription itself on the item(s) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ F1 fire with ranged weapon at closest target \e)*tf- -none- (you can inscribe your ammunition: != to pick it up automatically) F2 quaff cure critical wound or healing potion \e)q1 @q1 F3 quaff speed potion \e)q2 @q2 F4 quaff potion of resistance, \e)q3 @q3 an important thing later in the game. Since these are too expensive in the beginning, you could just buy potions of resist heat instead which are offered for little money in store 5, and inscribe them @q3 accordingly. They can already be very helpful. F5 read scroll of phase door \e)r1 @r1 F6 read scroll of teleportation \e)r2 @r2 F7 read scroll of identify \e)r3 @r3 F8 use a staff of teleportation \e)u1 @u1 (magic device must be high enough or you will keep failing; also see (6.10)) F9 quaff a restore life levels potion \e)q4 @q4 F10 zap some rod \e)z1 @z1 (magic device must be high enough or you will keep failing; also see (6.10)) F11 eat something. \e)E1 @E1 (Draconians could inscribe some firestones (see 5.9) instead of normal food, to quickly boost their powers if needed.) F12 use a magic device on the closest target \e)*t/1- @/1 (Magic devices are wands, staves or rods. Your magic device skill must be high enough or you will keep failing; also see (6.10)) As you can see this fighter is supposed to be able to use quite some magic for support in addition to fighting. Especially helpful are Rods of Perception or of speed. Not all warriors are bright enough to use magic items easily, nor are players always willing to spend many points on the 'Magic Device' skill. If you dislike the use of magic your character would have to rely completely on scrolls of teleportation instead. Just make sure you have confusion and blindness resistance then! (Those two aren't needed to use a staff.) If you play Draconian, kill Dragonriders because they tend to drop a large amount of firestones. If a difficult combat starts, just eat several of them to get a larger amount of extra powers. (All macros in the example set were defined as hybrid macros.) The above macro set slightly changed to fit additional needs of a low level istar or other casters: ------------------------------------------------------- This macro set is already in your /lib/user folder! If it's not there, download the latest client from www.tomenet.net or our personal pages. You can load this macro file by hitting % to invoke the macro menu, then enter 'l' to load a macro file, and specifying its filename, which is depending on your operating system: linux_caster.prf or windows_caster.prf (On Mac OS X use linux_caster.prf.) If you plan on using it for a longer time, immediately save it again with the filename being identical to your character name, example: Killer.prf if your character is named 'Killer'. (You can save macros by choosing '(s) Save macros' in the macro menu.) Note: The example macro sets are write-protected to avoid overwriting.) Of course you can just use any other potion/scroll instead of those mentioned, as long as you put the according inscription on that item. (To inscribe an item press '{' key, to uninscribe press '}'.) Key Purpose of the Macro The macro Inscription itself on the item(s) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ F1 fire with ranged weapon at closest target \e)*tf- -none- (you can inscribe your ammunition: != to pick it up automatically) F2 quaff cure critical wound or healing potion \e)q1 @q1 F3 quaff speed potion \e)q2 @q2 F4 quaff restore mana potion \e)q3 @q3 F5 read scroll of phase door \e)r1 @r1 F6 read scroll of teleportation \e)r2 @r2 F7 read scroll of identify \e)r3 @r3 F8 use a staff of teleportation \e)u1 @u1 F9 \e)m@11\r@Detect Monsters\rm@11\r@Sense Hidden\r -none- A combo macro: Cast spells 'Detect Monsters' and 'Sense Hidden' from book Beginner Cantrips. Since this macro casts two spells, it uses up two of your character's turns to complete. (Note that this macro uses 'cast-by-name', ie specifies the spell names instead of relying on book inscriptions, making it very flexible!) F10 zap some rod \e)z1 @z1 F11 \e)m@11\r@Globe of Light\r -none- Cast Globe Of Light spell. F12 use a magic device on the closest target \e)*t/1- @/1 (Magic devices are wands, staves or rods. Your magic device skill must be high enough or you will keep failing; also see (6.10)) + \e)*tm@11\r@Noxious Cloud\r- -none- Cast noxious cloud spell on nearest target - Cast phase door. \e)m@11\r@Phase Door\r -none- 0 Cast manathrust at nearest target \e)*tm@11\r@Manathrust\r- -none- This low level istar might be armed with a sling to support his yet weak magic, so the F1 macro makes sense. Assuming that he uses the numpad keys for movement, the keys +, - and 0 were used to allow quick access to his basic spells. - and 0 use his startup book 'Beginner Cantrips' while the macro on the + key requires that he bought a spellbook of noxious cloud. (All macros in the example set were defined as hybrid macros.) (3.9) Macros with special keys ------------------------------ You can use so-called 'escapes', meaning a combination of '\' and a regular key to emulate some special keys in your macros: \\ the backslash itself. Prevents it from being interpreted as the beginning of an escape sequence. \e equals the 'ESC' key. \s equals the 'SPACE' key. You can also just type in regular spaces, which will be converted automatically. \r or \n RETURN/ENTER or LINEFEED. Makes no difference. Example: :hi!\r:hi!\n makes your character say 'hi!' two times. ) clears the keyboard buffer (all previous key presses that still have to be processed will be forgotten). ^ Prefixed to any key this will lead to a CTRL + combination. For example a macro '^x' will exit the game. Example: :Hi all!\r This macro writes 'Hi all!' to everyone. \e)*tf- This macro will press escape to leave any potential running input routine, clear the buffer, fire a shot at the closest enemy. You can hammer this macro madly while playing without fear of your client processing the key presses forever, locking you in a position till your last arrow has been shot, since each time you hit the macro, it will clear the keyboard buffer (')' symbol) from all previous entries. The 'running input routine' means: If you previously pressed 'q' to quaff a potion, the game will now ask you 'Which potion?' and wait for your input. If you now see an enemy approaching before you decide which potion to quaff, you would usually have to press ESC to leave the quaffing input and start firing arrows then. By integrating the ESC key into the macro ('\e') this step is done automatically. *I recommend to have all macros start with the '\e)' sequence.* Miscellanous escape sequences: \x?? Convert the hex code into an ASCII character. For example \x41 (hex 41, dec 65) will become the 65th character of the ASCII charset which is a capital 'A'. \^ The caret '^' or 'accent circonflex'. \b stands for the BACKSPACE key. \t stands for the TABulator key. \0?? or \1?? or \2?? or \3?? stands for an octal code. The code will be converted into an ASCII character similar to \x?? hex mode, so \101 becomes 'A'. \w?? Waits (asynchronously) for ?? tenth seconds. (eg. 20 -> 2 s) Use this for macros which contain several commands in a row which depend on each others execution. You might have to adjust the delay to your personal latency, depending on your internet connection and speed at which your character acts. (3.9a) Creating a chat macro for your party ------------------------------------------- Using public chat for party coordination can prove annoying to other players and as well confusing to your fellow party members since it's sometimes hard to read if people are chatting vividly. On the other hand, entering your chat lines in this format : all the time can get annoying since you have to repeat the party name over and over, although you can use just the first four letters or so as abbreviation. There are three different ways to easily talk to your party. 1.) use the party wildcard '!'. Simply start your chatline like this !:blabla..., using the '!' in place of the party name. The text will be sent to your current party (if any). 2.) Hit ':' key to enter chat, now press TAB to switch to party chat mode. 3.) Create a macro to chat with a specific party, so you can write a party-message by hitting a single key, party-chatting becomes as easy as hitting ':' for normal chat. Enter the macro menu ('%'), enter a new action ('a'), enter the macro according to your party name. For example, if your party is called 'Scarlet Knights', enter this string: :Scarlet: hit the Enter key to accept it, create a command macro ('c'), choose a key you wish to use for party chat from now on, and save your macro ('s') to a file which is loaded automatically, like '.prf', for example Kinkan.prf. Using longer or shorter (at least 4 letters) strings works too of course, as long as there isn't a party of similar name which could get confused with yours. The best way in my opinion is to combine the two ways and to set up a macro which types :!: for you on a single key press automatically: Enter the macro menu ('%'), enter a new action ('a'), enter the macro: :!: hit the Enter key to accept it, create a command macro ('c'), choose a key you wish to use for party chat from now on, and save your macro ('s') to a file which is loaded automatically, like '.prf', for example Kinkan.prf. This way, no matter what your party is called, you will always be able to chat to it by pressing a single key. (3.9b) Alternative macros: Calling objects by their name -------------------------------------------------------- An alternative way to utilize macros is to not rely on item inscriptions, but instead call the target object directly by its name! This can either be an item name, as it appears in your inventory, or a spell name if you want your macro to cast a spell. The clue is that when you are asked "Aim which wand?", "Read which scroll?", "Cast from which book?" etc. you can also press '@' key to directly type in a name. Note: In the special case of books, you will then be able to type in a spell name instead of a book name, and the game will search your books for that spell automatically. So, instead of inscribing your potions of Healing '@q1' and having a macro '\e)q1' you could also just have a macro '\e)q@Healing\r'. Or, instead of inscribing a Beginner Cantrips book '@m1' and macroing the spell manathrust with '\e)*tm@11\r9a-' you could also just make a macro '\e)*tm@11\r@Manathrust\r-' without the need to inscribe your book. In fact you could make a macro '\e)*tm@Cast a spell\r@Manathrust\r-'. Another example: '\e)m@11\r@Phase Door\r'. IMPORTANT: Keep in mind that call-by-name is actually case-sensitive! (So in the example above, 'manathrust' would not work.) Additional details: ------------------- The text you provide for matching is treated as a partial text (sub-string) that must occur anywhere in an inventory slot text. Only those inventory slots are tested for this, which actually contain an item of fitting base type (tval) for the action that is being executed. Example: You make a macro z@Gold-Pl\r -this will be processed as follows: The command is 'z' to zap a rod. So only inventory slots that contain rods will be looked at, the rest is ignored. Now all inventory slots that contain rods will be tested for whether they contain the text piece 'Gold-Pl' somewhere. So if you carry any Gold-Plated rods in your inventory they will be zapped. Note that since it's really just all about partial-text-matching, you could inscribe some other rods 'Gold-Pl' so the text matching would succeed, although they aren't 'real' Gold-Plated rods. (!) (3.10) Experience, level-ups and skill points -------------------------------------------- By killing monsters your character gains experience. In general, harder monsters on deeper dungeon levels give more experience than easy kills. Hanging out on easy dungeon levels compared to your character level (for example a high level 50 character on an (to him) easy dungeon level like 60) may result in diminishing returns of experience points for killed monsters, while monsters that dwell in deeper regions that are more fitted as a challenge to the player, and whose levels are far above the player character's level, will be very rewarding in terms of experience and loot. Experience is shared automatically in 'parties', see (6.9). Recommended minimum depths for optimal experience gain Note: In general, the deeper the better! These are only _minimum_ recommended depths above which your experience gain will receive a quite severe reduction. Also, your character might not always be strong enough to survive on these depths. In that case, despite the experience penalty, you should consider moving to easier dungeon levels anway until you found decent items and maxed out your vital stats (constitution, etc). Note: Your depth display in the bottom right screen corner will indicate the appropriateness of your current depth by its colour: If you're on a far easier depth, it'll be dark grey, indicating that you cannot expect any good experience gain at all here. If you're on a slightly easier depth, it'll turn yellow, to tell you that you're getting closer to the depth required for best results. On the minimum required depth or deeper, it's white. (On a side note, while word-of-recall is pending, it'll turn orange, since it's also used as a word-of-recall indicator this way.) Character level | Dungeon level ------------------------------------------------- 1..19 decent exp is gained everywhere 20 15 23 17 25 18 28 22 30 25 35 30 38 36 40 40 41 43 42 46 43 50 44 54 45 59 46 65 47 72 48 81 49 92 ------ 50 100 ------ 55 110 60 120 65 130 70 140 75 150 80 160 85 170 90 180 95 190 98 196 99 no exp gained If you are below the optimum depth, your experience gain will decrease. The experience gained will be multiplied by 2 / (2 + leveldifference). So for 1 level missing to optimum depth you would get 2 / (2 + 1) = 67% of the optimum experience, at 2 levels difference you'd get 50%, 40% at 3, etc. At level 64 and higher, no dungeon except for the Nether Realm (see (4.5)) will be deep enough to deliver optimal experience and your experience gain will slowly start to decrease while you further rise in character levels. The Nether Realm is by far the deepest dungeon in the game and allows players of very high character levels to accumulate excellent experience. If your character accumulates a certain amount of experience, (s)he will gain a 'level-up', meaning that you become noticably more powerful than you were until now. Each character level requires your character to accumulate more experience than was needed for the level before, up to millions of experience points! All characters start the game at level 1. At level 50 they are supposed to fight the bad boss of the game, Morgoth, Lord of Darkness. Depending on race and class, characters need to kill a different amount of monsters in order to reach the next level. Yeeks get experience fastest, while Draconians (and Maiar) are slowest. (See (6.4) and (6.5).) Each time your character gains a new level, (s)he also gains 5 skill points that you can distribute on your character's skills, press 'G' to invoke the skill chart where you can raise skills of your choice. Do this at a safe place, so your character won't be attacked and killed while you are looking at the skill chart. The different skills are described in (6.2). Which skills your character may specialize in depends on his class, and sometimes also on his race; skills that are not available to your character's class are greyed out and cannot be raised. On the skill chart you can press 'Up'/'Down' keys to select a skill and 'Right' key to invest one of your spare skill points into it. Choices cannot be undone, so be careful here. For details about skill point distribution and the different skills see (6.2). (3.11) Death, ghosts and looting -------------------------------- Death ----- If a player dies, an automatic chardump is generated in /lib/user called '-death.txt' (see 8.2) which you can view with any text editor. Also, a screenshot is made automatically, displaying your situation, saved to '-death-screenshot.xhtml'. (You can view xhtml files in most webbrowsers.) Normal/everlasting characters will turn into ghosts if they die. When you become a ghost, your title will change to 'Ghost' until you get revived. Depending on the server configuration, ghosts of a 'normal mode' player can usually be resurrected only 2 times, so a normal player has 3 lives before permanently biting it. Unworldly/hellish characters don't have a ghost and are completely destroyed if they die. Everlasting characters may also use the 'Instant Resurrection' feature offered by town temples, see (4.5a), which will avoid turning into a ghost. If a player ultimatively dies on a dungeon or tower floor, ie he didn't turn into a resurrectable ghost but got completely erased, then that particular floor he "perma-died" (also termed "ghost-died") on will remain static for a while, instead of being regenerated. This allows other players to go down there later and retrieve his items or money, however, whatever killed him/her will probably also still be down there! The time a level stays static is usually 3 minutes * dungeonlevel. Example: A player dies on -300 ft in The Orc Cave dungeon. In The Orc Cave, the first floor at -50ft is alreay like -500ft ie level 10 (compare (4.5)). The player died 5 floors deeper at -300 so we have to add 5 more floors to 10, so the player died at dungeon level 15 in fact. 3 minutes times 15 = 45 minutes time for others to go there and pickup his loot until the level randomly changes again. Levels below 9 (ie less than +/-450ft) are usually exempt from remaining static and will regenerate normally, meaning the loot is lost after a couple of seconds. Note: If a player enters a static-by-death floor, the floor timer will be reset and start counting down the full duration again, prolonging its staticness. This timer-reset happens the moment a player enters that floor. How long he stays or when he leaves again has no effect. Hint: The same timing that applies for static-by-death floors is also valid for static-by-save&exit floors, ie floors where a player logged out instead of doing that in town. So if you logged out because your character was stuck, make sure you don't log on too early or you will reset the timer as mentioned above. What happens to your loot ------------------------- If you die, all of your items are dropped to the floor at the place of your death. Some items from your inventory or even an item from your equipment might get lost, but most of it should be waiting for you to pick it up again after someone came and revived you. Note however that if you float up or down with your ghost while noone stays on the level to keep it, the level will usually immediately change and be lost and all your items with it! (Only a ghost's death or death of a character which has only 1 life will turn a floor static as described further above.) If you stood in a place where there is no room for your items to drop, for example inside a dense forest (green tree fields) or mountain regions (brown ^ fields) then your items will be scattered randomly over the whole level. Last but not least, non-validated players and characters below level 3 don't drop their items on death, their loot will vanish forever. (The level depends on server settings, so check them via ~d to verify.) Ghosts ------ You can continue playing as a ghost, getting a slight experience penalty, but that's not recommended. Instead, you should go for resurrection! Ghosts also do not share experience with party members on the same floor. Ghosts can float up and down freely (just hit '<' or '>' key as if you take a staircase), so they can quickly float out of the dungeon without having to search for staircases. However, on some servers, a ghost cannot float down to very deep dungeon levels which he hadn't visited yet when he was still alive. So 'Ghost-Diving' (means: simply continuing playing as a ghost) is somewhat limited there. That will bring you back to life at the cost of experience (35% usually). There are 3 ways to be revived: -the ghost can visit a temple (green '4' in town). The temple priest will also give him some money. The temple priest will turn the ghost away without resurrecting it, if the town isn't the last one visited by the player when he was still alive. ('The temple priest turns you away') -another living player reads a 'Scroll of Life' when standing directly next to a ghost. -another living player speaks a prayer of 'resurrection' when standing directly next to a ghost. The higher the resurrection spell level was, the less experience will be lost. The ghost will return to the world of living under the cost of a lot of experience but at least the player can resume playing. If the ghost dies, the character will finally be erased permanently, watch out! Ghosts slowly lose experience, if they go below 0 they will fade and the player will be erased completely. Ghosts have some special abilities, these are -they can see invisible creatures -life force can hardly be drained from them -they cannot be paralyzed -they spot warm-blooded creatures easily -they resist darkness effects, poison, cold, blindness, fear and confusion -they cannot be cut since they don't bleed -they resist insanity attacks -they can pass solid walls and mountains -they can fly -they cannot use items -they cannot carry items except for the Book Of The Dead. Ghosts can access undead powers with 'U' (currently not available, sorry). Those powers drain your experience. If you use them too often and run out of experience you will fade away (your character is erased then). (4) The world ============= (4.1) Running, picking up items, fighting ----------------------------------------- To move around, use the number pad keys 1,2,3; 4,6; 7,8,9. You can also use the arrow keys to move, but the numpad is better since it allows you to move diagonally too, which is very important. If no monsters are within your line of sight, are those which are are soundly asleep, you are able to "run". This feature was introduced to let you quickly cross empty areas, while it will cease to work as long as you fight monsters. To run, press SHIFT+ or type '.' followed by a direction. Running using SHIFT+ will only work if Numlock is turned off. Numlock is the key labeled 'Num' above the number key pad on the right side of your keyboard. Usually a green lamp will indicate whether Numlock is on or off. An exception is the town of Bree, where you are always able to run, even if enemies are nearby. If you want to pick up an item from the floor, step on that field and press 'g' (or press '5' on the numpad, while NUMLOCK must be on). For more information about finding, identifying and selling items, see (5.7). However, note that the keys can vary depending on your system configuration. You can attack a monster with your equipped melee weapon by simply moving on the monster's field, ie 'bumping' into the monster. A much better choice however, is to either just stand still and let the monster approach you, or -if the monster is asleep- just move next to the monster instead of bumping into it. In both situations, as soon as there is a monster directly next to you, you will automatically attack it! This is an important feature, called "auto-retaliation", see (4.1a) below! If you want to use ranged attacks then you have several choices: a) casting a magical spell ('m') b) throwing an item at a monster (or player) ('v') c) firing your equipped ranged weapon (sling, bow, crossbow) ('f') d) zapping a magical rod or aiming with a magical wand ('z', 'a') For most types of ranged attacks you'll need to designate a target. As soon as you finish casting an attack spell or if you press 'f' to fire an arrow/bolt/pebble/shot the game will ask you for a target or direction. You can now either press one of the 8 direction keys to fire into that direction, or you press the asterisk '*' followed by a 't' to designate the closest enemy as your target, which usually is what you want. Since version 4.4.6 the game also supports '-' to fire at a previously set target if it still exists, or cancel the action; 4.4.6b further added the '+' key; see (3.7d) for details about targetting. To learn how to create a macro instead of typing all these letters every time you want to launch a ranged attack, look at '(3.7) Creating macros for ranged attacks', or -much simpler- at '(3.7c) The macro wizard'. (4.1a) Auto-retaliation ----------------------- If you stand still and an enemy is on an adjacent grid (directly next to you, no space between you and the enemy) then your character will automatically attack it with the equipped melee weapon. Instead of melee attacks, you can also configure the auto-retaliator to use other items. To do so, you use '@O...' (the letter 'O', not the number zero!) item inscriptions: Note: To inscribe an item press '{' key, to uninscribe press '}'. Note: You cannot use any sort of teleportation for auto-retaliation. Weapons: @Ox Don't auto-retaliate with it. It's recommended for spell-casters who just wear a weapon to profit from its magical abilities to always inscribe it @Ox so it won't accidentally get destroyed when fighting a Nazgul and the auto-retaliator won't take over. Ranged weapons: @O Auto-retaliate with it (shooting ammo). (Note: @O can either be on your ammunition or on the bow.) Magic devices: @O Auto-retaliate with it. (Wands, staves, rods.) Spellbooks: @Oc You will auto-retaliate by casting the spell 'c)' from this book (or any other spell, change the inscription accordingly). IMPORTANT: If you cannot cast spells from the book or you inscribe an unsuitable item, auto-retaliation will be disabled completely! (If 'c' is omittted, the first spell will be chosen.) Runes: Auto-retaliate with the inscribed rune. The format is modifier @Oaa then type. To retaliate with a combination of runes, use the same inscription for both runes. See (6.8c) for details. Any item: @OMd Use innate mimic power 'd)' (for example). (Note that you cannot auto-retaliate with 'polymorph into...' power aka 'c)', instead it will be treated like power 'b)' aka 'polymorph into next form with fitting extremities'.) If you want an auto-retaliation-enabling inscription to only work while you are around a town, add a 't' after the 'O', examples: '@Ot', '@Otb'. If you want to fall back on melee-autoretaliation in case you are out of mana, use 'Q' symbol instead of 'O'. Examples: '@Qt', '@Qtb'. This is useful for classes that may use attack spells yet can perform decently in close combat, such as paladin or mindcrafter. (4.2) Level and owner of items ------------------------------ If you press 'l' to look at an unknown item that lies on the floor, you'll see something like this: You see a Long Sword {?} (2d5) The '{?}' indicates that this item has not yet been 'identified'. That means we don't know yet if it has certain magic abilities or if it's even cursed. We just know what we can see with our very eyes, that it is undoubtful some Long Sword, and all Long Swords do a base damage of 2d5. For more information about finding, identifying and selling items, see (5.7). If you pick it up it will be displayed in your inventory like this: e) a Long Sword {+,?} (2d5) Note the additional '+' symbol. It means that you're now the 'owner' of that item because you were the first one to pick it up. Now you want to find out if the sword has any magic abilities. So you read a Scroll Of Identify (or a Staff of Perception for example). The sword now looks like this: e) a Long Sword {+,6} (2d5) (+1,+5) Now we know all about it. It's a magical Long Sword (magical because its magical to-hit and to-dam boni are not 0,0 but 1,5. That means it's an enchanted Long Sword that magically adds +1 to your hit chance and +5 to the damage, doing (2d5)+5 damage per hit) that requires its wielder to be at least level 6 in order to use it. -Now if you're the owner of the sword then you are able to use it even if your level is lower than 6 ! -If you give this sword to someone else who is level 4 that person won't be able to use it because he's not the owner. -If you give the sword to someone who is level 6 or higher, he will become the new owner! Now you're unable to use the sword if you're level 5 and he gives it back to you. -To the owner an item has the '+' sign displayed in its name. Every other player who looks at the item sees the owner's name instead. Example: If you drop the sword to the ground and 'l'ook at it, you'll still see this: e) a Long Sword {+,6} (2d5) (+1,+5) but if someone else looks at it, assuming your name is 'Mithrandir', that person will instead read: e) a Long Sword {Mithrandir,6} (2d5) (+1,+5) -Last but not least a nasty scenario: Your character (named 'Mithrandir', level 20) dies and loses his Bluesteel Blade {+,20}. Now you're a ghost and decide to ask a fellow player (named 'Mugash', level 30) if he can defeat the monsters that killed you and bring your items to town. He agrees, you float up to town (remember that ghosts can simply float up and down anytime by pressing < and >) and revive in the temple (green '4'). If you revive, you'll always lose a bunch of experience. So your level is now 18 instead of formerly 20. The level 30 player kills all monsters and picks up your stuff. Since your valuable Bluesteel Blade requires level 20 the level 30 player becomes its new owner because he's not lower than 20. He arrives in town and drops the sword for you. You pick it up, and whooops it's a Bluesteel Blade {Mugash,20} and you're level 18. You can't wield it anymore! So the right choice would've been to ask Mugash if he can buy a 'Scroll of Life' and revive you in the dungeon after he killed off all mobs, to avoid him touching your items and becoming the owner. (4.3) Dungeon and tower types ----------------------------- To enter a dungeon, you look for the staircase symbol '>', step on it and press the '>' key to enter. Same for entering towers, except their staircase goes upwards instead of downwards, and hence is a '<' symbol instead of '>'. In Bree, there is often a so-called Training Tower, which is represented by a dark green '<'. Enter it by pressing the '<' key. The training tower allows you to 'die' without suffering major consequences (except for a slight loss in experience and gold), and is easier in general. An experience penalty might be applied for killing monsters in the tower (usually 50%). You might ask other players in game (use ':' to chat) where/if there is a newbie tower (also called 'Training Tower'), or you might search for it yourself. It's usually in Bree, to the lower right of the town centre. In general, when you take a staircase, your character will temporarily get a high Armour bonus (+100) and a chance to deflect enemy attacks, for a very short duration. This is an extra protection (also called 'stair-GoI', compare (0.4)) to help surviving nasty surprises. Keep your scrolls of teleportation ready anyway! While in a town, you can invoke a map that shows the staircases upwards and downwards by pressing SHIFT+'M' (ie capital M). If you leave a town and explore the wilderness, M will bring up a map showing you towns and areas that you have explored so far. If you are in a dungeon, M will bring up a minimap of your dungeon level instead. If you want to look at the world map while in town or in a dungeon, press '~' key and choose "Wilderness map". Before you enter a dungeon, make sure that you have equipped a light source! Note the bright dots around you, these are lightened fields within the radius of your light source. To look around your current dungeon/tower level or town, press 'L' and use direction keys to move your view panel. ESC key bring you back to normal view mode. The wilderness actually bears many interesting dungeons apart from the usual well known town dungeons. When you enter the dungeon 'Barrow-Downs' in the starting town Bree, you will note in the main window instead of "Bree" your actual depth is displayed, telling you on which dungeon level you are. Each dungeon level is 50 feet deeper. Monsters have approximately the same level as the dungeon level they appear on. You should try to figure out how deep you can go without dying. The dungeon depth I can recommend is between 1/3 (if you are _very_ weak) of your own character level and 3/4 of your character level. You can also go deeper, in case you want to try diving quickly. On 750 ft you can often find hounds (their symbol is a 'Z' for 'Zephyrs'). These don't have many hit points but give a lot of experience, making them a valued target for divers. For a list of dungeons and towers, see (4.5). Dungeon types ------------- There are different types of dungeons: -Normal dungeons. The main dungeons below the five cities Bree, Minas Anor, Gondolin, Lothlorien and Khazad-dum are such regular dungeons. Normal dungeons/towers are marked by a white < or > symbol. -NO_RECALL_INTO. You may not recall into this dungeon/tower. You can use recall to get out of it though. Probability travel works towards the surface but not towards the dungeon bottom/tower top. To Telekinesis the same restrictions apply as for NO_RECALL. Ghosts may float freely. Staircases are yellow. -NO_UP. These dungeons won't allow you to go upwards, similar to ironman, just without the penalty of permanent ghost-death. You are allowed to use Word-of-Recall as well! Ghosts of dead players can float upwards. No-up dungeons/towers are marked by an orange < or > symbol. -NO_RECALL. These dungeons don't allow you to use Word-of-Recall nor probability travel to change the level. The staircases are the only way. Sending items via telekinesis to a player who is currently in a no-recall dungeon/tower will only work if both players are on the same dungeon floor. Ghosts of dead players can still float up/down. No-recall dungeons/towers are marked by a red < or > symbol. -FORCE_DOWN. Same as NO_UP, but you can only recall at the bottom of the dungeon, similar to ironman (except for the no-ghost death penalty). Force-down dungeons/towers are marked by a light red < or > symbol. -Hellish. Players suffer no-ghost deaths inside hellish dungeons. Even if they're everlasting, meaning that if you die in such a dungeon or tower you won't turn into a ghost either but get destroyed completely. Hellish dungeons/towers are marked by a fire-like flickering < or > symbol (red/yellow). -Ironman. Same as hellish. Also: Ironman dungeons or towers won't allow you to recall or to use staircases that lead upwards or probability travel backwards! Sending items via telekinesis to a player who is currently in an ironman dungeon/tower will only work if both players are on the same dungeon floor. To leave an ironman dungeon/tower you'll have to get to it's bottom or top respectively. There might be possibilities to use Word-of-Recall even if you're not at bottom/top yet, depending on the server/dungeon type. In general you will recognize levels which allow recalling by a green message, saying "You don't sense a magic barrier here..." (compare (4.8)). Ironman dungeons/towers are marked by a dark grey < or > symbol. NOTE: In the case of RPG-server settings, you can usually recall INTO town dungeons every (n*1000)+50 ft, n starting at 0. Example: -50 ft, -1050 ft, -2050 ft, etc. Also, ALL dungeons will usually not allow recalling OUT until you reach a floor that is equivalent to at least dungeon level 20. Examples: At least -1000 ft in Barrow-Downs, at least -550 ft in The Orc Cave. (See (8.5) for more information about RPG settings.) -NO_DEATH. The Training Tower in Bree has this flag. Players who die inside a no-death dungeon won't turn into a ghost if they 'die' but just be teleported back to town! They still lose about 20% experience (and gold) though. No-death dungeons/towers are marked by a green < or > symbol. If a dungeon has several of these flags, the latter ones will override the staircase colour. So a hellish NO_RECALL_INTO dungeon has hellish-looking staircases. Sometimes you might find ruins of old staircases that don't lead to any dungeon or tower. Those have no further functionality and are coloured grey (make sure you don't confuse them with an ironman dungeon accidentally). There are rumours about a dungeon that will never let anyone escape from it again, ever. A death fate with a dark, flashing staircase of no return. Overview: Dungeon type Death? No-ghost? Recall Staircase Prob travel +Exp ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Normal yes (char) yes yes yes + 0% No death no no yes yes yes -50% No recall yes (char) no yes no +10% No rec down yes (char) upwards only yes upwards + 5% No up yes (char) yes downwards downwards + 5% Force down yes (char) at bottom only downwards downwards +10% Ironman yes yes at bottom only downwards no +15% Hellish yes yes yes yes yes +10% (Note: Staircase directions - ie upwards/downwards - are inverted for towers.) (4.3a) The jail --------------- The jail is a dedicated house that does not allow imprisoned characters to escape until a timer runs out, after which they will be freed. The jail was originally built for punishment of the following felonies - although depending on the server's configuration some might be disabled while others might get added: -Swearing Still the most common felony, it will usually only result in a pretty short time of imprisonment. Foul language will be filtered by '*' characters to other players, except if they have turned the filter off in their clients (also see (3.3)). It's possible that not all foul language might result in jailing, but most of it certainly will. -Spamming the chat (aka 'talking too much') Very rare to trigger, also results in a pretty short time of imprisonment. -On server settings where players have to declare that they are ready for pvp, attacking a non-pvp player will result in a long time of imprisonment Trying to shoot someone who's on a safe grid will also result in a medium duration of imprisonment. (These settings are not enabled on the main servers.) If you commit multiple felonies, whether you are already in jail or not, the punishment adds up (except that it doesn't matter how many swear words occured in one chat message). There can be multiple jails. The player will be imprisoned in the one closest to him. Also, players will only get caught if they are getting close to a town. If you are far away from town, your punishment will be delayed until you move close to a town gain, then you will be jailed "for old crimes" accordingly. Note that jails (if the server has one) don't allow any sort of teleportation, nor will you turn into a ghost if you get killed there, instead you will get destroyed completely (basically same as if you were a no-ghost mode char). A jail usually has an ironman tower or dungeon inside. It has no deeper meaning and is certainly not required or recommended to take. If you're up for a pretty hard extra challenge and take it, you'll be a free man or woman if you make it out alive, though. (4.4) Terrain ------------- Terrain features in the main window: ------------------------------------ Town buildings- Consisting of red or yellow '#' (roof) and white '#' (wall), these cannot be damaged or destroyed and some of them contain the basic town stores (numbers 1 to 9 marking the entrance) as well as special stores (+ sign marking the entrance). See (4.5) for details about stores. Floor- Dots '.' rensemble empty floor. Green dots are grass, brown ones dirt, grey ones stone or ash. Note that the colour also depends on the season - in summer or autumn, some grass might appear as yellow, when it's been suffering in the heat. ;) Red dots are lava, violet dots nether mist. These can be dangerous to cross! See a bit below for more details. Trees and bushes- Thick trees are rensembled by (mostly green, depending on the season) '#'. To pass them you need to either fly over them or to be an Ent, shepherd of trees to whom they will slightly bow aside to make room, a yeek, or a trained ranger or druid. Trees can also be burned up. Dead trees and bushes are '*' symbols. Staircases- '<' and '>' are staircases leading upwards or downwards into towers or dungeons. (Press the according key to walk the staircase. Whenever you take a staircase, you'll receive the stair-GoI buff, see (0.4) for details on that.) Doors- Light brown '+' are closed doors, ' are open or broken doors. (Use 'o' to open, 'c' to close and 'B'/'F' to bash/force doors.) Void Jumpgates- Violet '+' are void jumpgates that teleport you elsewhere. Press '>' key to use them. Stores- Store entrances are represented by coloured numbers '1'..'7', '9' and '+'. See (4.5) for details about stores. Rubble- ':' is rubble. Characters with high enough archery skill who use a sling-type weapon can stand next to rubble and use their 'create ammo' ability to create sling ammunition from it. Pits- Dark grey '^' are pits that can only be crossed if you have levitation or flying ability. Bree is protected by pits around the outer tree wall. These pits cannot be disarmed (because they don't count as trap, as opposed to the actual 'chasm traps' and 'pit traps') or destroyed. Walls- White '#' are permanent walls which cannot be damaged or destroyed, or in some special places can be ice walls (which can be destroyed). '#' and '%' of different grey tones are granite walls, magma intrusions, quartz veins and can be tunneled into and take damage from earthquakes. Yellow '#' are sand walls, red/brown '#' are indestructible lava walls which may occur in some remote places.. Water- On the world surface but also in some dungeons there's lots of water (blue '~' fields). It can be dangerous to cross it if you're not good at swimming or if you cannot fly :) Further, nasty creatures are said to live in the seas. Ents cannot drown in water since they completely consist of wood. Mountain chains- Brown '^' fields are massive and very high mountains. To travel these you need a climbing set or another item that gives you climbing abilities. Dwarves can intrinsically travel through mountains. In dungeons '^' rensemble solid structures of massive rock that reach nearly up to the top of the huge dungeon levels, climbing these is as hard as climbing mountains above ground. White '^' are extremely high mountain chains that cannot be climbed. Lava- Red dots '.' are shallow lava, which will do heat damage to your character in regular intervals. Red/orange/yellow '~' is deep lava, which deals a lot of heat damage. The fire damage lava inflicts might also destroy items in your inventory in case you're not immune to fire or at least double-resist fire - potions of resist heat are a cheap way to attain double resistance for a short time. (See (5.6) for more information about resistances, double resistance and (5.10) for details about item destruction by elemental effects.) Fountains- '_' are fountains. To drink from them use /sip command or press the '_' key. See (0.2) for more details. Nether mist- Violet dots designate nether mist. However, this usually only occurs in the Nether Realm, a place which is exclusively accessible to winners. Nether mist deals nether damage periodically, similar to how lava deals fire damage. Terrain features on the world map: ---------------------------------- Towns yellow 'T' Grassland green '.' Forest green '*' Dense forests dark grey '*' - danger of getting stuck (*) Swamps violet '%' Lakes are displayed as blue '~' fields on the world map. Rivers light blue '~' Coast areas yellow ',' Oceans blue '%' fields. - might be hard to traverse (***) Wasteland umber (bronze) '.' Mountains dark grey '^' - danger of getting stuck (**) Volcanos red '^' - danger of getting stuck (**) Deserts yellolw '.' Icy waste white '.' (*) You could get stuck in the trees if you enter such a sector; a digging tool or just using a sword or axe will allow you to hack down the trees relatively easily though to get you out of there. Note that flying also allows you to pass trees easily. (**) You might get stuck in there if you enter such a sector without being able to climb. Especially nasty in case of volcanos, since the fiery ground might burn your items. Use word-of-recall to get out of here. (***) If your backpack is too heavy for you to swim then it'll be a big hassle to try and cross deep water without drowning. In that case just get an item that allows you to fly and you'll be fine. (4.5) Towns, shops, the dungeons and dungeon bosses --------------------------------------------------- If you create a new character, it will start in 'Bree', a town located at position 32,32 on the world map (same position on all servers!). The world map however, ranging from 0,0 (bottom left corner) to 63,63 (top right corner), bears several other towns that you can find and explore. These towns often contain different shops (some are said to offer *Identify* service or even a cure to Black Breath) and harder dungeons. However, they might also be a very dangerous place to stay, compared to Bree. In general you can say the harder the local dungeon entrance of a town the more dangerous monsters can spawn within the town! Bree is the only town that contains just more or less harmless townsfolk. The worst are Khazad-dum and Lothlorien, if you go here be _very_ cautious. Monsters that appear here might look like harmless novice paladins or snagas but are in fact of a higher level and more powerful. Also, dangerous monsters can spawn in those towns: While Gondolin and Minas Anor can already have nasty Mindcrafters, Khazad-Dum and Lothlorien may also spawn the infamous Grand Swordsmasters which have killed many characters that went AFK outside the inns. However, it has been observed that people who figured out how to climb high mountains travelled to Khazad-dum despite their low level for a strange reason >:-). Even if you decide to stay in Gondolin, which is relatively harmless, don't go afk for a longer time or even a snaga archer might kill you with his ranged attacks. Always a nasty surprise.. Despite the hazards of higher level towns, towns in general act as a safe zone, preventing PK attacks and stop your character's food consumption, meaning that you cannot die by starvation while in town. Towns also put experience drain on hold, which is important for players wearing Nazgul Rings Of Power for example. Dungeon towns behave like normal towns in these regards. (4.5a) Shops ------------ Each town has several shops, displayed as numbers 1..9 and some '+'. The 1..9 are standard shops, namely.. 1 General Store Sells food, lanterns, ammunition, cloaks and shrooms. 2 Armoury Offers various basic armour. Rarely excellent pieces. 3 Weapon Shop Offers various basic weapons. Rarely excellent pieces. 4 Temple Player ghosts will be revived here, and receive some money. The temple also sells weapons for priests, and a selection of scrolls and potions. The temple priest will also attempt to cure, heal or feed you if you enter the temple in bad condition. Since 4.4.9 the temple also offers you to toggle 'Instant Resurrection', a new feature that is only available for everlasting players and will immediately resurrect a player at the temple when he dies, removing the need to wait for some higher level player to come and rescue him. In turn, the experience penalty will be 50% instead of the usual 35%. Insta-res also keeps all your items except for the usual chance to lose a few of them on death, which is the same as on normal deaths. However, the player will need to have enough cash to pay an instant resurrection fee when he dies, which is: Dungeonlevel * dungeonlevel * 10 + 10 gold pieces. The money is automatically deducted from the purse or the bank account as required. If the player does not have enough money in total then resurrection will fail and the player will remain a ghost in the dungeon as usual when not using instant resurrection. Instant resurrection does not work in no-ghost dungeons (ie ironman or hellish) and dungeon levels (ie floors where Morgoth is) or in the Nether Realm. 5 Alchemist Sells various scrolls and potions. 6 Magic Shop Sells wands, staves, rings and amulets. 7 Black Market Sells many different items, mostly very good ones. This shop is very expensive and buys for very little in return. Better not sell your items to this shop, as long as a regular store will pay you better. Some items cannot be sold elsewhere though. 8 The Inn In Bree it's The Prancing Pony. Inside the inn, players are relatively safe from monsters. 9 Book Store Sells books for istari, priests and all other (hybrid) magic users. Book stores in higher-level towns on average also tend to sell higher-level spells. + These are different everywhere. Some examples are mainly.. Mayor's Office (in Bree) Allows you to turn in deed parchments you won in tournaments or on other occasions for a reward. Also, you can receive a quest here (also see (4.13)). The Bank Several towns have a bank where you can deposit and withdraw money, so you won't lose it accidentally on a dungeon trip. Rune Repository Sells and buys runes used by Runemasters. Casino Minas Anor has a casino. Go and try your luck! (There are various gambling opportunities, and also the ancient board game 'Go' which can be played on a 9x9 board for a one-time fee on each difficulty level.) Mass Identify Service Will identify all items you currently carry for a fee. See (5.7) for more information about identification. *Identify* Service Will *identify* an item for a fee. See (5.7) for more information about ID, *ID*, shops! Herbal Healing Service Will cure black breath for a high fee. (See 1.5 for more information about Black Breath.) Morph Restoration Service Restores your form to normal in case you were polymorphed (for example by a potion of Chauve-Souris). Enchant Services These will enchant weapons, arrows, or all armour parts you currently have equipped. Mining Supply Store In the hazardous city of Khazad-Dum is a store that offers some goods found to be useful by the miners in the mountain depths. ..and various miscellaneous store services, of which some currently may not have an actual effect. Shops that buy and sell items will have a price limit that they will pay for an item a players wants to sell. The limit varies from 50,000 to 300,000 Au depending on the shop owner. The shop owners change regularly, if a shop makes you a bad offer (the cap price) just wait for the owner to change or visit a different shop. Shops in different towns are run by different owners although they may use the same number '1'..'9' and '+' for their entrance symbols. If the item is worth more than 300,000 Au maybe you can find a fellow player who is wealthy and in urgent need of your items. See (5.7) for more information about ID, *ID* and shops! (4.5b) Towns & town dungeons ---------------------------- Here is a list of towns and their corresponding local dungeons: NOTE: Minimum level requirements for entering are usually disabled in normal server settings, so you can enter any dungeon anytime, if you dare. Town |Depth/Level| Local dungeons | Depth/Level |Required |of the town| | of the local |player level |itself | | dungeon |for entering ------------+-----------+---------------------+------------------+------------ Bree | 0 ft/ 0|The Training Tower | +50..+100/ 1..2 | 1 | |Barrow-Downs | 50..1750/ 1..35 | 1 Gondolin |1000 ft/ 20|Mordor |1700..3300/34..66 | 15 Minas Anor |2000 ft/ 40|The Paths of the Dead|2000..3500/40..70 | 20 Lothlorien |3000 ft/ 60|Angband |3350..6350/67..127| 30 Khazad-dum |4000 ft/ 80|Angband |3350..6350/67..127| 30 To enter a dungeon your character must have the displayed minimum level. Otherwise you'll get a message like this "Suddenly you're grasped by an uncontrollable fear". The deeper you decend into the dungeons, the more the passing of time itself will be slowed down to make it easier to fight very fast monsters. By the time your character enters those depths, it should already have boosted speed so the slowdown won't bother you but come in handy. For example if you enter Mordor you will notice a slowdown to to approx. 1/2 standard time. See (4.14) for more information about the in-game time system. Some advice regarding towns and town dungeons can be found at (7.6). (4.5c) Dungeons --------------- This paragraph is about dungeons that don't belong to any town. For dungeons that belong to specific towns, see the paragraph 'Towns' above. The staircase colour of a dungeon indicates the dungeon type, compare (4.3). 'Depth/Level' describe a dungeon's starting level and final level. Depth is actually just a different way for expressing a dungeon floor level, so they're redundant: Each dungeon level corresponds to 50 ft. So for example Orc Cave starts at dungeon level 10 and ends at dungeon level 23 which means: The first floor (ie -50 ft) in The Orc Cave is the same difficulty level as the tenth floor (ie -500 ft) in the Barrow-Downs dungeon (which starts at level 1). Since The Orc Cave goes from level 10 to level 23 that means it has 14 floors, so its final floor will be -700 ft which is of the same difficulty level as -1150 ft Barrow-Downs (ie level 23). NOTE: Minimum level requirements for entering are usually disabled in normal server settings, so you can enter any dungeon anytime, if you dare. Dungeon | Depth* / Level | Min. required player | (*relative to Lv.1) | level to enter(**) -------------------------------+-----------------------+--------------------- Death Fate (***) | 50.. 50/ 1..1 | 1 The Halls of Mandos | 50..4900/ 1..98 | 1 The Orc Cave | 500..1150/ 10..23 | 3 Mirkwood | 550..1700/ 11..34 | 5 The Old Forest | 650..1300/ 13..26 | 5 The Helcaraxe | 1000..2050/ 20..41 | 10 The Sandworm lair | 1100..1500/ 22..30 | 12 The Heart of the Earth | 1250..1850/ 25..37 | 10 The Maze | 1250..1900/ 25..38 | 15 Cirith Ungol | 1250..2550/ 25..51 | 10 The Land Of Rhun | 1300..2050/ 26..41 | 13 Moria | 1500..2500/ 30..50 | 15 The Small Water Cave | 1600..1750/ 32..35 | 15 Submerged Ruins | 1750..2550/ 35..51 | 15 The Illusory Castle | 1750..2600/ 35..52 | 10 The Sacred Land Of Mountains | 2000..2250/ 40..45 | 20 Erebor | 2500..3050/ 50..61 | 35 Dol Guldur | 2850..3550/ 57..71 | 28 Mount Doom | 4250..5000/ 85..100 | 38 Nether Realm | 8300..9800/166..196 | 40 (****) (**) Minimum level requirements are usually disabled, so you can actually enter any dungeon you like at any character level. The official main server usually has one or several 'ironman' dungeons (see (4.8)), their entrances (stairs) waiting to be discovered by some bold explorers. Such custom dungeons appear as 'Wilderness' in the "Recall depths and Towns" list, and usually have no minimum required character level to enter. There may also be certain special dungeons, related to events or jails, that show up under according names in the list. (***) Death Fate: You cannot escape this dungeon, ever. Any character that enters it is fated to die to monsters (unlikely) or starvation (very likely). (****) Nether Realm details: -To enter the Nether Realm a player must carry the 'King'/'Queen' title, acquired by beating Morgoth, Lord of Darkness. -Each floor in the Nether Realm gives a +2% bonus to experience from monster kills. So hunting at -350ft in there will give a +14% exp bonus. (This bonus is actually multiplied by the usual floor boni, instead of added. So you will get even much more exp when hunting on a floor with a lot of 'bad' special flags.) -Note that the amount of experience is already very high even without this depth-bonus, since creatures in the Nether Realm are of a very high level. (4.5d) Dungeon bosses --------------------- Most dungeons have a dungeon boss at the final floor, which in most cases has a chance to drop a specific artifact. In most cases the chance to drop it is 1/3. The bosses have different probabilities to appear, but none of them is overly rare, so just reset the level a couple of times until you find the boss (by leaving the level, waiting for a little bit, then entering it again). Of course you can only find an artifact if it is currently not on the list of known artifacts ie if noone else is currently in possession of it. Even if you don't get an artifact, some of the dungeon bosses have 'DROP_GREAT' flag, which means you will usually get especially good loot from them. Here is a list of all dungeon bosses and the artifacts they are guarding: (Some names have been shortened to fit.) Dungeon, sorted by depth | Boss | Artifact -----------------------------+-----------------------+------------------------- The Training Tower | - | - Barrow-Downs | Wight-King | Stone of Lore Mordor | - | - The Paths of the Dead | Feagwath | Doomcaller Angband | - | - ------Non-town dungeons------+-----------------------+------------------------- Death Fate | - | - The Halls of Mandos | - | - The Orc Cave | Azog | - Mirkwood | - | - The Old Forest | Old Man Willow | Boomerang of Beor The Helcaraxe | White Balrog | Til-i-arc The Sandworm lair | Sandworm Queen | Armour of the Sandworm The Heart of the Earth | Golgarach | Anchor of Space-time The Maze | Minotaur | Helm of Hammerhand Cirith Ungol | Shelob | Sting The Land Of Rhun | Ulfang the Black | Careth Asdriag Moria | Balrog of Moria | Quarterstaff of Olorin The Small Water Cave | Watcher in the Water | Trident of Wrath Submerged Ruins | Ar-Pharazon | Toris Mejistos The Illusory Castle | King in Yellow | Helm of Knowledge The Sacred Land Of Mountains | T'ron | Coat of T'ron Erebor | Smaug | Nauglamir Dol Guldur | Shadow of Dol Guldur | Ring of the Durin Mount Doom | - | - Nether Realm | Zu-Aon | Ring of Phasing (4.6) Pits and vaults --------------------- Usually monsters are found on their corresponding depth. You can press ~7 to find out which monster occurs where. However there are some exceptions, where you can find monsters "out-of-depth" (ood), meaning that you will encounter way more powerful enemies than would usually occur on a particular depth. That can be very dangerous but also very rewarding. Out-of-depth monsters sometimes occur inside of so-called "pits" and very likely inside "vaults". Pits are large rooms, surrounded by a rectangle-shaped passage, containing monsters picked by a pit-specific criterium (troll pit, zoo pit...). Usually pits are very welcome means for gaining experience or items (like orc pits, troll pits, dragon pits), except for a few high-danger pits, such as jelly/mold/mimic pits, humanoid pits or undead pits (called 'graveyards'). Zoos (animal pits) can sometimes also be relatively dangerous. Vaults are (sometimes extremely large) fixed structures of rooms and passages, mostly surrounded by permanent walls that cannot be damaged. They are usually filled to the brim with traps and nasty monsters. Using means of trap detection and monster sensing allows you to spot vaults easily, if its wall structure or permanent walls (not all vaults have those) doesn't already give it away. Another very early indication for a vault on your dungeon level are the floor feelings displayed in yellow colour, see (4.8). A vault can be a real adventure of its own! If your character isn't very powerful compared to the dungeon level, you better stay out of vaults if their structure doesn't allow easy monster killing. Note that some monsters can destroy walls and thereby dig their way out of a vault, if they are awake. So in case of dangerous vaults you better stay at a distance or even leave the level. Besides pits and vaults, there are also special rooms with features inside, see 'Pit', 'Vault' or 'Room' in (0.4). (4.7) Traps & trap kits ----------------------- About traps: ------------ At the beginning you will encounter traps that can do little damage, some will decrease your stats temporarily, they are annoying but not a big danger. However, later on traps will become extremely nasty and you should either get a very high searching skill or make sure that you have staves, spells or scrolls that can detect traps. If you encounter a dangerous trap do not try to disarm it if you are not very sure that you can do it without setting it off, or if you don't at least know that setting it off won't have too bad effects (some traps aren't very harmful, so you can just keep trying to disarm them). If you manually disarm a trap (ie via the disarm command instead of relying on magic spells or magic devices that do the disarming for you) you will get a certain amount of experience points depending on the trap type; it can pay off to disarm a large patch of traps. Disarming traps will become an essential part of the gameplay later on. Vaults will have *lots* of traps and if you haven't got superior disarming skills (or wands of disarming / trap destruction) every single move of your character will have to be planned! This can be especially annoying and dangerous if there are multiplying or extremely tough monsters inside the vault. If your searching ability is 'Heroic' or 'Legendary' you will discover most traps instantly just by coming close to them without having to explicitely search for them. If you look at an object that is on an already detected trap, you will be notified about the trap by an ^ symbol in front of the item name and the trap type appended to it in { } brackets. It looks like this: ^ A potion of Constitution {Chaos Ball Trap} Trap symbols ('^') come in different colours. Here's an overview: blue stat traps (STR/INT/WIS/DEX/CON/CHR), in three difficulties: 1) only reduces an attribute temporarily, heals on its own. 2) reduces an attribute, requiring you to use restoration. 