



		Ancient Domains Of Mystery (ADOM)

	    An Interactive Adventure In A Fantastic World
		Copyright 1994-2017 by Thomas Biskup
		All Rights Reserved All Over The World















Dedication
----------

        To my parents for always allowing me to choose my path in life.

        To Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax for inventing the most wonderful
        pastime ever.












Table of Content
================

Introduction
    The Background Story
        The Coming of Chaos
        The Myth of Creation
    The Price of the Game
        The Cost of ADOM Classic
        ADOM Deluxe compared to ADOM Classic
    Bug Reports & Requests For Enhancements (RFEs)
Generating the Player Character
The Horoscope
    The Ancardian Month
    The Ancardian Calendar
    The Meaning of the Star Signs
    Star Sign List
        Raven
        Book
        Wand
        Unicorn
        Salamander
        Dragon
        Sword
        Falcon
        Cup
        Candle
        Wolf
        Tree
The Races
    Effects of Choosing a Race
    Race List
        Human
        Troll
        High Elf
        Gray Elf
        Dark Elf
        Mist Elf
        Dwarf
        Gnome
        Hurtling
        Orc
        Drakeling
        Ratling
Professions
    Profession List
        Archer
        Assassin
        Barbarian
        Bard
        Beastfighter
        Chaos Knight
        Druid
        Duelist
        Elementalist
        Farmer
        Fighter
        Healer
        Merchant
        Mindcrafter
        Monk
        Necromancer
        Paladin
        Priest
        Ranger
        Thief
        Weaponsmith
        Wizard
Alignment
    The Gods
Skills
    Skill List
        Alchemy
        Alertness
        Appraising
        Archery
        Athletics
        Backstabbing
        Bridge Building
        Climbing
        Concentration
        Cooking
        Courage
        Detect Item Status
        Detect Traps
        Disarm Traps
        Dodge
        Find weakness
        First aid
        Fletchery
        Food preservation
        Gardening
        Gemology
        Haggling
        Healing
        Herbalism
        Law
        Listening
        Literacy
        Metallurgy
        Mining
        Music
        Necromancy
        Pick locks
        Pick pockets
        Smithing
        Stealth
        Survival
        Swimming
        Tactics
        Two weapon combat
        Ventriloquism
        Woodcraft
    Increasing Skills
    Marking Skills for Quick Selection
Talents
    Starting Talents
    Cumulative Talents
    Talent List
        Affinity with Axes
        Affinity with Boomerangs & Scurgari
        Affinity with Bows
        Affinity with Clubs & Hammers
        Affinity with Crossbows
        Affinity with Daggers & Knives
        Affinity with Thrown Daggers
        Affinity with Maces & Flails
        Affinity with Polearms
        Affinity with Slings
        Affinity with Staves
        Affinity with Swords
        Affinity with Thrown Axes & Hammers
        Affinity with Thrown Rocks & Clubs
        Affinity with Thrown Spears
        Affinity with Twohanded Weapons
        Affinity with Whips
        Aggressive
        Alert
        Ambidextrous
        Basher
        Beast of Burden
        Boon to the Family
        Brawler
        Careful
        Charged
        Charming
        Defensive Fighter
        Dextrous
        Dodger
        Durable Magic
        Eagle-Eyed
        Extended Magic
        Extremely Hardy
        Extremely Skilled
        Far Shot
        Fey-Blooded
        Filthy Rich
        Good Book Caster
        Good Book Learner
        Good Learner
        Good Looks
        Good Shot
        Greased Lightning
        Great Book Caster
        Great Book Learner
        Great Learner
        Hardy
        Healthy
        Heir
        Immune to Pain
        Iron Skin
        Keen Shot
        Learned
        Lightning Shot
        Long-Lived
        Long Stride
        Master Packager
        Mechanically Inclined
        Melee Weapon Master
        Mighty Aura
        Mighty Strike
        Miser
        Missile Weapon Master
        Mithril Skin
        Natural Berserker
        Natural Trader
        Pious
        Porter
        Potent Aura
        Powerful Strike
        Quick
        Quick Shot
        Saint
        Scout
        Shield Expert
        Shield Master
        Shield Specialist
        Silver Tongue
        Sixth Sense
        Skilled
        Stealthy
        Steel Skin
        Strong
        Strong Aura
        Strong Healer
        Strong Legs
        Strong Magic
        Strong Thrower
        Strong of Will
        Tough
        Tough Skin
        Treasure Hunter
        Very Careful
        Very Hardy
        Very Pious
        Very Quick
        Very Skilled
        Very Wealthy
        Wealthy
    Shaping Characters with Talents
    Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Talents in ADOM
Weapon Skills
    Melee Weapon Skills
        Unarmed Fighting
        Daggers & Knives
        Clubs & Hammers
        Maces & Flails
        Swords
        Axes
        Whips
        Polearms
        Twohanded Weapons
        Staves
    Fighting with Two Weapons
    Missile Weapons
    Shields
    Advancing Weapon Skills
    Weapon Skills and Attack Energy
Attributes
    Primary Attributes
        Strength
        Learning
        Willpower
        Dexterity
        Toughness
        Charisma
        Appearance
        Mana
        Perception
    Attribute Generation
    Secondary Attributes
        Defensive Value (DV)
        Protection Value (PV)
        Hit Points (HP)
        Power Points (PP)
Experience and Gaining Levels
Magic & Spells
    Spell Display
    Casting Spells from Books
    Spell List
        Acid Ball / Rain of Sorrow
        Acid Bolt
        Bless
        Burning Hands / Baptism of Fire
        Calm Monster
        Create Item / Divine Favor
        Cure Critical Wounds
        Cure Disease
        Cure Light Wounds
        Cure Serious Wounds
        Darkness
        Death Ray / Greater Divine Touch
        Destroy Undead / Dispel Undead
        Disarm Trap
        Earthquake
        Farsight
        Fire Ball / Major Punishment
        Fire Bolt / Hellish Flames
        Frost Bolt / Nether Bolt
        Greater Identify / Greater Enlightenment
        Heal
        Ice Ball / Freezing Fury
        Identify / Enlightenment
        Improved Fireball / Invoked Devastation
        Invisibility / Veil of the Gods
        Knock / Divine Key
        Know Alignment
        Light
        Lightning Ball / Heavenly Fury
        Lightning Bolt / Divine Wrath
        Magic Lock / Seal of the Spheres
        Magic Map / Knowledge of the Ancients
        Magic Missile / Minor Punishment
        Mystic Shovel / Divine Digger
        Neutralize Poison
        Petrification
        Remove Curse
        Revelation
        Scare Monster / Holy Awe
        Slow Monster
        Slow Poison
        Strength of Atlas / Lordly Might
        Stun Ray / Lesser Divine Touch
        Summon Monsters
        Teleportation / Ethereal Bridge
        Web
        Wish
Mindcraft
    Mental Power List
        Teleport Control
        Confusion Blast
        Confusion Wave
        Mind Blast
        Mental Shield
        Mind Wave
        Telekinetic Blast
        Eyes of the Mind
        Greater Mental Blast
        Greater Telekinetic Blast
        Regeneration
        Teleport Self
        Teleport Other
        Greater Mental Wave
Corruptions
The Game
    Starting ADOM Classic
    Starting ADOM Deluxe
    Important Concepts
        The ADOM Classic Main Screen
        The ADOM Deluxe Main Screen
    Quick Hints
    The Display
        The ASCII Display
        The Tiled Display
    The Monster Memory
    The Player Character Screen
    Standard Commands
    Special Commands in ADOM Deluxe
    Movement
    Speed
    The Dynamic Display
    Dice
    The Inventory & Item Descriptions
        The Inventory
        Working with the Backpack
    Beasts of Burden
    Wishing
    Saving the Game
The World of Ancardia & The Drakalor Chain
    Wilderness
        Travelling the World
        Encounters
        Time & Food
        Weather
        Entering Locations
    Dungeons
        Light Sources
        Special Features
        Doors & Traps
    Settlements
    Shops
How To Start -- A Beginner's Guide
Appendix A: Credits
    Monster memory credits
    Attribute question credits
    Source code addition credits
    Credits for inspiring program features:
    Miscellaneous idea credits
    Bug report credits
Appendix B: Customizing ADOM
    ADOM Configuration Option List
        Allow_Default_Names
        Auto_Lock_Doors
        Auto_Lock_Nearest
        Auto_Open_Doors
        Auto_Pickup
        Auto_Select_Doors
        Auto_Swap_Neutral
        Base_Delay_Factor
        Check_Item_In_Hand
        Class
        Class_Mask
        Colored_Menus
        Colored_Messages
        Colored_PC
        Compact_Kill_List
        Display_Key_Code
        Exit_After_Save
        Fast_Missile_Readying
        Fast_More
        Fated_Gender
        Font_Name
        Font_Size
        Ghosts_Deactivated
        Hide_Info_Boxes
        Item_Status_Color
        Look_Auto_Lock_Nearest
        Low_Hitpoint_Warning
        Message_Buffer_Size
        Metric_Measuring
        Name
        Nice_Stuff
        No_Book_Spellcasting
        Persistence
        Questioned_Attributes
        Quick_Hint_Limit
        Quitters_Allowed
        Race
        Race_Mask
        Random_PC
        Recovery
        Reload_Missiles
        Reverse_Message_Order
        Sex
        Short_Log_Format
        Show_Achievements
        Show_Blood
        Show_Corruption_Prompt
        Show_Experience
        Show_Newbie_Advice
        Show_Pick_Help
        Show_Unknown_Commands
        Sorted_Skills
        Starvation_Warning
        Stop_Walking_At_Corners
        Uncursed_String
        Verbose_Level_Messages
        Verbose_Log_Format
        Walk_Carefully
        Zap_Wands_In_Hand
    Default Configuration Creation
Appendix C: Command-Line Options
Appendix D: Customizing the Keymap
Appendix E: Message Customization
    Editing Message Customizations
    List of Message Customization Directives
        no_skip
        allow_skip
        regex
        no_regex
        replace
        suppress





Introduction
============

Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM for short) is a rogue-like game which
means that it is a single-user game featuring the exploration of a dungeon
complex. You control a fictional character described by race, class,
attributes, skills, and equipment. This fictional character is trying to
achieve a specific goal (see below) and succeed in a difficult quest. To
fulfill the quest, you have to explore previously undiscovered tunnels and
dungeons, fight hideous monsters, uncover long forgotten secrets, and find
treasures of all kind.

During the game, you explore dungeon levels which are randomly generated
each game. You might also encounter certain special levels, which present a
particular challenge or are built around a certain theme.

IMPORTANT: If you are a first-time player you should read the 'How to
start' section of this manual.



The Background Story
--------------------


The Coming of Chaos
*******************
For 6000 years, the world of Ancardia was left untouched by the incursions
of Chaos, but finally the sinister forces of evil and darkness have found
this young and teeming world. In a remote mountain complex, huge dungeons
were formed by great magical powers. They seem to contain some kind of
dimensional gate which allows terrors from unknown dimensions to enter the
world of Ancardia and wreak havoc.

For years, nobody understood the true cause of sudden ambushes by evil
monsters, incursions by hideous monster armies, and the rising tide of
Chaos. Finally Khelavaster, the great sage, uncovered an ancient prophecy
foretelling the Coming of Chaos -- a dark and sinister time when the skill,
power and valor of a single hero would determine the future of the world.
The ancient scrolls of prophecy hinted at a remote mountain range -- the
Drakalor Chain -- which was destined to be the final battle ground for an
epic fight between Chaos and Order. Khelavaster quickly made this known to
all the intelligent races of Ancardia.

within weeks, many heroes set out to find the source of the chaotic forces
and destroy it. Khelavaster was among the first to enter those dungeons.
Many heroes have followed him since then but no one has ever returned from
the dungeons. Thus the forces of Chaos continue their conquest and threaten
to defile Ancardia...

You are one of those young heroes willing to risk your life to defeat the
forces of Chaos, gain fame, fortune, power, and ultimately save your world
and your people. After weeks of arduous travel, you have finally reached
the center of the Drakalor Chain and now face the entrance to those
dungeons of mystery which must contain a means to save your world. You were
told to visit a small village by the name of "Terinyo" and talk to the
village elder for he might have the latest information about the region.
Steady yourself and be prepared to engage in a heroic struggle for the fate
of your home world!


The Myth of Creation
********************
The following text, taken from ancient Ancardian lore, provides further
insights into the nature of Chaos. Enjoy it if you want to get a deeper
understanding of the rich and vibrant history of Ancardia...

From the tome of knowledge, written by Kheeran the Elder at the end of the
Second Age:

In the beginning there was nothing, except for Gaethra, the Creator. It
shaped the universe from a tear, begotten when the First Dream ended. Based
upon the five elemental principles it was formed and perfect it was. Then
Gaethra resumed its sleep and its dream.

Thus the First Age began. The world was a primeval and vibrant place,
inhabited by the first four races: the Drakelings, born from Fire, the
Elves, begotten by Air, the Dwarves, shaped from Earth and Hurthlings,
risen out of Water. But the crowning piece of its creation was Man, derived
from all four elements. Life was given by the fifth and strongest element -
Mana, the ambient magical energy of the Dream.

But, as things go, sleep is not always peaceful. Where there are dreams,
there are nightmares and thus eventually Gaethra experienced the First
Nightmare and Chaos was born. A vibrant and ever-changing force, born from
darkness, Chaos only wants to change, corrupt and alter. From Fire, Orcs
were created. Out of Earth Trolls were shaped. The Dark Elves were formed
from corrupted Air and the Ratlings, lifted from tainted Water. Thus the
Second Age, the time of Chaos began. But Gaethra's Dream proved to be
stronger. The pure races united against the forces of Chaos and even the
allies of Chaos, highly eligible for change, switched sides and united
against the dark force bent upon the complete destruction of the universe
known to us all. Chaos was defeated although a new overlord, Andor Drakon,
once mortal, rose to power and swore vengeance. Here, at the beginning of
the Third Age, the Era of Peace and Tranquility, the text ends. For many
generations the world lived in peace and harmony, only disturbed by
whatever petty struggles troubled the various races. Now, many centuries
after those ancient events, Chaos once more has gathered dark forces and
tries its second incursion into the world. Dark times seem to be lying
ahead and sages even suspect that Gaethra might be awakening... whatever
meaning this might have.

Others are disturbed by the very existence of Chaos... how did it come into
being if everything is Gaethra's dream? Just a passing nightmare? Or a sign
of madness...?



The Price of the Game
---------------------

ADOM exists in two versions:
* ADOM Classic is a free version of ADOM.
* ADOM Deluxe is a Steam-based version of ADOM with many extra features
  (selectable star signs, point-based attribute generation, higher
  customizability, many more game modes, etc.).


The Cost of ADOM Classic
************************
ADOM Classic is available for free as long as you honor the following
license: You are hereby allowed to distribute ADOM Classic freely if the
following conditions are met:
* You do not charge more than $3 for copies of ADOM (value as of November,
  1995).
* You do not change any of the components accompanying ADOM, the documents
  or the binary itself.
* You distribute ADOM only as the package in which you received it.
* You do not challenge the ADOM copyright. I am not responsible for any
  damage done to your system by this program.

If you want to thank me (Thomas Biskup) and the rest of Team ADOM for
creating ADOM, maintaining it, fixing all discovered bugs, providing
support and generally spending a lot of time on the game and if you are
having fun with the game, please consider rewarding my efforts by sending a
postcard to the following address from wherever you are living:

                Thomas Biskup
                Zu den Tannen 5
                58456 Witten
                Germany

I *love* receiving postcards from all over the world. Weigh the fun ADOM
gave you against the ten minutes you probably need to write and send such a
postcard -- and if you find that you like and enjoy the game -- please do
it. I'm really not asking much... am I?


ADOM Deluxe compared to ADOM Classic
************************************
ADOM Deluxe is a greatly expanded version of ADOM available only on Steam
(see http://www.adom.de/steam). Current prices will be around $14.99 but
might depend on your location. Check the latest price for your location
under the given link. Please note that our policy is to offer only
occasional discounts for ADOM Deluxe and we do not plan to offer discounts
larger than 10% as we believe in continuously increasing the value of ADOM
by adding more content instead of devalueing the game with excessive
discounts.

ADOM Deluxe incorporates tons of additional features:
* It offers many play modes (standard mode, roguelike mode, network mode,
  challenge mode, etc.).
* It offers many customization options to both the character generation
  process and how the game plays (e.g. you can modify starvation & hunger,
  corruption, the general die balance, deadliness of monsters, treasure
  rates, if and how you want to use talents).
* It allows you to choose your star sign.
* It includes an option to save and restore games. And much more. Visit
  http://www.adom.de/home/faq.html for a full list of differences.



Bug Reports & Requests For Enhancements (RFEs)
----------------------------------------------

ADOM contains a number of bugs as is normal for one huge piece of software
being developed by a single person (about 280,000 lines of code as of ADOM
2.3.7). Thus it's absolutely necessary to send bug reports in to me if you
experience problems with the game.

Bug reports are submitted at

        http://www.adom.de/bugs

and should contain at least the following information:

1. your real life name and your email address
2. the version of ADOM you are using (exact version)
3. the operating system you are using (exact version)
4. a description on what you did to produce the error
5. all dumps ADOM might have created

Unless asked you should *not* include any binary files.




Generating the Player Character
===============================

To be able to fight Chaos, you will have to create a fictional character,
often called the player character (or PC). This character will be chosen
from one of the intelligent races of Ancardia, will undergo long and hard
hours of training to learn a profession and many skills enhancing his
chance to defeat evil and finally save the world.

All these concepts are explained in detail in the sections below.

Specifically the following choices will have to be made to create a new
player character (but note that in some easier game modes the game might
choose for you in some cases):

* Star Signs (see the horoscope of Ancardia)
* Gender
* Race
* Profession
* Talents

Additionally various other items will be derived from your choices above:

* Alignment
* Skills
* Spells
* Initial Equipment




The Horoscope
=============

The sky of Ancardia is covered by a myriad of stars. One moon circles the
world. The inhabitants of Ancardia believe in the magical forces
controlling the movements of the celestial bodies. Magic energies influence
one's life depending on the time of birth.



The Ancardian Month
-------------------

Each month is named after a particular star sign. One year has 12 months,
each with four weeks of seven days each. In addition, there are two special
days in each month which don't belong to any week. The first day in a month
is Darknight, when no moon is visible. The 16th day of a month is called
Silvernight, when the moon shines brightly. Darknight is considered to be a
dangerous day followed by a night filled with evil magics. In contrast,
Silvernight is a joyful day (when nobody usually works) and is followed by
a night full of feasts and revelries.

During the day of Darknight all evil magics are very strong while good
magics are severely hampered. On the day of Silvernight good magics enjoy
great advantages while evil magics are severely hindered. The weeks are
named Oneweek, Twoweek, Threeweek and Fourweek. Thus a typical month is
structured like this:

                 Day            Specific Name
                -----           -------------
                    1           Darknight
                 2- 8           Oneweek
                 9-15           Twoweek
                   16           Silvernight
                17-23           Threeweek
                24-30           Fourweek



The Ancardian Calendar
----------------------

The following twelve star signs are used to name the months:

Spring ........ Book .......... 2
                Wand .......... 3
                Unicorn ....... 4

Summer ........ Salamander .... 5
                Dragon ........ 6
                Sword ......... 7

Autumn ........ Falcon ........ 8
                Cup ........... 9
                Candle ........ 10

Winter ........ Wolf .......... 11
                Tree .......... 12
                Raven ......... 1



The Meaning of the Star Signs
-----------------------------

When the game is started, a star sign is determined (together with your
character's birthday). The star sign has some effects on the career of the
character. Note that some signs are quite variable in the attributes they
govern. Your character will also be slightly favored during the month named
after his star sign. Finally, characters tend to be very lucky on their
birthday. You might want to consider these factors when creating a
character.

Raven: Death, Messengers, Companion, Tricks
Book: Knowledge, Learning, Laws
Wand: Laws, Neutral Magic, Leadership
Unicorn: Grace, Beauty, Purity, Innocence, Dignity
Salamander: Magic (especially fire), Eloquence
Dragon: Ferocity, Combat, Might, Rulership, Anger, Combat Magic
Sword: Combat, Execution, Tactics, Strategy
Falcon: Nobility, Hunt, Force of Personality
Cup: Collected Knowledge, Experience, Camaraderie
Candle: Hope, Life, Serenity, Transition
Wolf: Hunt, Ferocity, Community with Nature, Devotion, Loyalty
Tree: Tradition, Inflexibility
The game itself begins on the first day of the month of the Unicorn.



Star Sign List
--------------

Each star sign has specific game effects which will be enumerated below:


Raven
*****
Harder to trick by deceptions, messengers will reach you faster, you are
faster (+10 to speed), companions are more powerful, +2 to initial
Perception.


Book
****
Lawful tendencies (it's harder to change), one free skill increase per
level, increased chance to learn spells, +3 to initial Learning.


Wand
****
Lawful tendencies (it's harder to change), spells for neutral casters are
10% cheaper in power points, +2 to initial Charisma, starts out with lawful
tendencies but gets +2 to Mana and 10% more power points if neutral
initially.


Unicorn
*******
Harder to corrupt by Chaos effects, hard to change to a different alignment
once lawful, +2 to initial Appearance.


Salamander
**********
Fire magic is 20% cheaper in power points, +1 to initial Charisma, +3 to
initial Mana, +20% to power points (always).


Dragon
******
10% increased effects from Tactics settings, -3 to initial Willpower, +2 to
initial Strength, +1 to initial Toughness, costs to increase weapon skills
are reduced by 10%, combat magic is 10% cheaper in power points.


Sword
*****
Positive modifiers from Tactics settings are increased by 10%, costs to
increase melee weapon skills are reduced by 20%, +1 to the initial Learning
score.


Falcon
******
Very good at surviving in the wilderness, +2 to initial Willpower, +1 to
initial Charisma, one free talent.


Cup
***
Requires 10% less experience points to advance in level, receives one free
skill advance every two levels, learns spells more effectively (20% better
than others), +2 to initial Learning.


Candle
******
Heals faster, the gods are more forgiving when asked for favors, one free
talent.


Wolf
****
+3 to initial Perception, +3 to initial Willpower, food is more nutritious
for you (by +25%).


Tree
****
It's generally hard to change alignment, +5 to initial Willpower, +2 to
Toughness, +1 to PV.




The Races
=========

In ADOM, a wide variety of fantasy races can be chosen for your player
character. While humans are the dominant race of the current age many other
races have a long history and helped shape the world for better or worse.



Effects of Choosing a Race
--------------------------

Each race has certain advantages and disadvantages and receives different
equipment and attributes. Each race also gains some default skills as their
cultural heritage (see the section on skills for a complete list of
available skills in the game).



Race List
---------

You can choose among the following races:


Human
*****
Humans are the most generic of all races. They tend to be adaptable, suited
for every profession and generally well equipped. They are also very fast
learners (getting two free skill increases whenever they advance a level).
While humans do not have any other special advantages, they don't suffer
from any disadvantages either.

Humans train in the following skills: Climbing, Food Preservation,
Haggling, and Swimming.


Troll
*****
Trolls are extremely huge and strong creatures with large muscles, pointy
teeth, big horns and a lot of hair all over their body. They are nearly
always in a bad mood. Most races shun them because of this. Trolls are by
far the strongest and the dumbest race available in this game. They make
excellent fighters and lousy magicians. Trolls are somewhat disadvantaged
by their great size (good targets!) and the great amounts of food they need
to sustain their bulk. They also learn very slowly and need a lot of
experience points to advance in their profession. On the positive side,
they are by far the toughest and strongest race in the game and heal real
fast.

Trolls train in the following skills: Athletics, Bridge Building, Food
Preservation, Gemology, and Mining.


High Elf
********
High Elves are a beautiful race of extremely long-lived creatures. High
Elves are of slender build, nearly six feet 10 inches tall and generally
have golden or auburn hair and amber or purple eyes. Their ears are very
pointed and their skin is very fair. They live in the forests where they
like to hunt, frolic, engage in musical and romantic affairs and generally
have a good time. They tend to shun the other races, partially because of
their arrogance and partially because they have had conflicts with most
other races in their long history. High Elves are excellent fighters (and
also great shots with their deadly long bows!) and mages. Their magical
powers are especially noteworthy. On the negative side, they are not very
well-liked and somewhat frail.

High Elves train in the following skills: Dodge, Listening, Literacy, and
Stealth.


Gray Elf
********
Gray Elves are the most noble of all elven races. Their beauty is ethereal,
they move with unsurpassed grace and are among the greatest mana-wielders
in the game. Gray Elves look similar in appearance to High Elves, although
most of them sport silver or golden hair and purple or light blue eyes.
They are of even more slender build than their lesser cousins. But besides
their great beauty, they are arrogant and haughty beings, generally
disliked by most other races that have contact with them (which is next to
no one on a regular basis... mostly you will meet Gray Elves in a chance
encounter -- if you notice them at all!). Gray Elves tend to regard all the
non-elven races as lesser beings, more closely related to animals than to
"True Beings", as they like to call themselves. They are also even more
frail than their lesser cousins, which they balance with a greatly enhanced
agility and magical powers of which other races only dream.

Gray Elves train in the following skills: Dodge, Listening, Literacy, and
Stealth.


