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=== Creating a Character === Angband is a roleplaying game, in which you, the player, control a character in the world of Angband. Perhaps the most important thing you control is the birth of your character, in which you choose or allow to be chosen various attributes that will affect the future life of your character. Character creation, or birth, is controlled through a variety of choices as to constraints on the type of character you wish to play, followed by a series of random calculations to generate ("roll up") a random character matching the appropriate constraints. Once your character has been generated, you will be given the choice to generate a new character obeying the same constraints, and once you have generated more than one character, you can switch back and forth between the two most recent characters, until you are presented with a personality that you feel comfortable with. You may start the entire process over at any time. Once you have accepted a character you will asked to provide a name for the character. In general, the actual choice of a name is not important, but do keep in mind that it may have some effect on the game itself. For example, on some machines, the chatacter name determines the filename that will be used to save the character to disk. On others, the character name specifies special "pref" files. And the character name is used on the high score list. === Character Characteristics === Each character has three primary attributes, sex, race, and class, that are chosen before the character is generated, and which will stay fixed for the entire life of that character. These attributes have many effects, which will be mentioned as they come up. Each character has a few secondary attributes, height, weight, social class, and background history, which are randomly determined, but which are affected by the sex and race of the character. In general, these attributes are only used to provide "flavor" to the character, to assist in the role playing, but they do have a few minor effects on the game. For example, background history affects social class, which affects the starting money. (Not a lot, in the case of some races: for instance, Half-Trolls are always going to be the scum of society, even if their father was the Clan Chief.) Each character also has six primary "stats", strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, and charisma, which modify the abilities of the character in a variety of ways. Every stat has a numerical value, ranging from a minimum of 3, up to a normal maximum of 18, and even higher, into the "percentile" range, represented as "18/01" through "18/100": this is the maximum that can be achieved intrinsically, for any given stat. If the character is started with the option of "maximize effect of race/class bonuses" (from the Birth Options menu, and this is set as "on" by default), the maximum figure of 18/100 is further adjusted by the adjustments for race and class - for instance, a Half-Troll Warrior will max out at 18/190 strength, but only 18/40 intelligence, whereas a Hobbit Mage will be able to reach 18/150 intelligence but only 18/30 strength. Equipment may add bonuses or penalties to this, and raise the player's stats beyond the normal intrinsic limits: the stats may go as high as they like, with the right choice of equipment, but the effects of having higher stats largely stop at 18/200. Each character also has several primary "skills", disarming, magic devices, saving throws, stealth, searching ability, searching frequency, fighting skill, and shooting skill, which are derived from the character's race, class, level, stats, and current equipment. These skills have rather obvious effects, but will be described more completely below. Each character may have one or more "racially intrinsic skills", based on the race of the character. These may include special resistances, or even abilities such as infravision. Each character has experience, which increases as the character becomes more experienced, and a level, which is based on experience, and also on race and class. As the experience rises, so does the level, and as the level rises, certain other abilities and characteristics rise as well. Deep down inside, the real objective of the game is to increase your experience, and certain other characteristics, and also to collect useful items, to give you a decent chance against Morgoth. Certain monsters can "drain" your experience, and thus your level, which will cause you to lose all of the effects of the higher level. Luckily, you can restore drained experience through magical means, or by simply regaining the experience all over again. Each character has some gold, which can be used to buy items from the shops in the town, and which can be obtained not only from selling items to the shops, but also by taking it from dead monsters and by finding it hidden in the dungeon. Each character starts out with some gold, the amount of which is based on the characters social class (higher is better), charisma (higher is better), and other stats (less powerful characters start with more gold). Each character also starts out with a few useful items, which may be kept, or sold to a shopkeeper for more gold. However, especially valuable items will never sell for the full price, as each shopkeeper has a maximum that he is prepared to pay for any item. The more generous