3) permanently reduces an attribute. Counter with stat potion. bright white teleport traps orange dungeon/trap rearrangment traps violet summoning traps yellow item-affecting traps red character status-affecting traps green elemental bolt traps light blue elemental ball traps light red arrow/bolt/dagger traps white miscellaneous traps About trap kits: ---------------- The 'Trapping' skill allows a player to set up 'monster traps'. A monster trap consists of -a trap kit -an item (or a stack of items) to load the trap kit. Each kind of trap kit requires different items serving as ammunition: Catapult Trap Kit - Sling ammo (fires with 2x base might). Arrow Trap Kit - Arrows (fires with 3x base might). Bolt Trap Kit - Bolts (fires with 4x base might). Fumes Trap Kit - Potions. The effects are very similar to the effects when throwing a potion at a monster, the trap will greatly increase the potion's effectiveness though, by generating a thick fume that envelops nearby creatues and possibly gets inhaled as well. Magic Trap Kit - Scrolls or runes. Even scrolls that are usually only used on other items might have effects on certain creatures. Device Trap Kit - Wands/Staves/Rods. The charges of wands and staves will be decreased by 1 each time the trap sets off. Rod-traps will have timeouts, same as the rod itself. A normal trap kit can be loaded with 1 item of the according ammo. After it went off (and is out of charges for device traps) you can pick up the trap kit to use it again. If it was a catapult/arrow/bolt trap kit you can often recover the ammunition too, in case it didn't break. (Magic ammo and artifact ammo never break). Trap kits can have special (ego) powers: (prefixes:) Automatic - Can set off up to 99 times, with a 20% chance each time of ceasing to function. Requires the according amount of ammo though, if it's not a device trap kit. Fully Automatic - Sets off up to 99 times. Requires the according amount of ammunition if it's not a device trap kit. Well-hidden - Makes it harder for monsters to spot the trap. Complicated - Trap gets an extra AC bonus, making it harder to disarm. Obvious - Curses the trap and makes it practically useless. (suffixes:) of Extra Might - fires with +x (bonus shown in round brackets) extra might. of Extra Shots - fires +x (bonus shown in round brackets) extra shots/round. for Dragons - Only triggers against dragons. Especially hard to spot. Fires extra shots. for Demons - Only triggers against demons. Especially hard to spot. Fires extra shots. for Animals - Only triggers against animals. Especially hard to spot. Fires extra shots. for Undead - Only triggers against undead. Especially hard to spot. Fires extra shots. May damage or destroy ghosts. for Evil - Only triggers against evil. Especially hard to spot. Fires extra shots. May damage or destroy ghosts. If monsters notice a trap they can try to disarm it: A pval (that's a number in round parentheses, eg (+2)) increases the trap's "stealth", making it well-hidden and therefore harder for monsters to notice. For trap kits that have XTRA_SHOTS flag, ie that fire more than 1 shot at once (you see "It fires missiles excessively fast." on *identifying* the trap kit), this value also determines the number of extra shots. The "armour class" bonus of a trap kit, given in brackets (eg [+8]) increases the trap's complexity, making it harder for monsters to disarm the trap. Trap kits and ammo that were disarmed by a monster cannot be recovered. You can disarm your own traps to get back the trap kit (and ammunition). Hints for quick and easy handling: ---------------------------------- It is a good idea to inscribe trap kits and their loads. For example you could inscribe all trapping-related items != so you will pick them up from the floor automatically when you want to retrieve trap kits that went off. Also you could inscribe the ammo/load items @m1 so you can macro them easily. In the macro wizard you could even make a macro that prompts you for which trap kit to use if you enter a blank line (just hit ENTER key) when it asks you which item you want to load a trap with. Last but not least when your trapper is low level and you pick up all sorts of bad potions you could make a macro to load a fumes trap kit with a potion inscribed @m1 . Now make another macro that lets you inscribe all the bad potions you pick up @m1 so you won't have to do that manually for each of them. That inscribing-macro could look like this: {-@m1\r where the '-' will cause the { inscribe command to prompt for inscription first and the item afterwards, effectively simply asking you to specify the item. (4.8) Dungeon, floor & vault feelings ------------------------------------- Dungeon feelings: ----------------- Dungeons that haven't been visited for a while will start giving a temporary experience bonus, until the game perceives them as 'well explored' again. If you enter such a rarely visited dungeon you will be notified about the experience bonus by one of these dungeon feelings, displayed in light umber: "This place has not been explored recently.": +7% experience gain. "This place has not been explored in a long time.": +13% experience gain. "This place has not been explored in ages.": +20% experience gain. These boni stack with boni from 'bad' (orange) floor feelings explained below. Floor feelings: --------------- Sometimes if you enter a new dungeon level your character will have a special feeling about it, called 'level feelings' or 'floor feelings', displayed in orange text. These feelings are as follows: "You feel an imminent danger!" -> This dungeon level is *way* higher than your character level. "You feel a suppressive air." -> You cannot use wraith form or probability travel on this level. (NO_MAGIC, +10% experience bonus!) "The air seems distorted." -> You cannot use genocide on this level! (formerly 'feeling of peace') (NO_GENO, +5% experience bonus!) "You lose all sense of direction..." -> You won't be able to auto-map this dungeon, meaning that you won't remember the dungeon layout. You can only see your nearby surroundings within your character's line of sight. (NO_MAP, +15% experience bonus!) "You feel like a stranger..." -> You cannot use magic mapping nor clairvoyance here! (NO_MAGIC_MAP, +10% experience bonus!) "The walls here seem very solid." -> The dungeon structure on this level is unaffected by *Destruction* or by earthquake magic. (NO_DESTROY, +5% experience bonus!) "You feel that your life hangs in the balance!" -> ** Extremely dangerous to normal/everlasting players! ** This only occurs on a level where Morgoth, Lord of Darkness resides, grasping the area with his untamable will to destroy. Players who die on this level will be completely extinguished and not even their ghost will survive! Everlasting and normal players will die the same way as unworldly and hellish ones! "You don't sense a magic barrier here..." -> This message only occurs in Ironman or no-recall dungeons/towers. It lets you know that you may use word-of-recall on this floor! (This message is displayed in green colour, not orange.) In addition to those orange level specialties, there are more feelings you may get about the danger a level poses. Those only appear if you spent some time (usually a few minutes) on the dungeon level you were coming from, so they won't be helpful while stair-scumming or probability-travelling quickly. (Exception: On RPG-rule servers these will always be displayed, since all dungeons are ironman and stair-scumming is not possible.) The number telling you the current floor's depth (or a town name if you're in a town) in the bottom right corner of the main window will turn light blue when you spent enough time on your current floor to receive an extra feeling on entering the next floor. These extra level feelings (displayed in yellow) are: "What a terrifying place.." means a) there's a highly ood monster (20..40 levels above floor level, with 40 actually being the maximum possible ood level shift, compare ood explanation in (0.4)) or b) a great vault and some ood monster (10..19 levels) on the level. If you receive this message it will in most cases also change the normal music theme of that dungeon to a special 'terrifying' music, making it easier to notice quickly. "You sense an air of danger.." means there's a freely roaming ood monster (10..19 levels) on the level, and also the level has a vault on it somewhere. "Feels somewhat dangerous around here.." means there's a vault or a rather dangerous monster pit or nest on the level. "There's a sensation of challenge.." means there's a freely roaming slightly ood monster (10..19 levels) on the level. "There's a special feeling about this place.." means there's a unique monster on the level. "What a boring place.." means nothing of the above apply to this level. Explanations: "Freely roaming" means that the monster isn't generated inside a vault. "Ood" means out of depth, ie a monster which is of higher level than the actual dungeon level it spawned on. Note that you will only get one, ie the strongest of these feelings applying to your dungeon level, meaning feelings higher up the list will take precedence over those below. Also, the feeling of a dungeon level only indicate its status at the very moment of the level being created initially! This means the feeling will persist, even if its cause is removed or changed. For example if the feeling indicates an OOD monster and you kill it, you or following players entering that floor will still get that same feeling. Or if a powerful monster spawns later on on an initially "boring place" level, it'll remain to feel like a boring place, despite the new monster that might actually make it pretty non-boring now.. Vault feelings: --------------- Vaults can also bear a very dangerous feature that is displayed as dark grey feeling as soon as you are about to enter the vault: "The air in here feels very still." -> Means that you cannot use any type of teleportation, including word-of- recall while inside the vault. Beware! Further, Wraith Form and probability travel won't work either! The fact that you are standing within a no-tele area is also indicated by your (xx, yy) position display on the lower left area of the main window turning from light green to dark grey! Also, the music will in most cases change from the normal theme of that dungeon to the same music played on 'terrifying' levels, for easier notice. As soon as you leave such a no-teleport-vault you'll receive this feeling: "Fresh air greets you as you leave the vault." (4.9) Navigating on maps ------------------------ The world map is divided into 64 x 64 world map sectors. Each of these sectors contains 5 x 5 smaller subsectors (screens). Dungeon levels or tower floors also can have up to 5 x 5 subsectors, same as 1 world map sector. (Use 'L' key to look around your current worldmap sector/dungeon level, and you will see the subsector coordinates displayed at the top line.) Monsters cannot cross world map sector borders! Keep this in mind while travelling, it might save your life. Note that dungeon/tower levels are often smaller than 5 x 5 subsectors, sometimes even just as small as 2 x 2. While you are looking around with 'L' key, the current map sector is displayed in the top left corner of the screen. This information can help other players to find you in case you need help! You can press 'M' to invoke a map that gives you a larger overview. If you press 'M' in a dungeon, tower or a town, you'll see the complete 4 x 4 sectors. If you invoke the map while you're in the wilderness outside of towns, you will see a part of the 64 x 64 world map, centered around your current world map sector, displaying towns (yellow T), the sea (blue %), mountains (^) and other information (compare (4.4)). If you want to see the world map while in town or in a dungeon, press ~ key and choose "Wilderness map". In the main window around the very bottom left corner you will see two numbers separated by a komma, these tell you your current world map sector. In case you're currently in a town, the town's name will be displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen. (You can also see your coordinates by invoking the character screen with 'C'.) If you're in a dungeon or tower, you will see your current depth/height in feet. Each dungeon level or tower floor has a height of 50 feet. Example: If it shows '-550ft' that means you've descended to the 11th level of the dungeon. The deeper you go, the more nasty monsters will show up. Negative depths in dungeons and positive heights in towers mean identical monster difficulties. Example: In Bree there's a tower and a dungeon. In the 2nd tower floor on 100ft you will usually find the same monsters as in the dungeon on level -100ft (2nd dungeon level). (4.10) Houses ------------- There are two types of houses, private houses and (very few) public houses. Public houses have walls of slate colour, while private houses have white walls. Public houses always have a light brown house door and can be entered by anyone, they cannot be bought. Private houses can actually be bought by a player, and their access can be configured for example to allow everyone in your party to enter it. Press 'h' to buy or sell a private house, or to change house parameters (for example giving all your party members access to it). You need to stand directly next to the house door to do this. The door colour of private houses will indicate the door permissions, ie which players may access it: -a light brown house door indicates that the house is currently unowned (so you can buy it if you have sufficient funds). -a light green house door indicates that you are the owner. -a grey door indicates that this house is already owned by someone and you don't have access to it. -a light blue door indicates that you may access this house because it's set to party access for your party. -a violet door indicates that you may access this house because you're in the same guild as the owner, ie the house is set to 'guild access'. (Note: Guild access is currently disabled.) -a yellow door indicates that you will have access to this house, as soon as your level matches the level restriction set by its owner. Houses with party access allow further restrictions. Those are: -a white door indicates that the door has a race and/or class restriction, and you may access it because you match the race/class of the owner. -an orange door indicates that you don't match a race/class restriction. -a light red door indicates that access is restricted to either winners (Kings/Queens/Emperors/Empresses) or to fallen winners (winners who died and thus lost their title), and you may access it because you match the condition. -a red door means that you fail to match above restriction. (Note: The restrictions 'winners' and 'fallen winners' can be applied together when setting house door restrictions. In that case, they will require anyone who wants to enter to be either winner or fallen winner.) -a dark grey door means that this house may only be accessed by no-ghost characters, that means either unworldly or hellish. If you forgot which houses you own, type ~6 or use the /houses command to see a list of your houses. The house owner can always access his house and cannot lock himself out by setting restrictions. The door will always be displayed light green to him. Note: The colour of house walls and doors are affected by day/night, so in the night the colours will not be accurate but darker, until you come close enough that the door is within your lamp's light radius. Special gimmick: You can press 'h' or use the /paint command to paint your house, see the "/paint" command in (0.2) for more information. WARNING: Items on the floor within a house don't form piles! If you drop too many items and space in the house runs out the dropped item may just disappear! (4.10a) Player stores --------------------- Players can turn their houses into stores, which run automagically even while they aren't logged on. Other players can enter your store and buy items, but not sell any. You will receive cheques that you can turn in for money by simply reading them with 'r' key, same as scrolls. You can also 'I'nspect them. The prices customers will see listed when they enter your store are at least as high as twice of the item's base value (or in other words half of normal Black Market price, except that prices in player stores do not depend on race or charisma). You can further increase an item's price by inscribing it, if you like: To turn a house into a player-store, simply put an item in it that carries the @S inscription. This inscription means that this item will be put up for sale in your store. (Press '{' key to inscribe an item, '}' to remove an inscription.) As soon as a house contains at least one item inscribed this way, if a player who does not have access to the house tries to open the door, he will be presented with a store screen where he can buy those inscribed items. If you want to set a higher price than the default price, you can inscribe the item with the price like this: @S20000 This will ask for 20000 gold, provided the minimum price isn't actually higher. Instead of setting a price, you can also add to the base price, by using the following inscription syntax: @S+10000 This will add 10000 gold to the default price that is asked for. Note that if you want to put up items with inscriptions longer than just the store-part, you need to terminate the store inscription with a dot. Examples: Hello@S10000.Customer @S.Good stuff This item will appear in your store with an inscription "HelloCustomer". The "S@..." part is always omitted. This way, you can add short notes to the items you offer. You can use 'k' and 'M' to denote a multiplier of thousand and million respectively: @S3k will sell for 3000, @S1M will sell for 1000000. If you want to display items that are not for sale, eg create a 'museum', you can inscribe the items @S- which will make them unsellable, yet they will be on display on your store. If another player buys your item, there will be a 10% fee that is cut from your profits. The rest of the price the customer paid will be imprinted into a cheque. This cheque is then placed into an available spot in that house. To turn a cheque into money, simply press 'r' to read it like you would read a scroll. You can also 'I'nspect a cheque to find out how much it's worth. There are two types of cheques: Normally, if an item or a whole pile is bought by someone, the item or pile will simply be replaced with a cheque accordingly, for you to withdraw. If however the customer buys only part of a pile of items, then another type of cheque will be used, called 'mass cheque' which uses one extra slot in your house and combines all sales of partial piles of items. While normal cheques are inscribed with details of the item that was sold, mass cheques only say 'various piled items' or something similar. So if you offer piles, make sure that you have at least one free space in your house, or you will lose the cheque! Usually, player stores may only pop up if a player doesn't have access to that house door. If you want to test your own player store though, you can just press 'h' key or use the /pstore command when standing next to your house door (see (0.2)). To indicate that your house is a player store, you can use 'h' key or the "/paint" command to paint your house entrance for other players to see! Please see (0.2) for more information about painting. (4.11) Malicious effects players can suffer -------------------------------------------- The player can suffer from various effects caused by monsters, traps or himself. Against several of these effects the 'Saving Throw' ability helps to decide whether it will be resisted or not (especially true for effects that are cast by monsters on the player). The various effects are: For 'Fear', 'Blindness', 'Confusion' and 'Paralysis' - please see (5.6). Hunger -Gorged Your speed gets reduced by 10. -Full While being /afk in 'Full' state or in normal state (normal = no food state is displayed, the 'Full' disappeared), your digestion will be stopped, allowing you to remain afk as long as you wish. -Hungry -Weak (yellow) -Weak (orange) -Weak (red) You lose hit points and get paralyzed even with FA. (starving) If you hit a bowel cramps trap, you instantly enter this nutrition state. 'Slow Digestion' will help to not get insta-paralyzed! You will regenerate hit points slower if you are weak, and not at all if you are starving (red 'Weak'). Slowdown Monsters can cast spells or breathe (inertia, gravity) to slow the player down. This effect is temporary. 'Free Action' helps a bit to reduce the effect from inertia breath. Stun -Stun Reduces to-hit and to-dam. Reduces your martial arts damage (because you cannot perform MA special styles while stunned). Reduces chance for successful spell-casting. Prevents you from intercepting a monster (see (6.2) 'Interception' skill). Reduces chance to block or parry. -Heavy stun Greatly reduces to-hit and to-dam. Reduces your martial arts damage (because you cannot perform MA special styles while stunned). Greatly reduces chance for successful spell-casting. -Knocked out You cannot perform any action while knocked out, it leaves your character completely helpless. Beware! High AC helps to prevent it, see (5.11). Note that AC only helps against melee-based stun (most famous monster is probably "The Stormbringer"), while stun from sound attacks can only be prevented by having sound resistance. Cut Cuts will make you lose HP continuously. (Graze, Light cut, Bad cut, Nasty cut, Severe cut, Deep gash, Mortal wound) Poison -Poisoned The player will continuously lose Hit Points. Resisting poison will prevent the player from getting poisoned (compare (5.6)). (4.11a) Drain effects --------------------- Apart from the effects listed above which are indicated in the status bar at the bottom of the main window, there are three 'drain' effects that can occur. These can be caused by items, monsters or terrain, and are: Experience drain ('Drains your life force') Having 'Hold Life' does not protect against this. If you equip multiple items that drain experience, the total drain will diminish with each further item though instead of adding up, so for example using two rings of power will be less severe than than one might expect. If experience drain hits the threshold for your current character level, it will not drain any further, so you cannot lose a level from it. Beware however, that you are not hit by another life draining effect that lowers your experience further below the level threshold, or the experience drain will kick in again. Experience drain is on hold while you are in town areas, this includes dungeon towns. All the rings of power that are dropped by Nazgul drain experience (and turn you invisible). Mana drain ('Drains your magic') Drains your mana pool. Hit point drain ('Drains your hit points') Drains your hit points down to zero, then stops. This means that this effect won't kill you, but can make it extremely risky to go AFK in an unsafe place. Well, going AFK in an unsafe place can kill you anyway. HP drain stacks and is given by: -Items that just drain your HP -Items that have strong good powers and you use them as a Vampire -The sun, when it's day and you're a Vampire and out in the open without a protective mummy wrapping -Monster forms that provide wall-passing (wraith form) -Being entombed in walls, ie stuck without the ability to pass through them HP drain can be countered by HP regeneration, which can be gained from: -'Regeneration' ability (which is a flag, ie one source providing it is enough and having more than one regen source won't increase the effect), gained from items or as racial/form bonus -Health skill -Holy Curing school bonus -Nature school spell -Biofeedback from fire stones which all stack too. Also see (5.17) for how these drain effects stack or may be cancelled out. (4.12) Malicious effects monsters can suffer --------------------------------------------- Monsters can be affected by similar effects as players. Those are: Fear, blindness, confusion, sleep, slowing, and stun. Note (except for 'stun' effect): There are basic spells or magic devices that don't do anything except trying to cause one of these effects directly, for example a 'wand of slow monsters' or the spell 'scare'. It is important to know that unique monsters are always unaffected by these basic spells. Other monsters have a chance to resist, depending on their level vs the power (level) of the spell. Effect details: --------------- Fear is a temporary effect, causing the monster to flee. Many monsters turn afraid if their hit points drop very low. Wears off after a while. Blindness and confusion are currently the same thing, resulting in erratic movements and being unable to cast spells or attack. Usually only low level monsters are prone to these. They are temporary effects that wear off after a while. Sleep is especially nice if it's cast as an area effect. Gets you out of trouble, although most higher monsters are immune to it. Monsters will wake up after a while, depending on your stealth. Sleep effects are NOT cumulative. Slowing on monsters is currently a permanent effect. Very effective, although many higher monsters are immune to it. Also, it is currently cumulative (subject to change) and can be applied several times, although monsters might resist. Stun (Note that "stunned" and "dazed" are the same thing.) Stun can be caused by special martial art attacks among other things. Stunned monsters have a harder time to successfully cast spells or hit you in melee combat. Also monsters cannot interfere with your actions while they are stunned. Many monsters are immune to stun, but also many monsters - even of high level - are not. Monsters can also be heavily stunned or knocked out, same as players. Stun is temporary and will wear off, if no new stun effect is applied. (4.13) Quests and Events ------------------------ Your character will have uncounted opportunities to participate in quests and events. While some events might be run by server admins or even fellow players and depend on their mood and spare time, other events are created by the game independent of admin intervention. Some events will require you to have zero experience in order to participate. The maximum experience your character ever accumulated counts for this, so make sure you don't gain even 1 point of experience before the event starts! The following actions may reward 1 XP without you noticing: -Eating a bad food ration. -Picking a lock. -Transferring items or money from another player to you. -Picking up/earning more than 300 gold pieces (IDDC-exclusive characters are unable to pick up ny gold at all, and in turn start out with 300 extra). Use the /ex command to see how much more gold you may pick up Killing townspeople in Bree however will not give you any experience. Stay clean! Here is a list of currently implemented automatic quests and events: Quests ------ Kill quest To receive a kill quest, visit the major in the town hall (one of the '+' doors in town), or simply type "/quest" in the chat. There is a certain time limit which in most cases is easily sufficient, especially if you have the according ESP ability. The time limit is actually two 'in-game days', which in real time lasts somewhat above two hour. (See (4.14) for more information about the in-game time system.) The time will continue to run out even while you're not logged on. If you fulfil the kill quest you received, you will be rewarded with a good or great item, depending on the difficulty (monster level) and chance. The item does not depend on your race, class, skills or luck in any way, it's completely random. If you fail to complete your quest, the quest will be dropped and you can just get a new one if you want to. There is no penalty. Events (use /evinfo and /evsign commands to get information and to sign up) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Highlander Tournament This is an event rather than a quest. When you see a message, announcing a Highlander Tournament, type "/evinfo" in the chat to find out more, and use "/evsign" followed by the event number to sign up for participation. It's a deathmatch with 10 minutes of preparation time, and only newly created characters with 0 experience may join it. The winner will receive a deed that can be 'r'ead, and turned in at Bree's Mayor Office for either an item that fits the needs of the character (it checks which skills you have trained to determine the item), or the deed can be turned in for a temporary luck boost. Usually you will want the item. However, you can trade the deed to someone else, who can then go and redeem it for luck for that character of his. All losers will also receive a deed on the next character they log in with which can be turned in for a small temporary luck bonus. For details about luck see LUCK flag in (5.8). Arena Monster Challenge The wizards of Arena Monster Challenge (tm) have prepared a spectacular event on the top floor of Bree's training tower, which will allow any Joe and Jane to experience top-notch fights against creatures that usually pose lethal threat. In this illusonary arena, players will experience a fight that seems absolutely real, but they won't suffer any consequences if they lose, ie 'die'. Test your might against any foe you always wanted to challenge but never dared in real dungeoneer's life! It's also possible to challenge ego monsters (such as veteran archers or holy animals). The arena corners are safe zones and allow for spectating. Note that you cannot die or suffer various hazardous effects in the arena, and monsters cannot summon. Hint: If you want to spice a monster up, try the /scream command while it's in your line of sight. Note: Be careful about monsters that can disarm you. If your weapon drops to the floor right the moment the event finally ends, you will lose it because everyone gets teleported to town automatically and the arena is removed (and your weapon with it). Apart from that, inventory and equipment cannot be damaged/destroyed or disenchanted in this event. Miscellaneous challenges ------------------------ There are certain other challenges that neither really count as quests nor as events: Ironman Deep Dive Challenge (IDDC) There is exactly one designated huge ironman dungeon (or tower) on each server, normal one and rpg server, which is 127 levels in size and does not allow recalling in between, except for two 'dungeon towns' which will always occur at dungeon level 40 and 80 respectively. If you recall at such a town it calls as withdrawing from the challenge and you won't make it on the leaderboard that can be viewed at the mayor's office in Bree. (Note that 'IDDC-exclusive' characters can NOT recall out at static towns. If they try, they are just 'killed by indetermnation' and erased.) Since you cannot recall out aside from these two towns, except if you reach the 127th floor of the dungeon, it is extremely likely that you will die before making it through all those floors. So this dungeon serves as a challenge of how far you can make it before death! The level reached will be recorded in the mayor's office in Bree ('n' key inside the office, to view the records). To provide some more support, this dungeon will have additional 'dungeon town levels' occur at random. It is NOT possible to generate a random dungeon town by logging out and back in later after the level has been reset. Monsters cannot spawn in dungeon towns. In each 1000ft interval (-450..+500) around the peak points of 1k,2k,3k,4k there can be only one (random) town at a time. Random towns cannot spawn before dungeon level 18 and not after dungeon level 99. They remain static for only 5 minutes after logging out or dying. All other floors will remain static for at most 10 minutes. Also, starting at dungeon level 8, a hidden library may appear randomly (that's a book store with a red '9' for entrance), allowing you to purchase magic spells you might be missing. Inside the challenge dungeon you can acquire a kill quest via /quest command at level 1 already, instead of the usual minimum level of 5. Players in the IDDC receive a 20% experience gain bonus in addition to the usual experience bonus all ironman dungeons provide. Since you cannot recall out before reaching the 127th floor (or in one of the static towns), in case you need to go offline you'll just have to log out inside the dungeon. Keep in mind that your character will stay in the game for about 30 more seconds during which it could be killed if in an unsafe place. Dungeon towns in general are free of any monster spawns. Mimicry users gain +1 extra kill credit on each kill, effectively learning forms twice as fast. Everlasting and non-everlasting characters can team up and trade items while they are inside the ironman deep dive dungeon. Level requirements on items are not in effect while inside the ironman deep dive challenge either. If the party leader dies inside the IDDC, the party isn't disbanded but ownership of the party is transferred to another party member. (Same as on RPG server.) NOTE: The Deep Dive dungeon requires your character to have zero experience points in order to be eligible to enter. To fulfil that requirement you may not collect more than 300 Au (gold pieces) or pick up any items or money of other players. Also, if you eat a ration of food and you are unlucky enough that it's gone bad you will get 1 xp for that. Use the /ex command to see how much more gold you may pick up. If you log out in the IDDC and log back on before the level has changed, you can continue business as usual. However, if you log off and wait until the level has reset, then the level will be "stale" for you, the next time you log on, which will prevent you from getting any experience, items or gold until you move on by taking a staircase to the next floor. Monsters cannot spawn 'live' in the IDDC, but only at the time of creation of each dungeon floor. Summon staves cannot be recharged in the IDDC. NOTE: If you use stolen enchant scrolls on an item while you are in a town, then the item will get a 100% off discount. If you want to use stolen scrolls to enchant your items and keep the items sellable, then you have to take the staircase to leave the town, and read the scrolls in an actual dungeon level instead. If you make a 'slot-exclusive' IDDC character, it will start out with 300 extra gold, and in turn automatically be unable to pick up any more gold or items of other players, and it won't get experience from eating bad food either. Monsters cannot spawn in the wilderness sector of the dungeon, so you can just idle at the entrance, waiting for team mates. Seasonal events --------------- At certain times of the year, some seasonal events will occur for a couple of days each. The exact time of the day when they start can vary depending on your time zone, even a date difference of +/-1 day is possible for that reason: Halloween Running from 30th October to the end of 1st November. The server will recall all players (20 minutes ahead warning will be displayed) and restart. After that, Halloween is live and costumes can be found and stored costumes can be worn again. Townspeople will actually give experience (!) but also have a fear-causing 'touch' attack. They can't really harm you, though. Randomly, the Great Pumpkin will appear on dungeon levels, either with low or medium or high amount of hit points, depending on the location. The event is aiming at intermediate-level characters. The pumpkin always spawns shallower than dungeon level 40. Players who are too high level (above 35 on main, above 40 on RPG) will not be able to hunt him, for the others he will still be tough and might require teamwork. The Great Pumpkin does not cause any damage but still has a few annoying spells at its disposal. It is level 127 and therefore can drop any item in the game, and usually drops very good. Please share fairly. ;) When a player defeats the Great Pumpkin, everyone will get a message about it. The Great Pumpkin will start randomly respawning again some time later. Also it will stay night on the world's surface until Halloween ends. Christmas Running from 24th December to 25th December. The server will recall all players (20 minutes ahead warning will be displayed) and restart, after which the event is live. During christmas, costumes can be worn again and you might even find Santa Claus costumes. Also, Santa Claus will spawn in town and drops great stuff when you uh.. kill him. :) New year's eve Running from 31st December to 1st January. Fireworks will be launched into the sky of the town of Bree. (4.14) In-game time system -------------------------- Two time systems are relevant for the players' game experience: -real time (you can check the server's time with /time command by the way) -in-game 'turns' Events for example are usually measured in real-time, ie /evinfo command will return information that mentions minutes and seconds. This is, because event information is 'out-of-game' information that is supposed to inform the player, not the character played. Most other things in-game are measured by the passing of 'game turns'. Before explaining more about them, I'd like to interject that there is a second meaning to the term 'turns' in the game, which is used to describe frames of the game engine, usually running at 60 fps internally. Instead of just calling those internal processing steps 'frames' as would be precise, unfortunately they are also called 'turns'. But those 'frame-turns' aren't what we'll be talking about here, since they don't matter to the players at all. The only place players will ever come in contact with frame-turns unfortunately is the high score board, which should probably really be changed to either 'in-game' turns or just to real days/hours/minutes, which make more sense. So, how do game turns work? They measure the time experienced by characters and monsters. For example if you are poisoned then you will see your hit points ticking down. This is done once each turn, so it will allow you to observe how long a turn actually lasts in real time. Same for lamp fuel: It runs out by -1 each turn. The speed of characters and monsters also depends on game turns: A creature moving at +0 speed can move once per game turn, while creatures at higher speed may move several times per game turn, and of lower speed only once in several game turns, depending on the exact speed. Note that +SPEED is actually not linear in in-game time! To find out how often your character can really move per game turn, use the /ex command. You will find that increasing your speed more and more will yield somewhat diminishing returns on the amount of actions your character can actually perform per turn. An special thing about game turns is that their passing depends on the dungeon level your character is on! A turn in Bree, ie on the world surface, will last like about 1/2..2/3 seconds. (You can for example observe the passing of turns if you watch your light source losing fuel and hit CTRL+R to refresh the display and thereby take measure points). In the dungeon however, the time will pass slower. The deeper you are, the slower game turns will pass in real-time. For example if you enter Mordor, you might feel as if your character only moves at half his usual speed. This is because each in-game turn is slowed down quite much on dungeon level 34, which corresponds to the floor at Mordor -50 ft. The reason for this is that higher level monsters usually move faster than lower level monsters. This would make the game more and more dangerous to play, since your reaction times would need to be *very* short. Actually much shorter than is feasible. To counter that, the whole time itself is just slowed down on deeper levels, to allow you to react more easily. Day/night change: In the game there is day and night. Vampires burn if they move around in day light without either a protective wrapping or an item that provides resistance to light. Wanderers in the wilderness in turn would rather prefer day light in order to locate the entrance to that dungeon they are looking for. The in-game day time can be checked with /ex chat command too. Usually a whole day (day + night, ie full 24h in-game time cycle) will last for slightly more than one hour real time. The sun will usually rise at around 6am, while night falls at around 7pm. Again use the /ex command to see the in-game time for your character. Quests (see (4.13)) usually have a time limit of two full in-game days, so you will have about 2.5 h to fulfil them. (5) Item and monster details ============================ (5.1) Melee weapons, brands --------------------------- One of TomeNET's features is the "auto-retaliator". This means, if an enemy enters a field that is adjacent to you, you will automatically attack the foe with your equipped melee weapon. This is helpful against lags as well as for preventing RSI ;) - for details about auto-retaliation please see (4.1a). Melee weapons have at least three stats, it's 'damage dice', 'to-hit' and 'to-damage'. 'To-hit' helps you actually not miss an enemy, 'to-dam' increases the damage. The 'damage dice' shows how many dice are added to calculate the random damage you inflict on an enemy as you hit! Example: Broad Sword (2d5) (+3,+4) This means, your chance to hit is a bit increased (+3) and you will inflict a damage of: 2 dice with 5 sides each, to the result +4 is added. So the damage you inflict will randomly vary from 6 (1+1+4) up to 14 (5+5+4) meaning that you do an average damage of 10 per hit with that weapon ([6+14]/2 = 10). A very important thing about melee weapons is that, depending on your strength and dexterity as well as the weight of your melee weapon, you might be able to deliver more than just one blow per round with it! For example a warrior might be able to swing his "Broad Sword (2d5) (+0,+0)" one time per round, delivering 2*(1..5) damage. The 'd' means dice, so it's like throwing 2 dice with 5 sides each and adding their values to estimate the damage you inflicted on the victim. Now if that warrior equips a light whip which weighs only 3 pounds (the broad sword weighs 15 pounds) he might get 2 or even 3 swings per round! Since a whip does 1d6 damage, he would deal (assumed he got 2 hits) 2* 1*(1..6) damage, which in total is more damage per round than he would deliver using the broad sword! Let's compare what happens if the warrior magically enchants the damage of both weapons, using "Scrolls of Enchant Weapon To-Dam" (these scrolls can be bought in shop '5'). One of these scrolls can enchant a weapon so one extra point is added to the damage dice after they have been added. If we manage to enchant the damage of the broad sword 9 times, the weapon will look like this: "Broad Sword (2d5) (+0,+9)" That means after 2 dice with 5 sides each have been added up, there will be further 9 points of damage added to the result! Broad Sword 2d5 (+0,+9) 1 blow per round --> 1* [ 2*(1..5) + 9 ] damage --> 2*((1+5)/2) + 9 average damage which is 15 per round. Whip 1d6 (+0,+9) 2 blows per round --> 2* [ 1*(1..6) + 9 ] damage --> 2* [ 1*(3,5) +9 ] --> 2*12,5 = 25 damage per round! Far more than with the broad sword. As you can see, the additional damage caused by enchantment will be added to the dice result. If you manage to get your hands on an item that imbues your melee weapon with an elemental brand (like a Ring Of Ice for example), the dice of your weapon will be multiplied by 2 if the target doesn't resist that brand. See (5.3) to get an easy overview. Characters using weapons have a limited number of melee attacks per round, depending on the character class . A table showing the blows/round limits is at section (6.5). There are four different classes of melee weapons, swords/daggers, blunt weapons, axes, polearms. You may examine a weapon by pressing 'I' to see its base class. Those again are divided into four sub-classes each: Single-handed, forced two-handed, should-be-wielded-two-handed, may-be-wielded-two-handed. If you examine ('I') a weapon, it will tell you if it belongs to one of the latter three sub-classes: "It must be wielded two-handed" (MUST2H) "It should be wielded two-handed" (SHOULD2H) "It may be wielded two-handed" (COULD2H) While smaller melee weapons require only 1 hand to use them, some larger weapons need 2 hands. Using a shield together with those is not possible. Some larger weapons that should be used two-handed can also be used single-handed, but you will receive penalties to to-hit and to-dam bonus if you use it that way. Look at your character screen ('C') to compare the to-hit/to-dam boni and see if it's worth it. You'll see a warning message "You find it hard to fight with your weapon and shield.". Medium weapons which 'may' be used two-handed won't give malus if used single-handed, but you might get more blows per round if you wield them with both hands! Again check your character screen ('C') to spot any difference. You'll see "Without shield, your weapon feels especially easy to swing.". Depending on weapon weight, your strength and your dexterity, sometimes you get more blows/round from it, sometimes you don't. If you try to wield a weapon that is too heavy for your character, meaning your 'STRength' stat isn't high enough yet, you'll get a warning message: "You have trouble wielding such a heavy weapon". This means you won't get any benefits from your 'Weaponmastery' skill, nor any extra blows per round at all, instead you'll be stuck with 1 blow/round. Also, you'll be more prone to disarming attacks. Similar is possible for shields. If you try to use a shield which is too heavy for you, you'll get another warning message: "You have trouble wielding such a heavy shield". That means you will hardly be able to deflect anything, and also you'll get less Armour Class increase from it than it usually provides. Even if your shield has magical reflection ability, you won't be able to utilize it. Your character might have a chance to parry attacks with his weapon and block attacks with his shield, provided he uses one. For more details about class-specific ability to utilize weapons and shields for parrying and blocking, see (6.5), for more details about parrying and blocking in general see (6.11). In general, the bigger a weapon the more you may parry, while the bigger a shield the more you will block! Last but not least, training "Weaponmastery" skill will also increase your parry chance a good deal. (5.1a) Melee weapon types ------------------------- As mentioned previously, there are four weapon classes: Swords, axes, blunt weapons, polearms. You may wonder which one to choose and why. In general, if your character is especially skilled at one of the four masteries you might want to pick that one to save skill points. Also, priests cannot use edged weapons that aren't 'blessed' (a special magical property, ie ego-power), so they'll usually use blunt weapons only. However, if you have a choice or don't care about a few skill points more, you may want to consider the following table to help you make a decision: Type 1h/1.5+2h abundance 2h top damage/weight ------------------------------------------------------ Swords very high / medium medium / medium Axes medium / medium high / heavy Blunt medium / high high / very heavy Polearms low / high high / medium For example if you stick with dual-wielding two weapons, you might want to go with swords and definitely not with polearms, since there are a lot of 1h swords, and very few 1h polearms. In-game you can press 'I' (or 'x' if inside a store) to examine an item. Even if you haven't *identified* it, it will still tell you the weapon class the item belongs to, if it is a weapon. (5.2) Ranged Weapons, brands ---------------------------- Ranged weapons are not to be underestimated, they can be very powerful. Especially characters with low Hit Points will love them since approaching hordes can be killed at a distance or at least driven back, so they won't come close and hit the player with devastating blows. It is recommended that you equip a ranged weapon as soon as possible, and enchant its 'to-damage' to at least +7 ! Ranged weapons have to-hit and to-dam like melee weapons, but instead of dice they have a 'multiplier'. Example: Ranged weapon is: Long Bow (x3) (+0,+5) Ammunition is: 65 Arrows (1d4) (+0,+2) If you shoot an arrow, it will inflict ( 1d4 +2 +5 ) * 3 damage on the victim. The dice of the arrow varies from 1 up to 4, so we can do a damage of 24 up to 33, so the average damage is 28,5. We can see here that ranged weapons can do a lot of damage :) Ranged weapons will be placed in equipment slot 'c)'. After you equipped one, you need to also equip ammunition that will be used. For example if you use a long bow, you need to fill your quiver with some arrows. (w)ield the arrows, and they will be placed into equipment slot 'm)', the ammo slot. A macro that shoots at the target closest to you, looks like this: *tf- Explanation in case you really want to know: * means entering targetting mode and choosing nearest target, t means exiting target mode and remember currently selected target, f means fire, - means to aim at previously acquired target if it's valid and otherwise to cancel the action. To automatically pick up your arrows simply inscribe them: != To inscribe an item press '{' key, to remove an inscription press '}'. Ranged weapons can also auto-retaliate, that means you will fire automatically at targets on sight. See (4.1a) for details about auto-retaliation. However, auto-retaliating with a ranged weapon works only if the enemy stands on an adjacent field, so use 'fire-till-kill' mode in general! The dice of ammunition are also effected by brands and slays same as normal weapons but the additional damage is reduced to 2/5. Example: Ring of Acid will usually add 1x your melee base damage (weapon dice). For ranged weapons it will add 1*2/5x of your base damage (arrow dice), so multiply the average arrow dice result by 1.4 instead of by 2 to get your total damage output. See (5.3) to get an easy overview. If you try to wield a ranged weapon that is too heavy for your character, meaning your 'STRength' stat isn't high enough yet, you'll get a warning message: "You have trouble wielding such a heavy bow". That means you'll get neither any benefits from your 'Archery' skill nor from any particular ranged mastery (extra shots!) at all when using that weapon. Note: +damage bonus from other items besides the ranged weapon itself or the ammunition it uses will not be added to ranged attacks, while +hit bonus will. This means for example that 'a Ring of Slaying (+10,+12)' will add +10 to both your melee hit chance and your ranged hit chance, but the +12 damage will only be added to your melee damage, not your ranged. Also see 'Armour weight (concerning ranged weapons)' further below in (5.5) for details about how wearing armour affects your ranged weapon accuracy. (5.2a) Fire-till-kill mode ---------------------------- Accessible via 'm' key, you can switch 'fire-till-kill' mode on or off. While enabled, your character will keep firing a ranged weapon (ie a weapon in your 'shooter' equipment slot) once you initiated the first shot until the target either dies or direct firing at it becomes impossible/obstructed for any reason. The main use besides making ranged weapon usage more relaxed is that you are able to single out enemies you want to kill of big monster packs such as escorts. Fire-till-kill mode also works with spells and runes, same as with ranged weapons, except it may stop under additional conditions such as having no more mana or other effects that render you 100% unable to cast spells. While it will also stop if your spell requires a clear line of sight and would (while travelling to the target) hit other monsters on the way, some spells which don't travel to their destination but arrive instantly (most notably ball spells and mindcrafter spells) will not be affected by monsters crossing your line of sight. To manually stop fire-till-kill without moving or performing any other action, just press the SPACE key. Note that SPACE also stops all other kinds of repeatable actions such as searching or tunnelling. Fire-till-kill does not work with any other type of attacks besides those mentioned above. (5.3) Slaying vs brands ----------------------- If you use a weapon that slays trolls, that means its dice will be doubled if you hit a troll ('T'). If you have an item that gives fire brand, the dice would also be doubled by the brand. Slaying and brands are not cumulative. That means you will get a total dice multiplier of 2 here. Brands don't stack. The best one is taken. So if you wear a ring of fire and your weapon does cold damage the dice will be multiplied by 2 if the target doesn't resist both heat and cold. If the target is susceptible to one of those the dice are multiplied by 4. Same goes for SLAY flags. Combat Type | Dice multiplier for brands (fire/cold/acid/lightning/poison) | Monster.. | ..is immune | ..resists | ..doesn't resist | ..is susceptible ------------|----------------------------------------------------------------- Melee Weapon| 1 2 2 4 Ranged Weap.| 1 1.4 1.4 2.2 Martial Arts| 1 1.33 1.33 2 Slaying | Dice multiplier | Description ------------|----------------------------------------------------------------- Slay Animal | 2 | It is esp. deadly against natural creatures. Slay Giant | 2 | It is especially deadly against giants. Slay Undead | 2 | It strikes at undead with holy wrath. Slay Troll | 2 | It is especially deadly against trolls. Slay Orc | 2 | It is especially deadly against orcs. Slay Dragon | 2 | It is especially deadly against dragons. Slay Demon | 2 | It strikes at undead with holy wrath. Slay Evil | 2 | It fights against evil with holy fury. Kill Undead | 3 | It is a great bane of undead. Kill Dragon | 3 | It is a great bane of dragons. Kill Demon | 3 | It is a great bane of demons. Same as in the 'brands' table, x2 will become x1.4 for ranged weapons and x1.33 for martial arts, while x3 will become x1.8 and x1.67 respectively. Giants, Undead, Trolls, Orcs, Dragons, Demons are all 'Evil'. If several multipliers match the highest one will be used. (5.4) Martial Arts, brands -------------------------- The "auto-retaliator" (see 4.1a) also works if you fight bare-handed. Training Martial Arts will give you.. -a bonus to-hit and to-dam. -special combat moves which your character will use automatically. These moves do a lot of extra damage and often additionally stun or slow your opponent. -special abilities and resistances (like Free Action, see (6.2) for details). -extra speed and stealth bonus. -extra AC bonus for each part of armour that is NOT worn. Increasing your martial arts skill lets you wear light and even medium armour and still benefit from its AC. -a chance to grab your enemies to prevent them from casting or teleporting. (This chance adds to your interception skill.) However, to use the full potential of martial arts you will need to take care of several points.. -a very light backpack will give martial artists a small additional speed and stealth bonus. (No warning message here.) -a very heavy backpack will nullify the abilities and resistances, as well as the speed and stealth bonus! You will see a red warning message, telling you about weight encumberment: "You can't move freely due to your backpack weight." -using too heavy armour will cut your number of blows per round to half, and nullify your to-hit, to-dam, speed and stealth bonus from MA. -using a melee or ranged weapon or carrying a very heavy backpack will nullify the AC bonus from martial arts, and greatly reduce your number of blows per round. -using a melee or ranged weapon or a shield will nullify the special combat styles, reducing your damage. -using a melee or ranged weapon or a shield or wearing too heavy armour will reduce additional interception bonus gained from Martial Arts skill to zero. -using a heavy shield, melee or ranged weapon will nullify your speed and stealth bonus. The backpack weight limit includes the weight of your equipment and is depending on your strength and martial arts skill. It is 10.0 lb + (str_wgt * 2.0 lb) + ((str_wgt + 5) * rounddown(skill * 0.1 lb)). Here's a table to tell you the values for str_wgt: (Warning message is: "You can't move freely due to your backpack weight.") str_wgt STRength of str_wgt STRength of the character the character ------------------------- ------------------------- 5 3 16 14 6 4 17 15 7 5 18 16 8 6 19 17 9 7 20 18/00-18/09 10 8 22 18/10-18/19 11 9 24 18/20-18/29 12 10 26 18/30-18/39 13 11 28 18/40-18/49 14 12 30 18/50-18/220+ 15 13 The armour weight limit is 5.0 lb + Martial Arts skill level * 0.42 lb. So for MA 50 it is 5.0 + 21.0 = 26.0 lb. If your armour becomes too heavy, you will see this warning message: "Your armour weight strains your martial arts performance." Here's a table, for those who prefer this view: Equipment/inventory | +hit/dam abilities styles spd/stl +AC grab blows ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Light backpack | + Heavy backpack | 0 0 0 0 Heavy armour | 0 0 0 50% Any melee weapon | 0 0 0 0 Any ranged weapon | 0 0 0 0 Any shield | 0 0 Heavy shield/weapons | 0 Martial Arts special combat moves have certain dice, similar to normal weapons. These dice are also effected by brands and slays same as normal weapons but the additional damage is reduced to 1/3. Example: Ring of Acid will usually add 1x your base damage. For MA it will add 1/3 of your base damage, so multiply your base damage by 1.33 instead of by 2 to get your total damage output. See (5.3) to get an easy overview. You cannot use special moves while stunned or confused. Here is a list of Martial Arts special moves: A move is picked randomly, then used if random(1..MA_Skill)>chance. If the chance fails, another move is picked. There are MA_Skill / 7 tries to find a move, otherwise you will hit without a special move. There is always at least 1 try to pick a move. Move | Min.level | Chance | Damage dice | Effects --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Punch 1 0 1d4 - Kick 2 0 1d6 - Strike 3 0 1d7 - Knee 5 5 2d3 Stunning & increase chance to stun again Elbow 7 5 1d8 - Butt 9 10 2d5 - Kick 11 10 2d5 Slowing (PvM) Uppercut 13 12 4d3 Stunning Double-kick 16 15 4d4 - Cat's Claw 20 20 6d3 - Jump Kick 25 25 3d9 Stunning Eagle's Claw 29 25 7d4 - Circle Kick 33 30 4d9 - Iron Fist 37 35 6d6 Stunning Flying Kick 41 35 5d8 - Dragon Fist 45 35 6d8 Stunning Crushing Blow 48 35 8d7 Stunning For winners, ie kings/queens only: Titan's Fist 48 50 8d5 Stunning Phoenix Claw 48 50 5d9 Slowing (PvM) Depending on your MA skill, you have a fixed number of barehanded attacks per round, independent of your character class, your strength or your dexterity (unlike characters that use weapons): (The attack number can be increased further by items like rings of extra attacks or by magical influence like priest prayer 'Zeal'.) Note that EA effects (like EA ring or Zeal prayer) won't work on characters who fight barehanded without having Martial Arts skill at 01.000 or higher! Martial Arts skill level Attacks per round ------------------------------------------------- 1 2 10 3 20 4 30 5 40 6 45 7 50 8 Martial Arts users have a higher risk of being infected with Black Breath from high undead monsters than weapon-users. Also, they have a high risk of being badly cut if a monster uses a disarming attack against them. (5.5) Weight of weapons and armour ---------------------------------- Weight of items in your inventory or equipment can have great effect on martial artists. If you use martial arts, also see (5.4) for more information. Even if you're not using martial arts, there are certain types of encumberment which may affect your character: Weapon weight ------------- If your melee weapon or ranged weapon is too heavy you will hardly be able to use it, resulting in reduced attack number per round and less damage. You will get the message "You have trouble wielding such a heavy weapon/bow" and probably your blows will drop to 1 and tohit/todam go near to zero. A weapon is too heavy for you if its weight is greater than the so-called str_hold value. Below is a table with the str_hold values, depending on a character's strength: str_hold STRength of str_hold STRength of the character the character ------------------------- ------------------------- 4 3 45 18/40-18/49 5 4 50 18/50-18/59 6 5 55 18/60-18/69 7 6 60 18/70-18/79 8 7 65 18/80-18/89 10 8 70 18/90-18/99 12 9 80 18/100-18/109 14 10 80 18/110-18/119 16 11 80 18/120-18/129 18 12 80 18/130-18/139 20 13 80 18/140-18/149 22 14 90 18/150-18/159 24 15 90 18/160-18/169 26 16 90 18/170-18/179 28 17 90 18/180-18/189 30 18/00-18/09 90 18/190-18/199 30 18/10-18/19 100 18/200-18/209 35 18/20-18/29 100 18/210-18/219 40 18/30-18/39 100 18/220+ Armour weight (concerning magic) -------------------------------- Wearing armour which is too bulky gives you this message: "The weight of your armour strains your spellcasting." That means your mana will be (severely) reduced from the bulkiness of your armour. To counter this effect, train your 'Combat' skill. To cast freely, you may wear 15.0 to 30.0 lb of armour (depending on your class and hence the type of magic you utilize) plus your combat skill (in 0.3 lb). Here is a table illustrating the values: Adventurer 21.0 lb Warrior - Istar 15.0 lb Priest 25.0 lb Rogue 20.0 lb Mimic 28.0 lb Archer - Paladin 30.0 lb Ranger 22.0 lb Druid 20.0 lb Shaman 17.0 lb Runemaster 23.0 lb Mindcrafter 26.0 lb (and will get penalty for head gear heavier than 4.0 lb) So 50 points in 'Combat' would allow a paladin to wear 30.0 + 15.0 = 45.0 lb of armour parts without receiving mana penalty from being encumbered. In general, praying is the easiest-to-use form of magic, and weaving spells the most difficult one. Your total armour weight is the sum of the weight of any armour pieces worn on head (helmet), body, hands, feet, and your cloak. Note that the weight of a possibly equipped shield does not matter here (experimental). Armour weight (concerning combat) --------------------------------- Wearing armour which is too heavy for you will reduce your to-hit bonus and speed bonus from 'Sneakiness' skill. You will receieve a warning message, telling you: "The weight of your armour encumbers your movement." To move freely, you may wear 10.0 lb of armoury plus a strength-factor plus 6 * your combat skill. Strength factor is 0.6 * str_hold (see table above to find your str_hold). So the top weight limit is 10.0 + 0.6 * 50 (combat) + 0.6 * 100 (str_hold) = 100.0 lb. Some special abilities depend on armour weight too. Those are.. -dodge chance from 'Dodging' skill. -critical hit bonus from 'Critical-strike' skill. -extra parry bonus from dual-wielding two weapons. (Also see (6.11).) -extra blow/round bonus from dual-wielding two weapons. -area searching for the 'Rogue' class (exclusive ability). -cloaking mode for the 'Rogue' class (exclusive ability). If the armour becomes too heavy to perform those, a message will appear: "The weight of your armour strains your flexibility and awareness." This 'rogueish weight limit' (the skills are mostly used by rogues) is: 20.0 + (Combat skill * 6 / 50) lb, ie max 26.0 lb. IMPORTANT: If you get the above flexibility warning message, that means your secondary weapon is NOT APPLIED AT ALL! So you won't receive any boni/resistances/whatever from it, it's basically as if you don't have it equipped at all. Armour weight (concerning ranged weapons) ----------------------------------------- If you wear a shield on your arm, no matter its weight and your strength, your hit chance with ranged weapons will be reduced by this encumberment. You will get an orange message saying "You find it hard to aim while carrying your shield." and a yellow '}' icon will appear in the encumberment bar. Also, the greater your total equipped armour weight is, the more your ranged to-hit bonus is reduced. This is a fluent, continuous process, and therefore it's not considered an 'encumberment' per se, ie you won't see any icons in the encumberment bar about this. Glove encumberment (concerning magic) ------------------------------------- Wearing gloves as a sorceror may reduce your maximum mana points if they are not magically enchanted, such as: Providing 'Free Action' / increasing your mana / increasing your dexterity. You will receive a warning message, saying: "Your covered hands feel unsuitable for spellcasting." Also see (3.2) at the end of the chapter, for information about the 'Encumberment status line'. Very heavy armour and/or heavy items in your inventory may also slow you down (slightly reduce your moving speed) if your STRength isn't very great. (5.6) Resistances & caps, Immunities, Susceptibilities ------------------------------------------------------ Resistances & caps ------------------ Several monsters or traps can cause elemental attacks on you. These attacks can deliver very high damage if you do not 'resist' the specific attack type. Those 'resistances' become very important in deeper dungeons where many monsters are able to breathe on you with devastating power. Permanent resistances (for example if you wear a ring and an armor that both give fire resistance) will not stack. So one item is suffient for each resistance. There is no difference if it's a helmet or an armour. However, a temporary resistance (by potion or spell) and a permanent resistance can stack (NOTE: This only applies to base and poison resistance, base ones being fire, cold, electricity and acid). That means if you quaff a 'potion of resist heat' (temporary resistance) and wear an armour of fire resistance (permanent resistance) fire attacks will do only 1/3 * 1/3 = 1/9 of the original damage. This is known as 'double resistance'. For more information on resistance/ability stacking see (5.17). For all attacks the following way of how the final damage is calculated applies: If a monster breathes, that attack often has a damage potential of 1/3 of the monster's hit points. This 'raw' damage will now be capped at a maximum value that varies for the different types of attacks. If you 'resist' that attack, the damage will be cut to further 1/3 (this value varies for the different types of attacks). Example: An Ancient Red Dragon breathes fire. It has 1500 HP. The fire breath would do approx. 