The Magic System
Just beneath the surface of the commonplace and mundane lurks the
unpredictable and magical. Some may access these forces, gaining great
powers in the process. Others eschew the unexplained and unexplainable.
Whether you use magic is up to you, and depends upon which class you
choose to play. Hack and slash with the warrior, and magic will forever
remain a mystery to you; choose the life of a Mage, and the eternal
secrets of the universe may be revealed to you.
Magic is available in many forms. Magical potions can be used by any
characters, even the illiterate and uncivilized Berserkers. Magical
scrolls, wands, rods and staves are available to all classes except
Berserker, but require some skill to use correctly; these forms of
magic are discussed elsewhere and not covered here in detail. Finally,
there are the select few who access the forces of magic directly,
casting spells to slay and spells to heal; spells to learn and spells
to travel; spells to beguile and spells to banish; it is here, into the
realm of the spellcaster, that we now shall journey.
Spellcaster Types
There are two main kinds of spellcaster: those who use ancient books of
erudition to access the magical, and those who gain powers or abilities
directly through their mental focus. In addition, there are special
techniques, which may not be traditional magic but obey most of the
same rules as magic does; these may effectively fall into either of the
first two categories. Racial powers and other similar abilities are
granted by race, class or mutations rather than magical ability, and
work in somewhat different ways.
Book spellcasters are the traditional magic-user classes; they must
find (or purchase) appropriate spellbooks to learn from, and read from
those books as they cast spells, requiring clear eyes and light to see
with. Non-book spellcasters gain their powers automatically as they
grow in experience and understanding, and can sometimes invoke their
magic in the dark or while blind. A small number of classes, including
Force-Trainers and Ninja-Lawyers, can use both book and non-book magic.
All spellcasters require a clear, unconfused mind, as well as a
functional m key, to access the magical. Nearly all spellcasters also
need spell points (SP, mana) to cast spells; mana measures the
spellcaster's concentration and magical energy, and without it spells
will fail. Some casters may be able to substitute hit points for mana
(this is more commonly the case for racial powers than normal magic);
and some spells may come to the caster so easily they require no mana
at all. All spellcasters have a primary stat or spellcasting stat;
their ability to cast spells, as well as the size of their mana pool,
depends on this stat. Anti-magic always prevents magic of this type,
though it may not affect some special techniques that are otherwise
indistinguishable from magic.
Racial powers (and other similar powers) are used with the U key (O in
the roguelike keyset). Racial powers also require mana, but not
absolutely; it is common to substitute HP. Racial powers, like spells,
depend on a spellcasting stat; but while all spells rely on the same
casting stat, each racial power has its own stat. Racial powers are not
affected by anti-magic.
The bulk of this document is about book spellcasting, and the various
magic realms available to book casters.
Spellbook Magic
All spellbooks belong to one of the many magic realms in the game. Most
book spellcasters are limited to one or two realms, chosen from a wider
list of options during character creation; which realms are open for
selection depends on your class. Each realm contains exactly four
books, and each book contains eight spells, though some of these spells
may be unavailable to you even if you specialize in the right realm. A
few classes, such as Sorcerers, follow special rules and are not
limited to two realms.
Classes with two realms have a primary realm and a secondary realm. The
primary realm is the one you are truly proficient in; your fail rates
are higher in the secondary realm, and you will never be able to fully
master its spells. The secondary realm does have one advantage: unlike
the primary realm, it can be changed during the game. To achieve this,
simply Gain a spell from a book of the realm you wish to switch to.
However, you will forget any spells you learned in the old realm, and
the number of total spells you can learn during the game is limited; so
use this power wisely and sparingly.
Most realms have two cheap town books that can be regularly found in
shops, and two rare and valuable dungeon books that cannot be acquired
so easily. It is rumoured that the witches of Witch Wood have a nice
collection of dungeon books...
Spell Proficiency
The more experience you have with a particular book spell, the lower
your fail rates and mana cost for that spell. This is called spell
proficiency, and is indicated by the rough labels Unskilled, Beginner,
Skilled, Expert and Master. Every time you use a spell, you gain some
proficiency with that spell, although serious experience can only be
gained deep in the dungeon; casting a spell over and over again in the
safety of a town will not help you much.
Most (though not all) classes also have an alternative way to gain
proficiency: by studying the same spell a second (or third) time with
the G command. This will take you (at a minimum) to the next labeled
level of proficiency, and retain some of whatever progress you had
already made towards the next level; but it also consumes one of your
allocated opportunities to learn a spell, and means another spell might
remain unstudied forever unless you find a Scroll of Spell.
