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Text File | 2001-07-01 | 15.4 KB | 341 lines

=== Creating a Character === Zangband is a roleplaying game, in which you, the player, control a character in the world of Zangband. 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 character that you feel comfortable with. You may start the entire process over at any time by pressing 'S' at any prompt (with the exception of the autoroller (see below [1]) prompt and the prompt for the number of random quests (see below [2])). ***** <BirthOptions> === Birth Options === During character generation you may press '=' at any time to access the options screen. A more detailed description of the various options can be found in the section on the Options Page (see option.txt [3]). Here you may set yout 'Birth options' which are options set at birth and which cannot be changed again during the game. Note that you may change your birth option preferences in game but these will only have effect in your next character. Perhaps one of the most important features of the birth options is the ability to decide what type of town level you want. The various town options are discussed on the Town page (see town.txt#TownLevel [4]). Another important decision to make is whether you wish to use the Autoroller (see below [1]) or the point- based character generation system (see below [d]). ***** <CharAttributes> === Character Attributes === Once you begin character generation you will be asked to choose your character's three primary attributes - its sex, race and class. If you have selected a spellcasting class, you will also be prompted for your choice of magic realm(s). Your character's sex has a minimal effect on game play - females start with slightly more gold, males are generally heavier and so can bash more effectively. Race, class and magic realms have a far more significant effect and are discussed at some length in the Race (see charattr.txt#TheRaces [5]), Class (see charattr.txt#TheClasses [6]) and Magic Realms (see magic.txt#MagicRealms [7]) sections. --- Secondary Attributes --- 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 roll playing, but they do have a few minor effects on the game. For example, background history affects social class, which affects the amount of money the character will start with. And weight affects carrying capacity and bashing ability. ***** <RaceClassComb> === Race/Class Combinations === Once a race has been chosen, you will need to pick a class. Some race/class combinations are not recommended and so certain classes are shown inside brackets. This may be because the combination is not conceptually sound or because the chosen race has stat penalties in areas where that class needs bonuses. However, any race/class combination can be chosen and experienced players may often choose unusual combinations for the challenge that they represent. It is recommended that inexperienced players choose warriors as spellcasting requires a player more familiar with dungeon survival techniques. The following table shows which classes are recommended for the various races. Warrior Mage Priest Rogue Ranger Paladin Warrior Chaos -Mage Warrior Human Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Half-Elf Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Elf Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Hobbit Yes Yes No Yes No No No No Gnome Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Dwarf Yes No Yes No No No No No Half-Orc Yes No Yes Yes No No No Yes Half-Troll Yes No Yes No No No No No Amberite Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes High-Elf Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Barbarian Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Half-Ogre Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Half-Giant Yes No No No Yes No No No Half-Titan Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No Cyclops Yes No Yes No No No No No Yeek Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Klackon Yes No No No Yes No No No Kobold Yes No No Yes No No No No Nibelung Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Dark Elf Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Draconian Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No Mind Flayer No Yes Yes No No No Yes No Imp Yes Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes Golem Yes No No No No No No No Skeleton Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No Zombie Yes No No No No No No No Vampire Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Spectre No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Sprite No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Beastman Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Mind- High Monk crafter Mage Human Yes Yes Yes Half-Elf Yes Yes Yes Elf Yes Yes Yes Hobbit No No Yes Gnome No Yes Yes Dwarf No No No Half-Orc Yes No No Half-Troll No No No Amberite Yes Yes Yes High-Elf Yes Yes Yes Barbarian No No No Half-Ogre No No Yes Half-Giant No No No Half-Titan Yes Yes Yes Cyclops No No No Yeek No Yes Yes Klackon No No No Kobold No No No Nibelung No No Yes Dark Elf Yes Yes Yes Draconian Yes Yes Yes Mind Flayer Yes Yes Yes Imp Yes Yes Yes Golem No No No Skeleton Yes Yes Yes Zombie No No No Vampire Yes Yes Yes Spectre Yes Yes Yes Sprite No Yes Yes Beastman Yes Yes Yes ***** <ChoosingMagic> === Choosing Your Magic Realm(s) === If you have selected a spellcasting class, you will next be prompted for your choice of magic realm(s). The magic system, as implemented in Zangband, consists of seven realms: Life, Arcane, Sorcery, Nature, Trump, Chaos and Death. In general, Life is primarily defensive but also offers spells to attack evil creatures, Arcane offers utility spells and some limited offensive capability, Sorcery offers utility and defensive spells, Nature offers both defensive and offensive spells, Trump specializes in teleportation and summoning spells and Chaos and Death are offensive. A more complete description of the magic realms and spellcasting in general can be found in the section on the Magic Realms (see magic.txt#MagicRealms [7]). Where possible, it is generally a good idea to pick one defensive realm and one offensive realm. 