shopkeepers may buy your items for up to 30,000 gold pieces: but some are really stingy, and will pay no more than 5,000. The Black Market will generally give a worse price than anywhere else. Each character has an armor class, representing how well the character can avoid damage. The armor class is affected by dexterity and the equipment. Armor class on equipment is always denoted in [square brackets], usually as a figure of [X,+Y] where X is the intrinsic AC of the armor in question, and Y is the magical bonus to armor class provided by that item. Each character has hit points, representing how much damage the character can sustain before he dies. The maximum number of hit points is derived from your race, class, level, and constitution, and you can never have more hit points than the maximum. Hit points may be regained by resting, or by a variety of magical means, most usually a spell or potion of healing. Each character has spell points, or mana, which represents how many spells (or prayers) a character can cast (or pray). The maximum number of spell points is derived from your class, level, and intelligence (for spells) or wisdom (for prayers), and you can never have more spell points than the maximum. Spell points may be regained by resting, or by magical means. Warriors never have any spell points. === Races === There are ten different races that you can choose from in Angband. Some races are restricted as to what profession they may be, and each race has its own adjustments to a character's stats and abilities. Most races also have intrinsic abilities. Human The human is the base character. All other races are com- pared to them. Humans can choose any class and are average at everything. Humans tend to go up levels faster than any other race because of their shorter life spans. No racial adjustments or intrinsics occur to characters choosing human. Half-Elf Half-elves tend to be smarter and faster than a human, but not as strong. Half-elves are slightly better at searching, disarming, saving throws, stealth, bows, and magic, but they are not as good at hand weapons. Half-elves may choose any class and have their dexterity sustained. Elf Elves are better magicians then humans, but not as good at fighting. They tend to be smarter and faster than either humans or half-elves and also have better wisdom. Elves are better at searching, disarming, perception, stealth, bows, and magic, but they are not as good at hand weapons. Elves have a good understanding of magic, and are good shots with missile weapons: so they make excellent rangers, rogues and mages. However, they are descended from those elves who refused to answer the call of the Valar, so they cannot call on enough divine aid to become priests or paladins. Nor do they have sufficient mental discipline to become psionicists. Hobbits Hobbits, or Halflings, are very good at bows, throwing, and have good saving throws. They also are very good at search- ing, disarming, perception, and stealth; so they make excel- lent rogues, but prefer to be called burglars. They will be much weaker than humans, and not much good at melee fighting. They are, however, excellent shots with missile weapons: and although they are not inherently magical enough to become mages, they have a great understanding of magical devices. Hobbits may be warriors, rogues or rangers, and they are intrinsically resistant to having their life drained by the forces of the wraith-world of the undead. Gnome Gnomes are smaller than dwarves but larger than hobbits. They live under the ground, although generally not as deep as dwarves. Gnomes make excellent mages, and have very good saving throws. They are good at searching, disarming, perception, and stealth. They have lower strength than humans so they are not very good at fighting with hand weapons. Gnomes have fair infra-vision, so they can detect warm-blooded creatures at a distance. A gnome may choose between being a warrior, mage, priest, or rogue. Gnomes are intrinsically protected against paralysis and most slowing effects. Dwarf Dwarves are the headstrong miners and fighters of legend. Since dungeons are the natural home of a dwarf, they are excellent choices for a warrior or priest - or indeed, that combination of the two, the paladin. Dwarves tend to be stronger and tougher but slower and less intelligent than humans. Because they are so headstrong and are somewhat wise, they resist spells which are cast on them. Dwarves also have very good infra-vision because they live underground. They do have one big drawback, though: Dwarves are loudmouthed and proud, singing in loud voices, arguing with themselves for no good reason, screaming out challenges at imagined foes. In other words, dwarves have a miserable stealth. They can never be blinded. Half-Orc Half-Orcs make excellent warriors and decent priests, but are terrible at magic. They are as bad as dwarves at stealth, and horrible at searching, disarming, and perception. Half-Orcs are, let's face it, ugly. They tend to pay more for goods in town. Half-Orcs do make good warriors and rogues, for the simple reason that Half-Orcs tend to have great constitutions and lots of hit points. Because of their preference to living underground to on the surface, half-orcs resist darkness attacks. Half-Troll Half-Trolls are incredibly strong, and have more hit points than any other character race. They are also very stupid and slow. They will make great warriors: and some few of them have sufficient shamanic powers to be considered priests. They are bad at searching, disarming, perception, and stealth. They are so ugly that a Half-Orc grimaces in their presence. They also happen to be fun to run... Half-trolls always have their strength sustained. Dunadan Dunedain are a race of hardy men from the West. This elder race surpasses human abilities in every field, especially constitution. However, being men of the world, very little is new to them, and levels are very hard to gain... They can play all classes except rogues, being of too noble a character to be dishonest: even those Dunedain who are inclined to evil will not resort to petty crime and picking pockets. Their constitution cannot be reduced. High-Elf High-Elves are descended from those among the Elves who heard and answered the call from the Valar at the very beginning of time, before the sun and moon were made, and lived in the Blessed Realm for many thousands of years before returning to mortal lands. Because of this, they are far superior in terms of abilities when compared to their lesser Elven kindred, and are able to be priests as well as all the other classes that normal Elves can be. They can also see into the invisible world of ghosts and wraiths. However, they find new experience even harder to come by than Dunedain: and their wisdom is still a little suspect. And like normal Elves, they resist attacks involving bright light. Kobold Kobolds are a race of small dog-headed humanoids that dwell underground. They can see in the dark better than almost any other race, and are intrinsically resistant to poisons of all kinds. They are also stronger than anything that size has any right to be (although this strength is only relative, no greater than that of humans), and have a good dexterity and constitution. However, they are not noted for great intelligence. Furthermore, the generally evil nature of most kobolds means that those few who are aligned to Good (and generally outcasts from their tribes because of this) are mistrusted in town. And while their constitution makes them tough, it still cannot prevent the fact that they are not the biggest of creatures, and have few hit points. They can be warriors, rangers, rogues or priests. === Classes === Once a race has been chosen, you will need to pick a class. Some classes will not be available to certain races, for instance, a Half-Troll cannot become a Paladin. Warrior A Warrior is a hack-and-slash character, who solves most of his problems by cutting them to pieces, but will occasion- ally fall back on the help of a magical device. His prime stat is Strength, and a good Dexterity and Constitution can really help at times. A Warrior will be good at Fighting and Throwing/Bows, but bad at most other skills. Any race (even hobbits and gnomes, those least suited to it) may be a Warrior. Mage A Mage must live by his wits. He cannot hope to simply hack his way through the dungeon, and so must therefore use his magic to defeat, deceive, confuse, and escape. A mage is not really complete without an assortment of magical devices to use in addition to his spells. He can master the higher level magical devices far easier than anyone else, and has the best saving throw to resist effects of spells cast at him. Intelligence is his primary stat, and they also have a good dexterity. In the end, even a mage may have to fight, but he will never be as good as a warrior at fighting without using his spells to the full. All human or elven races may become mages, as may gnomes. Priest A Priest is a character of holy devotion. They explore the dungeon only to destroy the evil that lurks within: and if treasure just happens to fall into their packs, well, so much more to the glory of their church! Priests receive their spells from a deity, and therefore do not choose which spells they will learn. They are familiar with magical dev- ices, preferring to call them "instruments of God", but are not as good as a mage in their use. Priests have good sav- ing throws, and make decent fighters, but they are forbidden by they strictures of the Church from shedding blood: so they must use blunt weapons or anger their god, which will result in their prayers failing more often than normal. And they cannot in any case use an edged weapon well. Wisdom is their primary stat, and they are also charismatic enough to convince shopkeepers to drop their prices so as to keep in the Church's good books. Elves (other than High Elves) and Hobbits are generally not religious enough to be priests, but all other character races may play this class. Rogue A Rogue is a character that prefers to live by his cunning, but is capable of fighting his way out of a tight spot. He is the master of traps and locks, no device being impossible for him to overcome. He may even set his own traps and harm unwary monsters in them. A rogue has a high stealth allowing him to sneak around many creatures without having to fight, or sneak up and get the first blow. A rogue's perception is higher than any other class, and many times he will notice a trap or secret door before having to search. A rogue is better than warriors or paladins with magical devices, but still cannot rely on their performance. Rogues can also learn a few spells, but not the powerful offensive spells magi can use. A rogue's primary stat is Dexterity, and they are also fairly intelligent: but, however good they may have