In general, all players start with Unskilled proficiency with every
spell, can Master all spells in their first realm, and can reach Expert
level in all spells in their second realm if they have one. Sorcerers
and Red-Mages, who are not limited to two realms, follow special rules
regarding proficiency; Sorcerers automatically Master all spells they
have access to, while Red-Mages are Skilled in all of their spells. The
proficiency of Skillmasters is also special, and determined solely by
how many skill points they have invested in the realm. These three
classes gain no proficiency from using a spell.
What a Spellbook Looks Like
This is what a young character might see on pressing m and selecting a
spellbook:
(Spells a-h, *=List, ESC=exit) Cast which spell?
Name Profic Lvl SP Fail Desc
a) Magic Missile [Be] 1 2 5% dam 3d4
b) Trap / Door Destruction [Un] 1 4 9% unknown
c) Flash of Light [Un] 2 4 15% untried
d) Touch of Confusion [Un] 5 8 49%
e) Mana Burst [Un] 9 10 91% unknown
f) Fire Bolt [Un] 13 15 95% unknown
g) Fist of Force [Un] 14 15 95% unknown
h) Teleport Self [Un] 15 15 95% unknown
Indicated for each spell are the spell's label (the key for that
spell), the spell's name, your proficiency, the character level at
which the spell can first be learned, mana cost, fail rate and some
additional information. The spell Flash of Light is shown in green
because the character has studied it but not yet attempted to cast it;
Magic Missile and Touch of Confusion are shown in white because they
have been both studied and successfully cast, while the other spells
are all light blue to indicate they have not been studied yet. Magic
Missile is already up to [Be]ginner proficiency, while the other seven
spells are still [Un]skilled.
The very brief additional info does not tell us much; Magic Missile
does 3d4 damage, and is presumably a magical missile, but the other
spells are not as self-explanatory. Instead of m, we can use the b
Browse command (P for Peruse in the roguelike keyset) to learn more:
(Spells a-h, *=List, ESC=exit) Browse which spell?
Name Profic Lvl SP Fail Desc
a) Magic Missile [Be] 1 2 5% dam 3d4
b) Trap / Door Destruction [Un] 1 4 9% unknown
c) Flash of Light [Un] 2 4 15% untried
d) Touch of Confusion [Un] 5 8 49%
e) Mana Burst [Un] 9 10 91% unknown
f) Fire Bolt [Un] 13 15 95% unknown
g) Fist of Force [Un] 14 15 95% unknown
h) Teleport Self [Un] 15 15 95% unknown
Lights up nearby area and the inside of a room permanently.
Here I'm looking into the Flash of Light spell; the description makes
it clear this is an illumination spell and not, say, a bolt of light.
Which Spells Should I Study?
A few spellcasting classes, generally those associated with Wisdom or
priesthood, have no direct control over which spells they gain; when
they use the G Gain a Spell command, their gods select a new spell for
them at random. Most classes, though, can choose a specific spell to
study; as noted above, they can even study the same spell repeatedly!
As a rule, you can eventually learn all spells in your realm or realms;
the exceptions are if you swapped your secondary realm mid-game or if
you studied a single spell more than once, and even then you can gain
new spell slots with Scrolls of Spell. So the question is not so much
"which spells should I study?" - you will study all or nearly all of
them - as it is which spell you should study right now.
Book spellcasters often have a hard time killing monsters in the early
game, so it helps if your first spell is something offensive like Magic
Missile. You can get a mage off the ground without offensive spells,
but it takes care and patience! Once you have solid offensive options,
utility spells like detection, escapes and buffs become more inviting.
General Magic Realms
These magic realms are available as first and second realms to a wide
variety of classes, though not necessarily to all book spellcasters.
Life
Life magic is very good for healing; it relies mostly on healing,
protection and detection spells. This realm has no direct damage
spells, at least against the living, though there are rumors of some
high-level spells greatly feared by the already dead. Life is
considered a "good" realm; if virtues are on, the fail rate of Life
spells goes up if the caster's alignment tends towards evil, and down
if the caster is aligned with the forces of good.
Sorcery
Sorcery is a utility realm, including enchantment and general spells.
It provides superb utility spells (such as Teleport spells for
fleeing and even Globe of Invulnerability), spells to enhance your
odds in combat (Slow Monster, Haste Self, Confuse Monster) and, most
importantly, a vast selection of spells for gathering information: in
addition to the usual detection and identify spells, one of the
standard spellbooks has a spell called Identify True, which gives you
full knowledge of a given object! In the rare books, there are spells
with which you can protect your inventory items or even turn unwanted
items to gold. However, Sorcery has one weakness: it has no spells to
deal direct damage to your enemies.
