Objects
Objects are a key aspect of the game; much of your effort will be
devoted to acquiring better, and then even better, objects. Whether
they are potions to heal you during a difficult fight, scrolls to
teleport you out of danger, armor to protect you from fire-breathing
dragons, or swords to slay the minions of evil, objects permeate every
aspect of your journey from the safety of towns to the dread lair of
the Serpent of Chaos. Naked, you are nothing; be well-equipped, and
perhaps, just maybe, you will stand a chance.
There are various types of objects, each with its own symbol for
display, and often with its own command for use. These will be
described fully in the reference section near the end of this document
([a] to skip there); for now, here is an overview.
First, there are objects you may wield or wear as equipment. This
includes melee weapons (swords, axes, pikes, lances, etc.); armor such
as suits of chain mail, shields, helmets, cloaks, gloves and boots;
jewelry (rings and amulets); and light sources like torches and
lanterns. All of these objects must be equipped with the w command to
wield or wear them, but your equipment slots are limited; generally,
you only have one or two slots for any one type of item. Your equipment
is never going to be perfect; you will spend the entire game trying to
fill these slots with better and better (and better) gear.
Next, there are objects you carry around in your pack for utility
purposes, or as provisions. Of course, you need to eat: killing stuff
is hard work! Equally, you need spare torches (or oil for your lantern)
to ensure illumination in the dark, dank places where evil lurks. But
even more, you need magical objects to survive: spellbooks (if you are
playing a book class); scrolls which all but the stupidest may read;
magical potions which any may drink; and magic devices (wands, rods and
staves). Each scroll and magic device produces its own particular spell
effect when used; most of these effects are good in one way or another
(offense, healing, speed, teleportation etc.), but some are bad or only
useful in rare circumstances.
Finally, there are precious metals such as gold. If you are a dwarf,
you will barely resist singing of your longing for the lost, ancient
treasures of yore; but other players will find gold just as useful, for
it is the currency of the realm, accepted by shopkeepers everywhere.
You can dig for gold or kill monsters for what they have in their
pockets, but don't lose sight of your real purpose: your ultimate
objective is to slay the Serpent of Chaos, and gold is but a tool that
will help you get there.
The next chapters will explain objects in more detail; we will begin
with how you get objects, then discuss how you learn about their
powers, and finally discuss how to use them. At the end, we will give a
table of all the types of objects you might encounter, at a broad
level. This is a helpfile, and not a spoiler page (and also only 10
times as long as you'd like, not 100 times), so we won't be listing
everything that objects might do...
Where Can I Get Stuff?
Every player is born with a starting kit of a few objects to get them
started on their adventures. The starting kit depends on which class
you play, but usually it includes a cheap weapon, some torches and
armor, a few rations of food, and maybe some items particularly
suitable for your race or class (like spellbooks on a mage). You also
begin with enough gold to let you buy additional supplies (like Scrolls
of Teleportation or Potions of Cure Serious Wounds) from the various
shops in the town. Most shops specialize in a particular class of
objects (like weapons, bows and arrows at the Weapon Shop); but there
is also the Black Market, an unregulated forum to buy and sell just
about anything... at exorbitant prices. Often, you can buy a really
great object there, but you need to be pretty rich! See [b] for the
basics of shopping, and [c] for a list of shops.
So town stores are the first place you will get items from, and they
remain a useful source of basic supplies throughout the game. The most
valuable objects, though, can only be found deep in the dungeons.
Sometimes you get lucky and spot something valuable just lying on the
ground for anyone to take - left behind by previous adventurers, maybe?
But this is not very common: monsters, too, like to pick up treasures.
Indeed, it is mostly by killing monsters that you will acquire items;
many monsters carry objects or money, which you can retrieve should you
prove skillful enough to defeat them.
Town quests ([d]) are also a good source of valuable items; often, you
will both find something useful in the quest itself and then get a nice
object as a reward for your good work. Finally, there is one place in
the dungeons where good floor items can be relied on: treasure vaults.
Vaults are usually well-guarded, both by traps and by highly dangerous
monsters - but as any adventurous hobbit will tell you, sneaking and
burglary can still go a long way...
Objects can be picked up by moving on top of them and using the get
command. Turning on the always_pickup option automatizes picking up at
no extra cost to you - indeed, it allows you to move to a square and
pick up the items there in a single turn! But indiscriminately picking
everything up soon fills your inventory with useless dead weight; so
many players prefer to pick things up manually in combination with use
of the Mogaminator ([e]), an automatic system based on modifiable rules
that (hopefully) picks up useful items while destroying junk. During
your quest to defeat the Serpent you may find tens of thousands of
objects, so it is nice to have an automatic way to deal with them; and
if you find the Mogaminator overeager to destroy things, you can turn
on always_pickup or the leave_mogaminator option ([f]) to make sure
only true junk is eliminated.