500 damage. The damage cap for fire attacks is 1200. So the value of 500 remains. Let's assume that your character resists fire. The damage will be cut down to 1/3 now, leaving 170 damage. Example 2: A Great Hell Wyrm :) breathes fire. It has 5000 HP. The fire breath would do approx. 1700 damage. Since 1700 is greater than the cap (1200) it becomes 1200. Let's assume your character resists fire. The damage will be cut down to 1/3, leaving approx. 400 damage. Overview: Breath damage is capped, the number is given in the corresponding description. Bolts and balls are only capped by the general magic damage cap of 1600. Their damage maximum depends on the level of the casting monster as the formulas show. The total maximum damage a magical attack can do in TomeNET, assumed that the target is NOT susceptible, is 1600. This is the general damage cap for all magical attacks (breath/bolt/ball/cloud/beam/wall/..). Keep in mind that susceptibility may still double that damage though! There are four so-called 'basic resistances'. These are ------------------------------------------------------- Fire/Heat These attacks can burn items in your inventory. They can also damage your equipment. Without resistance it can reduce your strength. Fire bolts do (level/3)+(9d8) damage. Fire balls do (level*7/2)+10 damage. Fire breaths do HP / 3 damage, capping at 1200. Immunity or double resistance protects items in your inventory from getting harmed (5.10), (5.17). Potions of resist heat are a cheap way to attain double-resistance for a short time in order to pass lava streams without your inventory taking damage. Frost/Cold These attacks can shatter potions. Without resistance it can reduce your strength. Frost bolts do (level/3)+(6d8) damage. Cold balls do (level*2)+10 damage. Cold breaths do HP / 3 damage, capping at 1200. Immunity or double resistance protects items in your inventory from getting harmed (5.10), (5.17). Lightning/Electricity These attacks can destroy rings, damage amulets (reducing their (+X) bonus pval) and discharge magic devices, draining their charges (or energy in case of rods). Without resistance it can reduce your dexterity. Lightning bolts do (level/3)+(4d8) damage. Lightning balls do (level*3/2)+8 damage. Lightning breaths do HP / 3 damage, capping at 1200. Immunity or double resistance protects items in your inventory from getting harmed (5.10), (5.17). Acid These attacks can destroy items in your inventory. They can also damage your equipment. Without resistance it can reduce your charisma. Acid bolts do (level/3)+(7d8) damage. Acid balls do (level*3)+15 damage. Acid breaths do HP / 3 damage, capping at 1200. Immunity or double resistance protects items in your inventory from getting harmed (5.10), (5.17). Note: Equipment is mostly safe, except that some weapons and shields can take damage from coming in contact with fire, acid or water, depending on the item type. Also, armour can be damaged by fire, acid or water, depending on its material. Items which ignore an element, resist it, or even provide immunity against it are unaffected by any attack of that type and won't take damage. Taking damage means that weapons will lose +dam enchantment, and shields or armour will lose +AC enchantment, so you can repair them again by reenchanting them. If your character resists a specific element, the chance of any item getting damaged by it is reduced. Having double resistance will reduce it much further even. Note that double resistance will completely prevent any inventory damage from the elements; this is especially important for characters who carry a lot of potions that they don't want to get destroyed by cold-based attacks. If your character is immune to an element (see further down), that will completely prevent any sort of damage from that particular element for any item you carry, wield or wear. All artifacts are completely immune to any elemental damage. Breath damage before capping is monster HP/3. Damage of these attacks is capped at 1200 (always before resistances are applied). If you resist them, the damage will be cut to 1/3. If you are susceptible to them, like Ents to fire, you will take twice the damage! This also applies for aura attacks like hitting someone who wears a cloak of immolation. To prevent side-effects of the attacks on your inventory from occurring you will need the according immunity! Resistance is only sufficient to protect your equipment, not your inventory. While wands and staves can be destroyed by according elemental attacks, rods cannot be destroyed but only discharged (see elemental attack list above). Poison Poison resistance doesn't belong to the basic resistances but to the high resistances, yet is also very essential already from the early stages of your character's life on. If you resist poison you will not only take just 1/3 of the poison damage but also be protected from poisoning effects. Breath damage before capping is monster HP/3. Poison breath caps at 800. Stinking clouds, which are small poison balls, inflict 12d2 damage. Unbreath A special type of poison, castable by mages. This one will just deprive the air of all oxygen, thereby also damaging poison immune monsters. The only monsters immune to this are those that do not require to breathe, which means undead, greater demons, angels and nonliving constructs. Make sure that you have the basic resistances as soon as possible, and poison resistance before going into deeper Mordor. Also, get 'Free Action' before going as deep as about -1000 ft or deeper since many monsters can paralyze you. There are also five minor resistances: -------------------------------------- Fear While you're afraid you won't be able to attack a target in close combat. Blindness You cannot read scrolls or books while you're blind. Blindness can be caused directly by a blindness attack or by indirectly by light or darkness attacks if you don't resist those. You still can use magic staves, rods or wands and quaff potions. Quaffing a potion of Healing, Curing or Cure Critical Wounds will remove the blindness. Confusion While confused you cannot move, shoot or fight straight. Further, you're unable to read scrolls or books. However, you still can use staves, wands and rods. Quaffing a potion of Healing, Curing or Cure Serious/Critical Wounds will remove the confusion. Resisting confusion or chaos will lower damage to 5/7..5/12. Breath damage is monster HP/6. Confusion damage caps at 400. Confusion resistance is covered by chaos resistance, so if you already resist chaos then you don't need any more items that give confusion resistance. Paralysis Paralysis can be caused by bashing doors, lack of food, by traps and by monsters. Against the latter two effects you can become immune by equipping a 'Free Action' item. You should become immune to paralysis before descending below 1000 ft. Hold Life This will provide some protection against experience drain; it won't help against experience drain inflicted by items you equipped though. Further, there are several high resistances: -------------------------------------------- (Poison was described above, at the end of the basic resistances.) Water Water resistance is rare (an *ID*ed item will say 'it provides resistance to unleashed water'). Water attacks can stun and confuse you if you don't resist them and usually do a lot of damage. Resistance will cut damage to 1/3. If you're a mimicking an aquatic monster the damage will be further cut down to 1/4. If you don't wear a 'tarpaulin' items in your inventory might be destroyed by the water (if they don't resist water). Water bolts do (10d10)+level damage. Water balls do 50+(1...[level*5/2]) damage. Note: The confusion effect can be prevented by confusion resistance, and the stun effect by sound resistance. Sound Sound attacks do less damage but can stun your or even knock you out so you will die as if you were paralyzed. Free Action won't help you then. Resistance will cut damage to 5/7..5/12. Damage is be reduced by further 50% if bio-feedback is active. (Bio-feedback is activated if a Draconian eats a firestone and gets the 'adrenaline' message. See (5.9) for firestone details.) Sound resistance will protect you from stunning effects. Breath damage is monster HP/6. Sound breath caps at 400. Shards Shard attacks can cause nasty cuts that makes you bleed heavily if you don't resist them. Resistance will cut damage to 6/7..6/12. Damage is be reduced by further 50% if bio-feedback is active. (Bio-feedback is activated if a Draconian eats a firestone and gets the 'adrenaline' message. See (5.9) for firestone details.) Shard resistance will protect you from cuts. Breath damage is monster HP/6. Shard breath caps at 400. Nexus Nexus attacks can have extremely nasty side-effects if you don't resist them. Those are -Teleport you randomly. -Teleport you towards the monster. -Teleport you a dungeon level higher or lower. -Swap two of your six stats randomly! ("Your body starts to scramble") -Destroy items in your inventory. ("Your backpack starts to scramble") Resistance will cut damage to 6/7..6/12. Breath damage is monster HP/3. Nexus breath caps at 250. Chaos Chaos attacks can also have nasty side-effects if you don't resist. These are: -Confuse you. -Let you hallucinate. -Drain some experience. Resisting 'Nether' will also prevent this. Having 'Hold Life' will also provide some protection against life draining. Resisting chaos will also make you resist confusion attacks. Resisting chaos will prevent hallucination from certain mind blast attacks. Resistance will cut down damage to 6/7..6/12. Breath damage is monster HP/6. Chaos breath caps at 600. Raw chaos invocation (chaos ball) does (level*4)+(10d10) dam. Light Light effects can blind you if you don't resist it. Resistance will cut damage to 4/7..4/12. If you are mimicking a monster that is susceptible to light you will suffer double damage from attacks. Breath damage is monster HP/6. Light breath caps at 400. Darkness Darkness effects can blind you if you don't resist it. Resistance will cut damage to 4/7..4/12. Breath damage is monster HP/6. Darkness breath caps at 400. Darkness Storms (balls) do (level*5)+(10d10) damage. Nether Nether is kind of 'the element of undead' - most higher level undead creatures will have a nether attack of some sort. Resistance will cut damage to 6/7..6/12 and prevent all life draining (experience loss) from nether attacks. Breath damage is monster HP/6. Nether breath caps at 550. Nether bolts do 30+(5d5)+(level*3/2) damage. Nether balls do 50+(level*4)+(10d10) damage. If you lack nether resistance, having 'Hold Life' ability can at least offers some protection from experience loss. Disenchantment This attack does massive damage and can also disenchant your equipped items, lowering their to-hit/to-dam/to-ac bonus! It can also destroy ethereal ammunition. Resistance will cut damage to 6/7..6/12 and prevent disenchantment of your equipment. Breath damage is monster HP/6, it caps at 500. Disenchantment bolts do 25+(4d5)+(level*3/2) damage. If disenchantment hits items on the floor, it can even reduce their magical (+X) pval bonus. Artifacts have a chance to resist disenchantment. Irresistable/extremely powerful damage types: --------------------------------------------- Force Pure force impact (BR_WALL). Raw damage is monster HP/6. Force impact (breath only) is capped at 200 and irresistable. If you lack sound resistance you will get stunned. Inertia Inertia attacks will slow you down a lot. There is no 'Inertia resistance' but 'Free Action' will slightly reduce the slowdown duration. Damage (breath only) is monster HP/6 and caps at 200. Gravity These attacks have very annoying side-effects: -Teleport you randomly. -Slow you down. -Stun you if you don't resist sound. It's impossible to resist gravitation. However, having 'Feather Falling' (also known as Levitation) will reduce the damage your body takes from the shockwave and cut the damage to 6/7..6/12. Damage (breath only) is monster HP/3 and caps at 150. Mana Mana is pure magical energy. There are only rumours about items that provide resistance against it. Resisting it will cut damage to 6/7..6/12. Breath damage is monster HP/3, breath caps at 250. Only very few monsters (mostly uniques) can breathe mana. Mana bolts do 50+(1...[level*7/2]) damage. Mana storms (balls) do (level*5)+(10d10) damage. Beware! Time Time is pure temporary distortion. There are only rumours about items that provide resistance against it. Time attacks can have very nasty side effects: -Drain experience (Hold Life won't help). -One of your stats can be lowered (resistance will reduce the amount). -Drain all your stats (resistance will prevent this). Resistance will cut damage to 6/7..6/12. Breath damage is monster HP/3. Time breath caps at 150. Meteor This is an irresistable attack of pure impact. Sound resistance will prevent stun effect. Disintegration This is an irresistable attack of raw destruction. Damage (breath only) is monster HP/3, capping at 300. Combined damage types: ---------------------- Ice Ice attacks combine shard & sound effects with cold damage. Ice damage (bolt only) is (6d6)+monsterlevel. Ice damage consists of 60% cold damage and 40% shards damage. Missing sound resistance will result in additional stunning. Plasma Plasma attacks combine raw force, electricity and immense heat. Being immune to both, fire and lightning will cut damage to 1/9. If that's not the case, two checks are applied for fire and for lightning, whose results stack with each other, as follows: 1) Fire check: -Fire immunity will cut damage to 1/4. -Fire resistance will cut damage to 3/5. -Plasma resistance (only mimics that use a plasma-breathing form) will cut damage to 3/7..3/12. -Fire susceptibility will increase damage by 1/2. 2) Lightning check: -Lightning resistance or immunity will cut damage to 4/5. -Lightning susceptibility will increase damage by 1/3. Plasma also has stun effect if sound resistance is missing. Breath damage is monster HP/6. Plasma breath caps at 150. Plasma bolts do 10+level+(8d7) damage. Radiation/Nuke/ This is a poisonous attack (player suffers pure poison damage) Toxic Waste that may have acidic effect on your inventory (inventory may get destroyed as if you were hit by acidic attacks). If you resist poison - you will just take 2/5 of the damage - you will be protected from being poisoned - your equipment will be safe from acidic damage. Breath damage is monster HP/3 and caps at 800. Nuke balls (radiation balls) do (level*3)+(10d6) damage. Rocket Rockets combine fire, shard & sound effects and can also damage your inventory. Rockets do insane damage if unresisted: Rocket damage is monster HP/4, it caps at 800. Shard and sound resistance will lower damage by 1/6 each, fire resistance will lower damage by 1/5, fire immunity by 1/4 (overriding fire resistance). These reductions stack (as in they are consecutively applied to the damage). Shard resistance will prevent cuts, sound resistance will prevent getting stunned. (Rockets are treated internally like breathing.) Detonation Same as rocket. Inferno Same as detonation, except it does not destroy walls. Immunities ---------- Players can become immune to the basic elements and poison by wearing items (for example dragon scale mails of the corresponding colour) or by transforming into a monster shape that carries the according immunities (see (6.7) about mimicry details). If a player is immune to an element, (s)he won't take any damage from those attacks nor be affected by any side-effects. Example: Wearing the unique cape 'Ocean Soul' which as a special feature provides water immunity makes the player take 0 damage from a water bolt attack and also protect him from the stun+confuse effect of water bolts. (It won't protect him from the stun/confuse effect of other types of attacks though, for example a sound or confusion breath.) Susceptibilities ---------------- Some monsters are susceptible against certain elements. For example fire hounds are susceptible against cold attacks. Physical attacks vs monsters: Susceptibility of a monster will result in a doubled multiplier for branded attacks. Example: If the player hits a Cold Hound with a fiery broad sword (2d6) the Cold Hound will receive 2d6 * 4 damage instead of 2d6 * 2 (usual brand multiplier for melee weapons). Also see (5.3) for a table of brand multipliers. Magical attacks vs monsters: Susceptibility of a monster will result in double damage for the according elemental attacks (ie cold ball vs fire hounds). Magical/monster attacks vs players: Players can be susceptible against an element too. For example Ents are susceptible to fire by nature. Resistance or immunity will completely cancel out the susceptibility, so one of the first things to do as an Ent is to visit the magic store and buy a ring of fire resistance, or any druid ego monster or later on arch-vile will give you a pretty hard time. If a susceptible player without resistance or immunity is hit by the according elemental damage type, the damage will be doubled! Branded attacks in PvP ---------------------- Branded physical attacks in pvp are not influenced by susceptibilities. Melee attacks of monsters ------------------------- See (5.11) for details about melee attacks and melee damage caps. (5.7) Qualitative classification of items, identifying & selling items ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Items are classified by -a basic item type -a simple magical enchantment (to hit-chance, to damage, to armour class) -an ego power (some items even have two ego powers at once), (some examples: resistances on armours, elemental brands on weapons, enhanced brightness on light sources. The item carries the names of its ego powers. For example an 'Acidic Long Sword of Gondolin' has been blessed with two ego powers: 'Acidic' and 'Gondolin'. For more information about ego powers see (7.4) Spoiler Files). -sometimes you may find an artifact which can have quite a bunch of different powers combined! Artifacts can be recognized by them carrying a name. Example: The War Maul 'Turmil' or The Whip of Gothmog. (See (5.9b) for more information about artifacts.) If you find an item, it's 'unidentified'. That means you see only the basic item type. Example: A Whip {+,?} (1d6) The ? indicates that you don't know yet which level is required to wield this item. You have to identify the item to find out more about it. (The (1d6) means that this weapon has one 6-sided die rolled to determine its damage afflicted to your target.) Assuming you identify it you could get one of the results below: Example 1: A Whip {+,1} (1d6) (+0,+3) This is a magical whip. Magical, because its damage is enchanted to +3. It doesn't possess any further special abilities. Example 2: A Fiery Whip of Gondolin {+,24} (1d6) (+8,+11) (+3) This is an ego-weapon ('of Gondolin') with a fire brand ('Fiery'). The base weapon type is a whip which makes it belong to the blunt weapons. Its to-hit and to-damage are magically enchanted to +8 and +11. Gondolin weapons increase strength and constitution (here +3). Ego-items or excellent magical items often have varying abilities. For example a Gondolin-weapon _can_ have HOLD_LIFE, a high resistance, or increase your dex. It doesn't _have to_, however. Some Gondolin-Weapons have different abilities than others. To find out the complete powers of an item it can be neccessary to *identify* it. *Identify* (same as *Perception*) reveals the complete ability list. You can check the complete list of items in stores by pressing 'x' to 'examine an item'. You can review the ability list of an item in your inventory or equipment using the 'I' key. Using 'I' requires that you already *identified* the item or bought it from a shop. Items that are bought from a shop are always automatically *identified*. Some shops offer an *identify* service but they are quite expensive. If you want to look up what certain special items can/cannot do, see the spoiler files section (7.4) or further explanations in (5.8) and (5.9). If you sell an item to a shop the offer you will receive depends on the following: Item is not identified at all -> the offered cash will equal the value of the basic item type, eg 300 Au for a long sword or 20 Au for an unknown potion. Item has been pseudo-identified -> shops won't buy items that have a bad pseudo-identification. 'average' items will sell for the value of the basic item type. good/excellent/special items will sell for their basic value too so you better identify them to get more money for them! Item has been identified -> the shop will pay you fully for all those boni that are either very obvious (like +STRength or Extra Attacks or Life/Mana) or which are always granted to this kind of ego item (for example 'weapons of *Slay Evil*' always give 'ESP evil'). However, the shop won't offer money for 'hidden' abilities like resistances or ESP which aren't obvious and which are randomly bestowed upon this type of ego item. (Most ego items have one or more random powers!) To make the shop pay for these unknown powers too you'll need to fully identify the item, this is called *identifying* (note the asterisks). To do this, there are scrolls of *Identify*, staves of *Perception* as well as the spell 'Greater Identify'. If your item turns out to lack any hidden powers you wasted the *Identify* scroll, but that's not a big deal. Item has been identified and is a true artifact -> the shop will pay a fixed price which is predefined for each true artifact. You don't need to *ID* it. Item has been identified and is a randart -> Shops will usually offer between 10,000 and 15,000 Au for unknown randarts, but never more than the item is really worth. You should _always_ *identify* your randarts to discover all their hidden abilities, so shopkeepers will pay a lot more. Item has been identified and is cursed -> the shops never buy cursed items. That might change if you uncurse it and if the item hasn't only bad (negative) boni on it. Shop prices in general may slightly vary depending on the shop owner's race and your character's race. Sometimes an item turns out to be an artifact! See (5.9b) for more information about artifacts. If a player holds an unidentified item long enough he/she might get a 'feeling' about it. The more points in 'Combat' skill the player has the faster and clearer he can feel the items value. This is called 'pseudo-identifying'. Warriors are more likely to pseudo-id than casters. If a player pseudo-ids an item, the 'feeling' will be appended in { } brackets to the item name. Note that archers or casters will also become better at pseudo-id'ing, if they train the 'Archery' or 'Magic' skill respectively. 'Archery' at level 11 helps to get more detailed ('excellent' too instead of just 'good') feelings about ranged weapons and ammunition. 'Magic' at level 11 helps to get more detailed ('excellent' too, instead of just 'good') feelings about magic items, potions and scrolls. Items display the following pseudo-id tags: -Basic items, non-magical: {average} -Magically enchanted items {good} -Excellent magical items {excellent} -Artifacts (random & static) {special} -Cursed items {cursed} -Useless items (often cursed) {worthless} -Cursed artifacts / egos {terrible} Terrible doesn't need to equal useless. Some cursed artifacts can be very powerful, rings of power dropped by Nazgul especially. Note that potions don't have 'egos' or 'artifacts', scrolls don't have artifacts either, but some of the potions and scrolls show similar pseudo-id tags. Again - if you want to look up what certain special items can/cannot do, see the spoiler files section (7.4) or further explanations in (5.8) and (5.9). (5.7a) Types of Identification ------------------------------ There are different stages and types of identification: a) pseudo-indentification. This gives you one of the basic feelings like {good}, described above. b) identification via ID (eg by scroll, staff or shop service - or from trying to use the item, if your character is able to observe any result, in which case it might yield some experience even): This actually does two types of identification! 1) It identifies the magical properties of an item, such as +hit, +damage, +ac, names of ego powers or artifact power. These values are then seen by any player who looks at the item after it has been identified. 2) It identifies the flavour of an item (if it is a flavoured item) for the particular player who identifies it. Flavours are prefixes in the base item name, in particular: -potion colours -scroll titles -ring/amulet materials -magic device materials So if you identify a 'clear potion' you will get to know that it's a 'clear potion of water'. However, this flavour is now only know to you. Other characters who have not yet identified a clear potion on their own will still not know that it's a 'clear potion of water'. c) identification via *ID* (eg by scroll, staff or shop service): This is the same as ID but additionally reveals all details of all ego- or artifact powers the item has. This can lead to an increase in price if some of those powers were not considered obvious, in which case stores wouldn't pay for them when you sell the item. Non-obvious powers are those that are randomly occurring (those don't exist on true artifacts). Note: There are certain effects that can make your character lose his knowledge of items, which corresponds to 'unindentification' of types a) and b)1) and also loses the additional knowledge gained from c) in the list above. The flavour knowledge as described in b)2) is always preserved though. (5.8) Special abilities of items -------------------------------- FEATHER ('It allows you to levitate.') 'Feather Falling', also called 'Levitation'. Lets you resist gravitation damage somewhat. Lets you float down gently if you accidentally stumble into pits. FLY ('It allows you to fly.') Allows you to cross water areas without drowning. Enables you to fly over trees. XTRA_SHOTS ('It fires missiles excessively fast.') This ranged weapon can fire an extra shot per round, see your number of shots per round go up in 'C' character overview screen. For trap kits, the number of shots they fire can actually increase by more than one, depending on their pval (the number in parentheses, for example '(+2)' would fire 2 extra shots). XTRA_MIGHT ('It fires missiles with extra might.') This ranged weapon fires more damaging shots: Its damage multiplier is increased by 1 above the usual multiplier for this weapon type. For example a Long Bow of Extra might would show a (x4) multiplier, although Long Bows usually have a (x3) multiplier. Note that the multiplier may also affect the maximum shooting range. MANA ('It affects your mana capacity.') Will increase your total mana points by +x0%. Example: Gloves of the magi (+3) increase your mana by 30%. MANA items _add_ to each other, they aren't multiplied. MANA-increasing items have reduced effect on priests or paladins, because their spells are not so much pure magic but rather a form of praying. MANA affects your complete mana pool, including the additional MP (mana points) a character gained from 'Magic' skill. LIFE ('It affects your hit points') Will increase your total hit points by +x0%. Example: Sword of life (+2) increases your HP by 20%. LIFE items _add_ to each other, they aren't multiplied. The maximum total +LIFE bonus a character can achieve is +3 (cap). (For mimics, the +LIFE effect might be less since their HP in player form or monster form might be low. The +LIFE isn't applied to mimics' final HP but the lower base HP.) LIFE affects your complete hit point pool, including the additional HP a character gained from 'Health' skill. +LIFE on randarts will only affect player characters if they meet certain conditions, see server options in-game via ~d for details. AGGRAVATE ('It aggravates nearby creatures') Wakes up all monsters in whose radius of awareness you are. (Does not haste them as scrolls do, compare to (5.9)). LUCK ('It affects your luck') If you are lucky, your chance to find better items increases. Luck caps at 40, having higher bonus won't help any more. The higher your luck is, the more diminishing is the effect of increasing it even more. What does 'better items' mean exactly? It simply means that you have a higher chance to get good or great items when... -killing monsters -opening chests -finding items in the dirt by digging. 'Good' means that an item has enchantments to hitchance, damage or armour class. How much exactly it has isn't affected by luck! 'Great' means that an item has ego powers or is an artifact. Luck does not affect how great its ego power or artifact abilities will be! Note: Luck has NO effect on 'acquirement' and 'artifact creation'. NO_MAGIC ('Antimagic shell') Raises your saving throw to 95%, making you nearly immune to any malicious magical influence (like paralysation). Also prevents you from using any magic device or casting spells. ANTIMAGIC ('Antimagic field') Prevents you from using any magic device or casting spells, also applies to nearby enemy spellcasters and other players. The field has less influence on _party members_ who try to cast. The radius is approximately the field power / 9, and is cumulative to the 'Antimagic' skill. The field power is the chance of suppressing a spell. It caps at 75% and is cumulative to the 'Antimagic' skill. BLESSED ('It has been blessed by the gods') These weapons resist cursing. Priests can use blessed weapons without penalties, even if they are not blunt. VAMPIRIC ('It drains life from your foes') Drains life from your victim, which heals you slightly. For details see '(5.15) Vampirism'. VORPAL ('Sharp' weapons, 'It is very sharp and can cut your foes.') Has a chance that the weapon damage dice result is multiplied on hitting, you'll see 'Your weapon cuts deep into your enemy'. The multiplication is done after brand/slay effects have been applied, so brand/slay effects will increase VORPAL efficiency. CRIT ('It affects your ability to score critical hits.') This item adds to your chance to score critical hits. If the item is a weapon then it will only affect hits done with this weapon in particular, so for example a boomerang that provides +CRIT bonus will not affect your melee attacks. If the item is not a weapon (eg a piece of armour or a ring) then it will affect all of your physical attacks, including throwing items. For more information about critical strikes and attacks, see the description of the "Critical-strike" skill in (6.2). CHAOTIC ('It produces chaotic effects') On hitting, you have a 50% chance to do one of the following: a) drain life (VAMPIRIC, see (5.15)) (very likely). b) earthquake (see (5.13) for details). (If enabled in the server settings, it can be suppressed with the !E inscription. See (0.3) for !E settings or press ~d in game. Usually, !E only works on the artifact "Grond".) c) confuse target (very likely). d) teleport target away. e) polymorph target. f) clone target. Note that most of these have an *extremely* low chance to occur. Most of the time the vampirism or confusion effect is chosen. IMPACT ('It can cause earthquakes') Causes earthquakes if the damage is > 50. See (5.13) for details about earthquakes. (If enabled in the server settings, it can be suppressed with the !E inscription. See (0.3) for !E settings or press ~d in game. Usually, !E only works on the artifact "Grond".) WOUNDING ('It is very sharp and makes your foes bleed.') Has additional to-hit/to-dam bonus. Weapons of Spinning Spin around on activation, hitting every monster around you in a radius of 1, with an extra stun effect. EASY_USE (of Simplicity) You have a much higher chance of succeeding to use the magic device. Also see (6.10) for more information about the 'Magic Device' skill. CHARGING (of Charging) ('It regenerates its mana faster.') This magic device (rod) will take only 1/2 of the usual time to fully recharge. Istari (of the Istari) Combination of EASY_USE and CHARGING. FUEL_LITE ('It provides light when fueled') A light source that needs to be fueled, otherwise it runs out. WARNING: If this item provides other abilities besides emitting light, be aware that you need to keep it fueled for it to do so! If it runs out of fuel your character will lose all abilities it provided until you refuel it. (NO_SEED An ego item that is never created randomly (in terms of abilities or power).) CURSED, HEAVY_CURSE, PERMA_CURSE, AUTO_CURSE, CURSE_NO_DROP, TY_CURSE, DG_CURSE See (5.14) Curses. INSTA_ART This item always is an artifact; it has no base-class that can spawn non-art items. Example: Long Sword base class can spawn regular long swords, but also 'Elvagil'. A Phial however will instantly be 'artified' and turn into Phial of Galadriel or Undeath. There are no base-type non-art phials in the game. SPECIAL_GENE These artifacts are 'special artifacts' that cannot be dropped by regular monsters but require a certain key monster to be killed. For example the Dragonrider Coat of Mardra can only drop from Mardra (there is no guarantee that she will always drop it though). 'Imbued' books and tomes. Those especially treatened books and tomes resist the influence of heat, water and acid strongly. INVIS ('It makes you invisible.') Turns you invisible. Items 'of Invisibility' often have a +mod, which gives you additional stealth. Note that this +mod does not qualify or affect your invisibility in any way, but is purely for an extra stealth bonus. Invisibility is binary: Either you are invisible or you are not. Also see '(5.16) Invisibility'. BLOWS ('It affects your attack speed.') This item adds EA (extra attacks) to your number of blows per round. 'of Plenty' wands and staves. These have more charges than usual, and will also gain more charges from recharging than their normal counterparts. (See (5.22) about recharging.) WINNERS_ONLY This item can only be equipped by winners (kings/queens/emperors/ empresses) and fallen winners (those who lost their title because they died). This item can only be found by certain characters, see server options in-game via ~d for details. (5.9) What does item xxx do exactly? ------------------------------------ Some items might look bad (Mushrooms of Unhealth), but keep in mind that you can often throw ('v') these items to damage or impair an enemy. For more information about items and especially ego items see (7.4). Weapons & Armour ---------------- Dark Sword Dark Swords have a so-called 'antimagic field', which prevents the user from using magic items or casting spells, but also has a chance to interrupt enemy spellcasters. The chance to interrupt spellcasters is 30% minus 3/5 of the to-hit and to-dam values of the dark sword. Example: A Dark Sword (+3,+7) has 30 - (3+7) * 3/5 = 24% chance of interrupting spellcasters. The radius of the antimagic field is several fields (chance to interrupt spells, divided by 9), getting smaller if the chance is smaller than 30%. Dark Swords never give more than 30% AM, even if tohit and todam boni added together result in a negative number. They also never give 'negative antimagic', 0% AM is the minimum, even if tohit+todam are greater than its AM. AC boni on Dark Swords won't affect the antimagic field. The antimagic chance and field radius of a dark sword stacks with the 'Antimagic' skill (see 6.2). Note that if you dual-wield dark swords the stronger AM field will override the weaker one, so they don't stack. Similarly, if there are multiple players around nearby who have antimagic fields affecting the same monster then only the strongest AM field will work, overriding the weaker ones. Bluesteel Blade Cannot rust (not damaged by water attacks) and are especially sharp (see 'VORPAL' under (5.8)). Shadow Blade Resists darkness, cannot be damaged by acid or water, provides a fixed stealth bonus of +2. Blade of Chaos Resists chaos and produces chaotic effects (see (5.8)). Hunting Spear Slays animals. Slaughter Axe Slays animals. Scourge of Repentance Slays undead. Demon Hammer Slays demons. Thunder Axe Slays giants, provides lightning brand and resistance. Mace of Disruption Slays undead. Scythe of Slicing Slays dragons and animals. Weapons of Morgul These are terribly cursed weapons that aren't good for anything, just try to get rid of them. Since they have a heavy curse on them, you need to either use a scroll of *remove curse* or use enchant scrolls to break it. For details about the enchant-scrolls trick, which is usually much cheaper, see paragraph '(5.14) Curses'. Wielding a weapon of Morgul will allow you to see the invisible but also infect you with the Black Breath, drain your experience and aggravate nearby monsters. Note that this weapon can auto-recurse itself when you move it between equipment and inventory, so when you uncursed it drop it to the ground right away! If you find a weapon of morgul, inscribe it '!w' to prevent wielding it accidentally. Weapons of Nothingness Similarly terribly cursed as weapons of Morgul. You are unable to strike while wielding this weapon. Fortunately you can just drop or destroy these weapons via 'd'/'k' keys just like any other items, right away. See 'Weapons of Morgul' right above on how to break the curse of this weapon to get rid of it. Note that this weapon can auto-recurse itself when you move it between equipment and inventory, so when you uncursed it drop it to the ground right away! Magic ammunition (Magic Arrows, Magic Bolts, Magic Shots). Those will return into your quiver magically, so just having one will already serve, as long as it isn't destroyed by some elemental attack.. Artifact ammunition of any type auto-returns too, same as magic ammunition. Silver ammunition *Slays* undead. Ethereal ammunition Magically returns after being fired, has a small chance to fade away instead though. Blasted armour Armour that has the prefix "blasted" has much less +AC bonus than usual, in most cases the +AC value is deeply in the negative numbers. However, other than bad +AC the armour is not cursed or impared in any way, and may still be usable, especially if you use scrolls of enchant armour to 'repair' it. Dragonrider Coat Resists heat & cold. Serpent Scale Mail Resists acid. Multi-hued Dragon Scale Mail Gives base + poison resistance (base means fire/cold/lightning/acid) and two random immunities out of those five. For example one MHDSM might give fire and cold immunity, while another MHDSM gives poison and lightning immunity. Elven Cloak Increases your stealth, searching ability and luck. For details about luck see LUCK flag in (5.8). Shadow Cloak Makes you hard to spot for other players, regarding a) them seeing you b) them being able to look at your current equipment. Shadow Cloaks work especially well to further disguise yourself while being invisible vs. someone who is able to see invisible creatures/players. See '(5.16) Invisibility'. Elven Gloves Regenerate hit points and mana points. Royal Armour Super-heavy armour that can only be worn by (fallen) winners, 'winner' meaning queens, kings, empresses and emperors. (These armour pieces usually have a level requirement of 51 or more and can have special boni not found on other armour.) 'Royal armour' is not a base item name itself but just describes various types of adamantite and mithril heavy armour or shields that will display "It is to be used by royalties exclusively." in violet colour when inspected/exmamined. Potions ------- Boldness Removes fear and keeps your heart boldened for a while. Heroism Temporary effects: Increase CHP and MHP by 10. Removes fear. +12 bonus to-hit. Berserk Strength Temporary effects: Increase CHP and MHP by 30. Removes fear. +5 bonus to-hit, +10 bonus to-dam, -10 malus to to-ac. Resistance Gives you temporary resistance against heat, cold, acid, electricity and poison. (Stacks with permanent resistance to lower the damage to 1/9 (1/3 temp * 1/3 perm)). Speed Temporary speed increase by +10. Cure Light Wounds Cures blindness and cuts; heals 3d8 HP. Cure Serious Wounds Cures blindness, cuts, confusion; heals 6d8 HP. Cure Critical Wounds Cures blindness, cuts, confusion, stun; heals 14d8 HP. Healing Cures blindness, cuts, confusion, stun, poison; heals 300 HP. *Healing* Cures blindness, cuts, confusion, stun, poison; heals 700 HP. Restore Mana Restores 500 SP. *Restore Mana* Restores 1000 SP. Restore Life Levels Restores your experience, if it has been drained. You can see that your experience has been drained by it being displayed in yellow colour instead of the usual light green. Note that this potion does not restore experience you lost by dying (there is no way to restore experience loss by death). Curing Heals some HP, removes blindness/confusion/stun, cures poison/cuts/hallucinations, heals some insanity, cures being gorged, restores all your stats (except exp). Life Heals 700 HP, removes blindness/confusion/stun, cures poison/cuts/hallucinations, cures Black Breath, restores all your stats and experience. Experience Gives you additionally half your current experience plus 10, but only up to a maximum of +100,000 points. So you'll get the most out of it if you quaff it when you reached 200,000 exp. (Ok, 199,980 - thanks Sav...) However, some players prefer to quaff it earlier, when it's especially hard for them to reach the next level for some reason, maybe harder than if they were at 200,000 exp already. Self-Knowledge Tells you everything about yourself :) Chauve-Souris Turns you into a fruit bat. Quaff another one to be restored to your original form. A wand/rod of polymorph might help too. Make sure you don't resist nexus if someone tries to polymorph you back. Or just use 'Morph Restoration' service. Enlightenment Illuminates and maps the whole level and reveals all objects. *Enlightenment* Raises your intelligence and wisdom, detect treasures, objects, secret doors, traps. Identifies all items. And tells you about yourself like a potion of Self-Knowledge would do. Augmentation Raises all your stats. Lose Memories Lose 25% experience (if Hold Life is missing). Ruination Take 10d10 damage. All stats are decreased by 25 (restorable). Detonations / Death Better not drink it (or you deserve it). Also, handle with caution! Make sure those won't shatter in your backpack when you're hit by potion-damaging effects, or you might not see the next sunrise. If thrown (press 'v' to throw an item) these potions show the strongest effect by far of all potions - devastating! Accordingly useful to be used in fumes traps. Invulnerability Will turn you partially invulnerable (50% chance to get hit, 50% damage reduction). Learning Gives you 1..3 (random) additional skill points to spend. Scrolls ------- Rumour Makes a random rumour come to your character's (and everyone else's characters') mind. Has no further effect and is not necessarily true even. Blessing/Holy Chant/Holy Prayer Increases your AC by 10/15/20, also increases your to-hit bonus. (Temporarily) Life Resurrects another player's ghost if standing on a directly adjacent field to you when you read it. Does not work inside vaults, and only over solid ground. Also restores your experience points if they were drained. Since it was often asked: Non-everlasting and everlasting players can revive each other without problems. Aggravate Monsters Wakes up all monsters within about twice the maximum sight range (a constant defaulting to 20, so aggrav. radius is ~40). Hastes all monsters in your line of sight (same as SHRIEK spell or traps of aggravation or the "/scream" command). Word of Recall Use it to quickly travel from the town or the wilderness into a dungeon or tower within your current sector. It can also be used to travel between towns or on the worldmap in general. See "(0.3) Important Inscriptions" for more info about Word of Recall! ("Word-of-Recall", "WoR") If you read another Word of Recall while you're still waiting for one to kick in, the effect will be cancelled again! That way you can change your mind, for example if you suddenly spot a monster you want to kill just after you read a WoR. Word-of-Recall scrolls can be exchanged between an everlasting and a non-everlasting player! Blood Bond Inscribe this @P, for example @PGandalf, then read it to form a blood bond between you and that player. (Only one of you has to read a BB scroll, it's working bidirectional). Everyone on the server will receive messages about that blood bond been formed: " blood bonds with ". If you don't see this message, you did something wrong. Get another scroll and repeat the blood bonding until you see the correct confirmation message. Your characters will automatically be hostile to each other, so you can fight in a friendly duel. This even works in town, which otherwise is a safe zone from PvP. The loser won't suffer a real death while blood-bonded, but just get teleported away. The hostility will automatically be cancelled when the blood bond ends or when a player logs out. Everyone on the server will be informed about the result: " wins the blood bond against ". Remove Curse Breaks lesser curses on items, allowing you to unwear or destroy them. Note that many items can be sold for good cash as soon as they are uncursed! Also, non- or uncursed items that induce random teleportation can be inscribed .. to have the teleportation stop (compare (0.3 Important Inscriptions). (It gives you the message: 'You feel as if someone is watching over you.'.) *Remove Curse* Breaks heavy curses. Note that curses (including heavy ones) on weapons or armours can also be broken by enchanting one of their boni some points above +0. Recharging Recharges a magical rod/wand/staff (see (5.22)). Rune of Protection Creates a warding glyph on the floor that stops monsters from crossing the field or summoning on it. Protection from evil Repels evil creatures that try to attack you. See the prayer 'Protection from evil' in (6.8)! *Destruction* Causes a local earthquake, nearly completely wiping the area of monsters and objects. Extremely powerful magic which causes a searing blast of light and a terrible shockwave that will blind you and knock you and everyone else out. Use this as a last resort! This magic will fail inside vaults and in towns or in the area surrounding a town within a radius of 3 worldmap sectors. It will also fail on dungeon floors that do not allow *destruction* magic explicitely (orange floor feeling saying "The walls here seem very solid.", also see (4.8)). Genocide Removes all monsters of a certain kind from the current level. Drains your HP for each one removed. The race will be determined by the monster which stands closest to you when firing off the spell. For each monster you will suffer randomly from just 1 up to 4+(monsterlevel/8) points of damage, which cannot be absorbed by any magic shield or other protective effect! Depending on the server configuration, the caster's remaining hit points are usually halved (as an additional extra penalty) after the spell finished. Monsters have a chance to resist genocide, depending on their level. Monsters inside vaults, Uniques, and monsters that are immune to teleportation attacks cannot be genocided. Mass Genocide Removes all monsters that are close to you. Drains your HP. All monsters within a radius (equal to your sight range) around you are annihilated. For each monster you will suffer between 1 and 3+(monsterlevel/8) points of damage, which cannot be absorbed by any magic shield or other protective effects! Depending on the server configuration, the caster's remaining hit points might be halved (extra penalty) after the spell finished (this penalty is enabled by default). Monsters have a chance to resist genocide, depending on their level. Monsters inside vaults, Uniques, and monsters that are immune to teleportation attacks cannot be genocided. Acquirement Gives you a great item, generated randomly (may sometimes be very great and sometimes less great). Reading it on deeper dungeon levels produces better results in general (although the outcome is still pretty random). Note that while some towns also have a high level, reading this scroll in town won't guarantee a 'great' item, which will be guaranteed if you read it in the dungeon. What you usually do: Either try to quickly visit a really deep dungeon level just to read the scroll, grab the item and get out of there. Or sell it to a town store for good cash. Acquirement is not affected by 'luck'. *Acquirement* Same as Acquirement, but gives you two or three great items. Fire/Ice/Chaos Fires a ball of the according type around you. Make sure you resist it or you will take damage too. Lottery This might be your chance today to win the Jackpot! Just read it, if you win any money, it will appear under/around your character on the floor. You will always get a message that tells you if you won or not. A common question is if someone ever won the first prize and how much it is: Yes, several people have won it, although it happens extremely rarely. The prize at the time of writing this is about 1.5M Au. Vermin Control Stops breeders on the map from multiplying. Doesn't have effect on certain non-natural breeders such as Unmakers. Wilderness Mapping Maps the wilderness area around the worldmap sector you are currently within. These scrolls also sometimes carry an inscription telling the location of a hidden dungeon. Cancellation Don't use it! It can heavily disenchant magic items in your inventory and/or equipment. It hasn't got a useful purpose. Golem Creation Allows you to create a golem which follows you and which you can control to some extent, see (8.3) for more information. Parchments These contain informations about the game, they won't disappear if you read them. Deeds Some of the parchments are deeds, which are used as rewards for various purpose, such as events (see (4.13)) and PvP fights of PvP-mode-characters (see(6.13)). Press 'r' to read a deed, which will usually tell you what to do with it. In most cases, you have to turn it in at the mayor's office in Bree (one of the '+' doors in town). Cheques These are automatically generated in player stores when someone buys an item. They can be 'I'nspected to check their value or 'r'ead to cash in the money. For more information see (4.10a). Wands/Rods/Staves ----------------- Genocide See 'Scrolls'. *Destruction* See 'Scrolls'. Wonder Wands of wonder cast random magic spells. Starlight Casts 8 beams of light in a star-shaped pattern. Curing Cures being gorged, removes blindness/confusion/stun, cures poison/cuts. Probing Tells you hit points, melee attacks, speed and armour class of monsters in your line of sight. Detection Detects treasures, objects, traps, secret doors, creatures. Perception Identifies a specific item. *Perception* *Identifies* a specific item, you guessed it.. Enlightenment Magically maps your surroundings. Polymorph Polymorphs your target randomly into another form. Doesn't works on players who resist nexus. Drain Life Wand: Drains 10..20% life from your target, giving you 50% of the drained life force. Rod: Drains 15..30% life from your target, giving you 33% of the drained life force. Annihilation Wand only: Drains 15..30% life from your target. Magi Restores your intelligence and 500 mana points. Power Dispels nearby monsters. Holiness Dispels nearby evil. Also protects you from evil for a while. Cures poison/cuts, removes fear/stun, heals you somewhat. Dragon's Breath These wands fire a ball of dragon odem (more powerful than normal ball spell wands.) Restoration Restores experience points (aka live levels) and drained stats, ie STR/INT/WIS/DEX/CON/CHR. Havoc Fires balls or beams of random type, the exact outcome is hard to tell.. it's very powerful though. Jewelry ------- Amulets of Adornment They might be looking fancy, but they don't do anything and have no effect on your character. Talisman (Amulet) Increases your luck, helping you finding better loot. (See LUCK flag in (5.8) for details about luck.) Rings of Might increase strength and constitution. Rings of Toughness increase dexterity and constitution. Rings of Cunningness increase strength and intelligence. Rings of Ready Wit increase dexterity and intelligence. Amulets of Brilliance increase intelligence and wisdom, provide light. Rings of Sustain Might sustain strength and constitution. Rings of Sustain Ability sustain strength and dexterity. Rings of Sustain Cunningness sustain strength, intelligence and charisma. Rings of Sustain Steadiness sustain wisdom and constitution. Rings of Sustain Ready Wit sustain dexterity, intelligence and charisma. Rings of Sustain Brilliance sustain intelligence and wisdom. Amulets of Sustenance sustain all six attributes, provide 'Hold Life' aka resistance to experience-draining attacks, and provide slow digestion. Sustenance of a stat will prevent it from being drained by various sort of attacks, potions, or other effects. For most things it works 100% of the time, but for some effects it just reduces the chance of a decrease to occur. Sustaining STR and DEX for example will ensure that you don't lose attacks/round, so wearing a ring of Sustain Ability can be helpful for melee fighters, especially if they enter an ironman dungeon which they cannot leave early in case they need to restore drained stats. Rings/Amulets of Slow Digestion will slow your food digestion so you have to eat less often. Also prevents instant paralysation if your food state hits red 'weak'. Amulet of Anti-Magic See '5.7 NO_MAGIC' Amulet of Anti-Teleportation If worn it will suppress all attemps to teleport, phase or recall the wearer, regardless whether initiated by a monster or by himself. It will also prevent certain effects of unresisted nexus attacks. Any word-of-recall that is cast while teleportation is supressed will be suspended and then immediately kick in as soon as the amulet is taken off. This allows for some interesting tactics.. Rings of Lordly Protection Resist poison, disenchantment, life drain and give free action (immunity to paralysis). Elemental rings (flames, frost, acid, lightning) Provide the according resistance and can be activated for temporary resistance too, thereby temporarily giving you "double resistance" (see (5.17) for details). Amulet of the Moon Gives infra-vision, the power to see invisible, and it can be activated to sleep monsters nearby. It also improves your +hit and +dam boni. Amulet of Terken Gives the power to see invisible, free action, and improves your searching (usually by quite a lot). Misc -- Spell scroll Although called "scrolls" they actually persist and can be used infinite times. They may however get destroyed by certain damage effects (most notably fire and acid) same as regular scrolls. Spell scrolls ignore water damage though, which can harm regular scrolls. Spell crystal They are like "spell scrolls", except they are used for mindcrafter spells. A specialty of spell crystals is that they ignore fire damage (and water damage, same as spell scrolls). Codex, Spellbook, Grimoire These are magic books that may contain magic spells of any type and school, be it for mages, priests, druids or mindcrafters. However, these books start out empty, devoid of any spells and it's up to the player to add spells of his choice to them. To do so, he needs to find or buy spell scrolls in the library (store '9'), then press 'A' to activate the Codex, Spellbook or Grimoire, then choose the spell scroll he wants to transcribe into the book. The scroll will vanish and the spell will be permanently and irreversibly added to the book. Condition for this to work is that the book still has free space left, and that the player has actually learned the spell he wants to transcribe. Codices can carry the least amount of spells (3), spellbooks being intermediate (4), while Grimoires have the most space (5). (Note that you cannot use these books if your game client version is below 4.4.2!) (Small) Firestones These can be eaten by Draconians and players in dragon forms and have various random effects (small firestones have reduced duration): - If the player isn't a Draconian but he is currently in dragon form he will get some mana refilled. - If he is a Draconian, the following effects can apply: - Adrenaline: Consume way more food. Get STR/CON/DEX bonus. Get to-hit/to-dam bonus. Sometimes get EA. Get AC malus. - Biofeedback: Consume more food. Regenerate HP / heal cuts faster. Reduce damage from arrows/missiles, shards, sound and ice shards. - ESP: You can see telepathically. - Physical Instability: Probability Travel. - Fury: 40 more HP, speed bonus, to-dam bonus, to-hit/to-ac malus. - Speed-up: Speed bonus. - Heroism: 10 more HP, to-hit bonus, resist fear. - Temp res: Temporary base and poison resistance. If you eat too many of them over a short period of time you might get poisoned by adrenaline overdose, with lethal outcome. Dwarven lanterns Make you resist fear. Don't need to be fueled. Feanorian lamps Make you resist fear and see the invisible. Don't need to be fueled. Mattock/Pick/Shovel Diggers, improving your digging capabilities. (+to-hit, +to-dam) on digging tools as well as a high weight help to further increase their effectiveness. Main factor is the (+diggingpower) mod though. (Equip it!) If you lack any of these valuable digging tools, axes and swords can help you hacking down trees or bushes (see 'Digging' skill in (6.2) and (5.21) for more information about digging). Mummy Wrapping Reduces your charisma slightly, and prevents other players from seeing your equipment except for your melee and/or ranged weapon. Also makes you look dark like being infected by Black Breath. (Equip it!) Vampires start with a mummy wrapping, because it can protect them from the sunlight. If they are moving on the world surface (meaning not in a dungeon/tower) while it's day, the sun will burn them if they don't resist light or wear a mummy wrapping. Hint: Polymorphing into a vampire bat may improve hit point regeneration rate. Tarpaulin When equipped a tarp prevents your inventory and equipment from taking water damage when crossing water fields or when you are attacked with water-based effects. Note that your weapon is not included in this protection when you for example attack a water-based monster with it. Picklock When equipped, improves your trap-disarming ability. Money Belt When equipped, greatly reduces chance of thieves succeeding in stealing your money. Device of theft prevention When equipped, greatly reduces chance of thieves succeeding in stealing items from your backpack. Climbing set Allows you to travel over mountain fields. Info for mimics & co: In order to be able to use it, your appearance form must have arms and fingers. (Equip it!) Fortune Cookie Gives you a line of wisdom. Sprig of Athelas Eat this one to cure Black Breath (see 1.5 for more information about Black Breath), also cures poison/stun/cuts. Mushrooms of paranoia/cure paranoia Cause/remove fear, cause/reduce hallucinations. Mushroom of Unmagic Removes all magical effects from your body if eaten. Mushroom of Restoring Restores your stats and your experience if drained. Mushrooms with bad effects are also often poisonous. Lembas (elvish waybread) Satisifies your hunger, cures poison and hallucinations. Flint Prevents your light from going out by automatically refilling it right when it would've reached 0 turns. For this to work you'll need to carry appropriate items in your inventory that will be used up in the process, eg a flask of oil or another lantern for refilling a lantern or another torch for refilling a torch. Empty bottles You can /fill these at fountains to turn them into potions. (See 0.2 for more details.) Skeletons/Bones/Skulls You can create ammunition from these if your Archery skill is sufficient (see (6.12)). Rubble ':' on the floor You can create sling ammo from this. You cannot pick up rubble, just stand next to it (see (6.12)). Guild key See (6.9). Chests Chests may contain treasures or items. Usually, chests you find will have hidden traps on them. So what you do is to hit 's' to search for traps while standing next to the chest, or use any trap detection magic. When you have discovered the trap, hit 'D' to disarm it, or again use any sort of disarming magic. The disarmed chest is finally safe to open with 'o' key. Happy looting. (5.9a) Activatable items ------------------------ Many items can be activated (press 'A' to try). The chance of successful activation may or may not depend on various factors, such as.. -your magic device skill vs the item type base level -whether you have trained your Antimagic skill -if you have the item equipped An activated item will usually have a cooldown (timeout) until it can be activated again. Items that need to be equipped to be activated usually won't recover while they aren't equipped. Many artifacts can be activated, as well as items of certain ego powers. But there are also some base item types that provide an activation effect. Base and ego types that can be activated and aren't described elsewhere: Cloaks of immolation: Temporary fire resistance. Cloaks of frostweaving: Temporary frost resistance. Cloaks of Lordly Resistanc: Temporary base+poison resistance. Dragon Scale Mails: According breath attack. Weapons of the Thunderlords: Teleportation. Weapons of Spinning: Spin attack. Fury weapons: Berserk. Noldor caps: Treasure detection. Spectral weapons: Wraithform (see (5.24)). Serpent amulets: Poison breath. Moon amulets: Sleep monsters. Rage amulets: Berserk. Elemental rings: Breath the ring element and temporary resistance to it. Teleportation rings: Explode for teleportation. (5.9b) Artifacts and artifact resets ------------------------------------ Artifact types in general ------------------------- Some items are 'named', those possess especially great magic powers and are also called 'Artifacts'. Different from other items artifacts will pseudo-ID as 'special' (given sufficient combat/magic/archery skill) or as 'terrible' if they are cursed. The artifact name can either be given as a real name, for example: The Dagger 'Nimthanc' or it can be in the form of a description like for example: The Whip of Gothmog The 'The' indicates that this item is one of a kind, aka an artifact. To find out all about the magic powers of an artifact it needs to be *identified*, for example by a 'Scroll of *Identify*' or in one of the *ID* shops that occur in most towns, which will usually cost around 2000..3000 gold. Some artifacts can be 'A'ctivated for a special effect. This will be shown in the list of its powers that you get when *identifying* it. Artifact ammunition never breaks or (in case of boomerangs) falls down to the floor instead of returning. Artifact weapons are harder to get disarmed. There are two classes of artifacts, 'true artifacts' (also called 'static artifacts') and 'random artifacts' or short 'randarts': True artifacts -------------- True artifacts are predefined in the a_info.txt file and will always sell for their defined value even if they have not been *identified*. You can search a list of all true artifacts in game, by pressing ~ 6 . True Artifacts are unique. If an artifact is owned by a player, noone else can find it anymore until it's lost (for example if the player dies) or sold to a shop, or if the player drops it to the floor and leaves it behind. Depending on a server's configuration artifacts that are sold to shops usually stay a while in the shop and can be bought by other players before they finally disappear from the stock. Usually true artifacts may not be dropped into a house (will just disappear!) and may not be carried by winners, ie characters that have beaten Morgoth. Since static artifacts are predefined and have fixed abilities, their number therefore is limited. Thanks to the existance of random artifacts (see below) this won't be able to cause any shortage of artifacts that can be found though. Static artifacts will also be erased if they are left on the ground and the dungeon level or worldmap sector gets 'unstaticed', that means it gets reset because no players have been on it for a while (can be a few seconds for world map sectors or dungeon floors that are left without any players on them, and up to many hours in case someone ghost-died on a dungeon level, which can render the dungeon level 'static' for that time to allow others to retrieve the loot). Note that some cursed true artifacts can be sold to stores after you removed the curse. Random Artifacts ---------------- Random artifacts are composed randomly and even if they happen to bear the same name might have totally different powers. Randarts need to be *identified* to sell for what they are really worth. Randarts can be dropped in houses and used by anyone just fine, with the exception that randarts that give a hit point bonus can only be found/created by winners (characters that have beaten Morgoth), and that the hit point bonus will not apply if a non-winner character happens to use them. As was just mentioned, randarts can actually be created by players, using a 'Scroll of Artifact Creation' which are somewhat often sold in the 'Expensive Black Market' in Minas Anor, but also may very rarely spawn in normal black markets. The advantage of creating an artifact is that the player can determine the base item type he wants to use. For more information about artifact creation see (8.4). Note that randarts that don't auto-curse themselves can be sold after you removed the curse (except if the base item type is already worthless). Artifacts vs Nazgul ------------------- Artifacts greatly resist Nazguls, which cause most other weapons to break more or less instantly. So even if an artifact weapon you find seems not very appealing in particular you might want to keep it just for slaying Nazgul. (See (1.3a) for more information about Nazgul.) Note: 'The Stormbringer' is not a real artifact but it will show the same resilience as true artifacts and random artifacts vs Nazgul. Bonus from wearing similarly named artifacts -------------------------------------------- If you wear/wield multiple artifacts of similar name, you will receive a luck bonus (see (5.8), 'LUCK', for details about luck). For example if you equip The Whip of Gothmog (which happens to be a true artifact) and also The Hard Leather Armor 'Gothmog' (which is actually a random artifact) You'd get a small luck bonus, or 'set bonus'. The more artifacts of similar name you equip the greater the luck bonus will be. The exact luck boni for those 'artifact sets' starting at two items are: 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 40 (cap). So it's basically the amount of artifacts squared. Different sets don't stack, only the biggest set counts. Artifacts of any type cannot be enchanted by any means, nor harmed by elemental attacks of any type. Also they have a high chance to resist disenchantment effects. (If the player actually resists disenchantment already then they are completely safe.) Artifact resets --------------- Depending on the server settings, an 'artifact reset' occurs usually every three months, starting on 1st january. This reset will erase all true artifacts players carry, and therefore make all of them findable again, since there can only exist one of each true artifact at a time. So the main purpose is to prevent characters from hoarding true arts indefinitely. Also, art resets can cause a sort of art rush (like gold rush but with true artifacts), because everyone will be in a race to find the low-level yet useful ones which have a relatively high drop chance. You do not need to sell all your true artifacts before the reset occurs, because characters will automatically get paid the full value of the artifacts, which is even more than you'd get in shops (because charisma and shop keeper race factors in in stores, reducing the price you get). (5.10) Destruction of items by elemental attacks ------------------------------------------------ Items in your inventory can be destroyed if you are hit by an elemental attack. Those attacks even have a very slim chance of destroying an item that you have equipped! In order for an item to guaranteedly survive such an attack, you must either be immune or double-resisting (have permanent AND temporary resistance, also see (5.17)) to that specific element. Double resistance is nearly as good as immunity in regard to item protection. Some items have IGNORE_xxx flags which let them ignore certain elements, preventing them from being destroyed. All artifacts, random and static ones, cannot be harmed by elemental attacks of any type. Here is a table of items and which elements they are susceptible against: "Impact" happens if you fall into a pit, smashing some potions on hitting the floor. Items that IGNORE_COLD also resist impact damage. Usually items that contain wood, leather or stuff are susceptible to fire and acid, while things that consist only of metal are just susceptible to acid. Acid Elec Fire Cold Impact Water --------------------------------------------------------- Arrows x x Bolts x x Pebbles Shots Slings x x Bows x x Crossbows x x Boomerangs x x Swords x Axes x x Blunt x x Polearms x x Helms x Crowns x Shields x Boots x x Gloves x x Cloaks x x Soft Armour x x Hard Armour x DSM Armour Scrolls x x x Parchments x x Chests x x Skeletons x Bottles x x x Junks x Rings x Amulets Wands x Staves x x Rods Lamps x Potions x x x Flasks x x Books/Tomes x x x Items, even tomes, resist certain elements if they have the according resistance due to ego powers (for example a leather shield of resist fire) or -in case of tomes- according content :) For example a Tome of the Eternal Flame cannot be harmed by fire. (5.11) Monster attack mechanism, Armour Class, damage caps ---------------------------------------------------------- Monsters may try to attack you in three different ways: -Hitting you. -Shooting you. -Casting a spell that may wound you. Monster is trying to hit you: ----------------------------- If a monster tries to hit you, the following happens: 1) Any shielding magic around you is evaluated and may prevent the attack. (Note: Disruption shield is currently evaluated later on.) If this doesn't succeed.. 2) your character may dodge. If this doesn't succeed.. 3) your character may try to parry with a weapon or block with a shield. It will mostly choose the action (either parry or block) where it is more proficient, although it won't always be able to use the preferable method of those two, and sometimes randomly has to rely on the other one. If this doesn't succeed.. 4) your armour class is evaluated and might catch the attack, in which case you don't take any damage, ie the monster misses you. If this doesn't succeed.. 5) your character takes damage, but your armour class will at least reduce it. Note that some attacks can bypass some of those defenses. More info further below. Monster is trying to shoot you: ------------------------------- If a monster tries to shoot you, the following happens: 1) Your character may dodge. If this doesn't succeed.. 2) any shielding magic around you is evaluated and may prevent the attack. (Note: Disruption shield is currently evaluated later on.) If this doesn't succeed.. 3) if you have REFLECTION you will try to reflect the shot. If this doesn't succeed.. 4) your character may try to block the shot with a shield. If this doesn't succeed.. 5) your character takes damage. Armour class has no effect. Monster is casting a spell that wounds you: ------------------------------------------- If a monster casts a spell at you, the following happens: 1) Your character may dodge if it's a bolt spell. If this doesn't succeed.. 2) any shielding magic around you is evaluated and may prevent the attack. (Note: Disruption shield is currently evaluated later on.) If this doesn't succeed.. 3) if you have REFLECTION and if the spell is a bolt spell, you will try to reflect it. If this doesn't succeed.. 4) if it's a bolt spell, your character may try to block it with a shield. If it isn't then your character may still try to cover behind a shield. If this doesn't succeed.. 5) your character takes damage. Armour class has no effect. For details about parrying and blocking see (6.11). Armour class: ------------- Armour class helps you twice: -It makes monsters miss you more often. The more AC the better, it's weighed against the level of the attacking monster. If the monster is (heavily) stunned it gets penalties here. -It reduces the damage if a monster manages to hit you. This effect caps at 200 AC. Monsters can score critical hits which can (depending on the attack type) result in a cutting or stunning effect against the player. A monster scores a critical hit if it inflicts a damage which is very close to its theoretical maximum. Weaker monsters (that don't inflict high amounts of damage) aren't able to score critical hits at all. The power of the resulting cut/stun depends on the damage too. So a high armour class helps a lot, to avoid critical monster hits and to reduce their power. Basic monsters (that means before any ego-power such as 'Warrior' or 'Holy' is applied as in 'Hill troll warrior' or 'Holy 5-headed hydra') have a cap on melee attacks, which limits their attacks to an _average_ of 700 total damage points per round (Monsters, depending on their race, can perform up to four melee attacks each round they can move/act). Note that the monster may attack for more damage, it's just the averaged value, the real damage is random and can fluctuate above or below the average. Wearing armour will further reduce the total average damage you can expect to take per round from that monster. The cap will be used on the monster's raw damage output _before_ the player's AC is factored in. Sanity-draining melee attacks are capped at 55 points of _average_ sanity damage per _blow_ (not per round). WARNING: If the monster is an ego-monster (eg the aforementioned 'Warrior' or 'Holy' ego power) this will modify its damage output _after_ the cap was applied. That means that some very powerful ego-monsters may deal even more than cap damage on average per round, although that's very rare. Note that there are melee attacks that cannot be reduced by armour. It depends on the way the melee attack is performed. See (5.12) for details. (5.12) Monster attack types and brands -------------------------------------- Monsters can strike you with branded attacks, for example acidic hits, or hits that poison you if you get hit. If you resist the according brand you won't be affected by it alot, and the overall damage will be reduced. If you're immune you won't be affected at all and only take a physical part of the damage - if there is a physical part. This depends on the attack type. Here is a list of attack types and brands: Type Contact/Cut/Stun/Bypasses AC ------------------------------------------- HIT + + + - PUNCH,KICK,BUTT,CRUSH + - + - CLAW, BITE + + - - TOUCH,STING,ENGULF,CHARGE,CRAWL + - - - SPIT, - - - - GAZE,WAIL,SPORE,EXPLODE,BEG, - - - + INSULT,MOAN,DROOL,SHOW,WHISPER - - - + Brand Needed resistance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ HURT Only AC - raw damage. Acd,Ele,Fir,Col according element. POISON poison. BLIND blindness. CONFUSE confusion (or chaos). TERRIFY fear. PARALYZE free action. EXP_xx hold life. LOSE_xxx sustain stats. EAT_xxx DEX, stealing skill. Device of theft prevention. Won't help against EAT_FOOD/EAT_LITE. UN_BONUS disenchantment. UN_POWER none.(drains charges/energy from your items) Magic Device skill helps to prevent draining though. See (6.10) for more information about the Magic Device skill. TIME time. DISEASE poison. This attack can also decrease your constitution. INSANITY none. (mimics using WEIRD_MIND/EMPTY_MIND form resist slightly) HALLU chaos. PARASITE DISARM fighting skill. Weapons wielded 2-handely are harder to disarm (stacking). Artifacts are also harder to disarm (stacking). Heavily cursed items are quite hard to disarm (stacking). FAMINE none. Makes you hungry. SEDUCE none. Makes you take off equipped items. SHATTER hits & causes an earthquake - very dangerous, see (5.13). Getting hit by higher undead creatures may also infect you with the Black Breath! (See 1.5 for more information about Black Breath.) Further, monsters may have one or more spells they can cast. Breathing elements and shooting or throwing boulders belong to those too (but aren't affected by anti-magic fields since they aren't 'real spells' but rather physical actions). Among the monster spells, such as casting bolt or ball spells, teleporting, healing, trying to blind/scare/confuse/paralyze/slow the player, summoning other monsters for help, or speeding itself up with a haste-self spell, there are some particularly special spells that will be explained here in more detail: SHRIEK Not a real spell but a physical action, some monsters can emit an aggravating noise that will wake up all nearby monsters and even haste those within line-of-sight of the shrieker. This can be extremely dangerous and you'll see a light red message in the combat message log when a monster shrieks. If you have the sound pack installed, you'll also clearly hear it, which can help further to react quickly: On shallow levels shrieking might not be that bad, but on deep levels it might well be reason enough to teleport out instantly. TRAPS Again not a spell but nasty nevertheless. The monster casts a 3x3 'circle' of traps around you, watch where you step. UNMAGIC This can be extremely nasty for istari. Unmagic cancels nearly all kind of magic effects your character is currently under, such as speed from a speed potion and even Disruption Shield. This won't affect classes much such as warriors and archers but is life-threatening if it neutralizes the Disruption Shield of an Istar. (Note: Holy Martyr cannot be cancelled.) MIND_BLAST A psionic attack spell that hurts your sanity and can cause confusion and hallucinations. BRAIN_SMASH A powerful psionic attack spell that hurts your sanity and can cause blindness, confusion, paralyzation and slowness. FORGET This mind blanking spell will create darkness around you and make you forget about some or all of the items you are carrying effectively un-identifying them (except for flavoured items). HOLD Although not so special and already mentioned in the text above this spell is listed because it's a ranged paralyzation spell. Ghouls can do this for example, so make sure that you get Free Action as early as possible, definitely before venturing into Mordor though. (5.13) Earthquakes ------------------ Earthquakes will cause ceilings to collapse and the ground to shift and crack, burying items, players and monsters and inflicting a lot of damage. All fields in a certain radius around the epicentre have a certain chance to be filled with rocks, to be cleared from previous obstacles (walls) and turn into empty floor fields, or to remain untouched and unchanged. Players don't take damage from their 'own' earthquakes, caused by their equipment or items (weapons of earthquakes, scrolls of *destruction*). Earthquakes can deal up to 300 damage if you cannot evade the falling rocks and shifting ground: Depending on the number of unchanged (by the earthquake) empty fields that are adjacent to your character, there is a chance to 'evade' and take much less damage or even none at all. Earthquakes can also stun you. Items will usually be destroyed/lost, only very rarely you'll be able to grab one before it falls into a chasm and vanishes forever. (5.14) Curses ------------- Several items you find will be {cursed}! Cursed items usually have bad effects that outweigh or dominate their useful abilities, and you cannot take them off once you equipped them, as long as the curse isn't broken. Cursed artifacts and ego items are pseudo-id'ed as {terrible}. Shops won't buy cursed items, they might buy the item after the curse is broken, however. If you equip an unidentified item and it carries a curse your character will notice 'Oops, it feels deadly cold!'. Note: Instead of dropping an item which curse you have successfully broken, you may of course also just outright destroy it with 'k' key instead. You cannot destroy artifacts though (for example Rings of Power dropped by Nazgul). There are different types of curses: CURSED can be broken by a regular 'remove curse'. Item cannot be taken off or destroyed (via 'k' key) until the curse is broken. HEAVY_CURSE requires a strong '*remove curse*' to be broken. Item cannot be removed until the curse is broken. On weapons, there is a high chance of resisting disarming. See the hint regarding the use of enchant scrolls to break a heavy curse instead of using a *rc* scroll, written at the bottom of this paragraph! PERMA_CURSE This curse can never be broken. Item can never be taken off or otherwise removed again! Mimics polymorphing into a form that cannot wear the specific item won't succeed either. There is absolutely no way to get rid of this item. If you find a way then you found a bug =). CURSE_NO_DROP these items cannot be dropped from inventory as long as the curse isn't broken. CURSE_NO_DROP occurs together with CURSED or HEAVY_CURSE. AUTO_CURSE occurs together with CURSED or HEAVY_CURSE. If the curse is broken, AUTO_CURSE items will automatically recurse themselves as soon as the item is equipped, taken off, or picked up. To get rid of an AUTO_CURSEd item that you don't need anymore (d)rop it to the ground after the curse has been broken. If you had the item equipped, don't take it off but (d)rop it to the ground right from your equipment! Otherwise it will recurse itself. To drop directly from your equipment, press '/' key at the "drop what?" prompt, which will switch to equipment (and back to inventory if pressed again). TY_CURSE Randomly drains stats sometimes, even if the item is uncursed. (TY_CURSE will stay, even if the 'normal' curse is broken!) Lowers the items value by 15000 Au. This curse will be on hold while you're in a town, and will also occur rather rarely while you're on the world surface, ie not within a dungeon or tower. ("It carries an ancient foul curse.") DG_CURSE Rarely summons a random monster on you, even if uncursed. (DG_CURSE will stay, even if the 'normal' curse is broken!) Greatly lowers the items value by 25000 Au. This curse will be on hold while you're in a town. ("It carries an ancient morgothian curse.") If 'CURSED' or 'HEAVY_CURSE' occurs on a weapon or armour piece, the curses can alternatively be broken by enchanting the item's stats above +0. Each enchantment of any of their stats (to-hit, to-dam, to-ac) above +0 has a certain chance to break the curse. This can often be cheaper than buying a *Remove Curse* scroll for HEAVY_CURSE items. This is an especially commonly used trick for getting rid of Morgul weapons. Just pick the stat that is already higher. Example: A Dagger of Morgul (-33,-15) -> You'd enchant its damage to +0 or higher, since it requires you to buy less scrolls (15+) than going for to-hit (33+). If the item you want to enchant is among your equipment instead of your inventory, press '/' key at the "enchant what?" prompt, which will switch to equipment (and back to inventory if pressed again). (5.15) Vampirism ---------------- Weapons and other items that you can equip may be 'vampiric' (see (5.8)), meaning that they drain life from your target. Mimics who use a vampire form and players of 'Vampire' race will also get a vampiric 'brand' on their melee attacks (see (6.7)). Vampiric life draining heals you with a part of the damage you afflicted on your target, almost each hit! The more damage you deal and the more attacks per round you have, the more life you will leech back. There's a maximum amount of HP which you can leech from a victim per round, but this cap isn't really reached until your character deals quite a lot of damage, remember: Leeching is based on a fraction of your damage dealt. Vampirism does not work on all types of monsters. From some it is not possible to drain life force. Those immune to vampirism are: - undead monsters - nonliving monsters - in general, all elementals ('E'), golems ('g') and vortices ('v'). Although demons and angels don't really 'live', vampirism is able to drain the powers that allow them to exist, and so vampirism works against those too. The best case is to have vampiric flag on a weapon, that will drain at maximum efficiency. However, it will only drain if you hit the monster with that particular weapon. If you use other vampiric equipment, like gloves, they will be a bit less efficient than an actual vampiric weapon, meaning that you will leech less frequently (the amount of leeched life per hit is not penalized though) but in turn it will work with any weapon you use (ranged too). For ranged weapons it doesn't matter whether the bow or the ammunition is vampiric. It won't increase your over all life leeching if both are vampiric either. Note that vampirism gained from mimicked forms only works on melee combat. Vampires (real ones as well as mimicked ones) usually only are half efficient at vampiric leeching, compared to vampiric weapons, due to half of vampires' attacks being normal hits and the other half being biting (which does the actual leeching). In general, vampiric flags don't stack from multiple sources! Just the source that fits the situation best (usually weapon/ammo) overrides the weaker ones (usually non-weapons). Here is a table of priority - as was just explained, only the most powerful source is applied, the rest is ignored: Vampirism source priority table (from best at the top to worst at the bottom) The best source overrides all weaker ones, which simply get ignored: | Melee | Ranged | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Weapon 100% | Shooter 100% | | Vampire bat/mist form 100% | Ammunition 100% | | Vampire character race 50% | | | Other vampiric forms 50% | | | Non-weapons (gloves) 50% | Non-weapons (gloves) 33% | (5.16) Invisibility ------------------- Invisibility (for monsters as for players) is binary: Either you are invisible or you are not - possible +mods on items that grant invisibility don't affect the invisibility itself, but are usually just extra +stealth boni. While characters either having or not having 'invisible' property is a binary choice, the actual effect it has on gameplay will be affected by player/monster level, the ability to see invisible, and shadow cloaks, as follows here: A player who is invisible is harder to spot for monsters in the way that they only have a certain chance to see the player on each turn, making them move erratically instead of directly targetting the player. This also helps against casters, archers or breathers who won't be able to target you as well (often) as they usually could. Being invisible costs your body a lot of effort, resulting in getting hungry quickly. Invisibility won't work at all on monsters that are.. -invisible too. -special quest monsters (Sauron, Morgoth). -Dragonriders, they have ESP. -nonliving monsters with empty mind (not using optical senses). -able to see through the rogue-specific 'cloaking' ability, see the cloaking command description in (0.2) for a list. All other monsters are randomly affected by the player's invisibility, meaning that they will only sometimes be able to spot him (they will see the player kind of 'flickering'). The closer a monster is, the better its chances to spot the player. Some monsters have better chances to spot the player, depending on -distance to the player, -level of the player (higher level = harder to spot), -monster class (Dragons, demons, undead, animals, never sleeping monsters and smart monsters are better at it; orcs, trolls, stupid monsters are worse), -the vision power of the monster, -the level of the monster, -player carrying a light source, doubles the chance of spotting him, -player wearing an aggravating item, further triples the chance. Invisibility also affects other players: If another player is invisible and of higher level than you.. -you can see him if you can see invisible and he's not wearing a shadow cloak; -otherwise he'll be completely invisible to you. If another player is invisible and not of higher level than you.. -you can see him easily if you can see invisible and he's not wearing a shadow cloak; -you see him 'flicker' if you lack seeing invisible or if he's wearing a shadow cloak (or both). He will fade in and out of your sight. If you want to look at his equipment with the ' key, then you'll need some timing, might take several tries. Invisibility (on players) overrides ESP. So it does help in a (blood bond) duel even if the opponent has ESP. The effect of invisibility is greatly reduced in PvP (you cannot become completely invisible even if your level is higher than the other player) but still gives a slight edge. Cloaking: --------- The ability to cloak themselves is exclusive to rogues and automatically acquired at level 15. This will effectively render them invisible, but it is in fact NOT the "Invisibility" that has been described above. Cloaking overrides any detection mechanism, a cloaked player can only be seen by party members, certain special monsters, or while the cloaking is weakened because the cloaked player performed certain (noisy) actions. See (0.2) for more information about cloaking. (5.17) How abilities, resistances and boni stack ------------------------------------------------ (Also see (5.6) for basic information about damaage types and resistances.) The same resistance from two or more items in your equipment don't add to each other. For example you only need one item that provides fire resistance. If you equip two such items you won't get better resistance than with just one item. You cannot get "double resistance" from two items' permanent resistances. This rule applies to all resistances and abilities that don't use a bonus number to indicate their effectiveness, like faster mana replenishing or hit point regeneration, telepathic powers, slow digestion, etc. However, there is a way to further increase your resistances temporarily: (NOTE: THIS ONLY APPLIES FOR BASE (fire/cold/acid/elec) AND POISON RESISTANCE!) Use an item that provides some temporary resistance. Temporary resistance and permanent (such from your equipment) resistance stack and their effects are multiplied! For example if you wear a shield of resist fire and you quaff a potion of resist heat you'll have double fire resistance as long as the potion lasts, resulting in fire damage being cut down to 1/9 instead of 1/3! This is nearly as good as having fire immunity. (1/3 perm res * 1/3 temp res = 1/9 total res). Not only potions can boost your resistances temporarily, some items can also be activated for temporary resistance, for example cloaks of lordly resistance or elemental protection rings or certain artifacts. Stat increases or ability increases that are not 'flags' (flag means you either have it or you don't) but that use bonus numbers will add to each other. For example an orcish shield (+2) that increases your strength by +2 and a kolla (+1) which also increases your strength (just by +1) will add up and your character's strength will be increased by +3 in total! Same goes for IV (Infra-Vision), luck, extra attacks, speed, etc. There are some abilities which are not flags although they might look like it. In fact, they add up / stack. Those are: -Extra shots (concerning ranged weapons) -Extra might (concerning ranged weapons) -Drain mana ('Drains your magic'. Note that 'mana regeneration' (also called mana-charging) does NOT stack. So it can cancel out the effect of only ONE item that drains mana, not of any more). See (4.11a) for more information. -Drain hit points ('Drains your health'. note that 'regeneration' does NOT stack, so it can cancel out the effect of only ONE item that drains hit points, not of any more. However, the 'Health' skill is able to further increase your regeneration rate). See (4.11a) for more information. -Drain experience ('Drains your life force'). See (4.11a) for more information. -Extra light radius (5.18) Monster auras -------------------- Some monsters have auras of flashing lightning, freezing cold or furious flames surrounding them! If a player engages such foes in close combat, each time he lands a blow the aura will retaliate, dealing lightning / cold / fire damage depending on the aura type. Some monsters even have multiple auras. The damage of such auras may be significant. Especially important is the fact, that the faster a player hits a monster, the more he will suffer from its auras. The damage an aura deals is decided by a dice roll: [1 + (monsterlevel/26)] d [1 + (monsterlevel / 17)] Example: A warrior of level 30 is fighting a storm giant. The storm giant has an aura of lightning surrounding him. The warrior is able to deal 6 blows per round with his current weapon. The warrior has a source of permanent lightning resistance (elvenkind armour), he lacks potions of resistance or lightning immunity though. This means: Storm giant has monster level 35 (assumed the warrior encounters him on dungeon level 35), so his lightning aura will inflict 2d3 damage each hit. The warrior has lightning resistance, so the damage will be cut down to 1/3, which is 1 or 2. Since the warrior has 6 bpr, he will suffer between 6 and 12 (6*1 and 6*2) damage per turn while hitting the storm giant. (5.19) Experience-draining items -------------------------------- Some items, such as randart rings of power (dropped by Nazgul) drain your experience points permanently. Here are some details about that process: -Experience drain from multiple items stacks, although it doesnt add in a linear way. So, wearing two rings of power won't drain twice as fast as one, but about 1,5x as fast. -Experience drain is not temporary, so it cannot be restored by potions of restore life levels. To make up for it, you'll have to kill monsters..faster. -Experience drain won't go further than the experience you need at least to maintain your current character level. If you reach that experience border, experience drain will stop, even if you still have the items equipped. So you will not lose levels from experience drain. HOWEVER: If a monster or other effect drains your experience below your current level, the experience drain from items will kick in again! -Experience drain will happen much slower if you're on the world surface, ie not inside a dungeon or tower. -Experience drain will completely hold while you're in a town, so you can just take any time you want for shopping or sitting out blacklists, without losing any experience at all. (5.21) Digging -------------- Your chance to successfully tunnel through an obstacle depends on the obstacle and your 'digging power'. If you're not interested in the exact formula, skip down to (5.21b) which has a table with example values for certain scenarios. (5.21a) Digging - Exact calculation ----------------------------------- Your digging power is calculated as follows: An equipped item that provides (+X) to digging will add 20*X. If you have a digging tool equipped, its weight is added (eg 25.0 lb -> +25). If the digging tool is enchanted to hit or to damage, those values are added. The power value so far is now multiplied by a value between 1 and 2, depending on your 'Digging' skill (see (6.2)). If the skill is 0, the multiplier is 1, if it's 50, the multiplier is 2. Otherwise the value is linearly inbetween. After that, a bonus is added depending on your strength: Ranging from +0 at 3 over +10 at 18/10, +50 at 18/110 up to +100 at 18/***. If you don't have a digging tool equipped, your total digging power is halved. If your resulting final digging power is zero, then it is set to 1, so you always have at least a tiny chance of digging through the weaker materials that have a +0 difficulty (see table below). To successfully dig through certain features, your digging power must be greater than the result of a random number roll "random(0..x-1) + y": --------------------------------------------------------------------- Rubble 200 + 0 Ivy 200 + 0 Bushes 300 + 0 Dead trees 300 + 0 Trees 400 + 0 Sandwalls 250 + 5 Magma 400 + 10 Quartz 800 + 20 Granite 1600 + 40 The +y is a fixed value that gets added to the random roll of (0..x-1), the sum of this is what you have to overcome with your digging power value. For example you cannot successfully tunnel through quartz if you don't have at least 21 digging power, since you have to overcome the +20. Example: If you have 21 digging power and try to dig into quartz you'll have to be very lucky and hope for the random(0..799) roll for quartz to actually be a 0 so that the result will be 0+20 which is 20 and therefore smaller than your digging power of 21. So on each turn of tunnelling your chance to succeed would be 1 in 800 in that case. (5.21b) Digging - Common example values --------------------------------------- Some example values, assuming 0.000 'Digging' skill and unenchanted (ie (+0,+0)) digging tools: ------------------------------------------- -You always have a chance to remove rubble and organic material, even without a digging tool. Might take quite a while if your strength is low though. -You cannot tunnel through granite wall without a digging tool if your STRength is below 18/180. -You cannot tunnel through quartz without a digging tool if your STRength is below 18/100. -You cannot tunnel through granite with a shovel if your STRength is below 18/30. -You cannot tunnel through granite with a pick if your STRength is below 12. -You can tunnel through all other materials with just a basic shovel even if your STRength is only 3. (For quartz, you have a 3% chance to succeed at 18/50 STR with the shovel and at 18/10 STR with a pick. If you use an enchanted shovel (+9,+9) (+1) however, you already have a 3% chance to succeed at only 5 STR.) (5.21c) Digging - Further information ------------------------------------- For digging through granite wall without having to wait for ages to succeed, you will definitely want a better digging tool than basic shovels or picks. For example ones 'of Digging', a magical ego power for digging tools. Or higher level diggers such as gnomish, orcish or dwarven diggers or mattocks, which have a higher base digging bonus that just (+1). Tunnelling into walls that are actually secret doors will be treated as if you were 'searching' instead of tunnelling. You cannot find secret doors in permanent (aka non-tunneable) walls this way though, such as mountains. Tunnelling into known doors will just try to open them instead. If a door is stuck, you will want to 'B'ash it instead of tunnelling, since you cannot just open stuck doors the normal way. Tunnelling might reveal special floor features, items or gold (walls that are displayed as a '*' symbol will reveal cash worth of gems or precious metal, but those walls might not always show it until you use 'Treasure Detection' or 'Treasure Location' magic), see 'Digging' skill in (6.2) for details. Also see (3.4a) for more information on digging tool mods. If you haven't got a digging tool equipped, or if it's just a basic shovel (+1) then wielding a sword or especially an axe can work as pseudo-digger when you want to hack down organic material such as trees, bushes, ivy or spider webs. (Dual-wielding does not help, so two swords/axes can't dig better than just one. Wielding a 1.5-handed weapon in only 1 hand will decrease your digging chance though, so take off your shield for best results.) (5.22) Recharging ----------------- While electricity or disenchantment based attacks may deplete magic devices, they can usually also be magically recharged when necessary. Wands and staves will need to be actively recharged by the player when depleted while rods and other magic devices (jewelry, artifacts, special ego-powered items) will automatically recharge themselves over time, displaying 'charging' label or just '#' if the item name is very long and there's not enough space. Recharging can be done via shop service, a scroll, another magic device or a magic spell. Devices that can be recharged are: -Wands -Staves -Rods -Certain jewelry (eg elemental rings) -Some artifacts -Items that possess certain activatable ego-powers (eg weapons of fury) For wands and staves recharging will replenish their charges, while for the other item types recharging will reduce their 'charging' delay. Note: Rings of polymorphing cannot be recharged. When an item is recharged the result depends on the method of recharging and the item's base type level. For wands and staves it also depends on the current amount of charges in the device, to get the most out of it and to minimize the risk of a failure you should only recharge wands and staves that are already fully depleted ie have zero charges left. If unlucky, recharging may result in a failure. Even when recharging at highest magic spell level there is still a very slim chance for a failure to occur. While a failed recharge may drain rods even further, wands and staves may either just get their charges depletes or they may even blow up completely, depending on your (bad) luck. So only recharge those when they are already fully depleted to minimize that risk. Means of recharging: -Scrolls (60 power) -Thingol artifact (60..100 power, depending on magic device skill) -Shop service (80 power) -Magic spell (10..150 power) The power determines both, the chance of succeeding in recharging the item and the degree of recharging done to the item. Note: Staves 'of plenty' will receive about twice as many charges from recharging, so look out for those. (5.23) Monster loot types ------------------------- Different monsters drop different types of loot. For example mages will usually drop more potions and scrolls, while fighters tend to drop more weapons and armour. There are four loot classes for monsters: -Combat: Weapons, armour (except boots), shields, ammunition. -Treasure: Chests, rings, amulets, dragon scale mails, crowns. -Magic: Mage staves, wands, staves, rods, runes, potions, scrolls, books, parchments. -Tools: Boots, cloaks, diggers, light sources, flints, food, flasks, trap kits, spikes, climbing sets, picklocks, money belts, devices of theft prevention, tarpaulins, mummy wrappings. And a 'hidden' 5th class: -Junk (rest chance, not covered by the above four categories): Skeletons/bones, bottles, shards of pottery, broken sticks, firestones, golem parts. Example: 'Green naga'. A Green naga has 25% chance of dropping 'Combat' loot and 65% chance of dropping 'Tools' loot. The remaining 10% chance translates to 'Junk' drops. (5.24) Wraithform ----------------- Wraithform, or "pass wall" form is a character state obtained from the spell "Wraithform" (Udun school) or from certain items (either spectral weapons or items that give permanent wraithform: "It renders you incorporeal"). It allows a character to pass through solid walls easily, but at the same time prevents them from attacking anything else in close combat, except if the target is also able to pass walls (ie possesses wraitform too, or is actually a ghost or other monster that can pass through walls). Also, spells cast while in wraithform will only deal half as much damage as usual. Items that provide wraithform are: -Spectral weapons ('A' to activate them for temporary wraithform). -Ethereal Dragon Scale Mail and Death Dragon Scale Mail (just wear it and you obtain wraithform until you take it off again). There is a confirmation message when using the Wraithform spell: "You turn into a wraith!" when you attain wraithform. "You lose your wraith powers." when your wraithform runs out. Wraithform is very powerful since it allows you to move around the dungeon without having to follow its room/passages structure, making it easy to pick encounters or loot items you detected on the ground via detection magic, and to escape dangerous situations easily (just retreat into walls). (6) Character details ===================== (6.1) Attributes ---------------- Characters have six 'attributes', also called 'stats', which are strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution and charisma. These depend on your race and class and the stat assignments you did during character creation process. Stats are displayed as values from 3 (minimum) to 18. (Note: This can be changed in TomeNET options, press key =1 and toggle 'linear_stats' option. It is recommended to keep the traditional way though, which represents the D&D system of throwing three 6-sided dice to determine a stat). Certain effects can drain stats, for example unresisted fire or cold damage can drain your strength, unresisted lightning damage your dexterity, unresisted acid damage your charisma. Also many monsters have stat-draining attacks. Traps can also drain your stats, some temporarily and some permanently. If a stat is drained and can be restored it will be displayed in yellow. In that case buy a potion for restoring that particular stat from town store 5 provided it is not out of stock in which case you'll have to wait a bit or go to another town. Maybe the stat drain isn't even that important to you and you save your money for the time being. Some traps can permanently drain a stat, in which case it gets lowered but remains green instead of turning yellow. In this case a stat restoring potion has no effect, instead you'll need a "stat potion" that increases a stat permanently (up to a certain limit depending on class/race). It is possible to gain even higher stats, those will be displayed as 18/xxx where xxx is roughly the value above 18 multiplied by 10 (to allow fractions). Examples: 18/10 is like 19 (ie 18+1). 18/120 is like 30 (ie 18+12). 18/47 is like 22. The fraction 0.7 is not factoring into actual gameplay. If you quaffed the maximum of "stat potions" (potions raising your stats), the maxed out attribute will be displayed in light umber. An attribute is maxed out at 18/100 +/- racial/class modifiers. Examples: Human Adventurer has 18/100 + 0 + 0 = 18/100 cap for all stats, see (6.4) for race boni and (6.5) for class boni. Draconian Istar has an intelligence cap of 18/100 + 2 (Draconian) + 3 (Istar) = 18/150. Stats can be raised over the character's cap by equipment. The total possible maximum of an attribute is always 18/220 (40), which is displayed as 18/***. Strength (STR) -How heavy may your weapon, bow or shield be? You can't fight with a weapon that is too heavy for you. -How heavy may your armour be? You will lose mana, boni or combat abilties if it's too heavy for you. -How much damage do you inflict on enemies? (to-dam bonus) -Are you able to deliver several blows per round with your weapon? (For details, also see (6.5).) -How much can you carry in your backpack without getting slowed down? -How easily you can bash doors open. -How far you can throw items. -Allows you to try hard to swim and not drown in deep water. -How easily you can dig. Intelligence (INT) -Has influence on your mana pool size. (class-dependant) -How well can you cast spells that use INT to determine failure rate? -Has influence on your magic device handling skill. -Has influence on your trap-disarming ability. -Do you notice if someone tries to steal from you? Also see (6.10) for more information about the 'Magic Device' skill. Wisdom (WIS) -How well can you cast priest prayers or other spells that use WIS to determine failure rate? -Has influence on your mana pool size. (class-dependant) -How well can you resist malicious influences like poison, paralyzation, or confusion? (Means, your Saving Throw is depending on your WIS.) -Wisdom directly increases your sanity. Be careful! If you're very low on sanity taking off a +wisdom item can mean your death, in case your sanity drops to 0 by taking off the item. Dexterity (DEX) -Has positive influence on your armour class and on your chance to hit enemies, also quite important for ranged weapons to-hit chance. -How well can you steal (from shops)? (A high DEX won't help much if your 'Stealing' skill is zero by the way ;) -Are you able to deliver several blows per round with your weapon? (For details, also see (6.5).) -How likely are items or money stolen from you? -Can you prevent getting stunned from bashing a door clumsily? -Allows you to try hard to swim and not drown in deep water. -Has influence on your trap-disarming ability. Constitution (CON) -How many HP (hit points) do you have? Very essential. Note that CON effect caps depending on your character level. Roughly: At level 20 you can't utilize more than 18/60 CON. That means even if you raise your constitution above that value, your Hit Points won't increase as long as your character is level 20. At level 30, CON cap is 18/130, at level 40 it's 18/190, and at level 45 and higher the full CON bonus is utilized for determining Hit Points. -Also reduces the duration of poisonous effects on you. -Reduces drowning (also for aquatic forms outside of water) effects. Charisma (CHR) -Do you get good prices in shops? :) Note that shop prices also depend on racial preferences of the shopkeepers vs their customers. It is said, that Half-Trolls have an especially hard time. -Allows you to resist getting seduced. (6.2) Skills, opposed skills ---------------------------- If you rise in character levels by gaining experience, you also get skill points to distribute on various abilities. To invoke the skill system overview press 'G' (capital G!). If you make a mistake while distributing skill points, look up the /undoskills command in (0.2). "/undoskills" can only be used once per level. Skills of dark grey colour cannot be used by your character at all. Skills that are light grey are just dummy skills that serve for organizing other skills in paragraphs. Skills coloured orange can be used by your character, but are currently still at zero. Skills that your character can train and that have already been increased above zero will change from orange to white. Skills that have reached their maximum possible value and therefore cannot be increased any further are displayed in light blue. You can collapse/expand blocks of subskills by pressing RETURN key while having selected the parent skill of that block. Useful for example for collapsing whole blocks of skills that you cannot or don't want to use anyway. Here is a list of the available skills and brief explanations to each one: Note that not every skill is available to every profession (class). +Combat Lets you wear heavier armour without mana points penalty. Lets you wear heavier armour without losing dodge chance, or other roguish abilities like boni from dual-wielding, critical-strike, area-searching and cloaking. Lets you wear heavier armour without getting a penalty to to-hit or sneakiness (See (5.5) for details about encumberment.) Ability to pseudo-ID items: You can sense if items are terrible, worthless, cursed, average, good, excellent or special. At the beginning you will only feel 'cursed' or 'good'. Raise combat skill to at least 11 to get more distinctive feelings about melee weapons and armour. A powerful combattant (combat 31) senses the usefulness of ranged weapons and ammunition more distinctively, even if (s)he's not knowledgeable in archery otherwise. A very powerful one (combat 41) can also roughly estimate usefulness of magical items. The further you train Combat, the faster you will pseudo-id items. Increases Fear/Stun/Confuse duration of the target (if attacking causes those). Reduces Fear/Stun/Confuse durations that you suffer from. Slightly increases melee and ranged to-hit bonus, and melee to-damage bonus. Increases 'Fighting' and 'Bows/Throws' abilities. If your Combat skill isn't zero, then you can press 'm' to check your base chance of parrying (weapon) and blocking (shield), see (6.11) for more details about parry/block. +Weaponmastery Improves your Fighting ability. Slightly increases melee to-dam and to-hit for armed combat. Increases your chance to score critical hits in armed combat (Note: The skill 'Critical-Strike' has much more effect.) Weaponmastery will also increase your parry chance a good deal (see (6.11) for details). +Sword-mastery Greatly improves to-dam/to-hit with swords. At 25 and 50 you will get +1 blow per round while having a sword equipped. .Critical-strike Increases your chance to score hits of extremely high damage. This skill improves the chance to score critical hits and adds to critical-hit bonus from your equipment. NOTES ABOUT CRITICAL-STRIKE SKILL: Critical-strike skill only helps light swords, not heavier than 10.0 lb., while critical-hits items will work with all weapons. Also, Critical-strike skill will not give you any benefits if your armour is so heavy that you get a flexibility warning (compare (5.5)). NOTES ABOUT CRITICAL HITS IN GENERAL: You can always score critical hits, independent on weapon class and crit-skill. Martial artists can score critical hits too, although the Critical-Strike skill won't do anything for them (it only helps light SWORDS not heavier than 10.0 lb). The probability to land a critical hit will be small though, if you don't have +critical hit items or this skill to help out. Critical hit bonus on items counts slightly more than the skill. Crit boni on weapons only apply to the weapon itself, while bonus on other items such as gloves or rings count for all kind of attacks. For weapon users, the weight of their weapon affects their critical hits: If your weapon is lighter than 10.0 lb, your chances to score a critical hit will further increase. Above 10.0 lb, the chance to hit your target critically won't be worse than with a 10.0 lb weapon. Although your chance of hitting critical spots is better with lighter weapons, the damage of your critical strike -IF you manage to execute one- is higher if your weapon is heavier (in detail: the crit class is more likely to be higher for heavier weapons). .Axe-mastery See Sword-mastery .Blunt-mastery See Sword-mastery .Polearm-mastery See Sword-mastery .Combat Stances This ability cannot be trained, but it is increased automatically each time your character gains a level. If you attain the status of King, Queen, Emperor or Empress and are at least level 45, you will learn an additional royal rank version of each stance, which is the most powerful version. If you die and lose your title, you won't be able to use the stance either. Only warriors, mimics, paladins and rangers can learn certain stances. On certain skill levels, you will learn a new rank of a stance. Press 'm' to enter one of the combat stances you have learned. You will learn a couple of ranks of three basic combat stances, when you reach a certain character level i.e. skill. Each stance has advantages and disadvantages, those are: Balanced stance - the default, no boni/mali. Defensive stance - you will block more, - intercept less often, - deal less damage. Note: You can use it even without shield - in that case your chance of parrying is increased instead of blocking. Offensive stance - you can stun opponents (compare (4.12)), - intercept more often, - parry and dodge less often, - get an AC penalty same as for being in 'fury'. (A higher ranked stance features more of its benefits and/or less of its drawbacks.) .Dual-Wield The ability to wield two weapons at once. This ability cannot be trained, it's always at 1.000 if your character's class can dual-wield, else at zero. (So it's basically a switch.) Dual-wielding will give you additional parry chance as well as a blows/round bonus (see (6.11) for details about parrying). NOTE: If your armour is too heavy (see (5.5)) then you won't receive any bonus and your second weapon will actually be ignored as if you didn't wield it at all ie you won't gain any resistances/abilities/whatever from it. By dual-wielding, your character gains all magical abilities of both weapons at once (only very few don't stack)! In combat, a coin is flipped for each blow you deal, determining randomly which weapon will be used for that particular hit. Note that both weapons must be 1-handed. 1,5- or 2-handed weapons cannot be used. To avoid confusion: If you use weapons with different blows/round, their bpr will get averaged, and rounded up, then bpr bonus for dual-wielding is added. Example: 4bpr & 5bpr = 4.5bpr rounded to 5bpr. +1 bonus bpr for dual-wielding -> 6bpr total. Also by pressing 'm' you can disable/reenable dual-wield mode. While disabled ('Main-Hand mode') you will just attack with your primary weapon exclusively, and not receive any dual-wield specific boni; this can be useful if it deals much more damage than your secondary weapon. While enabled ('Dual-hand mode') you will attack with both weapons, picked randomly. Classes that are able to dual-wield are warriors, rangers and rogues. .Martial Arts Ability to fight with bare hands. Slightly raises your character speed. Lets you attack with special combat styles. You get +1 extra attack at 1,10,20,30,40,45,50 each, so up to +7 blows per round in total. At 10 you receive Feather Falling (Levitation). At 15 your character gets fear resistance. At 20 your character gets confusion resistance. Gives you 'Free Action' (immunity to paralysis) at skill level 25. At 30 you're able to swim without problems. At 40 your movement is perfected enough to cross even highest mountains. At 50 a martial artist will learn the technique of flying! Under certain conditions MA abilities cannot be used and lose their effect, see (5.4)! The dice of martial arts special moves (which your character will use automatically depending on your MA skill) are affected by elemental brands, but slightly less than normal weapons (2/3 as much). Martial Arts gives you a chance / adds to your chance of intercepting an enemy! See 'Interception' skill below. For more details about MA see section (5.4). Training Martial Arts skill will also slightly increase your Dodging skill. .Interception Ability to interfere with adjacent enemies. Can prevent them from teleporting, casting, summoning, running away. The chance to intercept an enemy is (2 * interception) + (martial_arts_skill / 2) - (enemy_level / 3). Example: Chance to intercept summoning of the Balrog of Moria with maxed interception is (2*50) + 0 - (50/3) = 84% base. Now since it's spellcasting it's reduced to 75%: 84%*75%=63%. For Morgoth it's (2*50)+0-(100/3) = 67% base. To intercept his spells it's 75% of 67% = 50%! (A maxed out martial artist would have 69%.) Note that this formula shows that interception is actually not that useful if you don't keep it at the maximum possible value all the time. Interception chance is recuded to 33% while you are blind. Interception chances also depend on what the enemy is trying to do. Certain actions are harder to intercept, those reduce the chance further, to.. 100% for shooting 85% for running (fleeing / stepping back) 75% for casting a spell / summoning 50% for teleporting / phasing (blinking) Note: While ball/bolt attacks are spells, breathing is NOT. Interception chance caps at 80% (cap is applied after all other penalties have been factored in, at the very end of calculation). Note: You aren't able to intercept a monster's action while you are stunned. (Compare (4.11)) Note: Monster level means 'rlevel' (see (0.4)). +Archery Improves ranged to-damage bonus. Allows you to learn some shooting techniques, accessible via 'm', see (6.12) for details. Increases your chance to score critical hits. At 10 you may create ammunition from bones, skeletons and rubble on the floor (see (6.12)). Lets you pseudo-id ranged weapons and ammunition more often the higher the skill. If increased to at least 11, pseudo-id will give you much more distinctive feelings about the items. Before that, you can only distinguish between cursed and good. At 20 the quality of your handmade ammunition becomes remarkably better. 