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=== Zangband Magic System === In the official releases of Angband there are only two types magic spells: Magic spells and priestly prayers. If the character is a mage, ranger or a rogue (s)he can learn magic spells; if (s)he is a priest or a paladin, (s)he can learn prayers. All mages can learn the same spells and all priests can learn the same spells. Zangband uses a more complex "realms of magic" system inspired by the commercial fantasy strategy game Master of Magic (Microprose), which in turn has supposedly borrowed it from the card game Magic the Gathering (by Wizards of the Coast). The magic system, as implemented in Zangband, consists of seven realms: Life, Arcane, Sorcery, Nature, Trump, Chaos and Death. While any given realm of magic typically includes spells of a certain type or theme, each realm should have enough high-level spells to remain effective throughout the later stages of the game. The main difference lies in how they support your playing strategy. For example, some offer attacking spells which let you directly hurt your enemy, while others offer spells for protection, healing and gathering information. In general, Life is defensive although it offers some good attacking spells against evil monsters, Arcane offers utility spells with limited offensive capability, Sorcery offers utility spells and some defensive capability, Nature specializes in the elements and offers both defensive and offensive spells, Trump specializes in teleportation and summoning spells and Chaos and Death are offensive. In Zangband, spellcasting classes can select either one or two realms from those available. Note that certain realms may be prohibited for some classes. Since a character can have (at most) two realms of magic, and the old spells have been split between the existing realms, on the first glance it may seem that this system makes spell-users less powerful. However, the opposite holds true. While a given realm of magic typically includes spells of a certain type, new ultra powerful rare high-level spells have been added to many realms. Any spell realm should have enough high-level spells even for the later stages of the game. The main difference lies in how they support your playing strategy: some offer "weapon" spells which let you directly hurt your enemy, while others offer spells for protection, healing and gathering information. In standard Angband, there were 9 spellbooks for all spellcasters. In Zangband, there are 4 spellbooks per realm. Two of them can be bought in the town stores and the remaining two must be found in the dungeon (although they may occasionally appear in the Black Market). The exception to this rule is the Arcane realm since all Arcane spellbooks can be found in the magic shop or book store. Just as one might expect, Arcane magic lacks the really powerful high level spells. A character with two realms of magic will thus need to carry a maximum of 8 spellbooks while a character with only one realm of magic will only need to carry a maximum of 4 spellbooks. All realms have 32 spells, and each book contains 8 spells. ***** <ClassSpellAbil> === Class Spell Ability === Warriors Warriors cast no spells. They hate magic. In fact, they even gain experience for destroying high level spellbooks. Mages Mages have the least restrictions in choosing and learning spells. They can freely choose any two realms when a character is created: in the current version, all seven realms are available to them, although their natural inclination makes Life magic fairly hard for them. Otherwise, a mage tends to learn and cast all the spells in his / her realms better than any other character. The ability to select both realms of magic (which no other character class can do) allows the best support for experimenting and combining different realms, and, thus, for different playing strategies as well. Priests There are two types of priests in Zangband: the 'ordinary' priests who, select Life magic as their primary realm, and the 'dark' priests, who select Death magic instead of Life magic. No priest can have both realms (unless (s)he was created in Zangband 2.0.0 or 2.0.1). Priests can also select a secondary realm from the other five realms, and should be able to learn all spells in it as well, even if not as efficiently as mages. However, when learning spells, priests cannot voluntarily decide which spells to study: they are rewarded with new prayers