Dark Elf
********
Dark Elves are as evil as Gray Elves are beautiful. Many millennia ago they
were exiled into the Underdark after a long and hateful war with the other
elven sub-races. Dark Elves worship Lol'th, the evil demon queen of all
spiders. During the millennia beneath the earth, they were corrupted by the
dark secrets they managed to unearth. Their skin is as black as their
souls. In contrast, their hair is of pure white color. Dark Elves are of
very slender frame and slightly smaller than their surface-dwelling
cousins. Dark Elves are hated and feared by almost everyone because of
their cruelty and lack of mercy. They possess great magical talents, are
very nimble and have an excellent perception in the underground. Because of
their long absence from the sunlight, they are almost blind when
adventuring in the daylight. Their greatest enemies are their surface
cousins. Despite the general evil disposition of this race over the
centuries, they have spawned some very rare individuals who have left their
homelands and are eternally remembered in legends and song because of their
valor, goodwill, and courage.

Dark Elves train in the following skills: Alertness, Climbing, Find
Weakness, and Stealth.


Mist Elf
********
Mist Elves are a truly ancient race, literally born from the mists of time.
They are almost immortal and some of their ancient members are believed to
have been present at the dawn of creation. Their incredible lifespan gives
them a very different and aloof outlook on life and civilization as they
regard even Gray Elves as mere toddlers. Combined with the fact that Mist
Elves are a very magical race, their bodies being made from magically
solidified mist, they appear frightening, uncaring, cold and wise at the
same time. They scoff at the views of the younger races and life doesn't
mean much to them, having seen many empires rise and crumble within the
span of a single Mist Elf's life.

Mist Elves are even larger than Gray Elves but thin and frail beings. Their
skin is almost white, their hair is pearly white and it seems to move with
a slight breeze all the time. Their breath is misty and their eyes are
pearly, violet, pink or yellow. Mist Elves move almost without sound. Their
physique is weak and they are not very strong. Additionally they are the
most fairy-like of elves, going so far that the prolonged touch of mundane
metal burns their skin like acid. Thus they prefer to wear and wield
weapons and armaments of precious metals, like mithril or adamantium.
Despite their weak physique they are dangerous warriors as the mist-like
makeup of their body greatly reduces damage taken in melee combat.

Gray Elves despise Mist Elves, viewing them as uncaring beings devoid of
emotion and lacking the general elven love for life. Mist Elves just
chuckle about the antics of their baby cousins. Mist Elves, having been
lifted from the mists of time themselves during creation, have a very
specific grasp of necromancy. Most of them - if not drawn towards Chaos due
to boredom - hate undead and are very powerful in combatting them by using
their magical powers to wreak great harm upon undead. Mist Elf necromancers
are able to create special creatures and engage in an act of creation
rather than infusing dead beings with unholy energies, called white
necromancy by themselves.

Mist Elves are the rarest of all elves. You will encounter a thousand Gray
Elves before you see one Mist Elf. They are rumored to live in misty areas
high in mountain valleys or deep in the hills, but no known mortal has ever
seen one of their settlements. Some sages believe them to be physical
manifestations of the dreams of gods, others regard them as leftovers from
the act of creation itself. Mist Elves just chuckle and move on at such
useless ponderings.

Mist Elves train in the following skills: Alertness, Concentration, Dodge,
Literacy, Necromancy and Stealth.


Dwarf
*****
Dwarves are a small, hardy and taciturn race. They barely grow to be four
and a half feet. Their body is stocky and their endurance is legendary.
Dwarves are especially proud of their long beards and their great
craftsmanship with metals. The dwarven race has spawned the greatest of all
smiths. Their skill in forging weapons and armor is unsurpassed, as is
their greed for gold. They are able warriors, brave to a fault, have an
excellent sight in the underground and are experts at detecting secret
doors and traps.

Dwarves train in the following skills: Climbing, Detect Traps, Metallurgy,
Mining, and Smithing.


Gnome
*****
Gnomes are the smaller cousins of dwarves. They live in rolling hills and
wooded valleys. They are great connoisseurs of gems and the best gem
carvers known in the whole world. Gnomes are famous for their very black
humor and their great magical skills. They are about four feet high and not
so stocky as dwarves. They groom their beards very well, although they
generally favor short cropped beards. Gnomes are great leather workers and
gnomish boots are a quality product every race greatly enjoys (except
trolls and maybe hurthlings). Their greatest enemies are the kobolds living
in the tunnels below the mountains. They normally attack each other on
sight. Gnomes are excellent crossbowmen who prefer to utilize light
crossbows for ranged attacks.

Gnomes train in the following skills: Gemology, Listening, Mining, Pick
Pockets, and Ventriloquism.


Hurtling
********
Hurthlings are the smallest of the little people. They grow to be an
average three to three and a half feet high. They are sturdy and brave.
Most hurthlings prefer to walk without shoes. Their feet are very well
accustomed to this as they sport a leathery sole and are covered with thick
and bushy hair. Hurthlings rarely wear beards and generally prefer
short-cut hair. They (mostly) are not an adventurous people. They enjoy
their burrows, like to farm and sit together to tell stories. Their
greatest pride are their beautiful gardens and the good tobacco they
produce. Hurthlings generally mistrust outsiders and foreigners and shun
them most of the time. A hurthling needs six meals a day to be happy and a
comfortable bed to sleep in. Those few hurthlings who chose to be
adventurers are mostly very talented thieves. Because of their small size
and their low strength, hurthlings are not very well suited to be fighters.
One of their favored sports is tossing rocks (with or without slings) at
distant targets -- consequently many hurthlings are deadly shots both with
slings and thrown rocks.

Hurthlings have been known as hobbits in later ages and in other areas.

Hurthlings train in the following skills: Archery, Cooking, Food
Preservation, Gardening, and Stealth.


Orc
***
Orcs belong to the dark races, created in the same dark pits as trolls.
They mostly are the arch nemesis of many of the intelligent races, as they
reproduce quickly and enjoy plundering, killing and spreading havoc in
general. The average orc is five and a half to six feet high, weighs 130 to
150 pounds and has a gray to black skin. Their eyes glow red in the dark.
Orcs shun sunlight, as it tends to hurt their eyes greatly. Because orcs
mostly live in the underground, they are very good at detecting secret
doors. Orcs make good fighters and are also known to spawn mighty priests
serving their cruel war deity, Gruumsh, the One-Eyed and All-Seeing.

Orcs train in the following skills: Backstabbing, Climbing, Find Weakness,
Metallurgy, and Mining.


Drakeling
*********
Drakelings are humanoid lizard-like creatures about six feet tall. They
weigh 150 to 200 pounds and are covered with blue or green scales. They
speak with a hissing accent and normally wear few clothes (besides their
armor and weapons). Drakelings are able to spit a powerful acid at enemies,
although this fatigues them. The origins of the Drakeling race are hidden
in a past long forgotten. They reappeared some years ago and quickly spread
across the continent. Sages believe that they remained for many centuries
in a kind of hibernation which only recently ended. Drakelings are good at
everything. They are very deadly shots with a weapon unique to their race,
the drakish scurgar.

Drakelings are cold-blooded creatures. Therefore, extreme temperatures
influence them: when it gets cold, they slow down. On the other hand, great
heat is beneficial for them as it speeds up their reflexes.

Their breath weapon causes {x}d6+{y} points of damage. {x} is equal to the
maximum of 2 and the current PC level divided by 3. {y} is equal to the PC
level divided by 2.

Drakelings train in the following skills: Alertness, Food Preservation,
Music, and Swimming.


Ratling
*******
Ratlings are one of the numerous yet rarely noticed races. These lean and
wiry humanoid rats thrive in larger settlements and enjoy interacting with
other races. Whether they are the result of an ancient lich trying to
create a servitor race, chaos-spawned descendents of plain rats from the
dawn of time or just one more example of the abundance of life forms in
Ancardia still is a matter of dispute among sages. No matter what, they are
accepted as skilled traders, quick warriors and crafty thieves - acceptance
in the latter case meaning careful observation and quick reaction from
other races.

Ratlings grow to about 5 and a half feet in size and weigh 90 to 120
pounds. They usually sport brown hair although black, gray and a rare
albino white are not unheard of. Their eyes are either black, brown, yellow
or red in color, black being dominant.

Ratlings train in the following skills: Appraising, Climbing, Detect Item
Status, Haggling, Stealth, Survival and Swimming.




Professions
===========

In ADOM, every character belongs to a certain profession which describes
what he learned in his youth. This profession determines his special
abilities and starting equipment (equipment is also dependent on race).
Additionally, each profession receives a skill package to account for the
knowledge you gain during your apprenticeship (see the section on skills
for a complete list of all skills available in the game).

Finally, each and every profession will provide special powers to the
character once a specific experience level is gained. The more powerful the
character gets, the better these abilities will be. Some abilities are
magical, some are natural talents, some are automatic, others must be used
manually, but each and every ability will serve to simplify some aspect of
your adventuring life. Special powers are gained at levels 6, 12, 18, 25,
32, 40 and 50. All these special powers are usually invoked (if this is
necessary) with the Ctrl-x command -- if this keybinding does not work for
you check your online help (press '?').



Profession List
---------------

The following professions can be chosen:


Archer
******
Archers are deadly shots. Although the name of their class seems to imply
this, not all of them prefer to use bows. The race of an archer has great
influence on their preferred missile weapon. Archers are expert fighters in
missile combat, rarely missing their targets and trained to hit the vital
spots of their opponents. In close combat, archers are less formidable,
although they are still dangerous.

Archers are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Archery, Climbing,
Concentration, Dodge, Fletchery, Listening, and Stealth.

At higher levels archers are the most deadly marksmen in all Ancardia. At
level 6 a missile attack takes up but 800 energy points. At level 12 the
range for their missile attacks is doubled. At level 18 they are a lot more
productive when applying fletchery. At level 25 missile attacks cost but
600 energy points. At level 32 they become able to completely dodge enemy
missiles. At level 40 missiles attacks have a 20% chance to penetrate armor
and at level 50 they are able to hit several targets with one missile.


Assassin
********
Assassins are a dark and mysterious class. They are trained to end the life
of their opponents quickly and silently. Many of them favor poisons to
achieve this goal.

Assassins are trained in the following skills: Alchemy, Alertness, Archery,
Backstabbing, Climbing, Detect Traps, Dodge, Find Weakness, Pick Locks,
Stealth, and Two Weapon Combat.

At higher levels assassins get a lot more deadly in their trade. At level 6
they can create poison from any potion (except for water and fruit juice).
At level 12 their backstabbing powers get a lot more deadly. At level 18
the range of their missile attacks is increased by 30%. At level 25 their
chance to score critical hits is increased by 20%. At level 32 the Dodge
bonus they gain is doubled. At level 40 they become immune to poison. At
level 50 they receive a small chance to score instant killing hits. This
chance is based upon the level of the target.


Barbarian
*********
Barbarians hail from the harsh northern lands of Ancardia, from the
roughest mountain peaks, the wildest hills and the most remote forests.
What they lack in equipment, they more than equalize with their great
strength, enormous toughness and deadly weaponry. Barbarians are very well
experienced in the arts of battle and are well prepared to cope with the
dangers of the wilderness.

Barbarians are trained in the following skills: Athletics, Climbing, Dodge,
First Aid, Herbalism, Stealth, Survival, Swimming, Two Weapon Combat, and
Woodcraft.

High-level barbarians are fearsome fighters. At level 6 they learn to
deliver mighty blows that cause double damage (for the cost of 2500 energy
points). At level 12 moving costs but 750 energy points. At level 18 they
can deliver tremendous blows that cause triple damage (for the cost of 4000
energy points). At level 25 they start to gain +1d4 additional hit points
per level. At level 32 barbarians gain a one-time bonus of +3 to strength
and toughness. At level 40 they gain a +10 damage bonus with each melee
attack when fighting as a true berserker (which basically means that they
have to fight naked, e.g. without any armor, and switching the tactics
rating to the appropriate setting). At level 50 melee attacks take up but
800 energy points when fighting as a true berserker. IMPORTANT: Note that
both the mighty and the tremendous blow count only for the first blow, even
if the character is delivering a series of blows (because he wields more
than one weapon, etc.).


Bard
****
Bards are musicians, entertainers and entrepreneurs. They try to make an
easy living by telling good stories for a meal. Most of them are below
average fighters and don't possess much equipment. This is balanced by
their knack to stumble upon strange items. Apart from that, bards make fast
friends with strange beings at times. A bard starts his dungeoneering life
with one loyal monster or animal companion. Once a bard has become friends
with another being, this friendship lasts for a lifetime. Many legendary
bards in Ancardia were accompanied by monster or animal companions of equal
fame. It is said that talented bards are able to calm the spirit of a beast
with their ethereal music.

Bards are not trained in specific skills (except for Music), but rather
receive a randomly determined group of skills. They also receive more
skills than any other character class.

As bards advance in level they become more and more versatile. At level 6
they receive one additional free skill increase per advancement. At level
12 they gain +1d3 skill levels in 6 randomly chosen weapon skills. At level
18 they receive a base score of 80 + (10 * Learning score) + (20 * Mana
score) in four randomly chosen spells. At level 25 they receive 6 random
skills (or improve their abilities in up to 6 skills). At level 32 they
double their hit point regeneration speed. At level 40 they double their
mana point regeneration rate. At level 50 they receive a bonus of +6 to all
attributes.


Beastfighter
************
Beastfighters are partly mystic, partly primitive warriors who excel at
weaponless combat. They are lightly armored but extremely tough and
fearsome opponents due to their weaponless fighting style. They are well
accustomed to wilderness settings and very resistant to poisons --
especially to animal poisons. The more experienced a beastfighter becomes,
the more deadly he is in melee combat. Beastfighters are especially likely
to score critical hits when fighting animals in melee combat.

Beastfighters are trained in the following skills: Athletics, Climbing,
Dodge, Healing, Herbalism, Listening, Stealth, Survival, and Swimming.

with increasing experience, beastfighters perfect their natural fighting
style and their attunement to the wild beasts. At level 6 they become
poison resistant and at level 12 their wild fighting style makes them stun
resistant. At level 18 movement costs them but 700 energy points. At level
25 they can summon 2d2 cave bears or silver wolves for the cost of
permanently losing one mana point (which eventually regenerates after a lot
of time has passed). At level 32 they become able to exchange positions
with hostile monsters. At level 40 they can stun opponents on critical hits
and at level 50 they gain +6 to both strength and toughness.


Chaos Knight
************
Chaos knights are the dark war leaders of the legions of Chaos. Former
members of the common races, they have fallen to the lure of Chaos, having
become corrupted and tempted. Now they serve as mighty warriors and brutal
fighters on the war-torn battlefields of Ancardia. Clad in mighty armors
and wielding brutal weapons they slay their foes left and right and cherish
the brutal massacres in which they partake. They are lost to Law and
Balance and their only aspiration is to become the mightiest warriors of
Chaos, potentially usurping their leaders and toppling their reign to
instill an even more brutal regime.

Chaos knights are trained in the following skills: Athletics, Backstabbing,
Dodge, Find Weakness and Two Weapon Combat.

The more powerful chaos knights become, the more effectively they wield the
forces of Corruption. At level 6 chaos knights begin to regenerate wounds
when they become infused with corruption. At level 12 they receive a speed
bonus of +1d(level) (determined each turn anew). At level 18 they gain a
weapon skill level bonus of +1d8 with each melee weapon they wield
(determined each turn anew). At level 25 they receive a random bonus of
+1d(number of corruptions) to Strength, Dexterity and Toughness (determined
each turn anew). At level 32 corruption starts to work more slowly on chaos
knights (only 50% effectiveness if they have 10 or more corruptions, only
75% effectiveness if they have 5 or more corruptions). At level 40 they
receive a damage bonus of +1d(level) when fighting with two-handed melee
weapons (determined anew each turn). At level 50 they receive a PV bonus of
+4d6 (determined anew each turn).


Druid
*****
Druids are nature priests. They worship the Old Gods and regard all nature
as a holy thing to worship and protect. Their specialty are spells of
nature and protection. It is said that no animal will willingly harm a
druid.

Druids are trained in the following skills: Climbing, Concentration, First
Aid, Gardening, Healing, Herbalism, Listening, Literacy, Survival,
Swimming, and Woodcraft.

At higher levels, druids become extremely attuned to nature itself. At
level 6 they learn to evade wilderness encounters whenever they choose to
do so. At level 12 they regenerate power points twice as fast as usual
while in the wilderness. At level 18 they become immune to all weather
effects. At level 25 they are able to summon 1d3 major animals as servants
at the cost of 1d3 mana points (an almost permanent loss, as it only
regenerates after a very long period of time). At level 32 they regenerate
hit points twice as fast as usual while in the wilderness. At level 40 they
become immune to lightning. Finally, they suffer 10% less corruption from
all such attacks at level 50 due to their close connection to nature.


Duelist
*******
A duelist emphasizes physical and mental acuity, and precision in all
things. Thus, the ability to accurately perceive their surroundings, and
gracefully move through them, along with an appreciation for the fine arts
that help separate them from their more thuggish contemporaries. They rely
on the swiftness of their strikes and their agility to keep them safe from
harm. Duelists differ between races however - while a high elven duelist
might elegantly skewer his opponents with a rapier while darting through
their defenses, a trollish duelist's idea of precision might be the simple
fact that their size, reach, and strength allows them to lunge at their
opponents from an amazing range and smash them over the head before they
can respond, while their mental acuity might be the simple zen of knowing
nothing but the clubbing, letting nothing interfere with their "art".

Duelists are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Athletics,
Concentration, Dodge, Find Weakness, Healing, Law.

All duelists rely on fighting unencumbered and using a single one-handed
weapon (and no shields!). When endowed in this way they receive a multitude
of benefits: all duelists receive an extra +1 to-hit bonus per weapon skill
rank and +1 to damage per two weapon skill ranks with their weapon. At
level 6 they require 15 energy points less for melee attacks per weapon
skill rank for their weapon. At level 12 they receive an extra +2 DV bonus
for each weapon skill rank in their selected weapon. At level 18 they can
glove slap opponents by giving gauntlets to them (for a 2d3-turn stun). At
level 25 their armor penetration probability is increased by +20%. At level
32 their dexterity increases by +12. At level 40 they gain a +6 weapon
skill rank bonus for all one-handed melee weapon skills. At level 50 they
receive a +20 speed bonus.


Elementalist
************
Elementalists are magicians specialized on dealing with the four elements:
fire, water, earth and air. Their spells specifically deal with those
elements and their magic equipment reflects this preference, too.
Elementalists normally don't use written magic but employ powers they
harness from within. Their magic thus is somewhat limited in one way and a
lot more powerful in other ways. Elementalists generally use a less
scientific approach to magic than wizards usually do.

Elementalists are trained in the following skills: Climbing, Concentration,
Gemology, Healing, Listening, Literacy, Metallurgy, and Swimming.

Experienced elementalists use very special powers provided by their close
elemental attunement. At level 6 they become fire resistant, at level 12
they become shock resistant. At level 18 they are immune to all weather
effects. At level 25 they are able to breathe water. At level 32 they can
unleash an elemental storm at the cost of 120 power points which fires a
random bolt (fire, lightning or frost) into each of the eight available
directions, starting from the position of the elementalist. At level 40
they can summon an elemental as a pet. This forces them to permanently
sacrifice two mana points (which eventually regenerate -- albeit after a
very long period of time). At level 50 they can automatically burrow
through stone (at the cost of 20 power points and 1500 energy).


Farmer
******
Even among the most average folks, there are some valiant and
larger-than-life persons who are born to achieve more than their parents
and grand parents. After the news about the impending danger had spread
throughout the lands, those people started their journey to the location in
the Drakalor Chain which might change their destiny -- and the destiny of
their world. Farmers are neither great fighters nor skilled magicians, but
they possess inner strength and endurance from years of labor. Often they
are accompanied by their trusted dogs. They are accustomed to hunger and
hardship and often have very little to lose compared to the amount of fame
they might be able to win. Equipped with a broad knowledge about herbs and
food, they are probably the best prepared class (except for barbarians and
beastfighters) for extensive travels.

Farmers are trained in the following skills: Archery, Bridge building,
Cooking, First Aid, Fletchery, Food Preservation, Gardening, Haggling,
Herbalism, Smithing, Stealth, Survival, and Woodcraft.

The more experienced farmers become, the better they adjust to their hard
circumstances of life. At level 6 their carrying capacity is doubled due to
their training and experience with moving around great loads during harvest
time. At level 12 they need only half as much food as everybody else
(except for monks who also know how to survive on very little). At level 18
they learn to pick herbs with a lot more skill to select the better ones.
At level 25 they learn about making iron rations from corpses. At level 32
they receive better chances to increase their physical attributes and
physical attribute potentials. At level 40 they gain a +3 bonus to strength
and toughness. At level 50 they have become so much attuned to basic nature
that all corruption effects are reduced by 30%.


Fighter
*******
Fighters are simple warriors who have learned how to best face an opponent
in melee combat. Most of them are well armed and armored. Fighters are
tough and strong due to their physical training.

Fighters are trained in the following skills: Archery, Athletics, Dodge,
Find Weakness, Metallurgy, Stealth, Swimming, and Two Weapon Combat.

with increasing experience, fighters become more able to efficiently use
armor as a means of protection. Only the PV bonus of helmets, body armor,
shields, gauntlets, cloaks, girdles, and boots will be improved in this
way. At level 6 a fighter gains +7% to PV (minimum: +1 if your PV is
positive) from such items, at level 18 this bonus is increased to +15%, at
level 32 it's +25%. At level 12 fighters gain a +50% bonus to DV adjustment
provided by the dodge skill. At level 25 their chance to score critical
hits is increased by 10%. At level 40 fighters are able to use a powerful
bash attack which causes more damage (+20%) and has a greater chance to
stun their opponents. The downside of this attack is that it costs 500
additional energy points to use. At level 50 fighters learn to use a
powerful all-round attack costing 3500 energy points. This attack can be
used against every opponent in the immediate vicinity of the fighter.


Healer
******
Healers are exactly that -- masters of the arts of healing, well equipped
with magical healing items and means to examine patients. Most of them are
very robust and resistant to poisons and diseases. Healers are not great
fighters. They prefer to save lives rather than to take them, although they
are nonetheless able to live through fights.

Healers are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Concentration,
Cooking, Find Weakness, First Aid, Healing, Herbalism, and Literacy.

Experienced healers have a vast array of means at their disposal to soothe
the pain of living beings, to treat diseases and poisons and to prevent
suffering. At level 6 they regenerate wounds at twice the normal speed, at
level 12 they triple their recovery rate. At level 18 they become able to
use both the Healing and the First Aid skill on others (and not only
themselves). Starting with level 25 they automatically gain access to the
following spells: Calm Monster, Cure Light Wounds, Slow Poison and Cure
Disease (with each additional level their knowledge increases). Starting
with level 32 they gain 2d3 additional hit points per level. At level 40
they gain access to the following spells: Cure Serious Wounds, Neutralize
Poison (again their knowledge increases with each new level). At level 50
they almost immediately recover from the effects of disease, bleeding and
poison and gain a +8 bonus to their toughness score.


Merchant
********
Merchants are masters of trade and bartering. They almost all are very
wealthy, charming and experts in communication. Each merchant specializes
in trading with a certain type of magical items during their
apprenticeship. At the beginning of their career, they are equipped with a
sample of items to trade with (or use). Merchants are neither well-armed
nor well-armored and have to be careful in fights. Should they encounter
one of the rare dungeon shops, they will probably make some great deals.

Merchants are trained in the following skills: Appraising, Detect Item
Status, Gemology, Haggling, Herbalism, Literacy, Metallurgy, Pick Pockets,
and Survival.

Experienced merchants become true masters of their trade -- being able to
sell almost anything to anyone and also being able to haggle for the best
prices. At level 6 shop prices for merchants will be lowered by 20%. At
level 12 their carrying capacity is doubled. At level 18 shop prices will
be lowered by 40%. At level 25 they no longer are affected by any kind of
weather. At level 32 shop prices are lowered by 60%. At level 40 they learn
to calm monsters by giving away items. At level 50 their carrying capacity
is tripled (due to their enormous talent of organization). Finally at that
level they also learn a magic spell that allows them to create new items.


Mindcrafter
***********
Mindcrafters use a very exotic and very different magic. They utilize their
mental powers to evoke astonishing effects. Mindcrafters are very rare and
only few people have ever heard about them. While they are physically weak,
they are mentally extremely strong and resistant.

Mindcrafters are trained in the following skills: Concentration, Gemology,
Haggling, Herbalism, Literacy, Music, and Stealth.

Experienced mindcrafters master various mental powers. At level 6 they
learn to quickly recover from confusion attacks. At level 12 they become
able to sense the amount of enemies within a limited area (that is the
current level). Starting with level 18 they gain +1d6 additional power
points per level since they manage to unlock previously untapped mental
energy sources. At level 25 their willpower is increased by +5. At level 32
they can block some of the corruption they suffer when contacting beings of
Chaos. At level 40 they unlock even more unused areas of the brain and from
then on gain +3d5 additional power points (cumulative with the bonus from
level 18) per level. At level 50 they finally manage to resist some of the
damage they suffer when contacting undead: damage is halved (see the
section on mindcraft for details).


Monk
****
Monks are able martial artists striving to achieve perfect mastery of body,
mind and spirit. They are experts at fighting unarmed, very good at dodging
attacks and strong of will. Monks need to be unencumbered to be able to use
their special martial art powers. Monks take vows of poverty at their
initiation to prevent distraction by worldly means.

Monks are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Athletics,
Concentration, Dodge, Find Weakness, Healing, Literacy, and Stealth.

The further monks advance, the more they hone their movement skills and
unarmed combat powers. At level 6 monks learn to use a circular kick with
which they can hit every opponent in the vicinity (but also all friends, so
be careful). Using this kick costs 2500 energy points. At level 12 a normal
move costs them but 800 energy points, at level 18 but 600 energy points.
At level 25 monks become able to change positions with hostile opponents.
At level 32 they can score instant kills in melee combat against up to
human-sized creatures. At level 40 they can do so against humanoids of any
size. At level 50 they have become so attached to the flow of the universe
that they actually are able to resist Chaos to a certain limit -- Chaos
effects are lowered by 10%.