50 in archery grants +1 'extra might', increasing your launcher's multiplier by 1. NOTE: The extra might bonus does not apply to Boomerangs! All other boni do apply. .Sling-mastery Increases hit chance (while using a sling). At 10,20,30,40,50 you will get +1 additional shot per round each (while using a sling). Also reduces the chance of your ammunition to shatter by up to 90% at 50. (Example: a shot that usually has 10% chance of breaking will only have a 1% chance of breaking if your skill is at 50.000.) (only concerns ammo for slings). Adds chance for your shots to ricochet, even multiple times, hitting multiple enemies. Note that magic and ethereal ammo fades away the moment it hits, and never ricochets. Note that the explosion of exploding ammo will still hit "reflecting" monsters. Artifact ammunition never breaks. .Bow-mastery At 12.5, 25, 37.5, 50 you will get +1 extra shot per round each. Otherwise same as Sling-mastery, except no ricochetting. .Crossbow-mastery At 25 and 50 you will get +1 extra shot AND +1 extra-might-bonus each. Otherwise same as Sling-mastery, except no ricochetting. .Boomerang-mastery At 16.6, 33.3 and 50 you get +1 extra throw each. Boomerang-mastery also increases ranged to-damage bonus while using a boomerang, and reduces the chance of a boomerang to break or to fall to the ground instead of returning. Artifact boomerangs never break or fall down. << For more information about learning spells, see (6.8) Most spells will increase in power in one way or the other when you increase their school skill. >> +Magic Increases your mana capacity. Lets you pseudo-id magic items, potions and scrolls faster the higher your skill is. If 'Magic' is at least at 11 points, you will get more distinctive feelings from pseudo-id, before that you only sense 'good' or 'cursed'. +Magic Schools .Sorcery Learn to use spells of ALL magic schools at once, instead of training a particular branch! .Mana Learn spells of the Mana branch. .Fire Learn spells of the Fire branch. .Water Learn spells of the Water branch. .Air Learn spells of the Air branch. .Earth Learn spells of the Earth branch. .Nature Learn spells of the Nature branch. .Conveyance Learn spells of the Conveyance branch. .Divination Learn spells of the Divination branch. .Temporal Learn spells of the Temporal branch. .Udun Learn spells of the Udun branch. .Mind Learn spells of the Mind branch. .Meta Learn spells of the Meta branch. +Prayer Schools .Holy Offense Learn prayers of the Holy Offense branch. .Holy Defense Learn prayers of the Holy Defense branch. .Holy Curing Learn prayers of the Holy Curing branch. .Holy Support Learn prayers of the Holy Support branch. .Spell-power Increases the power of learned spells by adding a bonus to the spell level. At 50, it will raise spell levels by 40%. (It won't raise the level of spells which you haven't learned yet.) Note that Spell-power does not affect magic of druids, mindcrafters, runemasters or maiar. +Druidic Schools .Arcane Lore Learn druid magic tought by arcane lore. .Physical Lore Learn druid magic tought by physical lore. +Mindcraft Schools .Psycho-Power Learn mindcrafter spells of psycho-power. .Thought Contact Learn mindcrafter spells of tought contact. .Mental Intrusion Learn mindcrafter spells of mental intrusion. +Runecraft See '(6.8b) Runes & Runemastery'. .Light Learn to evoke light runes. .Darkness Learn to evoke darkness runes. .Nexus Learn to evoke nexus runes. .Nether Learn to evoke nether runes. .Chaos Learn to evoke chaos runes. .Mana Learn to evoke mana runes. .Mimicry Ability to shapechange into a monster! You also inherit the monsters abilities, weaknesses and resistances! See section (6.7) for more info. To find out details about a monster form, press ~ 7 in game or consult a spoiler file. (See (7.4) for more info about spoiler files.) .Magic-device Ability to use magic devices (wands,rods,etc.) without failing. Also increases their power. Speeds up recharging of rods you carry. See (6.10) for more information. +Necromancy Drains life and mana from killed monsters, replenishing your HP and SP. Only works if you are able to see the target, and if you are not dead yourself. The amount of points gained depends on the skill and the target's level. To get maximum drain, the skill should be at least half as high as the monster level. Necromancy has no effect on undead and nonliving monsters. .Traumaturgy Drains mana from monsters when you inflict damage on them, replenishing your SP. Only works if you are able to see the target. The amount of points gained is a fraction of the damage points you inflicted and only depends on damage and skill. Traumaturgy has no effect on angels, undead, and nonliving monsters. .Aura of Fear Monsters that hit you are stroke by fear. .Shivering Aura Monsters that hit you are stunned. At a skill of 30 the aura is so strong that your melee attacks (weapon as well as martial arts will be branded by it. (Cold brand.) .Aura of Death Monsters that hit you are hit by waves of plasma and ice. At a skill of 40 the aura is so strong that your melee attacks (weapon as well as martial arts) will be branded by it. (Alternating fire or cold brand.) .Antimagic Generated from your strong disbelief in magic an anti-magic field surrounds you, preventing attempts from other casters to cast spells or summon monsters. This effect is cumulative with the anti-magic field of a Dark Sword. (See 5.9 for more info about dark swords.) It's capped at 75% chance of interrupting enemy spells. Note that as soon as you invest a point into this skill you won't be able to use any magic wands,staves or rods anymore! This skill also slightly affects your fellow party members (casters). Each point in Antimagic adds 1% to your AM chance, so the max gain is +50% from skill. Note: While ball/bolt attacks are spells, breathing is NOT. Antimagic will also reduce the duration of all timed magic effects on you, be it good or bad. Warriors that specialize in Antimagic are called 'Unbelievers' (The Anti-magic powers result from their strong disbelief in magic). +Sneakiness Slightly increases your character speed (+7 at 50, so approx +1 every 7..8 points). Slightly increases perception and searching. Slightly reduces speed loss while in searching mode, and very slightly while in rogues' cloaking mode. .Stealth Increases your stealth, which determines if monsters can hear you from a distance or if you can sneak past them. Note that even Draconians can become stealthy by using this! (Without further +stealth items, stealth of a Draconian Adventurer will become 'poor' instead of 'bad' with Stealth at 26.000.) .Stealing Ability to steal items from stores. If you get caught, you will be on the 'blacklist of merchants' for a minute up to 2 hours, depending on the item you tried to steal from a shop. During this time it's impossible to steal, and you will get BAD prices (blackmarket-like) in shops. Note that your blacklist timer won't decrease while you are 'AFK'! You'll also be on the 'watchlist', meaning that you can shop normally, but are unable to steal until the shopkeepers stop to watch you so intensely. The watchlist runs out slower than the blacklist, but allows you to be AFK. The time period you'll be on these lists solely depends on the item's _base_ value (so it does not matter whether you got caught in a normal store or in the black market.) Price discount applies though, reducing the base value. Note that usually people don't want to be seen with stolen goods, which means that very expensive items, depending on their value, have a certain chance of their level becoming 0, making them untradable. (Note: Even if you were stealing Morgoth's crown, which has a value of 10 million Au, you'd still have at least a 5% chance of it retaining its original level.) Your chance to steal an item from a shop depends on your dexterity, your stealing skill and the price and weight of the item. Stealth and invisibility are also somewhat helpful. For example it's nearly impossible to steal a large piece of wood without the store owner noticing it, although it's not worth much. There's always a minimum chance of 5% to fail. You need to be at least level 5 to steal and at least level 10 to steal anything of somewhat higher value. You have a chance to successfully steal an item even if your stealing skill is 0 and your dexterity low, so everyone could give it a try. If a shop offers an item more expensive than it actually is (black market) that has no effect on stealing. The 'normal' item value is used to calculate the chances. However, if an item is offered at reduced price, it'll be easier to steal it! It's more difficult to steal from certain stores, eg stores that are found in the dungeon or that don't belong to the basic town stores (numbered 1-9, including the rune repository). It is even impossible to steal from expensive black market (the one located somewhat hidden in Minas Anor), secret black market (the one you can only find in dungeons), rare footwear shop and rare jewelry shop (both in dungeons), or from a dungeon town's temple, potion store or black market. It's a good idea to wear as many +DEX items as possible while trying to steal from a shop, since DEX is the main factor besides the skill. Additional notes: Stealing items which have a base value (with discount applied, as usual for stealing) not higher than your stealing_skill * 10 are especially easy to steal. Also, if you still get caught on such an item, the blacklist time will be much shorter too. Trying to 'steal back' an item that was already owned by a player, ie an item that has been sold to the shop, is especially hard. Blacklist times, very roughly: Murderous look - 1 hour + Gazes at you angrily - 40 min + Looks at you suspiciously - 25 min + Looks at you disapprovingly - 10 min + Cool glance - less than 10 min. .Backstabbing Lets you backstab enemies, afflicting high damage. Works if the opponent is asleep or running away in fear, exposing his back to you. Also works when you are cloaked (only once per monster though, so re-cloaking won't help) or shadow running. Increasing this skill increases the damage your backstab attacks deal. Backstabbing requires sword-type weapons or martial arts skill, in which case it transforms into neck-twisting. That means your target must possess a neck, read: A head and a torso. If you dual-wield, you will also dual-backstab if the moster is either asleep, or you perform the attack from cloaking mode or shadow run. Although you'll deal somewhat less damage with each stab, since they are executed both at once they will provide a great damage boost. Note: Weapon weight or whether it's 1-h, 1 1/2h or 2h weapon does not matter for backstabbing. Vampires will feed especially much from backstabbing a sleeping opponent to death. .Dodging Ability to evade attacks. In order to get any benefits from doding skill at all, your armour mustn't be too heavy. If it is, you will get a flexibility warning (compare (5.5)). Also, you must not be using a shield. There are various attacks that can be dodged: Melee attacks mostly, bolts, arrows and the likes (both magical and physical) shot by enemies or traps at you. And it slightly helps to dodge rubble coming down during an earthquake. Your actual chance to dodge an attack depends on the total weight you are carrying around with you, where inventory usually weighs most and will encumber you the most. Your equipment also musn't be too heavy, although your weapons are allowed to weigh quite a bit, as long as your armour isn't too encumbering. However, for weapons, armour, and inventory always goes: The lighter, the higher your chances will be. And of course your dodging chance depends on your dodging skill, which (after penalized by the weight of all your stuff) is compared to the opponent's level or trap level. (For dodging monsters, the rlevel (0.4) of that monster type is important. Any additional levels the monster may have gained due to dwelling deeper than usual will not affect your dodge chance.) You can check your average dodging chance against opponents of same level by pressing 'm' and choosing "Check dodge chance". Depending on the server version you might see textual descriptions instead of raw numbers: "Almost no chance" means less than 5%, "Slight chance" -> less than 14%, "Significant chance" -> less than 23%, "Good chance" -> less than 30%, "Very good chance" -> less than 40%, otherwise "High chance" (may occur in actual game play if opponent is much lower than you). Against monsters that have way higher level than you, you receive a minor penalty. You can still dodge them quite effectively though. Dodging also gets slightly increased when you put points into "Martial Arts" skill. .Calmness Ability to not get hindered by enemies. Adjacent foes can interfere if you try to.. -shoot with ranged weapons, -use a void jumpgate, -invoke a mimic spell, -set a monster trap. .Trapping Improves your ability to set traps: Gives you a higher chance to successfully place a trap if a monster is close to you and trying to interfere. Also, monsters will have a harder time to discover your traps. Last but not least you learn to optimize your traps for higher damage output. See (4.7) for details about monster traps. Trapping also improves your disarming ability, making it safer to disarm traps via the manual disarm command. (The experience you gain from manually disarming traps is not affected by the skill but only by the traps' level). Also gives you a chance to salvage a trap kit from any trap when you disarm it! +Health Increases your hit point regeneration rate: (skill_level * 2)% chance to regenerate 1.5x the normal amount of HP per turn (stacks with REGEN items). Increases your hit points by 2 for each point. Also helps you to recover from temporary stats drain, hallucination, blindness, paralysis, confusion, slowness, poison and cuts faster. If you spend 10 points into Health, your sanity will be displayed as a bar. At 20 points you'll get the percentage displayed. At 40 the value will be shown. Note that Health skill stacks with +LIFE items (compare '+LIFE' in (5.8)). .Swimming Allows you to swim even while carrying more weight and to better protect your items from water. Skill maxes at 01.000, with the ability to swim improving steadily while increasing it. At 0.700 you become able to swim very swiftly if no monsters are within sight, enabling you to 'run' through water. .Climbing You need this at 01.000 to learn climbing. .Digging How well you are able to dig. Also affects your chance to find items, for the items to be good or even great, and affects the amount of cash if you mine treasure. Depending on the skill, you might also uncover special things. Certain tools such as shovels, picks and mattocks will also increase your digging speed greatly (independant of the skill), see (5.9). Also, when hacking through trees and bushes, axes will help a lot and swords somewhat, in case you have no good digging tool at hand. 2-handed axes/swords even more than 1-handed. See (3.4a) for more information on digging tools and (5.21) for technical details on digging. The abilities Swimming, Digging and Climbing are also granted by items you can find. Those are for example items that grants you flying, so you may just fly over water instead of swimming across. Wands of stone-to-mud will turn any obstacle to mud that you could dig through, and some boots or a climbing set might grant you the ability to climb highest mountains. Dwarves also learn this ability automatically when they reach level 30. Here is what the numbers mean (we will use the Axe-Mastery skill for this example: +Combat 10.500 [0.800] +Weaponmastery 5.250 [0.800] .Axe-Mastery 15.000 [0.500] As we can see this player has 10.5 skill points in Combat, 5.25 in Weaponmastery and 15 in Axe-Mastery. He just reached a new level and hence gained 5 skill points. Now he decides to invest them all into Axe-Mastery. He presses key until the Axe-Mastery line is selected. Now he presses key 5 times to invest all his 5 spare skill points here. Axe-Mastery will be increased by 0.500 points per invested skill point (hence the [0.500] on the right), leaving him at 17.5 Axe-Mastery now. Since sub-skills always slightly affect their parent skills, Weaponmastery and Combat will also be raised slightly. The result might look like this: +Combat 10.750 [0.800] +Weaponmastery 6.250 [0.800] .Axe-Mastery 17.500 [0.500] Opposed skills -------------- Some skills don't go well together, and will have negative influence on each other when increased, decreasing their opposite! Take care on the following combinations: Weaponmastery <-> Sorcery Archery <-> Sorcery Martial Arts <-> Sorcery Anti-magic <-> excludes any type of magic and magic-devices, including mimicry. However, a mimicking player won't lose his current form on training in Anti-magic. He just won't be able to transform ever again by using his mimic powers. His form CAN still change though, if he is zapped with a wand of polymorph, quaffs a potion of Chauve-Souris, uses Morph Restoration service of a shop or.. dies, three things that he probably wants to avoid at all costs in order to keep his 'final' form. (6.2a) Maiar skill modifications -------------------------------- Maiar start with a low-profile skill chart, which gets boosted or diminished depending on their alignment on initiation. Note: After getting boosted as stated below, a skill's gain ratio will be capped at 2.000. Modifications for becoming 'enlightened': Necromancy, traumaturgy and aura of death become disabled. Sword, blunt and polearm skill x 1.3. The four priestly schools x 2.4. Divination school x 1.7. Light and mana runes x 2.0. Fear and shivering aura x 3.0. Modifications for becoming 'corrupted': The four priestly schools become disabled. Axe and martial arts skill x 1.3. Fire, air, conveyance school x 1.7. Udun school x 2.0. Darkness and nether runes x 2.0. Necromancy and traumaturgy x 3.0. The three aura skills x 3.0. (6.3) Abilities --------------- Depending on your race and class, you will be better or worse at certain generic abilities. You can see your abilities in the character screen (press 'C'). Miscellaneous Abilities can range from Bad to Legendary: Bad (red) (or 'Very Bad' if negative, no real difference) Poor (red) Fair (yellow) Good (light green) Very good (light green) Excellent (light green) Superb (light green) Heroic (light green) Legendary (light green) Some of those abilities have a maximum value after which they cannot be increased any further. Such abilities show 'legendary' in different colours than just light green. Instead they use: Legendary (dark green) This means it's good enough to deserve being called 'legendary'. Legendary (golden) This means, that you have reached the absolute highest possible value for this ability. Here is a list of detailed information about miscellaneous abilities: Fighting How well you can fight (hit chance; further boni like skills or +hit from equipment are added to the ability) or how easily you get disarmed ("You lose the grip of your weapon!"). Bows/Throw How well you can shoot/throw. Saving Throw How well you can resist attacks that have influence on your status other than just hit points. For example poisoning, confusion or paralyzation. Stealth Determines if monsters will immediately wake up if you're nearby or if you are able to sneak past sleeping monsters without waking them. Perception Determines how often you have a chance to spot hidden traps or doors on adjacent fields without even searching for them. Whether you really discover something will depend on your Searching ability. Searching Determines how easily you spot hidden traps/doors on adjacent fields while searching for them (with 's' or 'S'), or when you automatically notice them due to your Perception ability. Disarming How well you can disarm traps (without setting them off), and how likely you avoid known traps if you accidentally step on them again. (Note that manually disarming traps like this will yield experience points if successful, while disarming via magic or magic devices won't.) Magic Device How well you can use magic items like wands, staves, rods (these are often especially hard to use) or activate magic items like Dragon Scale Mails. See (6.10) for more information. Blows/Round How often per round you are able to strike with your weapon. This depends on your strength, dexterity, your class, your weapon. Spending points in specific weapon masteries will give you an additional blow at 25 and at 50 (like sword or blunt mastery). Tables of blows/round limits are at (5.4) for martial arts, and at (6.5) and (6.5a) for melee weapons. Shots/Round How often per round you are able to use your ranged weapon. Spending points into specific archery skills will give you additional shots (see 6.2 for details). Mimics may get additional shots per round if the monster form they use has the ability to shoot with ranged weapons (see 6.7 for details). Infra-Vision How far you can see warm-blooded monsters in the dark. 10 ft equal a distance of 1 field. IV can be very helpful for spotting monsters outside of your light radius that don't carry a light source themselves. These miscellaneous abilities can also change when your character progresses, depending on your +hit and +dam (concerning Fighting and Bows/Throws) or your character level or certain skills you invest points into. How much an ability changes when a property of your character (skill, level or weapon enchantments) it depends on changes, depends on your class: The relative numerical modifiers are given in the class table in (6.5). Here is a list which ability changes depend on which factors: (The factors in relation to the values in (6.5) are marked by underscores. All other factors listed here are further modifications, independant of (6.5).) Fighting _'Combat'_, _'Weaponmastery'_, melee +hit boni Bows/Throw _'Combat'_, _'Archery'_, ranged +hit boni Saving Throw Wisdom, _level_, 'Meta', AM-shell Stealth Mimic form weight, stealth items, _'Stealth'_, cloaking, 'Martial Arts' Perception search items, _'Sneakiness'_ Searching search items, _'Sneakiness'_, cloaking Disarming Intelligence, dexterity, _'Trapping'_ Magic Device Intelligence, _'Magic-Device'_ For age, height, weight, social class and gender see (6.14). Apart from those generic abilities, there are several class- or race-specific active or passive abilities, given in the race/class descriptions in (6.4) and (6.5). (6.4) Races ----------- Depending on your race, you might need different amounts of experience to gain a new character level. You also might have certain intrinsic abilities. For Beginners a powerful yet simple race/class combination like Half-Troll Warrior is strongly recommended. - Human Humans are allrounders with no special weaknesses or strengths. Humans have no experience penalties and tend to go up levels faster than most other races. No racial adjustments or intrinsics occur to characters choosing human. Humans get a bonus on 'Climbing' and a large bonus on 'Interception'. - Half-Elf Half-elves tend to be smarter and faster than humans, but not as strong. Half-elves are slightly better at searching, disarming, saving throws, stealth, bows, and magic, but they are not as good at hand weapons. Half-elves resist light intrinsically. They get bonus on 'Bow-Mastery' and 'Interception'. - Elf Elves resist light effects intrinsically and see invisible creatures. Elves are better magicians then humans, but not as good at fighting. They tend to be smarter and faster than either humans or half-elves and also have better wisdom. Elves are better at searching, disarming, perception, stealth, bows, and magic, but they are not as good at hand weapons. Elves get bonus on 'Bow-Mastery', 'Magic', 'Stealth', 'Dodging', 'Calmness' and 'Sneakiness'. - Hobbit Hobbits have their dexterity sustained. Further, they get a dexterity bonus from not wearing shoes! Hobbits, or Halflings, are very good at shooting, throwing, and have good saving throws. They also are very good at searching disarming, perception, and stealth; so they make excellent rogues, but prefer to be called burglars. They are much weaker than humans, and no good at melee fighting. Halflings have fair infravision, so they can detect warm-blooded creatures at a distance. Hobbits resist black breath somewhat. They get bonus on 'Sling-Mastery', 'Sneakiness', 'Dodging' and a large bonus on 'Stealth'. Note: Since hobbits have low hit points you might consider training the skill 'Health' to make up for it, depending on which class you choose to play. - Gnome Gnomes are intrinsically protected to paralysis effects. Gnomes are smaller than dwarves but larger than halflings. They, like the hobbits, live in the earth in burrow-like homes. Gnomes make excellent Warlocks & Sorcerers, and have very good saving throws. They are good at magic, searching, disarming, perception, and stealth. They have lower strength than humans so they are not very good at fighting with hand weapons. Gnomes have fair infra-vision, so they can detect warm-blooded creatures at a distance. Gnomes receive bonus on 'Crossbow-Mastery' and 'Magic' and a large bonus on 'Dodging' and 'Digging'. - Dwarf Dwarves can never be blinded and at level 30 they learn to travel across even the highest mountain regions. Dwarves are the headstrong miners and fighters of legend. Since dungeons are the natural home of a dwarf, they are excellent choices for a warrior or priest. Dwarves tend to be stronger and tougher but slower and less intelligent than humans. Because they are so headstrong and are somewhat wise, they resist spells which are cast on them. Dwarves also have very good infra-vision because they live underground. They do have one big drawback, though. Dwarves are loudmouthed and proud, singing in loud voices, arguing with themselves for no good reason, and screaming out challenges at nearby foes. In other words, dwarves have a miserable stealth. They receive a bonus on 'Axe-Mastery' and a huge bonus on 'Digging'. - Half-Orc Because of their preference to living underground to on the surface, Half-orcs resist darkness intrinsically. They make excellent warriors and decent priests, but are terrible at magic. They are as bad as dwarves at stealth, and horrible at searching, disarming, and perception. Half-Orcs are quite ugly, and tend to pay more for goods in town. Half-Orcs do make good warriors and rogues, for the simple reason that Half-Orcs tend to have great constitutions and lots of hit points. They get a slight bonus on 'Backstabbing', a large bonus on 'Weaponmastery' and a bonus on 'Necromancy' and receive penalties on 'Magic' and 'Sorcery'. - Half-Troll Half-trolls have their strength sustained. They are very strong, but also very stupid and slow. They make great warriors and iffy priests. They are bad at searching, disarming, perception, and stealth. They are so ugly that a Half-Orc grimaces in their presence. They need to eat often. Half-Trolls get bonus on 'Blunt-Mastery', 'Health' and 'Swimming'. They receive a penalty on 'Critical-Strike' and large penalties on 'Archery', 'Magic' and 'Sorcery'. - Dunadan Dunadain have their constitution sustained. Dunadain are a race of hardy men from the West. This elder race surpasses human abilities in every field, especially constitution. However, being men of the world, very little is new to them, and levels are very hard for them to gain. A Dunadan gets bonus on 'Combat', 'Archery' and 'Interception' and a small bonus to 'Magic'. - High-Elf High-Elves can see the invisible and resist light and the flow of time intrinsically. They are a race of immortal beings dating from the beginning of time, masters of all skills, strong and intelligent, although their wisdom is sometimes suspect. They do very well in all professions. There are few things that they have not seen already, and experience is hard for them to gain. High-Elves receive bonus on 'Bow-Mastery', 'Magic', 'Stealth', 'Dodging' and a large bonus on 'Calmness'. - Yeek Being weak and losing many childhood fights, they have learned the ability to float gently to the ground. They have intrinsic feather falling (same as 'levitation' effect). Often having to escape from precarious situations, yeeks are able to pass through dense forest quickly. Yeeks are the least powerful of all the races. They suffer disadvantages in all stats and have attributes similar to humans. However, to compensate Yeeks learn, and thus gain levels, extremely quickly. Yeeks don't receive boni or mali on any skills. Note: Since yeeks have low hit points you might consider training the skill 'Health' to make up for it, depending on which class you choose to play. - Goblin Goblins have a decidedly mixed reputation. They are almost always grinning, and more often than not you cannot tell whether or not they are eyeing you like a side of meat. They are as sturdy as Dwarves and are quite agile making them good fighters, rogues, and mimics. Being creatures of the night, Golbins have natural resistance to darkness. They receive bonus on 'Boomerang-Mastery' and 'Stealing'. - Ent The Ents are a powerful race dating from the beginning of the world, eldest of all animals or plants who inhabit Arda. Spirits of the land, they were summoned to guard the forests of Middle-earth. Being much like trees they are very slow but strong and do not have to eat as often. Because they consist of wood, they are quite susceptible to fire and they don't drown in water. As the Shepherds of the Trees, they can learn to sense the presence of others, such as animals at level 10, orcs at 15, trolls at 20, giants at 25, dragons at 30, demons at 40 and all evil-minded creatures at level 50. At level 4 Ents learn to see invisible things. In general, they accumulate experience very slowly and they do not eat normal food but they are able to consume liquids. Trees will slightly bend aside to let ents pass through. Ents are able to slowly replenish their nourishment by rooting themselves into the ground by entering 'R'esting mode, provided it's natural ground such as grass, earth, mud or water. Their food state will go up to 'Full' that way. Ents intrinsically resist the force of unleashed water. They get bonus to 'Health' and a large bonus on 'Calmness' and on the magic schools 'Earth' and 'Water'. They receive a large penalty on 'Fire' school, a penalty on 'Axe-mastery' and a small penalty on 'Sword-mastery'. - Draconian These humanoid half-breeds of dragon and man surpass common humans in all ways, except that they are really bad at moving stealthily. Similar to dragons, they can eat firestones to temporarily boost their powers. (See (5.9) for firestone details.) They have an intrinsic telepathic vision of all nearby creatures, the radius expands as they gain levels. At level 5 they can spot dragons anywhere on the level. They even gain intrinsic basic resistances, fire at 10, cold at 15, acid at 20 and electricity at 25. At level 30 they learn how to fly. Draconians need a very long time to gain further experience and need to eat often. They have feather falling (levitation) instrinsically from birth. They receive a bonus on 'Thought Contact' and a large bonus on 'Polearm-Mastery', 'Aura of Fear' and the magic schools 'Conveyance' and 'Fire'. Draconians also recieve a moderate bonus to 'Nexus' rune magic. - Kobold These somewhat smallish dog-faced humanoids resist poison intrinsically. They are able to take most roles, being somewhat better at archery than close combat. Their intelligence is somewhat suspect, and although they do not pick up careers as mages or other elaborate professions, but they do become shamans or druids. They can see in the dark thanks to infra-vision, have extraordinarily sharp senses, and can move very silently, making them hard to spot. They are also good at disarming traps. Kobolds receive a bonus on 'Swimming' and 'Trapping' and a slight bonus on 'Sneakiness'. - Dark-Elf Dark-Elves dwell below the surface in huge caverns of their underground city. The children are already drilled to become sworn enemies of most other races of the underground, and also of the hated Elves and High-Elves who live on the surface under the burning light of the sun. Overthrowing rivals by treachery and murder are acknowledged ways in their society. Dark-Elves are good fighters and sorcerors, but also decent priests. Dark-Elves intrinsically resist darkness, but are susceptible to light. At level 20 they learn to see the invisible. They get bonus on 'Stealth', 'Dodging', 'Sneakiness' and 'Backstabbing'. - Vampire These powerful undead creatues move out in the night to hunt living prey and suck its blood to sustain themselves. Vampires resist darkness, but are susceptible to light and certain purifying and anti-evil effects. They fear the sun light and any other kind of blessed light source, since it burns them, draining their hit points. They don't actually need a light source, since they are able to determine their close surroundings even in complete darkness. This ability grows when the vampire rises in character-levels. Vampires start with a mummy wrapping, because it can protect them from the sunlight (press 'w' to wear it). If they are moving on the world surface (meaning not in a dungeon/tower) while it's day, the sun will burn them if they don't resist light or wear a mummy wrapping. Vampires are good fighters and decent mages. However, they are unable to utilize magic of water or nature school. Neither can they make use of mimicry techniques or holy spells. They are unable to try and suppress magic, but can make use of items that provide antimagic effects. They resist time, darkness, nether, poison and it's hard to drain their life force. They also have partially life leeching (vampiric) attacks (see '(5.15) Vampirism' for more information). They become able to turn into a bat at level 20. Vampires cannot eat normal food, instead they need to feed off living creatures. This means that you need to kill monsters in melee combat in order to satisfy your hunger, which might be quite easy for melee classes but sometimes a hassle for ranged/caster classes. At level 40 they will need less and less food to sustain themselves. Vampire royalties will require the least amount of food, independant of their level, enabling them to survive a very long time without feeding - even an item granting 'Slow Digestion' will not improve this any further. Vampires hate 'Blunt' weapons, get a penalty on 'Divination' magic school, but receive a bonus on 'Mental Intrusion' and a large bonus on 'Necromancy' and all aura skills and a small bonus on 'Traumaturgy'. They cannot use certain magic schools at all as described above. As undead, Vampires gain a moderate bonus to evoking 'Nether' runes. - Maia The Maiar are lesser spirits who are associated with one or more Valar, the greater gods. Being of divine origin they can shape themselves in fashion of elves or humans as they see fit, often acting as powerful wizards to guide elves and man by gaining their trust. Appearing in such shape, their abilities will seem somewhat superior in all aspects and they also possess infra-vision. Maiar have a choice of ascending to enlightenment, or submit to corruption of the promise of demonic powers. To determine their fate, they must kill either a candlebearer, a servant of good (to become corrupted), or a darkling, a harbinger of demonkind (to become enlightened) before reaching level 20 or they will lose the ability to stay in the realm and their physical form will be destroyed. They will also meet such a fate of being destroyed by indecisiveness if they kill both of these kind indiscriminately before having reached initiation, so take care. After they underwent initiation at level 20, they may just kill all of them indiscriminately, same as any other monster. Using but their mind they can easily perceive both good and demonkind telepathically. The servants and harbingers of those factions that Maiar need to slay occur between dungeon level 12 and 20 (which correspond to -600..-1000 ft in dungeon 'Barrow-Downs' for example, since that dungeon starts at level 1). If a Maia generates the dungeon level, there will be a guaranteed spawn, so if you are in a party with non-Maiar, make sure you are the first one taking the staircase so you generate the level. Maiar are able to train in the 'Astral' school, an exclusive divine magic which has spells of different effect depending on the caster's alignment. Initiation to either enlightened or corrupted beings will decide the effect of astral spells, extra abilities, and also their skill chart layout! Maiar can be any class that can utilize mana. They get the best shop prices of all races since they are either greatly respected or feared by all other creatures. They gain experience extremely slowly, and rarely need to feed before initiation. Afterwards they have no more need for any worldly food at all. Alignment-dependant boni are.. Enlightened: Able to see invisible and resisting light, while being susceptible to evil-based attacks. Intrinsic light aura that adds to any light source's radius. +1 bonus AC for every 2 levels above 20. At level 50 they will be able to fly, become resistant to poison, electricity, cold and be enveloped in an aura of frost and lightning; also, their melee attacks will slay evil opponents intrinsically. Corrupted: Resist fire and darkness while being susceptible to good-based attacks. +2 bonus HP for each level above 20. At level 50 they will become resistant to poison, immune to fire, and be enveloped in a fiery aura. Some astral spells use intelligence for determining their spell failure rates, some use wisdom. Maiar start with a low profile skill chart which gets boosted on initiation depending on their alignment. Their skills will be adjusted so that they remain as close to their previous values as possible while the character gets back any skill points that are freed up due to higher skill ratios after the initiation took place, see (6.2a) for details. Maia get a bonus on 'Sneakiness' and 'Stealth' no matter the alignment. Here is a table showing boni/mali of the different races: (Di:Disarming, MD:Magic Device, ST:Saving Throw, St:Stealth, Pe:Perception (sight range), Sr:Searching, Fi:Fighting, BT:Bows/Throw) STR INT WIS DEX CON CHR HP die Exp% Infra-Vision Di MD ST St Pe Sr Fi BT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Human 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 100% 0ft 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 Half-Elf -1 +1 0 +1 -1 +1 9 110% 20ft 2 5 3 1 11 6 -1 5 Elf -1 +2 +1 +1 -2 +2 8 120% 30ft 5 6 6 2 12 8 -5 15 Hobbit -2 +2 +1 +3 0 +1 7 115% 30ft 15 12 18 4 15 12 -10 20 Gnome -1 +2 0 +2 +1 -2 8 125% 40ft 10 18 12 3 13 6 -8 12 Dwarf +2 -2 +2 -2 +2 -3 11 130% 50ft 2 9 9 -1 10 7 15 0 Half-Orc +2 -1 0 0 +1 -4 11 115% 30ft -3 -3 -3 -1 7 0 12 -5 Half-Troll +4 -4 -2 -4 +3 -6 12 135% 30ft -5 -8 -8 -2 5 -1 20 -10 Dunadan +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +2 10 170% 0ft 4 3 5 0 13 3 15 10 High-Elf +1 +3 -1 +3 +1 +3 10 250% 40ft 4 20 20 3 14 3 10 25 Yeek -5 -5 -5 -5 -5 -3 7 80% 0ft 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 Goblin 0 -1 -4 +4 +2 -5 10 120% 30ft 2 -3 -3 0 8 2 12 -5 Ent +8 -4 +2 -4 +8 -4 14 320% 0ft -4 0 20 -6 4 5 5 -20 Draconian +4 +2 +2 +1 +3 +2 12 350% 50ft 0 0 10 -10 10 30 15 5 Kobold -1 -1 0 +2 +2 -2 8 115% 50ft 10 5 0 4 15 15 -5 10 Dark-Elf 0 +2 +1 +3 +1 -6 10 150% 80ft 7 3 6 4 6 10 15 15 Vampire +2 0 -3 -1 0 -6 11 220% 150ft -2 3 20 2 13 -4 10 -10 Maia +2 +3 +3 +1 +1 +2 11 400% 100ft 3 20 3 0 5 1 15 5 (6.5) Classes/Professions, titles, melee blows/round ---------------------------------------------------- Depending on your class, your start-up equipment and your skill tree will vary. For example a warrior cannot learn magic spells. - Adventurer Adventurers are hardy and versatile, they have no preferred way of fighting or magic, and can adapt to any situation at hand. They have no big big strengths nor weaknesses. Adventurers can train nearly all skills, but do not excel at any specific one. The size of their mana pool depends on both their intelligence and their wisdom in equal parts. Adventurers are often hybrids that combine various features of different and more distinct classes in one character, creating unusual mixtures of abilities. Hint: Adventurers are difficult to play for beginners because to fully utilize them you need to know exactly what you are trying to achieve and how you want to distribute their skill points to make them effective. - Warrior A warrior is a hack-and-slash character, who solves most of his problems by cutting them to pieces, but will occasionally fall back on the help of a magical device. His prime stats are strength and constitution, and a good dexterity can really help at times. Warriors will be good at melee and bows, but bad at most other skills. They don't learn any magic but can train to use magic devices; also they may dual-wield two one-handed weapons at once, although they will need to use light armour for this strategy to be effective (see (6.2)). Provided his strength is high enough, a two-handed weapon will usually be preferable over dual-wielding when a warrior seeks to forego defense to maximize damage, because two-handed weapons will still allow the use of heavy armour which dual-wielding doesn't. Warriors have more melee attacks per round than any other class. They may decide to become 'Unbelievers' by spending points irreversibly into the 'Anti-magic' skill. As soon as they spend the first point here they will immediately become unable to use any magic wand/staff/rod! The full opposite of sorcerers, unbelievers so strongly despise magic that not only do they refuse to use magic spells, they refuse all training in the use of magic items, which leaves them almost totally incompetent when trying to use a magic item, although they can still quaff potions and read scrolls. Because they are so unattuned to magic, trained unbelievers will suppress any sort of magic from occurring around them at high probability, which is dubbed 'anti-magic field'. They can further strengthen it by wielding a Dark Sword (see (5.9)). Warriors can also choose to become monk-like fighters, by training the 'Martial Arts' skill. This will require them to wear no armour or only very light armour later on. The warrior class is recommended for beginners because it's forgiving in the early game and you can do fine with just a macro for potions of cure wounds and maybe also a macro for phase door scrolls until you reach a somewhat higher level. Hint: On character creation increase your strength to 18/30 at the very least to get a decent attack speed (3 blows per round with light weapons). Make sure to create a macro for your fighting techniques 'Sprint' and 'Taunt' when you learn them, which you do pretty early on. They are great for catching annoying monsters that try to keep their distance from you. (See (6.12) for details about fighting techniques.) If you die and revive you could save a lot of money by foregoing heavy armour for attack power by just buying some light armour and two cheap and very light 1-handed weapons such as daggers or whips which you dual-wield (which requires light armour). This should last you until you find some heavy armour and shield in the dungeon. Pick one of the four weapon masteries (Sword/Blunt/Axe/Polearm), or Martial Arts if you don't want to use weapons, and always keep it maximized. - Istar (elvish word for Mage) Istari use intelligence primarily, determining how much mana they have to cast spells and how low their failure rate is. They are the all-around best magicians, having both devastating and highly useful supportive spells (at least for their own benefit) of very wide variety. On the downside, they are the worst fighters, being unable to use any weapon but a Mage Staff comfortably, and until they learn how to effectively use the 'Disruption Shield' spell they are very vulnerable. A high-level istar can be very powerful, but getting there can be a difficult journey. Hint: An istar has very few hit points compared to other classes, making survival difficult in the beginning. That's why this class is not recommended for beginners. - Priest Priests use certain divine magic, uttered as prayers. Unlike mages they have a fair fighting potential with blunt or blessed weapons. Priests can learn many spells that are helpful to their party members. They use mainly wisdom for their prayers, determining the amount of mana and how low their failure rate is. A Priest is a character of holy devotion. They explore the dungeon only to destroy the evil that lurks within, and if treasure just happens to fall into their packs, well, so much more to the glory of their church! They are very good with magical devices, preferring to call them instruments of their god, but are not as good as istari in their use. Priests also have excellent saving throws due to divine intervention. Priests make decent fighters, preferring blunt weapons over edged ones. Wisdom is the priest's primary stat. Note that priests get a penalty for wielding non-blunt weapons, except for BLESSED weapons which priests can use without problems independently of their type. Priests are especially adept at sensing curses on any sort of item, an ability that grows with their character level. Hint: Note that their spell Holy Light can be used to deal decent damage after it's been brought up a few levels. Orcs are said to fear it a lot. Priests aren't easy to play in the beginning, since they don't deal much damage and also can't take a lot of punishment, so they aren't recommended for beginners. - Rogue A Rogue is a character that prefers to live by cunning, but is capable of fighting their way out of a tight spot. The master of traps and locks, no device is impossible for him to overcome. Their primary stats are intelligence and dexterity, intelligence being very important if they aim to become proficient at magic, while dexterity makes up in combat prowess for what their strength might be lacking. Rogues have very high stealth allowing them to sneak around many creatures without having to fight, or to sneak up and get the first blow, backstabbing his opponent. Rogues are especially fond of dual-wielding two light one-handed weapons at once (see (6.2). They prefer light armour, since dual-wielding and many of their special abilities won't work with heavy armour or two-handed weapons (see (5.5)). A rogue's perception is higher than any other class, and usually they notice traps or secret doors without needing a search. Rarely will a rogue be unable to avoid or disarm a trap. Rogues also have the unusual ability to train stealing from shops and their fellow men, a dangerous but sometimes very rewarding profession. Rogues are better than warriors or paladins with magical devices, but still can not rely on their performance. They can also learn a few magic spells. When searching for hidden traps, doors and stairs, they may spot them more easily, even from a distance, which increases when the rogue gains levels. At level 15, rogues will learn another special ability: Cloaking mode. (Press 'V' to make your character prepare for cloaking up / uncloaking.) By cloaking their physical appearance and body warmth pattern perfectly, which takes a certain time to get prepared, they become completely untrackable to almost any monster, for exceptions see (0.2). Attacking, taking damage (with the exception of floor grid induced damage such as fire damage from lava) and a couple of other actions immediately break cloaking, again see (0.2) for details. Hint: Make sure to create a macro for your fighting techniques 'Sprint' and 'Taunt' when you learn them, which you do pretty early on. They are great for catching annoying monsters that try to keep their distance from you. (See (6.12) for details about fighting techniques.) Always keep your sword-mastery skill at maximum (if you don't go for an unusual build that uses martial arts instead). - Mimic Mimics are melee fighters who can learn how to shapechange and use the form of any monsters (except for unique ones) they slay, thereby inheriting nearly all of the monster's abilities. That way they may even cast spells the monster was able to use or breathe elements like the monster did. Their primary stats are same as the warrior i.e. strength and constituion with dexterity coming in handy too. Intelligence is not of primary importance but it can help somewhat to increase the mana pool for making use of monster spells/breaths, and it also affects the success chance when attempting to use a monster power. Mimics learn forms by killing as many of a certain monster type as that monster has high a level. Further, their 'Mimicry' skill must be at least 1/2 of the monster level. If mimics kill monsters whose level is higher than twice their mimicry skill those kills will nevertheless be counted in case the skill is raised to the appropriate level later, so those kills won't be 'lost'. Example: To use the form of an Ancient Bronze Dragon (level 40) the mimic has to kill 40 of them and have a mimicry skill of at least 20. To find out how many monsters you already killed and how many you need in total to learn a form, press the '~' key followed by '3'. To polymorph into a form, press 'm' key, like casting a magic spell. (Forms that have DISBELIEVE ability are skipped when using the normal 'Polymorph Self' spell. You have to use 'Polymorph Self Into..' if you want to use these forms.) To find out the special abilities of a monster form, see section (6.7). A list of useful low-level humanoid forms for weapon-using mimics is given in (6.7c). because those have a somewhat harder time to find usable forms early on than martial artists who might just utilize easy-to-get forms such as fruit bat, wild cat, crow or spiders right away for great effect. Mimics can get the highest amount of hit points of any class, even in the very long run ie at very high character levels far above 50, provided they acquire an appropriate high-level form (preferably level 80 or better). Low- and mid-level forms won't help high-level mimics that much to keep up their advantage in hit points, ie the extra hit points they gain from such forms will diminish as they continue to rise to very high character levels. Hint: Maybe there's a friendly mimicry-user around who can forge some 'Rings of Polymorphing' for you from forms he or she no longer uses. As for all shape-shifters going with fruit bat body modification is not recommended, since it will restrict your equipment even if you polymorph. Pick one of the four weapon masteries (Sword/Blunt/Axe/Polearm), or Martial Arts if you don't want to use weapons, and always keep it maximized. - Archer Archers aren't good at fighting, but can deliever extremely high damage with their ranged weapons. They can die quickly too, however. Archers are to bows what warriors are to melee. They are the best class around with any bow, crossbow or sling and their primary stat is dexterity. An Archer is very bad at melee, being only better than mage-like classes. Archers will receive an array of special techniques to their disposal from training the 'Archery' skill, such as setting up a precise sniping shot at a target asleep or how to create ammunition from rubble or from the bones of their opponents (see (6.12)), accessible via 'm' key or macro wizard. Hint: Enchanting your ranged weapon to-damage is especially effective, because the enchantment will be multiplied by the weapons multiplier. Also make sure to have an ample supply of 'Scrolls of Phase Door'. Pick one of the three ranged masteries (Bow/Crossbow/Sling) and always keep it maximized. Keep your Archery skill maximized too. - Paladin Paladins are a combination of warrior and priest. Holy knights that fight evil with a variety of melee weapons and divine support. Their primary stats are thus strength for fighting and wisdom for making use of divine prayers, with constitution and dexterity helping as usual. Paladins are nearly as strong as pure warriors and also highly proficient with shields which they use to deflect incoming attacks - although there is certainly no rule stating that they may not instead choose to use huge two-handed weapons for bestowing divine retribution upon their foes. Paladins however are not very good at missile weapons. They are poor at stealth, perception, and searching. They are better than warriors with magical devices and have an outstanding saving throw due to divine protection. Hint: Note that the spell Holy Light can be used to deal decent damage after it's been brought up a few levels. Orcs are said to fear it a lot. Also make sure to create a macro for your fighting techniques 'Sprint' and 'Taunt' when you learn them, they are great for catching annoying monsters that try to keep their distance from you. (See (6.12) for details.) Pick one of the four weapon masteries (Sword/Blunt/Axe/Polearm), or Martial Arts if you don't want to use weapons, and always keep it maximized. - Ranger Second only to adventurers regarding versatility rangers excel at a lot of skills: They are able to fight well in close combat and may even dual-wield two one-handed weapons at once which requires light armour to be efficient. This goes well with magic or archery which also would suffer from heavy armour. Devoted to nature in a similar way as druids rangers will avoid corrupted magic such as necromancy. They are however very adept at most other types of magic and also skilled trappers. Last but not least rangers display great performance with ranged weapons, able to train 'Archery' skill up to 10.000, which apart from increasing their damage dealt also unlocks various special techniques to employ as they see fit. Rangers have good stealth, perception, searching, saving throws, and are good with magical devices. Rangers can find several different ways out of any situation. They use intelligence for spellcasting same as mages, they need strength if they rely on fighting in close combat, and they should have good dexterity if they aim at training ranged weapons. At level 20 rangers learn to find paths passing thick woods. Hint: Make sure to create a macro for your fighting techniques 'Sprint' and 'Taunt' when you learn them, which you do pretty early on. They are great for catching annoying monsters that try to keep their distance from you. (See (6.12) for details about fighting techniques.) Since rangers can dual-wield and you start with light armour which is required for dual-wielding you might want to buy a secondary weapon right away, for example a cheap dagger, or even dispose of your starter weapon completely and go with two cheap and light weapons instead. (See (6.2) for details on dual-wielding.) - Druid Druids are able to call upon the mystical powers of nature. Their wisdom is of primary importance to determine their mana and success chances when casting spells. Druids fight using Martial Arts, which is the only melee skill they are able to train, as well as a variety of magic spells. Druids can shapechange into several forms (mostly animals) without having to fight or kill them in order to learn those forms. Instead they learn one or more new forms automatically every five character levels. Druids are able to always use their full equipment, even while transformed into a monster that usually cannot wield certain items. Because of this, going with a 'fruit bat' body modification in character creation would be especially ineffective for druids. Despising the use of weapons they aren't as superb at close combat as warriors, but their Martial Arts training will make up for that and allow them quite a respectable performance. Druids learn how to quickly pass through thick forest at level 10 -- note though that they can already do this at level 5 by simply polymorphing into an animal ('m' key), since all animals can pass forest easily. To review which forms you can transform into, use the /ex command. To see an overview of the forms and their abilities, see (6.7b). Hint: Druids have a powerful ranged area attack spell they can use very early on, Toxic Moisture. Look for it in the book store right away. Also make sure to create a macro for your fighting technique 'Sprint' when you learn it, which you do pretty early on. It is great for catching annoying monsters that try to keep their distance from you. (See (6.12).) As martial artists, druids do not require any armour early on in the game, it could even lower their AC instead of improving it. Always keep your Martial Arts skill maximized. - Shaman Shamans are able to call upon both spiritual and magical powers, whatever they deem most appropriate. Their mind is also trained in a very versatile manner, allowing them to collect energy from intelligence or wisdom, whatever currently is easiest for them! Shamans are able to shapeshift same as mimics (see mimics above for details about how to learn forms) but they are limited to animals, trolls, giants, dragons and dragonriders, hybrid creatures, golems, spirits, elementals and ghosts. However, they may use the latter three types while still wearing their full equipment and they are always able to move straight even if the creature in whose shape they appear usually moves erratically - these two are feats that mimics cannot achieve. Shamans learn elemental ('E') forms especially quickly. Note that shamans cannot use non-living or undead forms except for ghosts, spirits, elementals and golems. While they are excellent at magic they have weaker combat abilities than rangers or paladins but still don't need to hide from a melee if trained properly. Their spiritual abilities allow them to easily train various aspects of necromancy as they see fit. Accordingly at level 20 shamans learn to perceive the invisible. Hint: Maybe there's a friendly mimicry-user around who can forge some 'Rings of Polymorphing' for you from forms he or she no longer uses. In the beginning shamans have few hit points and skill point distribution isn't easy either, that's why this class is not recommended for beginners. As for all shape-shifters going with fruit bat body modification is not recommended, since it will restrict your equipment even if you polymorph. Note that all 'O' Ogre type monsters count as 'giants' too, so their forms are usable in shaman mimicry. - Runemaster Runemasters use arcane symbols or 'runes' to summon pure elemental magic. They use their intelligence and dexterity to both manipulate and protect themselves from the fickle and dangerous forces of their art. Runemasters are not the most dedicated or systematic of adventurers, and often rely on flashy tricks and sleight-of-hand. Because of this, and their tendency towards thievery, they are often mistaken for rogues. This roguish nature allows them to train in specific weapon proficiencies, although their lack of dedication leaves 'Weaponmastery' as an unattainable goal. Runemasters are adept in some skills that are typical for rogues, although they lack their finesse. Runemasters are unable to to train in the martial arts, but specialize in the use of boomerangs. Runemasters are adept in some skills that are typical for rogues, although they lack their finesse. Intelligence and dexterity are their primary attributes too. For more information about runecraft, see '(6.8c) Runespell tables'. Note that runemasters don't need actual runes in their inventory to cast runespells. However, having the physical runes present increases the chance to succeed greatly, and are required for some runespells. Hint: If you want to test rune combinations that pose a risk of going wrong badly, do so in the arena of the 'Arena Monster Challenge' event so you will get away unscathed. - Mindcrafter Mindcrafters are great melee fighters who