Nature
Nature magic makes you a master of the elements; it provides
protection, detection, curing and attack spells, and most
importantly, spells that change surrounding geographical features.
Nature also offers Herbal Healing, which is the only powerful healing
spell outside the realm of Life magic. Since Nature seeks balance and
harmony, fail rates of Nature spells go up when the caster's
alignment becomes very good or evil.
Chaos
Chaos is the very element of unmaking, and Chaos spells are the most
terrible weapons of destruction imaginable. From Magic Missile and
Fire Bolt to the medium level Fire Ball and Doom Bolt, and finally to
the awesome spells of Invoke Logrus, Mana Storm and Call the Void,
Chaos offers an almost unsurpassable arsenal of attack spells. Chaos
is one of two realms to provide the Destruction spell. The caster can
also call on the primal forces of Chaos to induce mutations in
enemies and even themselves; but apart from this, Chaos has no
protective spells. Beware! Chaos spells are known to backfire easily
and produce undesired effects.
Death
There is no fouler nor more evil category of spells than the
necromantic spells of Death Magic. These spells are relatively hard
to learn, but at higher levels the spells give the caster power over
living and the (un)dead. Poison, vampirism, death spells, and even
the forces of nether can be directed by the caster. Should a Death
wizard find the legendary tome Necronomicon, he can expect to gain
very great powers indeed, but at a cost: few that have studied that
accursed tome have retained their sanity. Since this is an evil
realm, the fail rates of Death spells go up for good-aligned casters
if virtues are turned on.
Trump
Trump magic seems an independent source of power, even if supposedly
associated with Chaos. Although it lacks the unpredictable chaotic
side-effects of Chaos magic, it has a few spells whose exact effects
seem more or less random. One such spell is Shuffle: the Trump
spellbooks actually consist of decks of trumps, and the Shuffle spell
allows the caster to shuffle the deck and pick one card at random.
The effect depends on the card picked, and is not always pleasant.
The Trump gateways are a major method of transportation, and the
realm has an admirable selection of teleportation spells. Trump magic
has no equal when it comes to summoning creatures; but not all
monsters appreciate being drawn to another place by the Trump user.
The only summoned creatures whose loyalty is fully guaranteed are the
Phantasmal Servants, who lack a will of their own... but might
develop one if you treat them badly.
Arcane
Arcane, even more than Sorcery, is a general-purpose realm; it
attempts to offer all the utility spells of other realms, as well as
a few of its own. The downside of Arcane is that it is somewhat
lacking in really powerful spells, and many of its spells are more
expensive than their cousins in other realms. Arcane is the only
realm with no dungeon spellbooks; all four Arcane books can be bought
in town. Arcane offers good support to other realms, but characters
with just one realm may find it too limited.
Craft
As the realm of enchantment, Craft magic offers spells to enhance the
player and his equipment, and even to forge new powerful magical
objects. Player enhancements include extra resistance, speed, armor
and combat skills. Item enhancements include magical bonuses and
temporary elemental slays, which can be quite powerful when applied
to the right sort of weapon. Finally, forging or crafting turns an
existing object into a random ego item and is quite unique to this
magic realm. It is even said that Craft magic allows the caster to
enhance their offensive damage, using their own mana to power mighty
slays that none may resist. But this may just be a rumor...
Daemon
Daemon magic offers powerful attack spells with the properties of
Fire or Nether. There are a few detection spells which provide a map
of the nearby area or temporary telepathy. Daemon magic also provides
temporary transformation spells which allow caster to become a Demon
or even a mighty Demon Lord. Daemon is an evil realm; if virtues are
on, the fail rates of Daemon spells go up for casters aligned towards
good.
Crusade
Crusade is the ultimate "good" realm; it has some attack spells, but
they are mostly used for harming and banishing foul minions of evil,
and are not very effective against a good monster. If virtues are on,
the fail rates of Crusade spells go up for casters aligned with evil.
Armageddon
Death. Destruction. Slaughter. This realm knows nothing else and
every spell is a direct offensive spell. From elemental attacks to
mighty breath attacks, Armageddon is unparalleled in raw damage. It
might be better to seek a more balanced approach, and even Chaos
magic offers some utility spells to complement the offense; still, if
you want the ultimate in destruction, look no further.
Class-Specific Magic Realms
In addition to the realms listed above, there are a few class-specific
spell realms. These realms also use books to gain access to magic but
might behave slightly differently than normal spellbook realms.