Necromancer
***********
Necromancers are practitioners of the dark arts. Though not very effective
in melee combat, their spells are deadly and dangerous. Their most horrible
power, though, is the ability to animate corpses and use them as slaves.
Luckily, only humanoid corpses can be used in this evil way. Necromancers
are outlawed and despised in most places and feared and avoided like the
plague in all other locations.

Necromancers are able to command the slaves they create. Their slaves will
follow these commands without questioning. To invoke a command, you need to
press 'C-x'.

Necromancers are trained in the following skills: Alchemy, Appraising,
Concentration, Find Weakness, Food Preservation, Herbalism, Literacy,
Necromancy, and Stealth.

with increasing experience, Necromancers master all aspects of undeath. At
level 6 they slowly develop a resistance to all special attacks from undead
(like strength drain or paralyzation). The base chance for resistance is
equal to 40% + 1% per level of the necromancer. At level 12 they learn to
turn undead. At level 18 they are able to raise all humanoid corpses in
sight as ghuls. These corpses quickly decompose and turn to ashes after a
number of turns. Each animated corpse drains 10 power points. At level 25
they can use the dreaded Shadow Touch, which allows them to absorb the life
energy of enemies when fighting bare-handed and wounding an enemy. At level
32 they can raise all corpses in sight as wraiths (similar to the power at
level 18). Each animated corpse drains 20 power points. At level 40 they
have to pay but one-half of the usual Necromancy cost (see the skill
description) when animating undead of a power level up to spectres. At
level 50 they finally learn to overcome Death herself and are able to
return to the living when killed, if their Toughness at the point of death
was 10 or higher. Coming back in this way demands a high price. They lose
one-half of their toughness and one-half of their hit points permanently.


Paladin
*******
Paladins are noble fighters (from the point of view of their respective
race... an orc paladin is _very_ different from a human paladin). They are
well trained both in physical activities (not as well as fighters, but
still very good) and in philosophical activities (not as good as priests,
but...). Paladins are generally very well equipped by their respective
churches. Many of them possess blessed items.

Paladins are trained in the following skills: Athletics, Concentration,
Dodge, Healing, Law (if they are lawful initially), Literacy, Stealth,
Swimming, and Two Weapon Combat.

with increasing experience, paladins gain holy powers fueled by their
strong beliefs and their religious upbringing. Due to the nature of these
powers, they are not able to use them if they aren't in decent standing
with their deity. At level 6 they can cure disease once per 1000 turns. At
level 12 they gain the ability to turn undead (this action costs 3000
energy points to use). At level 18 they can discover the alignment of a
beast by simply looking at it. At level 25 they receive a protective aura
which gives them +1DV per 2 levels against chaotics (if they are lawful),
lawful ones (if they are chaotic) or non-neutral opponents (if they are
neutral) while in melee combat. At level 32 they can use a healing touch
once per 1000 turns to cure (level - 24)d6 points of damage. When reaching
level 40 they become highly resistant to some special melee attack powers
used by undead beasts and demons (specifically, they become resistant to
strength drain, toughness drain, sickness and paralyzation). At level 50
they are strengthened by their beliefs so much that all corruption effects
are reduced by 30%.


Priest
******
Priests serve the various gods. They receive magical powers from their gods
but are servants for their whole lifetime. Many of them carry holy items.

Priests are trained in the following skills: Concentration, Detect Item
Status, First Aid, Healing, Herbalism, Literacy, and Music.

with increasing experience priests gain holy powers fueled by their strong
beliefs and their religious upbringing. Due to the nature of these powers,
they are not able to use them if they aren't in decent standing with their
deity. At level 6 priests can turn undead. At level 12 all spell costs are
reduced by 10%. At level 18 all spell costs are reduced by 25%. At level 25
all spell costs are reduced by 50%. At level 32 priests are allowed to pray
twice as often as anybody else. At level 40 they are able to destroy minor
undead (skeletons, zombies, ghuls, shadows, ghosts, wights, wraiths, ghost
bats, slow shadows, mummies, corpse fiends and shadow centipedes). At level
50 they are able to destroy major undead (liches, spectres, vampires,
revenants, skeletal warriors, ghost lords, shadow trolls, master liches,
shadow lords, greater mummies and steel zombies).


Ranger
******
Rangers are fighters favoring natural environments. They are excellent
trackers and masters at fighting with two weapons. Most of them are wearing
light armor to retain their mobility but in turn are well armed. Many
rangers carry missile weapons.

Rangers are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Archery, Athletics,
Climbing, Dodge, Food Preservation, Healing, Herbalism, Survival, Swimming,
Two Weapon Combat, and Woodcraft.

The more experience rangers gain, the more attuned to nature they become.
At level 6 they are a lot more capable to survive in the wilderness through
the means of the Survival skill as they find a lot more food in far less
time. They also become immune to all negative weather effects since they
have by now learned to avoid all related problems. At level 12 rangers are
no longer slowed down by terrain effects. At level 18 the range of all
missile attacks is increased by +4. At level 25 they can automatically
evade all wilderness encounters. At level 32 and 50 the weight of two
weapons used at the same time can be doubled/quadrupled without incurring
negative effects. Starting at level 40 movement costs but 750 energy
points.

Note for the special power at levels 32/50: usually your to-hit adjustment
for fighting with two weapons is determined in the following way:
* Take (Two weapon combat / 20) as a basic bonus.
* Subtract 6 if you are not playing a ranger.
* Subtract MAX(0, (Weight of the two weapons / 10) - 6). If you are a
  ranger of level 32-49 it is "Subtract MAX(0, (Weight of the two weapons /
  20) - 6)" If you are a ranger of level 50 it is "Subtract MAX(0, (Weight
  of the two weapons / 40) - 6)"


Thief
*****
Need we say more? For the sake of completeness: Thieves are very good at
stealing, opening locks, finding and disarming traps and other secretive
activities.

Thieves are trained in the following skills: Alertness, Appraising,
Backstabbing, Climbing, Detect Traps, Disarm Traps, Listening, Pick Locks,
Pick Pockets, and Stealth.

Highly experienced thieves are masters of stealth, trickery and robbery. At
level 6 thieves automatically use the search command on every step they
make. At level 12 they get a lot more deadly with backstabbing attacks. At
level 18 they become able to pilfer shops due to their exceptional agility
and skill (but take care of experienced shopkeepers -- they might be very
vigilant!). At level 25 thieves learn very deadly (and dirty!) fighting
tactics allowing them to stun humanoid monsters with critical hits (a good
kick at the right time does wonders). At level 32 they manage to pick the
best stuff from other folks' pockets, occasionally even discovering highly
valuable items. At level 40 their speed is increased by +20. At level 50
they are invisible as long as they are adjacent to a wall due to their
exceptional stealth (but make sure that you don't carry any light source!).


Weaponsmith
***********
Weaponsmiths are crafty men and women able to repair damaged metal
equipment and improve items. Weaponsmiths normally are well-equipped and
carry the tools of their trade. They are strong and resilient, hardened by
many hours of strenuous work.

Weaponsmiths are trained in the following skills: Appraising, Athletics,
Concentration, Detect Traps, Find Weakness, Haggling, Metallurgy, and
Smithing.

Weaponsmiths perfect their skills at higher experience levels. At level 6
they become able to melt all metal items into ingots. At level 12 they can
forge items four times as fast as everyone else. At level 18 they gain a +4
bonus to strength. At level 25 they automatically recognize all metal
types. At level 32 weaponsmiths become immune to fire. At level 40 they
gain a +8 bonus to toughness. At level 50 they automatically know the
damage caused by unidentified melee weapons.


Wizard
******
Wizards are masters of the 'art'. They wield great magical powers and are
able to create fireballs, lightning strikes and magical protection spells.
Their great magical powers are balanced by their mediocre fighting
abilities. Most mages spend their lives studying books and conducting
arcane experiments in hidden laboratories and thus have next to no time to
practice their physical skills.

Wizards are trained in the following skills: Alchemy, Concentration,
Healing, Herbalism, Literacy, Stealth, and Ventriloquism.

with increasing power, wizards become more and more skilled in the magical
arts. At level 6 all spell costs are reduced by 10%, at level 12 all costs
are reduced by 20% and at level 18 all costs are reduced by 40%. Starting
with level 25 they slowly gain experience in one randomly chosen spell per
level. At level 32 they become able to recharge wands (but no wand can be
recharged more than once by a wizard). Recharging costs 50 power points per
charge. If the wizard tries to overcharge the wand, he risks losing one
mana point permanently. At level 40 wizards learn to uncurse items. This
permanently costs one mana point. At level 50 they finally get basic
knowledge in all commonly known spells.




Alignment
=========

One very important characteristic of the persona you are creating is his
alignment. ADOM depicts the epic struggle between (Order) Law and Chaos and
your character needs to take sides! Either your PC will side with Law and
bring order to the multiverse or your PC will side with the ever-changing
forces of Chaos and bring chaos, change and upheaval to the world. There
even might be a third way, but will your PC find out how to proceed on this
path?

Generally, alignments represent the basic moral ideas and beliefs of a
character. A lawful character believes in law, order, the welfare of the
whole community, tradition, peace and happiness. Chaotic characters enjoy
change, are creative but also are quite selfish and generally are an
unorganized lot. Some of the more extreme chaotic beings are downright
evil, many extreme chaotics are quite mad. Lastly, there are neutral beings
who apply the best or worst principles of both sides to make up their basic
belief system.

All in all, the system is not as "black and white" as it might seem. There
are many shades. Nonetheless, the basic axis looks like this:

     Chaos <-----------------> Neutrality <-----------------> Law

In ADOM every being has an alignment. Your PC's initial alignment depends
on his race: High Elves, Dwarves and Hurthlings are lawful initially, while
Trolls, Orcs and Dark Elves are chaotic. All other races are initially
neutral. Choosing to be a necromancer also alters your alignment towards
Chaos. If your character starts out as a Druid, he will always be neutral.

In ADOM these alignments are divided into seven categories. A shortcut
describing the current category your PC belongs to will always be listed on
the screen to represent your PC's current position. The following five
symbols are possible:

L+ : The character is extremely lawful.  He might be able to become a
     very powerful Champion of Law.
L  : The character is lawful.
N+ : The character has not yet chosen a side, but prefers to remain
     unaligned.  Still, he has a minor tendency towards Law.
N= : The character is as close to neutrality as possible for a
     mortal.
     He can become a Champion of Balance.
N- : The character has not yet chosen a side, but prefers to remain
     unaligned.  Still, he has a minor tendency towards Chaos.
C  : The character is chaotic.
C- : The character is extremely chaotic.  He might be able to become a
     very mighty Champion of Chaos.

There are also four "in-between" alignments which show your character's
tendencies. Generally, the alignment is still rated according to the first
letter of the alignment description (L for lawful, N for neutral and C for
chaotic). Nonetheless, these in-between alignments indicate that a change
to the alignment described by the second letter might be impending due to
your PC's actions. The following special alignment descriptions are
possible:

LN : Lawful with tendencies towards Neutrality.
NL : Neutral with tendencies towards Law.
NC : Neutral with tendencies towards Chaos.
CN : Chaotic with tendencies towards Neutrality.  

Thus the complete range of alignment order from Law to Chaos looks like
this:

  L+ -- L -- LN --- NL -- N+ -- N= -- N- -- NC --- CN -- C -- C-
   L A W F U L            N E U T R A L             C H A O T I C

Now the final question: what effect does alignment have upon the game?
Depending on alignment, a different deity is worshipped. Some items might
be more or less useful for your character depending on his alignment. Other
beings might react in a different manner depending on alignment. There are
lots of things that can happen... try to find out for yourself.



The Gods
--------

Besides the forces of Law and Chaos, the Gods of Ancardia are a ruling
force in the universe. There is a multitude of gods and each race has at
least three major gods they worship -- one for each alignment.

In the worlds of Ancardia the Gods are a tangible force. Their effects can
be seen through ancient artifacts they once created for their worshipers
and the miracles their priests perform. They also are known to be fickle
and dangerous at times... insult or annoy them and their wrath will be upon
you!

Each character in ADOM worships (at least nominally) the deity of his
alignment. Throughout the game you have many chances to influence your
standing towards your god. You can increase your piety by sacrificing to
your god -- but make sure that you are sacrificing at the right altar! This
will help you in dire situations, where you might be able to pray for
divine intervention and receive some help. But be careful... if you annoy
your deity too often, you might incur some serious penalties. It's also
said that various miracles can occur at holy sites.

Finally, great piety can bring you the highest honor: your god might
declare you to be a champion of his/her religion, endowing you with great
powers and the ability to use artifacts with less risk than other mortals.

Nonetheless, remaining in good standing is an impressive feat: you need to
sacrifice somewhat regularly lest your god becomes bored and forgets you.
The more powerful you become, the better your sacrifices need to be and the
more often you ask for help, the faster your god will become annoyed with
you.

The gods of the various races enjoy some gifts particularly:

Dark Elves and Mist Elves: magical wands and books
Drakelings: musical instruments
Dwarves: gold
Gnomes: gems
High Elves and Gray Elves: magical rings
Humans: tools of all kind
Hurthlings: cooked meals
Orcs: melee weapons
Ratlings: the ratling gods appreciate artifacts, thank you!
Trolls: rocks, the larger the better
Such gifts are very welcome and will be of higher benefit to your
character's piety. On the other hand, gods also dislike certain
sacrifices... so be careful with your actions!




Skills
======

Each character possesses a certain number of skills which allow for actions
that cannot be simply described by class, level and race. Skills are rated
as a score of 0 to 100. The score given can be assumed to be the average
chance of success in percent when trying an average feat. This chance is
lowered when trying something difficult and raised when trying something
simple. There is always a chance for automatic success and automatic
failure.



Skill List
----------

Some skills need training material so that you can improve them. On the
skill screen in the game, such skills are marked with '(mr)', if training
material is still required (and thus currently no improvement is possible)
or with '(ma)' if the required training material is available.

Skills can be marked so that you can select often used skills a lot faster.
How to do this is described at the end of this section.

Not all the skills listed below are immediately available to your
character. Some are available to everyone by default, some skills are
determined by your race and some by your class. If you receive a skill due
to class _and_ race, the skill score will be higher than normal. The
following skills are available during the game:


Alchemy
*******
Alchemy allows you to brew magical potions. To use this skill, you need to
collect the ingredients required to mix magical potions. It would also be
useful to have the recipe for a potion at hand.


Alertness
*********
This skill is used automatically. It helps to sense traps and invisible
monsters although it is not too effective (which basically means that an
active search for traps with the respective skill has a much higher chance
of success). It can save your character from some nasty surprises at times.
It's also *very* helpful when trying to dodge combat magic since high
reflexes (as created by a high alertness skill) will help to dodge combat
magic with lightning speed. Finally, a high skill value grants some minor
DV bonuses, +1 at 75+, +2 at 90+ and +4 at 100.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Appraising
**********
This skill allows the estimation of the value and power of unknown items.
Items are rated on the following scale:
                        horrible
                        terrible
                        poor
                        mediocre
                        fair
                        good
                        great
                        superb
                        amazing
A score of poor and below should be considered to be a warning. Handle such
items with great care!

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Archery
*******
This skill increases your proficiency with missile weapons. Archers receive
a bonus of +1 to hit per 10 points in this score and a bonus of +1 to
damage per 20 points in this score. All other classes receive a bonus of +1
to hit per 25 points in this skill and a bonus of +1 to damage per 40
points of skill score. This skill also slightly increases the range of your
missile attacks on a successful skill check (which is done automatically
whenever you use a missile).


Athletics
*********
This is a passive skill. It is used to raise your physical attributes by
training your muscles and movement powers. Whenever you raise a level, this
skill influences your chance to raise a physical attribute. Athletics works
especially well for characters with low (< 10) to very low (< 5) physical
attributes. The skill also slightly influences your looks.

Athletics also affect your speed score. At 70+ you gain +1 to speed, at 75
you gain +2 to speed, at 80 you gain +3 to speed, at 85 you gain +4 to
speed, at 90 you gain +5 to speed, at 95 you gain +6 to speed and at 100
you gain +8 to speed.


Backstabbing
************
This skill increases your chance to hit and your chance to score a critical
hit when you attack friendly or neutral monsters (or on hostile monsters if
they don't notice you). Note that daggers and knives are particularly
effective when backstabbing others.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Bridge Building
***************
This skill allows you to build bridges.


Climbing
********
This skill is used to climb out of pits and holes.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Concentration
*************
This skill influences the time required to regenerate lost magic points. A
high skill value also makes it easier to learn new spells.

Scores of 75+ allow you to regain mana points a lot faster; the rate
increases again at 90+ and 100.


Cooking
*******
Cooked food is more nutritious and less prone to rot away. Very effective
if used on corpses. You need a cooking set to use this skill.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Courage
*******
It is difficult to be a cold-blooded warrior when you are surrounded by
dozens of enemies in a horrible fray. Usually, your PC will receive
disadvantages in combat when surrounded and attacked by lots of opponents.
Once a certain critical number of attackers is surpassed (two for fighters,
paladins, rangers, monks, barbarians and beastfighters; one for all
others), your combat abilities will deteriorate. Your character receives a
-1 to hit per monster above the critical number, the monsters above the
critical number receive a +2 to hit per such monster and your chances to
hit with missiles are reduced by -4 per monster above the critical
number...

...unless you know this skill. It will allow you to remain calm and
cold-headed in bloody situations and thus mass attacks by monster hordes
might be less effective. It's a skill you need to learn somewhere *in* the
game.


Detect Item Status
******************
This skill is automatically used to determine the {cursed|uncursed|blessed}
status of items.


Detect Traps
************
This skill must be explicitly used to discover hidden traps. It also helps
to avoid known traps. The 'Search' command also activates this skill.


Disarm Traps
************
This skill allows disarming previously discovered traps. Be careful... if
you fail a check badly, you might spring the trap!

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Dodge
*****
This skill increases your Defensive Value. The higher your dodge skill, the
more points will be added to your DV (+1 for Dodge 1-30, +2 for Dodge
31-50, +3 for Dodge 51-65, +4 for Dodge 66-75, +5 for Dodge 76-83, +6 for
Dodge 84-90, +7 for Dodge 91-95, +8 for Dodge 96-99 and +10 for Dodge 100).
Dodging is also helpful in a minor way for evading combat magic cast on you
(Alertness is more helpful since it trains the subconscious reflexes, which
are more important since combat magic is so fast).


Find weakness
*************
This skill increases your chance to score a critical hit when fighting
monsters.


First aid
*********
This skill allows handling bleeding wounds and even might allow you to
recover some hit points... but only if those hit points were lost very
recently.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Fletchery
*********
with this skill, you can create new arrows and bolts. You need a fletchery
set and some wood to use it.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Food preservation
*****************
This skill is automatically used. Certain types of food (mainly corpses)
decompose over the time and finally vanish. Food preservation helps to
prevent such food from decomposing. If given enough time, food will
nonetheless decompose... this skill only helps to slow down the process. It
also makes it more likely to find corpses of monsters you slay.


Gardening
*********
This skill enables the character to plant herbs and harvest them later.
This might come handy since some herbs have magical properties.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Gemology
********
This skill is used to identify gems and separate them from worthless pieces
of glass.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Haggling
********
This skill allows the haggling down of prices for items. Charisma is also
important, but a PC good at haggling probably will have few problems to
make a bargain. Please note that although you might have bargained
successfully at times, the price for individual items won't necessarily go
down since ADOM drops all fractions and rounds prices.


Healing
*******
Healing covers long-term treatment of wounds and diseases. Long-term
treatment is used automatically. A high healing skill allows for a quicker
hit point recovery. Additionally, the chances to survive wasting sicknesses
are greatly increased by a high healing skill.


Herbalism
*********
Herbalism covers both plant and herb lore. A character skilled in herbalism
will be better able to recognize some of the strange plants that grow in
the dungeons. Additionally, when collecting herbs, such a character will
have a definite advantage over unskilled characters, because unskilled
characters only will be able to find cursed herbs.


Law
***
Law allows you to notice (maybe) whenever you go beyond law and commit a
chaotic act. It will also make known to you particularly lawful acts.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Listening
*********
This skill makes you notice sounds better. It is automatically checked
whenever the need arises. If you want your character to be very perceptive,
you should take care of your skill value in this skill.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Literacy
********
This skill governs your ability to read and write texts. If your learning
score is at least 10 and you are neither a barbarian nor a beastfighter,
you will receive this skill for free.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Metallurgy
**********
This skill is automatically used. When you discover metal ingots, it allows
for automatic identification (not always, but...). It is of great
importance to weaponsmiths. It can also be actively used to determine the
type of metal an item is made from (the item needs to be identified for
this). The higher your skill score is, the more detailed the results will
be.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Mining
******
This skill determines your ability in digging tunnels. You'll need to use a
pick axe to do that. The higher the skill is, the less time you need to dig
a tunnel section.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Music
*****
This skill controls your ability to play musical instruments. Some people
contend that it is possible to tame wild animals if you are a very skilled
musician.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Necromancy
**********
This dark and forbidden art allows the user to create undead creatures
which will serve him (or her). But there is a price to it... and don't
forget to bring the necessary corpses for animation. Using this skill
permanently drains your Mana attribute, although it is said that your Mana
very slowly regenerates itself (but this really seems to be a tedious
process).

It's also important to note that Necromancers using this skill are a lot
more versatile than simple dabblers in necromantic affairs. Necromancers
receive a wide variety of choices for the type of undead they wish to
create (starting with level 18).


Pick locks
**********
This skill allows the opening of locked doors, chests and hatches. To
utilize it you need some kind of thieves picks. If a lock is trapped, the
trap will probably be sprung unless you disarm the trap before picking the
lock.


Pick pockets
************
This skill enables you to steal small items from the pockets of certain
monsters. Not every monster will carry treasures around, not every treasure
will be accessible and finally you always risk making your victim very
angry (at least if your victim notices your attempt).


Smithing
********
Smithing allows the PC to repair damaged or broken metal items and to
improve weapons and armor. It is hard to use because you need the necessary
tools to practice it, the material to work with, and finally, you have to
find a smithy.


Stealth
*******
This skill prevents some monsters from noticing the player character. If
you are very good at it you might be able to sneak past monsters or mount a
surprise attack. The Stealth skill also is extremely helpful in ambushing
monsters in the wilderness. In that special case it can be supplemented by
the Survival skill.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Survival
********
This skill allows the character to gather food while traveling through the
wilderness. It can be very handy since more than one adventurer already
starved in the wilderness. The Survival skill also is extremely helpful in
ambushing monsters in the wilderness. In that special case it can be
supplemented by the Stealth skill.

If the skill score is greater than or equal to 80, ADOM will internally
always make two skill checks when one was requested by the circumstances
and use the better result.

If the skill score is equal to 100, ADOM will make three skill checks
whenever requested to do so and will also use the best result.


Swimming
********
This skill enables you to traverse bodies of water. To fail an attempt to
swim can be very deadly nonetheless.


Tactics
*******
This skill modifies the bonuses and penalties yielded by the 'T' command
(see the command list) which influences the fighting techniques of a
character. No character starts out with this skill -- you'll have to learn
it somewhere.


Two weapon combat
*****************
This skill increases your offensive power when fighting with two weapons.
Your chance to hit is increased by +1 per 20 points in this skill. Note
that fighting with two weapons costs 800 energy points plus the maximum of
the weapon speeds for the weapons being used, minus 4 energy points per
skill point in this skill.


Ventriloquism
*************
This skill can be used to confuse monsters. You try to project another
voice and if successful, this helps to confuse monsters for two or more
turns. This skill is very difficult to use effectively.


Woodcraft
*********
Whoever uses this skill is able to act competently while crossing woods and
trying to work on trees. Additionally it slightly increases the probability
to score critical hits on plant monsters. Many woodcutters and rangers
learn this skill.



Increasing Skills
-----------------

Skills can be increased in several ways.

If you practice a skill quite a lot, you might receive automatic increases
in your skill score from time to time.

You are also allowed to raise your skill score when you advance to a new
level. Increasing skills in this way is not very effective since you are
normally not allowed to increase your skills by a lot of points when
advancing a level. Practicing the skill often and training a little bit (it
is said that some skilled trainers are living in the area known as the
Drakalor Chain) can help a lot in this regard.



Marking Skills for Quick Selection
----------------------------------

By using the 'a' command you can mark skills with a number from 0 to 9.
This allows you to quickly select skills you like to use very often in a
speedier way. If you have marked one or more skills and press the 'a' key,
you will be asked whether you want to use a marked skill or choose from the
complete list.

Since many skills in ADOM are passive (automatically used), it might be a
good idea to mark such skills as 'Detect Traps', 'First Aid' and others.




Talents
=======

Each character in ADOM has one or more talents representing inborn
strengths and abilities that favor the character in some special way. A
character receives one or more talents at the time of character creation
(depending on several factors, among them race, profession, star signs and
special luck) and also steadily gain new talents while advancing in level:
every third level a new talent is gained.

While talents sometimes are independent of each other, at other times they
depend on prerequisites. These prerequisites can be highly variable: race,
profession, attribute scores, level, skills and other things are possible.

By selecting talents in a special order, you will be able to focus on
certain key areas and thus gain access to very powerful yet highly
specialized talents. By remaining unfocused you can choose from a wide
variety of talents and thus remain flexible.

If no talents are available (because you don't meet the prerequisites),
your choices are lost.