additionally train the use of telepathy to unleash spells formed by their psychic powers. Their intellect is supreme compared to primitive warriors, making them calm and silent fighters who are hard to read and dangerously sharp. They have a lot of possibilities to positively or negatively influence the minds of others, their repertoire being somewhat more limited only if they are up against creatures of little or no intelligence. Their primary stat attribute is intelligence, which determines their spell fail rates as well as the most part of their mana pool. Also somewhat affecting the mana pool are charisma and wisdom, although especially wisdom is hardly of any importance to become an able telepathy user. Aside from intelligence as primary spell-casting stat they will also want decent strength for engaging in close combat. They don't lack stealth and are adept at wearing decent armour, except that putting on too heavy head gear (above 4.0 lb) might negatively impact their amount of psychic energy. Mindcrafters will learn to resist sanity-draining effects a bit at level 10, and somewhat better even at level 20. A lot of their spells can actually be cast while blind (or even confused), and their targetted spells often do not require a clean line of fire, since they manifest whereever their mind is focussed on (eg Psionic Blast) and also cannot be reflected by monsters for that same reason. Some of the mindcrafter's spells that interact with friendly targets, mostly his team mates, will require those to prepare and open their mind to become especially sensitive to telepathic contact. This is done by pressing 'p'. Pressing it again will return one's mind to normal. The effects of some necromancy skills are somewhat distracting to mindcrafters, so training them may require somewhat more effort. They are able to detect 'Telepath' ego monsters via ESP which usually are able to conceal their presence telepathically vs all other classes. Also they are able to resist malicious mind-affecting effects better than other classes, for example such as mind-blanking or psionic attacks. Mindcrafters learn to judge their own sanity much more accurately as they level up, getting a more detailed sanity display at level 10, 20 and 40 (same as other characters get when they actually train 'Health' skill to 10, 20 or 40). Hint: Mindcrafters have a powerful ranged attack spell they can use very early on, Psionic Blast. Look for it in the book store right away. Also get the spell 'Autokinesis I' early on, which is like phase door. Pick one of the four weapon masteries (Sword/Blunt/Axe/Polearm), or Martial Arts if you don't want to use weapons, and always keep it maximized. If you raise in levels, you will get new titles. These are displayed between your class name and your character level in the main window. If you die and become a ghost, the title will change to 'Ghost' until you get revived. Titles change every 5 levels, the final Title is received on level 50. From level 60 and upwards there are special titles available which probably very few players will ever acquire. Here is a table showing boni/mali of the different races: 'Blows/Round' is the maximum number of melee attacks per round a character can have basing on strength and dexterity and on the weapon's weight. To that maximum of blows per round further boni are added, like extra blows from a specific weapon-type mastery or from rings of extra attacks or magical influence from priest prayer 'Zeal'. Note that these blows/round limits don't count for Martial Arts users (as long as they fight barehanded). See (5.4) for a table of MA attacks. "Parrying" is done with weapons, while "blocking" is done with a shield; See (6.11) for details about parry and block. (Di:Disarming, MD:Magic Device, ST:Saving Throw, St:Stealth, Pe:Perception (sight range), Sr:Searching, Fi:Fighting, BT:Bows/Throw) STR INT WIS DEX CON CHR HP die Exp% Max. base blows/round Di MD ST St Pe Sr Fi BT Parrying/Blocking Di MD ST St Pe Sr Fi BT (relative modifiers, see (6.3)) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Warrior +5 -2 -2 +2 +2 -1 +10 +0% 6 25 18 18 1 2 14 70 55 superb superb 10 7 10 0 0 0 45 40 Istar -5 +3 0 +1 -2 +1 +0 +35% 1 30 36 30 2 20 16 34 20 bad bad 7 13 9 0 0 0 15 15 Priest -1 -3 +3 -1 0 +2 +4 +20% 4 25 25 32 2 8 16 48 35 poor poor 7 10 12 0 0 0 20 15 Rogue +2 +1 -2 +3 +1 -1 +5 +15% 5 45 28 28 5 32 24 60 66 superb fair 15 10 10 0 10 10 40 40 Mimic +1 0 0 +1 +1 -4 +6 +30% 5 25 34 28 1 18 18 60 46 good good 9 10 10 0 0 0 40 25 Archer +1 0 +2 +3 +1 -1 +5 +10% 3 30 22 28 2 20 24 56 72 fair fair 8 7 10 0 0 0 30 50 Paladin +3 -3 +1 0 +2 +2 +8 +30% 5 10 21 54 1 16 13 60 40 good superb 2 8 10 0 2 0 35 10 Ranger +2 +2 -1 +1 +2 0 +7 +35% 5 34 32 30 5 30 30 50 60 superb fair 10 10 10 0 5 15 30 45 Adventurer 0 0 0 0 0 0 +6 +25% 4 20 22 20 3 15 15 50 50 fair fair 10 10 10 0 5 5 25 25 Druid +1 0 +2 -2 -2 +1 +5 +40% 4 30 35 30 4 25 25 50 44 fair fair 8 11 10 0 5 10 20 25 Shaman 0 +1 +2 -2 0 0 +3 +45% 4 10 30 30 4 30 20 45 23 poor poor 0 11 10 0 5 3 20 12 Runemaster +1 +2 -3 +3 -3 -3 +5 +20% 4 30 23 20 2 30 20 45 40 fair fair 0 11 10 0 5 3 20 20 Mindcrafter +2 +2 0 0 0 +1 +6 +25% 5 30 28 36 3 35 14 55 45 good fair 0 9 5 0 3 3 26 25 For melee characters, it's especially vital to know how many blows per round they will get right after character creation, to avoid them being unnecessarily weak during low-mid levels. So a melee-oriented character should make sure to start with sufficient STRength and DEXterity to be able to get at least 2 blows/round with the lightest possible weapons. (Getting more bpr with heavy weapons is a luxury that will have to be put aside until later in the game.) Note that a (heavier) startup weapon at 2 bpr might beat a very light weapon at 3 bpr for a few levels at the beginning, maybe up to 4 or so. So you can wait for a little a bit until spending $ on it. (6.5a) Start-up Blows/Round Table --------------------------------- Here is a table, showing you some bpr numbers you can expect your newly created character to have, depending on certain combinations of class, STR, DEX, given for both, lightest possible weapon and startup weapon: (Don't forget that some classes can dual-wield, adding an extra +1 bpr on top!) Note: 'Light' weapon may refer to as low as 3.0 lb (varies depending on STR and DEX - any weapon that weighs at most 3.0 lb will definitely work). Class STR DEX Light weapon Startup weapon ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Warrior 18 10 2 1 18/10 all 2 1 18/30 all 3 1-2 (depends on weapon) 18/50 all 3 2 18/50 18/10 4 2 18/70..110 * 3-4 3 (depends on weapon) Istar - Priest 18/50 10 3 2 18/10 10 2 1 Rogue 15 18/10 2 2 18/10 18/50 3 3 18/20 18/10 3 3 Mimic similar to priest, also: 18/30 18/10 3 2 Archer - Paladin 18/10 10 2 1 18/20 10 2 2 18/30 10 3 2 Ranger similar to priest, also: 18/50 10 3 2-3 (depends on weapon) 18/30 18/10 3 2-3 (depends on weapon) Adventurer similar to paladin, also: 18/30 18/10 3 2-3 (depends on weapon) Druid - Shaman similar to priest Runemaster similar to rogue Mindcrafter similar to ranger So if you're playing a melee-oriented characer, make sure you start with at least 2 bpr (in some cases you might have to buy very light weapon and discard your starter weapon to achieve this)! If you think it's strange that 'Mimic fights similar to Priest' keep in mind that this is not about actual melee potential, but rather about some sort of 'blows/round improvement curve' displayed by a class. If a class is busy studying other things in parallel (magic), its learning curve gets less steep. This, however, doesn't determine its final performance, which is actually given by the 'Max. base blows/round' shown further above, and other parameters. (6.6) Sanity (or insanity..) ---------------------------- Your sanity can have the following values: Sound, Sane, Weird, Insane, Mad, Vegetable. If you spend 10 points on your 'Health' skill, the sanity display will turn into a bar, displaying exacter values. At 20 points you'll get the percentage displayed. At 40 the value will be shown. At the beginning, your sanity is always 'Sound'. That means you are completely sane. Monsters or traps can reduce your sanity. If your sanity drops below 0, your mind will be qualified as an unthinking vegetable, this means your character is permanently dead, so be extremely cautious! Fortunately there are potions available that cure your sanity, although they are not very common and cannot be bought in shops. Wisdom helps against insanity by inceasing your 'sanity capacity'. As you gain levels, your sanity capacity will also increase. However, this means IF your sanity drops to dangerous regions, you will need more potions to cure it. If your sanity is lowered, there's an increasing chance that flashbacks will storm your head, leaving you with mad visions for a while.. When your sanity suffers from an attack, you'll see a light red message in the message window telling you so, instead of the usual white or yellow combat messages, to make it easily visible. Certain classes such as priests or mindcrafters may depending on their skills be able to cure insanity. (6.7) Mimicry details --------------------- If a mimic polymorphs into a certain monster form, abilities and stats will be averaged between the normal ('@') body and the form. In most cases if the form is performing worse than @-form in a certain ability, the @-form will dominate and the ability will be only slightly worse than normal. The averaging is done because the mimic with all his equipment polymorphs into the target form. It's not like the polymorphing is done first and afterwards armour, weapon or jewelry is equipped. So wearing a ring of protection for example won't plainly add to the mimic's AC but just contribute to the @-form AC which is then averaged in the process of determining the final form's AC. How exactly stats are calculated is written below for each case. If a mimic wields a weapon while using a form which usually cannot use weapons the number of blows per round will be set to 1 (regardless of extra attacks). (This only really applies to druids, shamans or perma-cursed weapons (5.14)). To find out the special abilities of a monster form, press ~ 7 in game or consult a spoiler file. (See (7.4) for more info about spoiler files.) It's abilities will transform to the mimic's body as follows. Form aspects as specified in ~ 7 monster lore: (Make sure to keep your r_info.txt spoiler file up to date, as the lore displayed via ~7 is derived from it.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- W: depth : rarity : corpse weight : experience for kill depth: The depth is also the basic level of these monsters. It tells you how many of them you need to kill to learn mimicking their form. The level has additional use for calculating the mimic's final hit points regarding very high character levels (see 'hit points' below). corpse weight: The weight of the form has impact on its stealth. A huge form that weighs a lot will give a stealth penalty, while small and light forms may give a bonus. I: speed : hit points : vision : armor class : alertness speed: 110 means normal speed. If the monster is faster, the mimic will receive a speed bonus of 30% of the monster's speed above 110. If the monster is slower, the mimic will receive a speed malus of 20% of the monster's speed malus below 110. So a monster moving at 130 speed will give the mimic +6 speed. hit points: The monster's hit dice xdy are multiplied and then somewhat capped against ~2500, so HP gain might decrease in higher regions. (Cap details: The monster HP is calculated by the following formula before further calculations are made: monster HP = 50000 / ((50000 / hdice*hsides) + 20).) Now, if the mimic's HP are less then the result, the mimic's HP will become approx. ((3*x*y) + (2*normal_HP)) / 5. (2/5 monster HP, 3/5 player HP.) If the mimic's HP in player form (code 0) are greater than x*y, the resulting HP will be ((x*y * 4) + (mimic_HP * 1)) / 5. (1/5 monster HP, 4/5 player HP!) A specialty: Players in very high character levels can see their hit points 'overtake' the monster form hit points, if the monster form level isn't very high in comparison. Example: While a green dragonrider will provide a great HP boost, if the player himself has reached say level 70 and has lots of HP even in normal form, the green DR hit points won't add much anymore. If however the monster has high hit points and also a very high level, the monster HP will 'stay ahead' of the player hit points ie keep adding a steady bonus that will put him well ahead of his player-form hit points. So players of very high character level who want to retain a large bonus of hit points will want to look for forms of monsters which are also of relatively high level. armour class: Mimicking a monster is already a very difficult task. By changing shape, the usual armour class of the monster will magically influence the armour class of the player. Depending on the body parts of the monster, its AC has different influence on the player. The following formula helps: body_influence = 0. if the monster has a head, body_influence is increased by 1. if the monster has a torso, body_influence is increased by 3. if the monster has arms, body_influence is increased by 2. if the monster has legs, body_influence is increased by 1. calc_ac = monster_AC * 14 / (7 + body_influence) Now if calc_ac is smaller than the player's AC, the final AC will be (3/4 player_base_AC) + (3/4 player_magical_to_AC) + (1/4 calc_ac). Otherwise, the final AC will be (1/2 player_base_AC) + (1/2 player_magical_to_AC) + (1/2 calc_ac). vision: Searching ability of the player = (player_searching / 2) + (monster_vision / 10) Perception of the player = (player_perception / 2) + (monster_vision / 10) E: weapons : torso : arms : finger : head : leg These values indicate how many pieces of equipment the player can wear while using this form. For example snakes can only wear a helmet (E:0:0:0:0:1:0). NOTE: Mimics can never wear MORE items than in their normal form. So even a form with 8 legs would allow only 1 pair of boots to be equipped! B: attack method : attack effect : damage attack effect: POISON,DISEASE,FIRE,COLD,ELEC,ACID: If the monster poisons or infects with disease, this will result in a poison brand. Similar it's for fire/cold/lightning/acid attacks. BLIND won't work on monsters that have NO_SLEEP, otherwise the target will be confused. HALLUCINATION and CONFUSE won't work on monsters that have NO_CONF, otherwise the target will be confused. TERRIFY won't work on monsters that have NO_FEAR, otherwise it'll scare the target. PARALYZE won't work on monsters that have NO_STUN, otherwise it'll stun the target. EXP_xx means the monster drains life on attacking. The player will receive HOLD_LIFE (resist life-draining attacks) from this form. SHATTER will result in a bonus to player's STRength attribute. LOSE_xxx will give the according sustenance. Monster effects (like poisoning or paralyzing) are applied to the player's attacks with a probability that corresponds to their rarity over the up to 4 monster attacks per round. Example for 'Ghoul' form: If the monster has 3 blows per round and one of them is poisoning, the other two are paralyzing, the mimic will have 1/3 chance to do a poison branded attack and 2/3 chance to do a stunning attack. These effects won't be applied if one of the following conditions is met: a) The player is doing a ranged attack. (Effects only work with melee attacks!) b) The player uses a weapon but the monster doesn't have an equipment slot for melee weapons, because it has no arms or is immaterial. Melee to-damage bonus also depends on the monster form: The monster damage dice for each attack are multiplied and the products are all added up, the result is divided by 4. The result is now capped against 200, the closer this graph comes towards 200 the flatter the curve will become. This value is now compared against the player's melee to-damage bonus. If (monDam > toDam) then newToDam = 1/2 toDam + 1/2 monDam. If (monDam < toDam) then newToDam = 3/4 toDam + 1/4 monDam. So the monster damage has only a small influence if it's lower than the player's to-damage bonus, but it has a high influence if the monster is more powerful than the player. F: flag list The flags are translated to mimic abilities as follows: RES_xxx Gives the mimic the specific resistance. IM_xxx Gives the mimic the specific immunity! If a form offers more than 1 immunity, one will be picked randomly, the remaining ones will turn into resistances. Potions of self-knowledge are helpful here. Note that you can set the desired immunity in 'm' menu -> 'Use innate power' -> 'Set preferred immunity'. It will be picked if the form you polymorph into can provide it. PASS_WALL Will allow the mimic to pass walls like a ghost. These immaterial forms also drain the hit points of their user. KILL_WALL The mimic will dig *easily* through walls. REGENERATE Faster hit point regeneration. CAN_SWIM The player can pass water fields without problems. CAN_FLY The player can fly. STUPID -2 intelligence. SMART +2 intelligence. NO_CONF Confusion resistance. NO_FEAR Fear resistance. NO_SLEEP Free action. NO_STUN Sound resistance. NO_CUT The player can't be cut and won't bleed continously from wounds. DISBELIEVE Will increase the player's anti-magic field by ((monsterlevel / 2) + 10) percent. The range of the anti-magic field is increased by ((monsterlevel / 50) + 2) fields. ARROW_1, ARROW_2, ARROW_3 The player will receive an extra shot per round with slings or bows since the monster seems to be good at shooting. If the monster shoots 1_IN_3 or better, the player will receive an additional extra shot (with crossbows too). HURT_ROCK Means that this creature has a rock-like skin and body. Takes damage from Stone-To-Mud and takes more damage from 'disintegration' attacks, but at the same time resists shards! WILD_WOOD The player (like the monster) can pass trees. WILD_MOUNTAIN or WILD_VOLCANO The player (like the monster) can climb mountains. WILD_TOO without any other WILD_xxx flags: Combines all WILD_xxx effects (such as WILD_WOOD and WILD_MOUNTAIN)! INVISIBLE The player becomes invisible. AURA_FIRE or AURA_ELEC The player receives an aura. SUSCEP_FIRE/SUSCEP_COLD/SUSCEP_ELEC/SUSCEP_ACID/SUSCEP_POIS The player is susceptible against these attacks. Dangerous! WIERD_MIND/RES_PSI Insanity attacks are reduced a little bit. (Overrides S-flags) EMPTY_MIND/IM_PSI Insanity attacks are reduced somewhat. (Overrides S-flags) AQUATIC Gives superb water resistance. NEVER_MOVE Using this form, the player won't be able to move (except for teleportation/phasing/recalling). RAND_25 The player has +10% chance of moving randomly. RAND_50 The player has +20% chance of moving randomly. OPEN_DOOR This form can open doors. BASH_DOOR This form can bash doors (useful to forms that cannot OPEN_DOORs!). HURT_LITE This form will take 2x damage from light attacks. For all racial flags such as ANIMAL, SPIDER, EVIL, DEMON etc please see the list of racial abilities further below. S: spell list These spells can be cast by the monster. Most of them are available to the mimic too, some of them have slightly different effects. The chance to successfully use such a monster power is affected by the mimic's intelligence (INT). Depending on how frequently the monster is able to cast spells, the player gets boni on intelligence and mana! This only applies if the spells are in fact magic spells, not if the monster cannot do anything except firing missiles, shrieking or shooting arrows (etc). If the creature is able to cast 1_IN_3, the player receives +1 INT and +20% Mana bonus (of base mana, same way +MANA items work). If the creature is able to cast 1_IN_2, the player receives +3 INT and +35% Mana bonus (of base mana, same way +MANA items work). If the creature is able to cast 1_IN_1, the player receives +4 INT and +50% Mana bonus (of base mana, same way +MANA items work). About specific spells: BR_xxx (breathing) will give the according resistance to the player (if that specific attack CAN be resisted at all). BR_PLASMA gives plasma & fire resistance. BR_GRAVITY gives feather falling (levitation). BR_INERTIA gives free action. MIND_BLAST Insanity attacks are reduced a little bit. BRAIN_SMASH Insanity attacks are reduced somewhat. The mana costs of mimic spells are fixed, the success chance is relatively fixed too although it benefits somewhat from 'Magic' skill. Especially interesting spells of mimics are 'Blink' (Phase Door) and 'Teleport'. These usually cost very little mana and can be very helpful, so you might want to create macros for them. Further, certain races get additional fixed abilities (even if they are not explicitely mentioned in ~7): ----------------------------------------------------- Bats Feather falling (levitation). Elves Resist light. Dark-Elves Resist darkness. Hobbits Dexterity bonus of +2 for not wearing shoes. (Or 'Halflings'.) Gnomes Free action. (Dwarves Blindness resistance, climbing at level 30.) (High-Elves Resist light, see invisible.) Yeeks Feather falling (levitation). (Ents Slow digestion, speed - 2, sensitive to fire, see invisible at level 4, can swim, pass trees.) All animals Able to pass trees. All spiders Able to pass mountains, able to pass spider webs. All ghosts See invisible, Infra-vision +3. All orcs Resist darkness. All trolls and giants Sustain strength. All dragonriders ESP_DRAGON at level 5, feather falling (levitation), flying at level 30. All evil creatures Becomes susceptible to certain 'good' or 'holy' effects. All undead creatures Resist darkness, blindness, poison (usually immunity, depends on ~7 flags); can't bleed (no_cut), infra-vision +1, insanity attacks are reduced by a little bit. Becomes susceptible to 'life', which concerns some healing or cleansing effects mostly. However, at the same time they become gorged less quickly when for example quaffing lots of healing potions quickly. Take 2x damage from holy orbs or holy fire and suffer from many 'good' effects/spells (even more so than demons). All greater demons (capital 'U') Resist poison (usually immunity, depends on ~7 flags). Take 2x damage from holy orbs or holy fire and suffer from a couple of 'good' effects/spells (similar to undead). All non-living creatures Resist poison (usually even immune, depends on ~7 flags) and fear; insanity attacks are reduced somewhat. All vampires and vampiric monsters (vampire bats and others) Vampires are susceptible to light. Chance to drain life on attacking in melee. Vampire bats and mist have 100% chance to do a vampiric attack, real vampire forms (and vampiric ixitxachitl) have 50% chance (half their attacks are hits, the other half is biting). For details see '(5.15) Vampirism'. All angels Resist light, blindness and poison (usually immunity, see ~7 flags), resist fear, resist confusion, see invisible, strong resistance to insanity-inducing attacks. Note: 'Fallen Angel' doesn't get light/confusion resistances. Keep in mind that by changing forms you can potentially lose abilities that you had in player form, because they were bound to your normal form. Example: An ent mimic won't drown in water, but if it polymorphs into an orc, it loses the intrinsic ability to pass water since orcs aren't made of wood. Attributes and miscellaneous abilities can also be affected by certain aspects of the monster form you use: ---------------------------- (Note that all bonus aspects stack, so a troll might get much more than just +1 to strength, because he's also quite heavy and therefore gets another bonus.) STR Melee damage: -1..+4 (-1 won't apply if creature is very heavy though) Earthquaking melee hits: +1 each Body weight: +1..+3 Bears: +1 Trolls: +1 Giants: +1 Dragons (mature and higher): +1 INT Cast speed (1_IN_1 to 1_IN_3): +1..+5 (will also give up to +40% base mana) STUPID creatures: -2 SMART creatures: +2 DEX Halfling forms when no boots are worn: +2 Rogues: +1..+2 Monks/Master warriors: +1 Ninjas/Mystics: +2 Cats: +2 CHR Dragonriders: +1 Small, non-nasty animals: +1 Spiders, orcs: -1 Trolls, giants: -2 Nonliving/evil creatures: -1 Undead/demons: -2 GOOD creatures: +2 Stealth Body weight: -4..+3 Infra-Vision Undead in general: +1 Ghosts specifically: +3 Intrinsic abilities that aren't kept when changing forms: --------------------------------------------------------- Characters keep certain racial abilities even if they change form, while some other abilities might not persist through polymorphing. The following abilities will NOT remain active when changing shape, ie are not "polymorph-proof": Hobbit: +DEX bonus from not wearing shoes. Dwarf: Climbing. Yeek: Pass trees. Ent: Speed malus (will be reduced), swimming, pass trees. Draconian: Feather falling, flying. (6.7a) Polymorph rings: ----------------------- There are two types of polymorph rings, those which already provide a monster form and those which can still be forged by a mimic. Latter ones are named 'Rings of Polymorphing of Player', while the first ones are named after the monster form. A player can use a ring that carries a monster form, by wearing it and activating it. The user needs a mimicry skill of at least 1/2 the level of the monster in order to activate the ring. The ring will disintegrate and the player will polymorph into the according form, for the number of turns the ring specified. The turns are depending on floor speed, which means they will run out faster on shallow levels and slower on deeper levels relative to real time, but in fact always at same speed in character time! (See (4.14) for more information about the in-game time system.) As a rule of thumb, a dungeon turn lasts about 1 second on average (noticably less in town or very shallow levels). However, the remaining polymorph duration will stop decreasing while you are in a town, so you don't have to hurry while shopping. Players can also create monster rings out of 'polymorph player' rings, by mimicking the according form, then wearing the ring and activating it. The ring will turn into a ring of polymorphing of the current monster form. However, to create such a ring it is required that the player has already learnt that form. All of his knowledge will be absorbed into the ring, so the player will completely forget the form and have to re-learn it if he wants to use it again! The level of the ring will change depending on the form. Here are some levels: form level ring level ---------------------------------- 0 (townspeople) 5 1 5 15 14 30 22 60 36 80 43 100 (theoretical) 50 Polymorph rings contain a certain amount of energy that cannot be changed, which determined for how long the player will keep the form until he polymorphs back to normal. If a player forges a ring, his magic device skill helps to obtain a high amount of energy in the ring. (6.7b) Druid form details ------------------------- The according polymorph code is given in parentheses below the creature name. Note: Some forms can open doors, others may try to bash doors. Also, all animal forms are able to travel through woods. You can use the /ex command in game to see which forms you can use, and what polymorph code they have. Level 5: -------- Cave bear tough; can pass mountain terrain (Code 160) Panther speedy (Code 198) Level 10: --------- Grizzly bear same as Cave Bear, but tougher (Code 191) Yeti can pass mountain terrain; (Code 154) is immune to cold but susceptible to fire Level 15: --------- Griffon can fly; can pass mountain terrain (Code 279) Sasquatch speedy; similar to Yeti, but not susceptible to fire (Code 343) Level 20: --------- Werebear same as Grizzly Bear, but tougher (Code 414) Great eagle speedy; can fly; passes most terrain types (Code 335) Great White shark speedy and tough aquatic(*) form (Code 898) (aquatic means that it requires deep water to breathe and greatly resists water-based attacks) Aranea a speedy greater spider; (Code 963) all melee attacks are poisonous; resists fire, completely immune to poison; susceptible to light and to 'good' (creature is evil); has a small array of magic spells at its disposal Level 25: --------- Wyvern speedy; can fly; passes most terrains; (Code 334) 25% poisonous melee attacks; immune to poison; susceptible to 'good' Multi-hued Hound resists fire/cold/lightning/acid/poison and is immune (Code 513) to one of those five elements; can't be confused or paralyzed; can breathe the five elements mentioned above Level 30: --------- 5-headed hydra tough and speedy; can swim; (Code 440) all melee attacks are poisonous; immune to poison; can cast fear and poison ball Minotaur tough and very speed; susceptible to 'good' (Code 641) Giant squid tough and speedy aquatic(*) creature; (Code 482) resists cold/acid/lightning/poison; can breathe lightning, acid and poison Level 35: --------- 7-headed hydra tough and speedy; can swim; (Code 614) poisonous (75%) and blinding (25%) melee attacks; immune to poison; can cast fear, poison ball, and breathe poison Elder aranea speedy and smart (INT bonus) greater spider; (Code 964) 50% of melee attacks are poisonous; resists darkness, fire, poison; immune to either fire or poison; susceptible to 'good' and to light; can't be confused or paralyzed; regenerates HP quickly; has a medium array of spells at its disposal Plasma hound speedy; (Code 726) resists plasma, sound; immune to fire; susceptible to cold; can't be cut/stunned/confused or paralyzed; can breathe plasma Level 40: --------- 11-headed hydra speedy and toughest hydra; can swim; (Code 688) fiery attacks; immune to fire; has a small array of fire/fear spells Giant Roc speedy giant bird; deals high damage; (Code 640) can fly; passes most terrains; immune to electricity; resists sound; can't be paralyzed or confused; Lesser kraken speedy, smart and very tough aquatic(*) creature; (Code 740) resists lightning, cold, darkness, poison; completely immune to either water attacks or poison; can't be paralyzed or confused; has a medium size array of spells; Level 45: --------- Maulotaur like Minotaur, but tougher; stupid (INT malus); (Code 723) immune to fire; resists teleportation attacks; can cast plasma bolt and fire ball Winged Horror speedy winged creature; can fly; (Code 704) resists cold, poison, darkness, nether, life drain; immune to either cold or poison; susceptible to 'good'; can breathe nether, darkness and poison Level 50: --------- Spectral Tyrannosaur speedy undead animal; (Code 705) has 25% scaring attacks; resists nexus, teleportation attacks, nether, life drain, cold, acid and poison; becomes immune to one of cold/acid/poison; susceptible to 'good' and 'life'; can't be cut, scared, confused or paralyzed; can breathe nexus, poison and nether Greater kraken speedy, smart and extremely tough aquatic(*) creature; (Code 775) resists cold, poison, lightning, acid, darkness; completely immune to one of lightning/poison/water; susceptible to 'good'; can cast from a large array of spells Jabberwock fabulous very speedy and tough hybrid creature that (Code 778) deals high damage; can fly; resists teleportation attacks and chaos; can curse and breathe chaos Level 55: --------- Horned Serpent speedy and tough; can swim and pass mountain terrain; (Code 1131) 33% poisonous attacks; resists poison, acid, fire, water attacks, becomes immune to either poison or acid; can't be scared, confused or paralyzed; can cast fear and breathe acid and poison Level 60: --------- Firebird speedy and tough; can fly and passes most terrains; (Code 1127) fiery attacks and fire aura; immune to fire and susceptible to cold; resists poison, plasma and light; regenerates HP quickly; can breathe fire and light (*) "Aquatic" means that this form requires deep water to breathe, you will get increasingly stunned and continuously take damage if you stay outside of deep water, beware. Aquatic forms also resist all water-based attacks *greatly*. (6.7c) Useful low-level humanoid forms for weapon-using mimics -------------------------------------------------------------- Mimics who use weapons have less choices for forms than martial artists who do not need to rely on humanoid forms and can just utilize easy-to-get forms such as fruit bat, wild cat, spiders, birds or hounds right away to great effect. To use weapons however, the form must be humanoid or very close to it, which rules out animal forms. To make form-hunting a bit easier in the beginning here is a list of useful low-level forms that are humanoid and allow the player to wear/wield full equipment: Forms you can already get in Bree town: --------------------------------------- Village idiot 1 Its slightly erratic movement can be a bit annoying but it will give a speed bonus which can be useful when fighting. Mean-looking mercenary Battle-scarred veteran 1 They can improve your initial HP (hit points) and AC (armour class) fairly well. They both have slightly erratic movement though. Further forms: -------------- Note: All of these actually occur in packs (although some of them might also appear on their own) making them even easier to attain, except for 'Tengu'. Small kobold 1 Actually very weak, but it has poison resistance. This way (or other kobolds) this form may help you to kill Rotting corpses (see below) which have poisonous melee attacks. ;) Not really useful other than that. Novice mage 2 Sort of weak but has 'blink' spell (aka phase door) and more. It occurs solo at depth 2, but in packs at depth 6! Novice priest 2 Sort of weak but can cast fear/curse and self-heal spells. It occurs solo at depth 2, but in packs at depth 6! Novice ranger 4 Can pass trees easily. Gives an extra shot with ranged weapons. This can be pretty powerful early on if the character has a decent 'bows/throws' ability or has a bow that is well enchanted to-hit. It occurs solo at depth 4, but in packs at depth 8! N. mindcrafter 4 Free action, resists confusion and slightly insanity too. Can cast blind/slow/confuse/fear spells. It occurs solo at depth 4, but in packs at depth 8! Rotting corpse 8 Free action, resists confusion/fear/cold, poison immunity, brands melee attacks with poison, decent AC. Phantom warrior 8 Useful only for shamans because it has no limbs: This form can pass solid walls! Also gives fear/sound/insanity resistance, free action, poison immunity, and you won't bleed from cuts. Tengu 10 High HP, good AC, can blink/teleport and more, resists fear and fire, can fly. A secret tip for form hunters! (Does not occur in packs unlike the other monsters listed.) Master yeek 12 Although everyone knows that Yeek = weak, this particular kind of Yeek can cast some interesting magic spells. And as a plus it's actually immune to acid. Illusionist and Druid 13 These two have an array of spells at their disposal, one of them being 'Haste' which speeds themselves up temporarily, which can be a very powerful asset. These two monsters appear somewhat rarely though. (Later on, 'Mage' is a mid-level form that also provides haste spell and is actually more common to find.) Ogre 13 This form can cross thick woods and mountain terrain. Note that Ogres also count as giants which means that shamans can use this form too. (This monster occurs somewhat more rarely than the others.) Black orc 13 Good HP, good melee damage, +1 extra shot. Lizard man 16 High HP, can swim easily, resists water, immune to acid. (This monster occurs somewhat more rarely than the others.) Ogrillon 16 Very high HP for its level, good melee damage. Note that Ogrillons also count as giants which means that shamans can use this form too. (This monster occurs somewhat more rarely than the others.) Uruk 16 Good HP, good melee damage, good AC, +1 extra shot, poison immunity. Umber hulk 16 Shamans can use full equipment in this form, others cannot. It's not really strong but it destroys walls just by moving into them, allowing you to tunnel easily without any digging tool. Also it is immune to poison, paralysis and confusion, you won't bleed if you get cut, and its melee attacks may have a slight confusion-effect (which can make fighting it a bit dangerous sometimes). Forest troll 17 High HP, good AC, can pass trees, gives 'HP regeneration'. Elite uruk 20 Good HP, very high melee damage, good AC, +1 extra shot, poison immunity. Dark-elven Lord 20 Good HP, resists darkness but is susceptible to light-based attacks. Moves fast and even has a 'Haste' spell in his array of spells that boosts his speed further. This monster occurs somewhat rarely. (The number is the monster level and therefore the amount of monsters you need to kill to learn the form.) Of course some of these forms might also be useful for martial arts users. (Note that martial artists cannot make use of ranged weapons or weapons in general though, without losing their excellent bare-handed melee skills.) (6.8) Magic spells and prayers ------------------------------ Istari (mages), rangers, rogues, priests, paladins, druids, shamans, mindcrafters and even adventurers can cast magic spells, use telepathic powers (which are the same as spells, technically) or speak prayers. To do so, they need the according spell scrolls (which contain exactly one specific spell) or books (such as Codices, Spell Books, Grimoires, Handbooks or Tomes, that contain several different spells) in their inventory. The failure rate when attempting to successfully cast a spell is usually shown when browsing the according spell scroll/crystal, and is determined by your intelligence or wisdom, and the spell's level. For details see (6.8a). Spell scrolls and some books can be purchased in store '9' (the 'book store', usually also sells 'Beginner Cantrips' and sometimes also Codices) or in '7' (the 'black market' - very expensive but you often find tomes here!). Book stores in higher-level towns on average also tend to sell higher-level spells. Note that you must spend enough points into a particular magic school (or into sorcery) for the spell turning from grey into green in your spell book, in order to use that spell. A spell will turn green when its current level has become at least 1. A level 'x' spell will requires at least 'x' points in its school before you can cast it and it turns green. You'll cast it at spell level 1 then. If you spend more points into that school the spell will become more powerful as its spell level increases. Example: Noxious Cloud is a level 3 spell of the Air school. That means if you spend at least 3 points into Air school, the spell will become usable and be displayed as "level 1" in your 'Spell Scroll of Noxious Cloud' you just bought from the Book Store in Bree (symbol '9'). If you raise your Air school to 6 by spending 3 more points into it, the level of your Noxious Cloud spell will increase by 3 and now be displayed as "level 4" in your spell scroll. The spell now deals more damage and lasts longer than it did on power level 1 when you just barely learned it. Casting spells on other players: Magic spells, prayers and druid magic are partially able to be used on fellow players, this works regardless of whether they are in the same party or not, the target player just needs to stand next to the caster for it to work. However, the ways projecting is done differ between magic school types: - Istari and other users of their magic may cast some magic spells on others by summoning an ethereal projector sphere on their mind. While this project spell is active, some of their spells will affect not only themselves but also those players nearby. The project spell is found in their 'Meta' school of magic. It works like a switch. Cast it once to enable projecting, cast it again to disable projecting again. The spells which are projectable are marked by a '(project)' tag below. - Priests and other classes who rely on prayers, as well as druids do not use any kind of projector sphere. Their spells will always affect fellow players nearby. The prayers and druid spells which are projected on others are marked by a '(auto-project)' tag at the end of the spell description below. - Mindcrafter spells either auto-project (same as priest/druid spells described above) or require the target player to open his mind ('p' key) to receive the spell effect. - Just for completeness: Rune magic that can affect other players does so automatically. (Basically same principle as for priests/druids, as described above). Shared school spells: Some spells are shared between different schools, occuring possibly but not necessarily in both of the schools. When a spell is shared between two schools it means that training in one of those schools will increase the spell level by only half that amount. So if you want to increase a shared spell by say 5 points, you either have to increase both of its schools by 5, or one of them by 10. Schools give certain permanent boni and abilities to the player, when trained to a certain extent. The boni are listed below each school. Istar schools: -------------- Mana Manathrust Casts a powerful mana bolt. Required skill level for first spell level: 1. Remove Curses Removes all curses of carried/worn objects. Lv20: Switches to *remove curses*. Required skill level for first spell level: 20. Elemental Shield Gives temporary resistance to the elements, fire/cold/lightning/acid. (project) Required skill level for first spell level: 20. Disruption Shield Conjures a shield that protects you from taking damage. Instead, the shield will consume your mana to absorb it. Only Istari are able to really get the most out of it - they get 1 mana point deducted for each absorbed point of damage. Other classes will instead get 2 mana points deducted for each damage point. Required skill level for first spell level: 35. BONI: Mana resistance at 40. Fire Globe of Light Creates a globe of magical light. Lv10: Damages monsters. Lv25: Turns into a more powerful kind of light. Required skill level for first spell level: 2. Fire Bolt Fires a fire bolt at a target. Required skill level for first spell level: 10. Fireflash Conjures a fire ball. Lv20: Turns into holy fire which is especially deadly to evil opponents. Required skill level for first spell level: 10. Fiery Shield Creates a shield of flames around you. Required skill level for first spell level: 16. Firewall Creates a fire wall to incinerate monsters that cross it. Required skill level for first spell level: 20. BONI: Fire resistance at 30, Fire immunity at 50. Water Frost Bolt Fires a frost bolt at a target. Required skill level for first spell level: 8. Tidal Wave Summons a monstrous tidal wave. Required skill level for first spell level: 16. Ice Storm Engulfs you in a storm of roaring cold. Lv15: Turns into a storm of shards of ice. Required skill level for first spell level: 22. Ent's Potion Fills your stomach. Lv5: Removes fear. Lv12: Makes you heroic. Required skill level for first spell level: 6. Vapor Fills the air around you with toxic moisture (which does pure water damage, not poison). Required skill level for first spell level: 2. BONI: Water resistance at 30, Passing water at 40, Water immunity at 50. Air Noxious Cloud Fires a poison cloud at a designated target. Lv30: Unbreath cloud, irresistable. Required skill level for first spell level: 3. Lightning Bolt Fires a lightning bolt at a target. Required skill level for first spell level: 6. Wings of Wind Grants levitation (feather falling). Lv16: Lets you fly. Required skill level for first spell level: 16. Shared spell (see above): Air, Conveyance. Invisibility Turns you invisible. Required skill level for first spell level: 30. Poison Blood Gives temporary poison resistance. Lv10: Brands melee weapons with venom. Required skill level for first spell level: 22. Thunderstorm Throws thunder bolts at random monsters nearby. (33% lightning, 33% sound, 33% light) Required skill level for first spell level: 25. BONI: Feather falling at 30, Poison resistance at 40, Flying at 50. Earth Dig Turns walls into mud. Required skill level for first spell level: 12. Acid Bolt Fires an acid bolt at a target. Required skill level for first spell level: 12. Stone Prison Creates a prison of granite walls around you. Required skill level for first spell level: 25. Strike Creates a force bolt that may stun enemies. Lv12: it turns into a small ball. Required skill level for first spell level: 25. Shake Creates a local earthquake. Required skill level for first spell level: 27. BONI: Shard resistance at 30, Great damage reduction against earthquakes at 45. Nature Grow Trees Grows trees quickly around you. Required skill level for first spell level: 6. Healing Heals a percentage of your hit points. (project) Required skill level for first spell level: 10. Recovery Slows down the effect of poison. (project) Lv5: Neutralizes poison. (project) Lv15: Heals cuts, cures confusion, blindness, stun (proj) Lv20: Restores drained stats. (project) Lv25: Restores lost experience. (project) Required skill level for first spell level: 15. Regeneration Increases your hit point regeneration rate. Required skill level for first spell level: 20. Vermin Control Prevents vermin from breeding any further on your current level. Required skill level for first spell level: 15. BONI: Regeneration ability (Hit Points) at 30, Pass trees easily at 30, Pass water easily at 40. Conveyance Phase Door Teleports you on a small scale range. (project) Required skill level for first spell level: 2. Disarm Destroys doors and traps around you. Required skill level for first spell level: 5. Teleport Teleports you within the level. (project) Required skill level for first spell level: 10. Teleport Away Teleports a line of monsters away. Lv10: Turns into a ball. Lv20: Teleports away all monsters in sight. Required skill level for first spell level: 23. Recall Works like Word of Recall. (project) Inscribe your spell scroll or book like you would inscribe a scroll, in order to specify a destination. Required skill level for first spell level: 30. See "(0.3) Important inscriptions" for more info about Word of Recall! Probability Travel Renders you instable, allowing to pass walls and to float upwards/downwards. Required skill level for first spell level: 35. BONI: Resistance to teleportation attacks at 30. Divination Detect Monsters Detects all monsters nearby. (project) Required skill level for first spell level: 3. Identify Identifies items. Lv17: Identifies all items that you carry/wear. Lv27: Also identifies all items on the floor around you. Required skill level for first spell level: 8. Greater Identify *Identifies* an item. Required skill level for first spell level: 35. Vision Detects the dungeon layout around you. Lv25: Maps and lights the whole level. Required skill level for first spell level: 15. Sense Hidden Detects traps. (project) Lv15: Lets you see invisible for a while. (project) Required skill level for first spell level: 5. Reveal Ways Detects doors/stairs/ways within a radius. (project) Required skill level for first spell level: 9. BONI: Automatic identification at 50. Temporal Magelock Magically locks a door. Lv40: Creates a Glyph of Warding on the ground that stops monsters from crossing the field or summoning on it. Required skill level for first spell level: 1. Slow Monster Slows down a monster. Lv20: Affects a zone. Required skill level for first spell level: 10. Essence of Speed Hastes you for a while. (project) Required skill level for first spell level: 15. Banishment Teleports away all monsters within sight. Lv15: Locks monsters in stasis for a while. Required skill level for first spell level: 30. Shared spell (see above): Temporal, Conveyance. BONI: Time resistance at 50. Udun Genocide Genocides all monsters of a race on the level. Lv15: Alternatively genocides all monsters near you ("mass genocide", choose 'y'. 'n' will do a normal geno). For details on the effects "genocide" and "mass genocide" of this spell, please see (5.9) scroll of geno/mass geno. (This spell uses WISDOM to determine fail-rates!) Required skill level for first spell level: 25. Wraithform Turns your form immaterial. (project) Required skill level for first spell level: 35. Disenchantment Bolt Conjures a powerful and nearly irresistible bolt. Required skill level for first spell level: 40. Hellfire Conjures a ball of hellfire which is especially deadly to GOOD opponents. Required skill level for first spell level: 20. BONI: Resist teleportation attacks at 30, Hold life at 40. Mind Confuse Confuses a monsters. Lv15: Turns into a ball. Lv35: Affects all monsters in sight. Required skill level for first spell level: 5. Stun Stuns a monster. Lv25: Turns into a ball. Required skill level for first spell level: 15. Sense Minds Gives you temporary ESP. Required skill level for first spell level: 30. Telekinesis I Inscribe your book @P, cast it, select an item that you wish to teleport to the player's inventory. The target player needs to concentrate by opening her/his mind, see (0.2). It's dangerous to have the mind opened, since everyone can send you any items, so better close it again as soon as the desired telekinesis transaction is done. Example inscription: @PGandalf Required skill level for first spell level: 30. Shared spell (see above): Mind, Conveyance. BONI: Reduces confusion and hallucination at 30, Reduce insanity influence at 40 and especially at 50. Meta Recharge Recharges a magic staff or wand. Required skill level for first spell level: 5. Project Spells Makes several spells and prayers affect other players too, in a radius around you that grows bigger depending on the 'Project Spells' level. You need to cast the Project spell once! This 'turns on' the area of effect for all other spells which are usable on fellow players. Casting the Project spell again will switch the area effect off again. When you switch it on, the radius will depend on your Project skill level, starting at a radius of 1 field. The closer another player stands to you, the more he will usually get out of the spell (eg healed HP amount, duration of resistances, etc..). Required skill level for first spell level: 10. Disperse Magic Removes magical influences. Lv1: Blindness. Lv5: Confusion/Hallucination. Lv10: Speed/Slowness. Lv15: Stun/Cuts. Lv20: Heroism/Berserk strength/Blessing/Shields/Fear. Required skill level for first spell level: 15. BONI: Improves saving throw, the further it's trained above 20. Priest schools: --------------- Holy Offense Curse Randomly causes confusion damage or slowness or blindness. Lv15: Turns from bolt into beam, passing through the target and also hitting those behind. Lv25: Affects all monsters in line of sight. Required skill level for first spell level: 1. Holy Light Creates a globe of pure light. Lv3: Damages monsters. Lv8: Calls a more powerful kind of light. Required skill level for first spell level: 2. Shared spell (see above): H.Offense, H.Support. Exorcism Dispels nearby undead. Lv20: Dispels nearby demons. Lv30: Dispels nearby evil. Required skill level for first spell level: 11. Release Souls *Dispels undead*. Required skill level for first spell level: 10. Orb of Draining Summons a holy orb, devouring monsters. This spell deals double damage against evil monsters. Required skill level for first spell level: 20. Drain Life Drains life from a non-undead and non-nonliving creature and returns a part of it to your hit points. Required skill level for first spell level: 20. Doomed Grounds Similar to 'Drain Life' but affects a whole area. Required skill level for first spell level: 40. BONI: Adds slay undead at 30, slay demon at 40, slay evil at 50 to all melee and ranged attacks. Holy Defense Blessing Same effect as scroll of Blessing. (auto-project) Lv15: Same effect as scroll of Holy Chant. (auto-project) Lv30: Same effect as scroll of Holy Prayer.(auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 1. Holy Resistance Lets you resist heat. (auto-project) Lv5: Lets you also resist cold. (auto-project) Lv10: Lets you also resist lightning. (auto-project) Lv15: Lets you also resist acid. (auto-project) Lv25: Lets you also resist poison. (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 11. Protection from evil. Repels evil creatures that try to attack you. Works very well, as long as the creature isn't of a higher level than you. Required skill level for first spell level: 12. Glyph of Warding Creates a rune on the ground that monsters cannot cross nor summon on. Powerful monsters may break it. Required skill level for first spell level: 35. Martyrdom You burn in holy fire making you invulnerable for 15 turns. When your martyrium ends, you will be left close to death with a fraction of your hit points, at least 30 HP though. Note that you cannot be healed in any way during martyr. Invulnerable here in detail means you won't take.. -any hit point decreasing damage, -any sanity decreasing damage, -any malicious effects such as poisoning, fear, blindness, confusion, paralyzation, slowness, stun or cuts, -nexus, polymorph and teleportation effects. The heavens won't accept another martyrium until 1000 turns have passed. Note: To check whether you can use the spell again, use the /martyr (or /mar) command. Required skill level for first spell level: 40. BONI: Protects the player from undead at 30, from demons at 40, and from evil in general at 50. Better than the spell. Holy Curing Cure Wounds Heals a fixed amount of hit points of a friendly target, which is capped at 14d8, the same amount a potion of cure critical wounds actually heals. Required skill level for first spell level: 3. In addition to healing hit points, it will start curing status ailments at higher spell levels: Lv4: Cures cuts and blindness. Lv10: Also cures confusion. Lv24: Also cures stun. (Since this is a bolt spell, use the 'target friendly' key, which is '('. See command reference section (0.2) for details about this key. To target yourself, use a macro that clears your current target via '*q' and picks direction '5' which will then be your current grid.) Healing Heals a percentage of hit points. (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 3. Remove Curses Removes curses. Lv30: Removes heavy curses. Required skill level for first spell level: 10. Cleansing Light Continuously heals every player who steps inside. Required skill level for first spell level: 18. Curing Slows down the effect of poison. Lv10: Neutralize poison. (auto-project) Lv15: Cure confusion/blindness/stun. (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 3. Restoration Restores stats. (auto-project) Lv5: Restores experience. (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 26. Faithful Focus Cure hallucinations and insanity. (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 21. Resurrection Resurrect another player's ghost. The resurrected player will lose less experience the higher the spell level is. Exp loss is usually 35% if revived in the temple or via life scroll. Resurrection prayer exp loss goes down from 35% and caps at 30%. Required skill level for first spell level: 30. Soul Curing Cures Black Breath (See 1.5 for more information about Black Breath). (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 25. BONI: Improves HP regeneration rate extraordinarily the further it is trained above 30, Half duration of various bad effects on the body at 30 (blindness, poison) / 40 (stun, cuts) / 50 (hallucination), Less frequent suffering from black breath at 50. Holy Support Remove Fear Keeps your heart boldened for a while. (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 1. Holy Light Creates a globe of pure light. Lv3: Damages monsters. Lv8: Calls a more powerful kind of light. Required skill level for first spell level: 2. Note that this is a spell shared between offense and support school, meaning that increases in one of those school will increase the spell level by only half as much. Sense Monsters Detect monsters, see invisible for a while. Lv30: Gives full temporary ESP. Required skill level for first spell level: 3. Sanctuary Puts nearby monsters asleep. Lv20: Lets all monsters in line of sight fall asleep. Required skill level for first spell level: 3. Satisfy Hunger Satisfies your hunger. (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 10. Sense Surroundings Detect monsters, see invisible for a while. Lv15: Maps the dungeon around you. Lv30: Gives clairvoyance (full enlightened map). Gives full temporary ESP. Required skill level for first spell level: 10. Zeal Gives +1 extra attack per round for a while. (auto-p.) Lv10: Gives +2 EA. (auto-project) Lv20: Gives +3 EA. (auto-project) Note: The EA effect won't be applied to barehanded players if they don't have Martial Arts skill of at least 01.000. Required skill level for first spell level: 31. BONI: Keeps the hunger satisfied all the time at 40, Suppresses effects of DG_CURSE and TY_CURSE at 50. Druid schools: -------------- Arcane Lore Nature's Call Quickly grows trees around you. Required skill level for first spell level: 10. Toxic Moisture Creates a cloud of toxic moisture at a designated target, consisting of poisonous gas. At level 20 it combines the surrounding air into the attack, turning it into a water/poison mixture. At level 30 it condenses the water and turns into poisonous ice shards. Required skill level for first spell level: 3. Ancient Lore Identifies all items in your inventory. Required skill level for first spell level: 20. Garden of the Gods Transforms solid walls into green trees! Required skill level for first spell level: 1. Call of the Forest Dispels all animals from your line of sight. Animals have a chance to resist, depending on their level. Required skill level for first spell level: 1. Physical Lore Forest's Embrace Creates a cloud around you which heals everyone including yourself over time. (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 18. Quickfeet Temporarily boosts your speed. (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 13. Herbal Tea Satisfies your hunger. (auto-project) Lv20: Restores your experience. (auto-project) Lv25: Restores your attributes. (auto-project) Lv35: Cures black breath! (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 3. Extra Growth Increases your attributes temporarily. Lv1: Increases strength. Lv5: Also increases dexterity. Lv10: Also increases constitution. Lv20: Also increases intelligence. Required skill level for first spell level: 15. Focus Increases your accuracy, adding a bonus to your melee-to-hit and ranged-to-hit. Required skill level for first spell level: 1. Mindcraft schools: ------------------ Psycho-Power Psychic Hammer Telekinetic power focussed to bash an enemy, damaging and stunning him. Required skill level for first spell level: 1. Psychokinesis Destroys traps by psychokinetic manipulation. Required skill level for first spell level: 3. Autokinesis I Teleports you within a small range. Required skill level for first spell level: 5. Autokinesis II Teleports you over a long range. Required skill level for first spell level: 16. Autokinesis III Teleports you towards a party member with opened mind. Required skill level for first spell level: 24. Feedback Uses telekinetic effects to keep you hovering, granting levitation, and at 15 becomes sufficient for flying. Required skill level for first spell level: 18. Pyrokinesis Causes a severe inflammation to burn your opponent. Required skill level for first spell level: 20. Cryokinesis Causes a dramatic temperature drop on your opponent. Required skill level for first spell level: 24. Psychic Warp Attempts to teleport away your opponent. Required skill level for first spell level: 30. Telekinesis II Inscribe your book @P, cast it, select an item that you wish to teleport to the player's inventory. The target player needs to concentrate by opening her/his mind, see (0.2). It's dangerous to have the mind opened, since everyone can send you any items, so better close it again as soon as the desired telekinesis transaction is done. Example inscription: @PGandalf Required skill level for first spell level: 35. Shared spell (see above): Psycho-Power / Thought Contact. Kinetic Shield Uses telekinetic force to set up a shield around you that has a chance to repel physical attacks or projectiles, draining your mana each time. Required skill level for first spell level: 40. Thought Contact Clear Mind Removes fear, confusion and hallucination. (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 3. Willpower Boosts your willpower to unleash hidden potential, improving both your performance and resilience. Gives fear resistance, increases your saving throw and gives especially increased chance to resist paralyzation, confusion and slowness. Also gives heroism-like +hit bonus. Later on gives +1 extra attack. (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 3. Self-Reflection Find out more about yourself. Required skill level for first spell level: 15. Accelerate Nerves Speeds you up. Required skill level for first spell level: 20. Telepathy Senses the minds of creatures. Required skill level for first spell level: 20. Recognition Identifies an item. Required skill level for first spell level: 25. Stabilize Thoughts Cures some insanity and removes effects. (auto-project) Required skill level for first spell level: 25. Telekinesis II Inscribe your book @P, cast it, select an item that you wish to teleport to the player's inventory. The target player needs to concentrate by opening her/his mind, see (0.2). It's dangerous to have the mind opened, since everyone can send you any items, so better close it again as soon as the desired telekinesis transaction is done. Example