Law
The realm of Law is the speciality of Lawyers. It straddles the line
between general and class-specific magic - it can be studied by
non-specialists, but no other class can master it as easily or
completely as the Lawyer. The Law realm offers a fairly comprehensive
set of utility tricks, allowing its practitioner to detect threats
and opportunities, mystify enemies, set traps, charm potential
friends and weasel out of dangerous situations; but it offers few
direct offensive options.
Music
Unique to Bards, this realm grants power through song. As such, only
a single spell may be sung at a time, and the effects of the various
spells endure (and perhaps grow stronger) so long as the song is
continued. Reading a scroll, or quaffing a potion, interrupts the
current song, discontinuing its effects. Certain harps may enhance
this form of magic.
Hex
Unique to the High-Mage, Hex magic thrives on curses; truly, the four
Hex spellbooks are full of language not fit for printing. Most Hex
spells are cast continually, like the musical songs of the bard; but
they are chanted rather than sung, and multiple chants may be woven
at once, inter-weaving verse upon verse, and hex upon hex, allowing
the caster to get more than one effect going at a time. However, the
number of concurrent spells is strictly limited, increasing only
slowly with level. While reading a scroll interrupts all of Hex
casters' foul chants, I've heard tell of Hex mages inhaling potions
through their nose without the least pause in the spell; but I find
this rather hard to believe, and quite silly besides.
Burglary
This is the preferred realm of the Rogue, and unique to that class.
Strong in detection and general sneakiness, this realm also offers
the ability to set traps, to pick pockets, to negotiate with thieves,
and to assassinate sleeping foes. Unlike normal detection, whose
range is fixed, burglary spells increase the area of effect with the
level of the caster, ultimately applying to the entire level of the
current dungeon. The true burglar has a good eye for danger and may
map out their escape route in advance. They can make haste to escape
a tricky situation. They may examine the proceeds of their thievery
(their loot) and consequently have a very good idea of the quality of
the treasures they... ahem... find. Burglary rogues are well known to
the Black Markets of the world, and treated well as the principal
source of new inventory; but that is hardly a magical fact, or is it?
Necromancy
Exclusive to the Necromancer, this is the foul realm of undeath
allowing the caster to communicate with, and ultimately control, the
deceased. And the dead have lots to offer, including knowledge of
this world and the objects it contains. As servants, they are hard to
kill, being dead already! In addition, this realm offers something
quite unique: the ability to touch foes with deadly (undeadly)
powers. At first, the touch of the necromancer is weak, being cold,
or dark, or poisonous, but eventually the touch grows stronger,
stealing life little by little, and perhaps, maybe, eventually all at
once. But who knows for certain, as those that did learn the foul
necromantic secrets are with us no more?
Rage
A special technique rather than magic, this realm is unique to the
Rage-Mages, sworn enemies of all things magical. Talents are learned
from books, to be sure, but the ritual of gaining spells involves the
destruction of the book in the process, meaning the Rage-Mage can
only learn one spell from each book they find. And once learned, the
book is no longer required to cast the technique, which is perhaps
fortunate. This realm offers various combat techniques, as well as
the talent to simply shout down magical enemies.
Kendo
Another technique realm, Kendo is unique to the Samurai, offering
powerful talents to directly enhance the effectiveness of melee.
Talents are learned from books, but, once learned, may be freely used
without further reference to the book.
On Casting Spells
Players who select spellcasting characters may notice a few unusual
phenomena during the course of the game. Here are a few tips and hints
on what may be happening.
Armor and Spell Casting
Most spellcasting classes are penalized for wielding armor and
weapons above a certain total combined weight, though the size of the
penalty, the maximum weight allowed and the extent to which weapons
count towards that maximum vary widely from class to class. Exceeding
the weight limit reduces your maximum SP; you are warned when this
happens.
Glove Encumbrance
Many spellcasters, in particular mages, need their fingers free for
the intricate gestures that accompany a spell and are therefore
heavily penalized for wearing gloves on their hands. Items that grant
Free Action, Dexterity or Magic Device Skill are an exception to this
and can be worn normally; and not all magical or book-using classes
are limited in this way.
Spell Durations
Some spells such as Haste-Self or Resistance grant an effect which
wears off after a certain period of time. With very few exceptions,
multiple castings of such spells are not cumulative in terms of the
duration of the spell; in other words, casting a spell which has a
duration of 20 turns three times will not result in a duration of 60
turns. Typically, subsequent castings will add only a small amount to
the total duration.