Starting Talents
----------------

The initial number of talents is determined according to the following
rules:

- Every character receives one base talent. - Characters born under the
sign of Falcon or Candle receive one free talent. - Characters with a Mana
score of 18 or more receive one free talent. - Humans, gnomes and
hurthlings receive one free talent. - Bards, merchants and farmers receive
one free talent. - Characters whose sum of attributes is divisible by 7
receive one free talent (this represents some inborn magical luck or
talent).



Cumulative Talents
------------------

All talent effects are cumulative, e.g. they add up or multiply (depending
on the special effect in question).



Talent List
-----------

The following list of talents is sorted in alphabetical order and gives
each talent with a brief description and optionally a list of
prerequisites.


Affinity with Axes
******************
+2 to hit with axes.


Affinity with Boomerangs & Scurgari
***********************************
+4 to hit with thrown boomerangs and scurgari.


Affinity with Bows
******************
+2 to hit with bows.


Affinity with Clubs & Hammers
*****************************
+2 to hit with clubs and hammers.


Affinity with Crossbows
***********************
+2 to hit with crossbows.


Affinity with Daggers & Knives
******************************
+2 to hit with daggers and knives.


Affinity with Thrown Daggers
****************************
+3 to hit with thrown daggers.


Affinity with Maces & Flails
****************************
+2 to hit with maces and flails.


Affinity with Polearms
**********************
+2 To Hit with Polearms.


Affinity with Slings
********************
+2 to hit with slings.


Affinity with Staves
********************
+2 to hit with staves.


Affinity with Swords
********************
+2 to hit with swords.


Affinity with Thrown Axes & Hammers
***********************************
+3 to hit with thrown axes and hammers.


Affinity with Thrown Rocks & Clubs
**********************************
+3 to hit with thrown rocks and clubs.


Affinity with Thrown Spears
***************************
+3 to hit with thrown spears.


Affinity with Twohanded Weapons
*******************************
+2 to hit with twohanded weapons.


Affinity with Whips
*******************
+4 to hit with whips.


Aggressive
**********
+1 to hit in melee.


Alert
*****
+1 to Perception.

Prerequisites: Level 1.


Ambidextrous
************
+2 to hit when fighting with two weapons.


Basher
******
+1 to hit and damage with weapons weighing more than 100 stones.


Beast of Burden
***************
Carrying capacity is increased by 30% due to the PC efficient packaging
skills and great endurance.

Prerequisites: Master Packager, Willpower 12+, Toughness 12+.


Boon to the Family
******************
Twice normal starting money.

Prerequisites: Level 1.


Brawler
*******
+2 to hit in unarmed melee combat.

Prerequisites: Strength 13+.


Careful
*******
+1 to DV.


Charged
*******
Regenerates power points at higher speed.

Prerequisites: Mana 16+, Potent Aura.


Charming
********
+1 to Charisma.

Prerequisites: Level 1.


Defensive Fighter
*****************
+2 to DV.

Prerequisites: Careful, Quick.


Dextrous
********
+1 to Dexterity.

Prerequisites: Level 1.


Dodger
******
+2 to DV.

Prerequisites: Defensive Fighter, Dodge 75+


Durable Magic
*************
All spell durations are increased by the PCs current level times 3.

Prerequisites: Willpower 16+, Strong Aura.


Eagle-Eyed
**********
+3 to hit and damage with missile weapons.

Prerequisites: Good Shot, Archery 80+, Dexterity 18+.


Extended Magic
**************
All spell ranges are increased by 2.

Prerequisites: Mana 24+, Mighty Aura.


Extremely Hardy
***************
+9 hit points.

Prerequisites: Very Hardy, Toughness 20+.


Extremely Skilled
*****************
+5 to all initial skill values.

Prerequisites: Very Skilled, Learning 15+, Level 1.


Far Shot
********
Missile attack ranges are increased by 20%.

Prerequisites: Keen Shot, Strength 10+.


Fey-Blooded
***********
+1 to Mana.

Prerequisites: Level 1.


Filthy Rich
***********
Three times the normal starting money.

Prerequisites: Very Wealthy, Level 1.


Good Book Caster
****************
Casting spells from books costs only double power points.

Prerequisites: Careful, Strong Aura, Dexterity 14+, Literacy.


Good Book Learner
*****************
PC is 10% more effective when learning spells from spell books.

Prerequisites: Potent Aura, Good Learner, Literacy.


Good Learner
************
Learns very fast. +2% to all experience gained.

Prerequisites: Learning 10+.


Good Looks
**********
+1 to Appearance.

Prerequisites: Level 1.


Good Shot
*********
+1 to hit and damage with missile weapons.


Greased Lightning
*****************
+4 to Speed.

Prerequisites: Very Quick, Dexterity 15+.


Great Book Caster
*****************
Casting spells from books costs only 50% more power points.

Prerequisites: Good Book Caster, Mighty Aura, Dexterity 18+, Perception
15+.


Great Book Learner
******************
PC is 10% more effective when learning spells from spell books.

Prerequisites: Good Book Learner, Strong Aura, Great Learner.


Great Learner
*************
Learns extremely fast. +3% to all experience gained.

Prerequisites: Learning 16+.


Hardy
*****
+3 hit points.

Prerequisites: Toughness 10+.


Healthy
*******
Heals wounds 20% faster.


Heir
****
Receives a special magical item inherited from his family.

Prerequisites: Boon to the Family, Charming, Level 1.


Immune to Pain
**************
One point of damage is always negated for all attacks. At least one point
of damage will be caused nonetheless.

Prerequisites: Iron Skin, Willpower 15+.


Iron Skin
*********
+1 to PV.

Prerequisites: Tough Skin, Toughness 15+.


Keen Shot
*********
+2 to hit and damage with missile weapons.

Prerequisites: Good Shot, Dexterity 13+.


Learned
*******
+1 to Learning.

Prerequisites: Level 1.


Lightning Shot
**************
Missile attacks require 10% less energy.

Prerequisites: Quick Shot, Archery 60+.


Long-Lived
**********
The PCs life span is extended by 30%.

Prerequisites: Level 1.


Long Stride
***********
Movement costs but 950 energy points.


Master Packager
***************
Carrying capacity is increased by 20% due to the PCs efficient packaging
skills.

Prerequisites: Porter, Learning 12+, Perception 12+.


Mechanically Inclined
*********************
All Disarm Traps checks are 10% easier.


Melee Weapon Master
*******************
+3 to hit and damage in melee combat.

Prerequisites: At least 3 melee weapon affinities, Defensive Fighter,
Strong of Will


Mighty Aura
***********
+9 power points.

Prerequisites: Strong Aura, Mana 15+


Mighty Strike
*************
+3 to hit and damage with weapons weighing more than 100 stones.

Prerequisites: Powerful Strike, Strength 18+.


Miser
*****
Tends to find more gold because he looks more intensely for it.


Missile Weapon Master
*********************
+3 to hit and damage in missile combat.

Prerequisites: At least 3 missile weapon affinities in addition to Keen
Shot, Alert


Mithril Skin
************
+3 to PV.

Prerequisites: Steel Skin, Dwarf.


Natural Berserker
*****************
+2 to hit and damage when berserking.

Prerequisites: Aggressive.


Natural Trader
**************
Shop prices are reduced by 20%.

Prerequisites: Silver Tongue, Charisma 14+.


Pious
*****
Prayers are 5% less expensive.

Prerequisites: Willpower 15+.


Porter
******
Carrying capacity is increased by 10% due to the PCs efficient packaging
skills.

Prerequisites: Strength 8+, Dexterity 10+.


Potent Aura
***********
+3 power points.

Prerequisites: Mana 10+


Powerful Strike
***************
+2 to hit and damage with weapons weighing more than 100 stones.

Prerequisites: Basher, Strength 13+.


Quick
*****
+2 to Speed.


Quick Shot
**********
Missile attacks require 10% less energy.

Prerequisites: Keen Shot, Quick.


Saint
*****
Prayers are 5% less expensive.

Prerequisites: Strong of Will, Very Pious, Willpower 30+.


Scout
*****
More likely to evade wilderness encounters. Less likely to be ambushed.

Prerequisites: Dexterity 10+, Perception 13+.


Shield Expert
*************
+2 to DV when wielding a shield.

Prerequisites: Shield Specialist, Shield Weapon Skill 3+


Shield Master
*************
+3 to DV when wielding a shield.

Prerequisites: Shield Expert, Shield Weapon Skill 6+


Shield Specialist
*****************
+1 to DV when wielding a shield.


Silver Tongue
*************
Shop prices are reduced by 10%.

Prerequisites: Charisma 10+.


Sixth Sense
***********
More easily evades traps.

Prerequisites: Perception 18+.


Skilled
*******
+2 to all initial skill values.

Prerequisites: Learning 9+, Level 1.


Stealthy
********
All Stealth checks are 10% easier.


Steel Skin
**********
+2 to PV.

Prerequisites: Iron Skin, Toughness 20+.


Strong
******
+1 to Strength.

Prerequisites: Level 1.


Strong Aura
***********
+6 power points.

Prerequisites: Potent Aura, Mana 12+.


Strong Healer
*************
+4 to all damage healed by spells.

Prerequisites: Potent Aura, Willpower 15+.


Strong Legs
***********
Kicking in doors is much easier. +2 to kick damage.

Prerequisites: Level 1.


Strong Magic
************
+2 to all damage caused by spells.

Prerequisites: Potent Aura, Mana 15+.


Strong Thrower
**************
+2 range with thrown weapons.

Prerequisites: Strength 12+.


Strong of Will
**************
+1 to Willpower.

Prerequisites: Level 1.


Tough
*****
+1 to Toughness.

Prerequisites: Level 1.


Tough Skin
**********
+1 to PV.

Prerequisites: Hardy, Toughness 12+.


Treasure Hunter
***************
Finds more treasure.

Prerequisites: Alert, Miser.


Very Careful
************
+3 to DV when fighting very defensively or like a coward.

Prerequisites: Careful.


Very Hardy
**********
+6 hit points.

Prerequisites: Hardy, Toughness 15+.


Very Pious
**********
Prayers are 5% less expensive.

Prerequisites: Pious, Willpower 20+.


Very Quick
**********
+3 to Speed.

Prerequisites: Quick.


Very Skilled
************
+3 to all initial skill values.

Prerequisites: Skilled, Learning 12+, Level 1.


Very Wealthy
************
Three times the normal starting money.

Prerequisites: Wealthy, Level 1.


Wealthy
*******
Three times the normal starting money.

Prerequisites: Boon to the family, Level 1.



Shaping Characters with Talents
-------------------------------

The initial talent choices can make a vast difference in how your character
players. Talents allow both very narrow specializations (if you e.g. select
only talents that increase your power points) or widely knowledgable
characters.



Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Talents in ADOM
-----------------------------------------------------

ADOM Deluxe (http://www.adom.de/steam) offers several modes of working with
talents:

* You can select all talents for your character by yourself. This offers
  the best customizability but also forces you understand and know the many
  available talents. Additionally it adds a pretty time-consuming step to
  character generation. Recommended for advanced players!
* You can allow ADOM to select predefined talents for you. ADOM has an
  internal selection of talents based on your chosen profession and will
  select from that list.
* You can deactivate talents completely (if you find neither the first nor
  the second option enjoyable).

ADOM Classic always makes you choose your talents yourself.




Weapon Skills
=============

Every character also has some weapon skills he can train. Weapon skills can
only be increased in one way: by practice. Basically, this means that your
skill will increase after a certain number of successful attacks (hits).
Depending on the weapon type, this can result in increases in to-hit and
to-damage ratings. Hand weapons also can yield a bonus to the character's
DV.

Note that ADOM traditionally assumes that everyone is right-handed and thus
your right hand will be your stronger hand. This might (in certain cases)
result in reduced bonuses if your character for whatever reason prefers to
wield weapon in his left hand.

For all weapons the following titles of mastery are used.

Weapon Level    Level
------------    -----
      0         unskilled
      1         basic
      2         basic
      3         basic
      4         skilled
      5         skilled
      6         skilled
      7         skilled
      8         excellent
      9         excellent
     10         excellent
     11         Mastery
     12         Mastery
     13         Mastery
     14         Mastery
     15         Grand Mastery

For melee weapons, the following numbers are used to mirror the experience
of a character with the weapon of his choice (note how different weapon
types yield different advantages):



Melee Weapon Skills
-------------------


Unarmed Fighting
****************
UNARMED FIGHTING   0  1  2  3  4  5  6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15
To-Hit Modifier    0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3  +4  +6  +6  +9 +10 +10 +10 +12 +12
To-Damage Modifier 0  0  0 +1 +1 +2 +2  +3  +3  +4  +6  +6  +8 +10 +10 +12
DV Modifier        0  0  0  0 +1 +1 +2  +2  +3  +3  +4  +5  +6  +8 +10 +12


Daggers & Knives
****************
DAGGERS & KNIVES   0  1  2  3  4  5  6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15
To-Hit Modifier    0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5  +6  +7  +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20
To-Damage Modifier 0  0  0 +1 +1 +2 +2  +3  +4  +5  +6  +7  +8 +10 +11 +12
DV Modifier        0  0  0  0  0 +1 +1  +1  +2  +2  +3  +3  +4  +4  +4  +5


Clubs & Hammers
***************
CLUBS & HAMMERS    0  1  2  3  4  5  6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15
To-Hit Modifier    0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4  +5  +6  +7  +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18
To-Damage Modifier 0  0  0 +1 +1 +2 +2  +3  +4  +5  +6  +7  +8 +10 +11 +12
DV Modifier        0  0  0  0 +1 +1 +1  +2  +2  +3  +3  +4  +4  +4  +5  +6


Maces & Flails
**************
MACES & FLAILS     0  1  2  3  4  5  6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15
To-Hit Modifier    0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4  +5  +6  +7  +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18
To-Damage Modifier 0  0  0 +1 +1 +2 +2  +3  +4  +5  +6  +7  +8 +10 +11 +12
DV Modifier        0  0  0  0 +1 +1 +1  +2  +2  +3  +3  +4  +4  +4  +5  +6


Swords
******
SWORDS             0  1  2  3  4  5  6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15
To-Hit Modifier    0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4  +5  +6  +7  +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18
To-Damage Modifier 0  0  0 +1 +1 +2 +2  +3  +4  +5  +6  +7  +8 +10 +11 +12
DV Modifier        0  0  0  0 +1 +1 +1  +2  +2  +3  +3  +4  +4  +4  +5  +6


Axes
****
AXES               0  1  2  3  4  5  6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15
To-Hit Modifier    0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4  +5  +6  +7  +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18
To-Damage Modifier 0  0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3  +4  +5  +6  +7  +8 +10 +12 +14 +16
DV Modifier        0  0  0  0  0 +1 +1  +1  +2  +2  +3  +3  +3  +4  +4  +4


Whips
*****
WHIPS              0  1  2  3  4  5  6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15
To-Hit Modifier    0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6  +8 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20 +22 +24
To-Damage Modifier 0  0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3  +4  +5  +7  +9 +11 +13 +15 +17 +19
DV Modifier        0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6  +7  +8  +9 +10 +11 +12 +13 +14 +15


Polearms
********
POLEARMS           0  1  2  3  4  5  6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15
To-Hit Modifier    0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6  +7  +8  +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20
To-Damage Modifier 0  0  0 +1 +1 +2 +2  +3  +4  +5  +6  +7  +8 +10 +11 +12
DV Modifier        0  0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5  +6  +8 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20 +22


Twohanded Weapons
*****************
TWOHANDED WEAPONS  0  1  2  3  4  5  6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15
To-Hit Modifier    0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +4 +5  +6  +7  +8 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20
To-Damage Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +6 +8  +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +21 +25 +30
DV Modifier        0  0  0 +1 +1 +1 +2  +2  +3  +3  +4  +4  +4  +5  +6  +8

Note that twohanded weapons are specifically built to be used with great
strength. Thus you receive one-half the standard damage bonus from strength
as an extra bonus when wielding a weapon of this category (and only this
category - other weapons like staves and polearms are built differently).
The extra damage is limited by twice your weapon skill (minimum limit: +4).


Staves
******
STAVES             0  1  2  3  4  5  6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15
To-Hit Modifier    0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6  +7  +8  +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20
To-Damage Modifier 0  0  0  0 +1 +1 +2  +2  +3  +3  +5  +6  +6  +7  +8 +10
DV Modifier        0 +1 +2 +3 +5 +7 +9 +11 +14 +17 +20 +23 +26 +30 +35 +40



Fighting with Two Weapons
-------------------------

If a character wields two melee weapons, his DV modifier is calculated by
taking the DV modifier of the weapon in the right hand plus one-half of the
DV modifier of the left hand weapon. If the character fights without any
weapon he will receive DV bonuses but once. Wielding a shield does not
count as fighting unarmed since it impedes your mobility.



Missile Weapons
---------------

Missile weapon skills yield a +2 to hit and +1 to damage for every skill
level and an additional +1 to damage for skill levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
and 14. Missile weapon skills have no effect on the character's DV, but
instead, the range of your missiles is increased by +1 for every 3 skill
levels.



Shields
-------

The shield skill yields a +2 bonus to DV per level in that skill. The trick
is that you can't get a higher bonus to your DV than twice your shield DV
bonus (e.g. if your shield yields a +4 DV bonus, the shield skill can't
provide more than +8 to DV). Shield skill marks are gained when you manage
to block an attack with your shield (e.g. the attack would have hit without
your shield DV bonus). A prerequisite for gaining more shield skill marks
is to use a shield that would allow you to benefit from a higher shield
skill. You also must not fight with berserk tactics (see the 'T' command).
When you are using two shields, you will only gain the better skill bonus
of the two, not both, since two shields are too unwieldy to be used
effectively. Note that wielding two shields prevents spellcasting and also
greatly inhibits the usage of ranged weapons.



Advancing Weapon Skills
-----------------------

The following table shows the number of required successful weapon checks
to advance to the level in question (after achieving a new level you start
collecting marks from scratch). Note that missile weapons require but
one-half as many marks.

Level  1 2  3  4  5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15
Melee 15 25 40 65 105 170 275 445 720 1165 1885 3050 4935 7985 12920
Missl  7 12 20 32  52  85 137 222 360  582  942 1525 2467 3992  6460

NOTE: If your character is fighting too defensively, he won't get any marks
for successful attacks (which basically means that you should not use the
'very defensive' and 'coward' settings of the 'T' command, if you want to
increase your weapon skills).

NOTE: The number of marks required to increase a weapon skill is partially
dependent on the class of your character. True spellcasters (wizards,
necromancers and elementalists) need twice as many marks as listed above.
Semi-spellcasters (priests and druids) actually need 50% more marks than
listed above. Farmers are so skilled in the use of polearms that they need
20% less marks to increase in their use. All other classes need to collect
the number of marks specified above.

NOTE: A character can hone his melee skills only to a certain amount when
fighting against the same monster. After a certain time (a certain number
of turns), he will have picked up all the specific tricks and moves of the
monster and will no longer gain any weapon skills by fighting that specific
beast. The more powerful a monster is, the more you usually will be able to
learn from it.

NOTE: Fighting with two whips at once is not recommended since this is
*very* difficult since you have to avoid getting entangled in your weapons.
Rules-wise this means that you will require a lot of speed to fight
effectively with these two whips.



Weapon Skills and Attack Energy
-------------------------------

Attacking with a weapon without the appropriate skill requires 1000 energy
points. If you attack with a weapon you are skilled with, the attack energy
required is reduced according to the following table:

Skill    0   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  15
Cost  1000 980 960 940 920 895 870 845 820 790 760 730 700 665 630 595

Fighting with two weapons costs [800 plus the maximum of the two attack
energy values for the weapons in question] energy points (although
possession of the Two Weapon Combat skill can lower this).




Attributes
==========

Attributes describe inborn qualities of a character (which nonetheless
might be modified by items, talents, skills and more). Attributes are
divided between primary attributes (which describe raw potentials like
strength of charisma) and secondary attributes (which usually derive from
primary attributes or complex formulae).



Primary Attributes
------------------

Basically, every character is described by eight primary attributes which
represent his abilities by birthright. Every attribute is rated from 1 to
99 (in theory). 10 is an average score, 8 is slightly below average, 5 is
quite bad, 3 is horrible, and everything below this is a real hindrance. 13
is a good score, 15 very good, 17 exceptional, 20 very high and everything
above this of epic proportions. It should be remembered that the average PC
is rated higher than normal individuals of his (or her) race because PCs
are meant to be true heroes. The absolute maximum for all attributes is 99,
which is probably equal in power level to demigods.

The potential maximum attribute scores are based on the initial attribute
scores. The maximum for an attribute is dependent on the base score and the
player race. These maximums can only rarely be surpassed by natural
training. This is a long and arduous process. Only magical methods can
exceed these limits with ease.

Attributes are rated as either primary or secondary. Secondary attributes
are derived from primary attributes and are often greatly influenced by
your experience level, class and race. The following attributes are used:


Strength
********
Strength describes your ability to inflict damage in combat, determines
your carrying capacity and influences your chance to hit opponents in melee
combat. The initial hit points are also partially based upon strength.


Learning
********
The learning score describes how easily your character learns new things,
how good the PC is at increasing skills and how easily magical spells are
learned. Your ability to read and write (no, that's not automatic!) is also
influenced by this score.


Willpower
*********
This attribute describes the strength of your will. The higher it is, the
better your PC is able to resist attacks affecting his mind. Willpower
influences your initial hit points and your initial magic points.


Dexterity
*********
This attribute rates your agility, nimbleness, speed and many other things.
A high dexterity score allows you to better dodge enemy attacks and traps.
PCs with low dexterity are clumsy and slow-moving... easy prey for your
enemies. Dexterity is also very important when attacking with missile
weapons.


Toughness
*********
This attribute rates your physical resistance, your endurance, your
constitution and your resistance to pain. Toughness is a major factor
influencing the number of hit points of your character.


Charisma
********
This attribute describes the personality of your character. PCs with high
charisma are outgoing, friendly and easily make friends, while characters
with low charisma are disliked by many people and have difficulties
interacting on a friendly and easy-going basis.


Appearance
**********
This attribute describes the looks of your character. PCs with high
appearance are good-looking and draw attention, while characters with low
appearance are unattractive or simply ugly but also draw attention
(unfriendly attention most of the time, that is!). Additionally the forces
of Chaos find more resistance with true beauty which results in being less
susceptible corruptin for appearance scores higher than 10 and being more
suceptible to corruption for appearance scores lower than 10 (basically
each point difference requires 1% more or less corruption to transform the
character).


Mana
****
This attribute describes the luck of your character, his attunement to the
forces of magic and his resistance to magic. Mana is a prime determinant
for magical power.


Perception
**********
This attribute describes the general perception ability of your character.
Perception is very important. It influences how far you can see in
dungeons. Characters with low perception have problems finding secret
doors, hearing noises and noticing certain traps -- they also can't see
very far in the dungeons. Characters with high perception are very alert
and notice slight details. They have superior vision and good hearing.
Finally perception adds a very minor bonus to your to-hit probabilities in
ranged combat.



Attribute Generation
--------------------

Attributes can be determined in two ways in ADOM. The easy way is random
attribute generation. Your attributes will be based on your race and
profession and a bit of luck. This means that your attributes might be
truly exceptional or pretty abysmal. The second way is attribute generation
by answering questions. Each question will present you with a situation and
four choices. Your selected choice will modify your attributes in one or
more ways. Please note that each choice will raise one or more attributes
and lower one or more other attributes. Additionally each choice is
balanced: if one attribute is increased by an amount 'x', another attribute
will be decreased by an equal amount. The choice is yours, so to speak!



Secondary Attributes
--------------------

The following secondary attributes are used:


Defensive Value (DV)
********************
The defensive value determines how hard you are to hit. It starts at 1, 10
is about average, and, in theory, it is not limited in its value. The
higher the value is, the harder you are to hit. This value is influenced by
race, class, dexterity, equipment, burden level, hunger, and dozens of
other factors.


Protection Value (PV)
*********************
PV determines how many points of damage are stopped when your PC is hit by
a physical attack. This value can be positive (which means that you have
adequate protection) or negative (which means that you are carrying some
kind of cursed items making it easier for your enemies to inflict wounds
upon you). This value is influenced by your toughness, your equipment and
several minor factors.


Hit Points (HP)
***************
Hit points represent how much punishment your character can take before
dying. The higher this value is, the better for you! Your maximal hit
points are listed in brackets. Your hit points can decrease through combat
wounds, traps, magical attacks, and many other things. As soon as your
current hit points are lower than your maximum hit points, you start to
heal wounds. How fast you heal injuries depends upon race, class,
toughness, healing skill, equipment, general conditions, and several minor
factors.


Power Points (PP)
*****************
Magical power is described by a certain number of power points. To cast a
spell (if you are able to do so), you have to spend a certain amount of
power. If you do not have enough power points to cast a certain spell, your
life energy will be drained instead. Be careful -- this might kill you! As
an added side effect abusing your body by channeling too much magic also
might result in a decreased connection to the mana flow of Ancardia and
heavily abuses your physical and mental health... which basically means
that your Willpower, Toughness and Mana attributes might decrease over
time. Your maximum power points are listed in brackets. Power is influenced
by mana, class, race, experience and willpower.




Experience and Gaining Levels
=============================

Each PC in ADOM is rated by his experience level. A character starts at
level 1 (a newly created adventurer) and might be able to advance to higher
levels by collecting experience points. Experience points are mostly gained
by killing monsters, but there might be other ways to learn... try to find
out for yourself.

To advance to a higher level, you have to collect a certain number of
experience points. How many points you have to collect for your next level
is determined by the following categories: race, class, and attributes.
Generally, you need more experience points to advance if you are very good
in one or more of these categories, you need less experience points to
advance if you are below average in one or more of those categories.