once been at talking their way out of situations, they are now known around the town as rogues, and so they seldom get fair prices from the shops. All races may be Rogues - apart from Half-Trolls and Dwarves who are not dextrous enough to pick pockets, and Dunedain who are too noble to resort to petty crime, even if they were to incline to evil. Ranger A Ranger is a warrior/mage. He is a good fighter, and the best of the classes with bows (but not crossbows.) The ranger learns spells much more slowly than a mage, but is capable of learning all but the most powerful spells. Because a ranger is really a dual class character, more experience is required for him to advance. A ranger has a good stealth, good perception, good searching, a good saving throw, and is good with magical devices. His primary stats are Intelligence and Dexterity. All human and elven races can be rangers, as can hobbits and kobolds. Paladin A Paladin is a warrior/priest. He is a very good fighter, second only to the warrior class, but not very good with missile weapons. He receives prayers at a slower pace than the priest, but can receive even the most powerful prayers. Because a paladin is really a dual class character, it requires more experience to advance him. However, he is poor at stealth, perception, searching, and magical devices. He has a decent saving throw due to his divine alliance. His primary stats are Strength, Wisdom and Charisma. Only those with human or dwarven racial heritage (the former including Dunedain and Half-Elves) may be Paladins. Psionicist A Psionicist is a character who has learned to use the power of his mind. They differ from other spellcasters in the fact that they have to actually "w"ield their Psionic Foci to cast a power from it. There are six Psionic disciplines: Telepathy, Psychoportation, Psychometabolism, Psychokinesis, Metapsionics and Clairsentience. Psionic foci come in three levels of power within each discipline: each higher level grants access to higher powers, for instance wielding a Telepathy 2 focus allows the casting of any spell from Telepathy 1 or 2, but not Telepathy 3. A character wielding a Metapsionics focus may also cast spells from other psionic foci in his backpack as long as both foci are of sufficient level to cast the spell (e.g. if wielding a Metapsionics 2 focus, you can cast spells from Telepathy 1 or 2 from a focus in the backpack, but not from Telepathy 3: nor from Telepathy 2, if you only have Telepathy 1 and not 2 in the backpack.) Psionic foci can be destroyed by lightning: but level 2 foci get saves, and level 3 foci are immune. They are the weakest warriors of all classes, but have in the end the most powerful spells. Humans, Dunedain and Half-Elves can be psionicsts. === Stats === Strength Strength is important in fighting with weapons and in melee combat. A high strength can improve your chances of hitting as well as the amount of damage done with each hit. Char- acters with low strengths may receive penalties. Strength is also useful in tunnelling and in carrying heavy items. Intelligence Intelligence affects the spellcasting abilities of mages, rangers, rogues and psionicists. Intelligence will affect the number of spells you may learn each level as well as the number of spell points you receive. A high Intelligence may also reduce your chance of spell failure. You cannot learn spells if your intelligence is 7 or lower. A good intelligence can also help with using magic devices, picking locks, and disarming traps. Wisdom The primary function of wisdom is to determine the ability of a priest or paladin to use prayers, just like intelligence affects spellcasting. Again, high wisdom will increase the number of spell points you have and increase the number of prayers you can learn each level, while improving the chance that a prayer will be successful. A good wisdom can also help to improve your chances of resisting magical spells cast upon you by monsters. Dexterity Dexterity is a combination of agility and quickness. A high dexterity may allow a character to get multiple blows with lighter weapons, thus greatly increasing his kill power, and will increase his chances of hitting with any weapon and dodging blows from enemies. Dexterity is also useful in picking locks, disarming traps, and protecting yourself from some of the thieves that inhabit the dungeons. Indeed, if the character has a high enough dexterity, thieves will never be successful in stealing from the player. Constitution Constitution is a character's ability to resist damage to his body, and to recover from damage received. Therefore a character with a high constitution will receive more hit points and also recover them faster while resting. Charisma Charisma represents a character's personality and physical appearance. A character with a high charisma will receive better prices from store owners, whereas a character with a very low charisma may be robbed blind. === Abilities === Characters possess some different abilities which can help them to survive. The starting abilities of a character are based upon race and class. Abilities may be adjusted by high or low stats, and may increase with the level of the character. Fighting Fighting is the ability to hit and do damage with weapons or fists. The character's base fighting ability improves with level: it is further affected by strength and dexterity (the former increasing the damage done, the latter increasing the