by their patron deities, with no money-back satisfaction guarantee. It should also be noted that since the natural inclination of a priest is towards Life magic, priests who select Life magic will be able to learn their prayers faster and better than their evil colleagues with Death magic. Rogues There are several subtypes of Rogues in Zangband: the exact 'type' is determined by the realm of magic chosen by the Rogue. The common Thief, agent of the underworld, will probably be content with Arcane magic and its wide applicability. The Burglar, on the other hand, is more interested in the Sorcery spells, which allow him or her to do the job fast and efficiently. The Assassins' partiality for Death magic is well known, and they are feared for it. Finally, there is the Card Shark, who will opt for Trump magic, and shuffles the decks with amazing proficiency. All Rogues have certain limitations on which spells they can learn, and they are not too fast to learn new spells. Rangers All rangers are trained in Nature magic, and all Nature spells are available to them. They even learn these spells almost as fast as mages. They can also select a secondary realm (from Sorcery, Arcane, Trump, Nature, Chaos and Death), but they are slow learners in them, and may find themselves unable to learn some of the highest level spells. Paladins Paladins are trained in Life magic (only), and they despise the other realms of magic (which they regard as the Devil's work). Like priests, they cannot select which prayers to learn but are rewarded with new prayers by their deities. They can learn all Life spells, but not as fast as priests. Death Knights study Death magic instead of Life magic, but in other respects they are similar to normal paladins. Death Knights can learn all Death spells. The endless enmity between these two subtypes is most evident in their attitudes to other realms of magic: an 'ordinary' detests the other realms of magic (than Life) so strongly that he or she will even gain experience for destroying their high-level spellbooks. A Death Knight, on the other hand, is very tolerant of the other realms -- to annoy Paladins, perhaps, if for no other reason. A Death Knight will, however, be very offended by the sight of Life spellbook, and will do anything to destroy it; and this will even give him or her experience, if the Life spellbook in question is a high-level one. Warrior-Mages Warrior-mages begin the game with Arcane magic, and they can freely select another realm of magic. Although they do not gain new spells as fast as regular mages, they will eventually learn every spell in both realms, thus making a very competitive choice for players who appreciate Arcane magic. Chaos Warriors Chaos Warriors are, as one might expect, trained in Chaos magic. They are not interested in any other form of magic. They can learn every Chaos spell. Monks The different sects of monks are devoted to different areas of magic. The typical monk is interested in the harmony of the nature, and studies Nature magic. An idealist monk would select Life magic, and try work to benefit his neighbor. But there also are dark monks, who specialize in Death magic. A monk can thus select any one of these three Realms. They will eventually learn all prayers in the discipline of their choice. Mindcrafter Although the powers of a Mindcrafter may seem like magic, this is not -- strictly speaking -- the case. They are mental powers, independent of the ordinary sources of magic. Consequently, Mindcrafters are not interested in 'magic' and learn no spells. High Mage High mages are mages who specialize in one particular field of magic and learn it very well -- much better than the ordinary mage. For the price of giving up a second realm of magic, they gain substantial benefits in the mana costs, minimum levels, and failure rates in the spells of the realm of their specialty. ***** <MagicRealms> === The Realms of Magic === Life Life is magic is 'good' magic; it relies mostly on healing and protective spells. It does have a few attack spells as well, but these are mostly used for harming and banishing foul minions of evil. It is rumored that there is a secret high level prayer which will make the priest (or paladin) completely impervious to all forms of hostile action. Sorcery Sorcery is a `meta` realm, including enchantment and general spells. It provides superb protection spells (such as Teleport spells for fleeing and even Globe of Invulnerability), spells