OK, I Found Something. What Does It Do?
When you find an object, you won't know much about it. For example, it
might be described simply as "a Long Sword", with no other information
given. You can tell it's a weapon, and therefore that you can wield it
if you are so inclined... but, is this particular long sword any good?
Is it magical? Cursed? What other bonuses might it have? This object is
what we call unidentified, and you will usually want to learn a bit
more about it before deciding to wield it.
Given time, your character will sense the quality of most unidentified
objects in their pack. This ability is called pseudo-identification or
more simply pseudo-ID, and its strength (how much it reveals) and speed
(whether it kicks in immediately or with some delay) will depend on
your class, wisdom, character level and mode of play. Pseudo-ID is your
first line of defense against the onslaught of junk objects; pick stuff
up, wait a bit if needed (while continuing to play, of course), and
learn which objects are junk and which might be worthy of further
investigation. Note that pseudo-ID works best on wearable items; it is
less useful for magic devices, and does not work for scrolls, potions
or edibles at all. See [g] below for more information, and a list and
explanation of all pseudo-ID object feelings.
If this rough object feeling is promising, you will probably want to
Identify the object. The ideal way to do this is with either a spell or
with a Staff of Identify; but most characters never get an Identify
spell, and Staves of Identify are expensive. Until you can afford one,
you can use Scrolls of Identify or the town service provided by Count
Uldrik as a stopgap; and magical devices can often be identified simply
by trying them out.
Identifying an object reveals its full name, damage dice or multipliers
(if any), and magical bonuses to accuracy, deadliness and armor class.
The object's name tells you whether the item is a valuable ego or even
an artifact; and Identify will also tell you if the object has a curse
on it. Inspecting an identified item will show everything you learned,
as well as provide a rough estimate of the object's monetary value.
In the case of ego items and artifacts Identify may not be enough;
special powers might remain hidden. Sometimes those extra powers can be
learned simply by equipping and using the object (though this is risky
with cursed items!); for example, you will notice if the item increases
your stats. Other attributes might take much longer to learn, though;
if the item grants resistance to fire, you would need to get hit with a
fire attack to find out.
It is possible to learn everything about an object this way, but doing
so is much too time-consuming, especially as the game progresses. There
are two much quicker ways to learn everything: *Identify* and selling.
The first is available as a spell, scroll, device or town service, and
is somewhat expensive; but it instantly reveals everything about the
item. The second method is to simply sell an item to a shop; this
produces the same result (the item is *Identified* by the shopkeeper)
and is the opposite of expensive (you're the one who makes money!); but
if the item turned out to be actually good, getting it back could be
very expensive indeed...
How Good is this Object, Anyway?
The broad quality of equipment is given by the strong version of
pseudo-ID: objects are, in increasing order of quality, either average,
good/bad, excellent/awful or special/terrible. What does this mean?
If you did some shopping, then you probably saw what average equipment
looks like. For example, you might have seen this inventory at the
Weapon Smiths:
Solvistani the Ranger (Wood-Elf) Weapon Smiths (25000)
Item Description Weight Price
a) ? a Rage Spellbook [Northern Frights] 3.0 lbs 1610
b) ~ a Quiver [100] 1.0 lbs 423
c) ~ a Quiver [70] 1.0 lbs 61
d) | a Rapier (1d8) (+0,+0) {25% off} 4.0 lbs 35
e) | a Small Sword (1d8) (+0,+0) 7.5 lbs 89
f) | a Short Sword (1d8) (+0,+0) 8.0 lbs 95
g) | a Sabre (1d9) (+0,+0) 5.0 lbs 68
h) | a Broad Sword (2d6) (+0,+0) 15.0 lbs 330
i) | a Bastard Sword (3d5) (+0,+0) 14.0 lbs 411
j) / a Sickle (2d4) (+0,+0) 7.0 lbs 182
k) / 2 Tridents (1d10) (+0,+0) 7.0 lbs 192
l) / a Fauchard (1d12) (+0,+0) 15.5 lbs 319
m) / a Broad Axe (2d7) (+5,+2) 13.0 lbs 1340
n) / a Lance (2d10) (+0,+0) 30.0 lbs 750
o) / a Battle Axe (2d9) (+4,+3) 17.0 lbs 1700
p) } a Short Bow (x2.50) (+3,+6) 3.0 lbs 1540
q) { 43 Bolts (3d5) (+0,+0) 0.3 lbs 6
r) { 39 Arrows (3d4) (+0,+0) 0.2 lbs 3
Here, we see a bunch of different types of weapons, each of which is
fully *Identified* (as objects in town shops always are). They don't
look very impressive, though! First of all, you can notice that each
type of weapon has different damage dice: 3d5 or the like. These work
in a very simple way: for example, a 3d5 Bastard Sword means rolling
three five-sided dice (which gives an average of 9 damage per strike),
while a 1d9 Sabre (roll a single nine-sided die, if such a thing could
be imagined!) gives an average of 5 damage per blow.
