← FAangband shrine · The FAangband 2.0.1 manual (docs/*.rst, the Sphinx source of faangband.readthedocs.io) and the in-game help (?, lib/help/), unchanged text.
Welcome to FAangband ================== FAangband is a complex single player wilderness and dungeon simulation. A player (you!) creates a character, choosing from a variety of races and classes, and then plays that character over a period of days, weeks, even months. The player will begin their adventure in their home town where they may acquire supplies, weapons, armor, and magical devices by buying from various shop owners. Then the player can advance into the wilderness, eventually making it to the Pits of Angband. On their way they will explore many areas of wilderness and levels of the various dungeons, gaining experience by killing fierce creatures, collecting powerful objects and valuable treasure, and returning to town occasionally to buy supplies. Eventually, as the player grows more experienced, they may attempt to win the game by defeating Morgoth, the Lord of Darkness, who resides far below the surface. FAangband is a very complex game, and it may be difficult to grasp everything at first, especially if you have never played a roguelike game before. A key resource for Angband players is the `forum`_, where you can ask for help, and also post compliments, complaints, suggestions, bug reports, and interesting experiences. Don't be shy! .. _forum: https://angband.live/forums/ .. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 :caption: Getting Started a-quick-demo guide faq .. toctree:: :maxdepth: 2 :caption: The Manual birth world attack playing command option customize .. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 :caption: Meta version copying thanks .. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 :caption: For Developers hacking/modifying hacking/compiling hacking/cmake hacking/debug hacking/how-it-works hacking/metadoc Indices and tables ================== * :ref:`genindex` * :ref:`search`
===================== A quick demonstration ===================== FAangband is a very complex game, so you may want to try the following quick demonstration. The following instructions are for demonstration purposes only, and so they are intentionally boring. For this demo, we will assume that you have never played FAangband before, that you have not requested any special "sub-windows", that you have not requested any special "graphics" modes, that you have a "numeric keypad" on your computer, and that you are using the default options, including, in particular, the "original" command set. If any of these assumptions are incorrect, you will need to keep in mind that this demo may not work; in particular note that Windows users will be using graphical tiles by default, so unless you turn off graphics map symbols below will be replaced by little pictures. There are many ways to view this file while playing. Any time you see the '-more-' prompt, read the message and press space. This takes precedence over any other instructions. At any other prompt, for example, if you accidentally hit a key, you can normally "cancel" the action in progress by pressing escape. When the game starts up, depending on what platform you are using, you may be taken directly to the character creation screen, or you may have to ask to create a new character by using the File menu. In either case, you will be shown the character information screen, and you will be given a series of choices. For this demo, press ``a`` three times to elect an "Easterling warrior" character with the point-based stat allocation system. You will now be presented with a description of your character. Look over the description briefly, there is a lot of information here, and most of it will not make any sense. Press enter four times and your character will be placed into a "town". You should now be looking at the basic world interaction screen. To the left is some information about your character. To the right is an overhead view of the town. Nothing happens in FAangband while the game is waiting for you to specify a command, so take a good look at the town. You will see a variety of symbols on the screen. Each symbol normally represents a terrain feature, an object, or a monster. The ``@`` symbol is special, it represents your character. You can use the ``/`` command to find out what a given symbol represents. Press "/" then ``@`` now to verify the meaning of the ``@`` symbol. The solid blocks (which may be ``#`` symbols on some systems) around the edge of the town represent the walls that surround the town. You cannot leave the town except by a ``>`` symbol (path or staircase). The rectangular blocks of walls with a number on the edge represent stores. The number is the entrance to the store. The ``.`` symbols represent the "floor". It is currently daytime, so most of the town should consist of stores and illuminated floor grids. There will also be a few ``:`` symbols which represent rubble. Rubble comes in two varieties, "passable rubble" and just "rubble", distinguished by color. Both block vision, but you can move through passable rubble. Any "alphabetic" symbols always represent monsters, where the word "monsters" specifies a wide variety of entities, including people, animals, plants, etc. Only a few "races" of monsters normally appear in town, and most of them are harmless (avoid any mercenaries or veterans if you see them). The most common "monsters" in town are small animals (cats and dogs) and townspeople (merchants, mercenaries, miscreants, etc). Now use the ``l`` command to "look" around. This allows you to move the cursor around and get a description of what is present at the cursor. The cursor always starts on the square containing your character. In this case, you will see a message telling you that your character is standing on a staircase. Pressing space will cycle through the interesting locations nearby. Press ``q`` or ESCAPE to exit the look command. Now press ``i``, to display your character's "inventory". New characters start out with some objects to help them survive (though there is an option to start with more money instead). Your character will have some food, a potion, some torches, and a scroll. Press ESCAPE to get out of the inventory display. Press ``e`` to see what you are wearing. You will find you are wearing armour on your body, wielding a dagger and lighting the way with a torch. You have many other equipment slots but they are all currently empty. Press ESCAPE to get out of the equipment display. Press ``t`` to take something off. Note that the equipment listing is reduced to those objects which can actually be taken off. Press ``g`` to take off the armour, and then press ``e`` again. Note that the armour is no longer shown in the equipment. Press ESCAPE. Press ``w`` to wield something and observe that the inventory listing is reduced to those objects which can actually be wielded or worn, press ``e`` to put the armour back on. Monsters can only move after you use a command which takes "energy" from your character. So far, you have used the ``w`` and ``t`` commands, which take energy, and the ``e``, ``i``, ``l``, and ``/`` commands, which are "free" commands, and so do not take any energy. In general, the only commands which take energy are the ones which require your character to perform some action in the world of the game, such as moving around, attacking monsters, and interacting with objects. If there were any monsters near your character while you were experimenting with the ``w`` and ``t`` commands, you may have seen them "move" or even "attack" your character. Although unlikely, it is even possible that your character has already been killed. This is the only way to lose the game. So if you have already lost, simply exit the game and restart this demo. One of the most important things that your character can do is move around. Use the numeric keys on the keypad to make your character move around. The ``4``, ``6``, ``8``, and ``2`` keys move your character west, east, north, and south, and the ``7``, ``9``, ``1`` and ``3`` keys move your character diagonally. When your character first moves, observe the ``>`` symbol that is left behind. This is the "staircase" that she was standing on earlier in the demo - it is the entrance to the dungeon. Attempting to stay away from monsters, try and move your character towards the entrance to the "general store", which is represented as a ``1`` on the screen. As your character moves around, use the ``l`` command to look around. You can press escape at any time to cancel the looking. If you die, start over. One of the hardest things for people to get used to, when playing games of this nature for the first time, is that the character is not the same as the player. The player presses keys, and looks at a computer screen, while the character performs complex actions, and interacts with a virtual world. The player decides what the character should do, and tells her to do it, and the character then performs the actions. These actions may induce some changes in the virtual world. Some of these changes may be apparent to the character, and information about the changes is then made available to the player by a variety of methods, including messages, character state changes, or visual changes to the screen. Some changes may only be apparent to the player. There are also a whole set of things that the player can do that can not even be described in the virtual world inhabited by the character, such as resize windows, read online help files, modify colormaps, or change options. Some of these things may even affect the character in abstract ways, for example, the player can request that from now on all monsters know exactly where the character is at all times. Likewise, there are some things that the character does on a regular basis that the player may not even consider, such as digesting food, or searching for traps while walking down a hallway. To make matters worse, as you get used to the difference between the player and the character, it becomes so "obvious" that you start to ignore it. At that point, you find yourself merging the player and the character in your mind, and you find yourself saying things like "So yesterday, I was at my friend's house, and I stayed up late playing FAangband, and I was attacked by some wild dogs, and I got killed by a demon, but I made it to the high score list", in which the pronoun changes back and forth from the real world to the virtual one several times in the same sentence. So, from this point on you may have to separate the player and the character for yourself. So anyway, keep walking towards the entrance to the general store until you actually walk into it. At this point, the screen should change to the store interaction screen. You will see the name of the shop-keeper, and the name of the shop, and a list of objects which are available. If there are more than twelve different objects, you can use the space or arrow keys to scroll the list of objects. The general store is the only store with a fixed inventory, although the amount of various items may vary. One of the items sold here are flasks of oil. Press 'down' to highlight the line with flasks of oil and press the ``p`` key to purchase some. If you are asked how many you want, just hit enter. Any time you are asked a question and there is already something under the cursor, pressing return will accept that choice. Hit enter to accept the price. Many commands work inside the store, for example, use the ``i`` command to see your inventory, with the new flask of oil. Note that your inventory is always kept sorted in a semi-logical order, so the indexes of some of the objects may change as your inventory changes. Purchase a few more flasks of oil, if possible: this time, when asked how many you want, press ``3`` then return to buy three flasks at once. Flasks of oil are very important for low level characters, because not only can they be used to fuel a lantern (when you find one), but also they can be ignited and thrown at monsters from a distance. So it is often a good idea to have a few extra flasks of oil. Press escape to leave the store. If you want, take time to visit the rest of the stores. One of the buildings, marked with an ``8``, is your "home", and is not a real store. You can drop things off at home and they will stay there until you return to pick them up. The interface is exactly the same as a store, but there is no payment. Now move to a path out of town, represented by the ``>`` symbol, and press ``>``, to take the path. At this point, you are in the wilderness. Use the ``l`` command to look around. Note that you are standing on a path leading back to town. Use the ``<`` command to take the path back to town. You may find that any townspeople that were here before have disappeared and new ones have appeared instead. Now use the ``>`` command to go back along the path into the wilderness. You are now in a different part of the wilderness than you were in before. The world is so huge, once you leave one part of it, you will never find it again. Now look at the screen. Your character will probably see grass (green ``.``) and trees (green ``+``), and likely some rock formations (``#``). Now look around using the ``l`` command. You may see some monsters and/or some objects in the area with you. You may see some other paths (``<``) back to town. If you see any monsters, move up next to the monster, using the movement keys, and then try and move into the monster. This will cause you to attack the monster. Keep moving into the monster until you kill the monster, or it runs away, or you die. If you die, start a new game. If the monster runs away, ignore it, or chase it, but do not leave the room. Once all the monsters in the room are dead or gone, walk on top of any objects in the room. Press ``g`` to get the object, and it will be added to your inventory. Now use the movement keys to explore the area. You will notice that as your character moves around, the screen keeps displaying some of the grids that your character has seen. Think of this as a kind of "map" superimposed on the world itself, the player can see the entire map, but the character can only see those parts of the world which are actually nearby. If the character gets near the edge of the "map" portion of the screen the entire map will scroll to show a new portion of the world. Only about ten percent of the current level can be seen by the player at one time, but you can use the ``L`` command to look at other pieces of the map. Use the ``.`` key, then a direction, to "run" through the world. Use the ``R`` key, then return, to force your character to "rest" until she has recovered from any damage she incurs while attacking monsters. Use the ``M`` key to see the entire level at once, and hit escape when done. If your food rations are still at index ``a`` in your inventory, press ``E``, ``a`` to eat some food. If your oil is still at index ``b`` in your inventory, and there is a monster nearby, press ``v``, ``b``, ``'`` to throw a flask of oil at the nearest monster. To drop an item from your inventory, press ``d`` plus the index of that item. You can use the '^X' key to quit and save the game. You now know enough to play a quick game of FAangband. There is a lot more for you to learn, including how to interpret information about your character, how to create different kinds of characters, how to determine which equipment to wield/wear, how to use various kinds of objects, and how to use the more than fifty different commands available to your character. The best resource for learning these things is the :doc:`manual that includes this demo <index>`. The in-game help, which you access by pressing ``?``, does have a list of the commands with the key and very brief description for each.
===============================
A Players' Guide to FAangband
===============================
This guide assumes familiarity with the basic mechanics of the game. If you're
completely new to FAangband, check out the user's manual and just start playing,
get into the dungeon and try, well, whatever seems to be prudent. You'll
probably die rather quickly, but the following will make much more sense to you
if you have just a little actual gameplay experience.
It also assumes you are playing in one of the wilderness modes.
The basics
----------
As borrowed from a classic rgra post, there's not much that you actually have
to do. Your one and only mission is to slay Morgoth on Angband level 100. In
order to get there, you need to go traverse a lot of wilderness and at least
one dungeon. That's about it - everything else is optional. Of course,
before you can kill Sauron you'll need lots of experience and good equipment,
but by the time you get that deep you'll have both. Just see to it that you
don't die along the way.
The one and most important thing you need to get in your head is that you can't
possibly kill every monster on every level. Think of the game as forays into
the wild from which you want to return with cool stuff; think of the
shallower levels as obstacles you need to overcome on your way deeper into the
dungeon; or whatever you like. Just never-ever think of it as a killing spree.
Your task is to survive and eventually get to Morgoth.
The next point is that you don't need to fight any particular monster (other
than the big one). Yes, there might be a rather impressive hoard in that
vault – but if the monsters guarding it are too many or too fierce, well, just
give it a pass. FAangband offers an endless supply of monsters and treasure and
everything. There will always be another day – provided you live to see another
day. Sometimes you just have to bug out and run for your life.
So, let me recap, the vital points of FAangband are:
* travel a lot
* kill Morgoth (Angband 100)
* Quick start
From this point, the guide assumes that you are playing a fighting class
(warrior, ranger, rogue or paladin). First, use the 'cost-based' stats
selection, and create a character with 3 or 4 blows (Don't pick a class/race
combinations, like Dwarf Ranger, that can only get 2 blows.)
First, set your stats to get maximum blows. If you have a combination with good
dexterity, select 18/10 dexterity, and then set your strength to 17 or 18. Set
your spell-casting stat to something low but usable (~12), and spend the rest
on constitution. For a beginning character, constitution is least important,
because it doesn't add significant HP until well above 18.
Example character::
[FAangband 2.0beta2 Character Dump]
Name Harry Age 25 Self RB CB EB Best
Race Longbeard Height 4'0" STR: 17 +3 +3 +0 18/50
Class Warrior Weight 9st 7lb INT: 10 +1 -2 +0 9
Title Rookie Turns used: WIS: 10 -1 -2 +0 7
HP 23/23 Game 1 DEX: 16 +2 +2 +0 18/20
SP 0/0 Standard 0 CON: 16 +2 +2 +0 18/20
Gold 47 Resting 0
Level 1 Armor [10,+2] Saving Throw 29%
Cur Exp 0 Melee 2d5,+14% Stealth Bad
Max Exp 0 To-hit 25,+4 Disarm - phys. 31%
Adv Exp 10 Blows 2.0/turn Disarm - magic 24%
Burden 30.7 lb Shoot to-dam +0 Magic Devices 21
Overweight -149.2 lb To-hit 19,+4 Searching 13%
Max Depth Town Shots 0.0/turn Infravision 50 ft
Speed Normal
A Fighting Chance
`````````````````
For a melee character, the most important measure of power is how much damage
they can do in a single turn. Consider the above cl 1 character with 3 blows
from a Rapier (+7,+9), in a fight vs an out-of-depth Thief of the Mountains,
with no escapes, no ranged weapons, and no armor. On the face, she has no
chance. However, if she can get in the first blow, she in fact has a 71%
chance of killing the Thief in a single turn, and a 95% chance of frightening
him.
Further, with full buffing (!Hero, ?Blessing ?Berserk Strength), the character
has an 81% chance of killing him in a single turn. As well as improving the
to-hit probability from 91% to 95%, this corresponds to a 50% reduction in the
chance of failure in a dangerous situation. Finally, assuming 'Harry' does win
this battle, she gets 450 experience, and immediately goes jumps to cl 8.
Missile Damage
``````````````
With proper preparation even a weak character has an almost guaranteed chance
of killing the Thief, if you meet him at a distance (across a lighted area).
An unenchanted longbow does 7.5 damage/shot with ordinary (unenchanted) arrows.
However, flasks of oil do 7HP nominal damage when thrown, and do triple damage
(21HP) vs fire-vulnerable monsters. The Thief has 48 HP, so even a small stack
of oil will finish him off.
Summary
```````
* Character power is more closely associated with damage output rather than
HP or character level.
* If you preserve your supplies, you can fight well above your weight. Early
in the game, this means using flasks of oil against worthwhile targets;
later in the game this means using branded or slaying "ego" ammunition.
Good ammunition is too valuable to waste on less valuable targets (like red
jellies, or groups of orcs.)
* Buffing, generally with !Heroism, can be very helpful to get starting
characters out of sticky situations.
* Going into more danger is often a more conservative (safer) strategy
than staying at an easy (cl < dl) depth. (cl: character level; dl: danger
level) HP and character level are easy to come by.
* Starting Equipment
Fighting Power
--------------
Buy a light weapon that gives you the maximum possible blows, with the highest
dice available. This is generally a Rapier, Main Gauche, or Dagger. If these
are not available, you may be better off quitting and restarting.
Plan to be deep
---------------
Always make sure to have a scroll of recall, even on your first trip into the
wild. Monsters and items at dl 5 (250') and deeper are much (~100x) more
valuable than items at dl 1. (The example above may be contrived, but it is
representative.)
To survive further you will want:
a. Escapes:
* 3+ ?Phase Door
* 1 ?Recall
b. Protection from secondary effects (confusion, blindness, poison)
* 1 !CLW (for identification and blindness)
* 1+ !CSW (for identification and confusion)
c. Buffing
* 1 !Hero (for protection from fear.)
d. Ranged attack to soften up a (single) unique
* ~5 Flasks of Oil to kill dangerous and/or valuable monsters (throw oil
for damage with the ``v`` throw command)
* ~10-20 Iron shots (or arrows for Rangers) to throw at non-dangerous
monsters with annoying side effects. (Stat drainers and acid damagers
that are between you and the stairs down.) extra arrows for a ranger
(shoot arrows with the ``f`` fire command.) Shots can be reused; oil can't.
e. Armor
Don't bother buying armor - it's very expensive in comparison to AC. You will
find it in the dungeon soon enough.
Your starting equipment will include more than enough food and illumination for
the first trip down.
The first trip
``````````````
It's quite possible to get to dl 10 or more in the first trip into the
wild. Plan to return when you run out of either escapes (?Phase door),
protection from side-effects (curing potions), or damage (arrows if you are a
ranger, flasks of oil if you are otherwise weak.)
Since you don't have much, don't spend it on less valuable monsters.
What to kill
````````````
* Any mobs of monsters that you can defeat (kill or frighten) in a single turn
and either give good experience (a pack of wolves) or good drops (weaker
orcs, novice humans.) If you are deep enough, this is likely to increase your
character by several levels in a single battle.
* Uniques with good drops (The Thief, Brodda, Ulfast)
* Easy kills that are likely to drop something worthwhile.
What to ignore
``````````````
* Monsters that will damage or destroy gear. (jellies, water hounds, etc)
* Non-valuable monsters that are likely to use up consumables (baby gold
dragons, groups of spell-casters in line-of-sight, etc)
* Mobs that you can't dominate.
* Uniques with escorts you can't dominate
* Monsters at shallow depth. Drops for any given monster get better the deeper
you go. Killing a novice mage at dl 1 generally gives nothing; at dl 20 he's
likely to drop something worth hundreds of gold. Wormtongue has, on average, a
noticeably better drop at dl 20 than dl 10.
* Things that waste effort. (Run-away breeders, low-EXP monsters with no drop.
Just close the door and move on.)
What to avoid
`````````````
* Anything that can kill you in a single turn.
On Bad Luck
-----------
This is rule number one of FAangband: don't take unnecessary risks. If you take
enough low-probability chances of death, you'll never survive to fight Morgoth.
Such deaths are generally called 'stupid', but that's not always accurate.
Sometimes it's just bad luck. But given enough chances, you are guaranteed to
receive it. It's the trick to extremely fast dives: the fewer moves you make,
the less chance any one of them will be fatal, even if on average, your
individual moves are riskier than in slower play. But the strategy applies more
generally: unless you are exceedingly careful in play, messing around long
enough at any one depth guarantees that something bad will eventually happen.
Face-palm Tips
--------------
The preceding is good advice; however, it does not offer much more than
generalizations, albeit valid, for the "intermediate" (?) player. The
following is intended to state what many perceive to be blatantly obvious,
hence "you did WHAT!" face-palm deaths. This really should be cleaned up and
refactored, but placing here for now.
Start simple
````````````
Begin your FAangband career as a warrior. Warriors are relatively simple to
begin with, and are less likely to be eaten by a pack of wild dogs.
Focus!
``````
FAangband is a very harsh game, in that the character you've been playing for
months could be killed by a single careless action. Playing when tired or
drunk is probably a good way to leave yourself with nothing but a sad tale to
share on the forums. If you have the ability to sense monsters or traps then
use it. This is particularly important when you begin to encounter monsters
that, without the appropriate gear, will kill your character in a single move.
Use that stuff
``````````````
FAangband has potions, spell books, wands, staffs, rods, activate-able items,
melee weapons, ranged weapons, and whatnot. They're meant to be used, for
crying out loud! It can take a while to get used to using all the different
types of items, but they work best when used in concert. For those able to use
magic devices, rods wands and staves can be very useful when your mana is
running low, and allow you access to spells that may not normally be available
to your class. They are also very useful for dealing with monsters that
Rangers have a bow
```````````````````
Really a subset of the previous point, but it happens so often... Don't try to
play a ranger like a warrior -- rely on the bow! Similarly for mages, don't do
a Gandalf. He may be able to draw a sword and rush headlong in to a pack or
orcs, but mages in FAangband are considerably more fragile. Priests are better
equipped to engage in melee combat - with their healing abilities compensating
for their somewhat fragile nature.
Stockpile!
``````````
Players may not be inclined to carry multiples of an item, or do so in a
limited quantity, perhaps due to weight encumbrance concerns. Don't be afraid
to carry a LOT of an item, particularly the basics -- food, light,
projectiles, cure potions, "run away" scrolls, etc. Don't be afraid to MAX OUT
important items! Some monsters will steal or destroy your items, so it's worth
carrying additional quantities of key items - such as Scrolls of Recall or
important spell/prayer books. This becomes very important when you reach
dungeon levels in which monsters develop fire and acid-based attacks. Mages
and priests tend to start out with low strength, and so are very limited in
how much stuff they can carry, so consider carrying additional copies of the
spellbooks that you know you can't afford to lose during a fight.
An item you don't use is useless
````````````````````````````````
Common fallacy: you find an incredibly powerful Staff of Mighty BOOM! (3
charges), or a single Potion of become Chuck Norris, and then you keep
carrying it around and never actually use it. It could be a life insurance,
but you might still reconsider your strategy: maybe you've become too careful
lately (Angband rewards deliberate risk-taking, after all).
Identifying your items
``````````````````````
Many items found, especially early in the game, will be unidentified or
partially identified. Weapons and armour can be identified by being worn and
used in combat, and can be removed if found to be of poor quality. Some
characters learn to cast spells to identify the runes on wearable items that
define their properties.
Staves, rods and wands can often be identified by being used against monsters,
but be aware that some of these magical items can have negative effects. Only
use this approach when facing easily defeated monsters. Consuming unidentified
potions and mushrooms can be risky, so the risk-averse player may prefer to
sell them in the town. Ammunition can normally be identified by being thrown
or fired at a monster, and typically the worst thing that can happen is that
the attack does little damage to the monster. As with staves, wands and rods,
do this when facing a monster than can be easily defeated.
Scrolls can normally be identified by being read, but some scrolls have
negative effects. Your character may have a very short life if they read a
scroll that summons a horde of undead monsters. If using this approach, it's a
good idea to position your character on top of some stairs so you can quickly
escape if a mysterious scroll leaves your character surrounded by monsters.
With weapons and armour, your character will in time learn their inscribed
runes.
The dungeon is dark
```````````````````
Players will readily note that corridors are unlit; however, what may not be
blatantly obvious is that the dungeon gets darker with depth, until it's pitch
black. ALWAYS carry a light source. DON'T drop a light source for more loot!
You can RUN AWAY
````````````````
There is NO RULE that you have to clean out a level -- AT ALL. See something
you can't handle? Don't be afraid to leave -- NOW. Sure you could try to avoid
it, but then again, it could be a hummerhorn. Half way through the level? You
can still LEAVE NOW. Nearly finished with the level? You can still leave NOW.
Think of it as a tactical strike, not a genocide mission.
Get away NOW!
`````````````
Sure, you should pay more attention and not get yourself in a next turn =
death situation, but this is not always avoidable and no one (presumably) is
so meticulously patient. ALWAYS carry get away items -- Phase Door, Teleport,
Recall, Teleport Level, etc. When you can, stockpile those that work NOW. If a
unique starts chasing you, you don't want to be waiting for Recall to kick in.
You should seriously consider a quick escape if dealing with a situation in
which monsters are breeding explosively. Some classes, such as mages, are more
easily able to handle these though the use of spells that affect multiple
monsters simultaneously, but even they should consider leaving if it becomes
apparent that the monsters are breeding more quickly than the player can kill
them.
Early levels are still there
``````````````````````
Don't forget that you can always replay, and re-re-play the early levels for
ANY reason whatsoever. Recalled from a depth too deep? Dive from level 1 and
reset the depth. Want to fill your armor slots? Need a few more gold? Even if
you're on a streak diving through the dungeon, step back and reassess whether
you want to return to an earlier level -- you never know what could be lurking
around the corner.
Black Market Deals
``````````````````
Don't be afraid to buy from the "blackmarket". Sure the prices are more
expensive than the other stores, but it tends to offer a good selection of
items and it can be worth the gold versus not having it in the dungeon. You
can always get more gold, but the RNG is random. It's just another store --
don't worry about the name. The blackmarket is often a good source of potions
to increase your stats, so it's worth checking it each time you visit the town
- and try to have enough gold to purchase potions for the most important stats
for your character.
Try a Different Strategy
````````````````````````
Sure, what you're doing kinda works, but your characters keep dying off.
Playing conservatively? Try playing a character as though the "iron-man"
stairs setting is in effect. You'll probably want some ranged weapons for
this, but you may be surprised how fast you can level if you DIVE! Granted,
the lower levels are harder, but the deeper you go, the more experience per
kill you get. Still fight conservatively, but dive aggressively. Once your
character has gotten a decent complement of items and spells ... (what next?).
Don't be afraid to throw away characters -- DIVE aggressively until you get a
good feel for your character and you've leveled up.
On Depth and Item Value
```````````````````````
Whenever you kill a monster that may drop an item, a lot of randomness is
played out. No need to go into detail just here (if you really want to know,
you can look it up in the spoilers), suffice it to say that depth is the
single most important factor. You may, of course, find rather valuable and/or
useful stuff even on the very first level, but the chances are rather small.
In short: if you want to find better things, you need to go deeper.
The monster barely matters
``````````````````````````
If a monster drops an item, it can be anything. Really. You may find rare
spellbooks on illiterate Trolls, and jellies may drop artifact weapons. Some
rare monsters, like powerful dragons, will carry good or even exceptional
objects -- but still, the dungeon level is the most important factor. What was
"exceptional" on dl8 will probably be rather uninteresting on level 30.
Regarding Artifacts
```````````````````
For every single wearable item, there is a small chance that it will be an
artifact. This might seem slim, but considering the number of monsters you
will slay, it soon adds up. If you work through a large room full of orcs,
there's about a one-in-ten chance that you'll discover at least one artifact
among the carnage. Artifacts typically have impressive statistics and an
ability that can be activated.
Surviving to clvl 31 / dlvl 36
------------------------------
Additional tips learned from various failed attempts. Still have not beat
angband, but making considerable progress of late, particularly with my (now)
current character.
RUN AWAY!
`````````
Very first tip is a basic tenet repeated throughout the guide; however, it is
far too easy to become engrossed in your achievements (eg an awesome artifact,
maximizing stats, a slightly better item, gaining a second blow, getting a
speed bonus, etc) and lose it all due to something very avoidable had you been
paying diligent attention.
While playing, always make sure to check for the basics -- particularly
monsters, stairs, and traps. Don't lose a character, asserting that you can
kill a "C" easily only to discover that a "wild dog" is a far cry from a
"hellhound".
Similarly, if you just got some nice artifacts / other equipment or achieved a
significant accomplishment -- save your game and take a break. You don't have
to continue to play to enjoy your past success, and when you return you will
likely be more able to play diligently.
See a few uniques or other monsters that might possibly give you some trouble
-- maybe? Perhaps with only slight difficulty? See a vault with some cool
treasure, but a few troublesome monsters / uniques? If you're not highly
confident (perhaps even 100%) that you can easily survive the level, you can
leave on the spot. Just enter the level, immediately do your detection routine
(monsters, stairs / traps, etc) assess the immediate threat, and use the
stairs immediately if you want to. You can go up as readily as you came down,
and you can go down as readily as you came up. Further, artifacts can be
regenerated (unless you disabled that option) and as you dive, even better
items will be available. So, if you skip out on levels just because you want
to play it very conservatively, you will still find great items and better
yet, you have a higher chance of survival.
Information Awareness
`````````````````````
FAangband offers a LOT of information on a LOT of different screens. If you
haven't already, try enabling multiple consoles -- ALL of them -- and then try
out different options / combinations. Being able to view a lot of information
simultaneously at a glance is a considerable benefit over having to be
diligent enough to manually check each relevant screen each time.
Also, change the text size. Sure you may be accustomed to your terminal font
and size for reading; however, you can read and make sense from context a lot
easier than you can reliably identify the glyph, color, and relative position
of every character on the screen. FAangband may be a text-based game, but you
don't have to play with a tiny (or even normal size font). Using a slightly
larger font makes identifying things a LOT easier. The SDL interface is
perhaps the easiest for using multiple terminals and changing fonts.
This alone has greatly contributed to my survivability!
Start from the Beginning
````````````````````````
Trying to mature your character through the clvl / dlvl 20s can be challenging
until you can survive even lower depths. One tip here is to use Recall
exclusively to return from the dungeon and use the stairs to return back down
to the level you left.
Yes, this is more work, and as your clvl increases, the early levels become
exceptionally easy; however, it guarantees that you will always enter a level
on stairs, facilitating running away.
Item Collecting
```````````````
Its easy to stockpile, but you'll run out of space VERY quickly. Further, what
was useful may not be useful now and what's useful now may not be useful
later. It can be easy to try to grab everything in sight and then return to
town when your inventory is full; however, when you reach this point, try
continuing to dive, even with a full inventory.
As your character progresses and you continue to dive you will find better
classes of items. Don't be afraid to toss the less valuable stuff to make room,
so you can continue diving.
This is particularly important while diving. If you let a full inventory be a
limiting factor, you won't be able to get nearly as deep as if you are willing
to discard items along the way.
Take a Break
````````````
Again, this is another basic tip repeated thorough out the guide; however,
learn to stop playing. You can always save your game and resume later when you
would be in your prime and optimally ready to play as opposed to trying to
continue to play as drowsiness sets in.
This may be difficult at first, but it can help you avoid running decent
characters into the ground for avoidable mistakes...
Don't forget your Ranged Attacks!
`````````````````````````````````
Granted, as your character develops, you become more powerful at melee;
however, this does not preclude you from using ranged attacks! It is far to
easy to start playing a ranger like a warrior mage if you get a good melee
weapon, but don't forget your ranged skill! You may be "Superb" at Fighting,
but ranger's are even better at Shooting -- perhaps even "Legendary" or
better.