Whenever you have earned a certain amount of experience points, you
increase in level. Increasing in levels is a very good thing to do because
this brings many benefits. Whenever you go up a level, you get better in
combat, receive more hit points and more magical power (depending on your
class and race). You are also allowed to increase your skill values. The
number of skill improvements depends on your learning score. Finally, you
get a chance to raise (or lower) your attributes. This decision is made by
the game and is heavily influenced by your class, your experience level and
your actions during game play. There are finite limits to the number of
times you might be able to increase attribute scores in this way. Once you
have reached your natural potential, no more training of whatever kind will
help to increase attributes. Only magical means will further enhance your
attribute scores.




Magic & Spells
==============

The world of Ancardia is steeped in powerful magic. Although these forces
have been far stronger in earlier ages and slowly seem to be declining in
might, they are still a major force to be reckoned with.

The world of Ancardia is the home of many powerful wizards of various
schools and specialization. Priests are also able to use magical spells
very similar to the ones utilized by wizards (although the sources for
these powers are very different).

All magic is fueled by mana, the magical energy called the fifth element by
some. In ADOM the mana attribute of the player character is the major
factor in determining how well he is able to channel magical spells
(although both race and profession also have great influence on this).

Spells have to be learned from books. When reading such a book, the
character meditates about the forces and magical patterns which are
required to create the magical effect in question and attunes himself to
the mana flow of the world in such a way as to be able to activate the
specific spell. How well he is able to do this depends on a number of
factors -- among them the Learning attribute, the Concentration skill, the
class and more. ADOM uses a special number to describe the current
attunement to the mana flow of Ancardia for each and every spell the
character learns. The more often a spell is cast, the less close the
attunement of the character to the mana flow will be as his actions change
the mana flow and force him to re-attune him by again studying spellbooks.
Thus this number decreases with each spell casting until it is finally
reduced to zero and the character is no longer able to cast the spell.

On the other hand, a character becomes more efficient in casting a specific
spell if he does so very often. Training allows him to adjust the various
factors involved in casting a spell until he maximizes the gain from such a
spell. This learning factor is described by the term 'Spell Power'. The
character needs to cast a spell 'x' times to increase his power with that
spell by +1. The value 'x' depends on the current power (the better you
already are, the harder it is to improve) and can be determined like this:

If the current power is '+x', the character needs to cast the spell 'x + 1'
times to become even more efficient. If the character is neither a wizard,
elementalist, druid, priest, or necromancer, this number is tripled. If the
character is either a magician (wizard, elementalist or necromancer) and
tries to cast a priest spell or if he is a cleric (druid or priest) and
tries to cast a wizard spell, this number is doubled.

Power has various effects: it increases the range and/or damage of combat
spells, it heightens the effects of personal and healing magic and so on.
Each spell description lists those effects. Finally, high power with a
spell reduces the costs for casting such spells. For each 5 levels of power
with a given spell, the spell costs are reduced by 1 power point per
casting. Note that this reduction can't reduce the cost to a level lower
than half the original cost.

IMPORTANT: Power can never be increased to a level higher than twice your
learning score. If, on the other hand, your learning score is reduced below
a certain spell power, the power rating will remain at its current level.



Spell Display
-------------

Pressing 'Z' will display all the spells you know and some additional data
concerning them. Following each spell you will notice several numbers. The
first one describes how well you memorized the spell. It is decreased
whenever the spell is cast (by an amount determined by the power level of
the spell, your attributes, and some other factors). If this number is
reduced to 0 or less, the spell is forgotten and you are no longer able to
cast it. The second number is the number of power points you need to expend
to cast the spell in question. If you do not have that many power points,
you can still cast the spell. But beware -- this is very dangerous. The
strain imposed by casting a spell in such a way could kill you, if you are
not completely healed.

Afterwards a series of statistics follow which explain the spell effects in
more detail. The following values are possible:
	P: x - The spell is cast with power 'x'.
	R: x - The spell has a range or radius of 'x'. If the
               range 'LOS' is given, this means "Line of Sight" -
               as far as the PC can see.
	D: x - The spell lasts for 'x' turns.
	E: x - The spell effect is 'x'. Mostly this will be damage
               caused or cured. If the term '+R*' appears in the
               effect value this means that the effect decreases
               with distance. You can assume that the modifier
               is equal to the range R at distance 1, to
               (range R - 1) at distance 2 and so on.



Casting Spells from Books
-------------------------

It is also possible to cast a spell from a spellbook if you already have
learned the particular spell. Doing so costs triple the amount of power
points usually required, takes up 3000 energy points (casting from a book
takes more time since you have to loudly invoke the text) and does not
reduce your current spell knowledge. It also does not destroy the spellbook
after a limited amount of readings, either. Since casting a spell from a
book simply consists of following the instructions in the book, the spell
power for the spell in question is not increased.



Spell List
----------

This section summarizes the various spells known in Ancardia. Please note
that it should be considered to be but a short summary of the various
spells -- there might be yet unknown powerful castings.

First the spell name is listed. If two names are given, separated by a /,
the first one is the name commonly used by members of the arcane
professions (wizards, elementalists and necromancers), while the second
name is the one used by members of the clerical professions (priests,
druids and paladins). Then you'll find in brackets the profession groups
specifically suited to learning the spell. Effectively, this means that
members of those profession groups will have an easier time to understand
and learn the spell. Increasing power also is simpler for members of those
groups. For them the costs are determined as explained above. For members
of the 'other' profession group, the costs are doubled. For characters
neither having an arcane nor a clerical profession, costs are tripled.
Paladins using clerical magic only pay double the normal cost to increase
power. Lastly, you will find a description of the spell effects.

The descriptions include formulae to determine range, damage and duration
for spells. These formulae use certain abbreviations:

        W  - Willpower of the PC.
        M  - Mana of the PC.
        L  - Level of the PC.
        P  - Spell Power for the given spell.
        R  - Maximum range (as determined by the range formula).
        R* - Remaining range points when target is hit.

It also uses a maximum function denoted as M{x, y}, which means "take the
maximum of x and y". The minimum function m{x, y} is defined accordingly.
Finally, the die-rolling notation is used (see the respective section in
the manual for details).

Example: A damage of M{L + 2, W - 2}d6 + (L + W) / 4 means that to
determine damage, you first choose the maximum value of your level + 2 and
your willpower - 2. Roll the appropriate number of d6 and add to the result
a number determined by adding level and willpower divided by 4. Confusing,
eh? Feel assured that you don't need to understand this to be able to play
ADOM -- it just helps those die-hard tacticians.


Acid Ball / Rain of Sorrow
**************************
(Arcane)

This spell creates a downpour of acid in the vicinity of the character. The
caster is not harmed by the magical energies. Note that the rain even
penetrates walls since the magical energies creating the acid are built up
on the elemental plane of Mana and rock or stone on the material plane is
no concern on the plane of Mana.


Acid Bolt
*********
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell allows the caster to hurl a bolt of vicious and deadly liquid at
his opponents.


Bless
*****
(Clerical)

Application of this spell blesses one person (no items!). The target will
be more effective in combat and also enjoys some more luck. If cast on
undead targets, those undead will be damaged.


Burning Hands / Baptism of Fire
*******************************
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell engulfs a target adjacent to the caster in searing flames.


Calm Monster
************
(Arcane, Clerical)

Usage of this spell allows to calm down enraged monsters.


Create Item / Divine Favor
**************************
(Arcane, Clerical)

Application of this spell will bring a random item into existence.
Artifacts can't be created but other powerful items definitely are a
possibility.


Cure Critical Wounds
********************
(Clerical)

This spell cures a terrible wound. 4d8 + 4 + P points of damage will be
restored.


Cure Disease
************
(Clerical)

Application of this spell will cure a deadly disease, illness or sickness.


Cure Light Wounds
*****************
(Clerical)

This spell cures one minor wound. 1d8 + 1 + P points of damage will be
restored.


Cure Serious Wounds
*******************
(Clerical)

This spell cures a major wound. 2d10 + 2 + P points of damage will be
restored.


Darkness
********
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell is the reversal of the Light spell. It magically darkens a
bright area.


Death Ray / Greater Divine Touch
********************************
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell instantly slays the target (if it does not manage to resist in
some way, that is!).


Destroy Undead / Dispel Undead
******************************
(Clerical)

This spell is particularly suited to annihilate undead creatures
completely. The caster must be adjacent to the target creature.


Disarm Trap
***********
(Clerical)

with this spell one trap can be deactivated permanently. The caster must be
adjacent to the trap to be disarmed.


Earthquake
**********
(Clerical)

This very powerful spell effectively causes the earth to shake. It's
especially useful in the underground to collapse tunnel systems, open new
passages and slay hordes of enemies. Be warned that some locations are
structurally too hard to be affected by an earthquake.


Farsight
********
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell increases the range of view of the caster greatly.


Fire Ball / Major Punishment
****************************
(Arcane)

This spell makes the caster explode in a violent fireball engulfing
everything in his vicinity. The caster is not harmed by the magical
energies. Note that the explosion even penetrates walls since the magical
energies creating the fire are built up on the elemental plane of Mana and
rock or stone on the material plane is no concern on the plane of Mana.


Fire Bolt / Hellish Flames
**************************
(Arcane, Clerical)

Application of this spell allows the caster to hurl a fiery bolt at his
enemies.


Frost Bolt / Nether Bolt
************************
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell causes an icy bolt to spring from the hands of the caster.


Greater Identify / Greater Enlightenment
****************************************
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell will detail the powers of one item, especially its hidden powers
(like the ability to grant special immunities or resistances etc.).


Heal
****
(Clerical)

This spells heals a life-threatening wound. 10d6 + 10 + P points of damage
will be restored.


Ice Ball / Freezing Fury
************************
(Arcane)

This spell summons a deadly ice storm in the vicinity of the player,
consisting of hail and frozen crystals. The caster is not harmed by the
magical energies. Note that the storm even penetrates walls since the
magical energies creating the storm are built up on the elemental plane of
Mana and rock or stone on the material plane is no concern on the plane of
Mana.


Identify / Enlightenment
************************
(Arcane, Clerical)

By invoking this spell, the caster is able to identify a previously unknown
item in his equipment.


Improved Fireball / Invoked Devastation
***************************************
(Arcane)

This spell is similar to its lesser cousin (see above) with the major
difference that it causes more damage and can be hurled at targets far
away. Note that the explosion penetrates even walls since the magical
energies creating the fire are built up on the elemental plane of Mana and
rock or stone on the material plane is of no concern on the plane of Mana.


Invisibility / Veil of the Gods
*******************************
(Arcane)

This spell hides the target from mortal eyes. Only by magical means can the
target be discovered. Be warned: attacks on others will allow them to see
you. There are also several kinds of beasts that are able to see through
such magical disguises.


Knock / Divine Key
******************
(Arcane)

This spell unlocks and opens one locked door. Traps are not activated by
this spell but rather circumvented. The caster must stand adjacent to the
door.


Know Alignment
**************
(Clerical)

This spell allows the caster to determine the alignment of one target.


Light
*****
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell lights up a magically or naturally darkened area.


Lightning Ball / Heavenly Fury
******************************
(Arcane)

This spell summons a violent hail of thunderstrokes in the vicinity of the
player. The caster is not harmed by the magical energies. Note that the
thunderstrokes even penetrate walls since the magical energies creating the
lightning are built up on the elemental plane of Mana and rock or stone on
the material plane is no concern on the plane of Mana.


Lightning Bolt / Divine Wrath
*****************************
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell permits the user to launch a bolt of electrical energy from his
hands. Be careful as this bolt tends to bounce off obstacles.


Magic Lock / Seal of the Spheres
********************************
(Arcane)

By using this spell, the caster can magically lock a door.


Magic Map / Knowledge of the Ancients
*************************************
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell maps major parts of the currently unknown regions of the area
you explore.


Magic Missile / Minor Punishment
********************************
(Arcane)

This spell allows the caster to launch a minor energy bolt against his
enemies which is able to bounce off obstacles.


Mystic Shovel / Divine Digger
*****************************
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell allows you to penetrate stone in order to dig tunnels. Be warned
-- some materials are so hard that even magic won't have any effect!


Neutralize Poison
*****************
(Clerical)

By using this spell, the caster is able to neutralize poisonous substances
in his blood stream.


Petrification
*************
(Clerical)

The target of this spell probably will be turned to stone... forever.


Remove Curse
************
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell allows you to turn cursed items into uncursed items.


Revelation
**********
(Clerical)

This spell reveals special abilities of the character (e.g. magical
resistances and immunities).


Scare Monster / Holy Awe
************************
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell is used to create terror and fear within living, intelligent
opponents.


Slow Monster
************
(Arcane)

The target of this spell moves and acts with half its effective speed.


Slow Poison
***********
(Clerical)

This spell slows down the effects of poison in one's body. Several castings
might even succeed in completely neutralizing the poison.


Strength of Atlas / Lordly Might
********************************
(Arcane)

This spell allows the caster to carry tremendous loads. Beware -- his
combat strength is not increased, only his carrying capacity! You should
also make sure that you are not too overloaded when the spell ends.


Stun Ray / Lesser Divine Touch
******************************
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell dazes the targets and makes them move with little coordination.


Summon Monsters
***************
(Arcane, Clerical)

This spell calls a number of monsters into existence... which sadly are not
necessarily peaceful.


Teleportation / Ethereal Bridge
*******************************
(Arcane)

This spell instantly transports the target to another physical location.
without special magical means, the caster is unable to control the place of
arrival.


Web
***
(Arcane)

This spell engulfs everything in its path in sticky webs, probably slowing
down or completely stopping the movements of weaker monsters.


Wish
****
(Arcane)

This powerful spell alters reality itself and allows you to wish for
something.

In ADOM you might encounter magical wishes. Wishes are a powerful form of
magic which allows a variety of effects.

ADOM supports two types of wishes. You can wish for abstract things and
concepts like friends, money, wealth, strength, health, and other things.

You can also wish for items. Such wishes can be very useful, since ADOM
features many powerful and rare items. If you do not want to wait for a
certain item, just wish for it as soon as you receive a free wish. Since
wishes are powerful but not very precise magic, you can only wish for very
general items. For example, it's not possible to wish for 6 blessed long
swords (+6, 1d8+6), but you would rather have to wish for long swords or
mithril plate mails. If your wish is not formulated precisely you might get
something other than what you are expecting -- so be careful!




Mindcraft
=========

The art of Mindcraft is a very strange discipline. Many believe it to be
just another type of magic, but the truly enlightened know that it is a
very different way of using one's inner strength and willpower.

Mindcrafters utilize their mental powers to generate astonishing effects.
The arts of Mindcraft and magic do not work very well together. Only long
meditation and inner peace will allow a person to awaken the mental powers
within, while magic seems to encourage active and curious minds.

The following sections will describe the mental powers available to
Mindcrafters. The number in brackets mentions the level at which the power
will become available.

Be warned! The powers of Mindcraft come at a price. Artificial and mindless
beings are immune to mental powers and undead are a great danger to all
Mindcrafters. Their corrupted and insane minds are able to turn the mental
powers upon the Mindcrafter, harming or killing him. Additionally, walls
are not able to block the powers of the mind -- so be careful about what
might be lurking behind the next wall before wildly employing Mindcraft.
Many beings don't like others trying to toast their brains. Your
mindcrafter also might want to avoid contact with corrupted monsters. Sages
claim that corrupted minds will transfer some of the corruption to the
contacting mind.

Mental powers are fed with power points and if the character does not have
enough power points to activate the power, he is at a loss. Some powers are
continuous and cost power points each turn.



Mental Power List
-----------------

The following special powers are available in the game (W is the shortcut
for willpower, L for the level of the Mindcrafter):


Teleport Control
****************
Level 1 mindcraft power.

The ability to control your destination when teleporting.


Confusion Blast
***************
Level 1 mindcraft power.

A linear blast which disturbs the minds of your opponents and confuses
them.


Confusion Wave
**************
Level 3 mindcraft power.

Similar to Confusion Blast, but affects all beings within a certain range.


Mind Blast
**********
Level 6 mindcraft power.

A mental attack trying to destroy the brain cells of the victims. Damage:
[{(W + L) / 6} + 1]d5.


Mental Shield
*************
Level 9 mindcraft power.

A mental defense, which affects both defensive and protection values of the
character. DV: + [(L + W) / 5], PV: + [(L + W) / 8]. Continuous power.


Mind Wave
*********
Level 12 mindcraft power.

A mental attack similar to Mind Blast, with the difference that it affects
all beings within a certain range.


Telekinetic Blast
*****************
Level 15 mindcraft power.

A projected force which might shatter doors and is able to damage beings
physically. Damage: [(W / 5) + L]d3


Eyes of the Mind
****************
Level 18 mindcraft power.

A hypersense which allows the character to sense creatures and beings
within a certain range.


Greater Mental Blast
********************
Level 25 mindcraft power.

A more advanced form of Mind Blast. Damage: [{(W + L) / 8} + 1]d9.


Greater Telekinetic Blast
*************************
Level 30 mindcraft power.

A powerful force ball causing a lot of physical damage to beings. It might
even be powerful enough to shatter stone. Damage: [(W / 5) + L]d6


Regeneration
************
Level 35 mindcraft power.

A defensive power which allows the Mindcrafter to heal his wounds.
Continuous power.


Teleport Self
*************
Level 40 mindcraft power.

A power allowing the travel to remote places within the blink of an eye.


Teleport Other
**************
Level 45 mindcraft power.

Similar to teleport self, but can be used on other beings.


Greater Mental Wave
*******************
Level 50 mindcraft power.

Similar to Greater Mental Blast, but affects all creatures within a certain
range.




Corruptions
===========

The forces of Chaos slowly start to get a grip on the world of Ancardia.
Rumor has it that the dark magic used by the forces of Chaos and their
presence itself have corrupting effects on all living beings on Ancardia
and even on the environment itself. Strange mutants have been sighted and
formerly normal humans suddenly were horribly changed.

Be prepared to be faced with these dangers and try to avoid becoming
transformed into a horrible being of Chaos. Although the powers might seem
advantageous, they nearly always will bring doom (or so they say).




The Game
========

ADOM is started by typing

                                adom

at your command prompt or by clicking on its icon or launching it via Steam
(for ADOM Deluxe, see http://www.adom.de/steam). After some moments the
game will start.



Starting ADOM Classic
---------------------

After passing the title screen, you will have to choose whether to start a
new game, restore a saved game or page through this manual.

The restore option will provide you with a list of available saved games
from which you can restore a game. Please note that you can't restore a
game when your character died the last time you played (this is a staple of
roguelike gaming; ADOM Deluxe offers an option to save and restore games
even after dying).

If you choose to create a new character, ADOM first of all will randomly
determine your birth date, your star sign and give some details about the
effects of the events surrounding your birth. Then you will have to decide
whether to choose a specific class and race to play or whether you want
ADOM to choose for you. In both cases you will have to determine the gender
of your character. This has some influence on game play (in ADOM female
characters are more agile, male characters are slightly stronger). If you
allow fate to decide the details, ADOM will randomly choose the race and
profession of your character, otherwise you will be presented with lists
for both from which you have to choose.

Then you will have to enter a name for the character you are going to play.
The name has no further influence on game play but serves to individualize
your character. If you just press ENTER instead of entering a name, the
game will christen your character with a default name, if the variable
"Allow_Default_Names" is set to "true" in "adom.cfg".

Next, the background of your character will be described. The game will
mention your character's sex and race and then detail his life prior to
starting his adventure. Every character lives through four major phases of
development: early childhood, childhood, youth and young adulthood. For
each phase certain events are generated. These events serve to detail your
PC and influence his attributes. Finally, you will get to know your class,
your area of specialization (if available) and your starting age.

After all this you will be dumped directly into the game. You are assumed
to have just entered one of the major valleys in the Drakalor Chain and
from that point on everything is based on your actions.



Starting ADOM Deluxe
--------------------

ADOM Deluxe always starts in graphical mode (at least until you change the
settings).

Note that you can switch ASCII and graphical display at any time by
pressing F10.

We recommend using the graphical mode until you feel comfortable with the
options provided by ADOM Deluxe as there are tons of options and choices
and these all are documented via tooltips and other means in the graphical
mode (and we won't repeat that information here).



Important Concepts
------------------


The ADOM Classic Main Screen
****************************
Most of the time you will see the main game screen, which contains most of
the interesting information about your character, your surroundings and
your condition.

The following sample shows how a game screen might look:

------------------------< Begin Screen copy >----------------------------
The skeleton fails to hurt you.


                                   ################
                                   #..../.%.......#    #########
                                   #.####.........######.......#
  #########                        #.#  #............../.......#
  #.......###                      #.#  ########/#######.......#
  #......./.#############          #.#         #.#     #########     #######
  #.......#./...........############.###########.#####################.....#
  ####.######.............^..z@............................................#
     #.#    #....<......############.###########.#####################.....#
     #.#    #...........#          #.#   #######/#                   #.....#
     #.#    ##/##########          #.#   #.......#                   #.#####
     #.#     #.#                   #.#   #.......#                   #.#
     #.#    ##/############        #.#   #.......#                   #.#
  ####/#### #......^......#    #####/### #########                   #.#
  #.......# #.....###.....#    #.......###############################.#
  #.>.....# #.....# #.....#    #......./...............................#
  #.......# #.....# #######    #.......#################################
  ######### #######            #########

Geffrey      St:19  Le: 9  Wi:14  Dx:12  To:22  Ch: 8  Ap: 8  Ma:11  Pe:15 N=
DV/PV: 10/4  H: 27(27)       P: 3(3)        Exp: 1/139         D: 1  Sp: 100

-------------------------< End Screen copy >-----------------------------

The first two lines of the screens are reserved for messages which explain
certain events and actions. If more text is issued than fits into those two
lines, a (more) prompt will appear. To continue you have to press SPACE (or
Z). If you are expecting many messages in one turn which you don't want to
read, you also can press ENTER. All messages will scroll through without
waiting for a confirmation. If you want to look at one of those messages
later, you can still use the ':m' command (see below).

The last three lines contain information about your character in the
following order:

* Name: Let's guess what this is :-)
* St: The strength score of your character.
* Le: The learning score of your character.
* Wi: The willpower score of your character.
* Dx: The dexterity score of your character.
* To: The toughness score of your character.
* Ch: The charisma score of your character.
* Ap: The appearance score of your character.
* Ma: The mana score of your character.
* Pe: The perception score of your character.
* DV: The defensive value of your character.
* PV: The protection value of your character.
* H: The hit points of your character.
* P: The magical power of your character.
* Exp: The experience you have to collected up to now and your experience
  level. The second number stands for the number of experience points you
  already have earned, the first number describes your current experience
  level.
* A letter shortcut for the current dungeon followed (usually) by the
  number of the current dungeon level.
* Sp: The speed value of your character. Optionally the number of turns
  that have passed can be displayed in this area.
* A sequence of up to two characters describing your alignment (more about
  this in the section on alignment).

All lines between these two screen parts are used to display the map of the
current dungeon level or wilderness area (as far as you have explored it).
Specific characters are used to represent items, monsters, locations, and
other stuff.


The ADOM Deluxe Main Screen
***************************
The ADOM Deluxe main screen uses a graphical head up display (HUD) at the
top, a command icon system to the right and a message area at the bottom
left to display all important information. Additionally a mini-map is
displayed in various locations.

You can use the mouse to hover over most of those areas. A tooltip will
show up if the element is clickable. The tooltip will show
* detail information about the content of the element underneath the mouse
  cursor
* click hints pointing towards the effects of left- or right-clicking on
  the given element.

Noe that you also can hover over map positions. After a brief moment a
tooltip will be displayed giving detail information about the content of
the tile underneath (e.g. item, monster, tile and feature information). If
a monster is located beneath the mouse cursor you can click on the monster
icon in the tooltip to call upon the monster memory of your player
character (see the explanations in the section below).

The HUD contains the following elements from left to right (and if you
can't see all of them you either should increase the size of your ADOM game
window or your screen resolution - the HUD works best with a resolution of
at least 1900 pixels horizontically):

* The name of the character
* The experience level of the character. A bar underneath the level shows
  your progress to advancing to the next level based on the number of
  experience points you have collected so far.
* The hit points (life energy) of your character.
* The power points (magical energy) of your character.
* DV: The defensive value of your character. And stacked underneath it...
* PV: The protection value of your character.
* St: The strength score of your character.
* Le: The learning score of your character.
* Wi: The willpower score of your character.
* Dx: The dexterity score of your character.
* To: The toughness score of your character.
* Ch: The charisma score of your character.
* Ap: The appearance score of your character.
* Ma: The mana score of your character.
* Pe: The perception score of your character.
* A letter shortcut for the current dungeon followed (usually) by the
  number of the current dungeon level. And stacked underneath it...
* A sequence of up to two characters describing your alignment (more about
  this in the section on alignment).
* The speed value of your character. Other values can be displayed here
  (see the section on the 'Dynamic Display' for more details about this).
  And stacked underneath it...
* The number of gold pieces currently carried by the player character.

The icons on the right side are context-dependent and can be clicked
(always left-clicked and sometimes right-clicked). Make yourself familiar
with those icons (and observe changes as you move around) by closely
looking at the provided tooltips.

The mini map gives an overview of the complete map (as depending on your
monitor resolution only a part of the full map is shown). You can click on
the mini map in order to navigate to currently invisible areas.

Note that the whole map areas is clickable:
* Left-clicking on a location usually will move your character to that
  location.
* Left-clicking on a monster usually will attack that monster (either with
  a missile attack or in melee).
* Right-clicking on locations will open a context menu with all relevant
  options.