to-hit chance, and both together increasing the chance of getting multiple attacks with lighter weapons) and by any magical bonuses to-hit or to-dam that are displayed. The value displayed on the character screen is the final calculation after all these factors have been taken into account. Shooting Ability Using ranged missile weapons (and throwing objects) is included in this skill. Different stats apply to different weapons, but this ability may modify the distance an object is thrown/fired, the amount of damage done, and the ability to hit a creature. This skill increases with the level of the character, and is improved by dexterity granting a better chance to hit. Saving Throws A Saving Throw is the ability of a character to resist the effects of a spell cast on him by another person/creature. This does not include spells cast on the player by his own stupidity, such as quaffing a nasty potion. This ability increases with the level of the character, but then most high level creatures are better at casting spells, so it tends to even out. A high wisdom also increases this ability. Stealth The ability to move silently about is very useful. Charac- ters with good stealth can usually surprise their opponents, gaining the first blow. Also, creatures may fail to notice a stealthy character entirely, allowing a player to avoid certain fights. This skill is based entirely upon race and class, and will never improve unless magically enhanced. Disarming Disarming is the ability to remove traps (safely), and includes picking locks on doors. A successful disarming will gain the character some experience. A trap must be found before it can be disarmed. Dexterity and Intelligence both modify the ability to disarm, and this ability increases with the level of the character. Magical Devices Using a magical device such as a wand or staff requires experience and knowledge. Spell users such as magi and priests are therefore much better at using a magical device than a warrior. This skill is modified by intelligence, and increases with the level of the character. Searching Frequency (Perception) Perception is the ability to notice something without actively seeking it out. This skill is based entirely upon race and class, and will never improve unless magically enhanced: any item that has a bonus to "searching" improves perception as well. Searching Ability (Searching) To search is to actively look for secret doors, floor traps, and traps on chests. Rogues are the best at searching, but magi, rangers, and priests are also good at it. This skill is based entirely upon race and class, and will never improve unless magically enhanced. === Combinations of Race and Class (not enforced) === Warrior Mage Priest Rogue Ranger Paladin Psionicist Human Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Half-Elf Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Elf Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Hobbit Yes No No Yes Yes No No Gnome Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Dwarf Yes No Yes No No Yes No Half-Orc Yes No Yes Yes No No No Half-Troll Yes No Yes No No No No Dunadan Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes High-Elf Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Kobold Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No === Miscellaneous === Infra-vision Infra-vision is the ability to see heat sources. Since most of the dungeon is cool or cold, infra-vision will not allow the player to see walls and objects. Infra-vision will allow a character to see any warm-blooded creatures up to a cer- tain distance. This ability works equally well with or with out a light source. However, many of Angband's creatures are cold-blooded, and will not be detected unless lit up by a light source. All non human races have innate infra-vision ability. Humans can gain infra-vision only if it is magically enhanced. === Stat Bonus Tables === Stat, hit dice, and experience points per level modifications due to race are listed in the following table. STR INT WIS DEX CON CHR Hit Dice Rqd Exp/level Human 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 +0% Half-Elf -1 +1 0 +1 -1 +1 9 +10% Elf -1 +2 +1 +1 -2 +1 8 +20% Hobbit -2 +2 +1 +3 +2 +1 7 +10% Gnome -1 +2 0 +2 +1 -2 8 +25% Dwarf +2 -3 +2 -2 +2 -3 11 +20% Half-Orc +2 -1 0 0 +1 -4 10 +10% Half-Troll +4 -4 -2 -4 +3 -6 12 +20% Dunadan +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +2 10 +80% High-Elf +1 +3 -1 +3 +1 +5 10 +100% Kobold -1 -1 0 +2 +2 -3 8 +15% STR INT WIS DEX CON CHR Hit Dice bonus Warrior +5 -2 -2 +2 +2 -1 +9 Mage -5 +3 0 +1 -2 +1 0 Priest -1 -3 +3 -1 0 +2 +2 Rogue +2 +1 -2 +3 +1 -1 +6 Ranger +2 +2 0 +1 +1 +1 +4 Paladin +3 -3 +1 0 +2 +2 +6 Psionicist -5 +3 +1 +1 -2 +1 0 === Ability Tables === Disarm Search Stealth Percep Fight Bows Save Infra Human 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 None Half-Elf 6 7 7 6 4 6 6 20 feet Elf 8 9 7 7 3 9 7 30 feet Hobbit 10 10 10 10 1 10 10 40 feet Gnome 9 7 9 9 2 8 9 40 feet Dwarf 6 8 3 5 9 5 8 50 feet Half-Orc 3 5 3 2 8 3 3 30 feet Half-Troll 1 1 1 1 10 1 1 30 feet Dunadan 9 8 7 8 7 8 7 None High-Elf 9 8 8 9 7 10 10 40 feet Kobold 5 6 9 6 5 5 5 50 feet Save Stea- Magic Extra Fight Bows Throw lth Disarm Device Percep Search Exp/lev Warrior 10 6 3 2 4 3 2 2 +0% Mage 2 1 10 5 6 10 8 5 +30% Priest 4 3 6 5 3 8 4 4 +20% Rogue 8 9 7 10 10 6 10 10 +25% Ranger 6 10 8 7 6 7 6 6 +30% Paladin 9 5 4 2 2 4 2 2 +35% Psionicist 2 1 3 5 3 8 8 4 +30%