The Newbie Guide
Welcome to PosChengband! This guide will attempt to give you a quick
overview of the game and get you started on your path to slay the
dreaded Serpent of Chaos.
Overview
PosChengband is a single player role playing game where you, the brave
adventurer, attempt to save the world by defeating evil monsters
including, eventually, the Serpent of Chaos. The road is long, and the
path is treacherous. Many have tried and failed, and the dungeons are
littered with the bones of would be heroes. Do you have what it takes
to succeed where so many others have failed? If so, read on.
Creating a Character
Your first step will be to create your character. Since you are new to
the game, I suggest you choose Beginner Mode at the initial prompt.
This will greatly limit the complexity of the character creation
process and also remove the wilderness option. After playing a few
characters to get an idea of how to play, you can start a new character
in Normal Mode to view all the options as well as enable the
wilderness. Hey, it's not like your first character is going to win
anyway!
After choosing Beginner Mode, the game is going to walk you through
creating your character. You can refer to [a] for more detailed info,
but the basics are that you will choose a sex, a race and a class and
then roll for stats. While your sex is not important (to the game),
your race and class are key to everything that follows. Normally, the
game has a vast (overwhelming?) array of choices that offer myriad,
diverse playstyles, and it can take a while to even learn what is
available. For now, we'll consider a few basic playstyles in order to
get you going.
The easiest style is 'Hack and Slash' and it is the essence of the
warrior. Almost any race will make a good one, but you might consider
trying a High-Elf or a Hobbit. Both are stealthy and have good magic
skills that will assist the warriors weak points. But if you really
want to turn on the melee power, nothing beats a Half-Troll. Be warned:
Trolls are ugly and stupid, not to mention widely hated. Shopkeepers
are loath to sell to one as ugly as you so you'll have a harder time
shopping. You can compensate by going on a killing rampage, which is
more fun anyway. As a warrior, there isn't much strategy: simply find
monsters and kill them! Look for better armor and weapons. Perhaps you
can shoot a crossbow for a little bit of distance damage but your
mainstay will be hand to hand combat. For stats, you'll want to start
with 17 in both Strength and Dexterity and can ignore everything else.
Another style is to take the stealthy approach and play a rogue. Again,
Hobbits and High-Elves are good for beginners. You'll want good
fighting stats (Strength and Dexterity) as before, but this time, you
also have the ability to cast magic spells. And while magic is not your
forte, it eventually becomes very useful, so you'll want a decent
Intelligence as well. (Every spellcaster has a primary stat for
purposes of casting spells, and you can find this information out by
reading the various class descriptions during the birth process, or by
refering to the help files). Now you can't just roll 17 for every stat
you need, so you'll need to be less greedy. I'd go with 16 for each, or
perhaps 17 for Str and Dex and 14 for Int. Play around to see what you
can get from the auto-roller. Also, once you pick your class, you'll
need to pick a spell realm as well. Try Sorcery or, better yet,
Burglary. Both have good detection but Burglary is uniquely designed
for rogues allowing the player to do things like set traps and pick
pockets. Fun stuff!
Finally, you can play with Magic as your forte as a mage. Gnomes and
High-Elves are excellent choices here (Some would say that High-Elves
are a munchkin race!). But magic takes some time to get good with, so I
don't recommend this right away unless you are a patient person. Pick
Chaos and then Sorcery for your spell realms and then roll a 17
Intelligence and a high Strength as well (say 15 or more). You'll need
the Strength to carry goodies that you find in the dungeon. The Chaos
realm gives good offense while Sorcery complements that with utility.
We'll discuss these three styles more as we proceed through this guide.
Equipping for Danger
Once you have completed the birth process, you will find yourself in
the town on the surface. Since you picked Beginner Mode, there will be
no wilderness to explore. In this case, the only reason to return to
the surface is to buy and sell equipment in the town. When you start,
you have some initial gear that varies with your class, and it should
already be equipped for you. You also have a small amount of gold which
you can use to augment your supplies for that first trip into danger.
So, what do you see at first?
LEVEL 1 ..................................................................
EXP 6 ..................................................................
AU 228 ################################.################################.
################################.#################################
STR : 18/10 #####.......................................................######
INT : 18/30 ####+.......................................................+#####
WIS : 11 #####.......................................................######
DEX : 18/50 ####.........###0###..####+####...####+####..###+###.........#####
CON : 11 #+#...#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####...#+##
CHR : 12 ......#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####......#
AC 7 ......##+##..###9###..####3####...####6####..###4###..##+##......#
HP 43/ 43 .................................................................#
......................................f..........................#
.................................................................#
@[*********] ................................>@................................
,[*********] .................................................................#
.................................................................#
.................................................................#
......##1##..###7###..####2####...####5####..###8###..##+##......#
......#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####......#
#+#...#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####...#+##
####.........###+###..####+####...####+####..#######.........#####
#####.......................................................######
#####.......................................................+#####
#####.......................................................######
Town
Well, that @ in the center of the screen is you for starters. Also,
those # characters are walls and you can see they are shaped into
buildings for the various shops. Each building has a number or '+'
character that you may enter by moving onto that square. Each number
stands for a different type of shop. You can move about with the arrow
keys and look about with the l command followed by the arrow keys. That
f is a monster and you should look at it with the l command to see if
it seems threatening:
The Scrawny cat ('f')/('f'): [r,q,t,p,o,+,-,<dir>]
No battles to the death are recalled.
A skinny little furball with sharp claws and a menacing look.
It lives in the town, and moves a bit erratically at normal speed. Nothing is
known about its attack.
Hmmm, probably no need to worry about Ms. Kitty.