This can be a hard one to do diligently, especially if your melee weapon is
powerful, but try to play diligently and use ranged attacks. Try earlier
levels where survivability is much higher and try to play without melee
attacks for awhile to get used to using the bow again.
Even as your character matures, try to keep in mind your race / class core
strengths.
========================== Frequently Asked Questions ========================== The best way to get answers to your questions is to post them on the `Angband forum`_. .. contents:: Contents :local: Issues and problems ------------------- How do I report a bug? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Post on the `Angband forum`_. Bug reports should include: * your current operating system (e.g. Windows 10) * what version the problem appeared in * the best steps you can figure out to reproduce the bug. Savefiles that show the problem might be requested, because they help tracking bugs down. Dark monsters are hard to see ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fix (reduce) the alpha on your screen, or use the "Interact with colors" screen under the options (``=``) menu. Navigate to the ``8`` using ``n`` and increase the color intensity with r(ed)/g(reen)/b(lue). .. _x11-fonts: How do I avoid the "Couldn't load the requested X11 font (10x20)" message? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The X11 frontend requires *legacy bitmap fonts*. Many modern systems no longer install those fonts by default, or install them in locations that X11 does not search automatically. Common ways to resolve this include: * Install legacy X11 bitmap font packages provided by your operating system (package names vary by distribution). * Explicitly select an installed bitmap font by setting the ``ANGBAND_X11_FONT`` environment variable. * Use a different frontend (SDL, SDL2, Windows, macOS) that does not rely on X11 bitmap fonts. On Linux, the required font is typically provided as ``10x20.pcf.gz``. If your distribution allows searching packages by installed files, look for a package that provides that file. Common examples include: * Debian/Ubuntu and derivatives: ``xfonts-base`` * Red Hat–derived distributions: ``xorg-x11-fonts-misc`` * Arch Linux: ``xorg-fonts-misc`` Depending on the distribution and configuration, installing these packages may not be sufficient if X11 is not configured to search the installed font paths. If none of the above works, please check the forums for distribution-specific advice or post a question including your OS, distribution, and Angband version. Is there a way to disable that thing that pops up when you hit the enter key? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Go into the options menu, choose "Edit keymaps", then "Create a keymap". Press Enter at the "Key" prompt and a single space as the "Action". And then you'll probably want to choose to "Save keymaps to a file", and either choose the file name so that it is one automatically loaded when a character is loaded or combine the contents of the saved file with one of the automatically loaded preference files. That allows the change to stay in effect the next time you load the game. This just replaces the default action of Enter with a "do nothing but don't tell me about help" action. If you want to keep the menu available, say on the 'Tab' key, you can also remap the Tab keypress to the ``\n`` action. Development ----------- What are the current plans for the game? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ever-changing and subject to U-turning with public dissent. Discussion typically happens in the `Vanilla section`_ of the forums. How do I suggest an idea/feature? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Post it on the forums. If people think it's a good idea, it will generally get some discussion; if they don't, it won't. The developers keep an eye on the forums, and ideas deemed OK will get filed for future implementation. Sometimes a suggestion may not be right for the game, though. Some suggestions would change aspects of Angband that are essential to its nature; Angband has a long history, and so has developed a certain character over the years. Some suggestions might make a good game, perhaps even a better game than Angband, but would make a game that is not Angband. To some extent, variants exist to address this, but even so they tend to adhere to the core Angband principles. How do I get a copy of the source code? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Go to the GitHub_ page, where you can find the bleeding edge as well as all previous versions. How do I compile the game? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please see the :doc:`compiling section of the manual <hacking/compiling>`. How do I contribute to the game? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You have two options: * Write your patch and submit it as a pull request on GitHub. * Post about it on the forum. All contributions are accepted as dual-licenced with both the Angband and GPLv2 licences. There are contribution guidelines in CONTRIBUTING.md in the top level directory of the source code. If the patch is a bugfix, then you can reasonably expect it to be integrated into the development tree. If it's more involved, and the feature is not one that the next version is planned to have, the patch may go through several reviews before being incorporated. It may also just be unsuitable for Angband - in which case, please don't take rejection badly; you may just be better off writing a variant. Non-code activities are different. Documentation can be written on the wiki, or if you're a graphics designer (and they're always welcome) then please talk on the mailing list about your work. .. _GitHub: https://github.com/angband/angband/ .. _Angband forum: https://angband.live/forums/ .. _Vanilla section: https://angband.live/forums/forum/angband/vanilla
====================
Creating a Character
====================
FAangband is a roleplaying game, in which you, the player, control a
character in the world of FAangband. 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.
At the character creation screen you will be prompted to select the
race and class of your character. You also have the option to change the
'birth options' at this time. These need to be set at the character
creation menu and cannot be altered later in the game. They are discussed
with the rest of the options in the "options" help file.
Character Characteristics
=========================
Each character has two primary attributes: race and class. These
are chosen at the beginning and which will stay fixed for the entire life
of that character. The race and class have many effects which are discussed
in detail below.
Each character has a few secondary attributes: height, weight, and
background history. These are randomly determined according to the race of
the character, and are only used to provide flavour to the character to
assist in role playing. There is an opportunity to edit background history
during character birth.
Each character also has five primary "stats": strength, intelligence,
wisdom, dexterity, and constitution; they 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.
These stats can be modified further by equipment, race and class bonuses up
to a maximum of '18/220'.
Each character also has several primary "skills": disarming, magic devices,
saving throws, stealth, searching ability, fighting skill, shooting skill,
and digging 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
abilities such as infravision.
.. index::
single: experience points; description
see: EXP; experience points
Each character has a number of "experience points", which increases as the
character defeats monsters and attempts new spells and uses new items.
Characters also have a level, which is based on experience. As the experience
rises, so does the level, and as the level rises, certain other abilities
and characteristics rise as well.
In wilderness modes, different races start in different towns spread out
across the world. Those that start in more dangerous areas will already have
enough experience to be at a level above 1. In dungeon modes, all characters
start at 0 experience and at the first level.
.. index::
single: gold; description
see: AU; gold
Each character has some gold, which can be used to buy items from the shops
in their hometown. A character starts with a fixed amount of gold and some
items. If you play with the starting kit option on (it is on by default), your
character will have a few more useful items but less gold. A character can
find more gold by taking it from dead monsters, finding it on the floors of
the dungeon or by digging out veins of treasure from the walls of the dungeon.
If you play with the no selling option off (it is on by default), you can
sell items to the shopkeepers for gold. A shopkeeper will usually only buy
certain classes of items, refuse to buy an item the shopkeeper believes is
worthless and offer less gold for an item than she or he would sell it for.
A shopkeeper also has an upper limit for the amount of gold offered for an
item. The more generous shop-keepers will buy an item for up to 30,000 gold
pieces, but some of the stingy ones will only pay 5,000.
.. index::
single: armour class; description
see: AC; armour class
Each character has an "armour class", abbreviated to AC, representing how
well the character can avoid damage. The armour class is affected by
dexterity and equipment, so the concept includes both avoiding blows and
being able to take blows without being hurt. Armour class on equipment is
always denoted in square brackets, usually as a figure of '[X,+Y]' where
X is the intrinsic AC of the armour in question, and Y is the magical bonus
to armour class provided by that item.
.. index::
single: hit points; description
see: HP; hit points
single: hit dice; description
see: HD; hit dice
Each character has "hit points", or hp, representing how much damage the
character can sustain before they die. How many hit points a character has
is determined by race, class, level and constitution, as follows: each race
has a basic "hit dice" number - for instance, a Dwarf's basic hit die is
11, while a hobbit's is 7. This is modified by class: for instance, a
warrior gets a +9 bonus to the hit die, while a mage gets no bonus and a
priest +2, so a dwarven warrior's total hit die will be (11+9)=20 - meaning
that they get between 1 and 20 hit points per level. A dwarven priest's total
hit die would be (11+2)=13, and that priest would get between 1 and 13 hit
points per level. The hobbit mage would get only 1-7 hps per level. (All
characters get the maximum at first level: thereafter it is a random roll of
1dX where X is the hit die number, when the character goes up in level; the
rolls are constrained so that the total hitpoints at the maximum level does
not vary too far from the expected value.) This is further modified by
constitution - a character with high constitution will get a flat bonus of a
certain number of hit points per level (recalculated right back to level 1:
if you gain an extra hit point per level, and you are 42nd level, you will
suddenly be 42 hit points better off.)
.. index::
single: spell points; description
see: mana; spell points
Each character has spell points, or mana, which limits how many spells (or
prayers) a character can cast (or pray). The maximum number of spell points
is derived from your class, level, and the class's spellcasting stat
(intelligence for mages, rogues, necromancers, and blackguards, and wisdom
for priests, paladins, druids, and rangers), 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. If a character gains
enough wisdom or intelligence to get more spell points, the result is
calculated right back to first level, just as with constitution and hit points.
Lastly, each character has a base speed. Speed determines the amount of
"energy" your character acquires in the game, and therefore how often you
can take actions which use up energy (like moving or attacking). All
beginning characters move at normal speed and the only way to increase
speed is by magical means and equipment bonuses. Characters who are
carrying too much weight will move more slowly. Extra speed is one of the
most important boons in the game and therefore one of the rarest and most
sought after.
Races
=====
There are twelve different races that you can choose to play in FAangband.
Each race has its own adjustments to a character's stats and abilities.
Most races also have intrinsic abilities. The bonuses to statistics and
the experience penalty will be displayed next to the races as you move
to select one.
Hobbits, Beornings and Longbeards make good races for players new to Angband
in general and FAangband in particular. Druedain, Edain, Grey Elves and
High Elves particularly are only recommended for experienced players.
.. _Easterling:
Easterling:
Easterlings are the swarthy humans who came into Beleriand late in the
First Age of Middle-Earth. All other races are compared to them.
Easterlings can choose any class and are average at everything. They
have a slight bonus to fighting skill when using swords and
crossbows, and have more hit points than many other races. They get
a bonus to hit in plains.
.. _Green-Elf:
Green Elf:
Green elves are a branch of the Teleri who abandoned the Great Journey
of the elves to Aman, but later crossed the Blue Mountains into the
Land of the Seven Rivers, Ossiriand. They tend to be smarter and
more agile than Easterlings, but are not as strong. Green elves are
better at searching, saving throws, stealth, perception,
and shooting (especially with bows), but they are not as good
at hand weapons, disarming and magic devices. Like all elves, Green
elves are able to move freely among trees
.. _Grey-Elf:
Grey Elf:
Grey elves are the people of King Thingol, and the first elves to
settle in Beleriand. They tend to be wiser and more dexterous than
humans and tougher and stronger than green elves. Grey elves have
better saving throws but less stealth than green elves, and are better
at hand-to-hand combat but not as good at shooting. Grey elves
resist light effects intrinsically, and like the forest.
.. _Hobbit:
Hobbit:
Hobbits are very good at bows (especially slings), throwing, and have
good saving throws. They are even better at searching, disarming,
perception, and stealth; so they make excellent rogues, but prefer to
be called burglars. They will be much weaker than humans, and no
good at melee fighting. They have few hit points, but can sometimes
endure ailments that would lay other races low. Hobbits have fair
infravision, so they can detect warm creatures at a distance.
Hobbits, like Easterlings, are people of the plains.
.. _Petty-Dwarf:
Petty-Dwarf:
Petty-dwarves are an ancient and diminished race of dwarves thought
at first by the elves to be orcs. They were all but wiped out, with
just one small settlement left in the south of the Ered Luin.
Petty-dwarves make excellent mages, are the best magical device users
of any race, and are good at searching, disarming, and perception.
They are reasonably stealthy. They are, however, rather frail and
are not very good at fighting with hand weapons. Petty-dwarves have
good infra-vision, so they can detect warm-blooded creatures at a
distance. Petty-dwarves are intrinsically protected against
paralysis and some slowing effects, and like all dwarves are harder
to hit when in the mountains, and can move easily through rubble.
.. _Dwarf:
Dwarf:
Dwarves are the headstrong miners and fighters of legend. They are
strong, smart, and tough, but not very wise or agile. Since
dungeons are their natural home, dwarves have very good infravision,
can never be blinded, and make good warriors, mages, and necromancers.
They gain a small bonus to combat skill when using polearms, but
don't know the first thing about bows. Because they are so
headstrong, they resist spells which are cast on them. 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 get the same terrain bonuses as
Petty-Dwarves.
.. _Druadan:
Druadan:
Druedain, also known as woses, are the woodspeople who live alongside
the people of Haleth. They are tough, wise and stealthy, but not very
street-smart and are poor at devices, disarming and shooting; they
make excellent druids. Druedain look, well, funny. They tend to pay
more for goods in town. Their uncanny appreciation of the natural
environment gives them the power of telepathy, and they fight more
skilfully in forest.
.. _Longbeard:
Longbeard:
The longbeards are the eldest of the seven lines of the dwarves.
Their home is in Khazad Dum, away from the chief conflicts of
Beleriand, but they are always ready for a challenge. They have all
the strengths of other dwarves, but their weaknesses are less.
.. _Adan:
Adan:
The edain are the elf-friends of the houses of Beor, Hador and
Haleth. First of men to enter Beleriand, they surpass the abilities
of other humans in every field, are superb melee fighters, and have
amazing wisdom and constitution. They may play any class. Their
constitution cannot be reduced, and like druedain fight their best in
the forests of Beleriand.
.. _High-Elf:
High Elf:
High elves are the Noldor, who fled from the Undying Lands to try and
wrest the Silmarils back from Morgoth. They are masters of all
skills, and are agile and intelligent, although their wisdom is
sometimes suspect. High-elves begin their lives able to see the
unseen, and resist light effects just like Grey elves. As other
elves, they move freely through trees.
.. _Dark-Elf:
Dark Elf:
Dark elves are those who chose to stay among the stars of Middle-
Earth rather than see the Light of the Trees in Aman. They are
wise and agile, but frail and poor with weapons. However, dark
elves are not merely stealthiest of all races, but they never
aggravate monsters. (If they normally would, they suffer a penalty
of three to stealth). The price they pay, though, is an increased
sensitivity to bright light. Dark elves have the usual elvish
ability to move unhindered through trees.
.. _Ent:
Ent:
Clad in bark-like skin, and with bodies like the trunks of trees, Ents
can nevertheless move about perfectly well. They have poor dungeon
survival skills, and are bad at archery and with polearms, but handle
other weapons well. As long as they stay away from fire, Ents will
find themselves well capable of surviving many a bitter fight. As
they age, Ents slowly lose the relative suppleness of their sapling
youth, trading dexterity for increased strength and constitution.
Members of this wise race can never gain feather fall by any means,
but will slowly acquire the ability needed to tear rock apart with
their weaponless hands. Since they only need to stand still to be
mistaken for trees, Ents are incredibly stealthy in forests.
.. _Beorning:
Beorning:
These hardy woodsfolk, though of human origin, have developed a deep
affinity with nature. Many of the Beornings have learned the secret
languanges of animals and some have learned to transform themselves
into the forms of great bears. They have respectable survival
skills and are comfortable with all manner of weapons, but they are
mediocre with magical devices. They are at a slight disadvantage in
charisma and intellegence, but they have better wisdom and
consistution than other humans. When needed, they can take the form
of an increasingly powerful bear (use the ']' command), making them
more effective in combat and weaker in magic and archery. Beorning
are best known as warriors, rangers, and druids, though they make
fine rogues and priests as well. They fight most skilfully on the
plains.
Classes
=======
Once a race has been chosen, you will need to pick a class. The class
is the character's occupation and determines stat bonuses, abilities,
hit dice, and what spells (if any) the character can learn.
.. _Warrior:
Warrior
A Warrior is a hack-and-slash character, who solves most problems
by cutting them to pieces, but will occasionally fall back on the help of
a magical device. Their prime stats are strength, constitution, and
dexterity, and they will strike more blows with melee weapons than any
other class. A Warrior will be excellent at fighting, shooting and
throwing, but bad at most other skills. A warrior has bad stealth and
cannot learn any spells.
.. _Mage:
Mage
A Mage must live by their wits. They cannot hope to simply hack their 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. They can
master the higher level magical devices far easier than anyone else, and
has the excellent saving throws to resist effects of spells cast at him.
However, they are incredibly weak, getting few hit dice and suffering strong
penalties to strength and constitution. Intelligence is their primary stat
and at high levels they can cast many spells without a chance of failure.
There is no rule that says a mage cannot become a good fighter, but spells
are their true realm and they will get fewer blows with melee weapons than
other classes.
.. _Druid:
Druid
A Druid is a lover of nature, and at one with the natural world. Druids
have control of their environment and direct power over creatures, leading
even to the ability to take their forms. Druid skills are moderate, and
they have some fighting ability, especially when transformed. A druid will
usually seek to shape the flow of events to their purpose rather than
using devices or missiles, but at high levels they do gain access to
potent nature-based magic. Druids rely on their wisdom, and have good
saving throws.
.. _Priest:
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 temple!
Priests receive their spells from a deity, and therefore do not choose
which spells they will learn. They are familiar with magical devices,
preferring to call them "instruments of God", but are not as good as a
mage in their use. Priests have great saving throws, and make passable
fighters, better if they can find a hafted or blessed weapon. Wisdom is
the priest's primary stat and at high enough levels they can cast many
prayers without a chance of failure. Priests have poor stealth.
.. _Necromancer:
Necromancer
A Necromancer seeks to master the spirits of sentient creatures, creating
servants of their own will. They have chosen a dark and wicked path, and
run a continual risk of harm to their own body and mind. Necromancers love
shadows and hate light, automatically shrouding themselves in darkness.
Their spells require high intelligence, and frequently harm the caster or
place them in danger. In return they achieve awesome power at high levels.
The ultimate aim of the necromancer is to supplant the Dark Enemy and set
up a tyranny in his place.
.. _Paladin:
Paladin
A Paladin is a warrior/priest. Paladins are very good fighters, second
only to the warrior class, but not very good at missile weapons. They
receive prayers at a slower pace than the priest, but can use all but the
most powerful prayers. A paladin lacks much in the way of abilities.
Paladins have poor stealth, perception, searching, and magical device use.
They have a decent saving throw due to their divine alliance. Their
primary stats are strength and wisdom.
.. _Rogue:
Rogue
A Rogue is a character that prefers to live by their cunning, but is
capable of fighting their way out of a tight spot. The master of traps and
locks, to the experienced rogue no device is impossible to overcome. A rogue
has a high stealth enabling sneaking around many creatures without
having to fight, or sneaking up and get the first blow. They can steal items
from monsters, but need to be wary of being caught in the act. Rogues'
perception is higher than any other class, and many times they will notice
a trap or secret door before having to search. A rogue is better than
the more fighting oriented classes with magical devices, but still cannot
rely on their performance. Rogues can also learn a few spells, but not the
powerful offensive spells mages can use, and there will always be a chance
of failure even with the simplest spells. A rogue's primary stats are
dexterity and intelligence.
.. _Ranger:
Ranger
A Ranger is at home in nature, and good at turning the environment to
good use. Rangers are good fighters, and the best of all the classes with
missile weapons, especially bows. The ranger learns chiefly spells of
survival and forest craft. A ranger has good stealth, good perception,
good searching, a good saving throw, and is good with magical devices.
Their primary stats are strength, wisdom and dexterity.
.. _Blackguard:
Blackguard
A Blackguard is a brawler of no principle, who lives for the joy of maiming
and killing. Blackguards prefer heavy weapons and shields, and learn a few
spells for the purpose of wreaking more destruction. Their lust for blood
is legendary, with a blackguard in full cry nigh on impossible to kill.
Blackguards scorn skills apart from slaughter, and require strength and
intelligence (or rat-cunning) to thrive in the dungeon.
Stats
=====
After race and class are selected, you will be able to decide what stat
levels your character will have, by allocating a finite number of
"points" between the five statistics. These points can be allocated
by selection or with a random roller (as described below in the "Stat
Rollers" section). Each race/class combination also has a recommended
default setting for these statistics. Statistics can be permanently
raised by various potions in the dungeon up to 18/100. They can also be
temporarily drained by some monster attacks.
.. index::
single: strength; description
see: STR; strength
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. Characters with low strengths may receive
penalties. Strength raises the amount of weight you can carry before
being slowed. It also allows you to get extra blows with heavier weapons.
Strength is one of the most important stats in the beginning of the game.
.. index::
single: intelligence; description
see: INT; intelligence
Intelligence
Intelligence affects the spellcasting abilities of spellcasters from the
arcane and shadow realms: mages, rogues, necromancers and blackguards.
Intelligence will affect the number of spells you may learn each level as
well as the number of spell points you receive. Intelligence is the most
important stat for mages and necromancers. A high intelligence may also
improve your chances of successfully casting a spell. A good intelligence
can also help with using magic devices, picking locks, and disarming magic
traps.
.. index::
single: wisdom; description
see: WIS; wisdom
Wisdom
The primary function of wisdom is to determine the ability of a priest or
paladin to use prayers, and druids and rangers to use verses, just like
intelligence affects spellcasting. Again, high wisdom will increase the
number of mana points you have and increase the number of prayers or verses
you can learn each level, while improving your chance of success. A good
wisdom increases your saving throw, thereby improving your chances of
resisting magical spells cast upon you by monsters.
.. index::
single: dexterity; description
see: DEX; dexterity
Dexterity
Dexterity is a combination of agility and quickness. A high dexterity may
allow a character to get multiple blows with lighter weapons. Dexterity
also increases a character's chances of hitting with any weapon and of
dodging blows from enemies. Dexterity is also useful in picking locks,
disarming physical traps, protecting yourself from some of the thieves that
inhabit the dungeons, and (for rogues) stealing successfully from others.
If the character has a high enough dexterity, thieves will never
be successful in stealing from them.
.. index::
single: constitution; description
see: CON; constitution
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. Constitution is less important in the beginning of the
game, but will be the most important stat at the end.
Skills
======
Characters possess some different skills which can help them to survive.
The starting skill levels of a character are based upon race and class.
Skill levels may be adjusted by high or low stats, and may increase with
the level of the character.
.. index::
single: infravision; description
Infravision
Infravision is the ability to see heat sources. Since most of the dungeon
is cool or cold, infravision will not allow the player to see walls and
objects. Infravision will allow a character to see any warm-blooded
creatures up to a certain distance. This ability works equally well with
or without a light source. However, some of FAangband's creatures are
cold-blooded, and will not be detected unless lit up by a light source.
All non-human races have innate infravision. Humans (including Dunedain)
cannot gain infravision unless it is magically enhanced. Infravision does
not increase with character level, and is purely dependent on race and on
magical equipment.
.. index::
single: fighting skill; description
see: melee skill; fighting skill
seealso: to-hit; fighting skill
seealso: to-dam; fighting skill
seealso: blows; fighting skill
Fighting
Fighting is the ability to hit and do damage with weapons or fists.
Normally a character gets a single blow from any weapon, but with
high enough dexterity and strength may receive more blows with
lighter weapons. Strength and dexterity both modify the ability to hit an
opponent. This skill increases with the level of the character. Inspecting
a weapon will show you how quickly you can attack with it.
.. index::
single: shooting skill; description
Shooting Ability
Firing ammunition with a bow, sling, or crossbow is included in this skill.
Dexterity and this skill affect the chance to hit when firing. It does
not influence how far ammunition can be fired (that is set by the damage
multiplier for the bow, sling, or crossbow) or the amount of damage a hit
causes. This skill increases with the level of the character.
.. index::
single: throwing skill; description
Throwing Skill
Throwing a weapon or ammunition is included in this skill. Weapons or
ammunition specially designed for throwing are much better when thrown
than other weapons or ammunition. Dexterity and this skill affect the chance
to hit when throwing. It does not influence how far an item can be thrown
(that is set by strength and the weight of the thrown item) or the amount
of damage a hit causes. This skill increases with the level of the character.
.. index::
single: saving throw; description
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. It is possible to
get 100% saving throw, making you immune to many attacks.
.. index::
single: stealth; description
Stealth
The ability to move silently about is very useful. Characters 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 upon race
and class, but can be magically enhanced.
.. index::
single: disarming skill; description
see: disarm physical; disarming skill
see: disarm magical; disarming skill
Disarming
Disarming is the ability to remove traps safely, and also includes
picking locks on traps and doors. A successful disarming will gain the
character a small amount of experience. A trap must be found before it
can be disarmed. Traps are either physical or magical devices, so the
character has two disarming skills. Dexterity modifies disarming of
physical traps, and intelligence modifies disarming of magical traps.
Both these abilities increase with the level of the character.
.. index::
single: magic devices skill; description
Magical Devices
Using a magical device such as a wand or staff requires experience and
knowledge. Spell users such as mages and priests are therefore much
better at using a magical device than say a warrior. This skill is
modified by intelligence, and increases with the level of the character.
.. index::
single: searching skill; description
Searching (Perception)
Perception is the ability to notice traps without actively seeking them
out. Rogues are the best at searching, but rangers are also good at it.
This skill is based on race and class, and increases with character level.
Stat Bonus Tables
=================
Stats, hit dice, infravision and experience point modifications due to
race and class are listed in the following table. To get the total hit
dice, add the "race" and "class" numbers: for instance, a Dwarf Priest
has a hit die of 11+2=13 (i.e. they will get 1d13 hit points per level,
adjusted for constitution).
.. index::
single: strength; racial bonus
single: intelligence; racial bonus
single: wisdom; racial bonus
single: dexterity; racial bonus
single: constitution; racial bonus
single: hit dice; base from race
single: infravision; racial bonus
================== === === === === === ====== ======== =========
Race STR INT WIS DEX CON Infra Hit Dice Home Town
================== === === === === === ====== ======== =========
Easterling +1 0 0 0 +1 0 9 Eriador
Green Elf -1 -1 +2 +2 -1 +2 10 Ossiriand
Grey Elf +1 0 +2 +2 0 +2 10 Menegroth
Hobbit -2 -1 +2 +3 +2 +4 7 Gladden Fields
Petty-Dwarf -1 +3 -3 +3 -1 +5 8 Ered Luin South
Dwarf +2 +1 -2 +1 +2 +5 11 Belegost
Druadan +2 -2 +2 -1 +2 0 11 Ephel Brandir
Longbeard +3 +1 -1 +2 +2 +5 12 Khazad Dum
Adan +1 +1 +3 +1 +3 0 10 Ephel Brandir
High Elf +2 +3 0 +3 +2 +2 10 Gondolin
Dark Elf -2 -1 +2 +2 -1 +2 7 Taur-Im-Duinath
Ent +4 -4 +2 -3 +3 0 12 Taur-Im-Duinath
Beorning +1 -1 +1 0 +1 0 10 Gladden Fields
.. index::
single: strength; class bonus
single: intelligence; class bonus
single: wisdom; class bonus
single: dexterity; class bonus
single: constitution; class bonus
single: hit dice; class bonus
================= === === === === === ==========
Class STR INT WIS DEX CON HD (bonus)
================= === === === === === ==========
Warrior +3 -2 -2 +2 +2 9
Mage -3 +3 +0 +0 -2 0
Druid -2 +0 +3 -2 +0 2
Priest -1 -3 +3 -1 +1 2
Necromancer -3 +3 +0 +0 -2 2
Paladin +1 -3 +1 -1 +2 6
Rogue +0 +1 -3 +3 -1 4
Ranger +0 +0 +2 +1 -1 5
Blackguard +2 +0 -3 +0 +2 8
================= === === === === === ==========
Ability Tables
==============
.. index::
single: disarming skill; racial bonus
single: magic devices skill; racial bonus
single: saving throw; racial bonus
single: stealth; racial bonus
single: searching skill; racial bonus
single: fighting skill; racial bonus
single: shooting skill; racial bonus
single: throwing skill; racial bonus
============ ======= ====== ===== ======= ====== ====== ===== =====
Race Disarm Device Save Stealth Search Fight Shoot Throw
============ ======= ====== ===== ======= ====== ====== ===== =====
Easterling 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Green Elf -1 -1 3 3 7 -1 3 3
Grey Elf -1 -1 5 1 4 0 2 2
Hobbit 15 8 10 3 10 -3 2 2
Petty-Dwarf 10 18 3 1 6 -3 0 0
Dwarf 2 2 10 -2 2 2 0 0
Druadan -3 -5 7 2 2 2 -2 -2
Longbeard 2 2 10 -2 2 3 0 0
Adan 5 5 0 1 3 2 0 0
High Elf 6 13 9 2 4 2 2 2
Dark Elf 7 7 0 6 10 0 -1 -1
Ent -5 -2 7 0 -5 2 -2 -2
Beorning 2 -2 0 1 3 2 0 0
============ ======= ====== ===== ======= ====== ====== ===== =====
.. index::
single: disarming skill; class bonus
single: magic devices skill; class bonus
single: saving throw; class bonus
single: stealth; class bonus
single: searching skill; class bonus
single: fighting skill; class bonus
single: shooting skill; class bonus
single: throwing skill; class bonus
============ ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= =======
Class DisarmP DisarmM Device Save Stealth Search Fight Bows
============ ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= =======
Warrior 25(+15) 20(+10) 18(+7) 18(+10) 0(+0) 10(+12) 70(+45) 55(+45)
Mage 30(+10) 35(+12) 36(+13) 30(+9) 2(+0) 10(+12) 35(+15) 20(+15)
Druid 30(+10) 30(+10) 24(+10) 30(+10) 3(+0) 12(+12) 45(+20) 40(+30)
Priest 25(+12) 25(+12) 30(+10) 32(+12) 2(+0) 10(+14) 45(+20) 35(+20)
Necromancer 30(+10) 35(+12) 36(+13) 30(+9) 2(+0) 10(+12) 35(+25) 20(+15)
Paladin 20(+15) 20(+10) 24(+10) 25(+11) 0(+0) 10(+12) 65(+40) 50(+30)
Rogue 45(+20) 45(+20) 32(+10) 28(+10) 3(+1) 20(+16) 35(+45) 66(+30)
Ranger 40(+15) 30(+10) 28(+10) 32(+10) 3(+0) 15(+15) 60(+40) 72(+45)
Blackguard 20(+15) 20(+10) 24(+10) 18(+10) -1(-1) 8(+10) 65(+40) 35(+15)
============ ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= ======= =======
For character classes, there are two figures: the first figure is the base
level of the skill, while the second figure (in parentheses) is the bonus
that the character gains to this skill every ten levels. So, to find out
the total skill value of any character's skills, add the race value to the
class value, and then the bonus once for every ten levels that the
character has. Throwing skill is not shown as its adjustments for race
and class are the same as for the shooting skill except for rogues (72(+45)),
rangers (66(+30)), and blackguards (40(+30)).
Please note, however, that these numbers are only good for comparing
characters to each other in the absence of other bonuses from high stats
(strength bonus to-dam, dex bonus to-hit, wisdom bonus to saving throw,
intelligence bonus to magical device usage, etc.) or wearing magical items.
Specialty Abilities
===================
Specialty abilities are a way of ehancing and customizing characters. Each
character will gain only a few specialties, so choose the ones that are the
most fun for you and best complement your playing style.
By choosing specialties, you can make your Warrior a melee machine, an archer,
or high-AC tank. You can increase the mana and magical abilities of your
spellcasters or improve their normally weak defenses. Classes with unique
abilites such as the Rogue's monster trap and the Druid's unarmed combat can
choose specialties to further improve these abilities.