Spell Types
Bolts and Beams
Bolt and beam spells are aimed in a direction or at a target. A bolt
spell will hit the first monster or obstruction in its targeted
direction, which may or may not have been the intended target. A beam
spell, on the other hand, will hit every target within range in the
direction of fire until it hits a wall or other obstacle. Monsters
with Reflection have a 75% chance to reflect bolts, but beams are not
affected. Beams, unlike bolts, can damage objects. Many bolt spells
have a random chance to generate beams.
Balls
Ball spells differ from bolts in several ways: they always hit the
intended target (if it was a valid target in line of sight); they
have a radius (which varies from spell to spell); and they cannot be
reflected. A radius value of one or more will result in the spell
affecting the area around the target square in addition to the target
itself; this can affect additional monsters, objects or terrain,
though only the target square suffers full damage. When ball spells
are directed at monsters in walls, the ball will blow up in front of
the wall, reducing the damage taken by the monster to half since it
is not at the epicenter. Almost all ball spells can be aimed, though
a few are always centered on the player (the player does not take any
damage in this case).
Line-of-Sight
Line-of-sight spells affect all monsters that that are currently in
your character's line of sight, including invisible and otherwise
unseen monsters. Line-of-sight spells cannot, and need not, be aimed.
Area
Area spells affect an area around the player. The size of the area
can vary considerably; for example, Light Area illuminates a single
room, while Detect Traps and Mass Genocide affect all squares within
a specific radius (regardless of line of sight), and normal Genocide
affects the entire level. Area spells cannot be aimed.
Other
Many spells, like Identify or Teleport Self, are not directed outside
and affect the player or objects carried by the player. Buff spells
provide temporary benefits such as haste or elemental resistance, and
almost always have a duration. Healing spells cure status effects and
give back lost hit points. Play the game and find out what else there
is!
Using Macros to Cast Spells
Macros and keymaps are a somewhat advanced topic; it is by no means
necessary to ever use a macro during a game, so you can skip this
section if you wish. The basics behind macros, though, are not that
hard to grasp.
Casting a book spell requires a minimum of three keypresses - one to
select the spell command, one to select the right book and one to
select the right spell. Three keypresses is not that much, but over the
course of a long game you might cast some spells 1000 times or even
more, so it adds up! This is the main reason single-key macros or
keymaps for common spells are often convenient.
Going back to our earlier example book:
(Spells a-h, *=List, ESC=exit) Cast which spell?
Name Profic Lvl SP Fail Desc
a) Magic Missile [Be] 1 2 5% dam 3d4
b) Trap / Door Destruction [Un] 1 4 9% unknown
c) Flash of Light [Un] 2 4 15% untried
d) Touch of Confusion [Un] 5 8 49%
e) Mana Burst [Un] 9 10 91% unknown
f) Fire Bolt [Un] 13 15 95% unknown
g) Fist of Force [Un] 14 15 95% unknown
h) Teleport Self [Un] 15 15 95% unknown
Suppose this is book a, and furthermore that I have inscribed the book
as @ma to make sure it will always be book a and not suddenly change
slots (see [a] for more details on inscriptions). This means I'll be
typing mac to cast the Flash of Light illumination spell, something I
will likely do several hundred times in a game if I don't die early.
Using the @ command, I can create a new macro with the F6 key as the
trigger and mac as the action. (Keymaps are generally preferable to
macros; but the F6 key is only acceptable as a macro trigger, not a
keymap trigger, so if that's what I wish to use it has to be a macro.)
I can now use the F6 key to illuminate rooms with a single keypress...
and the next time I play a different character with a different
illumination spell, I can map F6 to the new spell and keep using the
same key instead of having to memorize a new sequence.
Always append your macros and keymaps to a file.
Otherwise, they will be lost when you exit the game.
Now suppose I want to have a macro for Magic Missile as well. I could
simply map F1 to the sequence maa (indeed, this is what I personally
would do); but some players like to go further and map it to maa*5, so
the macro automatically selects a target as well. This has the downside
that you might not get the target you would like best; but if you are
just spamming magic missiles into a crowd of weak enemies, that will
probably not matter so much.
Note that an maa*5 macro only saves two keypresses per enemy over an
maa macro, even if the spell is used more than once; and the maa macro
itself only saves two keypresses per enemy compared to just pressing
every key in the sequence m-a-a-*-5. This is because after the first
cast, the single-key n command (X in the roguelike keyset) can be used
to repeat both the spell and the targetting.
Original : (??)
Updated : (??)
Updated : Zangband DevTeam
Updated : Hengband 1.7.2
Updated : PosChengband 7.0.0
Updated : FrogComposband 7.1.liquorice