If you are playing a mage, your first order of business is to learn a
new spell (G to Gain a spell). At first level, you can only learn one,
so make it count. I recommend learning Magic Missile first, assuming
you followed my advice and chose the Chaos realm. As a mage, you really
need to use magic to kill stuff so your first spell has to be something
offensive. Later on, when you are more experienced, you may pick Detect
Monsters from the Sorcery realm. To cast a spell, use the magic command
(m) and follow the instructions. Not every class can learn a spell
right away, however. A rogue, for example, must reach level 5 (CL5) in
order to learn their first spell.
Next, you should shop for gear. I recommend buying some means of
escape, such as scrolls of teleport or phase door from the Alchemy Shop
(5). Also, you will want some means of healing from the Temple (4). If
you are playing a rogue, try to buy a sling and some ammo (pebbles or
shots) from the Weapon Smiths (3). When you enter a store, you will see
a list of inventory as well as a list of commands to use. Simply follow
the instructions to make a purchase.
Eddie Beast-Master (Snotling) Weapon Smiths (25000)
Item Description Weight Price
a) ? 2 Books of Kendo [Yagyuu Bugeichou] 3.0 1510
b) | a Dagger (1d4) (+1,+2) 1.2 230
c) | a Bastard Sword (3d4) (+0,+0) 14.0 720
d) / a Trident (1d8) (+0,+0) 7.0 267
e) / a Broad Spear (1d9) (+3,+2) 10.0 926
f) } a Sling (x2) (+0,+0) 0.5 54
g) } a Short Bow (x3) (+0,+0) 3.0 122
h) } 2 Light Crossbows (x4) (+0,+0) 11.0 489
i) { 26 Bolts (1d5) (+0,+0) 0.3 3
j) { 36 Rounded Pebbles (1d2) (+0,+0) 0.4 2
k) { 17 Iron Shots (1d3) (+0,+0) 0.5 3
Gold Remaining: 231
You may:
ESC) Exit from Building. p) Purchase an item i/e) Inventry/Equipment
s) Sell an item w/t) Wear/Take off equi
x) eXamine an item b) Buyout store
After buying something, it will be added to your pack. Use the i
command to view your pack:
Inventory: carrying 39.2 pounds (30% of capacity). Command:
LEVEL 1 ... a) ? a Thieves' Guide [Burglar's Handbook] {@ma!k} 3.0 lb
EXP 6 ... b) , 6 Rations of Food 6.0 lb
AU 126 ### c) ~ 3 Wooden Torches (with 2500 turns of light) 9.0 lb
### d) } a Sling (x2) (+0,+0) 0.5 lb
STR : 18/10 ### e) { 17 Iron Shots (1d3) (+0,+0) 8.5 lb
INT : 18/30 ###
WIS : 11 #####.......................................................######
DEX : 18/50 ####.........###0###..####+####...####+####..###+###.........#####
CON : 11 #+#...#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####...#+##
CHR : 12 ......#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####......#
AC 7 ......##+##..###9###..####@####...####6####..###4###..##+##......#
HP 43/ 43 .................................................................#
.................................................................#
.................................................................#
@[*********] ................................>.................................
,[*********] .................................................................#
.................................................................#
.................................................................#
......##1##..###7###..####2####...####5####..###8###..##+##......#
......#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####......#
#+#...#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####...#+##
####.........###+###..####+####...####+####..#######.........#####
#####.......................................................######
#####.......................................................+#####
#####.......................................................######
Town
In my case, I bought a sling and some ammo (Each type of missile weapon
uses a corresponding type of ammo. Obviously, arrows are for bows and
bolts are for crossbows, so they wouldn't work with my sling!). Now the
sling is doing me no good in my pack: I need to equip it first in order
to use it in combat, and I do this with the w command, after which is
it visible in the equipment list which can be viewed with the e
command.
Equipment: carrying 39.2 pounds (30% of capacity). Command:
LEVEL a) | Right Hand: a Dagger (1d4) (+0,+0) 1.2 lb
EXP b) Left Hand :
AU c) } Shooting : a Sling (x2) (+0,+0) 0.5 lb
d) Right Ring:
STR : 1 e) Left Ring :
INT : 1 f) Neck :
WIS : g) ~ Light : a Wooden Torch (with 2442 turns of light) 3.0 lb
DEX : 1 h) ( Body : Soft Leather Armour [4,+0] 8.0 lb
CON : i) Cloak :
CHR : j) Head :
AC k) Hands :
HP 43/ l) Feet :
.................................................................#
@[*********] ................................>.................................
,[*********] .................................................................#
.................................................................#
.................................................................#
......##1##..###7###..####2####...####5####..###8###..##+##......#
......#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####......#
#+#...#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####...#+##
####.........###+###..####+####...####+####..#######.........#####
#####.......................................................######
#####.......................................................+#####
#####.......................................................######
Town
To shoot something simply fire (f) one of your bolts and see if you
hit:
You have 16 Iron Shots (1d3) (+0,+0) (4/5). That was rather
LEVEL 1 dishonorable. The Iron Shot (1d3) (+0,+0) (4/5) hits the Scrawny
EXP 6 cat. The Scrawny cat mewls pitifully. The Scrawny cat flees in
AU 126 terror!
################################.#################################
STR : 18/10 #####.......................................................######
INT : 18/30 ####+.......................................................+#####
WIS : 11 #####.......................................................######
DEX : 18/50 ####.........###0###..####+####...####+####..###+###.........#####
CON : 11 #+#...#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####...#+##
CHR : 12 ......#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####......#
AC 7 ......##+##..###9###..####3####...####6####..###4###..##+##......#
HP 43/ 43 .......................................f.........................#
..............................@.......{..........................#
.................................................................#
@[*********] ................................>.................................
