Skillmasters
Using a point-based skill system, the Skillmaster allows you to design
your own class. You receive 5 skill points to spend immediately upon
birth, and will gain an additional point every 5 character levels, for
a total of 15 points. You may spend these skill points to gain or
improve various skills with the Gain command.
To be effective as a Skillmaster, you should have a plan as to which
skills you will learn and when; your skill choices are permanent, and
there are many more skills to learn than you could possibly hope to
acquire with just 15 skill points, so make sure you won't be stuck with
choices you regret. A bit of forethought is needed; this document
should help.
Overview of the Various Skills
The available skills come in various kinds, or groups. You invest
points in individual skills, not in groups, but the overall number of
points for the corresponding group is sometimes also important. For
example, the first group of skills is Melee; here, you may specialize
in various melee-weapon classes or learn bare-handed combat (Martial
Arts). The total number of points spent in this group determines your
overall Melee skill (as shown on the Character Sheet) and even affects
your STR and DEX. On the other hand, the number of points spent in the
skill itself determines your proficiency with that particular class of
weaponry, and also influences how many attacks per round you get. Each
skill group is discussed in detail below.
The main skill groups are:
Melee Effectiveness in hand-to-hand combat
Ranged Effectiveness in ranged combat (archery and throws)
Magic Access to spell realms as an INT-based caster. Every
spell realm except Life is available.
Prayer Access to prayer realms as a WIS-based caster. Only good
and evil realms are available.
Skills Basic skills such as Devices, Stealth, Speed and Saving
Throw
Techniques Access to advanced or unusual talents that most players
lack. This includes some book-based talents, such as
Burglary and Kendo, as well as non-standard talents like
Riding and Dual Wielding.
Abilities For a single skill point, you can buy a power like Stone
Skin or an ability like Good Luck.
Proficiency
Before discussing each of the skill groups in detail, it helps to
understand the proficiency system. It is explained in detail at [a],
but the short version is: the game has several different proficiency
systems, all of which are closely related; other classes' proficiency
usually starts at a very low level, improves through use and practice,
and is indicated through the five broad tiers [Un]skilled, [Be]ginner,
[Sk]illed, [Ex]pert and [Ma]ster.
But Skillmasters are very different; they do not learn through use and
practice. When Skillmasters spend a skill point, they instantly acquire
proficiency; as an example (of very bad advice), a level 1 Skillmaster
could spend all 5 points in Riding and instantly achieve Master-level
proficiency. The same goes for weapons: spending points is the only way
to gain proficiency (even the Weapon Versatility demigod talent is not
available). Skillmasters are [Un]skilled in everything they haven't
spent points in, and [Ma]ster in everything they have spent five points
in, but the tiers in between vary a bit.
Melee Skills
Melee skills affect your skill in hand-to-hand combat. Each skill in
this group improves your proficiency either with a single class of
weapons (swords, polearms, hafted weapons, diggers) or in bare-handed
fighting, and also affects how many blows you can get per round. To use
any particular class of weaponry, you will need some skill. Thus, when
investing in melee skills, you must choose whether to be really good
with one or two weapon classes or decently good with all of them.
The total number of points in this group determines your basic Melee
skill in the same way your class choice normally would. That is, you
get a fixed amount of base Melee skill, and an extra amount that
improves with level; warriors get plenty, mages not so much; but you,
as a Skillmaster, can improve your melee whenever you choose simply by
investing more points in various melee related skills. As a rough
guide, consider the following tables:
Melee Group Weapon Class
Pts Relative Skill Pts Proficiency Blows
0 Mage 0 Unskilled 4.00
1-2 Priest 1 Beginner 5.00
3-4 Ranger 2 Skilled 5.25
5-8 Paladin 3 Expert 5.50
9+ Warrior 4 Master 5.75
5 Master 6.00
Note that Melee and Magic are somewhat antithetical. Investing in Melee
also improves your STR and DEX, but too many magic points will decrease
your STR (and CON). Magic points also decrease the maximum number of
blows displayed in the table above (by just 0.05 blows per point, but
too much magic will make this effect noticeable). Also, Magic improves
your INT and device skill, but too much Melee will have a slight
negative effect on both of these.
The individual melee skills are discussed next.
Swords
Swords (|) are the most common class of weaponry and include swords,
daggers, blades of chaos and all other weapons listed under swords in
the ~P proficiency menu. Swords and polearms are the most obvious
choices if you wish to specialize in a particular class of weaponry,
due to their commonness.
Polearms
Polearms (/) are the second-most common class of weaponry and include
tridents, spears, lances, axes and all other weapons listed under
polearms in the ~P proficiency menu. This is a good skill to invest
in if you are building a Riding skillmaster, since Lances and Heavy
Lances are perfectly suited for riding melee.