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. ***** <Restrictions> --- Class/Realm Restrictions --- In Zangband, spellcasting classes can select either one or two realms from those available. Some classes which can learn two realms may learn their first realm 'better' than their second. Note that certain realms may be prohibited for some classes. In the table below, '1st' indicates that the realm may only be the first choice, '2nd' indicates that the realm may only be the second choice and '1st/2nd' indicates that it can be either. Classes that only have '1st' options do not get a second realm. Classes with only one '1st' option must choose this option as their first realm. Class Life Arcane Sorcery Nature Trump Chaos Death ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mage 1st/2nd 1st/2nd 1st/2nd 1st/2nd 1st/2nd 1st/2nd 1st/2nd Priest 1st 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 1st Rogue 1st 1st 1st 1st Ranger 2nd 2nd 1st 2nd 2nd 2nd Paladin 1st 1st Warrior-Mage 2nd 1st 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd Chaos Warrior 1st Monk 1st 1st 1st High Mage 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st ***** <RandomQuests> === RandomQuests === Once you have chosen your race, class and (if applicable) your magic realm(s), you will be asked how many random quests you wish to be assigned. You may choose any number between 0 and 49. A more detailed discussion of random quests can be found in the Dungeon section (see dungeon.txt#RandomQuests [8]). ***** <AutoRoller> === The Auto-Roller === The auto-roller is a quick means of generating start-up characters based on a set of user-selected criteria. If you choose to use the auto-roller, you will be presented with a column giving the maximum possible statistics (see charattr.txt#PrimaryStats [9]) for your choice of race, class and maximize mode (see option.txt#StartUp [3]). You will then be prompted to enter your desired statistics which should not exceed the maximum statistics displayed on the screen. Once you have entered your desired statistics, the computer will then randomly roll successive start-up characters and compare them to your specified criteria. Each stat is rolled as a number from 8 to 17, with a normal distribution, and is then immediately modified based upon the race and class which you have chosen. The exact quantum of this modification can be found in the Character Attributes section (see charattr.txt#StatBonusTable [a]). ***** <CharDisplay> Once a character that matches or exceeds your expectations has been rolled, the computer will display the character for you to look at and also display the character's life-rating (see below [b]). If you accept the rolled character (by pressing 'Esc'), you will be asked for its name (see below [c]). If not, you may press 'r' to resume rolling and searching for the next match or, if this is not your first match, 'p' to return to the previous character which met your criteria. Note: The statistics are not independent of each other and trying to maximize each one using the auto-roller will not work. A good idea is to specify statistics close to maximum that are critical for your class (for example, high wisdom for priests, intelligence for mages and strength and dexterity for warriors). You should set minimum acceptable levels for the remaining statistics rather than looking for high rolls. If you select not to use the auto-roller, the computer will roll one random character at a time and then display it for you to either accept or reject. The 'r', 'p' and 'Esc' keys will work as outlined above. ***** <PointBased> === Point-based Character Generation === This alternative method of determining your starting statistics gives you 48 'points' which may be 'spent' on increasing your statistics according to your own preference. Using this system you are better able to customize your character but may not get such high individual statistics as are possible with th auto-roller. Note that as your stats get higher it takes more points to increase them further. Also note that should you choose not to spend all your points, you will be given 100 gold pieces for each unused point subject to an upper limit of 600 gold pieces. ***** <LifeRating> === Life Ratings === During the course of 'rolling' your character you will be told its life rating. This is an indication of how many hitpoints your character will have at character level 50 before taking into consideration any bonus from having a high constitution. The life rating will be displayed in the form of x/100 where 'x' is typically a number varying between 80 and 120. Example 1, a human mage has a 10-sided hit dice yielding an average of 5.5 hitpoints per level for an average maximum hitpoints at level 50 of 50*5.5=275. If this mage had a life-rating of 110/100, then at level 50, he would have 275*(110/100)=302 hitpoints (before considering any bonuses from constitution). Example 2, a human warrior has a 19-sided hit dice yielding an average of 10 hitpoints per level for an average maximum hitpoints at level 50 of 50*10=500. If this warrior had a life-rating of 95/100, then at level 50, he would have 500*(95/100)=475 hitpoints (before considering any bonuses from constitution). Your life rating is only a guarantee of your character's base hitpoints at level 50. This might be achieved by small increases in the early stages and much larger increases in the later game or the other way around. Generally, however, the increases tend to be fairly even. ***** <CharName> === Naming Your Character === Once you have accepted a character you will be 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 character 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. ***** <StartInventory> === Starting Inventory === Once you have named your character, you will be prompted to press 'Esc' and, having done so, you will be brought to the town screen from where you will begin your adventuring. You should note that each character starts in the town with a small number of items in their inventory. Which items you are given will depend upon your chosen race and class and the number of such items depends on chance. For example, all classes receive either food rations or scrolls of satisfy hunger but the number of rations or scrolls received is random. Typically, you will receive a weapon, a piece of armor, some food, some torches and a magical item although there is some variance from this. -- Original : (??) Updated : (??) Updated : Zangband DevTeam Last update: May 24, 2001 ***** Begin Hyperlinks ***** [1] birth.txt#AutoRoller ***** [2] birth.txt#RandomQuests ***** [3] option.txt ***** [4] town.txt#TownLevel ***** [5] charattr.txt#TheRaces ***** [6] charattr.txt#TheClasses ***** [7] magic.txt#MagicRealms ***** [8] dungeon.txt#RandomQuests ***** [9] charattr.txt#PrimaryStats ***** [a] charattr.txt#StatBonusTable ***** [b] birth.txt#LifeRating ***** [c] birth.txt#CharName ***** [d] birth.txt#PointBased