,[*********] .................................................................#
f[*--------] .................................................................#
.................................................................#
......##1##..###7###..####2####...####5####..###8###..##+##......#
......#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####......#
#+#...#####..#######..#########...#########..#######..#####...#+##
####.........###+###..####+####...####+####..#######.........#####
#####.......................................................######
#####.......................................................+#####
#####.......................................................######
Town
Sorry about that, Ms. Kitty! She's not dead yet, but will be shortly. I
want you to notice a few things. First, as you play the game, notice
that messages will be displayed in the top region of the screen. Back
when I was a youngster, the game only had a single message line, and we
hapless players were plagued with -more- prompts out the wazoo, not to
mention sore fingers from all the extra keypresses! You may still get a
-more- from time to time. If you do, simply press SPACE when you are
finished reading and the next batch of output will be displayed. The
messages will clear automatically after you enter your next command, so
make sure you are done reading before pressing any keys. You can always
review messages with the Previous Messages command (CTRL+P).
Next, on the left hand side of the screen you can see 3 status bars.
The first one (@[*********]) is for the player's hp. It is full since I
haven't been hurt yet. The second one (,[*********]) displays my food
status. I'm not hungry yet, so this one is full as well. Both of these
are optional (and the food one in particular might not interest you).
But the third one (f[*--------]) is very important. It tracks your
current target, or the monster you most recently damaged. In this case,
it shows me the health of Ms. Kitty, and you can see she is in some
pretty dire straits.
Finally, notice my shot ({) laying on the ground next to Ms. Kitty.
Sometimes your missile ammo will break on impact, but if it doesn't
you'll want to go gather it up after you are done fighting. You can
pickup objects by moving on top of them and using the get command (g).
Killing cats is fun, but it is time to move on. If you have money left
over, go to the General Store (1) and buy a lantern and some oil.
Lanterns cast more light than torches and allow you to see further in
the dark. Sell your starting torches. Oh, and be sure to equip your
lantern to actually use it (w to wear an item).
Of course, it's possible that these items will not be available in the
stores. The stores will "refresh" themselves every so often, getting
rid of old items and buying new ones. If you ever find that there's
something you need which the stores don't currently have, you can come
back a bit later. However, to prevent town scumming, the stores won't
actually restock unless you do a bit of adventuring first.
Hopefully, you managed all of this without too much trouble from the
locals (t), but occasionally the townsfolk will interact with you. This
may be simply annoying, as there are plenty of drunks about, but it can
also be dangerous as urchins have been known to steal gold and you look
like an easy mark. You can attack a monster by simply moving into it,
assuming you have a weapon equipped. If you are playing a mage, you
should learn your Magic Missile spell first (G allows you to Gain a
spell) and fight with that instead (m allows you to cast a magic
spell).
My First Trip Down
Since this is the 'Beginner' mode, there is only one dungeon to enter.
The > character represents the entrance to a dungeon. >, in general
refers to stairs down, but dungeon entrances > and quest entrances >
are color coded to stand out. Similarly, < refers to stairs up. By some
cosmic accident, these are also the keys you press to take the stairs:
> to go down and < to go up. What could be easier to remember? So move
to the stairs down to Angband and enter the dungeon!
As you walk about, beware of monsters and use the look command (l)
together with the recall option (r) to get a verbose monster
description. For example:
The Soldier ant ('a')/('a'): [r,q,t,p,o,+,-,?,<dir>]
Your ancestors have killed at least 1 of these creatures.
A large ant with powerful mandibles.
It is normally found on dungeon level 1, won't be found deeper than dungeon
level 10, and moves at normal speed. A kill of this natural creature is worth
about 1.50 points for a 2nd level character. Nothing is known about its
attack.
DEX : 18/50
CON : 11
CHR : 12
AC 7
HP 47/ 47
@[*********]
,[*********] #######+##+######+##.####
a[*********] #................R......#
#.......................#
#.......................#
#.............a.........#
#.......................#
#............@..........#
#.......................#
#.......................#
#########################
Angband: L1
In this case, a previous character had encountered and slain a soldier
ant, so I have some basic knowledge of this type of monster. This
illustrates what the game calls Monster Memory. As you battle monsters,
you learn more about them, and the game tracks your knowledge for you.
All of the memory is retained in your savefile so that future
characters may benefit. After killing a foe, you can recall details of
your glory with the / command, followed by the letter representing the
monster (a in this case) and then follow the prompts to choose the
recall option. Notice that the description updates.
At this point, you basically explore the current level. You can walk
back to town at any time by going back up those stairs you just
descended. You can also find new stairs down to deeper depths.
Basically, the deeper you go, the more difficult things become, so
you'll want to take it easy on the stairs at first.
So, walk around a bit and kill stuff. Don't worry too much about dying
as it will probably happen quite a bit at first. And if it does, the
next time you load this savefile the birth process will give you an
extra option to Quick Start this character, which basically skips the
entire birth process and rolls a character identical to the last one.
So it's easy to start up again after you die. (See, we streamline the
common cases :)
So, I will continue to play a bit. You can just sit back and watch! ...
Oops, I think I'm in trouble:
The Novice warrior attacks you: He hits. He hits. He hits.
LEVEL 2 The Novice warrior attacks you: He hits. He hits. You stand your
EXP 24 ground! He hits. *** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! *** Press Space to
AU 144 continue.
STR : 18/10
INT : 18/30 #%###################
WIS : 11 +...................#
DEX : 18/50 %...................#
CON : 11 ....................#
CHR : 12 #.......<...........#
AC 6 #...................#
HP 10/ 47 #%##.################
#.#
#.#
@[**-------] %%%%#%%##%%.#%#####%
,[********-] %!.................#
p[***------] %........p.........%
%.....CC@.........~%
%..................#
%..............j...#
%..................#
%..................%
%%#%%%%%%##.####%+%%
Angband: L2
Notice my 10 hp? Well, if my hp go below 0, I am dead. Also notice the
very loud *** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***? This is to make sure you
notice when you are in trouble. The game even forces me to press SPACE
before continuing. Really, I think I am about to die!