Hafted (Blunt Weapons)
Hafted weapons (\) are less common than swords or polearms, but
include the deadly Maces of Disruption and some exceptional artifacts
like the Staff of Asclepius (again, see ~P for the full list). Note
that prayer-based skillmasters have no weapon restrictions, and so
don't need hafted weapons like normal priests do; still, this group
is worth investing in if you want general access to weapon-based
melee, or just have faith that a great hafted weapon will drop.
Diggers
Yes, you can melee with Picks and Shovels if you want, but the
weapons in this class are incredibly uncommon when compared to the
three main groups; there are a couple of powerful end-game diggers,
but realistically this is an option for deliberate challenge runs.
Martial Arts
With this skill you may fight monsters using a special, bare-handed
combat technique. Skillmasters who invest a full 5 points in martial
arts will be almost as effective in combat as a monk; the only
difference is that your blows per round are marginally lower.
A few cautions regarding this skill are in order, though. If you
fight bare-handed, you also get the monk armor weight restrictions,
but will not gain the monk speed boost or access to various postures.
(The armor restrictions stop applying if you switch back to
weapon-based melee.) In addition, martial arts will not work when
mounted, and Kendo techniques require a melee weapon to work.
Ranged Skills
Ranged skills include Archery and Throwing. As a group, the total
number of points affects your Archery skill, as displayed on the
Character Sheet; yet most players treat Archery and Throwing as
mutually exclusive talents.
Archery
This skill improves your proficiency with all of Slings, Bows and
Crossbows (unlike Melee, this skill does not require you to
specialize in only one weapon type). With 2 or more points of
Archery, you begin to gain extra shots per round, as well as reduced
breakage odds for your missiles. You will never be quite as good as a
specialist Archer, but then specialist Archers don't get 10 skill
points to spend elsewhere... This skill also increases your stealth.
Throwing
This skill gives you the special power of Throw Weapon, which allows
you to use your leading melee weapon as a throwing weapon. The range
of a throw depends exclusively on your STR and the weight of the
weapon; the damage depends on the weapon (and any slays it might
have), your STR, and your Throwing skill. Investing enough points in
Throwing also improves your throwing speed.
A thrown weapon will often return to you after striking a foe; with
enough skill, this return effect becomes very likely. You even have a
chance to catch the returning weapon with the same hand which threw
it, effectively re-equipping the weapon in a single, graceful, fluid
motion; this also becomes more likely with more skill, but depends on
your DEX as well. With a high enough DEX and full Throwing skill, you
can be almost certain to recover your weapon, fully equipped, after
each toss... however, you should always be prepared for an occasional
failure, no matter how skilled you are. So, carry a spare weapon!
The damage from a thrown weapon can be formidable; as your skill
improves, so does the damage multiplier of the toss. Throwing
functions much like archery, except you are the shooter and supply
the damage multiplier through your skill; as with normal shooters,
the multiplier is scaled slightly by STR. And the weapon is the
projectile... Damage is calculated very similarly to archery, using
the damage dice of the weapon thrown, applying any slays, adding in
the damage bonus of the weapon and then multiplying everything
together to get a nice, tasty sum. You can view the details in the
Throwing section of your Character Sheet. Note, though, that most
off-weapon boosts will not apply to throwing; Rings of Archery and a
few other items can boost your accuracy, but that's pretty much it.
Magic Skills
Each skill in the Magic group grants access to a single spellbook
realm. The realm will use INT as your spellcasting stat (usually this
means INT will also determine the size of your mana pool, but that gets
more complicated if you also learn Techniques or Prayer skills). With
INT-based mana comes mage-like glove encumbrance; but if you invest at
least 5 overall points in magic, you also gain the mage ability to
benefit from cheap-spell and easy-spell items like Wizardstaves.
With just a single point in a given realm, you will be a poor caster;
investing more points helps a Skillmaster even more than proficiency
normally helps casters, in that it reduces not only the mana cost but
also the level of the spell. Your minimum fail rates also go down with
points invested; only a full 5-point investment allows 0% fail.
See [b] for a list of the various spellbook realms. The Life realm is
not available as a Magic skill (only as a Prayer skill); but apart from
this you can learn all book realms, and can study as many different
realms as you like. You do not need to learn individual spells; you can
cast any spell in a studied realm, provided you have the book and your
level is high enough.
Spending points in this group boosts your class Device skill, although
not as much as direct investment in Skills/Devices. Your INT is also
directly influenced by the total number of points in this group. Magic
makes you squishy and bad at melee; too much magic will adversely
affect your STR, CON and life rating multiplier and reduce your maximum
blows per round. However, studying Craft magic boosts your melee a bit.
