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 Contents
----------------Introduction
The Coming of Chaos
The Price of the Game
To further the development of the game...
The Horoscope
Game-related Effects of Star Signs
The Player Character
The Races
The Classes
Alignment
Skills
Increasing Skills
Marking Skills for Quick Selection
Weapon Skills
Weapon Skills and Attack Energy
Attributes
Experience and Advancement
Magic & Spells
Casting Spells from Books
Known Spells
Mindcraft
Corruptions
The Game
The Main Screen
The Monster Memory
The Display
The Player Character Screen
Miscellaneous Commands
Movement
Speed
The Dynamic Display
Dice
The Inventory
Filtering the Stuff List
Beasts of Burden
Spells
Shops
Wishing
Saving the Game
How To Start -- A Beginner's Guide
Appendix
Appendix
Appendix
Appendix
A:
B:
C:
D:
Credits
Customizing ADOM
Command-Line Options
Customizing the Keymap
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 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
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.
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
----1
2- 8
9-15
16
17-23
24-30
Specific Name
------------Darknight
Oneweek
Twoweek
Silvernight
Threeweek
Fourweek
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
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.
Game-related Effects of Star Signs
---------------------------------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. 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). 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 a free skill increase
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.
HURTHLING -- 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
The Classes
----------In ADOM, every character belongs to a certain profession which
describes what he learned in his youth. This profession is called a
class and determines his special abilities and starting equipment
(equipment is also dependent on race). Additionally, each class 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 class 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 C-x command
-- if this keybinding does not work for you check your online help
(press '?'-'K').
The following classes 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
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 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.
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
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
damaged metal equipment and
well-equipped and carry the
resilient, hardened by many
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 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.
:
:
:
:
Thus the complete range of alignment order from Law to Chaos looks like this:
L+ -- L -- LN --- NL -- N+ -- N= -- N- -- NC --- CN -- C -- CL 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:
Humans: tools of all kind
Trolls: rocks, the larger the better
Hurthlings: cooked meals
Gnomes: gems
Dwarves: gold
High Elves and Gray Elves: magical rings
Dark Elves and Mist Elves: magical wands and books
Orcs: melee weapons
Drakelings: musical instruments
Ratlings: the ratling gods do not seem to care about anything in
particular
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.
A NOTE ON HIGH SKILL SCORES: High skill scores are generally very
helpful although they can be particularly effective with some specific
skills. All skills below marked with a '+' will make ADOM behave in a
special way if the score is greater than or equal to 80 or equal to 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.
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 that need such material are marked with a [!]
below.
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 (skills marked with a
[*] are default skills available to everyone):
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.
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.
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
Initial 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.
- 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.
Level
----unskilled
basic
basic
basic
skilled
skilled
skilled
skilled
excellent
excellent
excellent
Mastery
Mastery
Mastery
Mastery
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):
UNARMED FIGHTING
To-Hit Modifier
To-Damage Modifier
DV Modifier
0
0
0
0
1
+1
0
0
2
+2
0
0
3
+2
+1
0
4
+3
+1
+1
5
+3
+2
+1
6 7 8 9
+3 +4 +6 +6
+2 +3 +3 +4
+2 +2 +3 +3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
10
+9
+6
+4
11
+10
+6
+5
12
+10
+8
+6
13
+10
+10
+8
14
+12
+10
+10
15
+12
+12
+12
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
To-Hit Modifier
To-Damage Modifier
DV Modifier
0
0
0
0
1
+1
0
0
2
+2
0
0
3
+2
+1
0
4
+3
+1
+1
5
+3
+2
+1
6 7 8 9
+4 +5 +6 +7
+2 +3 +4 +5
+1 +2 +2 +3
10
+9
+6
+3
11
+10
+7
+4
12
+12
+8
+4