The Novice warrior attacks you: He hits. What a noble sacrifice!
LEVEL 2
EXP 23
AU 144
STR : 18/10
INT : 18/30 #%###################
WIS : 11 +...................#
DEX : 18/50 %...................#
CON : 11 ....................#
CHR : 12 #.......<...........#
AC 6 #...................#
HP -3/ 47 #%##.################
#.#
#.#
@[*--------] %%%%#%%##%%.#%#####%
,[********-] %!.................#
%..................%
%.....C@p.........~%
%..................#
%..............j...#
%..................#
%..................%
%%#%%%%%%##.####%+%%
Angband: L2
Ouch! That really hurt!
Goodbye, Filcher! -more-
_______________________
/ \ ___
/ \ ___ / \ ___
/ RIP \ \ : : / \
/ \ : _;,,,;_ : :
/ Filcher \,;_ _;,,,;_
| the | ___
| Cutpurse | / \
| | : :
| Rogue | _;,,,;_ ____
| Level: 2 | / \
| Exp: 36 | : :
| AU: 144 | : :
| Killed on Level 2 | _;,,,,;_
| by a Novice warrior. |
| |
| Tue Sep 22 14:41:58 2015 |
*| * * * * * * | *
________)/\\_)_/___(\/___(//_\)/_\//__\\(/_|_)_______
But never fear, I can quickly start over. Notice the new birth option:
Do you want to use the quick start function(same character as your last one).
Use quick start? [y/N]
Choosing y immediately recreates a new character with the same race,
class and stats as the old one and immediately places me back in town.
This is a brand new character, so any objects I acquired (like that
sling) are gone, and I have no experience. However, my monster memory
survives, so I don't have to memorize all the monsters as you encounter
them.
Go ahead an play a bit. At this point, the tutorial is over and I'll
just give some basic tidbits about the game.
Tidbits
Every monster uses a unique ASCII character that sort of tells you what
it is. For example, rats use the letter 'r' while orcs use the letter
'o'. When you see a character you don't understand, press l to look at
it. If it is a monster, you can then press r to recall information
about it, including a description that will give you more information.
Other characters like '/' and '!' represent objects that you may pick
up (g to get) and then use.
How you use an object will depend upon its type. Some common examples
are:
Char Object Usage
==== ============== =========================================================
, Food E to eat it. Do this whenever you feel hungry.
! Potion q to quaff it. Try to identify the potion first.
? Scroll r to read it.
? Spellbook b to browse it. G to gain a spell. m to cast.
- Wand a to aim it.
- Rod z to zap it.
_ Staff u to use it.
~ Lantern w to wear it. F to refill it with oil.
/ Polearm w to wield it.
\ Hafted Weapon w to wield it.
| Sword w to wield it.
( Soft Armor w to wear it.
[ Hard Armor w to wear it.
] Misc. Armor w to wear it.
If you want to know what a specific symbol stands for, type /, and then
the symbol. For instance, if you're wondering what all the t's are,
type /t, and the game will tell you that these are townspeople. You can
also look at an item, feature, or monster. While looking, pressing
space or enter will cycle through the different interesting things in
view. There is also a full map function: type M. It will bring up a map
of the entire area. Finally, if you type L, you can scroll the
(full-zoom) map around the dungeon. In general, you can use M to find
areas that look interesting and L to look at them in detail.
From here on we'll be giving detailed dungeon survival information.
Some of it is intuitive, and some of it you aren't likely to find out
without a lot of deaths first. If you want to experience the painful
learning process in all it's glory, don't read further. If, however,
you're sick and tired of dying, read ahead.
On Weapons and Multiple Blows
Some characters will start the game being able to get multiple blows
per round with their weapon when attacking. Whether or not you get more
blows than this later in the game will be determined by your class,
your weapon weight, your Strength, and your Dexterity. Check your
Character Sheet (type C):
Name : Filcher ========== Stats ==========
Sex : Male STR : 18/20
Personality: Ordinary INT : 18
Race : High-Elf WIS : 9
Subrace : None DEX : 18/50
Class : Rogue CON : 11
Realm : Burglary CHR : 14
Level : 1 HP : 43/43
Cur Exp : 0 SP : 0/0
Max Exp : 0 AC : 7
Adv Exp : 23 Speed: +0
========== Skills =========
Gold : 341 Melee : Excellent
Kills : 0 Ranged : Excellent
Uniques : 0 SavingThrow: Excellent
Artifacts : 0+0 Stealth : Superb
Perception : Very Good
Game Day : 1 Searching : Good
Game Time : 6:01 Disarming : Excellent
Play Time : 00:00 Device : Superb
And then either scroll down to the Melee section, or press m to
navigate more quickly:
Hand #1: a Dagger (1d4) (+0,+0) Accuracy
Weight : 1.2 lbs AC Hit
Profic : Beginner (+0 To Hit) 25 75%
To Hit : 0 + 5 = 5 50 55%
To Dam : 0 + 3 = 3 75 34%
Blows : 2.74 100 13%
Damage 125 5%
Crits : 1.00x (0.7%) 150 5%
Normal : 14 (10-19) [1.00x] 175 5%
200 5%
In my case, this is a newborn adventurer still using his starting
dagger. But you'll notice that he is getting multiple blows per round,
2.74 in this case. What could that possibly mean? Actually, it's rather
simple: 74% of the time I will get 3 attacks per round while 26% of the
time, only 2. How is that number determined and what can I do to make
it bigger? Good questions! The melee calculation is a little
complicated, but basically it depends on the weapon and how heavy it
is, your stats and how strong and dextrous you are, and your class.