Each character can gain a specialty ability at first level, and additional
abilities with each of the first two defeats of quest monsters. Warriors gain
an additional specialty at level 1. Use the 'O' command to gain new
specialties or view your current list of race, class, and specialty abilities.
The Specialties
===============
**Armor Mastery** Increase body armor base AC. Most effective with heavy body
armor. Available to Warriors, Paladins, and Blackguards.
**Armor Proficiency** Reduced mana penalties for heavy armor. Allows more armor
to be worn without penalty, and reduces the penalty per pound of additional
armor. Available to Mages, Necromancers, and Druids.
**Armsman** More critical hits with melee weapons. Reduces reliance on high
combat skill for criticals. Available to Warriors, Paladins, Blackguards,
Rogues, Priests, and Rangers.
**Athletics** Increases Dexterity and Constitution and often prevents them from
being reduced. Available to Warriors, Rogues, Paladins, Blackguards, and
Rangers.
**Beguile** Increases effectiveness of confusion, slow, sleep, fear, and turning
attacks. Works with spells and devices. Available to Mages, Necromancers,
and Druids.
**Channeling** Increases the effects of caster-level dependent spells. The
bonus is strongly dependant on the casters current mana - full mana yields the
maximum bonus. Available to Mages, Priests, Necromancers, and Druids.
**Clarity** Increases Intellegence and Wisdom and often prevents them from being
reduced. Available Mages, Priests, Necromancers, and Druids.
**Combat Regeneration** Gain SP when damaged by an enemy or attacking in melee.
Lose SP at half the rate other classes gain them. Spending SP regains some
health, more when more damaged. Available only to Blackguards.
**Enhance Magic** Beneficial magics become stronger and last longer. Includes
all powerups from spells and items (haste, elemental resistance, blessing,
etc). Available to Mages, Priests, Paladins, Druids, and Necromancers.
**Evasion** Gives a good chance to avoid melee attacks and great chance to avoid
missile weapons such as arrows, darts, and boulders. The chance depends on
dexterity and armor weight. Available to Rogues, Warriors, and Rangers.
**Extra Trap** Allows a rogue to have two monster traps at once. Available
only to Rogues.
**Fast Attacking** Gives a chance of an extra melee strike each round. The
chance goes up for characters that normally have more attacks. Effective
armed and unarmed. Available to Warriors, Paladins, Blackguards, Rogues, and
Rangers.
**Fury** Allows faster action for a short time after attacking in melee or
taking damage. Available to Warriors, Priests, Paladins, Blackguards, and
Rangers.
**Harmony** Gain hit points whenever you cast any spell. Available to
Priests, Paladins, and Druids.
**Heighten Magic** Increases the effects of caster-level dependent spells.
Bonus starts out small but increases as spells are cast in rapid
succession. Available to Mages, Priests, Necromancers, and Druids.
**Holy Light** Grants increased light radius and resistance to light. Evil,
undead, and light-sensitive creatures take extra damage in melee and fear
your light-based spells. Available to Priests and Paladins.
**Magic Resistance** Greatly improved saving throws. Available to Mages,
Necromancers, and Paladins.
**Mana Burn** Reduces monster mana in melee combat. The mana burned adds to
the melee damage. Available to Rogues and Blackguards.
**Marksman** More critical hits with archery and thrown weapons. Reduces
reliance on high ranged weapon skill for criticals. Available to Warriors,
Rogues, and Rangers.
**Martial Arts** Gives a powerful unarmed attack (similar to a druid with the
Power Strike specialty). Available to Warriors, Paladins and Blackguards.
**Meditation** Increased mana regeneration. Combines well with regeneration
items (such as Defender weapons). Available to Mages, Priests, Necromancers,
and Druids.
**Mighty Throw** Doubles the range of throwing weapons and other thrown objects.
Available to Blackguards, Rangers, Rogues, and Warriors.
**Phasewalking** Grants a short term speed boost after teleportation. Give
resistance to all forms of hostile teleportation. Available to Mages,
Priests, and Rogues.
**Piercing Shot** Archery attacks may skewer multiple targets. After a
successful hit, an arrow or crossbow bolt will sometimes continue on; targets
behind the original are very like to be hit. Multiple pierces are possible.
Available to Warriors, Blackguards, and Rangers.
**Power Siphon** Gain mana when monsters in line of sight cast spells.
Available only to Mages.
**Power Strike** Gives an empty handed druid a chance of an unusually strong
attack followed by an attempt to confuse the target. Available only to Druids.
**Rapid Fire** Allows faster arrow-shooting skill at the expense of some
accuracy. Available only to Rangers.
**Regeneration** Increased HP regeneration. Combines well with the regeneration
items (such as Doriath weapons). Available to Warriors, Rogues, Paladins,
Rangers, and Druids.
**Shield Mastery** Increased shield base AC, deflection chance, and bashing
damage. Best with a large shield. Ineffective when wielding a two-handed
weapon. Available to Warriors, Blackguards, Paladins, and Rangers (who gain
the ability to shield bash).
**Soul Siphon** Grants mana whenever a living monster is slain. There is a
chance of taking damage when absorbing too many souls at once. Available only
to Necromancers.
**Stealing** Ability to steal from monsters using ``s``. Automatic for Rogues,
available to Necromancers.
**Trap Setting** Grants the ability to set monster traps similar to those set by
all Rogues. Note that trap damage does depend on disarming skill. Automatic
for Rogues, available to Warriors, Rangers and Druids.
**Unlight** Increases stealth, provides resist darkness, and gives a vision
radius of 2 when no light is wielded. In dark areas provides protection from
damage. Automatic for Necromancers, available to Rogues and Blackguards.
Allowed Specialty Abilities for Each Class
==========================================
================ === === === === === === === === ===
Ability War Mag Pri Rog Ran Pal Dru Nec Bg
================ === === === === === === === === ===
Armour Mastery Yes No No No No Yes No No Yes
Armour Profiency No Yes No No No No Yes Yes No
Armsman Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Athletics Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Beguile No Yes No No No No Yes Yes No
Channeling No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No
Clarity No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No
Combat Regen No No No No No No No No Yes
Enhance Magic No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No
Evasion Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No
Extra Trap No No No Yes No No No No No
Fast Attacking Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes
Fury Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes
Harmony No No Yes No No Yes Yes No No
Heighten Magic No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No
Holy Light No No Yes No No Yes No No No
Magic Resistance No Yes No No No Yes No Yes No
Mana Burn No No No Yes No No No No Yes
Marksman Yes No No Yes Yes No No No No
Martial Arts Yes No No No No Yes No No Yes
Meditation No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes No
Mighty Throw Yes No No Yes Yes No No No Yes
Phasewalking No Yes Yes Yes No No No No No
Piercing Shot Yes No No No Yes No No No Yes
Power Siphon No Yes No No No No No No No
Power Strike No No No No No No Yes No No
Rapid Fire No No No No Yes No No No No
Regeneration Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Shield Mastery Yes No No No Yes Yes No No Yes
Soul Siphon No No No No No No No Yes No
Stealing No No No Aut No No No Yes No
Trap Setting Yes No No Aut Yes No Yes No No
Unlight No No No Yes No No No Aut Yes
================ === === === === === === === === ===
Stat rollers
============
There are currently two different ways to determine the starting stats of
your character - you can choose which one to use from the birth screen.
Point-based
The point-based method allows you to "buy" improvements to your basic
stats by "spending" points on them. You have a fixed number of points to
spend, and making small changes to a stat costs proportionally less than
making large changes. Any unspent points are converted into your starting
money that you can use to buy equipment at the start of the game.
On selecting this option, you will find that the points have already been
assigned to default recommended values. These represent an algorithm's
opinion for the ideal point spending. However, you are free to reallocate
them as you wish.
This is the recommended birth method.
Standard roller
The standard roller simply rolls three six-sided dice for each stat,
leaving everything to chance. You can press ``r`` to re-roll the dice, or
simply accept what luck has offered.
Character Name
==============
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 character name determines the filename that will be
used to save the character to disk. The character name is used on the high
score list.
You can play a dynasty of characters. If you use a Roman numeral at the end
of your character name (like "Fred I" or "Pimplesnarg XVI"), the game will
automatically increment the numeral each time you die (or win!).
===================
Exploring the World
===================
After you have created your character, you will begin your FAangband
adventure. Symbols appearing on your screen will represent wilderness terrain,
walls, floor, objects, features, and creatures lurking about. In order to
direct your character through their adventure, you will enter single
character commands (see
:ref:`the Command Descriptions section <command-descriptions>` for
descriptions of many of the most useful commands; the
:ref:`Playing the Game section <Playing the game>` and the in-game help,
``?``, have a full list but only with the briefest of descriptions for
each command).
.. index::
single: map symbols
Symbols On Your Map
===================
Symbols on your map can be broken down into three categories: Features of
the dungeon such as walls, floor, doors, and traps; Objects which can be
picked up such as treasure, weapons, magical devices, etc; and creatures
which may or may not move about the world, but are mostly harmful to your
character's well being.
Some symbols are used to represent more than one type of entity, and some
symbols are used to represent entities in more than one category. The "@"
symbol (by default) is used to represent the character.
It will not be necessary to remember all of the symbols and their meanings.
The "slash" command (``/``) will identify any character appearing on your
map (see 'commands.txt'), and there is a comprehensive menu of terrain,
objects, monsters and so on using the "tilde" (``~``) command.
Note that you can use a "user pref file" to change any of these symbols to
something you are more comfortable with.
Features that do not block line of sight
----------------------------------------
===== ========================= ===== ==================================
``.`` A floor or road ``1`` Entrance to General Store
``.`` A trap (hidden) ``2`` Entrance to Armoury
``^`` A trap (known) ``3`` Entrance to Weapon Smith
``;`` A glyph of warding ``4`` Entrance to Bookseller
``'`` An open door ``5`` Entrance to Alchemy Shop
``'`` A broken door ``6`` Entrance to Magic Shop
``<`` A staircase up ``7`` Entrance to the Black Market
``>`` A staircase down ``8`` Entrance to your Home
``#`` A pool of lava
===== ========================= ===== ==================================
Features that block line of sight
---------------------------------
===== ========================= ===== ==================================
``#`` A secret door ``#`` A wall
``+`` A closed door ``%`` A mineral vein
``+`` A locked door ``*`` A mineral vein with treasure
``:`` A pile of rubble ``:`` A pile of passable rubble
===== ========================= ===== ==================================
Objects
-------
===== ============================= ===== =============================
``!`` A potion (or flask) ``/`` A pole-arm
``?`` A scroll (or book) ``|`` An edged weapon
``,`` A mushroom (or food) ``\`` A hafted weapon
``-`` A wand or rod ``}`` A sling, bow, or x-bow
``_`` A staff ``{`` A shot, arrow, or bolt
``=`` A ring ``(`` Soft armour
``"`` An amulet ``[`` Hard armour
``$`` Gold or gems ``]`` Misc. armour
``~`` Lights, Tools, Chests, etc ``)`` A shield
``&`` Multiple items
===== ============================= ===== =============================
Monsters
--------
===== =================== ===== ====================================
``$`` Creeping Coins ``,`` Mushroom Patch
``a`` Giant Ant ``A`` Ainu
``b`` Giant Bat ``B`` Bird
``c`` Giant Centipede ``C`` Canine (Dog)
``d`` Dragon ``D`` Ancient Dragon
``e`` Floating Eye ``E`` Elemental
``f`` Feline (Cat) ``F`` Dragon Fly
``g`` Golem ``G`` Ghost
``h`` Humanoid ``H`` Hybrid
``i`` Icky-Thing ``I`` Insect
``j`` Jelly ``J`` Snake
``k`` Kobold ``K`` Killer Beetle
``l`` Tree/Ent ``L`` Lich
``m`` Mold ``M`` Multi-Headed Hydra
``n`` Naga ``N`` (unused)
``o`` Orc ``O`` Ogre
``p`` Human "person" ``P`` Giant "person"
``q`` Quadruped ``Q`` Quylthulg (Pulsing Flesh Mound)
``r`` Rodent ``R`` Reptile/Amphibian
``s`` Skeleton ``S`` Spider/Scorpion/Tick
``t`` Townsperson ``T`` Troll
``u`` Minor Demon ``U`` Major Demon
``v`` Vortex ``V`` Vampire
``w`` Worm or Worm Mass ``W`` Wight/Wraith
``x`` (unused) ``X`` Xorn/Xaren
``y`` Yeek ``Y`` Yeti
``z`` Zombie/Mummy ``Z`` Zephyr Hound
===== =================== ===== ====================================
The Town Level
==============
Every adventure begins in a town. The town consists of either four or
nine buildings (each with an entrance), some townspeople, and a wall which
surrounds the town. The first time you are in town it will be daytime, but
note that the sun rises and sets (rather instantly) as time passes.
Townspeople
===========
The town contains many different kinds of people. There are the street
urchins, young children who will mob an adventurer for money, and seem to
come out of the woodwork when excited. Blubbering idiots are a constant
annoyance, but not harmful. Public drunks wander about the town singing,
and are of no threat to anyone. Sneaky rogues hang about watching for a
likely victim to mug. And finally, no town would be complete without a swarm
of half drunk warriors, who take offense or become annoyed just for the fun
of it. (There are assumed to be other people in the town, but they are not
represented on the screen as they do not interact with the player in any
way.)
Most of the townspeople should be avoided by the largest possible distance
when you wander from store to store. Fights will break out, though, so be
prepared. Since your character grew up in this world of intrigue, no
experience is awarded for killing the town inhabitants, though you may
acquire treasure.
Other Towns
===========
If you are on a wilderness map, you will encounter other towns. If your
race originates in a small town, finding a larger town will allow you to do
some more extensive shopping, and maybe sell some of the weapons and armour
you've been carrying around. The large towns are Khazad Dum, Belegost,
Menegroth and Gondolin; the small ones are Gladden Fields, Eriador, Ossiriand,
Taur-Im-Duinath, Ephel Brandir and Ered Luin South.
Town Buildings
==============
Your character will begin their adventure with some basic supplies and some
extra gold with which to purchase more supplies at the town stores. If you
choose to play with the starting kit option on (it is on by default), your
character will start with more items but with less gold.
You may enter any open store to buy items of the appropriate type.
The price the shopkeeper requests is dependent on the price of the item.
By default stores will not buy items from the player. If you choose to play
with the no selling option off (it is on by default), they will buy, but
each shopkeeper has a maximum amount she or he is willing to offer for any item,
regardless of how much it is actually worth.
Once inside a store, you will see the name and race of the store owner, the
name of the store, the maximum amount of cash that the store owner will pay
for any one item, and the store inventory, listed along with the prices.
You can press ``?`` for a partial list of the available commands. Note that
many of the commands which work in the wider world work in the stores as well,
but some do not, especially those which involve "using" objects.
Stores do not always have everything in stock. As the game progresses, they
may get new items so check from time to time. Stores restock after 10000
game turns have passed, but the inventory will never change while you are
in town, even if you save the game and return. You must be away from town
for the store to restock. Also, if you sell them an item, it may get sold
to a customer while you are adventuring, so don't always expect to be able
to get back everything you have sold. If you have a lot of spare gold, you
can purchase every item in a store, which will induce the store owner to
bring out new stock, and perhaps even retire.
Store owners will not accept known harmful or useless items. If an object is
unidentified, a store owner will accept it (paying out some gold if selling
is on), identify the object, and then either add it to store's stock if it
is good or throw it away. You can use this feature to learn item flavors
or the magical properties, called "runes", of items that can be equipped.
.. index::
single: general store
seealso: store; general store
The General Store (``1``)
The General Store sells foods, some clothing, torches, oil, shovels and
picks. All of these items and some others can be sold back to the general
store for money. The general store restocks like every store, but the
inventory types never change.
.. index::
single: armoury
seealso: store; armoury
The Armoury (``2``)
The Armoury is where the town's armour is fashioned. All sorts of
protective gear may be bought and sold here. The further into the wilderness
you progress the more exotic the equipment you will find stocked in the
armoury. However, some armour types will never appear here unless you
sell them.
.. index::
single: weaponsmith
seealso: store; weaponsmith
The Weaponsmith's Shop (``3``)
The Weaponsmith's Shop is where the town's weapons are fashioned. Hand
and missile weapons may be purchased and sold here, along with arrows,
bolts, and shots. As with the armoury, not all weapon types will be
stocked here, unless they are sold to the shop by the player first.
.. index::
single: bookseller
seealso: store; bookseller
The Bookseller (``4``)
The Bookseller holds supplies of the simpler books needed by magic users,
and will buy the more advanced books which can be found in the wild.
.. index::
single: alchemy shop
seealso: store; alchemy shop
The Alchemy shop (``5``)
The Alchemy Shop deals in all types of potions and scrolls.
.. index::
single: magic user's shop
seealso: store; magic user's shop
The Magic User's Shop (``6``)
The Magic User's Shop deals in all sorts of rings, wands, amulets, and
staves. Giving (or selling when selling is on) a useful wand or staff
with no charges to the Magic User's Shop is a convenient way to recharge
the item, if you have enough gold to buy it back.
.. index::
single: black market
seealso: store; black market
The Black Market (``7``)
The Black Market will sell and buy anything at extortionate prices.
However it occasionally has **very** good items in it. With the exception
of artifacts, every item in the game may appear in the black market.
.. index::
single: home
seealso: store; home
Your Home (``8``)
This is your house where you can store objects that you cannot carry on
your travels, or will need at a later date.
Middle Earth
============
There are four maps you can choose when beginning a game of FAangband. The
standard wilderness, extended wilderness and hybrid dungeon basically use the
map below (although in the case of the hybrid dungeon, travel between dungeons
is via portal). The Angband dungeon map uses a standard Angband model, where
the player starts in town, and there is dungeon immediately below.
Below is a rough diagram of the linkages between the regions of Middle
Earth which your character can visit. Dungeons are shown in brackets under
the region where their entrance lies (Nan Dungortheb is not strictly a dungeon,
but acts like one in some ways). Some towns are clearly marked; for the
others and for a description of towns, see "town.txt". For more information
about wilderness and dungeons, see "wild-dun.txt". Note that the routes
marked with *s are only available in the compressed_map (default) option.::
Anfauglith -------------------------Lothlann
(Angband) \ \
| \_____Dorthonion \
Fen of Serech (Nan Dungortheb) \
| \ |
Sirion Vale-----Gondolin Dor Dinen |
(Tol-in-Gaurhoth) | \ | Hithaeglir--Gladden
\ | Himlad | / Fields
Brethil Doriath \ Ered Luin Khazad Dum
\ | East \ /
___ Ephel Menegroth Beleriand \ Hithaeglir
/ Brandir \ | | /
Talath / \ Doriath Thargelion | Eriador
Dirnen West Beleriand | * \ | / \
(Nargothrond) \ \ * Belegost \
Amon Rudh East Beleriand | Eriador
(Amon Rudh) * \ Ered Luin town
\ * \ | |
West Beleriand \ | |
\ \ Ossiriand |
Andram \ | |
\ \ | |
East Beleriand Ossiriand |
\ /town |
Taur-Im-Duinath _Ent Path | |
\ / Ossiriand |
Taur-Im-Duinath | |
town Ered Luin South |
| /
Ered Luin South
town
Moving House
============
There may come a time when you want to leave your home town - particularly if
it is too small. Once you have reached another town, you will notice that
you do not have a house there. If you choose, you can move there; simply use
the '$' command and your house will have appeared next time you return to your
new home town.
Out in the World
================
Once your character is adequately supplied with food, light, armor, and
weapons, they are ready to enter the dungeon. Move on top of the ``>`` symbol
and use the "Down" command (``>``).
Your character will enter a maze of interconnecting staircases and arrive
somewhere on the first level of the dungeon (for dungeon games) or follow a
winding path to some wilderness (for wilderness games). Once you leave a
level by a staircase or path, you will never again find your way back to that
region of that level, but there are an infinite number of other regions at
that same "depth" that you can explore later. Monsters, of course, can use
stairs and paths, and you may eventually encounter them again, but they will
not chase you up or down stairs or along paths.
In the wild, there are many things to find, but your character must
survive many horrible and challenging encounters to find the treasure lying
about.
There are two sources for light once inside the dungeon. Permanent light
which has been magically placed within rooms, and a light source carried by
the player. If neither is present, the character will be unable to see.
This will affect searching, picking locks, disarming traps, reading
scrolls, casting spells, browsing books, etc. So be very careful not to run
out of light!
In the wilderness, there is light during the day, but at night you will need
your own source of light. Fortunately, monsters sleep at night-time in the
wilderness.
A character must wield a torch or lamp in order to supply his own light. A
torch or lamp burns fuel as it is used, and once it is out of fuel, it
stops supplying light. You will be warned as the light approaches this
point. You may use the "Fuel" command (``F``) to refuel your lantern (with
flasks of oil), and it is a good idea to carry extra torches or flasks of
oil, as appropriate. There are rumours of objects of exceptional power
which glow with their own never-ending light.
These last two paragraphs apply to most classes, but not to necromancers.
Necromancers dislike light, and shroud themselves in darkness. They are
usually better off not carrying a light, but also do not gain any of the
bonuses that may come from magical light sources.
Objects Found In The Dungeon And Wilderness
===========================================
The mines, woods, plains, mountains and deserts are full of objects just
waiting to be picked up and used. How did they get there? Well, the main
source for useful items are all the foolish adventurers that went before you.
They get killed, and the helpful creatures scatter the various treasure.
Several objects may occupy a given floor location, which may or may not
also contain one creature. However, doors, rubble, traps, and staircases
cannot coexist with items. As below, any item may actually be a "stack"
of up to 40 identical items. With the default options, multiple stacks
can be in the same grid forming a "pile".
You pick up objects by moving on top of them. You can carry up to 23
different items in your backpack while wearing and wielding up to 12
others. Although you are limited to 23 different items, each item may
actually be a "stack" of up to 40 similar items. If you |``t``ake| off an
item, it will go into your backpack if there is room: if there is no room
in your backpack, it will drop onto the floor, so be careful when swapping
one wielded weapon or worn piece of armor for another when your pack is
full.
.. |``t``ake| replace:: ``t``\ake
You are, however, limited in the total amount of weight that you can carry.
If you exceed this value, you become slower, making it easier for monsters
to chase you. Note that there is no upper bound on how much you can carry,
if you do not mind being slow. Your weight "limit" is determined by your
strength.
Many objects found within the world have special commands for their use.
Wands must be Aimed, staves must be Used, scrolls must be Read, and potions
must be Quaffed. You may, in general, not only use items in your pack, but
also items on the ground, if you are standing on top of them. At the
beginning of the game all items are assigned a random 'flavor'. For example
potions of 'cure light wounds' could be 'red potions'. If you have never
used, sold, or bought one of these potions, you will only see the flavor.
You can learn what type of item it is by selling it to a store, or using it
(learning by use for wands, staves, and rods can require some work as you may
need the right target or something appropriate nearby to identify what the
device did). Lastly, items in stores that you have not yet identified the
flavor of will be labeled '{unseen}'.
Chests are complex objects, containing traps, locks, and possibly treasure
or other objects inside them once they are opened. Many of the commands
that apply to traps or doors also apply to chests and, like traps and
doors, these commands do not work if you are carrying the chest.
One item in particular will be discussed here. The scroll of "Word of
Recall" can be found within the dungeon, or bought at the alchemist in towns.
All classes start with one of these scrolls in their inventory. It acts in
two manners, depending upon your current location. If read within the
dungeon or wilderness or another town, it will teleport you back to your
hometowntown. If read in your hometown, it will teleport you back down to
one of your chose "recall points", of which you can have up to four. This
makes the scroll very useful for getting back to the more dangerous levels
of FAangband. Once the scroll has been read it takes a while for the spell
to act, so don't expect it to save you in a crisis. During this time the word
'recall' will appear on the bottom of the screen below the dungeon. Reading a
second scroll before the first takes effect will cancel the action.
You may "inscribe" any object with a textual inscription of your choice.
These inscriptions are not limited in length, though you may not be able to
see the whole inscription on the item. The game applies special meaning to
inscriptions containing any text of the form '@#', '@x#', '!!', '!x', '!*',
'^x', '^*', or '=g`; see :ref:`the section on inscribing <inscribing>` for
more details.
The game provides some "fake" inscriptions to help you keep track of your
possessions. Weapons, armor and jewellery which have properties you don't
know about yet will get a '{??}' label. Weapons, armor, and jewellery
with a known curse get a '{cursed}' label. Wands, staves and rods can get a
'{tried}' label after use, particularly if they have an effect on a monster
and were tested in the absence of monsters. Unidentified wands or staves
with no remaining charges will have an '{empty}' label. Items which are
marked as ignored will have a '{ignored}' label. If an item has more than
one of those labels or also has an inscription you provided, all the labels
will be shown in one set of brackets, separated by commas, and the inscription
you provided, if any, will be first. For instance, you could see
'{empty, tried}' on an unidentified wand or staff or '{cursed, ??}' on a
piece of armor with ooe or more known curses and one or more unidentified
magical properties.
It is rumored that rings of power and extra rare spell books may be found
deeper in the dungeon...
And lastly, a final warning: not all objects are what they seem. The line
between tasty food and a poisonous mushroom is a fine one, and sometimes a
chest full of treasure will grow teeth in its lid and bite your hand off...
Cursed Objects
==============
Some objects, often objects of great power, have been cursed. There are many
curses in the game, and they can appear on any wearable object. Curses may
have a negative (or sometimes positive) effect on an object's properties, or
cause bad things to happen to the player at random.
You can choose to wear the object in spite of its curses, or attempt to
uncurse it using magic. A warning: failed uncursing leads to the object
becoming fragile, and a fragile object may be destroyed on future curse removal
attempts. It is up to you to balance the risks and rewards in your use
of cursed items.
Mining
======
Some treasure can be found only by mining it out of rock formations and
walls. Many rich strikes exist within each level, but must be found and
mined. Quartz veins are the richest, yielding the most metals and gems, but
magma veins will have some hoards hidden within.
Mining is rather difficult without a pick or shovel. Picks and shovels have
an additional magical ability expressed as '(+#)'. The higher the number,
the better the magical digging ability of the tool. A pick or shovel also
has plusses to hit and damage, and can be used as a weapon, because, in
fact, it is one. The game will automatically pick the best digging tool you
are carrying when you choose to dig.
When a vein of quartz or magma is located, the character may begin digging
out a section. When that section is removed, they can locate another section
of the vein and begin the process again. Since granite rock is much harder
to dig through, it is much faster to follow softer rock and dig around the
granite. Eventually, it becomes easier to simply kill monsters and discover
items in the dungeon to sell, than to walk around digging for treasure. But,
early on, mineral veins can be a wonderful source of easy treasure.
If the character has a scroll, staff, or spell of treasure location, they can
immediately locate all strikes of treasure within a vein shown on the
screen. This makes mining much easier and more profitable.
Note that a character with high strength and/or a heavy weapon does not
need a shovel/pick to dig, but even the strongest character will benefit
from a pick if trying to dig through a granite wall.
It is sometimes possible to get a character trapped within the dungeon by
using various magical spells and items, encountering the right kind of
trap, or entering the dungeon (either by word of recall or by a staircase
when playing with disconnected stairs) and finding yourself in a part that
has no passable route to a staircase. So it can be a good idea to always
carry some kind of digging tool, even when you are not planning on
tunneling for treasure.
There are rumors of certain incredibly profitable rooms buried deep in the
dungeons and completely surrounded by permanent rock and granite walls,
requiring a digging implement or magical means to enter. The same rumors
imply that these rooms are guarded by incredibly powerful monsters, so
beware!
Traps
=====
There are many traps located in the dungeon and wilds of varying danger.
These traps are hidden from sight and are triggered only when your character
walks over them. If you have found a trap you can attempt to |``D``isarm| it,
but failure may mean activating it. Traps can be physical dangers such as pits,
or magical runes or inscriptions which will cause an effect when triggered.
Your character may be better at disarming one of these types of traps than
the other.
.. |``D``isarm| replace:: ``D``\isarm
All characters have a chance to notice traps when they first come into view
(dependent on searching skill). Some players will also get access to magical
means of detecting all traps within a certain radius. If you use such a spell
or device and are still within the area it checked, there will be a 'DTrap'
label in green on the bottom of the screen, below the dungeon map. If you are on
the boundary of an area where a trap detection was done (the current square
was affected by a trap detection effect but one or more of the four neighbors
in the cardinal directions was not), there will be a 'DTrap' label in
yellow on the bottom of the screen.
Some monsters have the ability to create new traps on the level that may be
hidden, even if the player is in a detected zone. The detection only finds
the traps that exist at the time of detection, it does not inform you of
new ones that have since been created.
Staircases, Secret Doors, Passages, and Rooms
=============================================
Staircases are the manner in which you get deeper or climb out of the
dungeon. The symbols for the up and down staircases are the same as the
commands to use them. A ``<`` represents an up staircase and a ``>``
represents a down staircase. You must move your character over the
staircase before you can use it. In a similar way, paths lead from one
wilderness level to another, with ``<`` leading to lesser danger and ``>``
to greater danger.
Most dungeon levels have at least one up staircase and at least two down
staircases. You may have trouble finding some well hidden secret doors, or
you may have to dig through obstructions to get to them, but you can always
find the stairs if you look hard enough. Stairs, like permanent rock, and
shop entrances, cannot be destroyed by any means.
Wilderness levels will always have a path or two to every level that is
adjacent, north, south, east or west. Note that there will usually only be an
adjecent level in one or two of these directions.
Many secret doors are used within the dungeon to confuse and demoralize
adventurers foolish enough to enter, although all secret doors can be
discovered by stepping adjacent to them. Secret doors will sometimes
hide rooms or corridors, or even entire sections of that level of the
dungeon. Sometimes they simply hide small empty closets or even dead ends.
Secret doors always look like granite walls, just like traps always look
like normal floors.
Creatures in the dungeon will generally know and use these secret doors,
and can often be counted on to leave them open behind them when they pass
through.
.. index::
single: level feelings
Level and object feelings
=========================
Unless you have disabled the option to get feelings you will get a message
upon entering a level giving you a general feel of how dangerous that
level is.
The possible messages are :
=== =========================================
1 "This seems a quiet, peaceful place"
2 "This seems a tame, sheltered place"
3 "This place seems reasonably safe"
4 "This place does not seem too risky"
5 "You feel nervous about this place"
6 "You feel anxious about this place"
7 "This place seems terribly dangerous"
8 "This place seems murderous"
9 "Omens of death haunt this place"
=== =========================================
This feeling depends only on the monsters present in the level when you
first enter it. It will not get reduced to safer feeling as you kill
monsters neither will it increase if new ones are summoned.
This feeling also depends on your current dungeon depth. A dungeon you
feel nervous about at level 40 is way more dangerous than a murderous one
at 1.
Once you have explored a certain amount of the dungeon you will also
get a feeling about how good are the objects lying on the floor of the
dungeon.
The possible messages are :
=== =========================================
1 "there is naught but cobwebs here."
2 "there are only scraps of junk here."
3 "there aren't many treasures here."
4 "there may not be much interesting here."
5 "there may be something worthwhile here."
6 "there are good treasures here."