13
+14
+10
+4
14
+16
+11
+5
15
+18
+12
+6
0
0
0
0
1
+1
0
0
2
+2
0
0
3
+2
+1
0
4
+3
+1
+1
5
+3
+2
+1
6 7 8 9
+4 +5 +6 +7
+2 +3 +4 +5
+1 +2 +2 +3
10
+9
+6
+3
11
+10
+7
+4
12
+12
+8
+4
13
+14
+10
+4
14
+16
+11
+5
15
+18
+12
+6
SWORDS
To-Hit Modifier
To-Damage Modifier
DV Modifier
0
0
0
0
1
+1
0
0
2
+2
0
0
3
+2
+1
0
4
+3
+1
+1
5
+3
+2
+1
6 7 8 9
+4 +5 +6 +7
+2 +3 +4 +5
+1 +2 +2 +3
10
+9
+6
+3
11
+10
+7
+4
12
+12
+8
+4
13
+14
+10
+4
14
+16
+11
+5
15
+18
+12
+6
AXES
To-Hit Modifier
To-Damage Modifier
DV Modifier
0
0
0
0
1
+1
0
0
2
+2
+1
0
3
+2
+1
0
4
+3
+2
0
5
+3
+2
+1
6 7 8 9
+4 +5 +6 +7
+3 +4 +5 +6
+1 +1 +2 +2
10
+9
+7
+3
11
+10
+8
+3
12
+12
+10
+3
13
+14
+12
+4
14
+16
+14
+4
15
+18
+16
+4
WHIPS
To-Hit Modifier
To-Damage Modifier
DV Modifier
0
0
0
0
1
+1
0
+1
2
+2
+1
+2
3
+3
+1
+3
4
+4
+2
+4
5
+5
+2
+5
6 7 8 9
+6 +8 +10 +12
+3 +4 +5 +7
+6 +7 +8 +9
10
+14
+9
+10
11
+16
+11
+11
12
+18
+13
+12
13
+20
+15
+13
14
+22
+17
+14
15
+24
+19
+15
POLEARMS
To-Hit Modifier
To-Damage Modifier
DV Modifier
0
0
0
0
1
+1
0
0
2
+2
0
+1
3
+3
+1
+2
4
+4
+1
+3
5
+5
+2
+4
6 7 8 9
+6 +7 +8 +9
+2 +3 +4 +5
+5 +6 +8 +10
10
+10
+6
+12
11
+12
+7
+14
12
+14
+8
+16
13
+16
+10
+18
14
+18
+11
+20
15
+20
+12
+22
TWOHANDED WEAPONS
To-Hit Modifier
To-Damage Modifier
DV Modifier
0
0
0
0
1
+1
+1
0
2
+2
+2
0
3
+3
+3
+1
4
+4
+4
+1
5
+4
+6
+1
6 7 8 9
+5 +6 +7 +8
+8 +9 +10 +12
+2 +2 +3 +3
10
+10
+14
+4
11
+12
+16
+4
12
+14
+18
+4
13
+16
+21
+5
14
+18
+25
+6
15
+20
+30
+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
To-Hit Modifier
To-Damage Modifier
DV Modifier
0
0
0
0
1
+1
0
+1
2
+2
0
+2
3
+3
0
+3
4
+4
+1
+5
5
+5
+1
+7
6 7 8 9
+6 +7 +8 +9
+2 +2 +3 +3
+9 +11 +14 +17
10
+10
+5
+20
11
+12
+6
+23
12
+14
+6
+26
13
+16
+7
+30
14
+18
+8
+35
15
+20
+10
+40
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).
Primary Attributes
-----------------Basically, every character is described by eight 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 Advancement
-------------------------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.
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
effects in
P:
R:
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.
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.
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.
IDENTIFY / ENLIGHTENMENT
(Arcane, Clerical)
By invoking this spell, the caster is able to identify a previously
unknown item in his equipment.
LIGHT
(Arcane, Clerical)
This spell lights up a magically or naturally darkened area.
DARKNESS
(Arcane, Clerical)
This spell is the reversal of the Light spell. It magically darkens a
bright area.
CURE LIGHT WOUNDS
(Clerical)
This spell cures one minor wound. 1d8 + 1 + P points of damage will
be restored.
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.
DISARM TRAP
(Clerical)
With this spell one trap can be deactivated permanently. The caster
must be adjacent to the trap to be disarmed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
SLOW MONSTER
(Arcane)
The target of this spell moves and acts with half its effective speed.
CALM MONSTER
(Arcane, Clerical)
Usage of this spell allows to calm down enraged monsters.
CURE SERIOUS WOUNDS
(Clerical)
This spell cures a major wound. 2d10 + 2 + P points of damage will
be restored.
CURE CRITICAL WOUNDS
(Clerical)
This spell cures a terrible wound. 4d8 + 4 + P points of damage
will be restored.
HEAL
(Clerical)
This spells heals a life-threatening wound. 10d6 + 10 + P points of
damage will be restored.
CURE DISEASE
(Clerical)
Application of this spell will cure a deadly disease, illness or
sickness.
NEUTRALIZE POISON
(Clerical)
By using this spell, the caster is able to neutralize poisonous
substances in his blood stream.
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.
DESTROY UNDEAD / DISPEL UNDEAD
(Clerical)
This spell is particularly suited to annihilate undead creatures
completely. The caster must be adjacent to the target creature.
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.
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.
REMOVE CURSE
(Arcane, Clerical)
This spell allows you to turn cursed items into uncursed items.
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.).
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.
REVELATION
(Clerical)
This spell reveals special abilities of the character (e.g. magical
resistances and immunities).
KNOW ALIGNMENT
(Clerical)
This spell allows the caster to determine the alignment of one target.
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.
SUMMON MONSTERS
(Arcane, Clerical)
This spell calls a number of monsters into existence... which sadly
are not necessarily peaceful.
PETRIFICATION
(Clerical)
The target of this spell probably will be turned to stone... forever.
FROST BOLT / NETHER BOLT
(Arcane, Clerical)
This spell causes an icy bolt to spring from the hands of the caster.