to enhance your odds in combat (Slow Monster, Haste Self, Confuse Monster) and, most importantly, a vast selection of spells for gathering information: in addition to the usual detection and identify spells, one of the standard spellbooks has a spell called Identify True, which gives you full knowledge of a given object! In the rare books, there are spells with which you can enchant your items or turn unwanted items to gold. However, Sorcery has one weakness: it has no spells to deal direct damage to your enemies. Arcane Even more than Sorcery, Arcane magic is a general purpose realm of magic. It attempts to encompass all 'useful' spells from all realms, and almost succeeds, with the probable exception of *Identify*. This is the downside of Arcane magic: while Arcane does have all the necessary 'tool' spells for a dungeon delver, it has no ultra-powerful high level spells. As a consequence, all Arcane spellbooks can be bought in town. It should also be noted that the 'specialized' realms (i.e. other than Arcane) usually offer the same spell at a lower level and cost. Arcane magic is therefore perhaps not recommendable as one's only realm of magic, but it should be a very nice addition to fill up the gaps in the selection of tools spells in another realm. Trump Trump magic seems an independent source of power, although its supposed association with Chaos magic has been mentioned in several places. Although it lacks the unpredictable chaotic side-effects of Chaos magic, it has a few spells whose exact effects seem more or less random. One such spell is Shuffle: the Trump spellbooks actually consist of decks of trumps, and the Shuffle spell allows the caster to shuffle the deck and pick one card at random. The effect depends on the card picked, and is not always pleasant. In the Amber universe, the Trump gateways are also a major method of transportation: Trump magic has, indeed, an admirable selection of teleportation spells. Since the Trump gateways can also be used to summon other creatures, Trump magic has an equally impressive selection of summoning spells. However, not all monsters appreciate being drawn to another place by Trump user. The only summoned creatures whose loyalty is guaranteed are the Phantasmal Servants, who lack a will of their own (but can develop one, if you treat them badly). Nature Early levels may be rather difficult for a spellcaster relying on Nature magic, as the early spells offer only limited protection, detection and curing capabilities. However, at higher levels there are very useful offensive spells available, especially should the spellcaster be lucky enough to find an extremely rare spellbook called "Nature's Wrath". Nature also has a spell of Herbal Healing, which is the only powerful healing spell outside the realm of Life magic. Chaos There are few types of magic more unpredictable and difficult to control than Chaos magic. Chaos is the very element of unmaking, and the Chaos spells are the most terrible weapons of destruction imaginable. From Magic Missile and Acid Bolt to the medium level Fire Ball and Doom Bolt, and finally to the awesome spells of Invoke Logrus, Mana Storm and Call the Void, Chaos offers an unsurpassable arsenal of attack spells. The caster can also call on the primal forces of Chaos to induce mutations in his/her opponents and even him/herself, but otherwise, Chaos has no protective spells. Beware, though, Chaos spells are known to backfire easily and product undesired effects. This is especially true in the version 2.1.0 of Zangband and later, where the forces of Chaos can easily twist the hapless individual foolish enough to invoke them, turning them horrendous spawns of Chaos. Death There is no fouler nor more evil category of spells than the necromantic spells of Death Magic. These spells are relatively hard to learn, but at higher levels the spells give the caster power over living and the (un)dead. Poison, vampirism, death spells and even hellfire can be directed by the caster, but the most powerful spells need his / her own blood as the focus, often hurting the caster in the process of casting. Should a Death wizard find the legendary tome Necronomicon, he can expect to gain very great powers indeed, but at a cost: few that have studied the accursed tome have retained their sanity. ***** <CastingSpells> === On Casting Spells ... === Players who select spellcasting characters may notice a few unusual phenomena during the course of the