Rogues often get extra blows quicker, especially with lighter weapons.
This is because their class favors light weapons such as daggers, and
the game encourages this. Most other characters won't start with so
many attacks. And you'll notice that while I get 2.74 attacks per
round, my damage is rather pathetic (14 damage per round).
The Weapon Info screen also displays melee accuracy. Of course, you
won't hit every time you swing. Accuracy depends on you skill with the
weapon as well as its magical bonuses, if any. It also depends on your
fighting skill (Shown on the initial Character Sheet above under the
Skills section for Melee. My Melee skill is 'Excellent' in this case)
which increases with stats (Strength and Dexterity) as well as
experience (Level). All of this competes against the monster's armor
class (AC). Basically, some monsters are harder to hit than others.
Dragons are notoriously tough skinned, for example.
You may also see detailed information on your missile weapon in your
character sheet. It is displayed right after the melee section
(provided you are actually wielding a shooter), and can be quickly
navigated to by pressing s:
Shooting: a Sling (x2) (+0,+0)
Range : 160'
Shots : 1.30
Mult : 2.06x
To Hit : 0 + 5 = 5
To Dam : 0 (Multiplier Applies)
Xtra Dam: 0 (Multiplier Does Not Apply)
Ammo #1 : 30 Rounded Pebbles (1d2) (+0,+0) (3/3) AC Hit
Weight : 0.4 lbs 50 62%
To Hit : 0 + 5 = 5 100 28%
To Dam : 0 + 0 = 0 (Multiplier Applies) 150 5%
Damage 175 5%
Crits : 1.00x 200 5%
Normal : 3 (2-5) [2.06x]
In this case, you see I get multiple shots, but ranged combat works a
bit differently than melee combat. Rather than taking all of your
allowed shots in a single round, you take one at a time, but the game
charges you less than the full amount of energy per shot. I haven't
explained the speed system yet, but suffice it to say that less energy
per action means you move faster, and can do more before any nearby
monsters get a chance to act.
These two screens, Weapon Info and Shooter Info, will become more and
more useful to you as you play the game. Don't worry if you don't
understand everything displayed on them at the moment.
On Armor and Resistance
We just saw how monsters have this attribute called armor class, and
how this makes them harder to hit. Similarly, the player has an armor
class which is determined by the armor they are currently wearing as
well as their dexterity. In addition to making you harder to hit, AC
also actually reduces the damage from certain types of melee attacks,
so it is a very important attribute that you will want to increase as
much as possible. If every you find yourself getting destroyed in
melee, you'll want to look for better AC from your gear.
Here is my Character Screen where you can see my starting AC:
Name : Filcher ========== Stats ==========
Sex : Male STR : 18/20
Personality: Ordinary INT : 18
Race : High-Elf WIS : 9
Subrace : None DEX : 18/50
Class : Rogue CON : 11
Realm : Burglary CHR : 14
Level : 1 HP : 43/43
Cur Exp : 0 SP : 0/0
Max Exp : 0 AC : 7
Adv Exp : 23 Speed: +0
========== Skills =========
Gold : 341 Melee : Excellent
Kills : 0 Ranged : Excellent
Uniques : 0 SavingThrow: Excellent
Artifacts : 0+0 Stealth : Superb
Perception : Very Good
Game Day : 1 Searching : Good
Game Time : 6:01 Disarming : Excellent
Play Time : 00:00 Device : Superb
In addition to AC, though, the player has a very important set of
resistances. Or, in this case, rather a lack of resistances. Scroll
down to the equipment section of your character sheet, or press e to
navigate more quickly. Here you get to see, in all its gritty detail,
how woefully inadequate your starting character actually is. Here is my
screen:
[Character Sheet, Line 26/286]
============================= Character Equipment =============================
a) a Dagger (1d4) (+0,+0)
h) Soft Leather Armour [4,+0]
| ( | (
Resistances abcdefghijkl@ Abilities abcdefghijkl@
Acid : ............. 0% Speed : .............
Electricity: ............. 0% Free Act : .............
Fire : ............. 0% See Invis : ............+
Cold : ............. 0% Warning : .............
Poison : ............. 0% Slow Digest: .............
Light : ............+ 30% Regenerate : .............
Dark : ............. 0% Levitation : .............
Confusion : ............. 0% Perm Lite : .............
Nether : ............. 0% Reflection : .............
Nexus : ............. 0% Hold Life : .............
Sound : ............. 0% Dec Mana : .............
Shards : ............. 0% Easy Spell : .............
Chaos : ............. 0% Anti Magic : .............
Disenchantm: ............. 0% Magic Skill: .............
Time : ............. 0% Spell Power: .............
Blindness : ............. 0% Spell Cap : .............
Fear : ............. 0x Magic Res : .............
Infravision: ............+ 40'
| ( Stealth : .............
Auras abcdefghijkl@ Searching : .............
Aura Elec : .............
Aura Fire : ............. | (
Aura Cold : ............. Sustains abcdefghijkl@
Aura Shards: ............. Sust Str : .............
Revenge : ............. Sust Int : .............
Sust Wis : .............
| ( Sust Dex : .............
Slays abcdefghijkl@ Sust Con : .............
Slay Evil : ............. Sust Chr : .............
Slay Undead: .............
[Press ESC to exit. Press ? for help]
You'll notice a group of attributes for resistances and another for
miscellaneous abilities along with some additional groupings for Slays
and such. Let's just focus on Resistances for the time being.
So what is resistance and why should you care? Basically, monster
attacks often have an elemental flavor to them. Their damage has a
'type'. For example, a fire breathing dragon breathes ... well, fire!