ACID BOLT
(Arcane, Clerical)
This spell allows the caster to hurl a bolt of vicious and deadly
liquid at his opponents.
FIRE BOLT / HELLISH FLAMES
(Arcane, Clerical)
Application of this spell allows the caster to hurl a fiery bolt at
his enemies.
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.
MAGIC LOCK / SEAL OF THE SPHERES
(Arcane)
By using this spell, the caster can magically lock a door.
IMPROVED FIREBALL / INVOKED DEVASTATION
(Arcane)
This spell is similar to its lesser cousin (see above) with the major
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.
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. After some moments the game will start.
After passing the title screen, you will have to choose whether to
start a new game, restore an old 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 in that game.
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".
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.
D: The number of the current dungeon level.
Sp: The speed rating 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 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 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
Open door
Closed door
Floor, passage, tunnel
Forge or other special places
Stair leading upwards
Altar
Known trap
=
T
0
+
|
>
*
8
Water
Tree
Pool or hive
Tombstone
Webs
Stair leading downwards
Hole
Gate
Mountains
Hills
Forest
Plains or Swamp
.
=
*
o
Road
Water
Entrance
Buildings
\
?
]
~
%
$
{
Wands
Scrolls
Tools
Bracers
Food
Gold
Music instruments
--- Monster Symbols --Monsters are grouped into specific categories to make it easier to
distinguish them. The following scheme is used (with some
exceptions):
a
b
c
d
e
Ants
Bees
Centipedes
Dogs & other canines
magical Eye
A
B
C
D
E
Aquatic beings
Bats
Chaos creatures
Dragons
Elementals
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
u
v
w
x
y
z
Felines
Grungy humanoids
Humanoids
Insects
Jellies & oozes
Kobolds
Lizards
Mimics
(unused)
Orcs
Pixies
(unused)
Rodents
Snakes
Townsfolk
Underdark humanoids
(unused)
Worms
grues
(unused)
Zombies & other lesser undead
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Fantastic beasts
Ghosts
giant Humanoids
Imps & other minor demons
(unused)
berserKers & barbarians
Liches
Minotaurs
Natural beasts
Ogres
Plants
(unused)
Rust monsters
Spiders
Trolls
Unicorns
Vortices
Wyrms
eXtra-planar beings
constructs
greater undead
@ (demi-)humans
* will o'wisp
*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.
Miscellaneous Commands
---------------------During game play, commands are issued by pressing one or more keys.
Whenever you find a description like 'C-x' you are expected to press
the Control-key and the key 'x' at the same time to invoke the
corresponding command.
The following default commands are normally available:
C-t
a
<
Z
C
H
T
L
E
c
w s
(
)
[
>
: W
!
A
B
P
: b
=
\
: c
$
C-e
@
/
K
: k
: m
M
: w
: g
q
R
x
V
C-w
W
D
d
C-d
e
l
w?
: d
: p
: u
g
wm
wi
w_
w&
w*
w<
w>
h
i
C-i
C-o
k
C-l
: Z
I
1
2
3
4
6
7
8
9
n
?
o
p
;
,
C-p
_
Q
r
&
C-r
'
O
S
s
F1
F2
F3
F4
F5
F6
Set tactics to 'very defensive'
F7
Set tactics to 'coward'
: = Set variable
t
Shoot/Throw missile
: s Swap position with monster
C-a Switch auto-pickup on/off
C-n s Switch game settings (NotEye only)
C-n m Switch message buffer location (only in tiled NotEye mode)
: t Switch the dynamic display (turns, speed, energy, gold, ammunition)
C-k Switch the required (more) key
C-u Unlock door
U
Use item
C-x Use class power
m
Use special ability
u
Use tool
v
View all important PC data
C-c View challenge mode setup
.
Wait
5
Wait
w 1 Walk to the southwest
w 2 Walk to the south
w 3 Walk to the southeast
w 4 Walk to the west
w 5 Walk on the spot
w 6 Walk to the east
w 7 Walk to the northwest
w 8 Walk to the north
w 9 Walk to the northeast
F
Wipe face
z
Zap wand
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
case).
Most monsters also have a base speed rating 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 the current turn number
(an internal game counter), the current speed rating of the display or
the energy cost of the last action of the player character. Usually
the current speed rating 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-, 12and 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
------------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
DAM
DVM
MDM
MEM
MIM
PVM
ATM
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)
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).
Filtering the Stuff List
-----------------------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 wands
all potions
all scrolls
all books
all food
gold
all gems
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!
Shops
----On certain levels of the dungeon, 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
shopkeeper then will block the exit (there seem
around nowadays) and wait for you to pay (which
'p' command). If you do not have enough money,
to leave the item(s) behind.
up first. The
to be so many thieves
is done by using the
you probably will have
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.
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).
(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:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* 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.
Credits for the monster memory
-----------------------------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.
Credits for providing additional question blocks for attribute determination:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------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
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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'.
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'.
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:
b:
c:
d:
e:
i:
k:
l:
m:
s:
w:
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'.
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
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').
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'.