Sometimes special icons and quick hints will be displayed in the upper
right corner. Special icons point towards hunger, poisoning and other
effects (and some of them are clickable, too, e.g. to consume food when
hungry).

Finally take note of the mouse cursor: It changes in order to hint at the
left-click activity that will be executed when clicking on a specific
locations.



Quick Hints
-----------

Quick hints point towards special commands (and the keys to be entered to
activate them) which might be helpful in the current context. If you
dislike the quick hints you can disable them by pressing '=' and setting
the 'Quick_Hint_Limit' to zero).

In ASCII mode quick hints are displayed as far away from the PC as possible
(in order to not obscure the map). In tiled mode they always are displayed
in the top right corner.

Note that quick hints also disappear after playing for a while: When a
command has been activated 10 or more times with the key combination shown
by a quick hint, said quick hint no longer is available (as ADOM assumes
that you have memorized the given command). You can configure the number of
activations required by the 'Quick_Hint_Limit' as explained at the start of
this section.



The Display
-----------


The ASCII Display
*****************
During game play everything you encounter is represented by certain symbols
on the map. Symbols are simple colored characters. Some symbols have more
than one meaning. This section explains the various symbols and their
potential meanings.

		       --- Map Symbols (dungeon) ---

      #  Rock or wall                     =  Water
      /  Open door                        T  Tree
      +  Closed door                      0  Pool or hive
      .  Floor, passage, tunnel           +  Tombstone
      &  Forge or other special places    |  Webs
      <  Stair leading upwards            >  Stair leading downwards
      _  Altar                            *  Hole
      ^  Known trap                       8  Gate
      "  Herbs

		     --- Map Symbols (wilderness) ---

      ^  Mountains                        .  Road
      ~  Hills                            =  Water
      &  Forest                           *  Entrance
      "  Plains or Swamp                  o  Buildings
      

			   --- Item Symbols ---

      [  Protective gear, shields         \\  Wands
      '  Necklaces                        ?  Scrolls
      (  Hand weapons                     ]  Tools
      }  Missile weapon                   ~  Bracers
      *  Rocks & Gems                     %  Food & Corpses
      /  Missiles                         $  Gold
      =  Rings                            {  Music instruments
      "  Books

			  --- Monster Symbols ---

Monsters are grouped into specific categories to make it easier to
distinguish them. The following scheme is used (with some exceptions):

      a  Ants                             A  Aquatic beings                
      b  Bees                             B  Bats                          
      c  Centipedes                       C  Chaos creatures               
      d  Dogs & other canines             D  Dragons                       
      e  magical Eye                      E  Elementals
      f  Felines                          F  Fantastic beasts              
      g  Grungy humanoids                 G  Ghosts                        
      h  Humanoids                        H  giant Humanoids               
      i  Insects                          I  Imps & other minor demons     
      j  Jellies & oozes                  J  (unused)                      
      k  Kobolds                          K  berserKers & barbarians
      l  Lizards                          L  Liches                        
      m  Mimics                           M  Minotaurs
      n  (unused)                         N  Natural beasts
      o  Orcs                             O  Ogres                         
      p  Pixies                           P  Plants                        
      q  (unused)                         Q  (unused)                      
      r  Rodents                          R  Rust monsters                 
      s  Snakes                           S  Spiders                       
      t  Townsfolk                        T  Trolls                        
      u  Underdark humanoids              U  Unicorns                      
      v  (unused)                         V  Vortices
      w  Worms                            W  Wyrms                         
      x  grues                            X  eXtra-planar beings
      y  (unused)                         Y  constructs           
      z  Zombies & other lesser undead    Z  greater undead                

      &  greater demons                   @  (demi-)humans
      [  animated armor                   *  will o'wisp


The Tiled Display
*****************
The graphical tile display uses beautiful images to represent the map, all
monsters, items and features. Take care to notice special messages for
small icons on the ground!



The Monster Memory
------------------

One of the utilities provided by ADOM is the so-called monster memory. This
utility helps the player to memorize useful monster data, like monster DV
and PV, average hit points, number of attacks, average damage, and special
powers. The monster memory can be invoked in two ways: either you 'l'ook
around and demand more information upon looking at a monster or you invoke
the '&' command and enter the name of a specific monster race (e. g.
'goblin' or 'white baby dragon'). If you have encountered the monster
before, you will receive information based upon your observations. This can
be as little as the physical description to as much as complete data about
the combat stats and powers of a monster.

It is important to note that the monster memory takes into account the
abilities of your character. Based upon his Learning score, his Perception
score and some skills, it is more or less likely that the character will
learn something from his observations. This also means that your character
might mistake powers for something else. If a monster resists a fireball
due to its innate magic resistance the character still will believe that
the monster is immune to fire (just to name on example). Only later
experiences will remedy this observation.

Additionally, the monster memory is not persistent. Between two games (that
is: from one character to the next) it will get erased. This is so
(compared to other games, which keep such a memory) because monsters in
ADOM are pretty dynamic. They have varying levels and can gain experience
like the PC. This effectively means that a monster can be very different
between two games. Since observations thus are very subjective, it would be
pretty misleading to keep such data between two games. It is my firm belief
that the monster memory should serve to mirror the observations of the
actual character and not those of the player. If you want to have a hint
through, use some sheets of paper and a pen (or pencil).



The Player Character Screen
---------------------------

ADOM provides a screen with most of the important statistics you might want
to know about your PC. Usually (as per default command set) this screen is
invoked by pressing '@'.

The PC screen is divided into several parts dedicated to certain aspects of
the PC.

The upper left half of the screen is dedicated to the attribute scores of
your PC. It lists all the attribute names in the first column (in yellow,
if not yet maxed out or in brown if maxed out in the natural way), followed
by the current unmodified attribute score. The next column lists the
natural maximums for the attribute scores. They can be raised by long and
hard training, but usually only magic will be of quick help when trying to
pass these limits. (See the section on attributes for more details.) The
next column displays temporary attribute bonuses (e.g. from certain
potions), followed by a column listing special bonuses (e.g. due to magical
items). The last column shows the total score for each attribute. If your
attribute score is raised, it will be displayed in green; if it's lowered
by some means, it will be displayed in red; if it's equal to the maximum
score possible, it will be displayed in brown. In all other cases yellow is
used.

The upper right half of the screen contains a list of miscellaneous data.
First you'll see the current speed value. If you also enjoy a temporary
speed bonus, it will be displayed in square brackets. This is followed by a
verbal approximation of that value. Then the screen lists your current
financial status, potential debts, the name of your deity, and the elapsed
amount of game time. The next entries are concerned with your omens of
birth and star sign. First you'll see the number of the day on which you
were born in the Ancardian year followed by your star sign. Then you'll see
the *current* month in the game (both by number and by name). The next line
describes the *current* day in the game, both by its number in the current
month and by its absolute number in the current game year (so that you can
compare it to your birthday). Finally, the state of the moon (full, new,
waxing, waning) will be described. The last entry in that section displays
the age of your character.

In the middle of the screen you'll see the encumbrance data for your PC. In
order, you'll see the current encumbrance, the minimum encumbrance to be
considered burdened and the respective minimum levels for being considered
strained and very strained.

Below this, you'll see the data for melee combat, kicking, and missile
combat.



Standard Commands
-----------------

During game play, commands are issued by pressing one or more keys.
Whenever you find a description like 'Ctrl+x' you are expected to press the
Control-key and the key 'x' at the same time to invoke the corresponding
command. The same holds true for the 'Alt+x' notation although you have to
press Alt instead of Ctrl.

The following default commands are normally available:

Ctrl+t          Activate trap
a               Apply skill
<               Ascend stair/Leave location
Z               Cast spell
C               Chat with monster
H               Change highlight mode
T               Change tactic
L               Check literacy
E               Clean ears
c               Close door
ws              Continuous search for hidden stuff
(               Create short character logfile
)               Create verbose character logfile
[               Create screenshot
>               Descend stair/Enter location
!               Dip (something) into (potion)
:T              Display available talents
A               Display and quick-mark skills
B               Display background
:b              Display burden levels
\\               Display chaos powers
Alt+q           Display character information
@               Display character information
:c              Display companions
$               Display wealth, manage debts and pay items
:g              Display name of your deity
Ctrl+e          Display elapsed game time
/               Display identified items
K               Display kick statistics
:k              Display killed monsters
:l              Display level map without monsters or items
Alt+l           Display level map without monsters or items
:m              Display message buffer
M               Display missile statistics
:h              Display previous hints
Ctrl+h          Display previous hints
q               Display quest status
R               Display recipes
x               Display required experience
Alt+z           Display learned spells
::              Display talents
Alt+t           Display talents
V               Display version
Ctrl+w          Display weapon skills
W               Display weapon statistics
:W              Display weather information
:w              Display weather information
D               Drink
d               Drop something
Ctrl+d          Drop a preselected set of items
e               Eat
0               Explore unknown areas
-               Explore unknown areas
w?              Explore unknown areas
:d              Drop a category of items
U               Use item in backpack
g               Give item to monster
wm              Go attack closest monster
wi              Go to closest item(s)
w_              Go to closest altar
w&              Go to closest forge
w*              Go to position
w<              Go up or exit
w>              Go down or enter
h               Handle something
i               Inventory
Ctrl+i          Invoke mindcraft
Ctrl+o          Issue order to companion
k               Kick
l               Look (Examine environment)
=               Manage configuration variables
1               Move to the southwest
Cursor-Down     Move to the south
2               Move to the south
3               Move to the southeast
Cursor-Left     Move to the west
4               Move to the west
Cursor-Right    Move to the east
6               Move to the east
7               Move to the northwest
Cursor-Up       Move to the north
8               Move to the north
9               Move to the northeast
n               Name monster/yourself
Enter           Act reasonably
?               Online help
o               Open door
,               Pick up items
p               Pick up items
Ctrl+p          Pick up items comfortably
_               Pray
Q               Quit game
r               Read
&               Recall monster memory
'               Repeat last command
O               Sacrifice
S               Save game
s               Search for hidden objects & features
F1              Set tactics to 'berserker'
F2              Set tactics to 'very aggressive'
F3              Set tactics to 'aggressive'
F4              Set tactics to 'normal'
F5              Set tactics to 'defensive'
F6              Set tactics to 'very defensive'
F7              Set tactics to 'coward'
:S              Set the auto-save interval
t               Shoot/Throw missile
I               Stuff (backpack)
:s              Swap position with monster
Ctrl+s          Swap position with monster
Ctrl+a          Switch auto-pickup on/off
:t              Switch the dynamic display
Ctrl+k          Switch the required (more) & speech bubble key
Ctrl+l          Lock/Unlock door
u               Use item in inventory
Ctrl+x          Use class power
m               Use special ability
Ctrl+u          Use item in tool slot
v               View all important PC data
Ctrl+c          View challenge mode setup
5               Wait
.               Wait
w1              Walk to the southwest
wCursor-Down    Walk to the south
w2              Walk to the south
w3              Walk to the southeast
wCursor-Left    Walk to the west
w4              Walk to the west
w.              Extended wait
w5              Extended wait
wCursor-Right   Walk to the east
w6              Walk to the east
w7              Walk to the northwest
wCursor-Up      Walk to the north
w8              Walk to the north
w9              Walk to the northeast
F               Wipe face
z               Zap wand, staff or other item



Special Commands in ADOM Deluxe
-------------------------------

The following extra commands are only available in ADOM Deluxe:

Ctrl+nx 		Activate NotEye expert configuration menu
Ctrl+nvm 		Change music volume
Ctrl+nvs 		Change sound volume
Ctrl+nd 		Switch display mode
Alt+Enter		Switch fullscreen mode
F10 			Toggle Tile/ASCII display

For details about the dynamic display see the end of this section.

In the game you will encounter multiple screens containing tables, lists,
etc. Whenever you are given the choice to get out of one of those screens
by pressing the 'Z' key, you can also press the space bar. The 'Z' key is
always listed in the help lines because of historical reasons (and because
it's easier to display than the ' ' ;-)

It is possible to redefine the keybindings (see the appropriate section of
the manual for details).



Movement
--------

You can move into eight directions by pressing the respective number key
displayed in the following movement grid:

                             7  8  9
                               \\|/
                             4 -5- 6
                               /|\\
                             1  2  3

To attack a monster, simply try to move into the field the monster is
standing on. This will result in a melee attack.

If you opt for faster movement you can activate the so-called 'walk-mode'
by pressing 'w' followed by a direction key. This will make your character
walk into the chosen direction until he meets something of interest.
Movement will cease as soon as one of the following things happens:

* Your direction of choice is blocked.
* A monster appears in your immediate vicinity.
* Items are lying at your current position.
* Something special (e.g. a stairway) is located at your current position.
* A move will bring you into the immediate vicinity of a monster.
* You are stunned, confused or blinded.
* Your hunger status changes.
* You are bleeding, sick or poisoned.

Generally, activating 'walk-mode' is a good way to cover long distances
which have been explored before. To make full use of the vast array of
available tactical options, you should not use 'walk-mode' when exploring
unknown locations.

Walk-mode also allows the character to wait in place (e.g. to regenerate
lost hit points or power points). Just press 'w' for walk-mode and the '5'
for waiting in place. Walk-mode will abort if a monster enters your
immediate vicinity, your equipment weight or your hunger level changes or
50 turns have gone by.

If you are using the numeric keypad remember to press NUM LOCK.



Speed
-----

Actions in real life rarely are synchronous. Beings rather act
individually, move with different speed and are either slower or faster
than others. ADOM simulates this by using a 'speed system'. The core notion
of this system is that every character and monster has to collect a certain
amount of energy to be able to act. Some beings are able to gather this
energy faster and thus can act at higher speed, others gain this energy
more slowly and thus act in a slower way.

To be able to act once in ADOM your character needs to accumulate at least
1000 energy points. Every acting being has a 'speed value' and a current
energy rating. ADOM divides each player turn into a number of segments. In
each segment every being on the current level adds its speed value to its
current energy. Each being that passes the '1000 energy minimum' with its
current energy value is allowed to act. Afterwards the current energy
rating is reduced by 1000 (in most cases).

All Player Characters start with a basic speed value of 100 which basically
means that they can act once every 10 segments. This rating can be modified
by class (monks and beastfighters get faster with more experience),
dexterity (a score of 17 or higher can be helpful), encumbrance level (the
more you are encumbered the slower you get), alcohol level (being drunk is
not a good idea in all cases), satiation level (a full stomach makes you
move slower... starving doesn't help either), your Athletics skill, and
special items. Being born under the sign of the Raven also helps.

Your energy can never be lower than 1 (although this spells certain doom)
and is not limited by any value. The only limit is that you can act only
once per segment (even speed scores of 2000+ can't help in this respect...
although they are impossible to attain in any case).

Most monsters also have a base speed value of 100, although there are
exceptions. Be prepared to face changing speed monstrosities occasionally.

Finally you need to understand that some items don't increase your overall
speed score but might limit the energy costs for certain actions (e.g.
seven league boots could require you to expend but 500 energy points to be
able to move -- thus you could move faster, but all other actions would be
carried out at normal speed). This is also true for weapon skills which are
able to reduce the amount of energy required to stage an attack (see the
section on weapon skills for details).

SPECIAL NOTE: If you are setting your tactics level to 'coward' and then
simply move around without attacking anything, such a move only costs 800
energy points *if* your hit points are reduced to one-third their starting
value or below (panic does that to you -- and since ADOM basically is a
heroic game we'll ignore other wound effects). Remember this when you try
to run away!



The Dynamic Display
-------------------

The dynamic display is used to present detailed information about the
actions of the player. It either can display one of the following pieces of
information:

* the current number of moves executed by the player (an internal game
  counter),
* the current speed value of the PC,
* the energy cost of the last action executed by the PC,
* the number of gold pieces carried by the PC or
* the remaining number of missiles in the quiver of the PC.

By default the current speed value is displayed.

Note that the 'energy cost for the last action' display option does not
necessarily show the expected value for energy costs below 1000. This is so
because ADOM's internal rating system for action costs relies on relative
measurements (e.g. if your potion of speed results in an 800 energy point
cost for movement and due to your class you also would be able to move for
800 energy points, this is scaled to a cost of 100000 / {100 + [(100000 /
800) - 100] * 2} = 666 energy points). If you don't understand the formula,
simply look at the source code. ;-) Not understanding it is *not* a sign of
being stupid ;-))



Dice
----

Roleplaying games mostly use dice to generate random events. Paper games
rely on several kinds of dice -- most often 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12- and
20-sided dice are used. Computers are not limited by arbitrary die forms
and thus enjoy the freedom to use any kind of dice imaginable as a random
number generator.

Roleplayers use an abbreviated way of describing the number of dice to be
rolled to generate a random number. Basically a certain number of dice is
rolled, all the face values are added and maybe a modifier is added or
subtracted to generate a total. This is normally abbreviated as

                        {x}d{y}+{z}

and means to roll {x} dice with {y} faces and finally to add the value {z}.
{z} can be positive or negative. If {z} is not mentioned, it is assumed to
be zero.

EXAMPLES: 1d20 means to roll one 20-sided die to generate a number between
1 and 20. 2d6 means to roll two 6-sided dice to generate a number between 2
and 12. 4d4+3 means to roll four 4-sided dice and finally add 3 to generate
a number between 7 and 19. 3d13-9 means to roll three 13-sided dice and
subtract 9 to generate a number between -6 and 30.



The Inventory & Item Descriptions
---------------------------------


The Inventory
*************
Every PC normally carries quite a number of items -- some of them belong to
the initial equipment, others are found during the adventure.

All items worn or equipped are displayed upon pressing the 'i' key. If you
want to change your equipment (either by wearing an additional item or by
removing an item currently used) you simply need to press the letter
preceding the body part in question. If an item was equipped, it will
automatically be removed. If no item was used you will automatically be
shown a list with items which might be useful on that body part.

Items normally have to be identified by some means to get more than just
some general information. Some items are identified by using them (e.g.
weapons and armor), others have to be identified by magical means. When
identified, every item might list a number of values which further describe
the powers of the item.

Armor must be worn to have any effect. Weapons must be wielded to have any
effect. Rings, bracers and necklaces must be worn to be useful.

Items are generally rated as uncursed, cursed or blessed. Cursed items
cannot be removed when worn and mostly do not function with full effect.
They also are susceptible to damage more often. Blessed items are of very
high quality and might exert some additional powers. They are more
difficult to damage. Uncursed items represent average items.

Items also might be broken or rusty. There might be means available to
repair or improve such items... try to find out about this for yourself.

In the following section, items are listed by category with all possible
modifiers. The following abbreviations are used to describe the modifiers:

CHA - Number of charges remaining
DAM - Damage dice (given in the dice notation explained above)
DVM - DV modifier
MDM - Missile damage modifier
MEM - Melee attack modifier
MIM - Missile attack modifier
PVM - PV modifier
ATM - Modifier to a specific attribute
The following item descriptions are available. First the item type is
listed, then the possible modifiers follow. Not all modifiers always
appear, this depends on the specific item. The kind of visible modifiers
can be determined by the type of brackets surrounding them:

<bracers> [DVM, PVM]
<shield> (MEM) [DVM, PVM]
<armor> (MEM, MIM) [DVM, PVM]
<gauntlets> (MEM, MIM) [DVM, PVM]
<cloak> (MEM, MIM) [DVM, PVM]
<girdle> (MEM, MIM) [DVM, PVM]
<helmet> (MEM, MIM) [DVM, PVM]
<boots> (MEM, MIM) [DVM, PVM]
<wand> (CHA)
<melee weapon> (MEM, DAM) [DVM, PVM]
<missile weapon> (MIM, MDM) [DVM, PVM]
<missile> (MIM, DAM) [DVM, PVM]
Any item (in theory) can be followed by {ATM}, which means that the item in
question grants the specified bonus to the mentioned attribute. Any weapon
can be followed by (p), which means that the item is poisoned.

Finally, the number of charges for wands will only be visible if you zapped
that specific wand successfully or identified that specific wand. In other
words: if you identify 'tin wands' as 'wands of magic missiles', you still
won't know the number of charges of a newly found 'wand of magic missiles'
(although it will be correctly identified in all other respects).


Working with the Backpack
*************************
Beside those items you carry directly on your body (which can be viewed by
pressing 'i'), you also have a backpack which might contain large numbers
of items (directly viewable by pressing 'I'). At times you need to retrieve
an item from that backpack and this can be a very tiring process if you are
carrying a large number of items. Therefore ADOM contains a mechanism to
filter the list of items in the backpack, so that only certain item types
are displayed and it's easier to find the item you are looking for.

Whenever it is possible to apply a filter to the items in your backpack,
the last line of the screen will display the current filter and the
possible commands to select a certain item type. In all cases (except for
'#' -- which stands for all items), you can select a certain category of
items by pressing the symbol which usually represents those items. The
following keys are used to filter the items in the backpack:

[    all wearable items
&    all amulets and tools
,    all bracers (this is an exception to the 'image rule' since some
     systems wait for a second key to be pressed after the '~' used for
     bracers and this would make this feature somewhat tiresome to use).
(    all melee weapons
}    all missile weapons
/    all missiles
{    all musical instruments
=    all rings
\\    all wands
!    all potions
?    all scrolls
"    all books
%    all food
$    gold
'    all amulets & necklaces
]    all tools



Beasts of Burden
----------------

While many players seem to enjoy carrying around heaps of stuff, this is
not really recommended. If you carry a lot of stuff, you'll get hungry
sooner. This in turn means that you probably will have to carry more food,
which can get damaged and further burdens you. ADOM uses several burden
levels (from burdened to strained, to very strained and to overburdened) to
mirror this fact. Each burden level comes with a growing need for food.
Take care!



Wishing
-------

In ADOM you might encounter magical wishes. Wishes are a powerful form of
magic which allows a variety of effects.

ADOM supports two types of wishes. You can wish for abstract things and
concepts like friends, money, wealth, strength, health, and other things.

You can also wish for items. Such wishes can be very useful, since ADOM
features many powerful and rare items. If you do not want to wait for a
certain item, just wish for it as soon as you receive a free wish. Since
wishes are powerful but not very precise magic, you can only wish for very
general items. For example, it's not possible to wish for 6 blessed long
swords (+6, 1d8+6), but you would rather have to wish for long swords or
mithril plate mails. If your wish is not formulated precisely you might get
something other than what you are expecting -- so be careful!



Saving the Game
---------------

To save a game in progress you just have to press the 'S' key and answer
the following question with a 'y'. The game will be saved and you can
restore it later to continue your game. You should make sure that you have
enough free space on your disk before saving the game as ADOM will
otherwise crash. You need about 30000 bytes plus 12000 bytes per level that
you have explored. Levels with lots of monsters or items need more space.
Generally three free megabytes should be enough for any one game (no matter
how deep you venture). Note that the game will quit upon saving. Note also
that your save file will be deleted if your character dies. This is a
special feature of all roguelike games. You are expected to win without
ever dying.

To restore a saved game, just start ADOM and type 'r' on the option screen.
If you choose that option a tiny menu will display the available games to
be restored (if there are any). Please note that this menu only displays a
maximum of 20 saved games (without telling you that there might be
additional saved games). This should be sufficient for most purposes.
Depending on your screen resolution even less games might be shown (e.g. 16
under DOS).




The World of Ancardia & The Drakalor Chain
==========================================

Ancardia is a large world of which only a minor part - a section of the
mountain range known as the Drakalor Chain - is figuring prominently in
ADOM. The game includes both overworld and underworld locations: the
wilderness, inhabited settlements and dungeons. This section briefly
summarizes you the most important items to consider when travelling these
locations.



Wilderness
----------

Each game of ADOM starts on the wilderness map. The map layout is largely
non-random although some special locations switch positions between games.
Your player character enters the Drakalor Chain through a mountain pass in
the north-east and faces a large lush valley full of hills, forests,
plains, with some bodies of water. All is surrounded by large mountains,
some of them snow-capped.


Travelling the World
********************
Travelling the wilderness takes time and thus requires a good supply of
food. Be careful to not waste too much time in the wilderness lest you
become a victim of starvation or one of the many random encounters
possible.

Travelling one map position on the average will take 30-40 minutes of time,
although some terrain is much harder to navigate (e.g. swamp, hills or
mountains). You might even require special equipment to be able to access
some locations (e.g. climbing sets to climb higher mountains).


Encounters
**********
Many creatures roam the wilderness. Over time you will face many strange
beings. In some cases you will be able to evade the encounters, sometimes
you might be able to sneak upon the beings encounted so that an ambush
becomes an option - and sometimes you might get ambushed yourself without
chance of flight.

Encounters take place on detail maps. In order to leave such a map you have
to move to its border. But be careful: As long as you are swarmed by
monsters, there is no escape!

Additionally note that the detailed encounter maps are gone once you leave
them. Items left behind as well as hostile creatures will be lost forever.
Friendly beings next to your position will accompany you, others will flee
into the wilderness and might be faced again at a later point.


Time & Food
***********
Take care of the passage of time. The Ancardian calendar has many special
times (e.g. Darknight and Silvernight) which might have special effects.
Also special times of the years might be sacred.

The more time passes, the hungrier your character gets. Except in tutorial
and standard mode (only available in ADOM Deluxe) starvation is a very
grave danger that easily can kill your character. Make sure that you carry
enough food with you (but also be careful not to be too strained as that in
turn again increases your food consumption).

Also note that your character ages. For many character races this will not
be overly important (and for elves who live for thousands of years it is
mostly inconsequential). But some races like e.g. orcs are pretty
short-lived. If you explore Ancardia for a very long time, death due to
aging might loom for them!