7 "there are very good treasures here."
8 "there are excellent treasures here."
9 "there are superb treasures here."
$ "you sense an item of wondrous power!"
=== =========================================
The last message indicates an artifact is present and is only possible
if the option to lose artifacts is on (if that option is off, an
artifact will guarantee a feeling of 5 or better).
You may review your level feeling any time by using the ^f command.
You may also consult it by checking the LF: indicator at the bottom
left of the screen. The first number after it is the level feeling
and the second one is the object feeling. The second one will be ?
if you need to explore more before getting a feeling about the value
of the treasures present.
.. index::
single: winning
Winning The Game
================
Morgoth lurks on level 100 of the Angband dungeon, and you will not be able to
go below his level until you have killed him. Try to avoid wandering around on
level 100 unless you are ready for him, since he has a habit of coming at you
across the dungeon, the Mighty Hammer 'Grond' in hand, to slay you for your
impudence.
The other dungeons also have guardians at their bottom levels. Any of these
not already dead are available for Morgoth to call on to help him.
If you should actually survive the attempt of killing Morgoth, you will
receive the status of WINNER. You may continue to explore, and may even save
the game and play more later, but since you have defeated the toughest
creature alive, there is really not much point. Unless you wish to listen
to the rumors of a powerful ring buried somewhere in the dungeon, or a suit
of dragon scale mail that resists everything...
When you are ready to retire, press the ``Q`` key to have your character
entered into the high score list as a winner. Note that until you retire,
you can still be killed, so you may want to retire before wandering into
yet another horde of greater demons.
.. index::
single: dying
Upon Death and Dying
====================
If your character falls below 0 hit points, they have died and cannot be
restored (with the exception that blackguards can go below zero hit points
in some circumstances and live to tell tale). A tombstone showing information
about your character will be displayed. You are also permitted to get a
record of your character, and all your equipment (identified) either on the
screen or in a file.
Your character will leave behind a reduced save file, which contains only
your option choices. It may be restored, in which case a new character is
generated exactly as if the file was not there.
There are a variety of ways to "cheat" death (including using a special
"cheating option") when it would otherwise occur. This will fully heal your
character, returning him to the town, and marking him in various ways as a
character which has cheated death. Cheating death, like using any of the
"cheating options", will prevent your character from appearing on the high
score list.
================== Attacking monsters ================== Attacking and Being Attacked ============================ Attacking is simple in FAangband. If you move into a creature, you attack it. You can attack from a distance by firing a missile or by magical means (such as aiming a wand). Creatures attack in the same way. If they move into you, they attack you. Some creatures can also cast spells from a distance, and others can use various breath weapons (such as fire) on you from a distance. Creatures in walls can not be attacked by wands or other magic attacks normally stopped by walls, nor can they be shot at with bows and arrows. Tunnelling into the wall (using the "tunnel" or "alter" command) will allow you to attack any creature in the wall with your main weapon. This applies to creatures which "pass through" walls: if they "bore through" walls, the wall is no longer there, and the creature can be targeted normally. If you are wielding a weapon, the damage for the weapon is used when you hit a creature. Otherwise you get a single punch which does minimal damage. You may ``w``\ield one weapon for melee combat, and also one missile launcher (bow, crossbow or sling). You may also wear one amulet (around the one and only neck of the character), two rings (on the two "ring" fingers, i.e. the third finger of each hand: a magic ring does not function when worn on any other finger, nor may two be worn on the same finger), one light source, and a full set of armor - body armor, shield, helmet, gloves, boots and a cloak. Any or all of these items may provide powers to the character in terms of bonuses to-hit, to-damage, to-armor class, or to other stats. Firing a missile (while wielding the appropriate launcher) is the only way to get the "full" power out of the missile. You may of course throw an arrow at a monster without shooting it, but you will find the effects will not be what you had hoped. Hits and misses are determined by ability to hit versus armor class. A hit is a strike that does some damage; a miss may in fact reach a target, but fails to do any damage. Higher armor classes make it harder to do damage, and so lead to more misses. Characters with higher armor classes also receive a damage reduction. This is not true for monsters, whose AC only affects the character's difficulty to hit them. If you wish to see how much damage your weapon will do, you can ``I``\nspect it. You will find the number of blows and how much damage you would do per round, including information on whether your weapon damages other types of monsters differently. Monster Memories ================ There are hundreds of different creatures in the world of FAangband, many of which have the same letter symbol and color on the screen. The exact species of a creature can be discovered by |``l``ooking| at it. It is also very difficult to keep track of the capabilities of various creatures. Luckily, FAangband automatically keeps track of your experiences with a particular creature. This feature is called the monster memory. Your monster memory recalls the particular attacks of each creature (whether or not technically a monster) which you have suffered, as well as recalling if you have observed them to multiply or move erratically, or drop treasure, etc. Otherwise you would simply have to take notes, which is an unnecessary bother. .. |``l``ooking| replace:: ``l``\ooking If you have killed enough of a particular creature, or suffered enough attacks, recalling the monster memory may also provide you with information not otherwise available, such as an armor class, hit dice, spell types, frequency of spell casting, or the amount of damage for breaths or spells. These attacks will be color coded to inform you of whether or not you currently resist a specific attack. Red or orange means you do not resist it, yellow means you partially resist it, and green means you resist it or are immune. If you attack a monster with specific elemental attacks you will learn if the monster resists that element or if they are immune. There are other magical means to learn about monster's abilities that don't require you to actually experience the attacks. This memory can be used by all your characters; it is stored in a file called 'lore.txt' in your user directory (~/.angband/FAangband in Linux, lib/user in Windows, Documents/FAangband in macOS). Your Weapon =========== Carrying a weapon in your backpack does you no good. You must wield a weapon before it can be used in a fight. A secondary weapon can be kept by keeping it in the backpack, and switching it with the primary weapon when needed. This is most often used when switching between two weapons, each of which provides a rare power that the character needs at two separate times. Note that a digging tool need only be carried in your pack, as when you try to dig your best digging tool will automatically be used. .. index:: single: to-hit; equipment values single: to-dam; equipment values Weapons have two main magical characteristics, their enchanted ability to hit and their enchanted ability to do damage, expressed as '(+#,+#)'. A normal weapon would be '(+0,+0)'. Many weapons in FAangband have bonuses to hit and/or to damage. .. index:: single: blows; upper limit FAangband assumes that your youth in the rough environment near the dungeons has taught you the relative merits of different weapons, and displays as part of their description the damage dice which define their capabilities. Any damage enchantment is added to the dice roll for that weapon. The dice used for a given weapon is displayed as 'XdY'. The number ``X`` indicates how many dice to roll, and number ``Y`` indicates how many sides they have. A '2d6' weapon will thus give damage from 2 to 12, plus any damage bonus. The weight of a weapon is also a consideration. Heavy weapons may hit harder, but they are also harder to use. Depending on your strength, dexterity, character class, and weapon weight, you may get attacks more quickly: high dexterity and strength and low weapon weight are the main factors. Warriors may get up to a maximum of 6 attacks per round: pure spellcasters are limited to only 4: other classes may get up to 5. Your attacks per round with a weapon are displayed as a decimal, e.g. 2.3 or 3.4 etc. The fractions take the form of unused energy which is carried over to your next turn. Missile weapons, such as bows, have their characteristics added to those of the missile used, if the proper weapon/missile combination is used, and then the launcher multiplier is applied to the total damage, making missile weapons very powerful given the proper missiles, especially if they are enchanted. Like weapons, |``I``nspecting| ammunition will tell you how much damage you will do with your current missile launcher. .. |``I``nspecting| replace:: ``I``\nspecting Finally, some rare weapons have special abilities. These are called ego weapons, and are feared by great and meek. An ego weapon must be wielded to receive the benefit of its abilities. It should be noted that some of these items are considerably more powerful than others, and generally the most powerful items are the rarest. Some items will have an obvious effect, like an increase in infravision, or extra strength. These effects will be noticed as soon as you wield the item. Other effects, like most resistances, will need to be learned. You can learn them by either suffering an appropriate attack, or by using magical means of identification. Some of the more common ego weapons are described at the end of this file. Equipment that is not in the weapon or missile weapon slot can affect your attacks. For hand-to-hand combat, the to hit adjustments, to damage adjustments, extra elemental damage (called "brands"), and extra damage due to the target monster's type (called "slays") from that equipment are applied and can be seen on the character sheet or when the weapon is inspected. When a weapon is thrown or a missile is launched, only the to hit adjustments (and, when the :ref:`to-damage is a percent of dice option <damage-percent-of-dice-option>` is on, the to damage adjustments) are applied from that equipment. .. index:: single: armour class; effect on attacks Your Armor Class ================ Your armor class (or AC) is a number that describes the amount and the quality of armor being worn. Armor class will generally run from about 0 to 200, though exceptionally good armor can improve even on the latter figure. The higher your armor class, the more protective it is. A negative armor class would actually help get you hit. Armor protects you in three manners. First, it makes you harder to be hit for damage. A hit for no damage counts as a miss, and is described as a miss. Second, good armor will absorb some of the damage that your character would have taken from normal attacks. Third, acid damage is reduced by wearing body armor (but the armor may be damaged instead). It is obvious that a high armor class is vital for surviving the dangerous areas of FAangband. .. index:: single: armour class; equipment values single: to-hit; armour values Armor class values are always displayed between a set of square brackets, as '[#]' or '[#,+#]'. The first value is the base armor class of the armor. The second number is the magical bonus of the item, which is only displayed if known, and will always have a sign preceding the value. These plusses can be determined by wielding the armor in combat and being hit. Note that a few rings, amulets, and weapons also have the '[+#]' notation, indicating that they provide an armor bonus. Many pieces of heavy body armor will also have a '(-#)' (in normal brackets) before the '[#,+#]', which indicates that the weight of the armor decreases your chances of hitting monsters. This can range from nonexistent for very light armor to '(-8)' for the heaviest armor! Monster status effects ====================== You will find some spells and items which can affect monsters in ways which do not involve directly dealing them damage. These are 'status effects'. They are listed with their effects below. These status effects will either work on a monster type or they won't; some monsters resist particular effects but not all do. If the same attribute is affected by more than one of these status effects, the effects on that attribute do not stack, unless noted otherwise. Hold Monster: Paralyses a monster until you hit them or the duration lapses. Increases chance of player getting a critical hit. Normal duration 3-8 turns. Stun Monster: Reduces the monster's melee accuracy and damage by 25%. 1 in 10 chance that the monster will miss the turn. Increases chance of player getting a critical hit. Normal duration 5-10 turns. Confuse Monster: Monster spells fail 50% more often; that stacks with the increased failures from being scared. Monster at least 40% more likely to miss target with spells/ranged attacks. Monster ball, bolt, and breath spells sometimes go in the wrong direction. 30% chance of erratic movement, more when more confused. If an erratic move tries to go through a wall that the monster can not normally go through, the monster may be lightly stunned. Increases chance of player getting a critical hit. Normal duration 5-10 turns. Slow Monster: -2 speed, more if more slowed. Normal duration 10 or more turns. Sleep Monster: Puts monsters to sleep, but they can wake up again quite easily. Scare Monster: Monster will run away. Monster spells fail 20% more often; that stacks with the increased failures from confusion or disenchantment. Increases chance of player getting a critical hit. Disenchant Monster: Monster spells fail 50% more often; that stacks with the increased failures from being scared. Normal duration 5-10 turns. Non-melee attacks and resistances ================================= The player may at some time gain access to non-melee attacks, and many monsters also have them. Perhaps the most famous of this type of attack is dragon breath, but monsters may also cast spells at the player, and vice versa. This damage generally is not affected by armor class, and does not need a hit roll to hit the player or monster being aimed at. Some attacks are purely magical: attack spells which blind, confuse, slow, scare or paralyze the target. These attacks are resisted by monsters of higher level (native to deeper dungeon depths) and characters with a high saving throw - saving throws being dependent on class, level and wisdom. There are also available resistances to fear, blindness, confusion and stunning, and the power of "free action" prevents magical paralysis (the player may still be paralyzed by being "knocked out" in melee or by a stunning attack, but this is very rare and can be prevented with protection from stunning; paralysis due to fainting from hunger or casting a spell with ith insufficient mana is also unaffected by having free action). There are monsters that can cause status effects such as blindness, paralysis or confusion through their melee attack. Since this is a physical effect and not a mental one, the player will not get a saving throw. However, having resistance to that effect will prevent the negative status in all cases. It should also be noticed that most unique monsters automatically pass their saving throws, and some monsters are naturally resistant to confusion, fear and sleep. Some monsters may have spells that 'cause wounds' that can be deadly if successful but do no damage if the saving throw is passed. Some melee attacks by monsters may drain a stat, as can some traps: this is prevented by having that stat sustained. Drained stats are temporary and can be restored on gaining a new character level or consuming rare items found in the dungeon. Some monsters may cast spells that teleport the player character. There is no saving throw, except to those that would actually teleport him up or down one dungeon level. Having resistance to nexus will also prevent being level-teleported, but will not help against normal teleportation spell attacks. The player may teleport monsters in the same way, with a spell, wand or rod. No monsters, even Morgoth himself, can resist this teleportation. Yet... Other attacks are usually element-based, including the aforementioned example of dragon breath. Many monsters can breathe various attacks or cast bolt or ball spells, and the player may also have access to bolt and ball spells (or breathe like a dragon, in some rare circumstances). The player, and the monsters, may be resistant to these forms of attack: resistance is handled in different ways for the player and the monster, and for different attack forms. Bolt spells will hit the first monster (or the player) in the line of fire: ball spells may centre on a target which may be hiding behind other targets. Ball spells and breath weapons affect an area: other monsters caught in the blast take reduced damage depending on their distance from the centre of the blast. Breath weapons are proportional to a fraction of the monster's current hit points and drop off in power with distance from the monster, with a maximum cap on the damage (which is higher for the most common of such attacks, owing to the fact that the resistances are also easier to find). Bolt and ball spell damage is calculated differently - often (but not always) relative to character or monster level. In the case of fire, cold, lightning, acid and poison, if the monster has resistance to a player attack of this kind it will take almost no damage. If the player has one or more permanent sources of resistance, the damage they would normally take is reduced according to the percentage resistance the item affords. Multiple sources of resistance stack, so that an item with 40% resistance (so allowing 60% of damage through) and one of 30% resistance (allowing 70% through) will combine to allow 60% of 70% or 42% through - so 58% resistance. Temporary sources of resistance (whether from potion, spell or item activation) give 40% resistance, which stacks in the same way. Elemental attacks also have a chance to damage wielded equipment or destroy items in the character's inventory. Fire attacks destroy scrolls, staves, magic books and arrows. Acid attacks destroy scrolls, staves, arrows, bolts and can damage armor. Electricity attacks can destroy wands, rods, rings and amulets. Cold attacks can destroy potions. Items in your inventory get a saving throw, and they are unharmed if they pass it. Having resistance to the element will make an item less likely to be destroyed. Items on the floor that get caught in an elemental ball or breath are automatically destroyed without a saving throw. Weapons, armor and chests can also be destroyed if they are lying on the floor, but cannot be harmed if they are in your pack. The character may also gain immunity to fire, cold, lightning and acid if he is fortunate to find any of the few artifacts that provide these immunities: immunity means that no damage is taken, and the character's equipment is also totally protected. Immunities are EXTREMELY rare. Some worn items render the character vulnerable to fire, cold, lightning or acid. Unless the character also wears an item that grants immunity to the same element, the vulnerability means that the character takes more damage from that element: 1/3 more if the character does not have a permanent source of resistance to the element and normal damage if the character does have a permanent source of resistance to the element. Also, a character can not gain a temporary resistance to an element when a vulnerability to that element is present. .. index:: single: experience points; draining attacks Another attack that the player will come into contact with all too often is the soul-chilling nature of the undead, which can drain the character's life experience. Some monsters have a life-draining melee attack, others may cast ball or bolt spells or, in extreme cases, breathe the very force of the netherworld (shortened by the game to "nether".) There are two powers which are of assistance in this case: that of "hold life" will prevent many experience drains (the fraction affected depends on the monster, and can be 95%, 90%, 75%, or 50%), and if the drain occurs, reduces the amount of experience lost by 90%. That of "resistance to nether forces" will provide resistance to nether bolts, balls and breaths, reducing the damage and preventing any experience drains from those attacks, but has no effect on melee "hits to drain experience". Monsters caught in the blast from a nether ball or breath will take damage proportional to distance from the centre of the attack, except for undead who are totally immune. The player may find wands or rods of Drain Life, which are similarly ineffective on those undead creatures which have no life to drain: however, the real player equivalent attack spell is the priest/paladin spell of "Orb of Draining", a ball spell which does damage to all monsters, double damage to evil monsters, and is resisted by none. Other attack forms are rarer, but may include: disenchantment (both in melee or by a monster breath), chaos (breath or melee, which if unresisted will cause the player to hallucinate and be confused, and may drain life experience), nexus (which may teleport the player to the monster, away from the monster, up or down a level, or swap over two of the player's "internal" stats), light and darkness (which will blind a character unless they have protection from blindness or resistance to light or dark), sound (which will stun a character without sound resistance or protection from stunning), crystal shards (which will cut a non-resistant character), inertia (which will slow a character regardless of free action), gravity (which will blink a character, also stunning and slowing), force (which will stun the character), plasma (which will stun), time (which may drain experience regardless of hold life, or drain stats regardless of sustains), water bolts and balls (which may confuse and stun, and do considerable damage from high-level monsters), ice bolts (which may cut and stun, and damage potions), and mana bolts and balls (the latter usually known as Mana Storms.) Magic missiles are included in the "mana" category, whether cast by the monster or the player. In addition items on the ground are especially vulnerable to elemental effects. Potions on the ground will always be destroyed by cold, shards, sound and force. Scrolls, staves, books, and non-metal gear will always get destroyed by fire or plasma. Scrolls, staves, and all non-mithril gear will be destroyed by acid. Rings, amulets, wands and rods will be destroyed by lightning and plasma. And finally nearly everything will be destroyed by a mana storm if left on the ground. Some attacks may stun or cut the player. These can either be spells or breath attacks (sound, water balls) or from melee. A stunned character receives a penalty to hit and is much more likely to fail a spell or activation. If a character gets very stunned, they may be knocked out and at the mercy of the enemies. A cut character will slowly lose life until healed either by potions, spells or natural regeneration. Both stunning and cut status are displayed at the bottom of the screen. There are resistances available to chaos, disenchantment, confusion, nexus, sound, shards, light and darkness: all of these will reduce the damage and prevent side-effects other than physical damage. With these resistances, as with nether resistance, damage is a random fraction between 1/2 and 2/3. It should be noted that not all of these are actually vital to completing the game: indeed, of the above list, only fire, cold, acid, lightning, poison and confusion resists are regarded as truly vital, with blindness, chaos and nether the next most desirable. Some attack forms are not resistible, but thankfully these are rare: resist shards will prevent all other magical attacks which cut (namely ice bolts), and confusion resistance will prevent confusion by a water bolt or ball, but there is no resistance to the physical damage caused by these following attacks: inertia, force, gravity, plasma, time, ice, water, mana. There is no resistance to any of the side-effects of a time attack, or indeed to anything but the stunning effects of a gravity attack. A note on speed =============== Monsters which do not move at normal speed generally move "slowly" (-10 to speed), "fairly quickly" (+5), "quickly" (+10), "very quickly" (+20) or "incredibly quickly" (+30). (It will surprise nobody that Morgoth is one of the few monsters in the last category.) This is further adjusted by the fact that any non-unique monster may have a random adjustment from (-2) to (+2) to its own speed. Generally, (+10) is exactly double normal speed, and (-10) exactly half. (+20) is about three times normal speed, but after that there is less noticeable improvement as speed goes higher - for instance, (+30) is not quite four times normal speed, and higher values than this are largely irrelevant. The player may find items which can be worn or wielded that provide speed bonuses: these may include boots of speed, rings of speed and a few very rare artifacts. Boots will provide a random 1d10 to speed: rings of speed may be bigger than that - generally the best that the player will get is two just over (+10), but individual rings of up to (+23) speed have been known. Separate from the question of permanent speed (as determined by the player's speed items and the monster's natural speed) is that of temporary speed. The player may cast a spell of haste-self, or use a potion, staff or rod of speed or use an artifact activation to speed him temporarily: or a monster may cast a haste-self spell, or be affected by another monster "shrieking for help" or the player reading a scroll of aggravate monster. In all cases, (+10) speed is added temporarily to the affected monster or player. Using two or more sources of temporary speed is cumulative only in duration - one cannot get from normal speed to (+20) using a potion and a spell of speed. Spells of temporary slowing (including monsters breathing inertia or gravity) are handled the same way, with exactly (-10) being subtracted from the player or monster's speed temporarily, for the duration of the spell or breath's effect. Ego weapons and armor ===================== Some of the ego weapons that you might find in the dungeon are listed below. This will give you a small taste of the items that can be found. However if you wish to discover these items on your own, you may not wish to continue. Ego weapons are denoted by the following "names": Ego Melee Weapons: ------------------ Weapomn of Doriath A magical weapon that actually helps the wielder defend himself, thus increasing his/her armor class, and protecting him/her against damage from fire, cold, acid, lightning, and falls. This weapon also will increase your stealth, let you see invisible creatures, protect you from paralyzation, and help you regenerate hit points and mana faster. As a result of the regeneration ability, you will use up food somewhat faster than normal while wielding such a weapon. These powerful weapons also will sustain one stat, though this stat will vary from weapon to weapon. (Holy Avenger) A Holy Avenger is often one of the most powerful weapons. A Holy Avenger will increase your wisdom and your armour class. This weapon will do extra damage when used against evil, demonic and undead creatures, and will also give you protection against fear and the ability to see invisible creatures. These weapons are basically extremely powerful versions of Blessed Blades and give melee bonuses to priests and paladins. These weapons, like (Defender) weapons, also will sustain one random stat. (Blessed) A blessed blade will increase your wisdom. If you are a priest or paladin, wielding one gives you bonuses for melee combat. Blessed blades also have one extra, random, power. Weapon of the Noldor A Weapon of Westernesse is one of the more powerful weapons. It does extra damage against orcs, trolls, and giants, while increasing your strength, dexterity, and constitution. It also lets you see invisible creatures and protects from paralyzation. These blades were made by the Dunedain. Elemental Branded Weapons Each of the five elemental attacks has a corresponding weapon which will do treble its base damage to creatures not resistant to that element and grant the wielder resistance to that element. (It should be noted that the magical damage bonus is not affected by this: a weapon of Flame '(2d6) (+5,+6)' does 6d6+6 damage per hit, not 6d6+18, against creatures which are not fire-resistant.) There are weapons of Flame, Frost, Lightning, Acid and Poison brands. Weapons of Slaying enemies These weapons do extra damage against creatures of a vulnerable type. Weapons of Slay Evil and Slay Animal do double the base damage, while weapons of Slay Orc, Troll, Giant, Dragon, Demon and Undead do triple the base damage. As with elemental branded weapons, the magical damage bonus is not affected. Weapons of |*Slay*ing| enemies These weapons, in addition to doing extra damage to your enemies, have extra powers as well. In each case, one stat is increased. Weapons of |*Slay*| Dragon, Demon or Undead are also more powerful against their opponents, doing five times their base damage rather than the normal three. Shovels, Picks, and Mattocks of Digging These powerful diggers will dig through granite as if it were mere wood, and mineral veins as if they were butter. Permanent rock is still an impassable obstacle. All are branded with acid, and triple their base damage against creatures which are not acid-resistant. Ego Missile Launchers and Ammo: ------------------------------- Launchers of Accuracy These launchers have an unnaturally high to-hit number, making them extremely accurate, and will occasionally shoot a very accurate shot. Launchers of Velocity These launchers do an unnaturally high amount of damage due to their high to-dam number, and will occasionally shoot a very powerful shot. Launchers of Extra Shots These launchers allow the wielder to shoot more times per round than normal. Launchers of Extra Might These launchers have a higher base damage than normally made launchers of their type. For instance, a 'Long Bow of Extra Might (x3)(+X,+Y)(+1)' is really a Long Bow '(x4)(+X,+Y)' where '(+X,+Y)' is the standard to-hit and to-dam. As the damage multiplier with the bow affects **everything** the base arrow damage, the magical damage bonus on both the bow and the arrow, and any bonuses for slaying or elemental-branded arrows - this makes it a powerful weapon. Ammo of Wounding This ammunition - whether it be pebbles, iron shots, arrows, bolts, seeker arrows or seeker bolts - has big bonuses to-hit and to-damage. Ammo of Elemental Brands, and Ammo of Slaying enemies This works in the same way as melee weapons of the same type: double damage for slay evil and slay animal, triple damage for all other slays and for all elemental brands. Unlike melee weapons, the slays and elemental brands **do** affect the magical damage bonus for ammo. These are the most common types of ego-weapon: note that they are not the ONLY ego-items available in the dungeon, there may be more. Apart from these there are some very rare and well made weapons in the dungeon with not necessarily any special abilities. These include Valinorean Swords, Maces of Disruption, and Scythes of Slicing. They can also be ego weapons like the ones above. For example, a Scythe of Slicing (Holy Avenger) is much more powerful than many artifact weapons! Some pieces of armor will possess special abilities denoted by the following names: Ego Armors and Shields: ----------------------- of Resistance A character wearing armor with this ability will have resistance to one or more random elemnts to varying degrees. A character wearing armor with this ability will have resistance to Acid, Cold, Fire, and Lightning as explained in each part above. Armor of Elvenkind This armor will give resistance to Acid, Cold, Fire, and Lightning. It will make you more stealthy. This armor also possesses an extra resistance, at random from the following list: poison, light, dark, nexus, nether, chaos, disenchantment, sound, and shards, and possibly more random resitances. Robes of Permanence These robes are designed especially for wizards. Just like Elvenkind armor, they provide resistance to fire, cold, acid, and electricity and cannot be damaged by acid. They sustain all of your stats and protect you from a good deal of all experience draining. Also like Elvenkind armor, they have one random resistance. Dragon Scale Mails These extremely rare pieces of armour come in many different colors, each protecting you against the relevant dragons. Naturally they are all resistant to acid damage. They allow you to to take the form of a dragon, and once you have to breathe as a dragon would. Dragon Scale Mails can also have their own ego types. Ego Helms: ---------- Stat Boosting Helms There are magical helms found in the dungeon that have the ability to boost the wearer's intelligence or wisdom. In addition to boosting the relevant stat these helms will also prevent that stat from being drained. Crown of the Magi This is the great crown of the wizards. The wearer will have an increased (and sustained) intelligence, and will also be given resistance against fire, frost, acid, and lightning. These valuable helms also have an additional random power. Crown of Might This is the crown of the warriors. The wearer will have an increased and sustained strength, dexterity, and constitution, and will also be immune to any foe's attempt paralyze him or her. Crown of Lordliness This is the great crown of the priests. The wearer will have an increased and sustained wisdom and be protected against fear. These helms also have an additional random power. Helm/Crown of Seeing This is the great helmet or crown of the rogues. The wearer will be able to see invisible creatures, and will have an increased ability to locate traps. It is also rumored that the wearer of such a helm will not be able to be blinded. Helm of Infravision This helmet allows the character to see monsters even in total darkness, with the ability to see heat. Note that spellbooks are the same temperature as the surroundings, and so cannot be read unless some real light is present. Helm of Light In addition to providing a permanent light source for the wearer, this helm also provides resistance against light-based attacks. Helm/Crown of Telepathy This helm or crown grants the wearer the power of telepathy. Helm of Regeneration This helm will help you regenerate hit points and mana more quickly than normal, allowing you to fight longer before needing to rest. You will use food faster than normal while wearing this helm because of the regenerative effects. Ego Cloaks: ----------- Cloak of Protection This finely made cloak will come with an unnaturally high enchantment, is not affected by elemental based attacks, and provides resistance against shards. Cloak of Stealth This cloak will increase the wearer's stealth, making the wearer less likely to wake up sleeping monsters. Cloak of Aman These exceptionally rare cloaks provide great stealth, have a very high enchantment, and one random resistance. Ego Gloves: ----------- Gloves of Free Action The wearer of these gloves will be resistant to paralyzing attacks. Gloves of Slaying These gloves will increase the wearer's fighting ability by boosting the wearer's to-hit and to-dam values. Gloves of Agility These gloves will increase the wearer's dexterity. Gloves of Power These gloves will boost the wearer's strength as well as the wearer's to-hit and to-dam numbers. Ego Boots: ---------- Boots of Slow Descent These boots protect the wearer from the effects of small falls. Boots of Stealth These boots increase the wearer's stealth, like a Cloak of Stealth. Boots of Free Action The wearer of these boots will be resistant to paralyzing attacks. Boots of Speed The wearer of these boots will become unnaturally fast. Once again, these are not necessarily the ONLY ego-items in the dungeon, just a sample. Apart from these there are some very rare and well-made armours in the dungeon with not necessarily any special abilities. These include Adamantite Plate Mail, Mithril Plate Mail, Mithril Chain Mail, and Elven Cloaks. The first three cannot be damaged by acid because of the quality metals they contain. There are rumors of unique "artifact" items in the dungeon - weapons and armor of all types. Many of these are more powerful than even the greatest ego-items: some are weak and have little more than a name to recommend them. .. |*Slay*| unicode:: *Slay* .. |*Slay*ing| unicode:: *Slay*ing
.. _Playing the Game:
================
Playing the Game
================
Most of your interaction with FAangband will take the form of "commands".
Every FAangband command consists of an "underlying command" plus a variety of
optional or required arguments, such as a repeat count, a direction, or the
index of an inventory object. Commands are normally specified by typing a
series of keypresses, from which the underlying command is extracted, along
with any encoded arguments. You may choose how the standard "keyboard keys"
are mapped to the "underlying commands" by choosing one of the two standard
"keysets", the "original" keyset or the "roguelike" keyset.
The original keyset is very similar to the "underlying" command set, with a
few additions (such as the ability to use the numeric "directions" to
"walk" or the ``5`` key to "stay still"). The roguelike keyset provides
similar additions, and also allows the use of the
``h``/``j``/``k``/``l``/``y``/``u``/``b``/``n`` keys to "walk" (or, in
combination with the shift or control keys, to run or alter), which thus
requires a variety of key mappings to allow access to the underlying
commands used for walking/running/altering. In particular, the "roguelike"
keyset includes many more "capital" and "control" keys, as shown below.
Note that any keys that are not required for access to the underlying
command set may be used by the user to extend the "keyset" which is being
used, by defining new "keymaps". To avoid the use of any "keymaps", press
backslash (``\``) plus the "underlying command" key. You may enter
"control-keys" as a caret (``^``) plus the key (so ``^`` + ``p`` yields
'^p').
Some commands allow an optional "repeat count", which allows you to tell
the game that you wish to do the command multiple times, unless you press a
key or are :ref:`otherwise disturbed <disturb-player>`. To enter a
"repeat count", type ``0``, followed by the numerical count, followed by the
command. You must type 'space' before entering certain commands. Skipping
the numerical count yields a count of 99 for the open, tunnel, disarm,
alter, close, aim a wand, zap a rod, and activate equipment commands. The
generic use an item command also defaults to having a repeat count of 99
when it is used with a wand, staff, or rod. All other commands do not repeat
unless requested.