Next, you may notice that (+0,+0) is repeated over and over again.
That's because all of these objects are average. Hey, this small-town
Weapon Smith is no wizard; he just forges weapons of average quality,
and might occasionally buy something more interesting from intrepid
adventurers (like yourself!). The (+0,+0) simply gives the object's
combat bonuses: the first +0 is the accuracy (to-hit) bonus, which
affects your chance to hit monsters with that weapon; the second +0 is
the damage bonus (to-dam), which gets added to the total rolled by the
damage dice if you land a blow with that weapon.
Objects can be magically enhanced, at which point they become good
objects. This means nothing more than that (+0,+0) becomes something
non-zero, giving you bonuses either to hit, or to damage, or both. For
example, you might have noticed that Short Bow (x2.50) (+3,+6). The
(x2.50) is part of every average short bow, and is called the damage
multiplier; see [h] for an explanation of that. But bows have combat
bonuses just as melee weapons do, and they mean the same thing here:
the bow gives +3 to hit (making you more accurate with it), and +6 to
damage (making you more deadly as well). That would be a nice starting
bow - but alas, it costs 1540 gold pieces, which is more than I have.
Excellent Objects
So that's average and good objects. What about excellent objects? And
special objects? Excellent objects are called ego items (a term of
mysterious origin), and each ego item represents a particular ego type.
For example, a Long Sword of Slaying (2d6) (+7,+3) {/o} represents the
Slaying weapon ego type! Ego types vary greatly; some egos predictably
always give the same bonuses to an item, while others are much more
random. The Slaying ego is somewhat random within limits - what exactly
does that weapon slay? Our example long sword, for instance, slays orcs
(I can tell without inspection by the {/o}); but the next Slaying
weapon you find might slay demons and animals instead.
Our example sword is not a particularly powerful or exciting ego item;
it is simply more deadly against orcs. More precisely, it will do 2.8
times as much damage from the base damage dice against orcs: roll two
six-sided dice (2d6), add up the result, and multiply by 2.8 if the
monster struck is an orc; then add in the +3 damage bonus, and maybe
other damage bonuses from elsewhere. Slays are a fairly common ego
weapon effect; but ego items can do many other things as well, like
boost your stats, give you resistances or other important abilities, or
even activate for various magical effects.
Initially, your character will not know very much about ego items; so
some of their effects might remain hidden after simple Identify. For
example, the Long Sword might show as a Long Sword of Slaying (2d6)
(+7,+3) {?} until we discovered (through selling, *Identify* or by
hitting an orc) that it slays orcs. But learning this new fact also
teaches us something new about the Slaying ego: the next time we find a
Slaying weapon that slays orcs, simple Identify will let us recognize
the orc slay, although other slays on the weapon might still be hidden.
Special Objects
Special objects are artifacts. Think of these as unique objects: you
can only find any one artifact once in a particular game, and they can
be substantially more powerful than an ordinary ego item. Like egos,
artifacts can give combat bonuses, armor bonuses, stat bonuses,
resistances, abilities, slays and other (generally) nice stuff. There
are two basic types of artifact: standard artifacts, which are the same
in every game, and random artifacts, which are highly unpredictable.
Generally, you will want to *Identify* every artifact you find; even if
you have played the game before and recognize a familiar standard
artifact, it might have some random bonus.
Artifacts are almost indestructible; they cannot be harmed by the base
elements, are more resistant to disenchantment than other items, and
can only be completely destroyed in exotic circumstances.
Cursed Objects
What about the evil end of the pseudo-ID spectrum (bad -> awful ->
terrible)? These objects are cursed, but they need not be junk. Well,
bad objects are just the opposite of good ones, so they genuinely are
junk; but awful objects are ego items that happen to have some bad
attributes (either because of a random curse or because the ego type is
inherently cursed), and terrible items are artifacts that similarly
have bad attributes on top of the good. Whether or not these items
remain useful is up to you to determine: sometimes they are junk,
sometimes the good can outweigh the bad. In either case, you will need
*identify* to discover everything.