game. Here's a few helps and hints on what may be happening. --- Armor and Spell Casting --- All spellcasting classes are penalized for wielding armor above a certain total combined weight. The threshold varies between 30lbs for a mage and 40lbs for a paladin. Typically, the more reliant on spells/prayers your class is deemed to be, the lower your weight allowance. If you exceed your weight limit, your mana will drop. This penalty is fairly stiff for low level characters but can generally be ignored by high level ones. --- Mage-Types and Gloves --- Spellcasters who use INT as the stat determining their spellcasting ability will be penalized heavily for wielding armor on their hands. The exception to this is that wielding gloves, gauntlets or cesti which boost DEX or which grant Free Action will result in no penalty. The rationale behind this is that the hands are needed to perform intricate gestures that accompany the casting of the spell and anything encumbering the hands would interfere with this. The priest-type classes (priest, paladin and monk) do not have the same restrictions as they are viewed as invoking the power of their deity directly through prayer. --- Casting Spells With Insufficient Mana --- Occasionally, you may try (either by accident or in desperation) to cast a spell when you have insufficient mana to do so. In these circumstances you will be told by the game that you do not have enough mana to cast the spell and then asked if you want to anyway. Casting the spell under these conditions has a drastically reduced chance of success and may also result in your constitution being damaged. It may also cause you to faint from the effort which will effectively paralyze you for several turns (even with free action). The CON drain and the paralyzation may happen regardless of whether the casting was successful or not. --- Spell Durations --- Some spells such as Haste-Self or Resistance grant an effect which wears off after a certain period of time. With very few exceptions, multiple castings of such spells are not cumulative in terms of the duration of the spell. In other words, casting a spell which has a duration of 20 turns three times will not result in a duration of 60 turns. Typically, the subsequent castings will add only a small amount to the total duration. ***** <SpellTypes> === Spell Types === --- Bolts and Beams --- A bolt spell is aimed in a direction or at a target but will hit the first monster or obstruction in its targeted direction. This may or may not be the intended target. Occasionally, you may note that your bolt spell hits multiple targets along the line of fire. This is because some bolt spells are granted a chance of 'beaming' which may be either fixed or level-dependent. A beam will hit every target within range along a 'straight' line in the direction in which it was aimed. --- Balls --- There are two things to remember about ball spells. Firstly, unlike bolt spells, they can be aimed at a specific target which allows you to target a specific monster as opposed to the first one in the direction you are aiming. Secondly, they have a radius (which varies from spell to spell). A radius value of one or more will result in the spell affecting monsters (and possibly objects, etc) around the target in addition to the target itself. --- Line-of-Sight --- Line-of-sight spells affect all monsters that that are currently in sight of your character. This includes monsters that may not currently be visible due to darkness but would be if it was light. --- Area --- Area spells affect an area around the player. The size of the area can vary considerably. For example, Light Area lights a single room while Detect Traps affects a map panel and Genocide the entire level. ***** <Hints> === Hints and Tips === If you miss the `old` magic user, try picking Sorcery and Chaos magic to get the most commonly used mage spells early on (Magic Missile, Detect Monsters + Traps + etc, Identify). It is generally a good idea to pick one defensive realm and one offensive realm. For example try using life or sorcery with chaos or death magic. Nature is somewhat neutral: it has both offensive and defensive spells, but is not very generous with either, not at least early in the game. Nature should work best with characters who can use other means to survive until they get the more powerful high level spells. If you pick the realms always in the same order (e.g. nature as your first realm and chaos as your second