And your fire resistance helps you withstand that particular type of
damage. Many damage types also have effects as well. Sticking with our
fiery example, this type of attack can destroy items in your pack,
especially scrolls and spellbooks. Your fire resistance helps out here
as well. Here is a short summary of attack types as well as when you'd
like to have resistance. Be warned that some monster attacks can be
very deadly, killing you in a single attack if you are unprepared!
Type Comment
==== =============================================================
Acid Destroys scrolls/staves. Damages armor. DL30.
Elec Destroys rings/wands and reduces Dex. DL30.
Fire Destroys scrolls/staves/spellbooks. DL20.
Cold Destroys potions. DL30.
Poison Known to instantly kill many an adventurer. DL40
Nexus Scrambles stats and teleports player. Not very damaging.
Confusion Confuses you so you can't act. DL30.
Paralysis Freezes the player so you lose turns. Get Free Action by DL30.
My character is not completely hopeless. Being a High-Elf, I begin with
Light Resistance (30%) and See Invisible. The latter allows me to see
ghosts and other invisible monsters. Without it, I wouldn't be able to
see when certain monsters attack me, which can be very annoying, not to
mention deadly. See Invisible (like Free Action) is one of the required
abilities that you will want as soon as possible.
And while your race can grant resistances and abilities, most of the
time these come from your gear. The 'abcd...' list across the top of
each column corresponds to my current equipment set, and the
corresponding item character is displayed if an item is actually
equipped in that slot (e.g. | for my dagger, which is categorized by
the game as a sword). So you can track your current resistances and
abilities here as well as see where you are getting a given attribute.
The '@' character corresponds to the player (displayed as an @,
remember?) and lists innate racial abilities, as well as temporarily
acquired magical enhancements (There might be a potion that grants
temporary resistance, for example).
In general, you will want to cover as many resistances as possible.
They are not so important early in the game, but as you descend deeper,
you will learn what you need and when. Abilities are often optional,
except for Free Action and See Invisible which you will want by DL20 if
possible. Hold Life starts to become desirable around DL35 or so. You
can play without it, but it's just to darn annoying!
Also note that resistances stack. If two items grant fire resistance,
your percentage resistance goes up (but not linearly). Multiple sources
of a given resistance also help to prevent many of the nasty side
effects for various damage types.
OK, I cannot help thinking that the starting character sheet is lame,
since every single attribute is empty. Here is a more interesting
sample from a Dragon character I am playing (Notice the different body
type? He is playing in Monster mode where you get to play as a monster
rather than a normal player):
[Character Sheet, Line 26/780]
============================= Character Equipment =============================
a) The Ring of Power (Narya) (+1) {A:Fire Ball}
b) a Ring of the Dwarves (-8,+18) (+2) {-Dx;Di}
c) The Ring of Tulkas (+4) {A:Heroic Speed, !!}
d) a Ring (Defender) [+16] {LiDkShBlCfSoCaFe;FaSiLv(Cn}
e) a Ring (Defender) [+3] {ShCa;FaSi(St}
f) a Ring of Speed (+11)
g) an Amulet (Defender) [+12] {AcElFiCoPo;FaSiLv}
h) The Feanorian Lamp of Shiva's Avatar (+6,+6) (+4)
{StWiChSl;AcLiSoNtDi;SiHlLu}
i) The Cloak of Jack of Shadows [1,+19] (+7)
j) The Golden Crown of Dragonkind (+5,+5) [0,+15] (+2) {Nx}
======"~(] ======"~(]
Resistances abcdefghij@ Abilities abcdefghij@
Acid : ......++.+* 100% Speed : +.+..+...++
Electricity: ......+..+. 65% Free Act : ++.++.+.+.+
Fire : *.....+..+. 100% See Invis : ++.++.+++.+
Cold : ......+..+. 65% Warning : ...........
Poison : ......+..+. 65% Slow Digest: +..........
Light : ...+...+... 40% Regenerate : ++.......+.
Dark : ...+....... 30% Levitation : ...+..+...+
Confusion : ...+......+ 40% Perm Lite : .......+...
Nether : .......+... 30% Reflection : ...........
Nexus : .........+. 30% Hold Life : .......+++.
Sound : ...+...+... 40% Dec Mana : ...........
Shards : ...++...... 40% Easy Spell : ...........
Chaos : ...++...... 40% Anti Magic : ...........
Disenchantm: .+.....+... 40% Magic Skill: ...........
Time : ........... 0% Spell Power: ...........
Blindness : .+.+......+ 45% Spell Cap : ...........
Fear : ...+......# 3x Magic Res : ...........
Infravision: ..........+ 50'
======"~(] Stealth : .-.....++..
Auras abcdefghij@ Searching : ........+..
[Press ESC to exit. Press ? for help]
Notice how the resistances stack, as well as how I have most of the
resistances covered? This character is almost ready to face The Serpent
of Chaos!
On Important Magical Items
Magical Items are an important part of every players repertoire, even
the warrior's. There are seveal types of magic that every player needs.
Teleporation and Escape
It is very easy to become surrounded, or cut off from a safe retreat.
Even the mightiest of warriors can become overwhelmed by sheer
numbers. And this doesn't even account for the fact that many
monsters can summon other monsters who can themselves summon other
monster summoning monsters. Things can go bad in a heart beat, and
when it does, you'll want to have a magical means of escape at the
ready.
Phase Door This is a short range teleport that usually won't get
you out of danger. It is useful for distance damage
tactics such as the Shoot 'n Scoot maneuver discussed
below.
Teleport A longer range escape that is the mainstay of most
retreats. However, this escape is a bit risky as you
may land in a worse situation than you started in.