All cursed items have one thing in common: you cannot take off cursed
equipment while it is still cursed. Most equipment can be uncursed;
this will allow you to take it off, but will not necessarily remove all
of its other downsides.
We've talked a lot about equipment; it is time to move on to utility
objects you might want to carry in your inventory.
Object Flavors
Mushrooms, potions and scrolls have flavors: you might find a Black
Spotted Mushroom or a Bubbling Potion. Flavors and item effects go
hand-in-hand; if the bubbling potion turns out to be a Potion of
Healing, then all other bubbling potions are also Potions of Healing
and all Potions of Healing will be bubbling potions.
Flavored items can be fully identified with normal Identify (you can
also try to identify them by using them... if you are very brave). By
default, flavors are only displayed for unidentified items; once you
have identified one Bubbling Potion, both it and all future Bubbling
Potions will be displayed simply as Potions of Healing.
You only need to identify any given flavor once per game; but flavors
change between games. Next game you play, Bubbling Potions might be
Potions of Salt Water instead!
Jewelry
While rings and amulets are wearable objects, they differ from weapons
and armor in an important way: there is no such thing as good jewelry.
Rings and amulets are always either average, ego or artifacts; average
jewelry has no effect at all, and is only useful for reforging.
There aren't very many different jewelry ego types, but those that do
exist allow high variability; the ego type is essentially a theme that
allows a particular set of attributes, but which of those attributes
any one piece of jewelry generates with is very random.
Object Lore
Every time you identify any attribute on an ego item or a standard
artifact, you also learn about the artifact or ego item type. This is
called object lore and will help you recognize the same attribute on
similar future items, without the need to *Identify*. By default,
object lore is kept in your savefile after death just like monster
lore, although you can change this with the empty_lore option ([i]).
You can view your current artifact and ego lore at any time through the
~ Knowledge Menu. There is no real advantage to doing so, but it can be
a fun distraction!
Devices
Magical devices include wands, staves and rods. Since these are
available in town, I'll talk you through one example in detail without
much of a guilty conscience over spoilers. Here's a basic wand:
a Wand: Stinking Cloud
This device has the following magical strength:
Power : 13
Mana : 10/39
This device is loaded with a spell:
Spell : Stinking Cloud
Info : dam 15
Level : 8
Cost : 4
Charges: 2/9
Fail : 2.4%
Desc : It fires a ball of poison.
It may help if you already familiar with spellcasting, since one way to
think of devices is as spellcasters with access to a single spell. The
device, just like a spellcaster, has a casting level (labelled as
Power) and spell points (Mana); and the spell it is loaded with has a
spell level, mana cost and fail rate just as normal spells do.
The Power of a device determines how much mana the device can have,
which spell effects it had a chance to generate with, and how difficult
it is to use. Power also determines how strong the spell is; sometimes
this has no practical meaning at all, but in our Stinking Cloud example
the dam 15 is a direct result of the device's power.
The Mana of the device indicates how many times the device can be used
before it needs to "rest" a bit. Traditionally, this has been displayed
as charges; our example device has 2 charges right now, but 9 when
fully charged. You can see this matches the device's mana and the
spell's mana cost: with its current 10 mana, the wand has 10/4 = 2 (and
a half) charges, and at full 39 mana it would have 9 charges and a bit.
There is no need to throw a device away once all of its charges have
been spent: devices also resemble spellcasters in that their mana
regenerates. This happens much faster on rods than on wands or staves.
The Fail Rate of the device indicates the probability that you fail to
use it successfully. This depends on the device's power, the player's
device skill, and the inherent difficulty of the spell effect itself.
Fail rates never hit zero, but our example wand comes pretty close at
2.4%; due to its low level and fairly unimpressive effect, it is very
easy to use. Devices differ from spellcasters in that failed attempts
to use a device do not consume mana.
Devices, like equipment, can be ego; but the difference between average
devices and ego devices is much smaller than that between average and
ego equipment. The ego type simply gives the device one of a handful of
special attributes:
Power The device's spells are more powerful than its casting
level would indicate.
Simplicity The device is easier to use than its effect and
casting level would indicate.
Holding The device is resistant to having its charges drained
by monsters.
Regeneration The device's mana regenerates much faster than
normally (+100% regen per pval point).
Resistance The device cannot be destroyed by the base elements.
Capacity The device has an unusually large mana pool.
Quickness Using the device consumes less than a full turn (-10%
energy cost per pval point).
See [j] for an overview of the differences between wands, rods and
staves, as well as the somewhat similar scrolls and potions.