Also day and night can have consequences. Rumor has it that some magical
locations might change their appearance or behavior at special times of day
or night. Observe your environment closely and try to get a feel for what
happens.


Weather
*******
In the wilderness and in settlements you can be affected by weather. Rain
can be dangerous if you exposed too long as paper items might get drenched
and items of impure metal might start to rust, becoming much less
effective. Watch weather changes closely and try finding shelter if the
weather turns bad.


Entering Locations
******************
At any time in the wilderness you can press '>' to enter a detail map. If
you are standing on a non-descript wilderness tile while doing so you will
enter a zoomed in map part of that area.

Doing so can be useful in order to drop items, change equipment, cast
spells, etc. as some commands are not available on the surface area.

If you want to leave such a detail map either press '<' or move to the
border of the map.

If you press '>' while standing at a special position (e.g. a settlement or
a dungeon entrance) you will be transferred to a permanent detail map of
that location. Finding settlements is very useful as they often are the
home of important persons (like quest givers) or helpful locations (like
shops or temples). Dungeons are said to contain the solution to the ongoing
incursion of Chaos, so you probably will explore many of them.



Dungeons
--------

Dungeons are underground complexes of varying nature - natural caves,
artificial tunnel systems and more. Dungeons usually are very hostile
environments, inhabited by strange monsters of all kinds and full of traps.
In return for those dangers you are likely to find interesting and valuable
treasures in dungeons.


Light Sources
*************
For convenience most areas of dungeons are lighted - be it by torches,
magic or luminous fungus. Only some areas are magically darkened. Here you
might need either torches or magical light sources to get a better view of
your surroundings.

Beware of deep darkness - rumor has it that horrible grues lurk in such
areas and they might want to east you!


Special Features
****************
Many dungeons contain special features: traps, altars, forges, pools and
other things. Explore these features and try to learn if and what special
properties they might possess.


Doors & Traps
*************
Doors (locked, trapped and otherwise) are recurring dungeon features.
Adventurers also tell stories about secret doors providing access to new
unexplored dungeon parts and to illusionary walls that hide dungeon
sections by magic.

Traps are another recurring danger. They might be attached to doors or
exist in random places. Spear traps, arrow traps, pits and falling stones
are among the more common types of traps. You might be able to discover
them by searching and if you have the right set of skills you also can
disarm them. Additionally rumor has it that some magics can detect or
disarm traps.



Settlements
-----------

Although the Drakalor Chain is a pretty remote area, there are a few
settlements scattered across the valley. Be wary when exploring such
settlements as not all inhabitants might be well-disposed towards you. On
the other hand it can be rewarding to explore settlements closely as there
might be inhabitants who need adventurers to help them with certain quests,
you might be able to find shops and more.



Shops
-----

On certain levels of the dungeon or in some settlements, adventurous
merchants have opened their shops to provide supplies for the various bold
adventurers exploring the dungeons. The risky environment is made up for by
the huge gains possible by selling rare (and even magical!) items to heroes
venturing down the dungeons. Since most of them are carrying large amounts
of gold, the trade seems to be going very well. Needless to say that only
daring and powerful merchants are willing to undertake the risks of opening
shops deep in the dungeons.

If you enter a shop, you will be expected to look around, barter and buy
stuff. You can leave without buying or selling anything, but remember that
at times shops might contain important or powerful items.

To buy something in a shop, you have to pick it up first. The shopkeeper
then will block the exit (there seem to be so many thieves around nowadays)
and wait for you to pay (which is done by using the '$' command). If you do
not have enough money, you probably will have to leave the item(s) behind.

You can also sell items in a shop to raise more funds. Not every shop will
buy everything as most of them are rather specialized (e.g. on potions or
scrolls). If you want to sell something, just drop that item. The
shopkeeper will immediately tell you how much he is willing to pay and then
you can decide whether or not to accept the offer.




How To Start -- A Beginner's Guide
==================================

ADOM is not a simple game -- at least if you are really trying to win and
don't just play to have fun and pass some time. ADOM is also very different
from other roguelike games like Nethack, Angband and Rogue in that it
offers a lot more detail and uses a different approach in certain respects.
The following advice might be helpful for both the hardened veterans of
other roguelike games and beginners of ADOM:

* Try to talk to people. The 'C'hat command is an absolute necessity to get
  anywhere in the game. At times it even pays to talk to so-called
  monsters.

* Take care about your satiation. Finding enough food to survive is
  important in ADOM. Once you learn the tricks you'll have no problems to
  cope with this, but in the beginning this might be a bit difficult. Make
  sure that you don't carry too much. Being burdened (or even strained)
  means that you'll get hungry more often.

* Remember the 'T'actics command and also remember to run away. Doing this
  in coward mode probably is a good alternative to dying in a hopeless
  fight. Come back on a better day.

* Remember that it is possible to enter any wilderness area by using the
  '>' command. If you feel the need to drink potions, zap wands or whatever
  while traveling through the wilderness and ADOM won't let you, enter a
  wilderness area first.

* Pleasing your gods by offering sacrifices is a wise thing to do. If you
  are in dire straits and need help, they might listen to your prayers.

* Know when to fight and when to run.

* If a dungeon seems to be impossibly difficult, maybe you should look
  elsewhere first.

* There is a number of places and situations in ADOM which require the
  careful use of tactics.

* Not every monster is meant to be defeated. It's possible to kill
  everything but don't be surprised if some opponents put up a _very_ tough
  fight.

* Make sure that you have at least read the introduction in this manual so
  that you understand what the game is all about.

* During the game, you should refer as often as necessary to the online
  keyboard map ('?'-'K') and this manual ('?'-'M').




Appendix A: Credits
===================

This section has grown quite a bit over time. I doubt that one person would
be able to devise such a fun and complex game like ADOM (if you believe the
folks out there) on his own. This is especially true for ADOM, which - over
the years - has been shaped by the input of literally thousands of people.
Below you will find - in no particular order - those folks, whom I still
remember for their contributions. Sorry to the many others I forgot to
mention - your inspirations will live onward through ADOM nonetheless.

Many people were involved in the creation of the initial version of ADOM so
long ago. At this point I'd like to thank my great testers, who sacrificed
their precious time to test the work of a madman. Thanks (in alphabetical
order) for their efforts in testing pretty buggy alpha software and
enduring endless program crashes go to:

* Thomas "Where are the keys to those doors?" Dembach
* Kilian "Do this... and that... and that... and that..." Guenther
* Tim "Lord Gek" Jordan
* Stefan "Infocom Man" Jokisch
* Nicole "Rabid Dog" Lubinski
* Michael "Wow... I can eat corpses?!?" Niewoehner
* Jens "I generally don't like games" Spitczok v. Brinski
* Jochen "That's not the fault of my Amiga!" Terstiege
* Andreas "Where's the 'fclose'?" Willenbrink

Special thanks have to go to Team ADOM - the awesomely talented, motivated
and enthusiastic guys who have been instrumental in the resurrection of
ADOM and who forever will be immortalized in ADOMs history (in kind of
alphabetical order):

* Lucas Dieguez, masterful musician and bard

* Krzysztof Dycha, genius artist and the man behind the graphical face of
  ADOM

* Jochen Terstiege, most awesome Co-Maintainer ever

* Zeno Rogue, mystery man and master programmer behind NotEye, the most
  awesome roguelike add-on ever, without which ADOM never would have had a
  graphical interface

Miscellaneous credits (for inspiration, ideas, more testing and similar
contributions) go to:

* Krzysztof Ciupka, for proposing the largest UI reorganization ever (with
  very specific ideas and in a most inspiring manner)

* Boudewijn Wayers, for providing some space on his FTP site for this game
  and for creating the first ADOM WWW page.

* Cenk Ergan, for providing the new official ADOM FTP site and for
  providing web space (I yet have to use :-} ).

* Dan Shiovitz, for doing all the work necessary to create the newsgroup
  rec.games.roguelike.adom.

* Richard Fowler, for maintaining the FAQ for ADOM. Direct all questions to
  [email address redacted].

* Erwin Mascardo, for being the first FAQ maintainer.

* Sandra Whiting, for being a wonderful proofreader for the manual and for
  creating a Winword-based manual.

* R. Dittmer, for creating another Winword-based manual (and he was the
  first one to do so).

* Thomas Friedetzky, for creating a TeX-based manual for ADOM.

* Daniel Quaroni ([email address redacted]), for maintaining the spoiler
  files for ADOM.

* Jason Konrad MacEachern, for being one of the first two spoiler file
  maintainers and helping to get them started.

* Erwin Andreasen, for providing a termcap entry for Linux, which seems to
  solve the color problems many people seem to have.

* Jochen Terstiege, for his tireless efforts and support while porting ADOM
  to the Amiga, while debugging Windows 95 to make it work with ADOM and
  for his endless zeal in searching for bugs.

* Simone Heidenfelder, for her help in creating the star signs for ADOM.

* Evan Gibson, for providing a launcher interface to ADOM for OS/2.

* Jonathan Santaana, for proofreading many of the text files.

* Eric Bazin, Matt Chatterley, Aaron Dutton, R. Dittmer, Frank Duphorn,
  Bridget Farace, Evan Gibson, Jeff Goodson, Adam Horowitz, Ken Iwasa, Tim
  Jordan, Nicholas Kenyon, John Lame, Perttu Laurila, Cameron Lay, Philipp
  Lucas, Derek Ludwig, Joshua Malmquist, Erwin Mascardo, Jonathan Santaana,
  Don Stauffer, Greg Wheatley, Gerry Kevin Wilson and Krey Younger for
  providing (some really great) suggestions.

* Raymond Martineau, for being the most persistent and innovative bug
  reporter I ever had to suffer from (boy, you wouldn't believe the bugs he
  managed and manages to find in ADOM -- I usually don't ;-). And for being
  a constant source of great - and weird - ideas.

* Michael Allchin for being the first one to send a postcard (see the
  introduction in this manual or section E of the general readme file for
  more information about this topic).

* Mike Sands from New Zealand, for sending the most original postcard I
  have received up to now (although Richard Fowler is a close second).

* Jurriaan Kalkman, for being the first to provide some great songs for the
  Mad Minstrel.

* Evan Gibson and Jeff Goodson, for providing additional songs for the Mad
  Minstrel.

* Dave Decot (for a certain scroll -- wherever you are, contact me)

* Many thanks to Greg Wooledge, Bill Hodgeman, Christian Schlittchen, David
  G. Kahane and Olaf Weber for doing some low-level debugging in 099g7 to
  find the cause for an annoying crash.

* Thanks to Boris Blazevic for giving me the decisive hint for fixing one
  of the most annoying bugs ever.

* Thanks to the "Epsilon"-Testers of ADOM 0.9.9 Gamma 9 (Richard Fowler,
  Stefanie Woll, Barry Kearns, Chris Ingersoll) without whom that version
  would have been delayed even more.

* Special thanks to the "Epsilon"-Testers of ADOM 0.9.9 Gamma 10 who put up
  with five prerelease versions and helped to ensure that Gamma 10 will be
  a hallmark of stability for versions to come -- you did great work (in no
  particular order): Lana Bowman, Katie E. Sehorn, Andy Williams, Richard
  Fowler, Stefanie Woll, Barry Kearns, Christian Caesar, Derek Ludwig, Greg
  Wooledge, Joseph W. DeVincentis, Martin Gelter, Raymond Martineau and
  William Tanksley.

* Very special thanks to the prerelease testers of ADOM 1.0.0 who made sure
  that I finally got it finished and provided very helpful input while
  suffering through a number of prereleases (in no particular order):
  Markku Rikola, Olli "Shader" Juhala, Stephen Mackey, Adrian Bancilhon,
  Andy Williams, John Rowat, Julian Day, Paul G. Nimmo, Teemu Kokki,
  Olivier Benard, Aaron Dutton, Raymond Martineau, Joni Toivanen and Conrad
  Brekke. A few names are missing and will be added once the respective
  persons (you know who you are) get around to send me their full data.
  Folks, you are missing out on something!

* Special thanks to Martin Gelter for providing the decisive hint required
  to find the nasty color bug in ADOM 0.9.9g9 and g10.

* Thanks to Dravid Brady for a very interesting discussion about cheat
  protection features.

* Thanks to Mike Anderson for some ideas on maze generation.

* Thanks to the late Robert E. Howard for a great poem about a (the?) Mad
  Minstrel, which was added to ADOM 1.1.0 at the suggestion of Benjamin
  Keller.

* Darren John Grey for being one of the staunchest and most perseverant
  supporters of the resurrection of ADOM and for providing fantastic
  background stories for Chaos Knights.

* Grond (Aaron Bercovici), for being a particulary ardent tester and
  staunch supporter! Rarely has there been an ADOM fan with such endurance,
  eye for detail - you'll live forever in ADOM not only due to a special
  item but also due to the incredible amount of quality assurance you
  provided! Thanks so much!!!

* Lauri Tuomas Antero Polvinen for helping greatly with a very urgent and
  nasty bug!

* To all the people who donated to the crowdfunding campaign that
  resurrected ADOM in 2012, who now are immortalized at
  http://www.adom.de/home/donors.html



Monster memory credits
----------------------

First of all, I have to thank all folks who pushed me again and again to
add this feature. You were all right... it adds so much to the game that it
was really worth it.

Then there were many who provided descriptions for monsters or refined
existing monsters -- thanks to all of you since you have really helped to
make ADOM a much better game:

Josef Addleman, Ryan Allan, Laurence R. Brothers, Matt Chatterley, John M.
Cho, Torsten Edelmann, John Thomas Flanagan, Florian Gerich, Chris
Ingersoll, Stefan Jokisch, Chris D. Koeberle, David Loewenstern, Dwight
McDowell, John Michaud, Tom Nowacki, Adam K. Rixey, Tom Sanders, Katie
Sehorn, Ashe Stickney, William Tanksley, Adam Taylor, Aaron P. Teske, Kevin
Wilson, Greg Wooledge, Peng Zhou

Special thanks in this respect go to Richard Fowler and Stefanie Woll for
doing so many monster descriptions that I'm still marveling at their
enthusiasm and perseverance. Richard in particular wrote up more
descriptions than anybody else without ever complaining -- without his
extreme perseverance and talent, ADOM 0.9.9 Gamma 7 probably would have
taken a lot longer to complete than it took in any case.

Another slew of special thanks go to Ronald Neumann, who provided me with
264 (!) wonderful monster descriptions for ADOM 0.9.9 Gamma 13, which were
used to replace a few of the older ones and add variants to many
descriptions.



Attribute question credits
--------------------------

Marek Baczynski, Tim Daniell, Tyler Davis, Julian Day, Bruce Greenwood,
Juuso Heimonen, Greg Howard, Olli Juhala, Jurriaan Kalkman, Yves Lorat,
Jonatan Semenoff, Fiera Smith (Katie Simpson, sorry, had to do it ;-), Juha
Suvanto



Source code addition credits
----------------------------

* William Tanksley, for providing a new random number generator for ADOM
  with lots of possibilities and for many helpful comments about improving
  the source code in general.

* Raymond Martineau for patching the DOS version of PD Curses to remove an
  annoying bug related to pressing keys quickly and getting stuff displayed
  on time.

* Ross Morgan-Linial for suggesting to use run length encoding for save
  files in times long gone by - when the game really needed it.



Credits for inspiring program features:
---------------------------------------

* Special thanks have to go to the ADOM Sage team, who innovated a lot of
  cool features for ADOM in form of the Sage add on. We try to add more and
  more of them to the core game but some have us so awed that it still will
  take a while. Thanks, guys - you rock!



Miscellaneous idea credits
--------------------------

Jon Abbott, Shawn Adams, Atte Aholainen, James Allen, Ryan Allen, Anders
Andersson, Brian Angeletti, Julian Arnold, Ola Augun, Ben Bagley, Charlie
Ball, Ian Barkley-Yeung, Jason Barnes, Petr Bartos, Thomas Beaumont,
Florian Beck, Ian Michael Bell, Aaron Bercovici, Holger Bettag, Adam
Biltcliffe, Jakob D. Bindslet, Tobias D. Bindslet, Robert Blair, Sam
Blanning, Erik Bock, Erik Inge Bolso, Douglas Bonar, Mike Bowen, Lana
Bowman, David Brady, Tristan Brightman, Jackson Bross, Laurence R.
Brothers, Liam Bryan, Harald Buesching, Jeff Butler, Paul Byrne, Massimo
Campostrini, Christian Caesar, Bennett V. Campbell, Brian R. Carl, Dave
Carr, Matthew Carson, J. B. Cattley, John Copley, Melvin Curran, Nikolaus
Davidson, Zachary Sundance Davies, Julian Day, Gregory Dean Dearing, Robert
DeLoura, Paul Derbyshire, Alexander Deubelbeiss, Simon Devet, Alexander
Dressler, Alexander Deubelbeiss, Noah Dowd, Leen Droogendijk, Nick Duffek,
Martha Dumas, Kieron Dunbar, Aaron Dutton, Torsten Edelmann, Thomas Ellis,
Martin Fanta, Robert Fermier, Mike Ferry, John Thomas Flanagan, John Fouhy,
Richard Fowler, Lucas French, Petey Gee, Martin Gelter, Florian Gerich,
Daniel Giaimo, Jeff Goodson, Michal Gorski, Morris Greenberg, Nicole Hall,
Sami Hangaslammi, Richard Harang, Jori Heiskanen, Chris Herborth, Tuomas
Hietala, Eben Howard, Mark Humphreys, Eugene Hung, Robert Hutchins, Ville
Huuskonen, Chris Ingersoll, Ignacio F. Ivern, Christopher Jeris, Robert
Johnston, Charles Allen Jones, Olli Juhala, Jurriaan Kalkman, Joel Kamentz,
Jonathan Katz, Dan Kaufman, Barry Kearns, Chris Keiner, Benjamin Keller,
Richard Kenan, Janne Keskinarkaus, Eino Keskitalo, Kai Kinnunen, Sami
Kivela, Teemu Kokki, Antti Kokkonen, Edward Kolis, Bojan Kopitar, Karl A.
Krueger, Tero Laiho, Jeff Lait, Timo Laitila, Luc Lam, Viljami Lappalainen,
Nicholas Lawson, Tommi Leino, Pierre-Emmanuel Leonard, Tommi Lind, Timo
Lindfors, Bjoern Loesing, Daniel Lundberg, Sami Luoma-Pukkila, Mark D.
Mackey, Kevin Magee, Magnus Malm, Joshua Malmquist, Aziz Manva, Dan Martin,
Raymond Martineau, Paul Marshall, Joe McCauley, Michael Meadows, Russ
Melanson, Justen Meltz, Ed Morris, Paul L. Mosquin, Lee Morgan, Al Morgan,
Ross Morgan-Linial, Juergen Neitzel, Ronald Neumann, Michael Niedecken, Tom
Nowacki, Uriah Otting, Dirk Jan Out, Kyle Elisabeth Overstreet, Brian J.
Parker, Mikko Parviainen, Paeivi Pasi, Lauri Pekkarinen, Nick Pelis, Kent
Peterson, George Petryk, Thomas Pittman, Brian M. Pope, Darren Purdy,
Dustin Ragan, Tommi Raina, Ted Rallis, Anand Ramakrishnan, Martin Read,
Markku Rikola, Ian Roberts, Thomas Reyno Robertson, Carlos Gomez Rodriguez,
Will Rogers, Dmitriy Rogozhnikov, Daniel Roth, John Rowat, Daniel Rutter,
Osku Salerma, Jussi Salomaki, Igor Savin, Zach Schaible, Andrew
Schoonmaker, Edward Schwank, Katie E. Sehorn, Linus Sellberg, Richard
Sheaves-Bein, Mark Shipton, Piotr Sieklucki, Petri Sihvola, Jan Silander,
Aaron B. Simpson, Andrew Skalski, Ole Martin Skaras, Joe Slater, Dennis
Smith, Christian Sommerer, Frank Thomas Sronce Jr., Nicholas Stallard, Walt
Stoneburner, Brian Stricklin, Kjetil Svendsberget, Casey Tan, Adam Taylor,
Chuan-Tze Teo, Will Thompson, Ijon Tichy, Gwenael Tranvouez, Erno
Tuomainen, Uoti A. Urpala, Andrew Vance, Kimme Varrio, Simon de Vet, Naumov
Vladislav, Ryan Vurlicer, Tim Wadsworth, Eva Walterson, Markus Warg, Olaf
Weber, Mason Wheeler, Steven A. White, Alexander Wilkins, Andy Williams,
Dan Williams, Stefanie Woll, Johann Wolovich, Martin Woodard, Greg
Wooledge, Leszek Wronski, Scott Yost, Lev Zakrevski, Vadim Zeitlin and Peng
Zhou