Teleport Away This teleports all monsters in a line away, but many
monsters resist and some are immune. It is generally
useful for getting rid of a single troublesome
opponent while preserving your current position. It is
also essential for attempting to clear treasure
vaults.
Teleport Level This is the safest escape, moving you up or down an
entire dungeon level. You abandon the current level
and all of its goodies, although sometimes you can
find your way back through the new level's staircases.
Destruction This powerful spell removes everything (including
artifacts!) from the area around you, blasting the
surroundings and causing rock to fall from the
ceiling. If you're ever in deep trouble, this is a
good way to escape. However, even Destruction isn't
foolproof: monsters get a saving throw and can avoid
being removed. I recommend saving scrolls of
destruction for the final battle. You will need plenty
to deal with all of the Serpent's summons.
Healing and Recovery
During your adventures, things will hurt you. This cannot be avoided.
Fortunately, there are many magical potions that cure your wounds as
well as various status ailments like blindness, confusion and poison.
Cure Light Wounds Restores a small amount of hitpoints, perhaps 10
or so. And while it won't completely cure cuts,
it does reduce their effects (Cuts cause you to
bleed out, losing hitpoints every few turns). It
also cures blindness which is important since
you need to be able to see in order to read a
scroll or cast a spell from your spellbook (Not
to mention see who is attacking you!).
Cure Serious Wounds Restores a bit more hp, perhaps 20 or so. It
also cures blindness and confusion and reduces
your cut status.
Cure Critical Wounds Even better! It heals about 30 hp and cures most
ailments: blindness, confusion, cuts and stuns
are completely cured. So is poison.
The above three are readily available in the town at the Temple, and
you should stock up on them as much as possible. The following must
be found in the dungeon or purchased in the Black Market:
Curing Like Cure Critical Wounds, only better. It heals around
50hp and cures every status ailment excluding Fear. Even
Hallucination is cured which is often very welcome as the
mere sight of certain monsters is enough to trigger this
crippling effect.
Healing Big time hp recovery at about 300hp. Also, most status
ailments are cured except for fear and hallucination.
*Healing* Bigger time hp recovery at about 1000hp. Also, most status
ailments are cured except for fear and hallucination. These
potions are very rare and should be saved for the final two
battles.
Life Restores your stats, all your hp and removes all status
ailments except Fear. These potions are so rare, they
should be saved for the final battle.
Knowledge
When you find a new object, you generally won't know anything about
it. In order to learn about the objects you find, you need some means
of knowledge. Every player has an innate sense about some of the
objects they find and simply carrying the object around in your pack
for a while can give you a clue as to its worth. This ability is
called pseudo-id and is discussed elsewhere in the documentation. In
general, it only works on equipment such as weapons and armor,
although certain classes like Mages can sense the worth of rings and
amulets. I mention pseudo-id since it is your most important means of
knowledge in the early game. You can also learn what some objects are
by trying them out. For example, you can eat a newly found mushroom,
or quaff that new potion in your pack. However, if you try this,
you'll quickly learn it is a bad idea for mushrooms and potions. For
magical devices like wands, rods and staves, it is acceptable to try
them as you find them. But once you have Identify, you'll want to use
that instead.
Later on, you'll want to improve your means of knowledge and there
are two steps in this process (after pseudo-id). The first is called
Identify and the second is called *Identify*. The first gives cursory
knowledge of an object, revealing its full name and magical combat
bonuses or AC bonuses. For potions and scrolls it reveals the name of
the object which is often enough for you to tell whether or not it is
useful (And once you learn a given flavor of potion, scroll or
mushroom, you will automatically recognize the next one you find. So
identifying 'flavors' is important in the early game. By the way, you
can also sell an object to *Identify* it, but then you won't have it
anymore! Still, it's something to consider for the early game when
most stuff is junk anyway). The second means of enhanced knowledge,
*Identify*, gives complete information about the object, including
all of its powers and resistances, many of which won't be learned by
simply Identifying the object. Both Identify and *Identify* are
available in scroll and device form. Both are also available as a
town service (for a price). In general, you'll want to carry lots of
Identify to weed out the junk while exploring the dungeon. Once you
return to town, you can then pay to *Identify* whatever needs it.
In addition to Identifying objects, you also need to map the dungeon,
detect traps, detect monsters and learn about unfamiliar monsters,
especially uniques. There are magic items for all of these, so be on
the lookout!
Travel
Finally, you don't need to climb up and down the stairs all the time
to return to town. There is a magic item called Word of Recall
(scrolls) or just Recall (devices) that will take you back and forth
between the town and your current dungeon level. And this is a good
thing too since it would be rather onerous to walk up and down 100
flights of stairs in the end game!
On Weapons, Armor and Slays
Potions, Scrolls and devices are not the only magical items around. You
can also find magical armor and equipment. We already discussed
resistances above, and magical equipment is the usual place to find
these attributes. Magical weapons often are more deadly against certain
enemies, an attribute known as slays.
Your equipment will always carry around little numbers that tell you
how effective it is. Armors take this form:
A Robe (+x,+y) [a,+b] (+c)
Weapons take this form:
A Long Sword (XdY) (+x,+y) [+b] (+c)
When unidentified, armors will show just this:
A Robe [a]
Weapons will show this:
A Long Sword (XdY)
What do all these numbers mean?
(+x,+y) This is the item's magical bonuses to your to-hit and to-damage
bonus respectively. These are added to whatever other bonuses
you have when you attack. Some armors have similar bonuses to
your to-hit and to-damage, but they are mostly artifacts, the
exceptions being Gloves/Gauntlets/Cesti of Slaying. Many body
armors have a small negative number before the base armor bonus
(see below); this is a penalty to your skill (the armor is so
heavy that you have trouble moving around in it). However, this
penalty is small enough for all but the youngest of characters
to ignore.