Spellbooks
Many spellcasters need books in order to learn and cast spells. Books
do not require identification, and each spellbook of the same type is
exactly the same. No issues of object knowledge or quality to worry
about! See [k] for more on spellbooks and the magic system.
Object Inscriptions
This is an advanced topic which you may want to skip if you are just
getting started; but inscriptions, once learned, are very powerful and
useful. The Mogaminator automatically inscribes some items, so
activating it is a good way to both get easy utility out of
inscriptions and to see how they work in practice.
Inscriptions are text appended to individual objects; the game uses
inscriptions on an object to communicate information to you, and you
can use inscriptions to communicate back to the game.
To add an inscription, use the { command, then type whatever you like.
If you later decide to remove that inscription, use }. Note that
inscriptions are displayed to you inside curly braces as {inscription},
so the inscription commands themselves should be easy to remember. In
the original keyset, the Z key is functionally identical with {, and
can be used as a convenient substitute if { is hard to access on your
system or keyboard.
Fake Inscriptions
These are added by the game to communicate information to the player.
Pseudo-ID, for example, communicates the quality of an item through a
fake inscription; so you might have "a Long Sword {special}" where
the object feeling is displayed as an inscription between curly
braces. These inscriptions are "fake" in that no literal inscription
is involved; the game simply displays the information as if it were
an inscription. Fake inscriptions include the following:
Type Comment
Pseudo-ID Displays the quality of the object as average, good,
excellent, etc. These inscriptions will be removed
once the player identifies the object.
Discount If an item is purchased at a discount, this fake
inscription displays that discount. You can turn it
off with the [l] show_discounts option.
Abbreviations Indicate the resistances, slays, stat bonuses and
other attributes an item has. See [m] below for a
list of the abbreviations that might appear.
Useful Inscriptions
"Real" inscriptions include those you type in yourself, using the {
command, as well as those added by the Mogaminator. These
inscriptions can be any text you like, maybe a note to yourself "this
potion is probably Speed" before you have officially identified it.
Alternatively, you can use special syntax to communicate your
preferences to the game; let's call these useful inscriptions.
The most useful use of the useful inscriptions (sorry!) is to control
object selection when entering a given command. For example, when a
Mage goes to cast a spell (using the m command), they are prompted
for a spellbook, which they must select from their inventory. By
default, this choice is made through a letter label corresponding to
the book's position in a list of all available books, for example:
Inventory
a) ? a Chaos Spellbook [Sign of Chaos]
b) ? a Chaos Spellbook [Chaos Mastery]
c) ? a Sorcery Spellbook [Beginner's Handbook]
d) ? a Sorcery Spellbook [Master Sorcerer's Handbook]
I only have 4 spellbooks at the moment, so this choice is not too
bad. But let's say I get very used to casting spells from my [Chaos
Mastery] book with something like mbe, where e corresponds to a
particular spell in that book. Now, along comes an arch-vile who
burns up one of my books, perhaps my [Sign of Chaos]. Now, the prompt
for a spellbook looks like:
Inventory
a) ? a Chaos Spellbook [Chaos Mastery]
b) ? a Sorcery Spellbook [Beginner's Handbook]
c) ? a Sorcery Spellbook [Master Sorcerer's Handbook]
If I fail to notice that the letters for my books changed, or if I am
so darned used to typing mbe for the spell I want - or if I built a
macro for the spell I wanted - I am in for a nasty surprise. Instead
of casting the spell I want from [Chaos Mastery], I'll be casting
something else entirely from my [Beginner's Handbook]!
This type of reordering happens with all kinds of objects: your
inventory sorts itself as you find stuff, and objects move around. As
they move, the letters you enter to select them move around as well.