Prayer Skills
Prayer skills are like Magic skills in that each one grants access to a
single spellbook realm; but Prayer realms use WIS, not INT, as the
spellcasting stat. As with Magic, investing 5 points in the Prayer
group lets you benefit from cheap-spell (Dm) and easy-spell (Es) items;
but here you don't have to worry about glove encumbrance, unless you
have invested at least equally in Magic.
The downside is that the selection of realms is more limited; only the
good realms (Life/Crusade) and evil realms (Death/Daemon) are available
through the Prayer group. Note that Crusade, Death and Daemon are also
offered by Magic; you can learn them as either WIS-based Prayer realms
or INT-based Magic realms, but not both.
Investing points in the Prayer group boosts your Saving Throw, though
not as much as direct investment in Skills/Magic Resistance. Investment
in Prayer skills also boosts your WIS; unlike Magic, this group does
not come with any stat or melee penalties.
As mentioned above, Prayer skillmasters are not priests, so there are
no weapon restrictions. You can gleefully slice and dice while piously
enjoying Life prayers; if you wish, you can even freely mix good realms
with evil realms.
Miscellaneous Skills
This group contains a number of skills that influence your character
attributes. These skills each allow a maximum of 3 points to be
invested. Invest here to flesh out your character design.
Agility
This skill directly improves your DEX and also determines your class
Disarming skill, as displayed on the Character Sheet. (By default,
the Skillmaster will disarm about as well as a priest.) The only
other skill that influences disarming is the Burglary technique
discussed below.
Awareness
This skill determines your class Searching and Perception skills, as
displayed on the Character Sheet. Since these are two of the least
important primary skills, Awareness also gives additional benefits to
compensate. These depend on the number of points invested: see
invisible and faster pseudo-ID (1); automatic ID (2); and finally a
telepathic awareness of nearby monsters (3).
Devices
Skill with magic devices is extremely important for most players: the
difference between being able to reliably use a Staff of Healing and
not can be the difference between life and death. By default your
Device skill is primarily determined by the number of points spent in
the Magic group; a small positive influence is also granted for
Prayer skills as well as learning the Sorcery realm, but Melee points
have a small negative influence on device skills. If you never learn
any magic skills, it may be worth investing at least a point here,
depending on your race and personality.
Health
This skill directly improves your CON and also determines your class
base HP and life rating multiplier; by default Skillmasters have a
100% multiplier, but investment in Magic skills slightly reduces it.
If you want more hit points, or wish to undo the negative health
effects of too many magic skills, invest in this skill.
A quick note on HP distribution. Even independently of their higher
life rating multipliers, Warriors gain HP much faster than Mages; the
Mage HP progression is very late-game-heavy. Investing in Health (or
Melee) makes your HP progression more warrior-like, while investing
in Magic makes it more mage-like (investing in Archery or Prayers
encourages an in-between HP progression, which is also the default).
By the time you reach level 50 it all evens out, but in the mid-game
the progression makes quite a difference.
Magic Resistance
This skill increases your Saving Throw; a couple points here and some
Prayer investment, and you will be almost immune to evil curses.
Speed
Each point in this skill increases your speed by +2. Speed is very
important, especially in the early game; so if you plan to invest
here, you should probably do so quite early. (Too bad there are so
many other things you also want to invest in early...)
Stealth
This skill directly increases your Stealth. By default, Skillmasters
have absolutely terrible stealth... both Archery and Burglary
increase stealth a bit, but even if you are investing in one or both
of those, spending points here as well can still help. Each point
invested in this skill increases your stealth by +3; a single point
will make you as stealthy as a mage, while two points make you
slightly stealthier than a rogue. With three points you will be so
stealthy you often gain powerful sneak attacks on sleeping monsters.
Techniques
Techniques are speciality skills otherwise limited to one or two
classes. For example, only Samurai can learn Kendo; and while Riding is
more generally open, only Cavalry and Beastmasters are really good at
it. But Skillmasters may also learn these techniques, often in powerful
combination with other skills. You may invest up to five points in each
technique in this group; the total number of points in this group has
no gameplay effects.
Burglary
Normally restricted to the Rogue, Burglary ([c]) is a spellbook realm
that uses DEX as the primary stat. This realm functions much like the
normal realms in Magic and Prayer, and you need to invest a full five
points to match a rogue in burglary. Burglary skill also improves
your stealth and your disarming skills.
Kendo
Normally available only to Samurai, Kendo is a book-based technique
that enhances melee combat. Indeed, in order to use any Kendo
technique you must wield a melee weapon (so do not try to combine
this skill with Martial Arts). Kendo techniques have no fail rates.