inscription: @PGandalf Required skill level for first spell level: 35. Shared spell (see above): Psycho-Power / Thought Contact. Mental Intrusion (Note that psi attacks don't have any effect on angels, nonliving creatures, or empty-minded creatures, and that undead, stupid creatures and common animals as well as weird-minded creatures may resist it. At the same time, smart creatures might be hit especially hard. Targets that might resist psi attacks, but which are already confused when they get hit, get their chance to resist nullified by the confusion. As a side effect, psi attacks themselves have a chance to cause confusion to the target, thereby increasing their effect when the target is hit by another psi attack afterwards. if a monster does not resist a psi attack, it may suffer from additional effects besides confusion, such as fear, stun or sleep.) Psionic Blast Blasts the target's mind with psionic energy. Possibly causing various additional effects. Required skill level for first spell level: 1. Psi Storm Psionic storm that damages and disturbs all minds within an area for a while, causing the usual random Psi side effects on all targets similar to Psionic Blast. Required skill level for first spell level: 18. Scare Infuses your target's mind with fear. Lv10: Becomes a ball effect. Lv20: Affects all monsters in LoS. Required skill level for first spell level: 1. Confuse Infuses your target's mind with confusion. Lv15: Becomes a ball effect. Lv30: Affects all monsters in LoS. Required skill level for first spell level: 3. Hypnosis Puts your target's mind to sleep. Lv20: Affects all monsters in LoS. Required skill level for first spell level: 5. Drain Strength Slows your target down, draining power from its muscles. Lv10: Becomes a ball effect. Lv20: Affects all monsters in LoS. Required skill level for first spell level: 7. Psychic Suppression Drains the target's psychic energy, impacting its ability to cast spells temporarily, effectively silencing it for a short period of time. Chance to be successful depends on school skill vs monster level. Also, monsters that can't cast any spells as well as unique monsters of level 98 or above are unaffected. Monsters that are unique or powerful have an increased chance to resist. The target cannot be silenced again for a short while, until the effect runs out. Note that the target also becomes immune to the effect for the same short amount of time if the attempt was actually unsuccessful. Required skill level for first spell level: 10. Remote Vision Tries to forcibly enter all sentient creatures' minds on the level, in order to use their vision to make the dungeon structure known to yourself. Required skill level for first spell level: 20. If your proficiency in 'Thought Contact' school is at least 20, you will automatically infuse the knowledge gained from the vision to all open-minded (see (0.2)) allied players who happen to be the same floor. Charm Makes monsters in sight believe that you aren't an enemy, preventing them most of the time from attacking you. Monsters may resist or be immune to the initial cast. While active, the spell drains your mana. The more monsters you try to keep under control, the faster your mana is depleted. If your distance to the monsters becomes too big or your mana is depleted then the spell will break. Sleeping monsters won't be affected or woken up by charm. Monsters which have already been hurt cannot be charmed. Psi-immune, unique, undead, empty-minded or non-living monsters cannot be charmed either. Monsters may have a chance to resist the attack, the higher the more of the following abilities they possess: Being smart, resisting confusion, being powerful. Required skill level for first spell level: 33. Divine school of Maiar: ----------------------- Astral Power Bolt Casts a bolt of electricity/mana/nether depending on your alignment: Still neutral -> electricity, enlightened -> mana, corrupted -> nether. Required skill level for first spell level: 1. Power Ray Casts a beam of electricity/light/darkness depending on your alignment (see Power Bolt spell above). Required skill level for first spell level: 5. Power Blast Casts a ball of electricity/mana/nether depending on your alignment (see Power Bolt spell above). Required skill level for first spell level: 10. Relocation Same as word-of-recall. You may inscribe book '@R' etc. for the usual results. Required skill level for first spell level: 22. Vengeance Enlightened: Summons all party members on the same floor to you (as well as all monsters in line of sight) who have their mind opened. Corrupted: Damages all monsters in line of sight. (This spell uses WISDOM to determine fail-rates!) Required skill level for first spell level: 30. Empowerment Enlightened: Incite self-fury. Corrupted: Increases own hit points temporarily. (This spell uses WISDOM to determine fail-rates!) Required skill level for first spell level: 40. The Silent Force Enlightened: Slows down monsters within sight and grants temporary mana and time resistance. Corrupted: Increases your chance to strike critically. (This spell uses WISDOM to determine fail-rates!) Required skill level for first spell level: 45. Sphere of Destruction Enlightened: Conjures up a mana storm. Corrupted: Conjures up raging inferno, which deals similar damage as rockets do. Required skill level for first spell level: 50. Gateway Enlightened: Instantaneously word-of-recall for all party members on your dungeon level. Corrupted: Creates a pair of connected void jump gates. (This spell uses WISDOM to determine fail-rates!) Required skill level for first spell level: 50. This spell requires a character level of at least 62. (6.8a) Spell failure rate ------------------------- The chance to not successfully cast a spell, aka the spell fail rate is shown in percent when browsing a spell scroll/crystal. An exception are currently mimic powers which they inherit from mimicking a monster, whose fail rates are not shown anywhere at the moment, this might be subject to improvement. The fail rate of a spell depends on.. Magic schools: Nearly all spells depend on the spell level and your INTelligence, some spells however use WISdom instead of intelligence, those spells are designated in (6.8) in their spell description. Prayer schools: All spells depend on the spell level and your WISdom. Mindcraft schools: All spells depend on the spell level and your INTelligence. Druidic schools: All spells depend on the spell level and your WISdom. Astral school: Some spells depend on the spell level and WISdom, some on the spell level and INTelligence, as designated in (6.8) in the spell descriptions. In general, when you learn a new spell that starts at a high fail rate, you will observe a great improvement just by further training the spell's school to increase the spell's level. Increasing your INT or WIS (depending on what this particular spell uses) will also help. At a certain point however, usually when the spell's fail chance is already rather low, the spell fail rate might not go down further from increasing its level. At that point the only thing you can do to further reduce the spell fail rate is to increase the stat (INT or WIS) that the spell uses. Mimic powers use INT to determine fail rate, have a greater fail rate than other spells in general, and do not have a 'spell level'. Their effects are pretty much fixed. (6.8b) Runes & Runemastery -------------------------- Runes are magical symbols used to summon and manipulate the raw elemental forces which sustain the world of life. They are the motivating force behind the traditional systems of magic in TomeNET. The istari spell scrolls, for example, are composed of a series of complicated runes which both protect the mage from immediate harm, and create the desired effect: from fireballs to magical satiation. Runemasters are less methodical in their approach to magic. Having learned to summon elemental forces without the aid of the traditional precautions, limitations and potential inefficiencies of the complex istari spell system, runemasters deal directly with the 'pure' substance of magic, and are limited only by their wits, their strength and their skill. This approach is not necessarily a safe one. Where as traditional spells from other schools of magic fail outright when something goes awry, the primordial energy incumbent to a runespell instead erupts forth, damaging the caster in the form of a spell backlash. Physical runes can be used to mitigate this backlash should a runespell fail, absorbing the excess energy of the spell before crumbling into dust. Runes may be activated to combine or decombine in stacks with other runes, sharing level requirement and discount. As runemastery does not rely on books or spell scrolls to guide its magic, runespells may be cast while blinded, although at increased rate of failure. Spell failure likewise increases while stunned, or simply when attempting a powerful spell. While an istar is always prevented from casting outside of his or her ability, a runemaster may continue making spell attempts until the backlash proves fatal. Runemasters are able to cast many kinds of spells, but it's important to note that some are much more difficult to manage than others. All runespells can either be projected at the world or a monster, or directed at the caster for a different result. In addition, runespells fueled by physical runes may be used to enchant non-artifact equipment that is wielded by the runemaster. The strength and success rates of these enchantments depend both on the skill of the runemaster and the power of the item that would result. Runemastery requires dexterous physical and intellectual manipulation of the rune forms, requiring high INT and DEX character stats. For this reason, runemasters also make decent thieves and fighters. To some extent, runemasters will need to experiment to find out their own capabilities. Runespells: ----------- To cast a runespell, enter the m-key menu and select 'Draw a rune'. (Note: The ability code for drawing a rune is 12.) Runespells are made up of three components: 1. A single rune or combination of two runes 2. A spell modifier (minimized, brief, etc.) 3. A spell type (glyph, bolt, ball, etc.) Each component has different associated parameters, summarized in the menu. When selecting runes, press return once you are finished, or enter the maximum of two runes and continue to the modifier selection. The menu will prompt for a direction if it is required after you're done. If the spell targets an item, you must supply the letter corresponding to your choice of equipment. Runespell Failure & Backlash: ----------------------------- Runemasters can only truly fail enchantment type spells. Other spell types instead cause backlash against the caster when they would otherwise fail. Having a physical rune corresponding to the invoked element or both runes of a combination element shields the runemaster from this backlash. When lacking one or both of these physical runes, the caster of may experience backlash. Keeping physical runes may become especially important once damaging effects of runespells begin to outpace the runemaster's intrinsic durability; resisting one's own spells can be an important factor for survival in critical situations. INTelligence, DEXterity, and skill level affect spell failure rates for runespells. Runespell type generally governs the level of a runespell, and is further modified by the spell modifier and then only somewhat by the resulting element of the spell. Macros & Spell Construction: ---------------------------- Runemastery macros look like this (key translation in parenthesis): (Note: m@12\r invokes the m-key menu command for 'Draw a rune'.) Targetted runespells use the following format: \e)*tm@12\r[a-f]\r[a-g][a-g]- (rune, return, modifier, type, target) \e)*tm@12\r[a-f][a-f][a-g][a-g]- (rune, rune, modifier, type, target) Non-targetted runespells use the format: \e)m@18\r[a-f]\r[a-g][a-g] (rune, return, modifier, type) \e)m@18\r[a-f][a-f][a-g][a-g] (rune, rune, modifier, type) Note that you must choose at least one and up to two runes, one modifier, and one type. If you choose two runes for a spell, the \r is not required. [a-f] and [a-g] denote the choices of a letter from a to f or h, inclusive, which represents a rune or a modifier or type, respectively. ie. There are six base runes, so [a-f] represents a choice from rune 1-6. Examples: --------- Here is a single rune example, invoking the element 'light' (rune 'a'): \e)*tm@12\ra\raa- (light--return--minimized--bolt) This spell launches a minimized bolt of light, a targetted projection affecting up to a single opponent, dealing light damage if it successfully connects. A fire ball spell might look like this (runes 'a' and 'e' for 'fire'): \e)*tm@12\raedd- (light--chaos--moderate--ball) Note the following macro produces an identical effect (runes 'e' and 'a'): \e)*tm@12\readd- (chaos--light--moderate--ball) To increase the radius of the ball, adjust the modifier to something that sounds bigger, ie. choose a spell modifier that increases radius. A maximized ball of fire: \e)*tm@12\raegd- (light--chaos--maximized--ball) Or an expanded ball of fire, to produce something much larger: \e)*tm@12\raeed- (light--chaos--expanded--ball) Note that failure rate may become an obstacle to advanced spells at low level. Basic spell types, modifiers, and elements are recommended. Advanced runemasters may wish to create macro sets which construct spells on the fly, swap macro sets containing preset runespells, or set up combinations of macros to chain together spells quickly and efficiently. Spells with a lowered casting time might even be combined in one macro, creating a 'dual-cast' effect (especially true with the 'brief' modifier). Note that every modifier has drawbacks associated with the benefits of using it: higher cost, level, reduced damage, increased failure rates- check the specifics in the m-key menu before you create a new macro. It is recommended that you keep physical runes in your inventory when experimenting with new spells. Auto-retaliation: ----------------- If you inscribe @O[a-g][a-g] on a rune in your inventory, you will retaliate with a spell of the selected modifier and type. For example, if you set the inscription to @Oab on a rune of light, the 'bolt' spell type will be selected, with a 'minimized' spell modifier. Although you can set most spells for retaliation, some spells may make poor choices for auto-retaliation. Retaliation defaults to a bolt spell if the rune is inscribed incorrectly. Glyph type spells cannot be used for retaliation, and default to bolts (letter 'g' becomes letter 'a'). Hints: ------ The casting adjective will further elaborate on the difficulty of a spell compared to your skill. Ideally, you should try to choose spells where the average outcome is 'efficiently', or better. These are 'safe' spells, and tend to be more efficient than spells that you 'barely manage to', or 'clumsily' cast. You can use the mkey * display to see a list of spell failure rates. The macro wizard can also be used to assess the attributes of spells. (6.8c) Runespell Tables ----------------------- Runemastery covers a breadth of effects, catalogued in the tables below. See section (5.6) for more information about elemental attacks. Basic Elements -------------- A table of every element achievable through use of a single rune: ------------------------------------ Rune | | Element ------------------------------------ Light | | Light Darkness | | Darkness Nexus | | Nexus Nether | | Nether Chaos | | Chaos Mana | | Mana Combination Elements -------------------- A table of every element achievable through use of a combination of runes: ------------------------------------ Rune | Rune | Element ------------------------------------ Light | Darkness | Confusion Light | Nexus | Inertia Light | Nether | Lightning Light | Chaos | Fire Light | Mana | Water Darkness | Nexus | Gravity Darkness | Nether | Frost Darkness | Chaos | Acid Darkness | Mana | Poison Nexus | Nether | Time Nexus | Chaos | Sound Nexus | Mana | Shards Nether | Chaos | Disenchantment Nether | Mana | Force Chaos | Mana | Plasma Spell Modifiers --------------- A table of every spell modifier. Modifiers alter the nature of a spell, influencing level, cost, fail rate, damage, casting time, radius, and duration. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name | Description ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Minimized | Decreased damage, radius, duration, cost and failure rate. Lengthened | Increased duration, cost and failure rate. Decreased damage. Compressed | Decreased radius, duration and failure rate. Increased damage. Moderate | Comparable to traditional spells in all aspects. Expanded | Increased radius, duration, cost and failure rate. Brief | Decreased damage, duration, failure rate and casting time. Maximized | Increased damage, radius, duration, cost and failure rate. Spell Types ----------- A table of every spell type. Type controls the form of the runespell, also influencing level, cost, fail rate, damage, casting time, radius, and duration. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name | Description ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bolt | Hits a single target in line of effect. Beam | Hits every target in line of effect. Cloud | Damages an area over time. Ball | Instantly damages an area. Wave | Radiates outward from the caster. Storm | Moves with the caster. Rune | Detonates when broken. (6.9) Parties, Iron Teams, Guilds ---------------------------------- Press 'P' to display the party menu. Here you can.. -Create or rename a party In a party you will share experience points if you are within 7 character levels to each other and on the same dungeon/tower level respectively the same worldmap/wilderness sector. A slight experience bonus is applied for killing monsters in a party! The range is 11 levels instead of 7 for winners (queens/kings/empresses/ emperors). Winners don't share experience with non-winner characters. Monsters will usually remember the highest player they have met and not give experience nor kill credit to players who are more than the 8 (exp-sharing level limit plus 1) levels away from it. So, avoid being on the same dungeon floor as teammates whose character level differs by more than 8 levels from yours. Similarly, a player who received a power-up spell from another player who is higher in levels than the allowed difference of 8, may cause that player to not gain any experience or kill credit until a number of turns (usually 200) has passed and the buff spell has worn off. Kings/queens/emperors/empresses are free from those restrictions though! Note that there are two exceptions to these rules: -Morgoth, Lord of Darkness (Game boss) -The Great Pumpkin (Halloween special event monster) These two always give credit, no matter what level difference the players have. Special case: A player who lost levels due to death plays together with another player who is now just within range of his lowered level. Example: Player A was level 45, but lost 5 levels due to dying twice and is now level 40. He teams up with player B whose level is a regular 33. What happens depends on the server settings, there are three rules: a) the difference of player A's real level and his current level counts in 50%. So he'd be treated like a 40 + (45-40)/2 = 42 (rounded down) player and player B wouldn't get any exp since he's not level 35 or higher. b) if player B is way below player A's top level (default is more than 5 levels) the exp he gets will be cut down depending on the difference between player B's current level and player A's top level, but he still receives exp. c) the server only looks at the highest reached level and compares the current level of all team members to it. So it would compare player B's 33 to player A's 45 when it wants to determine if player B receives a share of exp from player A, which is more than 7 levels apart, so player B gets nothing. The rule effective on the official servers is b), so teaming up with everlasting characters that have lost a bunch of levels shouldn't be much of an issue. A party owner may set access to one or more of his houses to 'party access' (use 'h' key next to the door) to allow all party members to access that house. If the owner dies, the whole party is disbanded. (Exception: On a server running 'RPG' rules the party ownership will be transferred to another player in the party automatically. See (8.5) for more information about RPG settings. Within the 'Ironman Deep Dive Dungeon', party ownership is also transferred in the same manner. See (4.13) for more information about the persistent "Ironman Deep Dive Challenge" event.) Be aware that his houses will be wiped too, so the party might lose quite an amount of items that way. 'Anti-magic fields' of fellow party members have greatly reduced effect on spell-users in the same party, to allow the party to still be a vital combination. If you choose 'Create or rename a party' while already being in a party, you will be prompted to rename the party. Only the party owner can do this. -Create or rename an 'Iron Team' party An iron team is like a party with the following differences: An 'Iron Team' can only be formed with newly created characters. Its members will only get experience for killing monsters if ALL members are online and on the same dungeon level! If you choose this while already being in an iron team, you will be prompted to rename it. Only the iron team owner can do this. -Add a player to party This can be done by all members of the party, not just by the owner! -Delete a player from your party This can only be done by the party owner. Note that if you remove a player from an iron team and his character has already gained some experience he will be unable to join again. If the owner removes himself from his own party, the whole party is disbanded. -Leave your current party Note that if you leave an iron team and your character has already gained experience you will be unable to join again. If the owner leaves his own party, the whole party is disbanded. -Create a new guild This costs 2,000,000 Au. A guild will stay, even if the owner dies. The guild creator will receive a 'Guild Key' which designates him as the guild master. In case the guild master dies, another guild member may fetch the key to become the new guild master. (Apart from the dedicated guild chat, guilds currently don't do anything except looking cool.) The following slash commands are available to manage your guild, only the guild master may use them: /guild_adder Allows that player permanently to add other players to the guild too. Use the command a second time to revoke his rights again. Note that this only works if you have enabled the guild flag 'adder', see the '/guild_cfg' command below. /guild_cfg [ [ 3 then you will successfully use the item. (There's always a slim chance to succeed even if your chances should be zero.) The item level is from k_info.txt and caps at 50. Confusion halves your skill, EASY_USE doubles it. -speeds up recharging of rods: Skill in percent is added to the recharge rate; caps at skill 100, which means +100% recharge rate (approximately). The magic device skill does the following... -helps to reduce effects of UN_POWER attacks, -helps to increase the power of forged polymorph-rings. -increases the power of magic devices. -makes it easier to recharge items provided you don't use scrolls to do that, but a real magic device (some artifacts can be activated for recharging). (6.11) Parrying and blocking ----------------------------- There are a couple of ways to reduce damage taken. One is simply to have high armour class (see (5.11) for details), another one is 'Dodging' skill (see (6.2) for details). This paragraph is about parrying/blocking only. Note that the chance values given below do not always apply as is, but sometimes depend on the the attack type and especially on a little bit of randomness when your character chooses which defense method it actually uses (block or parry) - for details about this and about all damage reduction mechanisms in general and the order/chance they are applied, make sure you also read (5.11). For melee fighters that use weapons or shields, two more abilities can help: Parrying enemy attacks with a weapon, and blocking attacks with a shield. Press 'm' and choose 'Check block/parry chance' to see your actual ability to block or parry. In order to have this option appear in your 'm' menu, you need a combat skill greater than zero. Depending on the server version you might see textual descriptions instead of raw numbers: "You cannot parry at the moment." You aren't wielding a weapon. "You have almost no chance of parrying." Below 5% chance. "You have a slight chance of parrying." Below 10% chance. "You have a significant chance of parrying." Below 20% chance. "You have a good chance of parrying." Below 30% chance. "You have a very good chance of parrying." Below 40% chance. "You have an excellent chance of parrying." Below 50% chance. "You have a superb chance of parrying." 50% chance or better. (51% is highest reachable) Note: Above 30% can only be reached in defensive combat stance without a shield equipped. (Because if no shield is equipped, defensive combat stance which normally bolsters block chance will transfer that defensive advantage to the weapon instead, increasing the parry chance.) Also your class needs to be fairly skilled at parrying (see below.) Depending on the server version you might see textual descriptions instead of raw numbers: "You cannot block at the moment." You aren't wielding a shield. "You have almost no chance of blocking." Below 5% chance. "You have a slight chance of blocking." Below 14% chance. "You have a significant chance of blocking." Below 23% chance "You have a good chance of blocking." Below 33% chance. "You have a very good chance of blocking." Below 44% chance. "You have an excellent chance of blocking." Below 55% chance. "You have a superb chance of blocking." 55% chance or better (60% is highest reachable) Note: To achieve an extraordinarily high block chance above 30% you'll have to enter a defensive combat stance, and your class should be fairly skilled at blocking. See the note below. Additional information: ----------------------- Classes do differently well at parrying and blocking. To find out more, see the class overview table at the end of section (6.5). Parrying/blocking might get boosted/modified under certain circumstances, such as PvP or defending from a trap you accidentally set off. More on Parrying ---------------- The larger a weapon, the more you can parry. Without a weapon, you cannot parry at all. A 1-handed weapon will parry less often than a 1 1/2-hander (SHOULD2H), and that one less often than a 2-handed weapon (MUST2H). If you wield a 1-hand weapon WITHOUT a shield which "feels especially easy to swing" (COULD2H), you'll also get an extra parry bonus. Increasing weaponmastery improves your parry chance; dual-wielding improves it too, provided that you aren't 'flexibility-encumbered' (compare (5.5)). More on Blocking ---------------- Many effects that normal armour usually doesn't protect from can actually be blocked, for example your character may quickly duck behind his shield just in time when an eye tries to gaze at you to paralyze you. The bigger a shield, the more you can block. Depending on server settings, the actual block base chance will usually be displayed as a percentage in [] brackets behind the shield's name, where AC is located for other types of armour. This base chance in many cases applies as is to standard melee combat IF your character tries to block instead of parrying (compare (5.11)), but is sometimes modified depending on the type of an incoming attack: When deflecting bolts from bolt traps or when in PvP combat blocking receives an additional bonus. Parrying and blocking can both be affected by combat stances - see (6.2) for "Combat Stances" skill. (6.12) Fighting/shooting techniques ----------------------------------- Depending on your class, your character is able to gain access to certain fighting techniques that cost 'Stamina' to use. Warriors, rangers, paladins and mimics will learn all of them eventually, while rogues may learn sprint and taunt, and some rogue-specific techniques. Similarly, by training archery your character will gain access to a couple of ranged techniques. All techniques are accessable via 'm' key, also see (3.7a). The time your character learns a certain technique varies, depending on your class. The order in which they are learnt is the same though. The techniques are as follows: Fighting techniques: -------------------- Sprint 7 stamina Your character will be able to move faster, so you can catch up to runners and other monsters that avoid you. Note: This does not affect your SPEED stat, nor has anything to do with 'running' (shift+dir), but simply means that moving one step will only cost you half a turn of energy, allowing you to move two steps during each of your turns instead of one! So the ONLY thing 'Sprint' affects is normal walking. (Advanced note: Certain hit & run tactics aka kiting might also become more effective accordingly, since half of your turn could be utilized by the auto-retaliator if you keep time intervals between each step.) Running (shift + directional keys) is not affected. Taunt 2 stamina Attempts to draw attention of humanoid mobs, causing them to attack you. Might require more than one try sometimes until they fall for it, depending on the monster. Some won't be affected at all even. Most common targets are typically shaman and priest class monsters. Note that this can also be used to make scared monsters agressive, and -if you and an ally both stand next to the same monster- to draw its attention from your ally and make it attack you instead. Spin 8 stamina A sweep that hits all adjacent monsters and may stun them if they don't resist. You might even perform more than one complete sweep circle, hitting some or all monsters multiple times, based on your number of blows/round! Berserk 10 stamina Similar to potions of berserk strength, also giving you +1 blow/round. Rogue-specific fighting techniques: ----------------------------------- Distract 1 stamina Your character will attempt to appear wimpy and a non-worthy target to adjacent monsters, in hope of making them attack another player who must be standing next to you and also next to the monster, instead of you. Not all monsters can be fooled though. Some monsters might resist, but probably fall for it if you give it another try. Flash bomb 4 stamina You throw down a flash bomb that causes a flash of light, blinding your opponents for a short time, giving you opportunity to escape or kill them off while they are running around in confused state. Shadow run 10 stamina, kings/queens only! You will move at blinding speed, your silhouette turning shadowy. Ranged attacks will hardly be able to pin you down, and you will act at increased speed. You can even perform a backstab opening attack out of this state. Performing actions that require calm movements or anything that distracts or disrupts your attention from focussing on keeping up your movement, as well as attacking someone will break shadow running. Shooting techniques: -------------------- Flare missile 2 stamina Prepares an oil-drenched shot for the next time you shoot, which will burn brightly, lighting up the area where it lands or hits a wall. If that spot is inside a room, the whole room will be lit up. This technique consumes 1 flask of oil and your shot/arrow/bolt. Note that this destroys magic ammunition too. Precision shot 7 stamina You aim your next shot carefully, costing you a turn. The next shot you fire however will receive a great damage bonus, even more so against fleeing opponents. Useful opener against sleeping monsters. Aiming will be interrupted by most actions, including walking. Create ammunition - Create ammunition for your currently equipped ranged weapon from bones, skeletons or broken sticks in your inventory or from a pile of rubble (':') next to your character. If you wield a bow or crossbow, you'll need to have bones, skeletons or broken sticks and it'll create arrows if you wield a bow or bolts if you wield a crossbow. If you wield a sling, you'll need to stand next to rubble and it'll create sling ammunition from it. The quality mainly depends on your archery skill and somewhat on your ranged mastery skill, but is still somewhat random. If you want to create larger stacks of the same type of ammunition, collect a large stack of materials and use the skill on that stack (the total weight of that inventory slot determines the stack size). The level of the raw materials has no effect on the outcome. Double-shot 1 stamina/5 turns (random) while using it actively Toggle, making you enter or leave double-shot mode. While active, you will fire 2 projectiles at once on each shot, dealing way less damage than a single shot though. Useful to eradicate weak critters. Note: If your stamina drops below 1 you will continue to fire normally, but not leave double-shot mode. That means as soon as you get stamina back you'll start firing double-shots again. To permanently leave double-shot mode, you have to toggle it explicitely in the 'm' menu. Barrage 9 stamina Prepares to fire a powerful multi-shot which will cost you half a turn. It stuns the target (if it doesn't resist stunning attacks). Note: The ability 'fire-till-kill' is available to any class and not considered to be a special shooting technique. It appears directly in the 'm' key menu. See (5.2a) for details. Stamina regenerates slowly over time, faster while resting. Your CONstitution stat and 'Health' skill will further improve regeneration speed. (6.13) PvP mode --------------- PvP stands for "Player vs player". This describes the act of player characters fighting each other, usually to death. In that regard, it is quite different to the 'blood bond' duel, which always ends without anyone getting hurt. If you want to fight other players to death in a real pvp match, create a 'pvp-mode' character. It's an option during the character creation process, much like 'everlasting mode' or 'normal mode'. PvP-mode characters use the /pvp command to enter/leave the pvp arena. This arena also releases monsters from time to time. The entry point of a player is random, because he gets teleported on arrival. Before you go and fight others to the death, look at your inventory. You will see a parchment "Gladiator's Entrance". When you turn this in at the mayor's office in Bree, you will get a semi-random excellent item for free, to start your career with. Semi-random because it partially depends on your skill point distribution, so before turning in your parchment for an item at the office, make sure you hit SHIFT+G and distribute your skill points to your liking. PvP-mode characters are called 'Gladiators' and use special rulesets that make it easier to rise in levels and less of a hassle when you get actually killed by an opponent! The special rules that apply are as follows: -PVP chars have only one life and no ghost, ie are erased on death same as no-ghost chars. However, they play more fast-paced and are quickly brought up again. The purpose of PVP chars is to fight other players to the death without remorse, which would otherwise be an unacceptable loss if done with regular characters (who can at least use Blood Bond scrolls for friendly duels though). -yellow name in chat, yellow * marker in @-list, completely yellow entry in @-list if viewed by another PVP mode char. -start at level 10 and with about 10000 Au. -reach level 30 at most. -gain no exp from monsters, no credit for killing uniques (hence cannot become king/queen), cannot use static artifacts, can gain loot and money from killing monsters though. -cannot team up or exchange goods with non-PVP chars. -will automatically be hostile to all other PVP chars, except for towns which are safe zones! -will always ESP all other PVP chars as well as see their location in @-list. -gains exp (enough for advancing up to 2 levels at once even!) from killing another PVP char. Lower level opponents will give less exp than equal/higher. -if a pvp char dies to a monster or trap, all nearby pvp chars will receive a share of his kill count, which currently even gets rounded up(!). -gets number of kills of a victim credited as his own kills :) (useful for reward, see below). -walk faster by default, similar to 'sprint' fighting technique. -cannot chase PVP chars _much_ lower then himself by entering their dungeon level, because he will get auto-recalled then (anti-chicken). -will get rewards (similar to highlander tournament) for reaching high/top level or killing an amount of opposing gladiators (other PVP chars). -will get deed when killed at high level for his next PVP character, which can be exchanged for an extra item. Highest level deed can be received by non-pvp char. -mimicry users gain one free transformation of their choice on (multiple) levelup, and also learn forms 3x as fast as regular characters. -diminishing effect on healing: if you spam heal pots, the effect will lessen more and more. over time, it returns to normal. entering a town will reset it too. -teleportation will be suppressed during combat, phase door is allowed though. -while in a fight with another pvp-char, you cannot teleport away easily (takes about 30 seconds to wear off, or just enter a town to reset). (6.14) Miscellaneous character properties ----------------------------------------- Characters also have the following miscellaneous properties: -Sex -Age -Height -Weight -Social Class These currently have no effect in the game, and modifiying them has no effect either: Traps of aging, shrinking or growing may change these values but will not affect the gameplay in any way. (7) Tactics & strategy ====================== (7.1) Preparing the inventory for diving into the dungeon --------------------------------------------------------- Depending on your character level you will always want to stock up on certain items before entering the dungeon. Here are some guidelines for your inventory: Beginners (level 1) ------------------- + Some Rations of Food, one or more Flask of Oil Know that there are traps that can empty your stomach or drain the fuel of your light. If you don't have supplies then you might be doomed. + Potion of Heroism because it can approximately double the hitpoints of level 1 characters (depending on race/class) for a short period of time as well as greatly improve the chance to hit the opponent, which will raise the fighting potential for example against enemies like Farmer Maggot's dogs. Even if your character has a decent amount of Hit Points, these potions raise your fighting abilities a good deal. + Potion of Cure Light Wounds They become useless quickly while you gain some character levels since they don't heal very many HP (Hit Points). At the beginning they are very helpful however. + Scroll of Phase Door This one does a short range teleportation, allowing you to escape if you are surrounded or get some distance between an enemy and yourself, allowing you to shoot him on distance using a ranged weapon. Since Phase Door teleports randomly, you might have to read several of them quickly after each other until you come out in a good position. + Maybe a scroll of Word-of-Recall If read in the dungeon it will far-distance teleport you back to the town. This allows you to quickly "dive" deep and gain levels and find items that can be sold for good cash, then read Word-of-Recall to quickly get back home with all the loot without having to start an annoying search for the staircases leading upwards back to town. Low level character (up to 15) ------------------------------ + Several Rations of Food or Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger, some Flasks of Oil + Some Potions of Heroism + Some Potions of Cure Serious Wounds / Critical Wounds Note that Potions of Cure Wounds also remove certain effects like blindness and confusion, depending on the exact potion type (light/serious/critical). + Several Scrolls of Phase Door + Some Scrolls of Word-of-Recall + Some Scrolls of Identify These will allow you to identify unknown items that you may find! Medium level character (up to 25) --------------------------------- + Some Flasks of Oil. Replace rations of food with "Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger" These will always fully satisfy your hunger and they are not eaten by rot jellys ;) Lembas (elvish waybread) are also nice but very rare. + Many Potions of Cure Critical Wounds, maybe some Potions of Healing. + Some Potions of Berserk Strength (mainly for fighter classes) These potions work similar to heroism, they rise your damage output instead of your hit chance, allowing you to deal very extreme damage. Unfortunately they are quite rare. If they are used together with potions of speed the result can be devastating. + Several Scrolls of Word-of-Recall + Several scrolls of Identify Since you will encounter the more nice (or more dangerous..) loot the deeper you descend, you will need a bunch of identification scrolls to find out what is worth being kept and which items should be thrown away. + Some Potions of Speed These will temporatily boost your global speed (movement/attack/cast) by +10. In case you are moving at normal speed this means that your speed is doubled, effectively doubling your combat power as well since you can shoot and hit twice as fast now. These potions also allow to quickly retreat... + a Staff of Teleportation This neat baby is your ticket out of most hazard situations where Phase Door wouldn't help at all. However keep in mind that staves can be destroyed. So if you consider a situation very dangerous and your staff of teleportation is suddenly burned to ashes, you should think about reading Word-of-Recall! Unfortunately staves of teleportation are very expensive. Staves can be used even while blind or confused! It's not a good idea to use staves if your character isn't quite good at 'Magic Device', press 'C' to check your character screen. It's a good idea to try the staff a few times in town before relying on it. If needed you could increase your 'Magic Device' skill, see (6.2). + You should have found some "Rods of Trap location" Keep 2 or 3 of those with you. If you encounter a pit or vault you can easily detect all the nasty traps inside. Rods of Door/Stair Location can also be helpful. + Especially for clearing vaults you might find a staff of light, a wand of trap/door destruction and maybe a wand of teleport other useful. However, that would be 3 more inventory slots less to pick up loot :) Higher characters (up to 35) ---------------------------- (If you came this far, good work!) + Some Scrolls of Satisfy Hunger or some Lembas if you can find enough. Some flasks of oil if your light source needs those. + Lots of Potions of Cure Critical Wounds (20..40 for example), if possible Potions of Healing instead of cure crits. + Some Potions of Berserk Strength (mainly for fighter classes) + Several Scrolls of Phase Door + a Rod of Recall A rod cannot be destroyed by fire or acid, and you won't have to buy new scrolls of WOR since the rod never runs out. Further, rods of recall are not destroyed by traps, for example a "Trap of no return", which will burn all your scrolls of WOR. + Lots of Scrolls of Identify (up to 99!). Maybe later on a Rod of Perception. A Rod of Perception does the same thing like a Scroll of Identify. A Rod of Perception of Charging would be perfect. This one takes less time to recharge! A Rod of Perception of the Istari..nearly godlike ;) + Several Potions of Speed + Potions of Healing These potions heal you way more than pots of cure critical wounds. However, they are extremely expensive. + a Staff of Teleportation + 2 or 3 rods of trap location. Maybe a rod of door/stair location. + Some Scrolls of Teleportation, maybe even fireproof. In case your staff is destroyed these scrolls serve as backup. If they are fireproof they really are a good insurance. However, you cannot read while blind or confused or if you stand in darkness. (Maybe someone invents scrolls with magically heated letters that you can read in the dark if you have infra-vision.. ;) + a "Sprig of Athelas" This one cures "Black Breath", which infects you if you fight a ring wraith! You can leave the sprig in your house since Black Breath saps your soul very slowly, so there should be enough time to finish business in the dungeon and recall to town afterwards to eat a sprig. (See 1.5 for more information about Black Breath.) Very high characters (36 and above) ----------------------------------- + Satisfy Hunger or Lembas + Lots of Potions of Cure Critical Wounds If you manage to get enough Potions of Healing then you won't need pots of cure critical wounds anymore. + Potions of Healing + Potions of Speed + Potions of Berserk Strength + Several Scrolls of Phase Door + (Fireproof) Scrolls of Teleportation + a Staff of Teleportation (but you should really get blindness resistance in order to rely on Scrolls instead since they never fail.) + a Rod of Recall + 2 or 3 Rods of Trap Location. Maybe a Rod of Door/Stair Location. + maybe a Rod of Illumination and a Rod of Disarming or Trap/Door Destruction for clearing Vaults. + Sprigs of Athelas + Later on (character level 40+) scrolls of *destruction*. These annihilate all monsters around you instantly (not giving any experience), removing otherwise deadly threats. (7.2) Preparing the equipment for diving into the dungeon --------------------------------------------------------- Depending on your character level you will need to equip certain items before entering the dungeon. Here are some guidelines for your equipment: Beginners (level 1) ------------------- + Lantern because it provides light within a radius of 2 fields instead of 1 field of a torch. + A ranged weapon as soon as possible Don't forget the ammunition ;) Try to get a sling or even better a long bow as soon as possible, especially if you are weak at hand-to-hand combat. At the beginning a ranged weapon can make all the difference and help you to proceed quickly. Enchant the bow to (+hit,+dam) where +dam helps a lot to increase the total damage you inflict on enemies, since it's multiplied by the bow's power factor. + An appropriate melee weapon Check out how many blows per round you get with a light Dagger, Whip, Hatchet or Sickle, depending on your favourite weapon class. If your character has only one hit per round even with light weapons, choose a heavy weapon that can deal more damage in one blow. If your character is low on strength, pay attention that you don't buy a weapon that is too heavy to use at all. Low level character (up to 15) ------------------------------ + Enchant the damage of your melee and/or ranged weapon a bit using "Scrolls of Enchant Weapon To-Dam" + Get some armor. Note that certain armor can decrease your dexterity or spellcasting abilities, partially because it is too heavy. Also some weapons will become less powerful if used together with a shield, and some weapons cannot be used at all in conjunction with a shield. A fighter should have approx. 30..45 AC or more. + Buy a fire resistance ring as soon as possible because many monsters can use fire spells early on. Also get an acid resistance amulet maybe, since acid damage is especially nasty to your inventory and equipment. Medium level character (up to 25) --------------------------------- + Enchant your melee and ranged weapons to at least +8 to damage! Best would be (+9,+9) or maybe even (+10,+10) You might ask a very powerful priest or paladin to assist you, that way you might save a great deal of money.... (This pala/priest thing is outdated, sorry. However, you can ask a high level character if he/she helps you by taking your weapons, armour and ammunition to one of the shops that offer an enchantment-service. Those shops can enchant the items quite high, depending on the level of the customer. It's costly though.. Don't sell scrolls of *enchant weapon* or *enchant armour* if you find those, but use them to enchant your items above +9 and up to +15!) + A fighter should have approx. 40..70 AC or more. + Get "Fear Resistance" also know as "Boldness" + Get Free Action. It prevents you from being paralyzed by traps or attacks. + Get the 4 basic resistances, which are: Lightning/Electricity, Acid, Frost/Cold, Fire/Heat + Consider buying a small house to store backup equipment or special items instead of carrying them around with you. Higher characters (up to 35) ---------------------------- + A fighter should have approx. 65..100 AC or more. + Try to get a lantern of Brightness or even *Brightness*, a Dwarven Lantern or a Feanorian Lamp. These provide more light and/or don't need to be fueled and cannot be extincted. They can also have some special abilities like preventing you from getting overwhelmed by fear! + Get "See Invisible" if possible. Some very nasty monsters are invisible and "cold-blooded", that means they cannot be seen by infra-vision. + Get Poison Resistance! For example Boots of Mirkwood provide poison resistance. Also Elven Armors often provide it. If you are trained in the art of mimicry, you could try to use the form of a monster which has poison resistance intrinsically. + Try to Get Confusion Resistance Note that chaos resistance also provides confusion resistance. + Get Nexus Resistance. Nexus attacks can scramble your body, swapping your stats, which can be very annoying. (See 5.6.) + Try to get Blindness Resistance Helms or Caps of seeing give this! + Try to get Hold Life. This prevents your life force from being drained, making you lose experience and going back in character level. Cloaks of Teleri Hold Life and provide Free Action. + Get powerful ego weapons like Gondolins or *Defenders*. These will provide lots of resistances and other abilities as well as deliver extra damage to certain monsters. Even if they give you 1 blow less per round than your normal weapon you should consider these. Very high characters (36 and above) ----------------------------------- + A fighter should have at least 90 AC. He might also have already 130 AC at level 36 if he is lucky. + Get as many high resistances as you can.. You will want Nether, Nexus, Disenchantment, Chaos for example. Note that "Feather Falling", also known as "Levitation" provides resistance to gravity. + Get "See Invisible". + Get items that sustain your stats, for example a Robe of Permanence. + Get Randarts (randomly generated artifacts) or Artifacts (predefined artifacts / static artifacts) as melee weapon You will have to fight ring wraiths. Normal weapons, even those from Gondolin or the most powerful *Defenders* will quickly shatter if they come in contact with those unbelievably corrupted creatures of terror and hate. (I remember one day I lost 4 Gondolins that way, pure fun..) Your only way to fight them is to equip an artifact since these resist ring wraiths greatly. + You will want items that permanently increase your speed! +10 speed or +20 speed will make you approximately twice or three times as fast as you usually are. Note that the curve will become flatter the higher your speed is, so moving at more than +40 will hardly make a difference. (7.3) Surviving critical situations ----------------------------------- Not getting into a critical situation: -------------------------------------- Best thing is to not get into a critical situation at all. To help you estimate the threat of a particular dungeon floor, there are 'feelings' your character may get when you enter the floor: When you've spend some time in town or on a dungeon floor, your depth number in the bottom right corner will turn light-blue. This means that you will get a special feeling on the next dungeon floor you enter, displayed in yellow. That feeling will tell you about the threat of that particular floor, so you may consider leaving it again if it sounds too nasty. See (4.8) for details. Map structures: --------------- There are certain situations and constellations that will occur often in a very similar manner. Here are some of them, together with some advice how to manage it. -A pack of approaching monsters (here orcs), often orcs or trolls: ######### # # # ooooo# # # # ooooo#####@ # <- stand there to intercept the incoming orcish horde. # ooooo oo # As soon as three or four of them stand on adjacent fields # o # move up one field to limit the attackers to 3 at a time. ############# # Sometimes the AI is very smart and monsters will try to # # surround you anyways. Phase door scrolls will help you out then. -Sometimes packs of monsters, usually animals, retreat if you chase them in hallways, and will only attack if you enter a room. You might want to just take them out with a bow or another ranged weapon instead of chasing them. If you decide to chase them to the next room make sure you have enough phase door scrolls and healing pots to win a fight where you are attacked from all sides at once. If you try to chase them through corridors, use the 'Sprint' fighting technique in case your character has learned it (see (6.12)). -If you prefer close combat over ranged and your character can use fighting techniques, make sure to use the 'Sprint' or 'Taunt' technique to catch annoying monsters like shamans or priests that otherwise try to keep a distance. -The range of your missile weapon (slings, bows, crossbows, boomerangs) is often greater than monsters' attack range as well as your own range of sight, allowing you to take out some monsters by just shooting into the dark a couple of times where you guess they might be. -If you open a door, especially doors to pits with unknown content, be very careful and open the door diagonally to have as little creatures as possible see you from inside the pit. If you open the door to a so-called "jelly pit" (contains icky-things, jellies, mold, mushroom patches) you might be insta-killed otherwise. Here is how to open the door: ####### #jm$,m# #$m,jj# #ijmm,# #,mjjj#@ <- stand here and open the door diagonally #j$m,i+ <- don't stand here or more monsters will see and immediately ####### target you from inside Prepare to close the door again as quickly as possible, it might be needed (or just teleport away). In general you should leave jelly pits alone. Coin pits (lots of '$' inside) can also contain very powerful mimics! -If you fight monsters that can cast ball spells or breathe on you, be aware that they might target a field adjacent to you and hence still hit you (thanks to the radius of the spell around the actually targetted grid) even if they cannot target you directly! Similar goes for monsters who can cast summoning spells. -Pack monsters can be very nasty if those farther away from you can still shoot or cast spells over the heads of their comrades in the front line, from behind, novice paladin packs come to mind at low levels. In that case you should make sure that only very few of them can see you at a time. If your health suddenly drops, teleport away at once, or at least retreat behind a corner. -Sometimes it might be a good idea to use a "Stone-to-mud" or "Trap/Door destruction" spell to open a door from a distance. -For weaker characters it might be a good idea to stay around 1000..1500 ft and try to get enough stat potions (potions that raise your six primary stats, STR INT WIS DEX CON CHR) until they have a considerably high amount of hit points and/or combat potential before they dive deeper! -If you fight a monster that is capable of casting powerful summoning spells, teleport at once if any summoned monsters appear around you! Don't hesitate for a split second, just to "check whether that was actually a dangerous summon or whether you might just take on all of them on". Hesitating in order to do so may well be your death sentence. Some monsters that people often get killed by are: -------------------------------------------------- -At very low levels there are especially 2 death causes: a) Pack monsters that have ranged attacks and fire at you all at once. See the map structures section above. b) Monsters that are simply a little bit faster than you so you can't run away if you decide that you can't beat them. Don't forget to use your 'Sprint' or 'Flash Bomb' fighting technique if you have learned it, might be useful to get away, or even to kill your opponents instead. See (7.1) and (7.2) how to equip yourself to minimize risks. -If you recognize that you cannot win a fight and it will likely end deadly it might be a good idea to read a scroll of word-of-recall as early as possible and then try to survive until it kicks in and carries you to safety. -Druid monsters, for example druid snotlings or druid kobolds. They can appear at very low level and they are able to cast firebolts that insta-kill you (instantly kill you). Again you should try to utilize fighting techniques if you can. -Elite Uruks, they fire extremely sharp arrows, always posing a high threat. -Chieftain/Warrior/Monk/Unbeliever monsters of any kind. You will often see someone being killed by a hill troll monk or forest troll chieftain for example.. Prepare to hit your phase door macro if you spot a shimmering extraordinarily fast moving monster within a potentially dangerous mob. -Veteran archer/Master archer monsters of any kind can pose a very high threat. Better get reflection ability if you are planning to fight these in a ranged duel. -Hounds with breaths that need a high resistance or that cannot be resisted at all. For example.. At lower levels: Air hounds, Nexus hounds, Vibration hounds, Impact hounds, Inertia hounds, Aquatic & Water hounds (avoid aquatic & water hounds especially; the others still give very good experience at a reasonable danger exposure.) At higher levels: Plasma hounds, Gravity hounds, Time hounds, Aether hounds, Hounds of Tindalos (beware of Gravity & Time hounds especially, Aether hounds can also give you some surprise). -Dark-Elven Warlocks. These belong to the few monsters that can cast mana bolts, which inflict very high damage. Even worse, DEW (Dark-Elven Warlocks) appear in packs. Beware! -Will o' the wisps are very hard to spot and catch, their curses are devastating. -The Glass Golem drives everyone insane whom it manages to hit, high AC helps. -Drolems. A constructed dragon that will breathe poison for high damage and takes a lot of hits before ceasing to function. -The Stormbringer, an animated blade that bears mad fury within. It swings so powerful that it can knockout its enemies with ease. Defeating it, however, will make it usable to its defeater! -Dracolichs and Spectral Tyrannosaurs. They have high hit points and are able to breathe nether, which means their damage will be maxed out. A dark/light green blinking D is actually a Death Drake, and although it can also breathe nether it is much less dangeours than a Dracolich because of its low hit points. Dracolichs and especially Spectral Tyrannosaurs can occur on fairly low levels (usually 55 and 46) which makes them a very nasty surprise. The most powerful representant of each class: -Ranger chieftains are tough opponents who can nail you on the spot and use magic attacks as well as summon. -Knight Templars, powerful paladins who are immune to holy attacks and are even able to call an angel for support. -Patriarchs, these unfaltering priestlords can summon and curse rapidly. -Master Mindcrafters, their ability to summon mighty support and to smash your brain by psi attacks is feared. -Old sorcerors are able to summon ancient dragonkind and wyrms, beware! -(Grand) Swordsmasters, most skilled swordsmen that will disarm you easily. -(Grand) Master mystics, most powerful martial artists. With their special moves they can manage to stun you easily. Best remedy is high AC so they won't hit you in the first place. Alternatively you can quaff potions to remove any stun effect. -(Grand) Master thieves, very fast and stealthy they steal your possessions! -Unique enemies. If you see a monster blinking in different colours, before trying to kill it you should consult other players or 'l'ook at the monster, to find out whether it is an unique monster. If so, then you should examine it by pressing ~ 7 in game to look up its abilities and make sure you are prepared to fight him. If possible, consult fellow players for their opinions. (You can also check r_info.txt, see (7.4) for more info about spoiler files.) -If you see an enemy that you don't know anything about and that could pose a threat (especially if it's inside a vault!), STAY AWAY and consult either an experienced player or look it up by pressing ~ 7 to find out what the opponent is capable of. The safest (and most boring and least rewarding) way to play is to avoid vaults! Vaults can contain an enemy against whom you don't have the slightest chance of winning. Vaults however can also contain great treasure! (See (4.6) for more information about vaults.) -The most powerful monsters of the demon realm, the dragonkind and the heavenly planes, namely Star-spawns of Cthulu, Great Wyrms of Power, balance keepers of the skies, sun and stars (Blades), Nether Realm guards. -Blinking 'A' (unique angels) or 'U' (powerful or unique demons) as well as bright coloured 'U' (greater demons) and blinking 'W' (zephyr lords or Nazgul) always