To deal with these situations, use the special inscription of the
form: @Command-LetterChoice-Label. For example, perhaps I should try
adding @mb to my [Chaos Mastery]? And to illustrate a point, I will
actually inscribe it with "Master of @mb Chaos" (the point being that
@mb just needs to be part of the inscription, not the entire
inscription). Now, here is what I see:
Inventory
b) ? a Chaos Spellbook [Chaos Mastery] {Master of @mb Chaos}
a) ? a Sorcery Spellbook [Beginner's Handbook]
c) ? a Sorcery Spellbook [Master Sorcerer's Handbook]
Better, but not ideal; my copy of [Beginner's Handbook] has
unexpectedly moved to the a) slot, which will likely also throw me
off! This illustrates an important principle with regard to
spellbooks: if you inscribe one spellbook, it is a good idea to
inscribe all of them. Most players use @ma through @md for their
first realm of magic (each realm has four spellbooks) and @me through
@mh for their second realm; the Mogaminator even does this
automatically. Let's see what effect this has:
Inventory
b) ? a Chaos Spellbook [Chaos Mastery] {Master of @mb Chaos}
e) ? a Sorcery Spellbook [Beginner's Handbook] {@me}
f) ? a Sorcery Spellbook [Master Sorcerer's Handbook] {@mf}
That's better. My inventory, you remember, still looks like this:
Inventory | Equipment
a) ? a Chaos Spellbook [Chaos Mastery] {Master of @mb Chaos}
b) ? a Sorcery Spellbook [Beginner's Handbook] {@me}
c) ? a Sorcery Spellbook [Master Sorcerer's Handbook] {@mf}
d) , 9 Rations of Food
e) ~ 4 Wooden Torches (with 3500 turns of light)
All we are doing is using inscriptions to change the lettering of
choices, and then, only for the m command. If I browse my spellbooks,
I am back in my original situation. Of course, I can rectify this by
appending inscriptions of the form @ba through @bh to all of my
books; or, since I don't use the Browse command that often, I can
simply slow down and read the prompt.
There is another option, though: instead of using the format
@Command-LetterChoice-Label, I could use @Choice-Digit where the
label is a single digit between 0 and 9 and the command-letter is
omitted. For example, I could inscribe my books with @1 through @8:
Inventory
1) ? a Chaos Spellbook [Sign of Chaos] {@1}
2) ? a Chaos Spellbook [Chaos Mastery] {@2}
5) ? a Sorcery Spellbook [Beginner's Handbook] {@5}
6) ? a Sorcery Spellbook [Master Sorcerer's Handbook] {@6}
Now, I can cast my desired spell with m2e, browse my [Master
Sorcerer's Handbook] with b6 and learn a new spell from [Sign of
Chaos] with G1; the same numbers apply for all commands.
What Else Can Inscriptions Do?
Controlling object selection letters is not the only useful
inscription; you can also have the game prompt for confirmation when
attempting to use an object with a given command. For example,
suppose you just found a Potion of Super-Duper Healing, and you
really want to make sure you do not quaff it by mistake. To protect
this potion from accidental quaffing, add the inscription !q, which
is of the form !Command-Letter. Now, whenever I try to quaff the
potion - whether accidentally or intentionally - the game will prompt
me for confirmation.
If I am paranoid, I can increase the prompting with the inscription
!q!q, or even !q!q!q!q; the game will prompt me once for each !q in
the inscription, making extra-sure that I only have myself to blame
when I still quaff this potion by mistake.
A related inscription is !*; it works on the same principle as !q,
but uses the wild-card * to have the game prompt you for every
command that uses the object. You cannot quaff it by accident, sell
it by accident, drop it by accident, destroy it by accident... we
cater to the most paranoid of players!
So we have @Command-LetterChoice-Label as well as @Choice-Digit to
control object labeling; and !Command-Letter to add confirmation
prompts before using an object in various ways. What else can we do?
Quite a bit actually. Try the following:
Inscription Meaning
!! Disturb the player when the inscribed object (typically
a magical device, but this also works for equipment
activations) is fully recharged. This means you can
issue a long rest command like R777\r to rest for 777
turns, and the game will interrupt your dozing once your
device is ready for use again (unless it still hasn't
finished recharging, which is a real possibility...)
!1 Disturb the player when the inscribed device has
recharged enough to have 1 charge again.
=g Automatically pick this object up. Use this on your
arrows and such, and you can quickly regather discharged
ammunition after a lengthy shooting battle.
. Suppress the prompt for random teleportation on objects
with this attribute.
$ Suppress the warning prompt for items that warn you
before taking dangerous actions. Of course, this defeats
the warning altogether, but sometimes you are confident
enough in your own decisions to forgo second-guessing by
pretentious jewelry.
!? Request confirmation of melee attacks, a handy
inscription if you are so weak in physical combat that
any melee you might engage in would likely be
accidental. The inscription can be combined with a
monster level, e.g. !?40, to only request confirmation
for attacks against monsters of (in this example) level
40 or above.
Finally, there is also a special inscription form ^Command-Letter.
Adding this to a worn piece of equipment causes the game to prompt
for verification every time you attempt the indicated command, even
if the command is one not involving the object in question. If you
like, you could inscribe (say) ^<^> on your boots; and the game will
now prompt for confirmation every time you attempt to use the < and >
commands!
Command letters used in inscriptions must always match
the commands of the underlying keyset. If you use the
default Original Keyset this is not a problem, but if
you have switched to the roguelike keyset, stay alert,
as you may need to use unfamiliar command-letters.