Learning this skill changes your mana to behave like that of the
Samurai: your max resting mana is very small and determined solely by
your WIS, but using the special Concentration class power temporarily
boosts your mana pool. Boosted mana decays rather quickly with each
turn, so you must time your concentration carefully before engaging
an enemy in battle, and then hurry to defeat your foe before your
mana runs out.
Unlike real Samurai, Kendo skillmasters must carry the books around
to access the various techniques. Note that if you mix Kendo with
other spell realms, the Samurai mana mechanics have priority; this
can be convenient at times (you can regain mana quickly if you have
time to concentrate), but inconvenient at other times (Restore Mana
becomes less effective, and your mana pool even after concentration
is not all that large). As a final insult, Kendo mana mechanics block
all cheap-spell and easy-spell effects except realm stones.
Investment in Kendo should generally be combined with investment in
Melee. Kendo techniques make your attacks more powerful, but you
still need to hit monsters in order to benefit...
Dual Wielding
The Dual Wielding skill, pioneered by Miyamoto Musashi, allows
effective melee with two weapons at once. Investment in this skill
increases your dual-wielding proficiency; but like Kendo, this skill
should also be combined with Melee talents.
Riding
With this technique, you may ride your pets into battle. Each point
invested in Riding immediately increases your riding proficiency,
which affects your riding speed as well as your ability to ride more
powerful mounts. Without adequate skill you will be tossed
frequently, especially after taking a substantial amount of damage
(which of course is the least convenient time for it). Full riding
mastery requires five points in this skill, though you might be able
to get by with just four. Investment in Riding also makes you more
effective at using Capture Balls. Note that unarmed combat is not
possible while mounted. See [d] and [e] for more information.
Abilities
Finally, you may invest a single point in any of the following skills
to gain a single power or talent. Unlike normal race and class powers,
powers gained through these skills are available for immediate use
without any mana cost and (usually) without any fail rate. For example,
you may buy the power of Stone Skin on level one and use it right away.
Stone Skin is also available as a spell in the Craft and Nature realms,
but then you'd have to level up, find the right spellbooks and spend
mana... Other powers in this group, such as Create Ammo or Eat Magic,
have no such spellcasting alternative and are accessible only through
the Abilities group.
Not all Abilities give powers; some grant a passive talent, such as
Regeneration or Good Luck. Since Ability skills only cost a single
point each, they are a cheap way to flesh out your character.
Clear Mind
This power regenerates a small amount of mana on each usage, helping
spellcasters recover mana more rapidly. To save your typing fingers,
the game automatically activates Clear Mind every turn when you rest.
Create Ammo
Normally restricted to Archers, this talent allows you to create
missiles from junk objects in the dungeon. You may create shots from
rubble, arrows from skeletons and broken sticks, and bolts from
skeletons; the quality of such ammo depends on your character level.
Eat Magic
This power allows you to drain mana from devices to replenish your
mana pool. Unlike the other powers in this group, Eat Magic can fail;
and even if you succeed in activating the power itself, you may still
fail to drain mana from the target device. You might even destroy the
device in the process! Nevertheless, Eat Magic can be useful for
endgame spellcasters; it directly competes with Clear Mind in the
mana-regaining stakes, offering a faster but more expensive and
unreliable alternative.
Good Luck
With this ability, you will have slightly better odds of finding
excellent items; even artifacts, especially rare ones, become easier
to find. Note that this ability does not stack with the Lucky aura.
Loremastery
This ability grants automatic, instantaneous identification of
objects as you step over them. Spend a point here to save an
inventory slot if you lack Identify spells or find them too slow.
Massacre
This power allows you to simultaneously attack each and every
adjacent monster with your normal melee attacks. If you find yourself
frequently surrounded by enemies, it helps if you can dispatch them
by eights instead of ones!
Panic Hit
A power familiar to thieves and ninjas: in a single turn, you attack
an adjacent enemy with your normal melee attacks and then teleport
away. This is very useful in situations where you'd like to teleport
anyway, as you get to land some additional damage in the process; but
watch out, as the teleport has a chance to fail. High Disarming skill
will improve your odds, but you can never fully rely on Panic Hit as
an escape.
Regeneration
This ability simply gives +150% to regeneration, allowing you to
recover both hit points and spell points much faster.
Resistance
This power grants temporary resistance to the base elements acid,
fire, cold, electricity and poison. Having no-cost resistance
available on demand helps protect both you and your inventory, and
reduces the need to get full 65% base resistance from your equipment.
Rodeo
This power, otherwise exclusive to Cavalry, allows you to attempt to
forcibly mount an unfriendly monster. If successful, you may tame
yourself a new mount to ride; but often such an attempt ends in utter
humiliation.
Stone Skin
This power grants temporary extra AC, making you harder to hit and
harder to damage in melee combat. The amount of protection increases
with your character level. This is a useful ability to have if you
plan to kill monsters in melee.