Some commands will prompt for extra information, such as a direction, an
inventory or equipment item, a spell, a textual inscription, the symbol of
a monster race, a sub-command, a verification, an amount of time, a
quantity, a file name, or various other things. Normally you can hit return
to choose the "default" response, or escape to cancel the command entirely.
Some commands will prompt for a spell or an inventory item. Pressing space
(or ``*``) will give you a list of choices. Pressing ``-`` (minus) selects
the item on the floor. Pressing a lowercase letter selects the given item.
Pressing a capital letter selects the given item after verification.
Pressing a numeric digit ``#`` selects the first item (if any) whose
inscription contains '@#' or '@x#', where ``x`` is the current
"underlying command". You may only specify items which are "legal" for the
command. Whenever an item inscription contains '!*' or '!x' (with ``x``
as above) you must verify its selection.
.. index::
single: original keyset; directions
single: roguelike keyset; directions
Some commands will prompt for a direction. You may enter a "compass"
direction using any of the "direction keys" shown below. Sometimes, you may
specify that you wish to use the current "target", by pressing ``t`` or
``5``, or that you wish to select a new target, by pressing ``*`` (see
"Target" below).
Original Keyset Directions
= = =
7 8 9
4 6
1 2 3
= = =
Roguelike Keyset Directions
= = =
y k u
h l
b j n
= = =
Each of the standard keysets provides some short-cuts over the "underlying
commands". For example, both keysets allow you to "walk" by simply pressing
an "original" direction key (or a "roguelike" direction key if you are
using the roguelike keyset), instead of using the "walk" command plus a
direction. The roguelike keyset allows you to "run" or "alter" by simply
holding the shift or control modifier key down while pressing a "roguelike"
direction key, instead of using the "run" or "alter" command plus a
direction. Both keysets allow the use of the ``5`` key to "stand still",
which is most convenient when using the original keyset.
.. index::
single: original keyset
see: keyset; original keyset
Original Keyset Command Summary
===============================
====== ============================= ====== ============================
``a`` Aim a wand ``A`` Activate an object
``b`` Browse a book ``B`` (unused)
``c`` Close a door ``C`` Display character sheet
``d`` Drop an item ``D`` Disarm a trap or lock a door
``e`` List equipped items ``E`` Eat some food
``f`` Fire an item ``F`` Fuel your lantern/torch
``g`` Get objects on floor ``G`` Gain new spells/prayers
``h`` Fire default ammo at target ``H`` (unused)
``i`` List contents of pack ``I`` Inspect an item
``j`` (unused) ``J`` (unused)
``k`` Ignore an item ``K`` Toggle ignore
``l`` Look around ``L`` Locate player on map
``m`` Cast a spell ``M`` Display map of entire level
``n`` Repeat previous command ``N`` (unused)
``o`` Open a door or chest ``O`` (unused)
``p`` (normally unused; see note) ``P`` (unused)
``q`` Quaff a potion ``Q`` Retire character & quit
``r`` Read a scroll ``R`` Rest for a period
``s`` Steal (rogues only) ``S`` View or learn specialties
``t`` Take off equipment ``T`` Dig a tunnel
``u`` Use a staff ``U`` Use an item
``v`` Throw an item ``V`` Display version info
``w`` Wear/wield equipment ``W`` Walk into a trap
``x`` (unused) ``X`` (unused)
``y`` (unused) ``Y`` (unused)
``z`` Zap a rod ``Z`` (unused)
``!`` Change shape (Beornings) ``^a`` (special - debug command)
``@`` (unused) ``^b`` (unused)
``#`` Check the time ``^c`` (special - break)
``$`` Move house ``^d`` (unused)
``%`` (unused) ``^e`` Toggle inven/equip window
``^`` (special - control key) ``^f`` Repeat level feeling
``&`` (unused) ``^g`` Do autopickup
``*`` Target monster or location ``^h`` (unused)
``(`` (unused) ``^i`` (special - tab)
``)`` Dump screen to a file ``^j`` (special - linefeed)
``{`` Inscribe an object ``^k`` (unused)
``}`` Uninscribe an object ``^l`` Center map
``[`` Display visible monster list ``^m`` (special - return)
``]`` Display visible object list ``^n`` (unused)
``-`` (unused) ``^o`` Show previous message
``_`` (unused) ``^p`` Show previous messages
``+`` Alter grid, set monster trap ``^q`` (unused)
``=`` Set options ``^r`` Redraw the screen
``;`` Walk (with pickup) ``^s`` Save and don't quit
``:`` Take notes ``^t`` (unused)
``'`` Target closest monster ``^u`` (unused)
``"`` Enter a user pref command ``^v`` (unused)
``,`` Stay still (with pickup) ``^w`` (special - wizard mode)
``<`` Go up staircase (see note) ``^x`` Save and quit
``.`` Run ``^y`` (unused)
``>`` Go down staircase (see note) ``^z`` (unused)
``\`` (special - bypass keymap) ``~`` Check knowledge
\` (special - escape) ``?`` Display help
``/`` Identify symbol
``|`` List contents of quiver
====== ============================= ====== ============================
.. index::
single: autoexplore; original keyset
Note that the ``<``, ``>``, and ``p`` commands are affected by the
autoexplore_commands option (see
:ref:`Autoexplore Commands Option <autoexplore-commands-option>`). When that
option is off (that is the default), the commands act as described above.
When that option is on, ``<`` or ``>`` will use the staircase at the player's
location if it is the appropriate kind of staircase or will move to the
nearest known staircase of the appropriate kind if the player is not already
at that kind of staircase. ``p`` will move to the nearest unexplored location
when the autoexplore_commands option is on.
.. index::
single: roguelike keyset
see: keyset; roguelike keyset
Roguelike Keyset Command Summary
================================
======= ============================= ====== ============================
``a`` Zap a rod (Activate) ``A`` Activate an object
``b`` (walk - south west) ``B`` (run - south west)
``c`` Close a door ``C`` Display character sheet
``d`` Drop an item ``D`` Disarm a trap or lock a door
``e`` List equipped items ``E`` Eat some food
``f`` (unused) ``F`` Fuel your lantern/torch
``g`` Get objects on floor ``G`` Gain new spells/prayers
``h`` (walk - west) ``H`` (run - west)
``i`` List contents of pack ``I`` Inspect an item
``j`` (walk - south) ``J`` (run - south)
``k`` (walk - north) ``K`` (run - north)
``l`` (walk - east) ``L`` (run - east)
``m`` Cast a spell ``M`` Display map of entire level
``n`` (walk - south east) ``N`` (run - south east)
``o`` Open a door or chest ``O`` Toggle ignore
``p`` (normally unused; see note) ``P`` Browse a book
``q`` Quaff a potion ``Q`` Retire character & quit
``r`` Read a scroll ``R`` Rest for a period
``s`` Steal (rogues only) ``S`` View or learn specialties
``t`` Fire an item ``T`` Take off equipment
``u`` (walk - north east) ``U`` (run - north east)
``v`` Throw an item ``V`` Display version info
``w`` Wear/wield equipment ``W`` Locate player on map (Where)
``x`` Look around ``X`` Use an item
``y`` (walk - north west) ``Y`` (run - north west)
``z`` Aim a wand (Zap) ``Z`` Use a staff (Zap)
``!`` Change shape (Beornings) ``^a`` (special - debug command)
``@`` Center map ``^b`` (alter - south west)
``#`` Check the time ``^c`` (special - break)
``$`` Move house ``^d`` Ignore an item
``%`` (unused) ``^e`` Toggle inven/equip window
``^`` (special - control key) ``^f`` Repeat level feeling
``&`` (unused) ``^g`` Do autopickup
``*`` Target monster or location ``^h`` (alter - west)
``(`` (unused) ``^i`` (special - tab)
``)`` Dump screen to a file ``^j`` (alter - south)
``{`` Inscribe an object ``^k`` (alter - north)
``}`` Uninscribe an object ``^l`` (alter - east)
``[`` Display visible monster list ``^m`` (special - return)
``]`` Display visible object list ``^n`` (alter - south east)
``-`` Walk into a trap ``^o`` Show previous message
``_`` (unused) ``^p`` Show previous messages
``+`` Alter grid, set monster trap ``^q`` (unused)
``=`` Set options ``^r`` Redraw the screen
``;`` Walk (with pickup) ``^s`` Save and don't quit
``:`` Take notes ``^t`` Dig a tunnel
``'`` Target closest monster ``^u`` (alter - north east)
``"`` Enter a user pref command ``^v`` Repeat previous command
``,`` Run ``^w`` (special - wizard mode)
``<`` Go up staircase (see note) ``^x`` Save and quit
``.`` Stay still (with pickup) ``^y`` (alter - north west)
``>`` Go down staircase (see note) ``^z`` (unused)
``\`` (special - bypass keymap) ``~`` Check knowledge
\` (special - escape) ``?`` Display help
``/`` Identify symbol
``TAB`` Fire default ammo at target
``|`` List contents of quiver
======= ============================= ====== ============================
.. index::
single: autoexplore; roguelike keyset
Note that the ``<``, ``>``, and ``p`` commands are affected by the
autoexplore_commands option (see
:ref:`Autoexplore Commands Option <autoexplore-commands-option>`). When that
option is off (that is the default), the commands act as described above. When
that option is on, ``<`` or ``>`` will use the staircase at the player's
location if it is the appropriate kind of staircase or will move to the
nearest known staircase of the appropriate kind if the player is not already
at that kind of staircase. ``p`` will move to the nearest unexplored location
when the autoexplore_commands option is on.
.. _disturb-player:
.. index::
single: disturb; details
Disturb
=======
For commands that repeat, like resting, tunnneling or running, certain events
will disturb the player. That stops the command, flushes queued input from
the keyboard or mouse, and drops any unprocessed keys from a partially
processed keymap. The events that disturb the player are:
* The command reached its goal: the wall was tunnelled, the door or chest was opened, the specific criteria for resting was met.
* While running, following a precomputed path, resting, or executing a repeated command (either with an explicit repeat count or one that repeats automatically if no repeat count was specified), a keypress or, if the front end supports it, a mouse button event, interrupts the command by disturbing the player. Since the keypress could come from a keymap, such commands will have to be last in the keymap (no further keystrokes in the action besides what the command would normally consume) to have the intended effect. While resting, checking for an input event that disturbs the rest only happens every 128 turns.
* A monster's melee attack hits the player, regardless of whether any damage was done.
* A monster uses a ranged attack or spell, regardless of whether the attack hits.
* A monster that is visible and in the line of sight and either moves or performs a melee attack on the player will disturb if the :ref:`Disturb whenever viewable monster moves <disturb-near-option>` is on. With that option on, a monster that enters the line of sight and is visible or leaves the line of sight while visible, also disturbs the player.
* A monster smashes open a door.
* The player loses hit points.
* The player makes a melee attack.
* A projection affects the player, regardless of whether it does damage.
* Changes to a timed effect, like confusion, can disturb the player. If the change was initiated by the player by casting a spell or using an item, the change will not disturb the player with the exception for when an unidentified item is used. For effects that have more than two gradations, like cuts, stunning, and the hunger meter, going up a grade will disturb the player and going down a grade will disturb if the effect has a message for entering the grade from a higher one. For effects that have two gradations (off and on), going from off to on will disturb the player. Otherwise, the change will disturb if the effect in question does not duplicate a state the player has from another source and the change is not due to decreasing the effect's duration because time passed.
* The player tries to move into impassable terrain.
* While following a precomputed path or on the second or later step of running, a visible object, including gold, or visible monster in the next grid stops running.
* While following a precomputed path or on the second or later step of running, the next grid contains a known trap and the player is not immune to traps.
* If on the second or later step of a run or following a precomputed path, the player's current grid is in an area that has had trap detection cast on it but the next grid has not had trap detection cast on it.
* While following a precomputed path, a known impassable grid that cannot be autmatically dealt with as the next step on the path disturbs the player.
* The player triggers a trap. That disturbs even if the player passed the saving throw for the trap's effects.
* The player finds a secret door or a trap on a chest.
* The player faints because of hunger.
* The player's pack overflows.
* A curse on an equipped item triggers.
* The delayed effect of deep descent or a word of recall activates.
* The player's light source has run out of fuel or is close to running out of fuel and a new "growing faint" reminder message is displayed.
* An item that is equipped or in the pack has recharged and that item's inscription includes '!!' or the :ref:`notify on object recharge <notify-recharge-option>` is on.
* The player is on a visible stack of objects that are not all gold and a scan for autopickup happens (either by holding with autopickup, explicitly invoking autopickup, or having just moved to the grid).
* The player enters a store.
* The player enters a new level.
Special Keys
============
Certain special keys may be intercepted by the operating system or the host
machine, causing unexpected results. In general, these special keys are
control keys, and often, you can disable their special effects.
If you are playing on a UNIX or similar system, then 'Ctrl-C' will
interrupt FAangband. The second and third interrupt will induce a warning
bell, and the fourth will induce both a warning bell and a special message,
since the fifth will either quit without saving (if Angband was compiled
without the SETGID option which puts the save files in a shared location for
all users) or kill your character (if Angband was compiled with the SETGID
option). Also, 'Ctrl-z' will suspend the game, and return you to the original
command shell, until you resume the game with the 'fg' command. The 'Ctrl-\\'
and 'Ctrl-d' and 'Ctrl-s' keys should not be intercepted.
It is often possible to specify "control-keys" without actually pressing
the control key, by typing a caret (``^``) followed by the key. This is
useful for specifying control-key commands which might be caught by the
operating system as explained above.
Pressing backslash (``\``) before a command will bypass all keymaps, and
the next keypress will be interpreted as an "underlying command" key,
unless it is a caret (``^``), in which case the keypress after that will be
turned into a control-key and interpreted as a command in the underlying
Angband keyset. The backslash key is useful for creating actions which are
not affected by any keymap definitions that may be in force, for example,
the sequence ``\`` + ``.`` + ``6`` will always mean "run east", even if the
``.`` key has been mapped to a different underlying command.
The ``0`` and ``^`` and ``\`` keys all have special meaning when entered at
the command prompt, and there is no "useful" way to specify any of them as
an "underlying command", which is okay, since they would have no effect.
For many input requests or queries, the special character 'ESCAPE' will
abort the command. The '[y/n]' prompts may be answered with ``y`` or
``n``, or 'escape'. The '-more-' message prompts may be cleared (after
reading the displayed message) by pressing 'ESCAPE', 'SPACE',
'RETURN', 'LINEFEED', or by any keypress, if the 'quick_messages'
option is turned on.
Command Counts
==============
Some commands can be executed a fixed number of times by preceding them
with a count. Counted commands will execute until the count expires, until
you type any character, or until
:ref:`something significant happens <disturb-player>`, such as
being attacked. Thus, a counted command doesn't work to attack another
creature. While the command is being repeated, the number of times left to
be repeated will flash by on the line at the bottom of the screen.
To give a count to a command, type 0, the repeat count, and then the
command. If you want to give a movement command and you are using the
original command set (where the movement commands are digits), press space
after the count and you will be prompted for the command. The open, tunnel,
disarm, alter, close, aim a wand, use a staff, zap a rod, and activate
equipment commands default to having a repeat count of 99. The generic
use an item command also defaults to having a repeat count of 99 when it is
used with a wand, staff, rod, or equipped item. All other commands default
to not repeating at all.
Counted commands are very useful for time consuming commands, as they
automatically terminate on success, or if you are attacked. You may also
terminate any counted command (or resting or running), by typing any
character. This character is ignored, but it is safest to use a 'SPACE'
or 'ESCAPE' which are always ignored as commands in case you type the
command just after the count expires.
You can tell FAangband to automatically use a repeat count of 99 with
commands you normally want to repeat (open, disarm, tunnel, bash, alter,
etc) by setting the 'always_repeat' option.
Selection of Objects
====================
Many commands will also prompt for a particular object to be used.
For example, the command to read a scroll will ask you which of the
scrolls that you are carrying that you wish to read. In such cases, the
selection is made by typing a letter of the alphabet (or a number if choosing
from the quiver). The prompt will indicate the possible letters/numbers,
and you will also be shown a list of the appropriate items. Often you will
be able to press ``/`` to switch between inventory and equipment, or ``|`` to
select the quiver, or ``-`` to select the floor. Using the right arrow also
rotates selection between equipment, inventory, quiver, floor and back to
equipment; the left arrow rotates in the opposite direction.
The particular object may be selected by an upper case or a lower case
letter. If lower case is used, the selection takes place immediately. If
upper case is used, then the particular option is described, and you are
given the option of confirming or retracting that choice. Upper case
selection is thus safer, but requires an extra key stroke.
.. _targeting:
.. index::
single: targeting; details
Targeting
=========
You will use the targeting interface when you use the targeting command, ``*``,
the look command, ``l`` or ``x``, or the options in context menus to look
at a grid. When other commands prompt for a target, they will automatically
use the current target, if there is one, when the
:ref:`Use old target by default <old-target-option>` option is on. Otherwise,
you will be asked for a target: ESCAPE or a mouse click with the second mouse
button breaks out of the prompt; ``5``, if there is a current target, will use
that target; ``'`` will target the nearest monster; a direction key targets
that direction rather than a specific monster or location; ``*`` or a mouse
click on the map with the first mouse button will bring up the targeting
interface to select a new target.
When the targeting interface starts, it always clears the current target. So,
in the cases when you want to forget the current target, bring up the targeting
interface, ``*``, and then break out if it with ``q`` or ESCAPE.
The targeting interface maintains a list of locations that it thinks you will
find interesting. When started by the targeting command, ``*``, or from a
command prompting for a target, that list only contains locations with monsters
that could be reached by a "projectable" spell, missiles, or thrown objects.
When started from the look command, the list includes locations with monsters,
regardless of whether they could be hit by a spell or missile, the player's
location, objects, traps, or interesting terrain (staircases, doors, rubble,
or stores). The list of interesting locations can be empty if there is
nothing appropriate nearby.
The targeting interface has two modes: one, interested targeting, restricts
the grid under the targeting cursor to be one of the interesting locations and
another, free targeting, that allows the cursor to move to any grid. When
started without a specified location (invoked by the targeting command, the
look command, or by answering another commmand's targeting prompt with ``*``),
the targeting interface will use interested targeting if there is any
interesting locations (that is always the case when started from the look
command since the player's location is interesting) or free targeting when
there are no interesting locations. When started with a specified location
(by answering a command's target prompt with a mouse click or when invoked
from a context menu), the targeting interface uses free targeting. From
within the targeting interface, you can explicitly change the targeting mode
by these keys:
``o``
Switch to free targeting. Leave the cursor at its previous location.
``p``
Switch to free targeting. Move the cursor to the player's location.
``m``
This only does something when in free targeting and there are interesting
locations. If that is the case, switch to interested targeting and move
the cursor to the interesting location nearest to the cursor's location.
Some keys or mouse input can implicitly change the targeting mode:
``<``, ``>``, ``x``
These are described further below. If the new location selected by one of
those actions is interesting, switch to interested targeting. If the new
location is not interesting, switch to free targeting.
Mouse click with the first mouse button
This will be described further below. Shifts the location of the cursor.
If the new location is interesting, switch to interested targeting;
otherwise, switch to free targeting.
The targeting interface will display a description of what is at the targeting
cursor. That will either be a very brief summary, or, for a monster or object,
a more elaborate description. You can toggle between those by pressing ``r``
or clicking with the first mouse button on the cursor's location in the map.
When the target interface is first started or the cursor moves to a new
location, what is described will be the highest priority thing present. A
monster has the highest priority, followed by a trap, object, and the
underlying terrain. To cycle through the descriptions of the other things
in the grid, press ENTER.
At any point, you can break out of the targeting interface and not select
a target by pressing ``q`` or ESCAPE, or, with the mouse, use the second
mouse button and click on a position that is not the cursor's current position.
Use the following keys to operate on what is at the targeting cursor:
``t``, ``5``, ``0``, or ``.``
In free targeting, sets the target to the location at the cursor
and breaks out of the targeting interface. Targeting a location is
slightly "dangerous", as the target is maintained even if you are far
away. In interested targeting, does nothing besides trigger a warning
bell when the location does not have a targetable monster. When the
location has a targetable monster, sets the target to that monster
and breaks out of the targeting interface.
``g``
Does nothing if the target interface was invoked by the targeting prompt for
a command. Otherwise, break out of the targeting interface and initiate
:ref:`pathfinding <pathfinding-player>` to move the player to that location.
``k`` (original keyset) or ``^d`` (roguelike keyset)
Does nothing when the targeting interface was invoked by the targeting command
or another command's targeting prompt or the currently tracked object is
not at the cursor's position. Otherwise, bring up a menu to change the
ignore settings for the tracked object.
Use the following keys to change the position of the targeting cursor:
direction keys
In interested targeting, move to an interesting location that approximately
lies in the key's direction from the current cursor location. In free
targeting, move (by ten grids if the key is a trigger for a running keymap;
by one grid otherwise) the cursor in the key's direction.
space or ``+``
Does nothing in free targeting. In interested targeting, go to the next
interesting location.
``-``
Does nothing in free targeting. In interested targeting, go to the previous
interesting location.
``<``
Look for the nearest, by number of turns needed to move there, down
staircase. If there is one, move the targeting cursor there. As noted
above, can change the targeting mode.
``>``
Look for the nearest, by number of turns needed to move there, up
staircase. If there is one, move the targeting cursor there. As noted
above, can change the targeting mode.
``x``
Look for the nearest, by number of turns needed to move there, passable
grid that has an unknown neighbor. If one is not found, look for the
nearest passable grid that is next to a closed door or impassable rubble
and that door or rubble has an unknown neighbor. If a grid was found,
move the targeting cursor there. As noted above, can change the targeting
mode.
Besides the previously mentioned ways of using the mouse, you also use the
mouse as follows from the targeting interface:
Click with first mouse button
Moves the targeting cursor. If the click is on the edge of the map, the
new location is one past the edge, coerced to the bounds of the level.
That can shift the map. Otherwise, the new location is the click's location
coerced to the bounds of the level. As noted above, can change the
targeting mode.
Click with second mouse button
Breaks out of targeting. If using free targeting and the targeting interface
was invoked from the targeting command or another command's targeting prompt,
will set the target to the cursor's location if the click is on the cursor.
Control + click with second mouse button
In free targeting, targets the click's location and breaks out of targeting.
In interested targeting, does nothing besides trigger a warning bell if the
click's location does not have a targetable monster. Otherwise, targets
the monster and breaks out of targeting.
Alt (Option with the Mac front end) + click with second mouse button
Does nothing if the target interface was invoked by the targeting prompt for
a command. Otherwise, break out of the targeting interface and initiate
:ref:`pathfinding <pathfinding-player>` to move the player to the click's
location.
When targeting, it can sometimes be useful to target a grid or monster that
is not the target you intend to hit. The direct path a missile would follow
to the monster could be blocked by a wall or other obstacle. The path to
the other location could avoid that obstacle while still hitting the intended
target. When invoked from the targeting command or another command's targeting
prompt, the targeting interface will show the path a beam spell or missile
would follow to the targeting cursor and beyond with coloring to indicate
what is known about the path:
dark gray
used for any grid whose terrain is unknown and the grids beyond it; because
of the unknown terrain, what happens to a missile or spell is unclear
red
known monster; would be hit by and block a bolt spell or missile that gets
that far
yellow
known and not ignored object
blue
terrain that would block a spell or missile
white
no known monster or object; terrain does not affect a spell or missile
Targeting for a ball spell or breath weapon is another case where you may
want to target a location other than the most dangerous monster. Aiming
a ball spell at the center of a group of monsters can be more effective than
having the ball target a monster in that group. Also with a ball spell,
targeting a location near where a wall bends away can be way of attacking
monsters shielded by that wall that are safe from other attacks.
.. _pathfinding-player:
.. index::
single: pathfinding; details
Pathfinding
===========
If you use 'g' from targeting or looking to move to a location, click with
the first mouse button on the map, click with the second mouse button on the
map and select the option to pathfind, or use '<', '>', or 'p' when the
:ref:`Autoexplore Commands Option <autoexplore-commands-option>` is on, the
game computes a path to the destination and then launches you along that path.
The computation of the path looks for a path which will take the minimum amount
of turns to traverse. In doing so, it uses your current state to compute how
many turns would be needed to open a locked door or tunnel through impassable
rubble. It optimistically assumes that any grid with unknown terrain is
passable. It pessimistically assumes that any locked doors have the hardest
to open locks since the game does not indicate the difficulty of the lock when
you look at the door. The game considers paths in this order using the first
path that is feasible given your knowledge of the map:
#. Look for paths that only go through know terrain without known traps. Skip this class of paths if the terrain in the starting grid or destination is unknown or you are immune to traps. When not finding a path for the autoexploration commands, also skip this class if the destination contains a known trap.
#. Look for paths that only go through known terrain. The paths can cross known traps. Skip this class of paths if the terrain in the starting grid or destination is unknown. When not finding a path for the autoexploration command and the previous class of paths was considered and did not reject a potentially shorter path that has a known trap, also skip this class.
#. Look for paths that can pass through either known or unknown terrain and do contain known traps. Skip this class of paths if you are immune to traps or the destination contains a known trap and not finding a path for the autoexploration commands.
#. Look for paths that can pass through known or unknown terrain. The paths can cross known traps. Skip this class of paths when not finding a path for the autoexploration commands and the previous class of paths was considered and did reject a potentially shorter path that has a known trap.
Note that magic mapping and enlightment do not mark floor grids as known
terrain. So, unless you have also seen a floor that was revealed by magic
mapping or enlightment, pathfinding treats that floor as unknown terrain.
Paths are never allowed to cross passable, but damaging terrain, like lava.
When the game move you along the selected path, you can interrupt the process
with a keypress (space or ESCAPE are recommended as they can not be interpreted
as a command) or, when the front end supports it, pressing a mouse button. The
process will also be interrupted by other events that
:ref:`disturb <disturb-player>`. If following the path was interrupted and
you have not issued another command, repeating the previous command (``n`` in
the original keyset, ``^v`` in the roguelike keyset) will recompute the path
(if the path was from '<', '>', or 'p', it will find the nearest up staircase,
down staircase, or unknown location, respectively, and compute a path to it
from your current location; otherwise, it will compute a path to the original
destination from your current location) and start along that path.
Following a path can automatically open a door or dig out impassable rubble
that is in the path. It will only do so if you know the terrain in all the
neighbors of the door or rubble. If any neighbors have unknown terrain, you
stop at the grid before the door or rubble.
Shape Changes
=============
Some classes, objects, or races may allow your character to change shape:
becoming, for instance, a fox or a wolf. While in the alternate shape,
your character will not have access to items in the pack or quiver and
will not be able to access items on the floor except for eating or pickup.
The items your character was wearing upon changing shape will remain
equipped and continue to affect the character's statistics, resistances,
number of blows, and damage. Your character will not be able to activate
any equipped items while in the alternate shape. To have your character
change back to normal, cast a spell or use one of the commands, like drop,
that uses an item.
.. _command-descriptions:
====================
Command Descriptions
====================
The following command descriptions are listed as the command name plus the
default key to use it. For those who prefer the original "roguelike"
keyset, the name and key of the roguelike command is also shown if it is
different. Then comes a brief description of the command, including
information about alternative methods of specifying the command in each
keyset, when needed.
Some commands use the "repeat count" to automatically repeat the command
several times, while others use the "repeat count" to specify a "quantity"
for the command, and still others use it as an "argument" of some kind.
Most commands take no "energy" to perform, while other commands only take
energy when they cause the world to change in some way. For example,
attempting to read a scroll while blind does not use any energy.
The following command is very useful for beginners,
Command lists ('Enter')
This brings up a little window in the middle of the screen, in which you
can select what command you would like to use by browsing. If you wish
to begin playing immediately, you can use this option to navigate the
commands and refer to this guide when you need more details about
specific commands.
Inventory Commands
==================
Inventory list (``i``)
Displays a list of objects being carried but not equipped. You can carry
up to 23 different items, not counting those in your equipment. Often,
many identical objects can be "stacked" into a "pile" which will count as
a single item. Each object has a weight, and if you carry more
objects than your strength permits, you will begin to slow down. The
amount of weight you can still carry without being overencumbered, or the
amount of extra weight you are currently carrying is displayed at the top
of the screen.
Equipment list (``e``)
Use this command to display a list of the objects currently being used by
your character. The standard body (which all races currently have) has
12 slots for equipment. Every equipment slot corresponds to a different
location on the body, and each of which may contain only one object at
a time, and each of which may only contain objects of the proper "type".
For the standard body these are WEAPON (weapon), BOW (missile launcher),
RING (ring) (two of these), AMULET (amulet), LIGHT (light source),
BODY_ARMOR (armor), CLOAK (cloak), SHIELD (shield), HAT (helmet),
GLOVES (gloves), BOOTS (boots). You must be wielding/wearing certain
objects to take advantage of their special powers.
Quiver list (``|``)
Displays the contents of your quiver. Missiles that you carry will
automatically be put in your quiver if there is space. The quiver has
10 slots; it also takes up inventory space: every 40 missiles will
reduce your number of inventory slots by 1. Items that are good for
throwing and have been :ref:`inscribed for throwing <inscribing>` (for
instance, the inscription includes ``@v0``) will also be placed in the
quiver if there is space. Each stack of such items takes a quiver slot
and every 8 such items will reduce your inventory slots by 1.
Drop an item (``d``)
This drops an item from your inventory or equipment onto the dungeon
floor or ground. The item will remain at your feet if possible. Some
terrain, like doors and staircases, and any square with a trap can not hold
items, and, in that case, the game will attempt to place the item in
a nearby square that can hold items. This command may take a quantity,
and takes some energy.
Ignore an item (``k``) or Ignore an item ('^d')
This ignores an item in your inventory or on the floor. If the
selected pile contains multiple objects, you may specify a quantity. When
ignored, the game will sometimes prompt you whether to ignore only this
item or all others like it. If the second option is chosen, all similar
items on the floor and in your inventory will be ignored. To view all
items regardless of whether they are ignored, you can use ``K`` (``O``
in the roguelike keyset) to toggle the ignore setting on and off.
Wear/Wield equipment (``w``)
To wear or wield an object in your inventory, use this command. Since
only one object can be in each slot at a time, if you wear or wield an
item into a slot which is already occupied, the old item will be first be
taken off, and may in fact be dropped if there is no room for it in your
inventory. This command takes some energy.
Take off equipment (``t``) or Take off equipment (``T``)
Use this command to take off a piece of equipment and return it to your
inventory. Occasionally, you will run into a cursed item which cannot be
removed. These items normally penalize you in some way and cannot be
taken off until the curse is removed. If there is no room in your
inventory for the item, your pack will overflow and you will drop the
item after taking it off. You may also remove ammunition from your quiver
with this command. This command takes some energy.
Movement Commands
=================
Moving (arrow keys, number keys) or (arrow keys, number keys, 'yuhjklbn')
This causes you to move one step in a given direction. If the square you
wish to move into is occupied by a monster, you will attack it. If the
square is occupied by a door, you will attempt to open it. If the square
is occupied by a trap, you will attempt to disarm it unless you are
immune to traps: in that case, you simply move there without harm. Preceding
this command with CTRL will cause you to alter (attack, tunnel, open,
disarm or close) in the appropriate direction, but will not move your
character if there is nothing there to alter. These commands take some
energy.