The Reference Section
Object Symbols
! Potions, flasks / Polearms
? Scrolls, spellbooks | Edged weapons
, Mushrooms/food \ Hafted weapons
- Rods (always dark red) } Ranged weapons
- Wands (always light blue) { Ammunition
_ Staves ( Soft armor, cloaks
= Rings [ Hard armor
" Amulets ] Misc. armor
$ Gold or gems ) Shields
~ Lamps, spikes, quivers & Chests
~ Junk, sticks, skeletons, etc * Unusual objects
` Statues, figurines
Commands for Using Objects
Where two commands separated by a / are indicated, the first is the
command in the standard keyset and the second the command in the
roguelike keyset.
! Potion quaff
? Scroll read
? Spellbook browse/peruse, Gain a spell, m to cast
, Food/Mushroom Eat
- Wand aim/zap
- Rod zap/activate
_ Staff use/Zap
& Chest search for trap, Disarm, open
{ Ammo fire/shoot at target, wield to put in quiver
With most equipment, you simply need to use the wear command:
/|\} Weapons/Bows wield, t/Take off
([]) Armor wear, t/Take off
= Ring wear, t/Take off
" Amulet wear, t/Take off
~ Quiver wear, drop ammo, t/Take off
~ Lantern wear, t/Take off, Fuel
Numbers on Items
(2d6) Damage dice
(x2.50) Damage multiplier (shooters only)
(+4,+6) Accuracy and damage bonuses
(-2) Accuracy penalty (armor only)
(+2) Damage bonus (boots and gloves only)
[15,+10] Base AC (Armor Class) and bonus AC
[+10] Bonus AC (items with no base AC)
(+2) Pval (size of stat and ability bonuses)
{+15%} Device power bonus
<+15%> Spell power bonus
[+15%] Spell capacity bonus
Equipment
The number and kinds of equipment you may wear depends on your racial
body type. The usual body type is humanoid:
a) | Right Hand: a Dagger (1d5) (+0,+0)
b) ) Left Hand : a Small Leather Shield [3,+0]
c) } Shooting : a Short Bow (x2.50) (+3,+6)
d) ~ Quiver : a Quiver [0 of 80]
e) = Right Ring: a Ring of Combat (+5,+0) {Fe A:Earthquake}
f) = Left Ring : a Ring of Protection [+1] {Wr~L(Wi}
g) " Neck : an Amulet
h) ~ Light : a Wooden Torch (with 1999 turns of light)
i) ( Body : Soft Leather Armour [4,+0]
j) ( Cloak : a Cloak [1,+3]
k) ] Head : an Iron Helm [5,+5]
l) ] Hands : a Set of Leather Gloves [1,+5]
m) ] Feet : a Pair of Soft Leather Boots [2,+3]
Many Monster mode races have unique body types, and adapting to
different equipment possibilities is part of the fun of playing as a
monster!
Inventory/Pack
The size of your pack also slightly varies, but most characters have 26
slots in their inventory. You can place any object you like in your
pack, and objects here will sort and stack as allowed; however, should
your pack grow too heavy, your character will become encumbered and
will gradually move slower and slower. View your equipment with the
equipment command, and your inventory with the inventory command.
Examine items in detail with the Inspect command. Add objects to your
pack with the get command and equip objects for use with the wear
command. You can remove an equipped object with the take off command,
and discard an item with either the drop command, which places the item
on the ground, or the kill command, which destroys the object.
Pseudo-ID
To recap, pseudo-ID is the ability to roughly sense the quality of
unidentified objects in your pack (or equipment!), and it comes in two
forms: strong and weak. The speed and strength of the sensing varies
with class, wisdom, and virtue of the player. From birth in
coffee-break mode, and from CL20 otherwise, players automatically sense
the quality of objects underfoot, and this sensing is always strong
regardless of class; so weak pseudo-ID is only relevant in the early
game.