pose a high threat. While Zephyr lords aren't that strong on their own they are able to summon packs of hounds which can mean a swift doom if those have dangerous breathing attacks. Some other dangerous demons are.. Servitors of the outer gods, Lords of Change, Greater Balrogs, Bloodthirsters, Pit Fiends, Great Unclean Ones, Keepers of Secrets. -High undead can also pose a high threat and are responsible for many a death, those are Nightwalkers, Nightcrawlers, Nightwings and their likes. -Nazgul have quite some chance to destroy your melee weapon if you hit them! In case your melee weapon isn't your main way of fighting you could inscribe it @Ox before fighting a Nazgul to avoid auto-retaliation and then use spells or whatever to destroy it. If you rely on melee weapons get an artifact since these resist Nazgul greatly! However, you probably still don't want to risk your best artifact weapon, so try to get a worse artifact which you can solely (ab)use for fighting Nazgul. Some people are rumoured to defeat Nazgul with nothing but their ability to read, although they aren't even remotely magically talented.. (Compare (1.3a).) -Unique 'P's are often very dangerous, some say the most dangerous next to Morgoth himself is Nodens, Lord of the Great Abyss. Mistakes / Carelessness: ------------------------ -Further, players are often killed if they lack resistances and/or free action (against paralyzation) but nevertheless dive down into the dungeon very quickly. -Teleport out of trouble If you are not an antimagic-user, you should buy a staff of teleportation as soon as possible since it can take you out of dangerous situations. However, the staff is no guarantee :) After you bought it, try if you can actually use it well or if you keep failing! If you're not good at magic devices you might have to spend points into your 'Magic Device' skill. I recommend to always have at least 3 charges in the staff before diving into the dungeon. Another possibility is to use a Scroll of Remove Curse (buy it in the temple ie the green '4') on a Ring or Amulet of Teleportation. Try to activate one of them. -Quaff potions of cure critical wounds or healing if you get (heavily) stunned to prevent a lethal knockout in the next round! Further you can't use martial arts special moves while stunned, cutting your damage a lot. Get sound resistance to not waste potions to cure stun effects from water/sound/gravity/ice/plasma attacks. -Don't wait till you are a '1' or '0' before you try to teleport out. If you want to be on the safe side, teleport out when you are a '4' or '3'. Remember that your teleport staff may fail sometimes. -Before AND after a larger fight, check your inventory if you can carry on or if you have to return to town to stock up. A common problem is that some monsters can drain charges from or burn up your teleport items, which you might overlook. -If you are surrounded by huge piles of loot from dead monsters you might be tempted to drop cheaper items like phase door scrolls to make room for the precious loot, and go /afk to wait for pseudo-id. However, know that you _can_ all of a sudden be ambushed during that time by enemies. By enemies that _require_ you to use phase door.. -I do not recommend to drop food nor oil in exchange for loot if you're not planning to recall instantly after you picked up the loot. -If you team up, make sure that you stick closely together all the time. Wandering off usually greatly increases both players' risk of death! -Learn from your mistakes. If you die, think about if you were taking too high a risk, and check if you overlooked anything, maybe you were missing essential items (cure critical wound potions to get rid of confusion and blindness). Next time, be more careful. Playing TomeNET means learning a lot about the monsters/items. Teamplay: --------- -Team up with fellow players that are approximately at your character level. This means more fun and less danger. Your teammates can save your life and support you with helpful spells, items and knowledge. A player in a party gets a share of experience points from the kills of other party members if they are within 7 levels to the player. A character cannot gain any exp from a monster which has previously encountered a player more than 8 levels higher than this character himself. (So there is 1 level tolerance towards sharing experience.) For winners (queens/kings/empresses/emperors) the range in which they share experience is as far as 11 levels. Winners don't share experience with non-winner characters. See (6.9) for details about partying! -Good combinations are the classical meat shields / damage dealers / supporters. Mages usually make a great team with whomever they team up. Keep your teammates in mind and don't teleport out if it meant certain death to them while you could still take some hits. -Make sure you stick together with your team mates. If you wander off instead of staying close you will greatly increase your risk of dieing to something. (7.4) Spoiler files ------------------- In the folder tomenet/lib/game you find several data files containing various information about all monsters, items and other features of TomeNET. These files are named X_info.txt and can be read via a normal text editor. The most important files are: a_info.txt contains all artifacts. (You can also access this information in-game by pressing ~6 .) r_info.txt contains all monsters. (You can also access this information in-game by pressing ~7 .) k_info.txt contains all base item types. e_info.txt contains all ego item types. All files contain a block of information, either at the beginning or at the very end, which explains the meaning of each discrete info-line. (7.5) Monster tactics --------------------- Monsters may follow certain schemes regarding their movement, target selection and spell-casting. Movement: --------- Rather mindless monsters might just try to get to the player straight away while more clever monsters might try to avoid being kited, depending on their hit points or if there are buddies around. Also, some pack animals might avoid to encounter you in hallways but jump you all at once when you enter a room. Target selection: ----------------- When a monster has multiple players next to it it might choose its target depending on its cleverness, power and health state. For example it might go for the target it perceives as most squishy. Players may counter this by using techniques such as Taunt or Distract. Spell-casting: -------------- Despite appearing random sometimes monsters prefer certain spells over others. If a player is close a monster might especially try to blink away to continue to throw attack or summon spells at the player from afar. If a monster is low on HP or scared it might try to use escape spells and if it's low on HP or stunned it might emphasize heal spells (the chance to successfully cast those is also negatively affected by stun same as all other spells - compare (4.12)). (7.6) Town/dungeon related hints -------------------------------- -Before going as deep as 1000 ft (ie dungeon level 20) or deeper, make sure that you have 'free action' because many monsters will be able to try and paralyze you. -For Mordor make sure you have the four base resistances and also free action. You might also want to get nexus resistance as soon as possible because nexus attacks can swap your six character attributes randomly. -For Paths of the Dead you should also have nether resistance and 'hold life' because many undead monsters have nether-based attacks or can drain your experience points. -When going even deeper the next resistance you want is probably chaos, since it can deal excessive damage and potentially deadly side effects (experience drain, hallucination and confusion) all at once. After that maybe comes disenchantment resistance to protect your equipment, or sound resistance to avoid getting knocked out by certain attacks such as sound, and especially water and plasma (hound packs of those types can knock you out quickly). -In Gondolin mindcrafters and archers may spawn. You should enter the local inn if you want to go AFK so you don't get killed by their ranged attacks. -Minas Anor, Lothlorien and especially Khazad-dum can spawn swordmasters or even grand swordmasters, which can disarm you and deal heavy damage. Beware. (8) Miscellanous ================ (8.1) 'The Art Not To Die' -------------------------- You died. Hm, very annoying indeed. If you are a "No-ghost" or "Hellish" character, then you are wiped out now. Otherwise you became a ghost on the same dungeon level as you died on. Your items are scattered on the floor, now what to do? The items will disappear forever if you leave that dungeon level and noone remains down there to "keep the level static" or "hold the level", as the technical terms are. If you think you really need the items, ask someone to get down to your dungeon level and either revive you there using a 'Scroll of Life' or pick up your items and give them back to you in town after you revived in the town's temple (green '4'). If your character level is still very low, you can just decide to suicide and start over. That is sometimes easier. In TomeNET you will often encounter new situations that can lead to death. The most important thing here is that you keep in mind your mistakes of the past to prevent them from happening again. A key to winning is a firm knowledge of the monsters that you encounter, so you will be able to decide if you should attack or flee. In my opinion playing TomeNET can be called "the art not to die". (8.2) Character Dumps --------------------- You should send in character dumps, if you have reached an intermediate level, to http://angband.oook.cz/ or if it died an interesting death or if something unusual happened to your character, or if you just want to show off your special way of distributing skill points. Character dumps are always nice to view. :) You can create a character dump by invoking the character screen by pressing 'C' and then pressing 'f' (as it states at the bottom). Character dumps are automatically created in your /TomeNET/lib/user folder if your character dies. The filename is charactername-death.txt, for example Gandalf-death.txt. (no overwrite-check is performed.) Clients of version greater than plain 4.4.2 will also generate an automatic dump when you win the game by defeating Morgoth. Following above's example, it will be named Gandalf-victory.txt accordingly. Also, newer clients will automatically take an xhtml screenshot too when a char dump is made, of same name but with .xhtml ending. Those can be viewed in most webbrowsers. (8.3) Golem creation --------------------- Players can create golems, mindless animated humanoids that will fight for them. As long as the golem is not in their way of moving, monsters won't attack golems, but instead the controlling player. To create a golem, you will need these parts: -A 'scroll of Golem Creation' -A massive piece of a specific material -Arms, up to 4. -Legs, at least 2, can be up to 30 (a centipede-style golem!) To control the golem, you will need 3 controlling scrolls. These won't be read, but activated! On activation ('A') they toggle the golem's behaviour. The scrolls are: -A 'Golem Scroll of Guard' -A 'Golem Scroll of Following' -A 'Golem Scroll of Attack' If you have gathered all these items in your inventory, read the scroll of golem creation! The golem will only listen to commands of a scroll which was in your inventory when you read the scroll of golem creation, so make sure you carry all 3 controlling scrolls before creating it. Each arm will inflict (x)d(3 + arm value) damage on a target. The arm value is displayed in brackets, part of the item name. The 'x' are listed in the materials table below. Example: A 'Golem Arm (+8)' of an 'Iron Golem' will do 9d(3+8) damage, so 9d11, which means the damage per hit varies randomly from 9 up to 99. Each leg will increase the golem's speed by the number displayed on the leg. A golem with 30 legs can be *FAST*, but keep in mind that more than 40..50 speed won't do much of a difference since speed effect in general decreases at very high values. The material determines armour class, hit points and the damage dice count of the golem. Materials are: Wood 20 AC, 10d10 hit dice, 3 damage dice. Copper 40 AC, 10d20 hit dice, 6 damage dice. Iron 70 AC, 10d40 hit dice, 9 damage dice. Aluminium 90 AC, 10d60 hit dice, 12 damage dice. Silver 100 AC, 10d70 hit dice, 15 damage dice. Gold 130 AC, 10d80 hit dice, 18 damage dice. Mithril 160 AC, 10d100 hit dice, 21 damage dice. Adamantite 210 AC, 10d150 hit dice, 24 damage dice. Some rumours say that the highest materials can only be found on even deeper dungeons than where Morgoth, Lord of Darkness resides. If the creator inscribes items in his inventory with '@G' and then creates a golem, those items will be transferred to the golem (careful, they cannot be retrieved!) and fuse with it, bestowing it with their abilities. The following rules are applied: -An item 'of life (+x)' increases the hit dice number by x. -An item that raises the player's speed by x speeds the golem up by 2 / 3 * x. -An item that improves the player's tunneling ability bestows the KILL_WALL ability upon the golem. -An item that gives fire or acid resistance will make the golem immune(!) to fire or acid. -An item that gives nether or nexus or disenchantment resistance will give the according resistance to the golem. -Appropriate runes can be used for the resistances/immunities listed above, which is probably cheaper than using items. All other items/abilities have no effect. Golems can't be detected by ESP, they regenerate quickly, they are powerful and can push past weaker monsters, they can bash doors. They can dig through rock, they are immune to cold, electricity and poison, they don't know fear and can neither be confused nor paralyzed. They are immune to teleportation attacks. Golems have always the maximum possible hit dice. Further, golems count as '100 %clones', hence giving no experience if someone kills them. Golems always attack by hitting with their arms for raw physical damage. A golem has the same level as its owner had at the time of creation. Golem owners don't get experience for monsters killed by the golem. *If the scroll of attack is toggled, the golem will attack its master's current target. *If the scroll of guard is toggled, the golem will start attacking monsters nearby. If there aren't any, it just waits. *If the scroll of following is toggled, the golem will just follow its master. If a scroll is activated although the according state is already active, the golem will stop doing that. Last but not least, the golem is.. -following you on staircases up/downwards. -transported with you by word of recall. -not transported by normal teleportation. -saved if you exit the game. -the golem will never attack other players unless you set them to hostile via the party menu ('P'). If they are hostile, the same rules as for monsters apply (see the description of the 3 command scrolls above). -never attacked in melee by other players except if hostile. Spells cast by other players will always hurt it though. (8.4) Artifact creation ----------------------- (Also see (5.9b) for details about artifacts in general.) "Scrolls of Artifact Creation" count to the most wanted items in the game because of their power to turn a normal piece of equipment into a powerful random artifact. Often kings and queens look out for these since they are unable to use static artifacts, so they depend on rand-arts. The scrolls are very rarely found; occasions to buy one are fair in the expensive black market, but also the normal BM may sometimes offer some. It doesn't matter where you are, what level you are, or whether your character has 'luck' or not when you read the scroll, the resulting artifact's power is always determined randomly. Here is some advice how to use these most valuable scrolls wisely: DOESN'T ENCHANT WHOLE STACKS: -Don't use scrolls of artifact creation on item stacks, it would reduce the stack to 1. ONLY WORKS ON STANDARD EQUIPMENT: -Artifact creation only works on items that can be equipped - with the exception of tool items like diggers, picklock, money belt, device of theft prevention, tarpaulin, flint, mummy wrapping, climbing set. These won't work! DOESN'T WORK ON EGOS / ARTS: -Don't use them on ego items or artifacts, or you will lose the scroll! Watch out: 'Indestructible' and 'Cursed' rings are ego items too, so are 'Amulets of Telepathic Awareness', 'Rings of Polymorphing' and Dragon Scale Mails 'of Defense'! HOW IT WORKS ON JEWELRY: -In general, it's not always a good idea to try to turn a ring or amulet that has high bonus numbers into an artifact, like for example a ring of speed (+11) because these numbers will get erased and randomly re-rolled. On jewelry (+to-hit,+to-dam) and [+AC] will stay the same (for example a ring of slaying (+10,+15) will keep the (+10,+15)). (Any dice (xdy) as well as _base_ AC [x,+0] on jewelry will always become 0.) HOW IT WORKS ON NON-JEWELRY: -All boni, to-hit/to-dam/to-ac and the pval/bpval (those (+x) bonus) are randomly rerolled. So it won't matter what stats the item has, only its base type is important. ITEMS THAT ALREADY HAVE ONE OR MORE ABILITIES: -Some items already possess certain abilities even without ego powers. For example dragon scale mails or jewelry. Important: The abilities of these items will be added to the randart abilities when it comes to determining the total power of that random artifact. That means that you're less likely to see many additonal abilities on an item which already has several abilities in it's usual form. For example it's hard to get extra mods on a Multi-hued Dragon Scale Mail, and in fact impossible to get any extra mod on a Power Dragon Scale Mail, so don't waste a scroll on this one. However, IGNORE_ flags on items are an exception and do not count into this. Also, when selecting randart mods, the game will not check if that mod already existed on the base item (example: 'everburning' mod being added to a feanorian lamp, which already has that by default ie needs no fuel), so if unlucky it might seem as if an item did not gain any mods, but in fact it just did not gain any NEW mods it didn't already possess. Note that any mod the base item type already possesses will definitely also be in the final randart. Examples: Shadow Blades and Witan Boots will always modify stealth, Demon Hammers will always have at least SLAY_DEMON mod (but can also end up 'upgraded' in case they randomly receive a KILL_DEMON mod from the artifact creation process). DISCOUNTED ITEMS: Items will lose any discount tag when they are artified. Also note that randarts cannot get more than two immunities in total. Mods on the final randart: -------------------------- The item will gain a random number of random properties. The more powerful it becomes, the higher a chance of also becoming 'aggravating' will be. (See (5.8) for more information about AGGRAVATE flag.) There is always a 10% chance that the resulting randart will be 'cursed'. Cursed randarts cannot be sold to shops even if the curse is broken. They gain only very few abilities, which are accompanied by different types of curses. All armour-type randarts will have at least +10 to AC bonus (except if they happen to be cursed), usually much more, dragon scale mails especially. Also, the higher level the base type of an armour, the more +AC it can expect as a randart. Possible mods that randarts may get depend on its base type. Further, there are general mods that may appear on all items regardless of its type. For each applied mod there is a chance of 50% to be picked from either type-dependant mods or general mods. - Ammunition (shots/pebbles, arrows, bolts) will never get general mods but only type-dependant ones. - Boomerangs, bows, crossbows and slings will somewhat less often receive type-dependant mods than general mods. - Dragon Scale Mails will more often receive type-dependant mods than general mods. All types not listed under 'Type-dependant mods' will only gain general mods (for example all jewelry, ie rings and amulets). Last but not least certain mods will limit or even cancel certain other mods, sometimes following general rules, sometimes item-type specific rules: For example an item that provides critical strike and strength bonus might at first randomly obtain a +8 bonus for its critical strike mod, but then the strength mod will cut down the final randart bonus to a +5, because items aren't allowed to give more than +5 to any character stat (str, int, etc). Similarly, stealth is limited to +5 on most items except for cloaks, so you cannot get Witan Boots that give more than +5 to speed, since they also always modify stealth (because the base item type modifies stealth), and stealth is capped at +5. On boots, +speed mod takes precedence over most other limiting mods, which means that speed-limiting mods will be erased from the boots in most cases if they threaten to cut down the final pval. Note that mods provided by the base item type can never be removed, so the stealth mod will never be removed from Witan Boots and therefore always limit their speed to the stealth cap of +5. Type-dependant mods: -------------------- (Note: The probability of each mod varies, depending on the item type) Bows, crossbows, slings Extra shots Extra might +hit bonus +dam bonus Weapons Blessed (usable for priests without penalty) Hit point bonus (+LIFE) (*) Weapons, boomerangs Elemental (acid/elec/fire/cold/poison) brands Increased damage dice/dice sides All SLAY mods (also have a chance to add the corresponding ESP) All KILL (*SLAY*) mods (will also add the corresponding ESP) See invisible Extra attacks Extra +hit and +dam bonus Extra +AC bonus Critical hit bonus Vampiric life leech Chaotic (same as ego power) Reduced weight Mage staves Sustain wisdom Sustain intelligence See invisible Random ESP Extra +mana capacity bonus Boomerangs (also see 'Weapons' above) Extra shots Dark swords (also see 'Weapons' above) Increased anti-magic (not over 30% in total, see (5.9)). Ammunition All elemental brands (acid/elec/fire/cold/poison) All SLAY mods All KILL (*SLAY*) mods Vampiric life leech Exploding property. The type of explosion damage is randomly picked from this list: Acid, electricity, fire, cold, poison, light, dark, confusion, plasma, sound, shards, force, inertia, mana, meteor, ice, chaos, nether, nexus, time, gravity, stone-to-mud, teleport away, scare monster, nuke, stun, disintegration, hell fire. Extra +hit and +dam bonus, this caps at +12 hit and +6 dam. Either +1 extra damage die sides or +1 extra damage dice. Boots Feather falling (levitation) Flying Climbing Extra +AC bonus Stealth Speed Reduced weight Gloves Free action Mana capacity bonus Auto-ID Strength bonus Dexterity bonus Extra attacks (+1 or +2) Critical hit bonus One of the elemental brands (acid/elec/fire/cold/poison) or SLAY mods Vampiric life leech Hit point bonus (+LIFE) (*) Extra +AC bonus (less common than on other items) +hit and +dam bonus Caps and helms Resist blindness Auto-ID All possible ESP mods (including ESP_ALL) See invisible Intelligence bonus Wisdom bonus (less common than on crowns) Extra +AC bonus (somewhat more common than on other items) Infra-vision Resist confusion Resist fear Hit point bonus (+LIFE) (*) Crowns Resist blindness Auto-ID All possible ESP mods (including ESP_ALL) See invisible Intelligence bonus Wisdom bonus Extra +AC bonus Mana capacity bonus Infra-vision Faster mana regeneration Resist confusion Resist fear Hit point bonus (+LIFE) (*) Shields All basic resistances (acid/elec/fire/cold) Reflection Reduced weight Always the maximum of +15 AC, if the server uses block-percentages (which is the default setting.) Cloaks Stealth Feather falling (levitation) Flying Fire/cold/acid/lightning resistances Chance for either lightning or fire aura and corresponding resistance Chance for shard resistance Hold life Invisibility Extra +AC bonus (somewhat more common than on other items) Body Armour (except for Dragon Scale Mails) Stealth Hold life Constitution bonus (has a chance to include constitution sustenance) All basic resistances (acid/elec/fire/cold) Hit point bonus (+LIFE) (*) Reduced weight Extra +AC bonus Royal Armour (Heavy mithril/adamantite armour only usable by winners): (these mods may spawn additionally to body armour specific mods above) Reflection Mana resistance somewhat increased chance to spawn immunities or +LIFE. Dragon Scale Mails Hold life Strength bonus (has a chance to include strength sustenance) Constitution bonus (has a chance to include constitution sustenance) Hit point bonus (+LIFE) (*) Extra +AC bonus Light sources Increased light radius Everburning (no fuel needed; applies only if item usually needs fuel) (*): This mod (+LIFE) may only spawn on a randart (no matter how it is created, be it via scroll or via killing of monsters) if either a) the player is a winner (Queen/King/Empress/Emperor) or b) the server has the 'Fallen Kings Etiquette' enabled, meaning that players who won once but then died cannot use static artifacts either (press '~' followed by 'd' to check the server settings), and the player is actually a fallen winner who lost his title due to death, AND his level is at least 50. If a player actually wears/wields a +LIFE randart, the +LIFE mod will only have an effect on winners (Queens/Kings/Empresses/Emperors). General mods: ------------- (Note: The probability isn't equal for each mod) Bonus on any stats (has chance to include sustenance for that stat; wisdom might also include 'Blessed' flag) Sustenances on any stats (has chance to include bonus for that stat) Stealth Searching Speed Any base immunities (acid/elec/fire/cold). Note: A randart cannot have more than two immunities! Free action Hold life Any base resistances (acid/elec/fire/cold) Any of these resistances: Poison, Light, Dark, Blindness, Confusion, Sound, Shards, Nether, Nexus, Chaos, Disenchantment Feather falling Glowing (+1 light radius) See invisible All possible ESP mods (including ESP_ALL) Slow digestion Faster mana regeneration Faster HP regeneration Anti-magic shell (Legendary saving throw, 95% cap) Technical stuff (no need to read this, basically :)- More details about how randart creation works internally: First, a 'target power' is chosen randomly, usually in the range from 40..120. Then, TomeNET tries several times to generate a randart that approximately fits into that target power. To do this, after a randart is randomly created, all its abilities are checked and calculated into a single number, the 'artifact_power'. If this approximately matches the 'target power', the randart is finally created. If the numbers differ a lot, the randart is erased and randomly recreated until its powers are fitting. The higher the target power is, the more likely the randart will be 'aggravating nearby creatures'. (See (5.8) for more information about AGGRAVATE flag.) (8.5) Alternative ruleset 'RPG Server' -------------------------------------- A server might be configured with a special ruleset called 'RPG Server' rules. Such a server will be listed on the meta server under "TomeNET RPG ..." instead of just "TomeNET ..." and when you connect to it and enter the character overview screen, at the bottom there will be a line reading "The server is running 'RPG_SERVER' settings". In general, RPG rules are stricter than normal server configurations and could also be dubbed 'ironman' settings, since ironman dungeons are one of the most prevalent features of an RPG server. The differences between RPG ruleset and normal servers are as follows: -Only one character is allowed per account. -All characters are no-ghost mode, so they have only 1 life (ie 'unworldly'). -Usually, accounts expire slower (180 days instead of 60 days). -The Training Tower is empty, no monsters or items spawn in there (except for the Arena Monster Challenge event). -Certain extra stores may spawn in the dungeons ('Seasoned Tradesman', or specialized stores similar to town stores). -All dungeons are ironman (see (4.3)): -Bree's dungeon 'Barrow-Downs' is normal ironman, -other town dungeons allow recalling every 500 ft (10 floors), -non-town dungeons allow random recalling at a 20% chance per floor, -on dungeon levels shallower than level 20 (eg easier than -1000 ft Bree), recalling is impossible, overriding the above rules. -Players may recall INTO dungeons to 50 ft + every 1000 ft, eg to 50 ft, 1050 ft, 2050 ft, ... . -Players start with more gold (class-dependant) to buy supplies. -Players additionally start with a few cure wounds potions. -Players get a message in chat when party members take a staircase. -If a party owner dies, someone else from the party is automatically promoted to party owner, so parties won't get disbanded easily, making party-diving more effective. -Mimicry users have a very slim chance of insta-learning a form! (Note that this also works 'in advance', ie while you have not yet the required mimicry skill to actually see the learn-message show up.) -Item level restrictions are disabled and have no effect. -Quests can be acquired as early as at level 3 instead of level 5. -Quests usually require you to find fewer specimen. -Temporary luck bonus from deeds is somewhat longer. -Usually, scheduled artifact resets happen less frequently (if at all). (See (5.9b) for more information about artifact resets.) -Halloween event allows players up to 40 instead of 35, and the Great Pumpkin spawns on floors up to level 49 instead of 39. -Stealing from stores is possible right away instead of requiring a certain character level (usually 5 on normal servers). -Server settings that would usually turn items dropped/thrown by very low level characters to level 0 will be ignored, ie item level is kept. (8.5a) Special server type 'Arcade Server' ------------------------------------------ *** Under very sporadic development - features might be incomplete/not working. To check the sourc code, look for ARCADE_SERVER definitions. The arcade server might not be running at all times but you could ask for it to be started when an admin is online. *** Like 'RPG Server' mentioned in the paragraph above, 'Arcade Server' is an alternate ruleset, which is however *very* different from normal gameplay: The Arcade Server was originally created and developed by Moltor. Later on Kurzel also joined the project. It has nothing to do with normal dungeon dwelling but instead features some hot action games that merely (ab)use the TomeNET 'engine'. :) Note: After logging in you may press '?' key for a help screen. The descriptions below are partially taken from that help file. On the Arcade server, you can play.. Smash'em -------- Smash TV was a kickass arcade game from 1990, similar to Robotron. The player is attacked from all sides by mostly-unarmed goons. The arcade version uses two joysticks to allow you to run and fire in different directions. Unfortunately tomenet doesn't support joystick input. Here you must use special macros to shoot. For details press '?' in the game. To play Smash'em you need to download the Smash'em macros from the download page and place them in your TomeNET/lib/user folder. Controls are: F1 starts the game. q,w,e makes your character auto-fire in the according a, ,d direction. z,x,c s stops firing. CTRL+numpad shifts the screen. , same as < key Type "play 2smash" in chat to start the game and skip the early levels if you feel that those are too easy. Tron ---- Like in the movie "Tron", a light cycle racing game where you leave a trail of energy behind you forming a wall in which you and other competitors can crash which results in their elimination. Power-ups will randomly spawn and increase the trail length. Up to four players can participate at once. For details press '?' in the game. To play Tron you need to download the Tron macros from the download page and place them in your TomeNET/lib/user folder. Controls are: F3 enter arena. F4 start game. F5 list options. F6 reduce game speed. F7 increase game speed. Q quit game. Arrow keys or numpad 2,4,6,8 or w,x,a,d are for movement. Hit F4 as soon as at least two players have joined the areana via F3 key to start the actual match. To toggle an option, type "option" or "option on"/"option off" in chat. Speed can be changed via "moar speed"/"less speed", length can be changed via "moar length"/"less length". Food Fight ---------- Boat Arena ---------- (8.6) Troubleshooting --------------------- Note: Some of these problems are deprecated and don't exist in this form or at all anymore. Some messages might also vary slightly. For trouble with lagging out or freezing up, see PROBLEM 25 and 28. PROBLEM 00: I am behind a firewall. What ports do I need to open in order to play TomeNET? SOLUTION: If you want to connect directly to a specific server by specifying its address via command-line or config file, you only need to allow an outgoing TCP/IP connection to remote port 18348, that's the standard port servers run on. (If you'd like to play on the RPG server, it's port 19348 instead of 18348. See (8.5) for more information about RPG settings. For the Arcade server it's port 20348, see (8.5a) for more information about Arcade server.) If you want to make use of the server list that appears when you don't specify a particular server, you additionally have to allow the game to connect to the meta server which provides the server list. For this, remote port 8801 TCP must also be opened. If you don't have access to the firewall, for example in school or at work, you can still try to set up an SSH tunnel or a socks proxy server (on either the firewall machine or your PC at home or any other PC outside. Ask google for info about how to do that). PROBLEM 01: I don't get to see a server list when I start TomeNET. Instead, I am immediately asked for account and password. SOLUTION: This is a typical problem on Windows XP. There are 3 possible fixes: -Use 'Win98 Compatibility Mode' (Create a link from TomeNET.exe, right-click it, choose 'properties', choose 'Compatibility'. This option is available natively on Windows XP systems; for Windows 2000 systems first try the other two points mentioned below, if they don't help, get the compatibility mode update from www.microsoft.com or from www.c-blue.de/appupd.exe ). -Move the 'TomeNET' directory to your drive's root. For example C:\TomeNET\.. . -Make sure the path name does not contain any spaces! -to edit your "TomeNET.ini" file and specify a host directly by specifying "HOST=europe.tomenet.net". Or you can even give the IP address "HOST=85.118.45.235". PROBLEM 02: I get to a server list, but it doesn't show any servers. It just says 'Press Q to enter a server manually' and that's it. SOLUTION: There are 2 possible solutions. -There is currently no public TomeNET server running. That can happen if a server update is currently being applied or if for some reason the server just crashed. Try again after a minute. -There are some DNS problems. These can happen for various reasons although they aren't very likely. DNS problems can last for a longer period of time though, being very annoying. That the server isn't listed doesn't mean that it's down though. You should try to connect manually (press 'Q') to either: europe.tomenet.net or (if that doesn't work either) directly to its IP adress: 85.118.45.235 PROBLEM 03: When I start TomeNET I don't see anything except a small hollow yellow rectangle (the cursor). All windows stay black. It seems that the cursor reacts to my inputs by printing out some black hence invisible text. SOLUTION: A rare problem that is not caused by TomeNET really, but usually happens on Windows XP and older: MS Windows sometimes keeps the TomeNET font file opened although the client has already been terminated. Next time you start TomeNET it will be unable to open its font files for that reason, resulting in the lack of any text on the screen. What to do is restart your MS Windows system and the text should be visible again. (This usually only happens once, after updating the client.) PROBLEM 04: All windows _except for the main window_ stay empty. SOLUTION: First make sure it's really a bug and not just missing window settings: Press '=' key and 'w' key and configure your windows appropriately. It is vital to set one of the windows to display game and/or chat messages, so you can actually read what other players write, and also keep track of combat messages! When you're done setting up the windows, go to 'save options' (key 's'). If all the windows are still blank, read on: Exact reasons are unknown but seem to only happen on MS Windows machines. Sometimes a simple reboot helps. If it doesn't, open TomeNET.ini file with a text editor, look for the window sections, change the fonts to the same settings (8x13) as in the [Main window] section: FontFile=8X13.FON , Font=8X13.FON . Also, you could adjust the width/height of the windows (to 80x24 for example). Try other fonts too, maybe they work for you. PROBLEM 05: I cannot browse (some) spell books, I see some LUA error messages if I try or when I connect to the server. SOLUTION: Your LUA script files are outdated. Those files are responsible for any spell-casting and some other things. To update them, you have 2 possibilities: -Automatic update: Join the server, you should see a message in the chat window, saying that (some of) your LUA files are being updated. -If for some reason auto-update doesn't work for you, download the latest client again. Note: There was a bug in client 4.4.8, preventing it from auto- updating LUA files, which was fixed in 4.4.8a and higher again. PROBLEM 06: TomeNET seems to freeze up while playing. (Also see PROBLEM 25 and 28, which offer different solutions for similar issues!) SOLUTION: This can happen if your latency is relatively high and many messages are transported between the server and your client. In fact it's just your display that freezes up. In that state you can for example type a chat message and other players will read it. Quit the game and join again to continue playing. Or just start another instance of the game and log in, that will override the old connection, making your client quit with "resume connection" message. PROBLEM 07: I am disconnected during gameplay. (Note: If it seems to be a lag-out or freeze problem, also see PROBLEM 25 and 28!) SOLUTION: This can have several reasons. On disconnection a message box will appear, telling you about the problem. The following messages might occur: "client quit" This just shows up if you regularly quit your client. "Committed suicide" You just committed suicide.. "resume connection" This happens if you try to log in the same character with two TomeNET clients at once, the older client will quit and the client that just logged in will take over. "Killed by..." Your character was finally killed/destroyed. "Starving auto-kick" Your character was starving due to lack of food, and you were not moving or performing any action for some time, so the game assumed you were AFK and kicked your character out to prevent it from starving to death without you noticing. What you need to do: Log back in and eat something as soon as possible. "Starving to death" You died to starvation. "Timeout 08" This happens if you 'lag out' on a slow connection or if the server or your computer is under very heavy load. "Panic save failed" This means the server just crashed and even failed to save the characters :(. It will usually be back online after a minute or earlier. "Panic save succeded" This means the server just crashed :(. It will usually be back online after a minute or earlier. "Server shutdown (save succeeded)" The server was shut down regularly. It will usually be back online after a minute or earlier. "Server shutdown (save failed!)" The server was shut down regularly but saving the characters failed for some reason (insufficient disk space). It will usually be back online after a minute or earlier. "banned for ..." You were banned temporarily from the server (includes being kicked out). "kicked out" You were kicked out of the server. "read error" Can happen if you lag out or if packet loss occurs. "write error" Can happen if you lag out or if packet loss occurs. "flush error" Can happen if you lag out or if packet loss occurs. "receive error in play" Can happen if you lag out or if packet loss occurs. "can't read on socket" Can happen if your connection gets disrupted or overloaded. May especially happen on not-so-great connections if you die and the server tries to send a large bunch of death dump information to your client. PROBLEM 08: I am disconnected from the server with an error message, this happens before I can even start playing. SOLUTION: Read the error message displayed in a message box on quitting. Here is a list of possible errors and solutions: "Your name is too long!" Don't use names longer than 15 characters. "Your name contains control chars!" Don't use control chars in your name. "No such character" Your client tried to log in with a non-existant character (shouldn't happen). "You are temporarily banned from connecting to this server!" Self-explaining. "disconnect in login" Don't take too long for your character creation or you might time out. "login failure" or "can't read on socket"+"net input error" in the character overview screen: A wrong account or password was entered. "Name already owned" Account name already exists. "Your client is outdated. Please get the latest one from http://www.tomenet.net/" Download the latest client, see (0.1). "Server responds 'Unknown client version'. Server might be outdated or client is invalid. Latest client is at http://www.tomenet.net/" The server might be running an older version than your client is. "Sorry, the game is full. Try again later." Wow the game is really full! "Your accountname, username or hostname contains invalid characters" (or just "Net input error") Player characters are identified by 4 names: -Character name -Account name -Username (The name they are logged on with on their PC) -Hostname (The hostname of the connecting computer) The hostname is not really important. However, make sure that all of these names may only consist of letters, numbers, spaces, and all other characters with an ASCII code between 32 (SPACE) and 122 ('z'). The username and hostname must not be empty. The character name needs to start with a letter ('A'..'Z' or 'a'..'z'). "There is already another character from this user/machine on the server." You tried to login with two characters from the same account or machine simultaneously, which is usually forbidden. "Sorry, the server is for members only. Please retry with name 'guest'." Log in with 'guest'. You need to get an account for this private server in order to play. Check the server's intro screen for information about how to obtain an account. "That nick name is already in use. If it is your nickname, wait 30 seconds and try again." Happens if you get disconnected and then try to reconnect from a different IP adress before your character timed out (which takes approximately 20-30 seconds). ("Connection failed with status xx" (xx is an error code) This message should never appear.) "That server either isn't up, or you mistyped the hostname." The client was unable to connect to the server you specified. If you are sure that you have entered the correct IP adress or hostname, check your firewall (see PROBLEM 00 for more information). NOTE: Servers might be down temporarily when they are updated. So make sure to try again after a few minutes. If the server really seems to be down for a longer period of time, us admins are probably not at home and you'll have to wait for a bit, sorry. Such downtimes basically never happen though. "Server didn't respond!" The server is up, but something is awry. Wait for a few minutes, there might be admins working on it at the moment. Otherwise, visit the forum (see above). "Network verify failed!" May happen if you specify a wrong password or try to create an account which already exists. Also happens (following a "No Verify Response") if your connection to the server is *really* bad. If you get kicked out with an error message on the character overview screen (which seems to be empty), also see PROBLEM 14. PROBLEM 09: I can't connect to the meta-server (the server that displays you a list of online TomeNET servers) or a specific TomeNET server. Instead my connection seems to time-out. SOLUTION: If you are behind a firewall make sure that the TCP ports 8801 for metaserver and 18348 for the actual TomeNET server aren't blocked. (Well, the metaserver isn't needed to play - specify the game server via command-line or when asked for it after starting up the game then.) The meta server's hostname is "meta.tomenet.net" and its IP is actually the same as the official game servers (85.118.45.235); In case there is a DNS problem somewhere in the internet you could just edit TomeNET.ini and replace the hostname by its actual IP. PROBLEM 10: I'm not blocked by a firewall, but I still don't see the metaserver when I run Tomenet. Instead after waiting for a short period of time I'm asked to enter a server manually. SOLUTION: The meta-server might be down or a DNS problem might be occuring right now. This can happen from time to time. You don't need the meta-server to play TomeNET though. Just type in the hostname of the server you'd like to connect to, for official main server: europe.tomenet.net If the hostname doesn't work you can also try entering its IP address 85.118.45.235. Make sure your TomeNET.ini file contains the correct server port, usually 18348! This port isn't needed if you use the meta-list to choose a server to connect to, but it's important if you connect directly! (For linux the file is ".tomenetrc".) You can connect directly to a TomeNET server and skip the meta server list by running your Tomenet directly from the command-line (DOS window) within its folder, adding the server IP as a parameter. (In windows2k choose START/Run... and type 'cmd' without quotation marks to open a command-line window. Alternatively you can create a shortcut from your TomeNET.exe by right-clicking, dragging, releasing it. Edit this shortcut's properties and add the server IP to the command-line.) For official main server it would look like this: TomeNET.exe europe.tomenet.net If the hostname doesn't work for whatever reason you may try the IP adress: TomeNET.exe 85.118.45.235 PROBLEM 11: The main window doesn't display the floor dots in town and in certain dungeons, like the Training Tower and Angband. Further, fields are sometimes not redrawn correctly, resulting in fake 'trails'. SOLUTION: Seems to happen on MS Windows machines sometimes. Workaround (will slightly change the game's look, ie those dots): Edit /lib/user/font-win.prf and comment out the lines which end on the string '\31' (should be 2 lines at the beginning of the file, those labelled 'Floors' and 'Invis Traps'). 'Commenting out' means that you simply put a '#' symbol at the beginning of a line. PROBLEM 12: Every time I connect to the server it will automatically download LUA script files. However, they will have a size of 0 Bytes. SOLUTION: Possibly write-protection on existing files or the folder. Workaround: Make sure you really have the latest LUA files in TomeNET's /lib/scpt folder (you can download them from http://www.tomenet.net/ or our personal pages). Then set all LUA files in that directory to write-protected. This will prevent TomeNET from overwriting them with 0 Byte files. PROBLEM 13: I seem to be able to login, create a new character or select a character, and see the message of the day (login screen). But right before the actual game starts I get a broken pipe / no packet reply error. SOLUTION: This might be caused by a misconfigured router (some D-Link models for example). Try to establish an SSH-tunnel from your PC behind the router to a machine outside of your LAN for port 18348 (TCP). (This might even reduce lag under certain circumstances.) PROBLEM 14: I get kicked out with an error message after entering an account name and password. SOLUTION: It's most likely because that account name is already in use by someone else so your password was recognized as 'incorrect' since it was most likely different from that user's password. Just try a different account name. Likewise, if that account indeed belongs to you, you have probably made a typo while entering your password. PROBLEM 15: The level completely changed while I was on it. SOLUTION: No real solution at this time, sorry. See (0.5) for more information about that problem. ('types of crashes') IMPORTANT: You should restart the client immediately and recall right after you logged back in, to avoid getting killed. PROBLEM 16: I cannot see monster x although I can 'See Invisible'. SOLUTION: Some monsters have no appeareance and cannot be seen at all. PROBLEM 17: After my character appears in the actual game, I receive an orange message saying "Receiving updated file ....", followed by a red message saying "No access to lib directory!". SOLUTION: The first message means, that one or more magic spells or prayers have been changed, and your client tries to automatically update its spell scripts to the latest version (LUA scripts in lib/scpt). Since this update didn't always work for everyone, and sometimes the scripts would be deleted instead of updated due to a bug, all spell scripts (LUA files) were set to be write-protected. This prevents accidental deletion, but also prevents auto-updating, which is indicated by the red error message! To solve this, you will have to delete the files within your /lib/scpt directory and replace them with the latest versions manually. If auto-download fails, download the latest client manually again. PROBLEM 18: When I try to unpack the latest TomeNET ZIP file, I get strange messages telling of 'write-protected', 'read-only' or 'password- protected'. Afterwards, the client won't function properly. SOLUTION: Make sure that TomeNET is NOT running while you try to install the new version. If TomeNET is running, the unpacking will fail to overwrite the existing files! Shut down TomeNET, then extract the ZIP (overwriting everything), then start TomeNET again. PROBLEM 19: On GNU/Linux OS, When someone uses the /page command to page me, I don't hear the three beeps. SOLUTION A: You are probably using OSS. If your soundcard or soundchip doesn't support mixing of multiple sources, that means only one program at a time can output sound. In that case, do the following: Make sure all your programs, like media players, instant messengers, system setting tools, etc. are set to use 'ALSA' for sound, not OSS. Now that all programs use ALSA, make Tomenet use ALSA too. You can do that by using an "ALSA wrapper" which takes the OSS sound output of any application that doesn't support ALSA natively, and wraps it to ALSA. The ALSA wrapper is called 'aoss'. After installing 'aoss', just use call it with the OSS application as parameter. Example: $> aoss ./tomenet Another example (to start the Opera webbrowser): $> aoss opera SOLUTION B: If you are using X11, this problem may occur depending on your terminal configuration. You can try to change your configuration, or you can press '=' key to go to Audio Options and enable 'Use audio system for paging sounds'. This will result in paging sounds being played via your sound card, instead of the operating system's beep (requires TomeNET v4.4.5 or higher). (See (2.1a) for more information about the audio system.) PROBLEM 20: Are 'ToME' and 'TomeNET' similar? SOLUTION: Despite similar name, the only thing these two games have in common is that they are both middle-earth themed, and some visuals might also be similar. Other than that, the two games are quite different in most aspects! In other words: TomeNET is definitely not 'multi-player ToME'. Also, the two games are maintained/developed by completely different persons and teams. PROBLEM 21: My (mixer) settings or window positions (MS Windows only) aren't saved automatically as they should be, when I quit the game. SOLUTION: Don't use ALT+F4 or the 'x' button in the title bar of the game window to quit the game. It will result in skipping the normal exit routine, which asks you to save chat and which also saves certain settings. Instead, use CTRL+X for 'save & quit' (compare 0.2). PROBLEM 22: When I try to login, I get a 'security violation'. SOLUTION: Either your host name (that's your PC's network name you can set in the Windows network settings) or network user name (usually same you use to login with, UNIX-style) is empty, or your TomeNET account name starts with an invalid character (must be A..Z). Another possibility is that you are already logged in, and are now trying to log in again from a different IP address. Resuming a connection is possible, but must be done from the same IP address. PROBLEM 23: I just quit the game, and tried to log in again with another character of mine, but I get an error message saying "Multiple logins on the same account aren't allowed". SOLUTION: When you quit the game while you are still inside a dungeon or a tower, your character will stay in the game for around 20..30 more seconds. This prevents cheating by just quitting when a dangerous situation occurs in gameplay. During this time, if you try to login again, you can only use the same character that is now sitting out the timeout, thereby resuming your gameplay. You cannot log in with any other character until the timeout of 20..30 seconds is over and your old character has finally been taken offline by the server. In general, you should avoid quitting the game outside of towns, since it can put you in danger. Not only because your character will stay in the game for a little while after you quit, but also because you can't be sure what the situation around you will be the next time you log on again! PROBLEM 24: When trying to macro F-keys, they don't seem to work properly. Especially, when hitting F1, a window about MS Windows Help/Support pops up instead. SOLUTION: When playing on a notebook, check the state of the 'Fn' special shift key, and toggle it accordingly. PROBLEM 25: The connection is surprisingly laggy. (Also see PROBLEM 28!) SOLUTION: -If you're on Wifi (WLAN) plug in an ethernet cable instead! Wireless LAN connections can be pretty unreliable and cause periodic lag from trying to re-scan for available networks. Alternatively you can try to configure your WLAN not to do that, however, WLAN can still be pretty prone to lag sometimes. -Test it on another PC on the same internet connection. -Test it on a friend's internet connection. -Check if it only happens on certain in-game actions you perform. -Check if it only happens at a certain time of the day. -Make sure you don't have downloads or uploads running in the background. PROBLEM 26: I resized some TomeNET windows by dragging them with the mouse, but it seems it doesn't have the desired effect. SOLUTION: After having resized windows via mouse, restart the game once by exiting with CTRL+X key. PROBLEM 27: While I am creating a new character, I got disconnected with a "Timeout 04" error message. SOLUTION: You have about 20 minutes to complete the character creation process. If you exceed this time, you will timeout and get disconnected. PROBLEM 28: If I or other players nearby fire a lot of arrows or cast a lot of spells, my client lags or freezes somewhat. Could also happen when taking staircases or when there are a lot of monsters on the screen. SOLUTION: Try to reduce or even disable flush-waits, by toggling the client options 'thin_down_flush' and if that's not enough also 'disable_flush'. For details about these, see (2.3). PROBLEM 29: I accidenally closed one of the sub-windows and now it's gone. How do I get it back? SOLUTION: Closing a sub-window sets it to 'invisible'. To change that, close TomeNET first, then edit the file 'TomeNET.ini' in any text editor, locate the particular window, and you'll see a line saying "Visibility=0". Change the 0 to 1 and start TomeNET again. PROBLEM 30: Changes I do to my macros seem to not get saved or macros I deleted seem to still be there or client options I configured seem to reset to their previous values although I saved the macros/options to their respective .prf file. SOLUTION: Macros or client options can be saved to various .prf files which might _all_ get loaded automatically and partially override each other. So check _all_ (except for font*.prf and graf*.prf usually) .prf files in your lib/user folder and/or move or delete them to make sure they don't get loaded if you don't intend them to. For example the file 'user.prf' usually carries your client options and overrides the default file 'options.prf'. However, if there's a file 'user-x11.prf' (system-specific for Linux X11 - on Windows systems it'd be 'user-win.prf' accordingly) that one in turn will override settings in user.prf. An example regarding macro files: Let's say your character's name is 'Gandalf' and you saved your macros to 'Gandalf.prf' faithfully. However, since Gandalf is a human warrior, the client will also automatically load the files called 'Human.prf' and 'Warrior.prf' if those exist and also try to load a .prf file named like your account name. PROBLEM 31: After logging on, the file 'audio.lua' was updated automatically. Now the wrong sound effects seem to be played for game events. SOLUTION: Just log out and back in, and your sound should be fine again. This typically happens if 'audio.lua' was updated. On a side note: Also check if maybe the sound pack was updated too, so you can redownload it and not miss out on newly added sound effects. Usually an update to file 'audio.lua' means that the sound pack has also been updated indeed. PROBLEM 32: When trying to extract a music or sound pack to my xtra folder in order to install it, I get an error message or it doesn't seem to work correctly. SOLUTION: See (2.1a) for details on how to install audio packs. Also note that some people have reported that the program 'WinRAR' seems to cause problems in some cases, giving them "file corrupted" errors. A powerful free and open source program that is guaranteed to work is '7zip' (a sourceforge project at the time of writing) downloadable at: http://www.7-zip.org/ PROBLEM 33: On OSX when entering the game (right after picking a character) in big_map mode with already large (46 lines) main window, the window will suddenly become small (24 lines) again. As of the time of writing this, the exact cause is still unknown. A workaround is to perform the following steps: -turn off big_map mode and save the '=' options -exit client with CTRL+X (so it will save the main window height) -log on again, turn on big_map mode, save the '=' options. -from now on, always exit the game via the window close button in the window's titlebar, never via CTRL+X. That way, your .tomenetrc config file is never overwritten and hence your client will always start with only 24 lines, switching back to correct big_map mode only when you actually log in with a character, thus circumventing the bug. PROBLEM 34: On certain terminal emulators, TomeNET when run in ncurses-mode ('-c' command-line option or just a GCU-only client) will display wrong colours. This used to happen on Xfce4's 'Terminal' up till TomeNET version 4.5.0 (but didn't happen on xterm). SOLUTION: Since TomeNET 4.5.0a a hack has been added to work with Xfce4's 'Terminal' terminal emulator. On other terminals where colours aren't correct, try exporting the TERM environment variable with the value "xterm16-color". For example run tomenet with this command (assumed you're inside the same folder as the executable binary 'tomenet'): TERM=xterm-16color ./tomenet -c PROBLEM 35: When running the client in terminal-mode, messages like "ALSA lib pcm.c...:(snd_pcm_recover) underrun occurred" pop up, but the sound/music actually works ok. How to get rid of the messages? SOLUTION: Either tweak your sound settings (buffer size etc.) so ALSA doesn't get underruns anymore, or, if the audio actually sounds ok, you can suppress the messages by starting TomeNET with '-e' option, for example: ./tomenet -c -e This will redirect all messages which usually are sent to stderr to a log file "tomenet.log" instead, which will be created in your TomeNET folder. Alternatively, you can just redirect all error out put to /dev/null to completely discard it: ./tomenet -c 2>/dev/null PROBLEM 36: Can I made the game windows larger? SOLUTION: You can resize windows that hold messages (chat and/or game messages) simply by dragging the lower edge down/upwards with your mouse. This also works for the main window, but this one will not remember its new size unless you also save your client options after you resized it (press '=' and then 's' to save those). Alternatively, you can edit the TomeNET.ini file (on Windows) or the .tomenetrc file (on Linux or OSX) and change the amount of lines for each window manually. Other than that, you can also increase the font size (that is the text size) in TomeNET: Either press '=' key and then cycle through pre-defined font sizes by tapping 'f' key, or again you can edit the TomeNET.ini file (Windows) or .tomenetrc file (Linux/OSX) to set fonts manually for each game window. Well, and you could change your actual screen resolution of course. ==============================================================================