Walk (``W``) or Walk (``-``)
The walk command lets you willingly walk into a trap without trying to
disarm it. This command may take a count, requires a direction, and takes
some energy.
Run (``.``) or Run (``,``)
This command will move in the given direction, following any bends in the
corridor, until you either have to make a "choice" between two directions
or you are disturbed. For more information about what can disturb you, see
:ref:`Disturb <disturb-player>`. You may also use shift plus the "roguelike"
direction keys (roguelike keyset), or shift plus the "original" direction
keys on the keypad (both keysets, some machines) to run in a direction.
This command may take an argument, requires a direction, and takes some
energy.
Go up staircase or along a path (``<``)
Climbs up an up staircase you are standing on. Going up a staircase will
take you to a new level. Note that whenever you leave a level (not towns),
you will never find it again. This means that for all intents and purposes,
any objects on that level are destroyed. This includes artifacts unless
the "Create characters in preserve mode" option was set when your character
was created, in which case the artifacts may show up again later. If you
are in the wilderness, this command will take you on a path to a less
dangerous level. This command takes some energy.
Go down staircase or along a path (``>``)
Descends a down staircase you are standing on. Going down a staircase will
take you to a new dungeon level. If you are in the wilderness, this command
will take you on a path to a more dangerous level. See "Go Up Staircase" for
more info. This command takes some energy.
Resting Commands
================
Stay still (with pickup) (``,``) or Stay still (with pickup) (``.``)
Stays in the same square for one move. If you normally pick up objects
you encounter, you will pick up whatever you are standing on. You may
also use the ``5`` key (both keysets). This command may take a count, and
takes some energy.
Get objects (``g``)
Pick up objects and gold on the floor beneath you. Picking up gold takes
no time, and objects take 1/10th of a normal turn each (maximum time cost
is a full turn). You may pick up objects until the floor is empty or your
backpack is full.
Rest (``R``)
Resting is better for you than repeatedly staying still, and can be told
to automatically stop after a certain amount of time, or when various
conditions are met. In any case, you always wake up when anything
:ref:`disturbing happens <disturb-player>`, or when you press any key.
To rest, enter the Rest command, followed by the number of turns you want
to rest, or ``*`` to rest until your hitpoints and mana are restored, or
``&`` to rest until you are fully "healed". This command may take an
argument (used for the number of turns to rest), and takes some energy.
Alter Commands
==============
Tunnel (``T``) or Tunnel ('^t')
Tunnelling or mining is a very useful art. There are many kinds of rock,
with varying hardness, including permanent rock (permanent), granite
(very hard), quartz veins (hard), magma veins (soft), and rubble (very
soft). Quartz and magma veins may be displayed in a special way, and may
sometimes contain treasure, in which case they will be displayed in a
different way. Rubble sometimes covers an object but is easy to tunnel
through, even with your bare hands. Tunnelling ability increases with
strength and weapon weight. If you have a digging tool in your pack, the
game will automatically use this to dig. This command may take a count,
requires a direction, and takes some energy.
Open a door or chest (``o``)
To open an object such as a door or chest, you must use this command. If
the object is locked, you will attempt to pick the lock based on your
disarming ability. If you open a trapped chest without disarming the
traps first, the trap will be set off. Opening will automatically attempt
to pick any door locks. You may need several tries to open a door or chest.
This command may take a count, requires a direction, and takes some energy.
Close a door (``c``)
Non-intelligent and some other creatures cannot open doors, so shutting
doors can be quite valuable. Furthermore, monsters cannot see you behind
closed doors, so closing doors may allow you to buy some time without
being attacked. Broken doors cannot be closed. This command may take a
count, requires a direction, and takes some energy.
Disarm a trap or chest, or lock a door (``D``)
You can attempt to disarm traps on the floor or on chests. If you fail,
there is a chance that you will blunder and set it off. You can only
disarm a trap after you have found it. The command can also be used to
lock a closed door, which will create a hindrance for monsters. Even if
many monsters will be able to pick the lock or bash the door down, it
will often take them some time. This command may take a count, requires
a direction, and takes some energy.
Alter (``+``)
This special command allows the use of a single keypress to select any of
the "obvious" commands above (attack, tunnel, bash, open, disarm),
and, by using keymaps, to combine this keypress with directions. In
general, this allows the use of the "control" key plus the appropriate
"direction" key (including the roguelike direction keys in roguelike
mode) as a kind of generic "alter the terrain feature of an adjacent
grid" command. This command may take a count, requires a direction, and
takes some energy.
Steal (``s``)
This command is only available to rogues, and allows them to try and steal
from a monster. Stealing works better when the player is stealthy and
faster than the target monster, and best of all when the victim is asleep.
A failed theft will wake the monster; if you really bungle the attempt, the
monster may shout out in anger. This command requires a direction and
takes some energy.
Spell Commands
=========================
Browse a book (``b``) or Peruse a book (``P``)
Each class has books it can read and books it cannot; except for warriors,
who cannot read any books. When this command is used, all of the spells
contained in the selected book are displayed, along with information such as
their level, the amount of mana required to cast them, and whether or not
you know the spell.
Gain new spells (``G``)
Use this command to actually learn new spells. When you are able to learn
new spells, the word "Study" will appear on the status line at the bottom
of the screen. If you have a book in your possession, containing spells
which you may learn, then you may choose to study that book. Most classes
may actually choose which spell to study, but if you are a priest or paladin,
your gods will choose a prayer for you. There are five books of each
realm, but hybrid classes - paladins, rogues, rangers and blackguards - can
only cast from two or three of these. Higher level books are normally found
only in the dungeon or wilderness. This command takes some energy.
Cast a spell (``m``)
To cast a spell, you must have previously learned the spell and must have
in your inventory a book from which the spell can be read. Each spell has
a chance of failure which starts out fairly large but decreases as you
gain levels. If you don't have enough mana to cast a spell, you will be
prompted for confirmation. If you decide to go ahead, the chance of
failure is greatly increased, and whether or not the spell is successfully
cast, you may wind up paralyzed for several turns or draining your
constitution. Since you must read the spell from a book, you cannot be blind
or confused while casting, and, unless you are a necromancer, there must be
some light present. This command takes some energy.
Object Manipulation Commands
============================
Eat some food (``E``)
You must eat regularly to prevent starvation. There is a hunger meter
at the bottom of the screen, which says "Fed" and gives a percentage in
most circumstances. If you go hungry long enough, you will become weak,
then start fainting, and eventually, you may well die of starvation
(accompanied by increasingly alarming messages on your hunger meter).
It is also possible to be "Full", which will make you move slowly; more
slowly the fuller you get. You may use this command to eat food in your
inventory. Note that you can sometimes find food in the dungeon or
wilderness, but it is not always wise to eat strange food. This command
takes some energy.
Fuel your lantern/torch (``F``)
If you are using a lantern and have flasks of oil in your pack, then you
can "refuel" them with this command. Torches and Lanterns are limited
in their maximal fuel. In general, two flasks will fully fuel a lantern.
This command takes some energy.
Quaff a potion (``q``)
Use this command to drink a potion. Potions affect the player in various
ways, but the effects are not always immediately obvious. This command
takes some energy.
Read a scroll (``r``)
Use this command to read a scroll. Scroll spells usually have an area
effect, except for a few cases where they act on other objects. Reading a
scroll causes the parchment to disintegrate as the scroll takes effect.
Most scrolls which prompt for more information can be aborted (by
pressing escape), which will stop reading the scroll before it
disintegrates. This command takes some energy.
Inscribe an object (``{``)
This command inscribes a string on an object. The inscription is
displayed inside curly braces after the object description. The
inscription is limited to the particular object (or stack) and is not
automatically transferred to all similar objects. Under certain
circumstances, Angband will display "fake" inscriptions on certain
objects ('tried', 'empty') when appropriate. These "fake" inscriptions
remain all the time, even if the player chooses to add a "real" inscription
on top of it later.
In addition, Angband will place the inscription '??' on an object for you
if the object has a property (or "rune") that you have not learned yet.
This inscription will remain until you know all the runes on the object.
An item labeled as '{empty}' was found to be out of charges, and an
item labeled as '{tried}' is a "flavored" item which the character has
used, but whose effects are unknown. Certain inscriptions have a meaning
to the game, see '@#', '@x#', '!!', '=g`, '!*', '!x', '^*', and '^x' in the
:ref:`section on inscriptions <inscribing>`.
Uninscribe an object (``}``)
This command removes the inscription on an object. This command will have
no effect on "fake" inscriptions added by the game itself.
Toggle ignore (``K``) or Toggle ignore (``O``)
This command will toggle ignore settings. If on, all ignored items
will be hidden from view. If off, all items will be shown regardless
of their ignore setting. See the :ref:`section on ignoring items <ignoring>`
for more information.
Magical Object Commands
=======================
Activate an object (``A``)
You have heard rumors of special weapons and armor deep in the Pits,
items that can let you breathe fire like a dragon or light rooms with
just a thought. Should you ever be lucky enough to find such an item,
this command will let you activate its special ability. Special abilities
can only be used if you are wearing or wielding the item. This command
takes some energy.
Aim a wand (``a``) or Zap a wand (``z``)
Wands must be aimed in a direction to be used. Wands are magical devices,
and therefore there is a chance you will not be able to figure out how to
use them if you aren't good with magical devices. They will fire a shot
that affects the first object or creature encountered or fire a beam that
affects anything in a given direction, depending on the wand. An
obstruction such as a door or wall will generally stop the effects from
traveling any farther. This command requires a direction and can use a
target. This command takes some energy.
Use a staff (``u``) or Zap a staff (``Z``)
This command will use a staff. A staff is normally very similar to a
scroll, in that they normally either have an area effect or affect a
specific object. Staves are magical devices, and there is a chance you
will not be able to figure out how to use them. This command takes some
energy.
Zap a rod (``z``) or Activate a rod (``a``)
Rods are extremely powerful magical items, which cannot be burnt or
shattered, and which can have either staff-like or wand-like effects, but
unlike staves and wands, they don't have charges. Instead, they draw on
the ambient magical energy to recharge themselves, and therefore can only
be activated once every few turns. The recharging time varies depending
on the type of rod. This command may require a direction (depending on
the type of rod, and whether you are aware of its type) and can use a
target. This command takes some energy.
Throwing and Missile Weapons
============================
Fire an item (``f``) or Fire an item (``t``)
This command will allow you to fire a missile from either your quiver or
your inventory provided it is the appropriate ammunition for the current
missile weapon you have equipped. You may not fire an item without a
missile weapon equipped. Fired ammunition has a chance of breaking.
This command takes some energy.
Fire default ammo at nearest (``h``) or ('TAB')
If you have a missile weapon equipped and the appropriate ammunition in
your quiver, you can use this command to fire at the nearest visible
enemy. This command will cancel itself if you lack a launcher, ammunition
or a visible target that is in range. The first ammunition of the correct
type found in the quiver is used. This command takes some energy.
Throw an item (``v``)
You may throw any object carried by your character. Depending on the
weight, it may travel across the room or drop down beside you. Only one
object from a pile will be thrown at a time. Note that throwing an object
will often cause it to break, so be careful! If you throw something at a
creature, your chances of hitting it are determined by your plusses to
hit, your ability at throwing, and the object's plusses to hit. Some
weapons are especially designed for throwing. Once the
creature is hit, the object may or may not do any damage to it.
Note that flasks of oil will do some fire damage to a monster on impact.
Throw, like fire, requires a direction. Targeting mode (see the next
command) can be invoked with ``*`` at the 'Direction?' prompt. This command
takes some energy.
Targeting Mode (``*``)
This will allow you to change or clear the current target. That target
can be recalled when other commands ask for a target. When the
current target is a monster, the status of that monster is tracked in the
sidebar. For more details about the targeting interface that this
command uses, see :ref:`Targeting <targeting>`.
Looking Commands
================
Full screen map (``M``)
This command will show a map of the entire level, reduced by a factor
of nine, on the screen. Only the major terrain features will be visible
because of the scale, so even some important objects may not show up on
the map. This is particularly useful in locating where the stairs are
relative to your current position, or for identifying unexplored areas of
the level. Press a key, and if you are in wilderness you will get a
diagram of the local area, which is scrollable (but may get less accurate
as you get further away from your current level).
Locate player on map (``L``) or Where is the player (``W``)
This command lets you scroll your map around, looking at all sectors of
the current level, until you press escape, at which point the map
will be re-centered on the player if necessary. To scroll the map around,
simply press any of the "direction" keys. With the mouse, click near the
map's edge with the first mouse button to shift the view or click anywhere
with the second mouse button to break out of the locate command. The top
line will display the sector location, and the offset from your current
sector.
Look around (``l``) or Examine things (``x``)
This command is used to look around at nearby monsters (to determine
their type and health) and objects (to determine their type). It is also
used to find out if a monster is currently inside a wall, and what is
under the player. You could also use it to set the current target, but,
when you want to target a monster, the targeting command, ``*``, will be
more useful. For more information about the targeting interface that
this command uses, see :ref:`Targeting <targeting>`.
Inspect an item (``I``)
This command lets you inspect an item. This will tell you things about
the special powers of the object, as well as attack information for
weapons. It will also tell you what resistances or abilities you have
noticed for the item and if you have not yet completely identified all
properties.
List visible monsters (``[``)
This command lists all monsters that are visible to you, telling you how
many there are of each kind. It also tells you whether they are asleep,
and where they are (relative to you).
List visible items (``]``)
This command lists all items that are visible to you, telling you how of
each there are and where they are on the level relative to your current
location.
Message Commands
================
Repeat level feeling ('^f')
Repeats the feeling about the monsters in the level that you got
when you first entered the level. If you have explored enough of the
level, you will also get a feeling about how good the treasures are.
View previous messages ('^p')
This command shows you all the recent messages. You can scroll through
them, or exit with ESCAPE.
Take notes (``:``)
This command allows you to take notes, which will then appear in your
message list and your character history. When your note starts with
'/say ' or '/me', the note will be modified to include your character's
full name. If your character's name is 'Frodo', then '/say Go away Farmer
Maggot' becomes '-- Frodo says: "Go away Farmer Maggot"', and '/me casts
teleport other on Farmer Maggot' becomes '-- Frodo casts teleport other
on Farmer Maggot'. If neither "/say " nor "/me" are used, then your note
will be prefixed with "-- Note: ".
Game Status Commands
====================
Character Description (``C``)
Brings up a full description of your character, including your skill
levels, your current and potential stats, and various other information.
From this screen, you can change your name or use the file character
description command to save your character status to a file. That command
saves additional information, including your background, your inventory,
and the contents of your house. The command to change the mode switches
what's displayed back and forth from the original view to one that shows
how your current equipment and the player's innate characteristics affect
certain attributes. The default symbols used within that view are '.' for
nothing equipped or no known effect on the attribute, '?' if your character
does not know if there's an effect on the attribute, '+' if your character
knows that there is a positive effect on the attribute, '-' if your character
knows that there is a negative effect on the attribute, '!' if a timed effect
positively affects the attribute, or '=' if a timed effect negatively affects
the attribute. For elemental resistances (the block of attributes on the
far left), '*', to indicate an immunity, and '~' to indicate that something
provides both a '+' and '-', are also possible. The color of the label for
the attribute will indicate the sum of the different sources for your
character. Those colors default to be: slate for when your character does
not know the rune associated with that attribute, white if there is no
combined effect (excluding timed effects) known to the character, light
blue if the known combined effect (excluding timed effects) is positive, red
if the known combined effect (excluding timed effects) is negative, and
green if the known combined effect is an elemental immunity.
Check knowledge (``~``)
This command allows you to ask about the knowledge possessed by your
character. Information that you can look up is:
objects
Will display which objects your character is familiar with. For each
type of object, allows you to change whether or not it is ignored,
the representation of that type on the screen, or the inscription
automatically applied to all objects of that type. Some types of
objects your character will be familiar with from the start of the game.
Others come in "flavors", and your character must determine the effect
of each "flavor" once for each such type of object. For a type of object
with a known "flavor", you be also be able to display a summary of
what the object can do.
runes
Will display the "runes", properties of enchanted objects, your
character is familiar with. Allows you to change the inscription that
is automatically appended to an object that has the rune. Once your
character identifies a "rune" on one object, he or she will recognize
that property on other objects.
artifacts
Will display all artifacts that your character has encountered. Normally,
once an artifact is "generated" and "lost", it can never again be found,
and will become "known" to the player. With the "Lose artifacts when
leaving level" option turned off, an artifact can never be "lost" until
it is "known" to the player. In either case, any "known" artifacts not
in the possession of the player will never again be "generated".
ego items
Will display the "egos" your character has encountered. Each "ego" is
a collection of enchantments that can appear on an object. "Egos" are
often restricted to only a few specific types of objects.
monsters
Displays the kinds of monsters your current or previous characters have
encountered. For each kind of monster, allows you to change its
representation on the screen. Some monsters are "uniques" which can be
only be killed once per game. For a "unique" that your current or
previous characters have encountered, this will display whether that
"unique" is still alive in this game.
features
Displays the types of map grids that can appear in the game. For each
type, allows you to change its representation on the screen and how
that representation changes depending on the amount of light present.
traps
Displays the types of traps that can appear in the game. For each type,
allows you to change its representation on the screen and how that
representation changes depending on the amount of light present.
shapechange effects
Provides a more detailed description of the "shapes", magical effects
from some spells and a few items which change the shape of your
character's body.
home
Displays the contents of your player's home at the time your character
last visited the town.
hall of fame
Displays a list of current and past characters, sorted by how far they
progressed.
character history
Displays a summary of what your current character has done.
equippable comparison
This displays a summary of the known properties of the equippable
items your character has access to, whether they are currently equipped,
in your character's pack, on the floor at your character's current
location, or in your character's home. Near the top of the display is
a line, beginning with "@", which summarizes the state of your character
given his or her current equipment. Every line after that corresponds to
an item, sorted by which equipment slot it can fill. The first character
on each of those lines is the representation of that item as it would
appear in the map if it was on the floor. After that is single character,
"e" for equipped, "p" for pack, "f" for floor, and "h" for home, which
indicates where the item is. The remainder of the line summarizes the
properties of the object, with one property per column. In the default
view, those properties are the resistances, flags, and modifiers present
on the item; they appear in the same order (left to right) as they appear
(top to bottom and then left to right) in the second part of the character
description. You can toggle back and forth between that view and one
that displays the effect of each item on your character's key statistics
by pressing 'v'. You can use 'c' to cycle through which items, based
on their location, are included in the display. The default is to show
only the items that are equipped, in the pack, on the floor at your
character's current location, and in the home. The other option is
to show only those that equipped or in the pack. There are some additional
commands, notably for filtering which items are displayed based on a
particular property and for displaying the details about one or two items.
To see what those additional commands are, use the '?' key to bring up the
in-game help for the equippable comparison.
Time of Day (``#``)
This command tells you how many days it has been since your character
started their adventure, and what time of day or night it is.
Saving and Exiting Commands
===========================
Save and Quit ('Ctrl-x')
To save your game so that you can return to it later, use this command.
Save files will also be generated (hopefully) if the game crashes due to
a system error. After you die, you can use your savefile to play again
with the same options and such.
Save ('Ctrl-s')
This command saves the game but doesn't exit Angband. Use this frequently
if you are paranoid about having your computer crash (or your power go
out) while you are playing.
Retire (``Q``)
Retires your character and exits Angband. You will be prompted to make sure
you really want to do this, and then asked to verify that choice. The
only thing that can be done with a retired character's save file is to
start the game from the beginning. You will have the option to reuse
the same options and birth choices as the retired character when you do so.
User Pref File Commands
=======================
Interact with options (``=``)
Allow you to interact with options. Note that using the "cheat" options
may mark your savefile as unsuitable for the high score list. The
"window" options allow you to specify what should be drawn in any of the
special sub-windows (not available on all platforms). See the help files
for :doc:`customization <customize>` and :doc:`options <option>` for more
information. You can also interact with keymaps under this menu.
Interact with keymaps - option submenu
Allow you to interact with keymaps. You may load or save keymaps from
user pref files, or define keymaps.
Interact with visuals - option submenu
Allow you to interact with visuals. You may load or save visuals from
user pref files, or modify the attr/char mappings for the monsters,
objects, and terrain features. You must use the "redraw" command ('^r')
to redraw the map after changing attr/char mappings. NOTE: It is
generally easier to modify visuals via the "knowledge" menus.
Interact with colors - option submenu
Allow the user to interact with colors. This command only works on some
systems. NOTE: It is commonly used to brighten the 'Light Dark' color
(eg. Cave Spiders) on displays with bad alpha settings.
Help Commands
=============
Help (``?``)
Brings up the Angband on-line help system. Note that these help files are
just text files in a particular format, and that other help files may be
available on the Net. In particular, there are a variety of spoiler files
which do not come with the standard distribution. Check the place you got
Angband from or ask on the Angband forums, angband.live/forums/ , about them.
Identify Symbol (``/``)
Use this command to find out what a character stands for. For instance,
by pressing '/.', you can find out that the ``.`` symbol stands for a
floor spot. When used with a symbol that represents creatures, this
command will tell you only what class of creature the symbol stands for,
not give you specific information about a creature you can see. To get
that, use the Look command.
There are three special symbols you can use with the Identify Symbol
command to access specific parts of your monster memory. Typing
'Ctrl-a' when asked for a symbol will recall details about all
monsters, typing 'Ctrl-u' will recall details about all unique
monsters, and typing 'Ctrl-n' will recall details about all non-unique
monsters.
If the character stands for a creature, you are asked if you want to
recall details. If you answer yes, information about the creatures you
have encountered with that symbol is shown in the Recall window if
available, or on the screen if not. You can also answer ``k`` to see the
list sorted by number of kills, or ``p`` to see the list sorted by
danger level the monster is normally found at. Pressing 'ESCAPE' at
any point will exit this command.
Game Version (``V``)
This command will tell you what version of Angband you are using. For
more information, see the 'version.txt' help file.
Extra Commands
==============
Toggle Choice Window ('^e')
Toggles the display in any sub-windows (if available) which are
displaying your inventory or equipment.
Redraw Screen ('^r')
This command adapts to various changes in global options, and redraws all
of the windows. It is normally only necessary in abnormal situations,
such as after changing the visual attr/char mappings, or enabling
"graphics" mode.
Save screen dump (|``)``|)
This command dumps a "snap-shot" of the current screen to a file,
including encoded color information. The command has two variants:
- html, suitable for viewing in a web browser.
- forum embedded html for vBulletin, suitable for pasting in
web forums like https://angband.live/forums/.
Special Keys
============
Certain special keys may be intercepted by the operating system or the host
machine, causing unexpected results. In general, these special keys are
control keys, and often, you can disable their special effects.
If you are playing on a UNIX or similar system, then Ctrl-c will interrupt
Angband. The second and third interrupt will induce a warning bell, and the
fourth will induce both a warning bell and a special message, since the
fifth will either quit without saving (if Angband was compiled without the
SETGID option which puts the save files in a shared location for all users)
or kill your character (if Angband was compiled with the SETGID option).
Also, 'Ctrl-z' will suspend the game, and return you to the original command
shell, until you resume the game with the 'fg' command. The 'Ctrl-\\' and
'Ctrl-d' and 'Ctrl-s' keys should not be intercepted.
It is often possible to specify "control-keys" without actually pressing
the control key, by typing a caret (``^``) followed by the key. This is
useful for specifying control-key commands which might be caught by the
operating system as explained above.
Pressing backslash (``\``) before a command will bypass all keymaps, and
the next keypress will be interpreted as an "underlying command" key,
unless it is a caret (``^``), in which case the keypress after that will be
turned into a control-key and interpreted as a command in the underlying
angband keyset. For example, the sequence ``\`` + ``.`` + ``6`` will always
mean "run east", even if the ``.`` key has been mapped to a different
underlying command.
The ``0`` and ``^`` and ``\`` keys all have special meaning when entered at
the command prompt, and there is no "useful" way to specify any of them as
an "underlying command", which is okay, since they would have no effect.
For many input requests or queries, the special character ESCAPE will abort
the command. The '[y/n]' prompts may be answered with ``y`` or ``n``, or
'ESCAPE'. The '-more-' message prompts may be cleared (after reading
the displayed message) by pressing 'ESCAPE', 'SPACE', 'RETURN',
'LINEFEED', or by any keypress, if the "quick_messages" option is turned
on.
.. _command-counts:
Command Counts
==============
Some commands can be executed a fixed number of times by preceding them
with a count. Counted commands will execute until the count expires, until
you type any character, or until
:ref:`something significant happens <disturb-player>`, such as being attacked.
Thus, a counted command doesn't work to attack another creature. While the
command is being repeated, the number of times left to be repeated will flash
by on the line at the bottom of the screen.
To give a count to a command, type ``0``, the repeat count, and then the
command. If you want to give a movement command and you are using the
original command set (where the movement commands are digits), press space
after the count and you will be prompted for the command.
Counted commands are very useful for time consuming commands, as they
automatically terminate on success, or if you are attacked. You may also
terminate any counted command (or resting or running), by typing any
character. This character is ignored, but it is safest to use a 'SPACE'
or 'ESCAPE' which are always ignored as commands in case you type the
command just after the count expires.
.. |``)``| replace:: ``)``
===================
Option Descriptions
===================
Options are accessible through the ``=`` command, which provides an
interface to the various sets of options available to the player.
In the descriptions below, each option is listed as the textual summary
which is shown on the "options" screen, plus the internal name of the
option in brackets, followed by a textual description of the option.
Various concepts are mentioned in the descriptions below, including
:ref:`"disturb" <disturb-player>` (cancel any running, resting, or repeated
commands, which are in progress), "flush" (forget any keypresses waiting in
the keypress queue), "fresh" (dump any pending output to the screen), and
"sub-windows" (see below).
.. contents:: Option pages
:local:
:depth: 1
User Interface Options
======================
When setting the user interface options, there are a handful of commands
to make it easier to get to a well-known state for all of those options.
They are: 's' to save the current selections so that they will be used
as the starting point for future characters, 'r' to reset the current
selections to the defaults for a new character, and 'x' to reset the
current selections to the Angband maintainer's defaults for the user
interface options.
Rogue-like commands ``rogue_like_commands``
Selects the "roguelike" command set. See :ref:`Playing the Game` for
some description of the command sets. The "roguelike" command set may
work better for you if use a keyboard which doesn't have a numeric
keypad.
.. _autoexplore-commands-option:
.. index::
single: autoexplore; commands option
Autoexplore commands ``autoexplore_commands``
Modifies how the commands to use staircases work: if not already at
the appropriate staircase, attempt to move to the nearest known
staircase of the appropriate kind. Adds a command, ``p``, in both
the original and "roguelike" command sets to move to the nearest
unexplored location.
Use sound ``use_sound``
Turns on sound effects, if your system supports them.
Show damage player deals to monsters ``show_damage``
Shows the damage that the player deals to monsters for melee and ranged
combat in the messages.
.. _old-target-option:
.. index::
single: targeting; old target option
Use old target by default ``use_old_target``
Forces all commands which normally ask for a "direction" to use the
current "target" if there is one. Use of this option can be dangerous if
you target locations on the ground, unless you clear them when done.
Always pickup items ``pickup_always``
Automatically picks up items when you walk upon them, provided it is safe
to do so.
Always pickup items matching inventory ``pickup_inven``
Like ``pickup_always``, but picks up an item only if it is a copy of an
item that you already have in your inventory.
Show flavors in object descriptions ``show_flavors``
Display "flavors" (color or variety) in object descriptions, even for
objects whose type is known. This does not affect objects in stores.
Highlight target with cursor ``show_target``
Highlights the current targeted monster with a cursor. Useful when
combined with "use old target by default".
Highlight player with cursor between turns ``highlight_player``
Highlights the player with a cursor. Useful if you have trouble finding
the player.
.. _disturb-near-option:
.. index::
single: disturb; option
Disturb whenever viewable monster moves ``disturb_near``
Disturb the player when any viewable monster moves, whenever any monster
becomes viewable for the first time, and also whenever any viewable
monster becomes no longer viewable. This option ignores the existence of
"telepathy" for the purpose of determining whether a monster is
"viewable".
Show walls as solid blocks ``solid_walls``
Walls are solid blocks instead of # for granite and % for veins. Veins
are coloured darker than granite for differentiation purposes.
Show walls with shaded backgrounds ``hybrid_walls``
Walls appear as # and % symbols overlaid on a gray background block.
This overrides ``solid_walls``.
Color: Illuminate torchlight in yellow ``view_yellow_light``
This option causes special colors to be used for "torch-lit" grids.
Turning this option off will slightly improve game speed.
Color: Shimmer multi-colored things ``animate_flicker``
Certain powerful monsters and items will shimmer in real time, i.e.
between keypresses.
Center map continuously ``center_player``
The map always centres on the player with this option on. With it off, it
is divided into 25 sections, with coordinates (0,0) to (4,4), and will
show one section at a time - the display will "flip" to the next section
when the player nears the edge.
Color: Show unique monsters in purple ``purple_uniques``
All "unique" monsters will be shown in a light purple colour, which is
not used for any "normal" monsters - so you can tell at a glance that
they are unique. If you like the idea but don't like the colour, you can
edit it via the "interact with colors" option.
Automatically clear -more- prompts ``auto_more``
The game does not wait for a keypress when it comes to a '-more-'
prompt, but carries on going.
Color: Player color indicates low hit points ``hp_changes_color``
This option makes the player ``@`` turn various shades of colour from
white to red, depending on percentage of HP remaining.
Allow mouse clicks to move the player ``mouse_movement``
Clicking on the main window will be interpreted as a move command to that
spot.
.. _notify-recharge-option:
Notify on object recharge ``notify_recharge``
This causes the game to print a message when any rechargeable object
(i.e. a rod or activatable weapon or armour item) finishes recharging. It
is the equivalent of inscribing '{!!}' on all such items.
Show effective speed as multiplier ``effective_speed``
Instead of showing absolute speed modifier (e.g. 'Slow (-2)' or 'Fast (+38)'),
show the effective rate at which the character is moving (e.g. 'Slow (x0.8)'
or 'Fast (x4.1)').
Birth options
=============
The birth options may only be changed when creating a character or using
the quick restart option for a dead character. When setting the birth
options, there are a handful of commands to make it easier to get to a
well-known state for all of the birth options. They are: 's' to save the
current selections so that they will be used as the starting point for
future characters, 'r' to reset the current selections to the defaults
for a new character, and 'x' to reset the current selections to the
FAangband maintainer's defaults for the birth options.
Generate connected stairs ``birth_connect_stairs``
With this option turned on, if you go down stairs, you start the new level
on an up staircase, and vice versa (if you go up stairs, you start the
next level on a down staircase).
With this option off, you will never start on a staircase - but other
staircases up and down elsewhere on the level will still be generated.