[a,+b] This is the item's base armor class and magical bonus to armor.
The higher, the better. While theoretically, a weapon could
provide a base armor bonus, none of them do, and only a few
weapons have a magical bonus to armor.
(+c) This is the item's magical bonus to other statistics (and is
sometimes referred to as its pval). Possibilities include one
or more of your stats (Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom,
Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma), your speed or your stealth.
Your searching or infravision might also be improved. There are
other possibilities and learning the effects of this bonus
often requires you to *Identify* the object.
(XdY) This is the damage dice of a melee weapon. When you hit an
opponent, the game rolls a Y sided die X times to figure out a
base damage. This base damage can be multiplied by any slays on
the weapon, and also by critical hits (lucky blows on your
part). Then, the game adds all the plusses to damage to the
total, including the +y from the (+x,+y) discussed above. So a
melee weapon can be good because it has good damage dice (e.g.
(6d5) (+0,+0)) or because it has a high damage bonus (e.g.
(1d4) (+5,+30)). Ideally, it would have both: (6d5) (+5,+30)!
In addition to these attributes, all of which are revealed by Identify,
weapons and armors may have additional bonuses. Both may grant a
particular resistance that we discussed earlier. In additions, weapons
often have slays that target a specific class of monster. Slays work by
multiplying the base damage roll (The (XdY) just discussed), and the
multiplier varies with the type of slay. For example, a weapon of Slay
Orc multiplies the damage dice by a factor of 3, while a *Slay Orc*
weapon might (I say, might!) multiply by as high a factor as 5.
Obviously, this means more on a (6d5) weapon than on a (1d4) weapon, so
the quality of a magical weapon depends heavily on the base type of the
object (Daggers do 1d4 while Blades of Chaos do 6d5). You sometimes
need to *Identify* a weapon to learn its slays. But sometimes it is
obvious from the name of the object (Slay Orc) and you only need to
Identify the weapon. Artifacts always required *Identify* to learn
their attributes.
On Dungeon Exploration
We'll close this Newbie guide with some various tips on exploring the
dungeon.
On Secret Doors
Throughout the dungeon, many doors are hidden from view. To find
them, use the (S)earch command, which toggles on and off the
Searching mode. However, it is often difficult enough just knowing
where to search. Usually, situations like this will have secret doors
(walls containing secret doors are marked by *s):
#*### ###'### ####*# ###*###
*@... ..'@'.. ..@'.* ..'@...
#*### ###*### ####'# #######
In general, if you see a door by itself in a corridor, there are
usually others nearby. If you find a corner in a corridor with two
doors, look for more. Intersections often have some secret doors.
Finally, secret doors will never be in a situation where you have to
move diagonally to open them. The dead-end situation (the first one)
usually does have a secret door, but not always. If you search for a
while and don't find anything, just give up and move on. Sometimes a
dead end will occur near the end of a map, where there is no room to
have a continuing corridor, and so no secret door is generated.
On Level Feelings
After you have been on a new level for a considerable length of time,
you receive a feeling giving you a vague idea how good the level is.
In general, the more scary the feeling sounds, the better the items
on the level, or the more difficult the monsters. Probably the
latter. Each unusual item or monster bumps up the rating of the level
a bit. An item or monster is considered unusual if it is out of depth
[normally occurs at a lower depth; for instance, a Longsword has a
base level of 20, and would be considered unusual anywhere above that
level (although not below it)]. Items can be out of depth without
necessarily being anything special; a normal, non-magical katana
could provoke a high level feeling at low depths, because it is so
unusual. Also, pits (large rooms filled with a single type of
monster) and vaults (dense, dangerous rooms with many out of depth
monsters and items) can cause high level feelings. There is also a
Special feeling which tells the player that there is an artifact on
the level.
The speed at which you receive level feelings is influenced by your
Wisdom, so if your big, stupid warrior seems to wait forever for
level feeling, check out his Wisdom and maybe roll up a better one
next time.
On the Monster Memory
In many other games, you are required to take notes on monster's
weaknesses, strengths, spells, etc. However, we are not so cruel as
that, and will automatically take notes for you with the handy
Monster Memory. Every time you find out something new about a
monster, like that it can breathe fire, this is added to your
knowledge of the monster. To look over this knowledge, type /, then
the symbol of the monster. You may have to scroll through other
monster memories to get to the one you're looking for. Or use the
look ('l') and recall ('r') commands the next time you see one.
In the unpleasant event of your character's death, you can create a
new character using your old character's file (instead of simply
creating a new character, open the dead character's savefile, and the
Creating a Character section will come up). This new character will
have all of the old one's monster memories, and some special text for
the monster that killed him.
On Death
Death in PosChengband is permanent. Saving is meant only to let you
pick up where you left off; if you die, your savefile is marked. The
next time you try to use the savefile, you will get the new character
dialogue. Ancestors of dead characters will retain their monster
memory and preferences. Many people here have characters like "Yuppy
XIV"; people die very often and death is common, so don't get
discouraged. In general, you will kill monsters more often than they
kill you!
On Big Boy Pants
When you are ready to move past Beginner Mode, the game will open up a
huge variety of race and class options for you as well as giving you a
full wilderness to explore. All of this is discussed in the remainder
of the help system, so when you are ready to move on, be sure to check
out the rest of the documentation. Pay special attention to sections on
the wilderness as well as the various gameplay options. And when you're
ready for a real treat, fire up a game in Monster Mode and play as a
Cyberdemon!
Have Fun! :)
Original : Chris Weisiger (TANG version 1.6.2)
Updated : Zangband DevTeam
Updated : Hengband 1.0.11
Updated : PosChengband 1.0.0
Updated : PosChengband 4.0.0