Bug report credits
------------------

Matti Aalto, Are Gunnar Aaro, Travis Acton, David L. Adam, Josef Addleman,
Adina Adler, Fernando Espinosa Aguilar, Steven Aitkin, Ben Allen, Jason
Allen, Mats Andtbacka, Erwin Andreasen, Brian Angeletti, Craig Arnold,
Julian Arnold, Antti Arola, Erik Aronesty, Sergey Arseniev, Alex G.
Arzamastsev, Jon Aslund, David Assaf, Robert Au, Ola Augun, Victor R.
Austin, Penny Baker, Mike Bandsmer, Scott Barcik, Ian Barkley-Yeung, Jason
Barnes, Aurore Baron, Fabien Baron, Eric Bazin, Tom Beaumont, Richard
Beigel, Charles Bell, Chip Bell, Victor Bell, Richard Benjamin, Olivier
Benard, Aaron Bercovici, Timo Berthold, Brian Bibeault, L. Biegaj, Adam
Biltcliffe, Neil Blaber, Dan Blandford, Sam Blanning, Eric Bleich, Eric
Bock, Erik Inge Bolsoe, Lana Bowman, Konstantin Boyandin, Tigh Bradley,
Michael Brassell, Gareth Brisbane, Adam Paul Bronson, Jackson Bross,
Laurence R. Brothers, Larry Brown, Owen Brown, Baldur Brueckner, Liam
Bryan, Harald Buesching, Pavel Bulanov, Fritz Burnell, Barry Burns, Gareth
Bushill, Peter Bystrov, Christian Caesar, Greg Cambridge, Massimo
Campostrini, Abilio Carvalho, J.B Cattley, Bobby Chan, Paul Chapman,
Kok-Leong Chin, Leslie Choong, Will Chose, Scott A. Christensen, Bruce Coe,
Scott Cohan, Mathias Cohen, John Copley, Rick Cooley, Kipling Cooper, Gian
Paolo Costantino, DeWitt Clinton, Greg Cooksey, Orlando de la Cruz, Marek
Ctrnact, Frits Daalmans, Zachary Sundance Davies, Jeff L. Davis, Adam
Dawes, Warrick Dawes, Greg Day, Julian Day, Daniel Josef Dekok, Jeff
Derenne, Steven desJardins, Alexander Deubelbeiss, Simon Devet, Joseph W.
DeVincentis, Graeme Dice, Kristin Dill, Tomas Dill, Dominic DiPalantino,
David Dobbs, Ondrej Dobias, Antonio Dolcetta, Leen Droogendijk, Gerry
Drouing, Michel Dubois, Nick Duffek, Kieron Dunbar, Conrad Dunkerson, Chris
Dunthorne, Frank Duphorn, Krid Dusitsin, Aaron Dutton, Grant Dvorak, Peter
Ebbeson, Torsten Edelmann, Michael F. Ehlers, Erno Ekebom, Jacob Eliason,
Tony Elmroth, Keith Ellul, Ben Esacove, Diego Essaya, Chris Evans, Georgy
Evseev, Martin Fanta, Bridget Farace, Robert Farnik, Yee Foo Fatt, Michael
C. Ferguson, Robert Fermier, Mike Ferry, Piotr Figiel, Timothy K. Firman,
Paul Firth, Dean Fitzgerald, John Flanagan, Steve Flynn, Johan Forsberg,
John Fouhy, Richard Fowler, Eric Fuller, Lewis Futrell, Ben Thomas
Galehouse, Alan Gallauresi, Jamie Gannon, Ashley Garrett, William Gauvin,
Manuel Gebauer, Martin Gelter, David Gerber, Svante Gerhard, Daniel Giaimo,
Evan Gibson, Robert E. Gibson, Christopher J. Gibson, Jesse Gillis, Joe
Giroux, Jens Gislev, Patrick Goguen, Jeff Goodson, Michal Gorski, Richard
Graham, Bryce Greathouse, Jonathan Michael Greenberg, Morris Greenberg,
Bruce Alan Greenwood, Jason C. Griego, Joe Groszkiewicz, Matthew Grove,
Rafal Grymuza, Richard J. Haag, Jesse Christopher Hadden, Tuomo
Haemaelaeinen, Walter Hafner, Jason Haley, David Hall, Sami Hangaslammi,
Tom Hanlin, Richard Harang, John William Harris, Cody Hatch, Sascha Hatzl,
Dag Trygve Truslew Haug, Joseph R. Hauser, John Mark Hawley, Jarkko Heino,
Harri Heinisuo, Jukka M. Heiskanen, Malte Helmert, Teemu Helppi, Philipp
Hendricks, Gottfried Herold, Iiro Hietala, Karl Hiller, Eric Hilsdale,
Patrick Hjelt, Jouni Hokkinen, Adam Horowitz, Paul Houghton, David Howdon,
Dennis Householder, Thomas Houser, Eugene Hung, Markku Hunnakko, Jim
Hunziker, Iris Hupkens, Robert Hutchins, Diane Hutton, John Hutton, Ari
Hyttinen, Eino Iivari Ii, Lauri Ilvas, Chris Ingersoll, Rob Ingersoll, Eric
Robert Jablow, Mario James, Johan S. Janssen, Raf Janssens, Asbjoern
Jensen, Christopher Jeris, Josh Jersild, Robert Johnston, Stefan Jokisch,
Sheldon B. Jolson, Charles Allen Jones, Tim Jordan, Nuutinen Juha, Olli
Juhala, Jani Kaerkkaeinen, David G. Kahane, Jurriaan Kalkman, Jaakko
Kalliosalo, Martha B. Kapouch, Karel Karlik, Mikko Karonen, Matti
Karppanen, Howard Katz, Evan Kaye, Robert Kazmierczak, Barry Kearns,
Benjamin Keller, T. J. Jankun-Kelly, Richard Kenan, Juha Keraetaer, Janne
Keskinarkaus, Eino Keskitalo, Jens Kessler, Bartek Kijanka, Tuomas
Kilpelaeinen, Timo Kiviluoto, Jani Kivisola, Panu Klemola, Chris D.
Koeberle, Sampo Koistinen, Edward Kolis, Risto Koljonen, Elmar Kolkman,
Mikolaj Konarski, Bojan Kopitar, Yuri Kopylovski, Peter Kosinar, Matt
Kracht, Juha Krapu, Tom Kronmiller, Karl A. Krueger, Jonathan A. Kullnat,
Miikka Kulmala, Antti Kuusela, Jussi Laakso, Scott Vander Laan, Paul
Labuda, Jan Lagerman, Juha-Pekka Laine, Jeff Lait, Timo Laitila, John Lame,
Jaakko Laemsae, Jukka A. Lang, Justin Larue, Christian Lassem, Perttu
Laurila, Ammon Lauritzen, Michael A. Laux, Nicholas Lawson, Clark Lawton,
Craig Lay, Christopher Lee, Ville Lehtinen, George Leidolf, Tommi Leino,
Ville Leminen, Tony Leneis, Jerry C. Lin, Terry C. Lin, Stephen Lin, Tommi
Lind, George C. Lindauer, Ilkka Lindblom, Oskar Linde, Emilia Linden, Miika
Linden, Tuomas Lintunen, Tomasz Lisowski, David Lodge, David Loewenstern,
Nicole Lubinski, Philipp Lucas, Lapo Luchini, Derek Ludwig, Tomas
Lundqvist, Mark Mackey, Stephen Mackey, Matthew Maclean, Kevin Magee,
Edvard Majakari, Timo Majuri, Joshua Malmquist, Aziz Manva, Jens Markmann,
Paul Marshall, Dan Martin, Raymond Martineau, Erwin Mascardo, Chris
Mathews, Ben Mathiesen, Paul Matlock, Lisa Maynard, Robert N. M. McCrea,
John McGrady, David McGrath, Dave McKee, Chuck McKenzie, Shea McNamara,
Michael Meadows, Jason Melancon, Martin Meldrum, Justen Meltz, Mark Mercer,
Teemu Meriloeinen, Aki J. Moilanen, Mikhail Moldavskiy, Jason Monson, Galen
Morgan Moore, Lee Morgan, Jacob Morzinski, Beth Moscato, Paul L. Mosquin,
Stanislav Muhametshin, Katy Mulvey, Jarmo Muurim"aki, J. Murphy, Marko
Musnjak, Jan Erik Mydland, Peter Nadeau, Juhan-A Nakkalajarvi, Jefferson
Ng, Yen Nguyen, Daniel Nielsen, Antti Niemela, Yrjo Sakari Niemela, Markus
Niemi, Michael Niewoehner, Toni Nikkanen, Blair Nilsson, Ivar Nilsson,
Tyler Novak, Keir Novik, Tom Nowacki, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, Shawn Oakey,
Georg Oberwinkler, Anders Olin, Eric Olsen, Ronny On, Dale Ondeck, Gunnar
Opsommer, Uriah Otting, Alexander Ovchinnikov, Niilo Paasivirta, Boris
Paleev, Rob Palkowski, Jori Palomaeki, Lena Pammer, Brian J. Parker, Kris
Parker, Tom Parker, Mikko Parviainen, Paivi Pasi, Kenneth Paulson, Steven
Pearson, Lauri Pekkarinen, Nick Pelis, Michael Perelmutter, Eero Permi,
Stefan Perrson, Kent Peterson, Pekka Piispanen, Pasi Tapani Pirhonen, Antti
Pitk"am"aki, Thomas Pittman, Leon Planken, Anthony Polito, Lauri Tuomas
Antero Polvinen, Joseph Price, Colin Pritchard, Petr Prokop, Konstantin D.
Prots, Sami Luoma-Pukkila, Darren Purdy, Alexander Purikov, Serge Purikov,
Joska Pyykko, Julie Rak, Brian Ramos, Michael Rams, Jari Randelin, Jarkko
Rantavuori, Toni Rasanen, Risto Rautanen, Derek S. Ray, Martin Read, Sam
Reisner, Judd Reiffin, David Rekowski, Lari Rissanen, Yonatan Ivan Rivera,
Adam K. Rixey, David J. Robertson, Steve A. Robinson, Carlos Gomez
Rodriguez, Jean-Philippe Rodriguez, Dmitriy Rogozhnikov, John Rowat, Gerald
W. Rutsch, Daniel Rutter, Rich Ryker, Jason Sabback, Zead Said, Osku
Salerma, Jussi Salomaeki, Paavo Salonen, Mika Salovaara, Steven Salter, Tom
Sanders, Mike Sands, Colin Sansam, Nate Sarbin, Igor Savin, Brian Saul, Ben
Sayer, Giuseppe Scarpi, Mark W. Schmelzenbach, Jonathan Schmidt, Martin
Schuster, Edward Schwank, Markus Schwarz, Michael Searle, Zoe Seekins,
Linus Sellberg, Jano Senko, David Shafer, Scott Shaw, Richard Sheaves-Bein,
Adam Sherron, Mickey Sheu, George Shevchenko, Mark Shipton, Andrew
Shkolnikov, Scott Shorter, Piotr Sieklucki, Michal Sienkiewicz, Petri
Siira, Kaarel Sikk, Simone Silvestrini, Erlend Simonsen, Aaron B. Simpson,
Pasi Siren, Andrew Skalski, Havard Slattbraten, Benton G. Smith, Zach
Smith, Dave Slutzkin, Klaus Sommerer, David Soule, Frank Sronce, Toni
Stauffer, Benjamin Stein, Matthew Stephans, Peppe Stolpe, Dougy Stones,
Dave Storey, Brian Stricklin, Kenneth Strom, Konstantin Stupnik, Mika
Sutinen, Kjetil Svendsberget, Martin Svensson, Joni Syri, Bruno Tabbia,
Adam Taylor, Avier Taylor-Paul, Chuan-Tze Teo, Matthew Terrington, Jochen
Terstiege, Justin Thiessen, Mirko Thoele, Kyle Thomason, Marcy Thompson,
Will Thompson, Juha Tiensuu, Russ Todd, Joni Toivanen, Olli Tiainen, Gordon
Tran, Matthew Trevor, Mattia Trivellone, Erik C. Troberg, Jurek Trzepla,
Jani-Pekka Tuomaala, Erno Tuomainen, Chris Underwood, Mark Underwood, Uoti
A. Urpala, Otto Urpelainen, Tuukka Urpi, Kimme Utsi, Toni Vaatainen,
Olivier Della-Valle, Andrew Vance, Jeff Vandenberg, Kimmo Varrio, Kassandra
Velez, Peter H. Verder, Felipe Villar, Oleg V. Volkov, Alexander
Volodkovich, Esa Ilari Vuokko, Ryan Vurlicer, Henning Wackernagel, Tim
Wadsworth, Ted Walker, David F. Wall, Michael Wallace, Rachel Walmsley,
Markus Warg, Pete Warren, Justin Webb, Olaf Weber, Peter Weisberg, Nathan
Weismuller, Alex Weldon, Mason Wheeler, David Whitcombe, Steven White, Matt
Whitfield, Sandra Whiting, Herb Whitney, Aaron Williams, Andy Williams,
Jason Willoughby, Andrew Wilson, Gerry Kevin Wilson, Dan Winsor, Randy
Wolgast, Martin Woodard, Greg Wooledge, Rowan Worth, Stephan "W"
Wrammerfors, Leszek Wronski, Ian Barkley-Yeung, Yung-Beom Yoo, Scott Yost,
Krey Younger, Russ Yuncker, Rodrigo Saldana Zarate, Ben Zealley, Colin
Zealley, Yoyo Zhou, Sergei Zhukovsky, Arkady Zilberberg, Frank Zittlau and
Varga Zoltan




Appendix B: Customizing ADOM
============================

It is possible to set certain default values for ADOM with the standard
configuration file 'adom.cfg'. The location of the file depends on the
system you are playing ADOM on. Please use the FAQ available at
http://www.adom.de/faq It will give you more details about this.

#!2 The ADOM Configuration File

The configuration file can contain certain variables which control parts of
ADOM's behavior. This file is a plain ASCII file.

Generally a line in the configuration file can start with or without a '#'.
If the line starts with a '#' it is considered to be a comment and will be
ignored. Otherwise ADOM expects to find something that looks like this:

<variable> = <value>

For example a line might contain the following text:

Name = Big Bang or Recovery = 400

ADOM recognizes a certain number of variables which have a specific
meaning. Each variable must have a value of a certain type. Allowed types
are strings, numbers (only integers) and Boolean values ('true' and
'false'). Strings which contain whitespace must be enclosed by ' (see
above).

ADOM variables also can be set during the game with the '=' command which
requires the user to enter a line in the format explained above. Invalid
variables will be highlighted in red color.



ADOM Configuration Option List
------------------------------

The following variables are currently recognized:


Allow_Default_Names
*******************
true, false: defaults to 'false' and allows you to determine whether the
default names provided by ADOM for you will be used or not if you press
ENTER when asked to input a name.


Auto_Lock_Doors
***************
true, false: ADOM will automatically ask you whether you'd like to lock a
door while closing it, if you have an appropriate key. By default this
variable is set to 'true'.


Auto_Lock_Nearest
*****************
true, false: if set to 'true', the targeting code (used for missile weapons
and a few spells) will automatically use the nearest monster as the new
target, if no monster was locked before. By default this variable is set to
'true'.


Auto_Open_Doors
***************
true, false: will ask automatically whether you want to unlock a locked
door (if you have the appropriate key). The default is 'true'.


Auto_Pickup
***********
string containing the symbols of items chosen from the following
categories, which are to be picked up whenever you move on a field
containing items of that type:

          [  Armor, shields, cloaks, boots, girdles, gauntlets and helmets
          *  Gems
          o  Rocks
          ]  Tools
          '  Necklaces
          (  Melee weapons
          }  Missile weapons
          /  Missiles
          =  Rings
          \\  Wands
          !  Potions
          ?  Scrolls
          ~  Bracers
          %  Food
          $  Gold
          {  Instruments
          "  Books


Auto_Select_Doors
*****************
true, false: if set to 'false', ADOM won't try to determine the appropriate
door in the vicinity of your PC when you try to open or close a door. The
default value is 'true'.


Auto_Swap_Neutral
*****************
true, false: determines if your PC automatically swaps places with neutral
beings. The default value is 'true'.


Base_Delay_Factor
*****************
number: determines the number of hundreds of a second ADOM delays actions
(like two steps for a fireball, etc.). The default value is 10. To prevent
input errors ADOM only accept values in the range of 0 to 100.


Check_Item_In_Hand
******************
true, false: if set to 'true' you will be asked if you want to wield an
item other than a pick axe, a torch or a melee weapon. The default value is
'true'.


Class
*****
any of the available classes


Class_Mask
**********
string consisting of characters chosen from the following list:
        a - Fighter
        b - Paladin
        c - Ranger
        d - Thief
        e - Assassin
        f - Wizard
        g - Priest
        h - Bard
        i - Monk
        j - Healer
        k - Weaponsmith
        l - Archer
        m - Merchant
        n - Farmer
        o - Mindcrafter
        p - Barbarian
        q - Druid
        r - Necromancer
        s - Elementalist
        t - Beastfighter
        u - Chaos Knight
        v - Duelist
If you choose to randomly select your class (with the 'F'ate option during
character creation) the classes in 'Class_Mask' won't be selected. Thus you
can cross out certain classes you do not like.


Colored_Menus
*************
true, false: if set to 'false' you won't have to endure the colored menus
(and yes, there probably will be configurable colors for the menus at some
point in the future although it's pretty low priority for me). The default
value is 'true'.


Colored_Messages
****************
true, false: if set to 'true' the output of colored messages and additional
customizations (like message suppression and replacement) is activated. The
file 'adom.msg' contains the basic configuration. It can be easily enhanced
with your own additions (see Appendix E, 'Message Customization'). The
default value is 'true'.


Colored_PC
**********
true, false: if set to 'false' the player icon '@' will be displayed in
white -- otherwise the color is dependent on your class. The default value
is 'true'.


Compact_Kill_List
*****************
true, false: if set to 'true' the final kill list will be compacted by
printing more than just one killed monster type per line. The default value
is 'false'.


Display_Key_Code
****************
true, false: if set to 'true' you will see the keys you pressed during a
multi-key command. The default value is 'false'.


Exit_After_Save
***************
true, false: determines if ADOM should be exited after the current game is
saved. If you change the parameter to 'true' you get the behavior of ADOM
1.1.1 back. The default value is 'false'.


Fast_Missile_Readying
*********************
true, false: will prompt you whether you want to add a (heap of) missile to
your missile slot when the missile slot is empty. The default value is
'true'.


Fast_More
*********
true, false: if set to 'true' any key will be accepted when the '(more)'
prompt is displayed. Setting this variable to 'true' is equivalent to
pressing 'C-k' once at the start of the game. The default value is 'false'.


Fated_Gender
************
true, false: if set to 'true', ADOM will select the gender for your
character. The default value is 'false'.


Font_Name
*********
string: specifies the name of the font that ADOM will use (only supported
on Windows and OSX).


Font_Size
*********
number: specifies the size of the font that ADOM will use (only supported
on Windows and OSX).


Ghosts_Deactivated
******************
true, false: if set to 'true', ADOM will not create ghosts during the game
(player ghosts are only supported by the Deluxe version). The default value
is 'false'.


Hide_Info_Boxes
***************
true, false: if set to 'true', ADOM will not display any popup info boxes
for pure textual information (like from the commands 'V', ':b' and others).
Instead all information will be printed to the normal message buffer.
IMPORTANT: This setting does not affect input dialogs for numbers, text or
other y/n choices! Those always are displayed in a popup dialog to prevent
confusion among users who don't see the input prompt (yes, it happens,
especially in graphical mode). The default is 'false'.


Item_Status_Color
*****************
One of the following constants:
          blue
          green
          cyan
          red
          magenta
          brown
          light gray
          dark gray
          light blue
          light green
          light cyan
          light red
          light magenta
          yellow
          white
This definition determines the color of inventory entries that have been
successfully identified. The traditional setting is 'light gray'.


Look_Auto_Lock_Nearest
**********************
true, false: if set to 'true', the targeting code (used for the look
command) will automatically use the nearest monster as the new target, if
no monster was locked before. By default this variable is set to 'false'.


Low_Hitpoint_Warning
********************
true, false: if set to 'true' ADOM will beep (or flash the screen if
beeping is impossible but flashing is possible on your system) if the hit
points of your character fall below 20% (or 15 -- whichever is lower). The
default value is 'true'.


Message_Buffer_Size
*******************
A number, which describes the size of the message buffer in lines. The
value is required to be between 50 and 10000. The default size is 100
lines.


Metric_Measuring
****************
true, false; if set to 'true', your height and weight will be printed
according to metric units. The default value is 'false'.


Name
****
the default name for your PC


Nice_Stuff
**********
true, false: if set to 'true' the stuff list will display cursed items in
red and blessed items in green. The default value is 'true'.


No_Book_Spellcasting
********************
true, false: if set to 'true' you no longer will be prompted about whether
to learn a spell from a book or cast it from the book. The default value is
'false'.


Persistence
***********
a numeric value; determines the number of steps that will pass when you use
the 'walk mode' to search in one place (see -> Continuous search via 'w
s'); the default value is 50, the minimum value is 10 and the maximum value
is 500.


Questioned_Attributes
*********************
true, false: determines whether the player will be allowed to determine the
PC attributes by answering questions. The default value is 'true'.


Quick_Hint_Limit
****************
a numeric value; Determines the maximum number of times a quick hint is
shown during normal game play. To deactivate them enter a zero (0). In
tutorial mode the quick hints will always be shown, no matter what you
enter.


Quitters_Allowed
****************
true, false: if set to 'true' all games in which you quit will also be
recorded in the highscore. The default value is 'false'.


Race
****
any of the allowed races -- don't forget the ' for races like High Elf


Race_Mask
*********
a string consisting of one or more of the following characters:
        a - Human
        b - Troll
        c - High Elf
        d - Gray Elf
        e - Dark Elf
        f - Dwarf
        g - Gnome
        h - Hurthling
        i - Orc
        j - Drakeling
        k - Mist Elf
        l - Ratling
If you choose to randomly select your race (with the 'F'ate option during
character creation) the races in 'Race_Mask' won't be selected. Thus you
can cross out certain races you do not like.


Random_PC
*********
true, false; determines whether a randomly rolled character will be used
each time you start ADOM. The default value is 'false'.


Recovery
********
a numeric value; determines the number of steps that will pass when you use
the 'walk mode' to wait in one place; the default value is 50, the minimum
value is 10 and the maximum value is 500.


Reload_Missiles
***************
true, false: if set to 'true', ADOM will query you, whether you want to
equip another missile once you run out of ammunition. The default value is
'true'.


Reverse_Message_Order
*********************
true, false: determines the order in which the messages are displayed in
the message buffer; true means that the latest messages will be displayed
at the bottom, false means that the latest messages will be displayed at
the top; 'true' is the default value.


Sex
***
male, female


Short_Log_Format
****************
string: the string is used by ADOM to create a log file. The string
contains one character for each set of information to be included in the
log file. The following options can be used:
        a: Achievements (attribute changes, ...)
        b: Background of the PC
        c: Spells
        d: PC data (attributes, ...)
        e: Effects of corruption
        i: Items in the inventory
        k: Kill list of the PC
        l: Skills
        m: Items in the backpack
        s: Screenshot
        w: Weapon skills

The default is: 'dbim'.


Show_Achievements
*****************
true, false: if set to 'false' ADOM will not display any achievements you
get. It still keeps track of them internally. The default value is 'true'.


Show_Blood
**********
true, false: if set to 'true' ADOM will display blood splatters (only
available in versions with graphic tiles). The default value is 'true'.


Show_Corruption_Prompt
**********************
true, false: if set to 'true' ADOM will ask you if you want to view all
your effects of corruption after you receive a new corruption. The default
value is 'true'.


Show_Experience
***************
true, false: if set to 'true' ADOM will display all experience points the
PC gains. The default value is 'false'.


Show_Newbie_Advice
******************
true, false: if set to 'true' ADOM will display some newbie advice during
character generation. The default value is 'true'.


Show_Pick_Help
**************
true, false: If set to 'true' ADOM will display the elaborate help for
picking up/dropping items. This takes up four screen lines. Setting it to
'false' will give you four more lines of screen real estate for items.


Show_Unknown_Commands
*********************
true, false: If set to 'true' ADOM will display a message whenever it
receives an unknown game command. The default is 'false'.


Sorted_Skills
*************
true, false: if set to 'true' the skill list will be ordered
alphabetically. The default value is 'true'.


Starvation_Warning
******************
true, false: if set to 'true', ADOM will beep if you are in danger of
starving. The default value is 'true'.


Stop_Walking_At_Corners
***********************
true, false: if set to 'true' your PC will stop at corners if the walking
mode is used. The default value is 'false'.


Uncursed_String
***************
string: some people don't seem to like the word 'uncursed' ADOM uses to
describe an item that is neither cursed nor blessed. You can define an
alternative by using this environment variable. Be careful about what you
do since ADOM does not check your definition and using 'cursed' or
'blessed' is possible, too. Moral: he who confuses himself gets what he
deserves.


Verbose_Level_Messages
**********************
true, false: defaults to 'false'; if set to 'true', level messages will be
displayed whenever you enter a special level, otherwise only on the first
time.


Verbose_Log_Format
******************
string: This string has the same format as 'Short_Log_Format'. ADOM
internally does not care about the format of the two strings (and which one
is longer). The intention of these two environment variables simply is to
allow the user to have two different means of creating a logfile. The
default is: 'sdbwcleimka'.


Walk_Carefully
**************
true, false: if set to 'true' ADOM will abort from Walk-Mode as soon as you
spot a hostile monster. The default value is 'true'.


Zap_Wands_In_Hand
*****************
true, false: if set to 'true' ADOM will ask whether to zap wands currently
equipped in the left or right hand. Otherwise such equipped wands will be
ignored. The default value is 'true'.



Default Configuration Creation
------------------------------

If you initially do not have a configuration file, ADOM will create one for
you.




Appendix C: Command-Line Options
================================

Pure ASCII versions of ADOM (usually DOS or Linux) can be supplied with
some command-line options to make it do certain things. The following
command-line options are supported:
        -b: display the license for the game binary
        -c <file>: force ADOM to use <file> as configuration file
        -d: display the directories being used
        -D: display meta-game data
        -h: display the available command-line options
        --help: display this help text
        -k: use the standard keymap
        -l <name>: load the saved game <name>
        -m: use monochrome display
        -n: forbid ADOM to use any configuration file
        -o: print the used compiler options
        -r: create keymap reference file 'keyref.kbd'
        -s: display the complete highscore
        -S: dump complete highscore to 'hiscore.doc'
        -t<maxnum>: save RNG test in 'rngtest.txt'
        -T<maxnum>: save RNG series test in 'rngstest.txt'
        -v: display the current version of ADOM.
The syntax for calling ADOM with options is:
         adom [-b] [-c <file>] [-d] [-D] [-h] [--help] [-k] [-l <name>] [-m]
              [-n] [-o] [-r] [-s] [-S][-t<maxnum>] [-T<maxnum>] [-v]

Important note: If you have changed the default keymap, but would like to
have a reference file of the original bindings, you need to call ADOM like
this:

        adom -k -r

(It's important that the '-k' is set before the '-r'!)




Appendix D: Customizing the Keymap
==================================

ADOM allows you to customize the keybindings used during the game for
invoking commands to a certain extent. When ADOM is started it searches for
a file called 'adom.kbd' in your data directory (call 'adom -d' to
determine your data directory). This file contains a description of its
syntax, which should answer all questions. Customizing a keymap to a very
specific system requires quite some work on your side if you want to use
special keys and such stuff (you will need to know the ASCII codes your
system generates when a special key is pressed).

Note that customization is possible only to a certain extent.

If you would like to have a printed reference of your own keymap bindings
at hand, you can enter
                        adom -r
at your command prompt. This will make ADOM create a file called
'keyref.kbd', which contains the current bindings and can be printed on any
line printer. Check it for the details about how to define new keybindings.




Appendix E: Message Customization
=================================

Message customization is a new feature available since ADOM 1.2.0. (Thanks
to the ADOM Sage team for inspiring this feature!)

It allows you to color, replace and suppress messages (i.e. text displayed
by ADOM). You can also specify messages that will enforce a '(more)' prompt
after they are shown.

To enable message customization you have to make sure that the ADOM
variable 'Colored_Messages' is set to 'true' (see Appendix B, 'Customizing
ADOM').



Editing Message Customizations
------------------------------

All message customizations are configured in the file 'adom.msg' in your
data directory. It already contains a useful default configuration. You can
easily customize it for your own needs.

Lines starting with a '#' are ignored, they are considered comments. If a
line starts with a ':' it is a directive that influences the current state.
All other non-empty lines are considered messages that have to match the
message format used by ADOM. Please note that you can match both the input
and output format of messages. In case of a regular expression you can only
use the output format. Currently there is no easy way to determine both
message formats with ADOM itself, so we recommend to use Sage for this
task.

You can use the following directives (starting with a ':'):

        no_skip
        allow_skip
        regex
        no_regex
        replace
        suppress

All colors supported by ADOM can be used as directives too:

        black, blue, green, cyan, red, magenta, brown,
        light gray, dark gray, light blue, light green, light cyan,
        light red, light magenta, yellow, white

Directives are valid until they are changed by another directive, e.g. if
you use ':yellow' then all messages that follow are colored yellow until
you (for example) use ':red'.



List of Message Customization Directives
----------------------------------------

A detailed description of the directives:


no_skip
*******
If this directive is used, all subsequent messages will need to be skipped
by explicitly confirming a '(more)' prompt. Use this directive to ensure
that you don't miss important messages.


allow_skip
**********
Deactivates the 'no_skip' directive. This is the default.


regex
*****
Message lines have to exactly match the output format of ADOM. If you don't
know the exact format or if you want to customize several similar messages
at once, you can use a regular expression. ADOM uses POSIX regular
expressions, you can check the full specification here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression#POSIX_basic_and_extended

A '.' matches any character and a '*' matches the preceding character zero
or more times.

Example:

    You can use '.*ADOM.*' to match all messages that contain the
    text 'ADOM'.


no_regex
********
Disables the use of regular expressions. This is the default.


replace
*******
To replace a message you have to add a line that consists of the old
message followed by a '|' character and followed by the new message, e.g.

    old message|new messages


suppress
********
You can suppress messages by adding them after the 'suppress' directive.
Please note that there is no directive to 'unsuppress' messages, so you
should move the suppressed messages to the end of the file.

The following example shows how to display the level advancement message of
ADOM in yellow. Because 'no_skip' is used, a '(more)' prompt will appear
afterwards.

:no_skip :yellow Congratulations! You advance to level %d.