Force player descent (never make up stairs) ``birth_force_descend``
Upwards staircases do not work. All downward staircases, including the
one in town, transport the character one level below the previous maximum
depth. Recalling from the dungeon works and brings the character to the
town. However, recalling from town brings the character one level
below the previous maximum depth. The character cannot recall from quest
levels until the quest is complete, however you will be warned before
descending into a quest level. Any status effects that sometimes
teleports the character up and sometimes teleports them down will always
choose down. When combined with the option for word of recall scrolls
to have no effect, this recreates the previous "ironman" option.
Word of Recall has no effect ``birth_no_recall``
Word of Recall scrolls have no effect. When combined with the option
to force player descent, this recreates the previous "ironman" option.
Restrict creation of artifacts ``birth_no_artifacts``
No artifacts will be created. Ever. Just *how* masochistic are you?
Stack objects on the floor ``birth_stacking``
With this option turned on, multiple items can occupy one grid.
With this option off, items dropped on the floor will spread out instead
of stacking. Normal items will disappear if there is no empty grid
within a radius of three squares.
Lose artifacts when leaving level ``birth_lose_arts``
Normally if you leave a level with an unidentified artifact on it you may
still find it later. With this option on, if you leave a level with an
artifact on it's gone for the rest of the game whether you knew it was
there or not. Note that this option has no effect on artifacts which you
have already identified (i.e. picked up) - these will always be
permanently lost if you leave a level without taking them with you.
Show level feelings ``birth_feelings``
With this option turned on, the game will give you hints about what a new
level has on it.
With this option off, these hints will not be shown.
Increase gold drops but disable selling ``birth_no_selling``
Shopkeepers will never pay you for items you sell, though they will still
identify unknown items for you, and will still sell you their wares. To
balance out income in the game, gold found in the dungeon will be
increased if this option is on.
Start with a kit of useful gear ``birth_start_kit``
Start with items, a useful option for new players, or ones that wish
to descend immediately into the dungeon. If turned off, the character
will start with additional gold with which to purchase starting gear.
Monsters learn from their mistakes ``birth_ai_learn``
Allow monsters to learn what spell attacks you are resistant to, and to
use this information to choose the best attacks. This option makes the
game very difficult and is not recommended.
Know all runes on birth ``birth_know_runes``
For players who don't enjoy the "identify by use" process for wearable
items. This option means all object properties are known at the outset, so
artifacts and ego items will be identified on walking over them.
Know all flavors on birth ``birth_know_flavors``
For players who don't enjoy the "identify by use" process for consumable
items. This option means all object flavors are known at the outset.
Persistent levels (experimental) ``birth_levels_persist``
Each level is generated for the first time when the player enters it, and
from then on when the player returns the level is as they last saw it,
including monsters, items and traps.
Cheating options
================
Peek into monster creation ``cheat_hear``
Cheaters never win. But they can peek at monster creation.
Peek into dungeon creation ``cheat_room``
Cheaters never win. But they can peek at room creation.
Peek into something else ``cheat_xtra``
Cheaters never win. But they can see debugging messages.
Allow player to avoid death ``cheat_live``
Cheaters never win. But they can cheat death.
Window flags
============
Some platforms support "sub-windows", which are windows which can be used
to display useful information generally available through other means. The
best thing about these windows is that they are updated automatically
(usually) to reflect the current state of the world. The "window options"
can be used to specify what should be displayed in each window. The
possible choices should be pretty obvious.
Display inven/equip
Display the player inventory (and sometimes the equipment).
Display equip/inven
Display the player equipment (and sometimes the inventory).
Display player (basic)
Display a brief description of the character, including a breakdown of
the current player "skills" (including attacks/shots per round).
Display player (extra)
Display a special description of the character, including some of the
"flags" which pertain to a character, broken down by equipment item.
Display player (compact)
Display a brief description of the character, including a breakdown of
the contributions of each equipment item to various resistances and
stats.
Display map view
Display the area around the player or around the target while targeting.
This allows using graphical tiles in their original size.
Display messages
Display the most recently generated "messages".
Display overhead view
Display an overhead view of the entire dungeon level.
Display monster recall
Display a description of the monster which has been most recently
attacked, targeted, or examined in some way.
Display object recall
Display a description of the most recently selected object. Currently
this only affects spellbooks and prayerbooks. This window flag may be
usefully combined with others, such as "monster recall".
Display monster list
Display a list of monsters you know about and their distance from you.
Display status
Display the current status of the player, with permanent or temporary boosts,
resistances and status ailments (also available on the main window).
Display item list
Display a list of items you know about and their distance from you.
Left Over Information
=====================
The ``hitpoint_warn`` value, if non-zero, is the percentage of maximal
hitpoints at which the player is warned that they may die. It is also used as
the cut-off for using the color red to display both hitpoints and mana.
The ``delay_factor`` value, if non-zero, will slow down the visual effects
used for missile, bolt, beam, and ball attacks. The actual time delay is
equal to ``delay_factor`` squared, in milliseconds.
The ``lazymove_delay`` value, if non-zero, will allow the player to move
diagonally by pressing the two appropriate arrow keys within the delay time.
This may be useful particularly when using a keyboard with no numpad.
====================
Customising the game
====================
FAangband allows you to change various aspects of the game to suit your tastes. These include:
* Options - which let you change interface or gameplay behaviour
* :ref:`Ignoring items <ignoring>` and :ref:`inscribing items <inscribing>` to change how the game treats them
* `Showing extra info in subwindows`_
* `Keymaps`_ - a way to assign commonly-used actions to specific keys
* `Visuals`_ - allowing you to change the appearance of in-game entities like objects and monsters
* `Colours`_ - allowing you to make a given color brighter, darker, or even completely different
* :ref:`Interface details <interface-details>` - depending on which interface to the game you use, these give you control over the font, window placement, and graphical tile set
Except for the options, which are linked to the save file, and interface
details, that are handled by the front end rather than the core of the game,
you can save your preferences for these into files, which are called
`user pref files`. For the options, customize those using the ``=`` command
while playing.
.. _user-pref-files:
User Pref Files
===============
User pref files are FAangband's way of saving and loading certain settings. They can store:
* Altered visual appearances for game entities
* Inscriptions to automatically apply to items
* Keymaps
* Altered colours
* Subwindow settings
* Colours for different types of messages
* What audio files to play for different types of messages
They are simple text files with an easy to modify format, and the game has
a set of pre-existing pref files in the ``lib/customize/`` folder. It's
recommended you don't modify these.
Several options menu (``=``) items allow you to load existing user pref files,
create new user pref files, or save to a user pref file.
Where to find them
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On macOS, you can find them in your user directory, in ``Documents/FAangband/``.
On Linux, they will be stored in ``~/.angband/FAangband``.
On Windows you can find them in ``lib/user/``.
How do they get loaded?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the game starts up, after you have loaded or created a character, some user
pref files are loaded automatically. These are the ones mentioned above in the
``lib/customize/`` folder, namely ``pref.prf`` followed by ``font.prf``. If you
have graphics turned on, then the game will also load some settings from
``lib/tiles/``.
After these are complete, the game will try to load (in order):
* ``window.prf`` - loaded for all characters
* *race*.prf - where *race* is your character's race, so something like
``Dwarf.prf``
* *class*.prf - where *class* is your character's class, so something like
``Paladin.prf``
* *name*.prf - where *name* is your character's name, so something like
``Balin.prf``
You can save some settings - for example, keymaps - to the ``Mage.prf`` file
if you only want them to be loaded for mages.
You may also enter single user pref commands directly, using the special "Enter a user pref command" command, activated by pressing ``"``.
You may have to use the redraw command (``^r``) after changing certain of the aspects of the game to allow FAangband to adapt to your changes.
.. _ignoring:
Ignoring items
==============
FAangband allows you to ignore specific items that you don't want to see anymore. These items are marked 'ignored' and any similar items are hidden from view. The easiest way to ignore an item is with the ``k`` (or ``^d``) command; the object is dropped and then hidden from view. When ignoring an object, you will be given a choice of ignoring just that object, or all objects like it in some way. If you accidentally ignore an item or find yourself in a situation where you want to see if a previously ignored item is available nearby, one way to handle that is to turn off ignoring for all items with the ``K`` (or ``O``) command, go to the item you want, unignore it with the ``k`` (or ``^d``) command, and then turn on ignoring again with the ``K`` (or ``O``) command. When ignoring has been turned off for all items, you will see ``Unignoring`` in the status line at the bottom of the screen.
The entire ignoring system can also be accessed from the options menu (``=``) by choosing ``i`` for ``Item ignoring setup``. This allows ignore settings for non-wearable items, and quality and ego ignore settings (described below) for wearable items, to be viewed or changed.
There is a quality setting for each wearable item type. Ignoring a wearable item will prompt you with a question about whether you wish to ignore all of that type of item with a certain quality setting, or of an ego type, or both.
The quality settings are:
bad
The weapon/armor has negative AC, to-hit or to-dam.
average
The weapon/armor has no pluses no minuses. It is non-magical.
good
The weapon/armor has positive AC, to-hit or to-dam. However it does not
have any special abilities, brands, slays, stat-boosts, resistances
non-artifact
This setting only leaves artifacts unignored.
.. _inscribing:
Inscribing items
================
Inscriptions are notes you can mark on objects using the ``{`` command. You can use this to give the game commands about the object, which are listed below. You can also set up the game to automatically inscribe certain items whenever you find them, using the object knowledge screens, accessed using ``~``.
Inscribing an item with '!!':
This will alert you when the item has finished recharging.
Inscribing an item with '=g':
This marks an item as 'always pick up'. This is sometimes useful for
picking up ammunition after a shootout. If there is a number
immediately after the 'g', then the amount picked up automatically
will be limited. If you have inscribed a spellbook with '=g4' and have
four or more copies in your pack, you will not automatically pick up
any more copies when you have the 'pickup if in inventory' option
enabled. If you have three copies in your pack with that inscription
and happen to find a pile of two copies, you'll automatically pick up
one so there is four in the pack.
Inscribing an item with ``!`` followed by a command letter or ``*``:
This means "ask me before using this item". '!w' means 'ask me before
wielding', '!d' means 'ask me before dropping', and so on. If you
inscribe an item with '!*' then the game will confirm any use of an
item.
Say you inscribed your potion of Speed with '!q'. This would prompt
you when you try to drink it to see if you really mean to. Multiple
'!q' inscriptions will prompt multiple times.
Similarly, using !v!k!d makes it very hard for you to accidentally
throw, ignore or put down the item it is inscribed on.
Some adventurers inscribe their Scrolls of Word of Recall with '!r'
so they don't accidentally return to the dungeon too soon.
Inscribing an item with ``@``, followed by a command letter, followed by 0-9:
Normally when you select an item from your inventory you must enter the
letter that corresponds to the item. Since the order of your inventory
changes as items get added and removed, this can get annoying. You
can instead assign certain items numbers when using a command so that
wherever they are in your backpack, you can use the same keypresses.
If you have multiple items inscribed with the same thing, the game will
use the first one.
For example, if you inscribe a staff of Cure Light Wounds with '\@u1',
you can refer to it by pressing 1 when ``u``\sing it. You could also
inscribe a wand of Wonder with '\@a1', and when using ``a``\, 1 would
select that wand.
Spellcasters should inscribe their books, so that if they lose them they
do not cast the wrong spell. If you are mage and the beginner's
spellbook is the first in your inventory, casting 'maa' will cast magic
missile. But if you lose your spellbook, casting 'maa' will cast the
first spell in whatever new book is in the top of your inventory. This
can be a waste in the best case scenario and exceedingly dangerous in
the worst! By inscribing your spellbooks with '\@m1', '\@m2', etc., if
you lose your first spellbook and attempt to cast magic missile by
using 'm1a', you cannot accidentally select the wrong spellbook.
The '\@v' plus number inscription has the side effect of placing the
item in the quiver if the item is good for throwing and the quiver has
room. So, inscribing a spear with '\@v0' will attempt to put the
spear in the quiver's first slot. Ammunition automatically goes into
the quiver when there is room, but you can inscribe it with '\@f' (for
the original keyset; use '\@t' for the roguelike keyset) plus the
desired slot number, 0 to 9, if you want a different ordering of
items in the quiver than what the game does on its own. If
inscriptions assign more than one stack to the same quiver slot, the
inscribed stack that has been in the inventory the longest will be
placed in the slot.
Inscribing an item with ``^``, followed by a command letter:
When you wear an item inscribed with ``^``, the game prompts you before
doing that action. You might inscribe '^>' on an item if you want to
be reminded to take it off before going down stairs. If the item is in
your backpack then the game won't prompt you.
Like with ``!``, you can use ``*`` for the command letter if you want to
game to prompt you every turn whatever you're doing. This can get
very annoying!
Showing extra info in subwindows
================================
In addition to the main window, you can create additional windows that have
secondary information on them. You can access the subwindow menu by using
``=`` then ``w``, where you can choose what to display in which window. The
front end you use may provide a way to directly configure the subwindows
without using that subwindow menu. For front ends that do not provide that,
you may have to use the front end's controls to make the subwindow visible
after you have made changes in the subwindow menu. Look at the
:ref:`Interface details section <interface-details>` to see if it describes
the front end you use and how that front end handles subwindows.
There are a variety of subwindow choices and you should experiment to see which ones are the most useful for you.
.. _keymaps:
Keymaps
=======
You can set up keymaps in FAangband, which allow you to map a single keypress, the trigger, to a series of keypresses, the action. For example you might map the key F1 to "maa" (the keypresses to cast "Magic Missile" as a spellcaster). This can speed up access to commonly-used features. To bypass a keymap that's been assigned to a key, press ``\`` before pressing the key.
To set up keymaps, go to the options menu (``=``) and select "Edit keymaps" (``e``). There, you can check if a key triggers a keymap: select "Query a keymap" (``c``) and then press the key to check. You can also remove an existing keymap: select "Remove a keymap" (``e``) and then press the key that trigger the keymap to be removed. To add a new keymap (or overwrite an existing one), select "Create a keymap" (``d``), it will then prompt you for the key that triggers the keymap. After pressing the trigger key, you'll be prompted for the keymap's action, the series of keypresses that'll be generated when the trigger key is pressed. If you make a mistake while entering the keypresses for the action, press ``Control-u`` to erase the keypresses already entered for the action. Once you've finished entering the keypresses for the action, press ``=`` to end the sequence; you'll then be prompted for whether to keep the newly entered keymap.
Within the action for a keymap, it is frequently useful to temporarily suppress -more- prompts since they can swallow keypresses from the keymap. To disable those prompts from within the action, include ``(``. To reenable the prompts, include ``)``. So, a typical action where -more- prompts could happen would look like this: ``(`` your keypresses here ``)``.
The keypresses in the action will be interpreted relative to the keyset you are currently using (original or roguelike). The game will remember what keyset was in effect when the keymap was created. So if you change keysets, the keymaps which were only defined for the other keyset won't be visible. You can have two keymaps, one for the original keyset and another for the roguelike keyset, bound to the same trigger.
Keymaps are not recursive. If you have F1 as the trigger for a keymap, including F1 as a keypress in the action for that or another keymap won't invoke that keymap.
Any changes you make to keymaps from the options menu only last as long as the game is running. To have them affect future sessions, save the keymaps to a file. There's an option to do that from the menu for editing keymaps. See `User Pref Files`_ for how the name of the file affects whether the file is loaded when the game reloads your character.
Note that the game accounts for the modifier keys (Shift, Control, Alt, Meta) that are pressed along with a key. On most platforms, the game also distinguishes between the keys on the numeric keypad that have equivalents on the main keyboard. When a keypress is displayed or saved to the preference file, the modifiers, if any, for the keypress are displayed by code letters (S for Shift, ^ for Control, A for Alt, M for Meta, and K for the numeric keypad) within curly braces prior to the keypress. There are two exceptions to that: if Control is the only modifier it will displayed as ^ before the keypress without any curly braces and if Shift is the only modifier it will often be folded into the keypress itself. For example::
{^S}& = Control-Shift-&
{AK}0 = Alt-0 from the numeric keypad
^d = Control-d
A = Shift-a
Special keys, like F1, F2, or Tab, are all written within square brackets [].
For example::
^[F1] = Control-F1
{^S}[Tab] = Control-Shift-Tab
Special keys include [Escape].
You may find it easier to edit the preference files directly to change a keymap. Keymaps are written in pref files as::
keymap-act:<action>
keymap-input:<type>:<trigger>
The action must always come first, ```<type>``` means 'keyset type', which is either 0 for the original keyset or 1 for the roguelike keyset. For example::
keymap-act:maa
keymap-input:0:[F1]
An action can have more than one trigger bound to it by having more than
one keymap-input line after it and before the next keymap-act line. One
reason to do that would be to have the keymap work with either keyset. For
example::
keymap-act:maa
keymap-input:0:[F1]
keymap-input:1:[F1]
Angband uses a few built-in keymaps. These are for the movement keys (they are mapped to ``;`` plus the number, e.g. ``5`` -> ``;5``), amongst others. You can see the full list in pref.prf, but they shouldn't impact you in any way.
A keymap's action can include multiple commands. For instance, a priest who has inscribed the first spellbook with '@m1' could have a keymap with the action
of 'm1dm1f' to cast Bless and Heroism. Such keymaps can abort early without completing the remaining commands if:
* The player is :ref:`disturbed <disturb-player>` before the next command in the keymap.
* (new since 4.2.5-460-... in Vanilla) The next key to be processed in the keymap does not correspond to a command. Note that if the next key is a space, ESCAPE, or the alert key (ASCII 7), those correspond to the NULL command: do nothing, successfully, without requiring any input.
* (new since 4.2.5-460-... in Vanilla) The next command has a prerequisite that is not met. For instance, firing a missile requires an equipped launcher and using a scroll requires being able to read (not blind, not confused, not subject to amnesia, and the current grid is seen).
* (new since 4.2.5-460-... in Vanilla) A scan of the equipped items found an inscription requiring a confirmation (either '^*' to confirm for any action or '^' followed by the next command's key) and that confirmation was denied.
Since 4.2.5-455-... in Vanilla, if the first key in a keymap's action is ESCAPE, the keymap's trigger can break out of a prompt for a direction, a target, an object, a spell, a curse, or an effect. It will not break out of a prompt for a string (for instance when inscribing an object or adding a note) or prompts for a key (for instance, yes/no prompts, the symbol for monsters to banish, the symbol to identify with ``/``, or the key specified for ``^`` to pass along with the control modifier). The rest of the keymap's action will not be used after breaking out of the prompt. As an example, a mage has F1 as the trigger for the action '[ESCAPE]m1a'. If the game is prompting for a direction, that mage can press F1 to break out of the prompt, but the Magic Missile spell will not be cast. The mage would have to press F1 again, for the spell to be cast.
Colours
=======
The "Interact with colors" options submenu (``=``, then ``c``) allows you to change how different colours are displayed. Depending on what kind of computer you have, this may or may not have any effect.
The interface is quite clunky. You can move through the colours using ``n`` for 'next colour' and ``N`` for 'previous colour'. Then upper and lower case ``r``, ``g`` and ``b`` will let you tweak the color. You can then save the results to user pref file.
Visuals
=======
You can change how various in-game entities are displayed using the visuals editor. This editor is part of the knowledge menus (``~``). When you are looking at a particular entity - for example, a monster - if you can edit its visuals, that will be mentioned in the prompt at the bottom of the screen.
If you are in graphics mode, you will be able to select a new tile for the entity. If you are not, you will only be able to change its colours.
Once you have made edits, you can save them from the options menu (``=``). Press ``v`` for 'save visuals' and choose what you want to save.
.. _interface-details:
Interface details
=================
Some aspects of how the game is presented, notably the font, window placement
and graphical tile set, are controlled by the front end, rather than the core
of the game itself. Each front end has its own mechanism for setting those
details and recording them between game sessions. Below are brief descriptions
for what you can configure with the standard `Windows`_, `X11`_, `SDL`_,
`SDL2`_ and `Mac`_ front ends.
Windows
~~~~~~~
With the Windows front end, the game, by default, displays several of the
the subwindows and uses David Gervais's graphical tiles to display the map.
You can close a subwindow with the standard close control on the window's
upper right corner. Closing the main window with the standard control causes
the game to save its current state and then exit. You can reopen or also
close a subwindow via the "Visibility" menu, the first entry in the "Window"
menu for the main window. To move a window, use the standard procedure:
position the mouse pointer on the window's title bar and then click and drag
the mouse to change the window's position. Click and drag on the edges or
corners of a window to change its size. To select the font for a window, use
the "Font" menu, the second entry in the "Window" menu for the main window.
The "Term Options" entry in the "Window" menu for the main window is a shortcut
to access the core game's method for selecting the contents of the subwindows.
You can read more about that in `Showing extra info in subwindows`_. The
"Reset Layout" will rearrange the windows to conform with the current size and
will have a similar result to what you would get from restarting the Windows
interface without a preset configuration.
The "Bizarre Display" entry in the "Window" menu allows to toggle on or off
an alternate text display algorithm for each window. That was added for
compatibility with Windows Vista and later. The default setting, on, should
likely be used, unless text display is garbled on your system and the off
setting allows text to be displayed properly.
The "Increase Tile Width" and "Decrease Tile Width" options in the "Window",
let you increment or decrement, by one pixel, the width of the columns in a
window. The "Increase Tile Height" and "Decrease Tile Height" options are
similar but work with the height of the rows. For the primary window, you
could use the "Term 0 Font Tile Size" entry as an alternative to those to set
the width of the columns and height of the rows to certain combinations or to
match the width and height of the font, which is the default. When the
"Enable Nice Graphics" option is on (it's in the "Options" menu for the main
window), the "Increase Tile Width", "Decrease Tile Width",
"Increase Tile Height", "Decrease Tile Height", and "Term 0 Font Tile Size"
entries will have no effect since the column width and row height are set
automatically when that option is on.
To change whether graphical tiles are used, use the "Graphics" menu, the first
entry in the "Options" menu for the main window. The "None" option in the
"Graphics" menu will disable graphical tiles and use text for the map. The
next section section in that menu allows you to select one of the graphical
tile sets. Turning on the "Enable Nice Graphics" option in the "Graphics"
menu is a shortcut for automatically setting sizes to get a reasonable-looking
result. When that is turned on or is already on and the tile set is changed,
the width of the columns ("tile width"), height of the rows ("tile height")
and the number of rows and columns used to display a tile (the
"Tile Multiplier") will be adjusted to work well with the current font size and
the native size of the graphical tiles. You can manually adjust the number of
rows and columns used for displaying a tile with the "Tile Multiplier" entry
in the "Graphics" menu. Since typical fonts are often twice as tall as wide,
multipliers where the first value, for the width, is twice the second, often
x work better with the tiles that are natively square (the original ones,
Adam Bolt's, David Gervais's, and the two versions of Shockbolt's tiles).
Nomad's tiles are 8 x 16 and so usually work best with multipliers that use the
same value for both dimensions.
When you leave the game, the current settings for the Windows interface are
saved as ``angband.INI`` in the directory that holds the executable. Those
settings will be automatically reloaded the next time you start the Windows
interface.
X11
~~~
With the X11 front end, the number of windows opened is set by the '-n' option
on the command line, i.e. running ``./angband -mx11 -- -n4`` will open the
main window and subwindows one through three if the executable is in the
current working directory. To control the font, placement, and size used for
each of the windows, set environment variables before running FAangband. Those
environment variables for window 'z' where 'z' is an integer between 0 (the
main window) and 7 are:
* ANGBAND_X11_FONT_z holds the name of the font to use for the window
* ANGBAND_X11_AT_X_z holds the horizontal coordinate (zero is leftmost) for the upper left corner of the window
* ANGBAND_X11_AT_Y_z holds the vertical coordinate (zero is topmost) for the upper left corner of the window
* ANGBAND_X11_COLS_z holds the number of columns to display in the window
* ANGBAND_X11_ROWS_z holds the number of rows to display in the window
SDL
~~~
With the SDL front end, the main window and any subwindows are displayed within
the application's rectangular window. At the top of the application's window
is a status line. Within that status line, items highlighted in yellow are
buttons that can be pressed to initiate an action. From left to right they are:
* The application's version number - pressing it displays an information dialog about the application
* The currently selected terminal - pressing it brings up a menu for selecting the current terminal; you can also make a terminal the current one by clicking on the terminal's title bar if it is visible
* Whether or not the current terminal is visible - pressing it for any terminal that is not the main window will allow you to show or hide that terminal
* The font for the current terminal - pressing it brings up a menu to choose the font for the terminal
* Options - brings up a dialog for selecting global options including those for the graphical tile set used and whether fullscreen mode is enabled
* Quit - to save the game and exit
To move a terminal window, click on its title bar and then drag the mouse.
To resize a terminal window, position the mouse pointer over the lower right
corner. That should cause a blue square to appear, then click and drag to
resize the terminal.
To change the graphical tile set used when displaying the game's map, press
the Options button in the status bar. Then, in the dialog that appears, press
one of the red buttons that appear to the right of the label,
"Available Graphics:". The last of those buttons, labeled "None", selects
text as the method for displaying the map. Your choice for the graphical tile
set does not take effect until you press the red button labeled "OK" at the
bottom of the dialog.
When you leave the game, the current settings for the SDL interface are saved
as ``sdlinit.txt`` in the same directory as is used for preference files, see
`User Pref Files`_ for details. Those settings will be automatically reloaded
the next time you start the SDL interface.
SDL2
~~~~
With the SDL2 front end, the application has one window that can contain the
main window and any of the subwindows. The application may also have up to
three additional windows which can contain any of the subwindows. A subwindow
may not appear in more than one of those application windows: adding a
subwindow to a window automatically removes it from the other window, if any,
that had it. Unused portions of an application window are tiled with
repetitions of the game's logo.
Each of the application windows has a menu bar along the top. The "Menu"
entry at the left end of the menu bar has the main menu for controlling
aspects of the SDL2 interface.
Next to "Menu", are a series of one letter labels that act as toggles for the
terminal windows shown in the application window. Click on one to toggle it
between on (drawn with a filled rectangle next to it) and off (drawn with an
empty rectangle next to it). It is not possible to toggle off the main window
shown in the primary application window.
At the end of the menu bar are two toggle buttons labeled "Move" and "Size".
When the rectangle next to "Move" is empty, the positions of the subwindows
are fixed in place. Clicking "Move" in that state will turn it on, turn off
"Size", disable input to the game's core, and cause clicks and drags within the
displayed to change the positions of those windows. Clicking "Move" when it is
on will turn it off and restore passing input to the game's core. When the
rectangle next to "Size" is empty, the size of the subwindows are fixed.
Clicking "Size" in that state will turn it on, turn off "Move", disable input
to the game's core, and cause clicks and drags withing the displayed windows
to change the sizes for those subwindows. Clicking "Size" when it is on will
turn it off and restore passing input to the game's core.
Within "Menu", the first entries control properties for each of the displayed
terminal windows within that application window. For the main window, you
can set the font, graphical tile set, whether the window is shown with borders
or not, and whether or not the window will be shown on top of the other windows.
For subwindows, you can set the font, the purpose (which is a shortcut for
enabling the subwindow content as described in
`Showing extra info in subwindows`_), the opaqueness ("alpha") of the window,
whether the window is shown with borders or not, and whether or not the window
will be shown on top of the other windows.
Below the entries for the contained terminal windows, is an entry,
"Fullscreen" for toggling fullscreen mode for that application window. That
entry will display a filled rectangle at the end of the entry when fullscreen
mode is on and an empty rectangle when fullscreen mode is off.
In the primary application window which contains the main window, there is an
entry, "Send Keypad Modifier", after that for whether key strokes from the
numeric keypad will be sent to the game with the keypad modifier set. That
entry will have an empty rectangle at the end when the modifier is not sent
and a filled rectangle when the modifier is sent. Sending the modifier allows
some predefined keymaps to work, for instance shift with 8 from the numeric
keypad to run north, at the cost of compatibility issues with some keyboard
layouts that differ from the standard English keyboard layout for which normal
keys have equivalents on the numeric keypad.
https://github.com/angband/angband/issues/4522 has an example of the
problems that can be avoided by not sending the keypad modifier.
Below "Send Keypad Modifier" in the primary application window's "Menu" is
"Menu Shortcuts...". That allows you to set a keystroke to transfer control
to a window's menu. By default, no such keystrokes are defined. That avoids
potential conflicts with any keymaps you may have. While in the menus,
keystrokes can be used for navigation. The in-game horizontal and vertical
movement keys will work to move between controls as will Tab (to go to the
"next" control) and Shift-Tab (to go to the previous control). Enter will
activate a menu item if it can be activated. Trying to descend further into
the menus with the in-game movement keys will also activate if a menu item if
it is as deep as you can go. Below "Menu Shortcuts..." is "Windows": use
that to bring up or hide one of the additional application windows.
The final three entries in "Menu" are "About" for displaying an information
dialog about the game, "SDL Details" for displaying an information dialog
with diagnostic details about SDL2, and "Quit" to save the game and exit.
When you leave the game, the current settings for the SDL interface are saved
as ``sdl2init.txt`` in the same directory as is used for preference files, see
`User Pref Files`_ for details. Those settings will be automatically reloaded
the next time you start the SDL2 interface.
Mac
~~~
With the Mac-specific front end, you can use Apple's standard mechanisms to
control window placement: click and drag on a window's title bar to move it,
click and drag on a window's edge or corner to change the window's dimensions,
and click the red button at the top left corner of a subwindow to close it.
To reopen a subwindow that you closed, use the Window menu from the Mac's
menu bar while the game is the active application and select the entry near the
bottom of that menu that corresponds to the subwindow you want to see. For a
subwindow's entry to be enabled in the Window menu, that subwindow must be
configured to display at least one category of information: see
`Showing extra info in subwindows`_ for details.
To change the font for a window, click on the window's title bar and select
"Edit Font" from the Settings menu in the Mac's menu bar. That will open a
dialog which displays the family, typeface and size for the current font.
Changing the selection for any of those will change the font in the window.
Whether the game's map is displayed as text or as graphical tiles can be set
by selecting Settings from the Mac's menu bar while the game is the active
application and then choosing from one of the entries in the Graphics option.
Choosing "Classic ASCII" will display the map as text. Any of the other options
will use some form of graphical tiles to display the map. If you wish to
adjust how graphical tiles are scaled to match up with the currently selected
font in the main window, use the 'Tile Size' menu in the Settings menu. The
100% entry in the 'Tile Size' menu will cause a tile to be displayed as
close as possible to its native resolution. The 200% entry will cause a
tile to be displayed as close as possible to twice the tile's native width and
height.
When you leave the game, the current Mac-specific settings are saved and will
be automatically reloaded when you restart. The settings are stored in
``Library/Preferences/org.rephial.angband.plist`` within your user directory.
If you suspect those settings have been corrupted in some way or would like to
start again from the default settings, quit the game if it is running, open a
Terminal window (i.e. select 'Go->Utilities->Terminal' from the Finder's
menus), and, in that Terminal window, run this::
defaults delete org.rephial.angband
to clear the contents of the preferences file and any cached preferences that
may be retained in memory.
===================
Version Information
===================
FAangband
=========
FAangband is a variant of Angband. It was originally forked from Oangband,
and developed until around 2014 with version 1.4.4.
Development was restarted in 2020, with a rewrite aimed at re-implementing
the best features of original FAangband but based on the latest Angband
code base. Version 2 was first released on the 22nd of August, 2021. The
current version is 2.0.1.