realm, not the other way around) you will be less confused when trying to pick the correct spellbook to use in the game. If you still get confused trying to select the correct spellbook, try using macros (either the 'full' macros or inscriptions). ***** <SpellLists> === Spell Lists === LIFE: Standard Spellbooks Book of Common Prayer 1. Detect Evil 2. Cure Light Wounds 3. Bless 4. Remove Fear 5. Call Light 6. Detect Traps and Secret Doors 7. Cure Medium Wounds 8. Satisfy Hunger High Mass 1. Remove Curse 2. Cure Poison 3. Cure Critical Wounds 4. Sense Unseen 5. Holy Orb 6. Protection from Evil 7. Healing 8. Glyph of Warding LIFE: Rare Spellbooks Book of the Unicorn This book has powerful prayers to ward off, banish and destroy the forces of evil. Blessings of the Grail This book has the most powerful prayers of protection and healing, as well as prayers of holy visions. SORCERY: Standard Spellbooks Beginner's Handbook 1. Detect Monsters 2. Phase Door 3. Detect Doors and Traps 4. Light Area 5. Confuse Monster 6. Teleport 7. Sleep Monster 8. Recharging Master Sorcerer's Handbook 1. Magic Mapping 2. Identify 3. Slow Monster 4. Mass Sleep 5. Teleport Away 6. Haste Self 7. Detection True 8. Identify True SORCERY: Rare Spellbooks Pattern Sorcery More powerful spells of detection, information and transportation. Grimoire of Power More powerful enchantments against monsters, spells to enchant items, and the Globe of Invulnerability. ARCANE: All Spellbooks Cantrips for Beginners 1. Zap 2. Wizard Lock 3. Detect Invisibility 4. Detect Monsters 5. Blink 6. Light Area 7. Trap & Door Destruction 8. Cure Light Wounds Minor Arcana 1. Detect Doors & Traps 2. Phlogiston 3. Detect Treasure 4. Detect Enchantment 5. Detect Objects 6. Cure Poison 7. Resist Cold 8. Resist Fire Major Arcana 1. Resist Lightning 2. Resist Acid 3. Cure Medium Wounds 4. Teleport 5. Stone to Mud 6. Ray of Light 7. Satisfy Hunger 8. See Invisible Manual of Mastery 1. Recharging 2. Teleport Level 3. Identify 4. Teleport Away 5. Elemental Ball 6. Detection 7. Word of Recall 8. Clairvoyance TRUMP: Standard Spellbooks Conjurings & Tricks 1. Phase Door 2. Mind Blast 3. Shuffle 4. Reset Recall 5. Teleport 6. Dimension Door 7. Trump Spying 8. Teleport Away Deck of Many Things 1. Trump Reach 2. Trump Animal 3. Phantasmal Servant 4. Trump Monster 5. Conjure Elemental 6. Teleport Level 7. Word of Recall 8. Banish TRUMP: Rare Spellbooks Trumps of Doom This tome tells you the secrets of the Living Trump treatment, as well how to deal the Joker card and how to deal death. It also has rather powerful summoning Trumps which may yet prove your own Doom... Five Aces A superb collection of the most classic summoning Trumps ever crafted. NATURE: Standard Spellbooks Call of the Wild 1. Detect Creatures 2. First Aid 3. Detect Doors and Traps 4. Foraging 5. Daylight 6. Animal Taming 7. Resist Environment 8. Cure Wounds & Poison Nature Mastery 1. Stone to Mud 2. Lightning Bolt 3. Nature Awareness 4. Frost Bolt 5. Ray of Sunlight 6. Entangle 7. Summon Animal 8. Herbal Healing NATURE: Rare Spellbooks Nature's Gifts Nature's Gifts for protection against the forces of nature and hostiles. Nature's Wrath Nature's destructive force harnessed for your use against your enemies. CHAOS: Standard Spellbooks Sign of Chaos 1. Magic Missile 2. Trap / Door Destruction 3. Flash of Light 4. Touch of Confusion 5. Mana Burst 6. Fire Bolt 7. Fist of Force 8. Teleport Self Chaos Mastery 1. Wonder 2. Chaos Bolt 3. Sonic Boom 4. Doom Bolt 5. Fire Ball 6. Teleport Other 7. Word of Destruction 8. Invoke Logrus CHAOS: Rare Spellbooks Chaos Channels Unusual spells that allow you to call on the forces of chaos to induce changes in your possessions, in your enemies and in yourself. Armageddon Tome The rarest of all spellbooks, filled with the most devastating spells. DEATH: Standard Spellbooks Black Prayers 1. Detect Unlife 2. Malediction 3. Detect Evil 4. Stinking Cloud 5. Black Sleep 6. Resist Poison 7. Horrify 8. Enslave Undead Black Mass 1. Orb of Entropy 2. Nether Bolt 3. Terror 4. Vampiric Drain 5. Poison Branding 6. Dispel Good 7. Genocide 8. Restore Life DEATH: Rare Spellbooks Black Channels Spells that turn you into a bloodthirsty killing machine, and which enable you to call upon the nether forces of darkness to wreak havoc upon your foes. Necronomicon The legendary tome of unholy visions, death and destruction. -- Original : (??) Updated : (??) Updated : Zangband DevTeam Last update: May 16, 2000