Pseudo-ID communicates the quality of an object via a fake inscription
on that object. For example, you might have a Long Sword {excellent} or
Hard Studded Leather {terrible}. The meanings of these object feelings
are indicated by the tables below:
Table 1 - Strong Pseudo-ID
Inscription Meaning
Terrible a cursed artifact
Awful a cursed ego item
Bad a cursed nameless item
Average an average item
Good an enchanted item
Excellent a non-cursed ego item
Special a non-cursed artifact
Or, to put this another way:
Egos Artifacts
Average -> Good -> Excellent -> Special
-> Bad -> Awful -> Terrible
Table 2 - Weak Pseudo-ID
Inscription Meaning
Average an average item
Cursed a cursed item (includes cursed ego items and
artifacts)
Enchanted an enchanted item (includes good ego items and
artifacts)
List of Abbreviations
At : extra blows Ac : resistance to acid
Sp : affects speed El : resistance to electricity
St : affects strength Fi : resistance to fire
In : affects intelligence Co : resistance to cold
Wi : affects wisdom Po : resistance to poison
Dx : affects dexterity Li : resistance to light
Cn : affects constitution Dk : resistance to darkness
Ch : affects charisma Cf : resistance to confusion
Md : affects magic devices Nt : resistance to nether
Sl : affects stealth Nx : resistance to nexus
Sr : affects searching ability So : resistance to sound
If : affects infravision Sh : resistance to shards
Dg : affects tunneling ability Ca : resistance to chaos
Lf : affects your life rating Di : resistance to disenchantment
*Ac: immune to acid Ti : resistance to time
*El: immune to electricity Bl : resistance to blindness
*Fi: immune to fire Fe : resistance to fear
*Co: immune to cold
Es : easy spell [F : fiery sheath
Dm : decreases mana consumption [E : electric sheath
Th : suitable for throwing [C : cold sheath
Rf : reflection [Sh: aura of shards
Fa : free action [At: aura of retaliation
Si : see invisible [M : anti-magic shell
Hl : hold life [T : prevents teleportation
Sd : slow digestion [Sm: anti-summoning shell
Rg : regeneration [Mr: magic resistance
Rm : mana recovery |A : acid brand
Lv : levitation |E : electricity brand
Nv : night vision |F : fire brand
Lu : extra light |Co: cold brand
Wr : provides warning |P : poison brand
Xm : extra might when shooting |Dk: darkness brand
Xs : extra shots (shooting speed) |Ca: mark of chaos
Te : random teleportation |V : vampiric weapon
Ag : aggravate monsters |Q : impact weapon
Bs : blessed |St: hits to stun
Ty : ancient foul curse |S : sharp weapon
Ds : darkness |SS: really sharp weapon
Wm : weaponmastery (extra dice) |M : mana brand
Id : loremastery (auto-identify)
/* : slay evil /X* : *slay* evil
/p : slay human /Xp : *slay* human
/D : slay dragon /XD : *slay* dragon
/o : slay orc /Xo : *slay* orc
/T : slay troll /XT : *slay* troll
/P : slay giant /XP : *slay* giant
/U : slay demon /XU : *slay* demon
/L : slay undead /XL : *slay* undead
/Z : slay animal /XZ : *slay* animal
/A : slay good
/Lv: slay living
~Tele : telepathy (St : sustain strength
~Evil : ESP evil (In : sustain intelligence
~Good : ESP good (Wi : sustain wisdom
~Nolv : ESP non-living (Dx : sustain dexterity
~Lvng : ESP living (Cn : sustain constitution
~p : ESP human (Cn : sustain charisma
~D : ESP dragon
~o : ESP orc
~T : ESP troll
~P : ESP giant
~U : ESP demon
~L : ESP undead
~Z : ESP animal
For example, armor with base resistance would display as {AcElFiCo}
while a really good weapon might display as {Cn;LuAg|VS/XU/*~U},
meaning it gives a bonus to Constitution, grants increased light
radius, aggravates monsters, is both vampiric and sharp (|V and |S;
notice the second | does not repeat), has *slay* demons, also slays
evil and grants ESP demons as well. (Quick quiz: which item is it?)
Inscriptions: Summary
Inscription Form Meaning
@Command-LetterChoice-Label
Use the given choice label (a-z, A-Z or 0-9) to
select the inscribed object whenever the
Command-Letter command is issued.
@Choice-Digit Use the given choice digit (0-9) to select the
inscribed object whenever any command is issued.
!Command-Letter Prompt for verification whenever attempting to use
the inscribed object with the Command-Letter
command.
!* Prompt for verification whenever attempting to use
the inscribed object with any command.
!! Disturb the player whenever the inscribed object
is fully recharged.
!1 Disturb the player whenever the inscribed object
has recharged enough to have 1 charge.
=g Automatically pick up the inscribed object.
. Disable prompt for random teleportation.
$ Disable warning prompt.
!? Request confirmation for melee attacks.
^Command-Letter Prompt for verification whenever the
Command-Letter command is issued, provided the
inscribed object is currently being worn.
Be sure to read [n] if this is unclear to you.
--
Original : (??)
Updated : (??)
Updated : Zangband DevTeam
Updated : Hengband 1.3.0
Updated : PosChengband 4.0.0
Updated : FrogComposband 7.1.chocolate
Updated : FrogComposband 7.1.liquorice