Angband
=======
Angband has been maintained and developed by a succession of volunteers since
it was written in the early 1990s. The current maintainer is Nick McConnell.
The current version is 4.2.5. Detailed information about this version and
previous versions can be found at http://angband.github.io/angband. Also additional
information can be found at the angband forums (https://angband.live/forums/).
This file was last updated for Angband 3.1.2 and remains here mainly
for historical purposes.
Angband has an incredibly complex history, and is the result of a lot
of work by a lot of people, all of whom have contributed their time and
energy for free, being rewarded only by the pleasure of keeping alive one
of the best freeware games available anywhere.
The version control files, if they existed, would span more than ten years
time, and more than six different primary developers. Without such files,
we must rely on simpler methods, such as change logs, source file diffs,
and word of mouth. Some of this information is summarised in this file.
Please be sure to read the 'Copying and licence information'.
Brief Version History
=====================
First came "VMS Moria", by Robert Alan Koeneke (1985).
Then came "Umoria" (Unix Moria), by James E. Wilson (1989).
Details about the history of the various flavors of "Moria", the direct
ancestor to Angband, can be found elsewhere, and a note from Robert Alan
Koeneke is included in this file. Note that "Moria" has been ported to a
variety of platforms, and has its own newsgroup, and its own fans.
In 1990, Alex Cutler and Andy Astrand, with the help of other students at
the University of Warwick, created Angband 1.0, based on the existing code
for Umoria 5.2.1. They wanted to expand the game, keeping or even
strengthening the grounding in Tolkien lore, while adding more monsters and
items, including unique monsters and artifact items, plus activation,
pseudo-sensing, level feelings, and special dungeon rooms.
Over time, Sean Marsh, Geoff Hill, Charles Teague, and others, worked on
the source, releasing a copy known as "Angband 2.4.frog_knows" at some
point, which ran only on Unix systems, but which was ported by various
people to various other systems. One of the most significant ports was the
"PC Angband 1.4" port, for old DOS machines, which added color and various
other significant changes, only some of which ever made it back into the
official source.
Then Charles Swiger (cs4w+@andrew.cmu.edu) took over, sometime in late
1993, cleaning up the code, fixing a lot of bugs, and bringing together
various patches from various people, resulting in several versions of
Angband, starting with Angband 2.5.1 (?), and leading up to the release of
Angband 2.6.1 (and Angband 2.6.2) in late 1994. Some of the changes during
this period were based on suggestions from the "net", and from various
related games, including "UMoria 5.5", "PC Angband 1.4", and "FAngband".
Angband 2.6.1 was primarily targeted towards Unix/NeXT machines, and it
required the use of the low level "curses" commands for all screen
manipulation and keypress interaction. Each release had to be ported from
scratch to any new platforms, normally by creating visual display code that
acted as a "curses" emulator. One such port was "Macintosh Angband 2.6.1",
by Keith Randall, which added support for color, and which formed the basis
for the first release of Angband 2.7.0.
During the last half of 1994, Ben Harrison had been playing with the
Angband source, primarily to investigate the possibility of making some
kind of automatic player for Angband, like the old "rogue-o-matic" program
for the game "Rogue". The difficulty of compiling a version for the
Macintosh, and the complexity of the code, prevented this, and so Ben began
cleaning up the code in various ways for his personal use.
In late 1994, Charles Swiger announced that he was starting a real job and
would no longer be able to be the Angband maintainer. This induced some
amount of uproar in the Angband community (as represented by the Angband
newsgroup), with various people attempting to form "committees" to take
over the maintenance of Angband. Since committees have never given us
anything but trouble (think "COBOL"), there was very little resistance
when, on the first day of 1995, Ben made his code available, calling it
"Angband 2.7.0", and by default, taking over as the new maintainer of
Angband.
Angband 2.7.0 was a very clean (but very buggy) rewrite that, among other
things, allowed extremely simple porting to multiple platforms, starting
with Unix and Macintosh, and by the time most of the bugs were cleaned up,
in Angband 2.7.2, including X11, and various IBM machines. Angband 2.7.4
was released to the "ftp.cis.ksu.edu" site, and quickly gained acceptance,
perhaps helped by the OS2 and Windows and Amiga and Linux ports. Angband
2.7.5 and 2.7.6 added important capabilities such as macros and user pref
files, and continued to clean up the source. Angband 2.7.8 was released to
the major ftp archives as the first "stable" version in a year or so, with
new "help files" and "spoiler files" for the "online help", plus a variety
of minor tweaks and some new features.
After Angband 2.7.8 was released, Ben created a web site to keep track of
all the changes made in each version (though a few may have been missed),
and acquired the use of a new development ftp server to supplement the
official "mirror" server. This web site is now permanently located at the
Official Angband Home Page (http://www.thangorodrim.net/). Unfortunately,
the next six versions were numbered Angband 2.7.9v1 to Angband 2.7.9v6, but
really each were rather major updates. Angband 2.8.0 and 2.8.1 were
released using a more normal version scheme. Angband 2.8.2 and 2.8.3 add a
few random features, clean up some code, and provide graphics support and
such for a few more platforms.
After the release of Angband 2.8.3 Ben's free time was more and more
occupied by his work. He released a beta version of Angband 2.8.5,
introducing many new features, but couldn't give as much attention to
maintaining the game as he wanted to. Meanwhile, an "unofficial" version by
Robert Ruehlmann, incorporating three popular patches (the "Easy Patch" by
Tim Baker, for opening doors and disarming traps without specifying the
direction: Greg Wooledge's "Random Artifacts" patch: and Keldon Jones's
"Optional Monster AI Improvement"), named "2.8.3h", was gaining popularity.
So in March 2000, Robert Ruehlmann offered to take over Angband and started
to fix the remaining bugs in the Angband 2.8.5 beta. The resulting version
was to be released as Angband 2.9.0. Further bugfixes and a couple of new
features - including many in the realms of user-customizability, with
greater control over ego-items, player races and classes, monsters, items
and artifacts - have led to the current version.
And with the greater amount of user-customizability that is now possible,
it was inevitable that SOMEBODY would eventually go and actually do
something with it. Jonathan Ellis started customizing the user-editable
text files in the 'edit' directory for his own personal use - originally,
only by fixing bugs and inconsistencies (less powerful monsters being worth
more experience per kill than more powerful ones, dragons doing a decent
amount of damage in melee, monsters with two claws and one mouth getting
one claw and three bite attacks, and so on).
At first, this was all that could really be done with it: adding new
monsters and items was impossible, as the limits were fixed. And so only
three new monsters made an appearance, each of them replacing an existing
monster in the order: and one new artifact - "The Palantir of Westernesse".
Gameplay balance could be tweaked somewhat, by changing the level, power
and rarity of certain items and monsters: and some changes were made,
mostly with the attempt to reduce the notorious "triple whammy" effect of
needing poison, confusion and nether resistance (or over 550 hps, if
without nether resistance) all at once, straight after passing 2000',
forcing excessive scumming before this depth or risking unavoidable instant
death: and then having nothing left to do but dive straight to 4000' and
scum for speed items, missing out on some of the most interesting depths of
the dungeon. This problem, at least, could be addressed, but actual new
things were less easy to add...
That all changed with Angband 2.9.1, which for the first time moved the
limits themselves to a separate user-editable file, and allowed more
monsters and items to be created without removing the old ones. At the same
time, a patch by Matthias Kurzke was incorporated which allowed the
creation of new ego-items. Various new powers, for the player and monsters,
were added to the game - but no items or monsters yet had these powers
(resist fear, poison brand, lose charisma, summon greater demons, and so
on): indeed, arguably it could be said that the game had not even adjusted
properly to Ben Harrison's fractional speed system (Angband 2.7.0) or the
addition of the other attack forms such as shards, sound, chaos, nexus and
so on (even before Ben.)
The Official Angband Home Page (http://rephial.org/) serves not only as the
most up to date description of Angband, but also lists changes made between
versions, and changes planned for upcoming versions, and lists various
email addresses and web sites related to Angband.
Some of the changes between Angband 2.6.1 and 3.0.6
===================================================
It is very hard to pin down, along the way from 2.6.2 to 3.0.6, exactly
what changes were made, and exactly when they were made. Most releases
involved so many changes from the previous release as to make "diff files"
not very useful, since often the diff files are as long as the code itself.
Most of the changes, with the notable exception of the creation of some of
the new 'main-xxx.c' files for the various new platforms, and a few other
minor exceptions generally noted directly in comments in the source, were
written by Ben or Robert, either spontaneously, or, more commonly, as the
result of a suggestion or comment by an Angband player.
The most important modification was a massive "code level cleanup" for
2.7.x, largely completed in 2.7.8, that made all other modifications much
simpler and safer. This cleanup was so massive that in many places the code
is no longer recognizable, for example, via "diff -r", often because it was
rewritten from scratch.
The second most important modification was the design of a generic
'z-term.c' package, which allows Angband to be ported to a new machine
with as few as 50 lines of code. Angband 2.9.3 thus runs without
modification on many machines, including Macintosh, PowerMac, Unix/X11,
Unix/Curses, Amiga, Windows, OS2-386, DOS-386, and even DOS-286.
It would be difficult to list all of the changes between Angband 2.6.1 and
3.0.6, because many of them were made in passing during the massive code
level cleanup. Many of the changes are invisible to the user, but still
provide increased simplicity and efficiency, and decreased code size, or
make other more visible changes possible. For example, the new
'project()' code that handles all bolts, beams, and balls, the new
'update_view()' code that simplifies line of sight computation, or the
new 'generate()' code that builds new levels in the dungeon. Many changes
have been made to increase efficiency, including the new
'process_monsters()' and 'update_monsters()' functions, and the new
'objdes()' and 'light_spot()' routines. The generic 'z-term.c'
package yielded efficient screen updates, and enabled the efficient use of
color.
The most visible (to ordinary players) changes that happened as a result of
Ben Harrison's maintainership were:
- a far greater degree of user-customizability as shown by the 'info.txt'
files
- the "fractional" speed system, with +10 in the new scheme equalling +1
in old money
- object stacking, the ability to have more than one object in a square:
first tried in 2.7.9, completed in 2.8.2.
It should also be pointed out at this point that the far cleaner nature of
Ben's code as compared to previous versions has given many other people the
opportunity to base code for their own Angband variants on it. And so a
plethora of new variants have appeared, many of them far more different
from Angband now than Angband ever was from Moria, and yet still based on
Ben's coding ideals for Angband.
For Angband 2.9.0, the first few new visible features were a random
artifact generator (originally developed from a variant by Greg Wooledge),
an option to improve monster AI (believed to have originally started out
life in a patch written by Keldon Jones), and a patch to allow easier
handling of opening and closing doors and disarming traps (by Tim Baker).
For Angband 2.9.1 has also come such things as the ability to increase the
size of the editable text files and thus the number of monsters, artifacts,
items, ego-items and vaults in the game (many new vaults were written by
Chris Weisiger, some by others, and the number of vaults in the game at
this time was doubled), and much greater customizability of ego-items has
become possible thanks to a patch written by Matthias Kurzke. It is also
now possible to add new character races to the game, and to edit the
shopkeepers with respect to their greed, tolerance of haggling and
reactions to the character based on his race. Angband 2.9.2 adds support
for poison branded weapons to the game. Angband 2.9.3 made the character
class itself customizable to an extent.
A Posting from the Original Author
==================================
| From: koeneke@ionet.net (Robert Alan Koeneke)
| Newsgroups: rec.games.roguelike.angband,rec.games.roguelike.moria
| Subject: Early history of Moria
| Date: Wed, 21 Feb 1996 04:20:51 GMT
I had some email show up asking about the origin of Moria, and its
relation to Rogue. So I thought I would just post some text on the early
days of Moria.
First of all, yes, I really am the Robert Koeneke who wrote the first
Moria. I had a lot of mail accussing me of pulling their leg and such. I
just recently connected to Internet (yes, I work for a company in the
dark ages where Internet is concerned) and was real surprised to find
Moria in the news groups... Angband was an even bigger surprise, since I
have never seen it. I probably spoke to its originator though... I have
given permission to lots of people through the years to enhance, modify,
or whatever as long as they freely distributed the results. I have always
been a proponent of sharing games, not selling them.
Anyway...
Around 1980 or 81 I was enrolled in engineering courses at the University
of Oklahoma. The engineering lab ran on a PDP 1170 under an early version
of UNIX. I was always good at computers, so it was natural for me to get
to know the system administrators. They invited me one night to stay and
play some games, an early startrek game, The Colossal Cave Adventure
(later just 'Adventure'), and late one night, a new dungeon game called
'Rogue'.
So yes, I was exposed to Rogue before Moria was even a gleam in my eye.
In fact, Rogue was directly responsible for millions of hours of play
time wasted on Moria and its descendents...
Soon after playing Rogue (and man, was I HOOKED), I got a job in a
different department as a student assistant in computers. I worked on one
of the early VAX 11/780's running VMS, and no games were available for it
at that time. The engineering lab got a real geek of an administrator who
thought the only purpose of a computer was WORK! Imagine... Soooo, no
more games, and no more rogue!
This was intolerable! So I decided to write my own rogue game, Moria Beta
1.0. I had three languages available on my VMS system. Fortran IV, PASCAL
V1.?, and BASIC. Since most of the game was string manipulation, I wrote
the first attempt at Moria in VMS BASIC, and it looked a LOT like Rogue,
at least what I could remember of it. Then I began getting ideas of how
to improve it, how it should work differently, and I pretty much didn't
touch it for about a year.
Around 1983, two things happened that caused Moria to be born in its
recognizable form. I was engaged to be married, and the only cure for
THAT is to work so hard you can't think about it; and I was enrolled for
fall to take an operating systems class in PASCAL.
So, I investigated the new version of VMS PASCAL and found out it had a
new feature. Variable length strings! Wow...
That summer I finished Moria 1.0 in VMS PASCAL. I learned more about data
structures, optimization, and just plain programming that summer then in
all of my years in school. I soon drew a crowd of devoted Moria
players... All at OU.
I asked Jimmey Todd, a good friend of mine, to write a better character
generator for the game, and so the skills and history were born. Jimmey
helped out on many of the functions in the game as well. This would have
been about Moria 2.0
In the following two years, I listened a lot to my players and kept
making enhancements to the game to fix problems, to challenge them, and
to keep them going. If anyone managed to win, I immediately found out
how, and 'enhanced' the game to make it harder. I once vowed it was
'unbeatable', and a week later a friend of mine beat it! His character,
'Iggy', was placed into the game as 'The Evil Iggy', and immortalized...
And of course, I went in and plugged up the trick he used to win...
Around 1985 I started sending out source to other universities. Just
before a OU / Texas football clash, I was asked to send a copy to the
Univeristy of Texas... I couldn't resist... I modified it so that the
begger on the town level was 'An OU football fan' and they moved at
maximum rate. They also multiplied at maximum rate... So the first step
you took and woke one up, it crossed the floor increasing to hundreds of
them and pounded you into oblivion... I soon received a call and provided
instructions on how to 'de-enhance' the game!
Around 1986 - 87 I released Moria 4.7, my last official release. I was
working on a Moria 5.0 when I left OU to go to work for American Airlines
(and yes, I still work there). Moria 5.0 was a complete rewrite, and
contained many neat enhancements, features, you name it. It had water,
streams, lakes, pools, with water monsters. It had 'mysterious orbs'
which could be carried like torches for light but also gave off magical
aura's (like protection from fire, or aggravate monster...). It had new
weapons and treasures... I left it with the student assistants at OU to be
finished, but I guess it soon died on the vine. As far as I know, that
source was lost...
I gave permission to anyone who asked to work on the game. Several people
asked if they could convert it to C, and I said fine as long as a
complete credit history was maintained, and that it could NEVER be sold,
only given. So I guess one or more of them succeeded in their efforts to
rewrite it in C.
I have since received thousands of letters from all over the world from
players telling about their exploits, and from administrators cursing the
day I was born... I received mail from behind the iron curtain (while it
was still standing) talking about the game on VAX's (which supposedly
couldn't be there due to export laws). I used to have a map with pins for
every letter I received, but I gave up on that!
I am very happy to learn my creation keeps on going... I plan to download
it and Angband and play them... Maybe something has been added that will
surprise me! That would be nice... I never got to play Moria and be
surprised...
| Robert Alan Koeneke
| koeneke@ionet.net
Previous Versions (outdated)
============================
VMS Moria Version 4.8
---------------------
=========== ========
Version 0.1 03/25/83
Version 1.0 05/01/84
Version 2.0 07/10/84
Version 3.0 11/20/84
Version 4.0 01/20/85
=========== ========
Modules:
+------+------------------------+-----------+
| V1.0 | Dungeon Generator | RAK |
+ +------------------------+-----------+
| | Character Generator | RAK & JWT |
+ +------------------------+-----------+
| | Moria Module | RAK |
+ +------------------------+-----------+
| | Miscellaneous | RAK & JWT |
+------+------------------------+-----------+
| V2.0 | Town Level & Misc | RAK |
+------+------------------------+-----------+
| V3.0 | Internal Help & Misc | RAK |
+------+------------------------+-----------+
| V4.0 | Source Release Version | RAK |
+------+------------------------+-----------+
=============================== ================================
Robert Alan Koeneke Jimmey Wayne Todd Jr.
Student/University of Oklahoma Student/University of Oklahoma
=============================== ================================
Umoria Version 5.2 (formerly UNIX Moria)
----------------------------------------
============ ========
Version 4.83 5/14/87
Version 4.85 10/26/87
Version 4.87 5/27/88
Version 5.0 11/2/89
Version 5.2 5/9/90
============ ========
James E. Wilson, U.C. Berkeley
wilson@ernie.Berkeley.EDU
...!ucbvax!ucbernie!wilson
Other contributors:
====================== ==================================================
\D. G. Kneller MSDOS Moria port
Christopher J. Stuart recall, options, inventory, and running code
Curtis McCauley Macintosh Moria port
Stephen A. Jacobs Atari ST Moria port
William Setzer object naming code
David J. Grabiner numerous bug reports, and consistency checking
Dan Bernstein UNIX hangup signal fix, many bug fixes
and many others...
====================== ==================================================
| Copyright (c) 1989 James E. Wilson, Robert A. Koeneke
| This software may be copied and distributed for educational, research,
and not for profit purposes provided that this copyright and statement
are included in all such copies.
Early Angband credits
---------------------
Version 2.0
Alex Cutler, Andy Astrand, Sean Marsh, Geoff Hill, Charles Teague.
Version 2.4
05/09/1993
Version 2.5
12/05/1993 Charles Swiger
Version 2.6
09/04/1994 Charles Swiger
Version 2.7
01/01/1995 Ben Harrison
Version 2.8
01/01/1997 Ben Harrison
Version 2.9
04/10/2000 Robert Ruehlmann
Contributors (incomplete)
=========================
Peter Berger, "Prfnoff", Arcum Dagsson, Ed Cogburn, Matthias Kurzke,
Ben Harrison, Steven Fuerst, Julian Lighton, Andrew Hill, Werner Baer,
Tom Morton, "Cyric the Mad", Chris Kern, Tim Baker, Jurriaan Kalkman,
Alexander Wilkins, Mauro Scarpa, John I'anson-Holton, "facade",
Dennis van Es, Kenneth A. Strom, Wei-Hwa Huang, Nikodemus, Timo Pietilä,
Greg Wooledge, Keldon Jones, Shayne Steele, Dr. Andrew White, Musus Umbra,
Jonathan Ellis
===============================
Copying and licence information
===============================
FAangband is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
terms of either the `GNU General Public License, version 2 <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html>`_ as published by the Free Software Foundation, or the "Angband licence":
Copyright (c) 1997 Ben Harrison, James E. Wilson, Robert A. Koeneke
This software may be copied and distributed for educational, research, and not for profit purposes provided that this copyright and statement are included in all such copies. Other copyrights may also apply.
With the following exceptions:
* The SDL runtime libraries (if provided with your copy of the game) are under
the following licence:
The Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL for short) is a cross-platform library designed to make it easy to write multi-media software, such as games and emulators.
The Simple DirectMedia Layer library source code is available from: http://www.libsdl.org/
This library is distributed under the terms of the GNU LGPL license: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html
* Adam Bolt's (16x16) graphics may be redistributed and used for any purpose, with or without modification.
* David Gervais' (32x32) graphics may be redistributed, modified, and used only under the terms of the `Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/>`_ licence.
* Shockbolt's (64x64) graphics are distributed under the following licence:
The Shockbolt Angband 64x64/128x64 tileset is copyright (C) Raymond Gaustadnes 2012. It can be found in the file lib/tiles/shockbolt/64x64.png.
Permission is granted to:
* use the tileset with in-development and released versions of Angband
* distribute and make copies of the tileset with in-development and released versions of Angband, as long as no fee is charged for it
* incorporate tiles designed by the author for variants of Angband and use and distribute them with Angband under the terms above
Permission is not granted to:
* modify the tileset without the author's permission.
* incorporate tiles designed for ToME that do not appear in the Angband tileset.
* use or distribute the tileset with other games or projects. If you want to use and distribute the tileset with other games or projects, you must obtain explicit permission from the author. Non-commercial games or projects may be granted permission to use them, and if so, use will be allowed as long as the game or project remains non-commercial. To use them in commercial games, a non-exclusive licence must be acquired from the author.
Currently some of the tiles in the 64x64.png tilesheet were resized from tiles made by David Gervais for the 32x32 set.
* The sounds are licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. They were created by Dubtrain <angband@dubtrain.com>. You can find them in Wave format at http://www.dubtrain.com/angband/.
* The font files are all by Leon Marrick and/or Sheldon Simms III and/or Nick McConnell, all of whom have agreed to their Angband work being released under the GPL.
It is considered good practice to retain this statement for derivatives, rather than (e.g.) redistributing Adam Bolt's tiles under the GPL, or choosing to make a variant which is only under one of the Angband or GPL licences. This allows easier sharing of changes between variants.
======= Credits ======= This version of FAangband is based heavily on `Angband`_, so everyone mentioned there is a contributor. For specific contributions to FAangband, thanks go to: * Arralen * backwardsEric * Blinkhog * Cuboideb (Diego Gonzalez) * David Medley * dhouseholder * EugeneLesnov * Gwarl * HolyRage * Ingwe Ingweron * jevansau * kheldar * Kodiologist * MITZE * Rodent/Sideways/sulkasormi * Sacksquatch * Shaun Lemonds * swim * tg122 * Thraalbee * wobbly and Luke McConnell as always for both coming up with ridiculous ideas and torpedoing my ridiculous ideas. .. _Angband: https://angband.readthedocs.io/en/latest/thanks.html
Original Keyset Command Summary
===============================
^ followed by a letter is an abbreviation for pressing and releasing
the letter key with the control key also depressed. You may also press
and release ^ and then press and release the letter key to activate the
same command in case your system intercepts the control plus key
combination and does not pass it on. The autoexplore_commands option
modifies the '<', '>', and 'p' commands. When that option is off (the
default, except in the browser version), the commands act as described
below. When that option is on, '<' or '>' will use the staircase at the
player's location if it is the appropriate kind of staircase or will walk
to the nearest known staircase of the appropriate kind and take it on
arrival (a disturbance stops the walk; press the key again to go on).
'p' explores: it walks to the nearest unexplored place and keeps going
until a monster comes into view, something new happens (a message) or
a key is pressed. It opens doors and clears rubble on the way, but never
picks a lock ("A locked door blocks the way"; the next 'p' goes elsewhere).
a Aim a wand A Activate an object
b Browse a book B -
c Close a door C Character description
d Drop an item D Disarm a trap or lock a door
e List equipped items E Eat some food
f Fire an item F Fuel your lantern/torch
g Get objects on floor G Gain new spells/prayers
h Fire default ammo at target H -
i List contents of pack I Inspect an item
j - J -
k Ignore an item K Toggle ignore
l Look around L Locate player on map
m Cast a spell M Display map of entire level
n Repeat previous command N -
o Open a door or chest O -
p - (see above) P -
q Quaff a potion Q Retire character & quit
r Read a scroll R Rest for a period
s Steal from a monster (rogues) S Interact with specialties
t Take off equipment T Dig a tunnel
u Use a staff U Use an item
v Throw an item V Display version info
w Wear/wield equipment W Walk into a trap
x - X -
y - Y -
z Zap a rod Z -
! Change shape (Beornings) ^a (special - debug command)
@ - ^b -
# Check time ^c (special - break)
$ Move house ^d -
% - ^e Toggle inven/equip window
^ (special - control key) ^f Repeat level feeling
& - ^g Do autopickup
* Target monster or location ^h -
( - ^i (special - tab)
) Dump screen to a file ^j (special - linefeed)
{ Inscribe an object ^k -
} Uninscribe an object ^l Center map
[ Display visible monster list ^m (special - return)
] Display visible object list ^n -
- - ^o Show previous message
_ - ^p Show previous messages
+ Alter grid, set monster trap ^q -
= Set options ^r Redraw the screen
; Walk (with pickup) ^s Save and don't quit
: Take notes ^t -
' Target closest monster ^u -
" Enter a user pref command ^v -
, Stay still (with pickup) ^w (special - wizard mode)
< Go up staircase (see above) ^x Save and quit
. Run ^y -
> Go down staircase (see above) ^z -
\ (special - bypass keymap) ~ Check knowledge
` (special - escape) ? Display help
/ Identify symbol
| List contents of quiver
Roguelike Keyset Command Summary
================================
^ followed by a letter is an abbreviation for pressing and releasing
the letter key with the control key also depressed. You may also press
and release ^ and then press and release the letter key to activate the
same command in case your system intercepts the control plus key
combination and does not pass it on. The autoexplore_commands option
modifies the '<', '>', and 'p' commands. When that option is off (the
default, except in the browser version), the commands act as described
below. When that option is on, '<' or '>' will use the staircase at the
player's location if it is the appropriate kind of staircase or will walk
to the nearest known staircase of the appropriate kind and take it on
arrival (a disturbance stops the walk; press the key again to go on).
'p' explores: it walks to the nearest unexplored place and keeps going
until a monster comes into view, something new happens (a message) or
a key is pressed. It opens doors and clears rubble on the way, but never
picks a lock ("A locked door blocks the way"; the next 'p' goes elsewhere).
a Zap a rod (Activate) A Activate an object
b (walk - south west) B (run - south west)
c Close a door C Character description
d Drop an item D Disarm a trap or lock a door
e List equipped items E Eat some food
f - F Fuel your lantern/torch
g Get objects on floor G Gain new spells/prayers
h (walk - west) H (run - west)
i List contents of pack I Inspect an item
j (walk - south) J (run - south)
k (walk - north) K (run - north)
l (walk - east) L (run - east)
m Cast a spell M Display map of entire level
n (walk - south east) N (run - south east)
o Open a door or chest O Toggle ignore
p - (see above) P Browse a book
q Quaff a potion Q Retire character & quit
r Read a scroll R Rest for a period
s Steal from a monster (rogues) S Interact with specialties
t Fire an item T Take off equipment
u (walk - north east) U (run - north east)
v Throw an item V Display version info
w Wear/wield equipment W Locate player on map (Where)
x Look around X Use an item
y (walk - north west) Y (run - north west)
z Aim a wand (Zap) Z Use a staff (Zap)
! Change shape (Beornings) ^a (special - debug command)
@ Center map ^b (alter - south west)
# Check time ^c (special - break)
$ Move house ^d Ignore an item
% - ^e Toggle inven/equip window
^ (special - control key) ^f Repeat level feeling
& - ^g Do autopickup
* Target monster or location ^h (alter - west)
( - ^i (special - tab)
) Dump screen to a file ^j (alter - south)
{ Inscribe an object ^k (alter - north)
} Uninscribe an object ^l (alter - east)
[ Display visible monster list ^m (special - return)
] Display visible object list ^n (alter - south east)
- Walk into a trap ^o Show previous message
_ - ^p Show previous messages
+ Alter grid, set monster trap ^q -
= Set options ^r Redraw the screen
; Walk (with pickup) ^s Save and don't quit
: Take notes ^t Dig a tunnel
' Target closest monster ^u (alter - north east)
" Enter a user pref command ^v Repeat previous command
, Run ^w (special - wizard mode)
< Go up staircase (see above) ^x Save and quit
. Stay still (with pickup) ^y (alter - north west)
> Go down staircase (see above) ^z -
\ (special - bypass keymap) ~ Check knowledge
` (special - escape) ? Display help
/ Identify symbol
TAB Fire default ammo at target
| List contents of quiver
Symbols On Your Map
===================
Symbols on your map can be broken down into three categories: Features of
the dungeon such as walls, floor, doors, and traps; Objects which can be
picked up such as treasure, weapons, magical devices, etc; and creatures
which may or may not move about the dungeon, but are mostly harmful to your
character's well being.
Some symbols are used to represent more than one type of entity, and some
symbols are used to represent entities in more than one category. The "@"
symbol (by default) is used to represent the character.
It will not be necessary to remember all of the symbols and their meanings.
The "slash" command ('/') will identify any character appearing on your
map (see 'commands.txt').
Note that you can use a "user pref file" to change any of these symbols to
something you are more comfortable with.
Features that do not block line of sight
----------------------------------------
. A floor space 1 Entrance to General Store
. A trap (hidden) 2 Entrance to Armoury
^ A trap (known) 3 Entrance to Weapon Smith
; A glyph of warding 4 Entrance to Bookseller
' An open door 5 Entrance to Alchemy Shop
' A broken door 6 Entrance to Magic Shop
< A staircase up 7 Entrance to the Black Market
> A staircase down 8 Entrance to your Home
# A pool of lava
Features that block line of sight
---------------------------------
# A secret door # A wall
+ A closed door % A mineral vein
+ A locked door * A mineral vein with treasure
: A pile of rubble : A pile of passable rubble
Objects
-------
! A potion (or flask) / A pole-arm
? A scroll (or book) | An edged weapon
, A mushroom (or food) \ A hafted weapon
- A wand or rod } A sling, bow, or x-bow
_ A staff { A shot, arrow, or bolt
= A ring ( Soft armour
" An amulet [ Hard armour
$ Gold or gems ] Misc. armour
~ Lights, Tools, Chests, etc ) A shield
& Multiple items
Monsters
--------
$ Creeping Coins , Mushroom Patch
a Giant Ant A Ainu
b Giant Bat B Bird
c Giant Centipede C Canine (Dog)
d Dragon D Ancient Dragon
e Floating Eye E Elemental
f Feline (Cat) F Dragon Fly
g Golem G Ghost
h Humanoid H Hybrid
i Icky-Thing I Insect
j Jelly J Snake
k Kobold K Killer Beetle
l Tree/Ent L Lich
m Mold M Multi-Headed Hydra
n Naga N -
o Orc O Ogre
p Human "person" P Giant "person"
q Quadruped Q Quylthulg (Pulsing Flesh Mound)
r Rodent R Reptile/Amphibian
s Skeleton S Spider/Scorpion/Tick
t Townsperson T Troll
u Minor Demon U Major Demon
v Vortex V Vampire
w Worm or Worm Mass W Wight/Wraith
x - X Xorn/Xaren
y Yeek Y Yeti
z Zombie/Mummy Z Zephyr Hound