=== Creating a Character === Hengband is a role playing game, in which you, the player, control a character in the world of Hengband. Perhaps the most important thing you control is the birth of your character, in which you choose or allow to be chosen various attributes that will affect the future life of your character. Character creation, or birth, is controlled through a variety of choices as to constraints on the type of character you wish to play, followed by a series of random calculations to generate ("roll up") a random character matching the appropriate constraints. Once your character has been generated, you will be given the choice to generate a new character obeying the same constraints, and once you have generated more than one character, you can switch back and forth between the two most recent characters, until you are presented with a character that you feel comfortable with. You may start the entire process over at any time by pressing 'S' at any prompt (with the exception of the autoroller (see below [1]) prompt and the prompt for the number of random quests (see below [2])). ***** === Start-up Options === During character generation you may press '=' at any time to access the start-up options. A more detailed description of the various start-up options can be found in the section on the Options Page (see option.txt#StartUp [3]). Some options have "(*)" mark that means these options effect to the difficulty of the game and effect to estimation of your score. Perhaps one of the most important features of the start-up options is the ability to decide what type of town level you want. The various town options are discussed on the Town page (see dungeon.txt#TownLevel [4]). ***** === Character Attributes === Once you begin character generation you will be asked to choose your character's four primary attributes - its sex, race, class and personality. If you have selected a spellcasting class, you will also be prompted for your choice of magic realm(s). Your character's sex has a minimal effect on game play - females start with slightly more gold, males are generally heavier and so can bash more effectively. Race, class, personality and magic realms have a far more significant effect and are discussed at some length in the Race (see charattr.txt#TheRaces [5]), Class (see charattr.txt#TheClasses [6]) and Magic Realms (see magic.txt#MagicRealms [7]) sections. --- Secondary Attributes --- Each character has a few secondary attributes, height, weight, social class, and background history, which are randomly determined, but which are affected by the sex and race of the character. In general, these attributes are only used to provide "flavor" to the character, to assist in the roll playing, but they do have a few minor effects on the game. For example, background history affects social class, which affects the amount of money the character will start with. And weight affects carrying capacity and bashing ability. ***** === Race/Class Combinations === Once a race has been chosen, you will need to pick a class. Some race/class combinations are not recommended and so certain classes are shown inside brackets. This may be because the combination is not conceptually sound or because the chosen race has stat penalties in areas where that class needs bonuses. However, any race/class combination can be chosen and experienced players may often choose unusual combinations for the challenge that they represent. It is recommended that inexperienced players choose warriors as spellcasting requires a player more familiar with dungeon survival techniques. The following table shows which classes are recommended for the various races. ***** === Choosing Your Magic Realm(s) === If you have selected a spellcasting class, you will next be prompted for your choice of magic realm(s). The magic system, as implemented in Hengband, consists of nine realms: Life, Arcane, Sorcery, Nature, Trump, Chaos, Death, Craft and Daemon. In general, Life is primarily defensive but also offers spells to attack evil creatures, Arcane offers utility spells and some limited offensive capability, Sorcery offers utility and defensive spells, Nature offers both defensive and offensive spells, Trump specializes in teleportation and summoning spells and Chaos and Death are offensive. A more complete description of the magic realms and spellcasting in general can be found in the section on the Magic Realms (see magic.txt#MagicRealms [7]). Where possible, it is generally a good idea to pick one defensive realm and one offensive realm. You cannot be as proficient in secondary realm as in first realm. But you can change secondary realm to other realm of magic even in the middle of the game. For that, you must choose a spellbook of new realm in the study command. But beware! After changing realm, you will forget all spells of old realm, moreover the number of learning will not be restored and be lost permanently. ***** --- Class/Realm Restrictions --- In Hengband, spellcasting classes can select either one or two realms from those available. Some classes which can learn two realms may learn their first realm 'better' than their second. Note that certain realms may be prohibited for some classes. In the table below, '1' indicates that the realm may only be the first choice, '2' indicates that the realm may only be the second choice and '1/2' indicates that it can be either. Classes that only have '1' options do not get a second realm. Classes with only one '1' option must choose this option as their first realm. Sorcerers and Red Mages are exceptions. They can use all magic realms and they don't need to study spells. Red Mages can cast spells from lower rank spellbooks of all realms. Class Life Sorcery Nature Chaos Death Trump Arcane Craft Daemon ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Mage 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 Priest 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 Rogue 1 1 1 1 1 Ranger 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 Paladin 1 1 Warrior-Mage 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 Chaos Warrior 1 1 Monk 1 1 1 1 High Mage 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Sorcerer All realms Red Mage All realms (Lower rank spellbooks only) ForceTrainer 1 1 1 1 ***** === RandomQuests === Once you have chosen your race, class and (if applicable) your magic realm(s), you will be asked how many random quests you wish to be assigned. You may choose any number between 0 and 10. A more detailed discussion of random quests can be found in the Dungeon section (see dungeon.txt#RandomQuests [8]). ***** === The Auto-Roller === The auto-roller is a quick means of generating start-up characters based on a set of user-selected criteria. If you choose to use the auto-roller, you will be presented with a column giving the maximum possible statistics (see charattr.txt#PrimaryStats [9]) for your choice of race, class and maximize mode (see option.txt#StartUp [3]). Then you can specify your desired statistics using keypad or cursor keys. Once you have specified your desired statistics, the computer will then randomly roll successive start-up characters and compare them to your specified criteria. Each stat is rolled as a number from 8 to 17, with a normal distribution, and is then immediately modified based upon the race and class which you have chosen. The exact quantum of this modification can be found in the Character Attributes section (see charattr.txt#StatBonusTable [a]). Once a character that matches or exceeds your expectations has been rolled, Hengband stops to ask you whether you accept or not. If you accept the rolled character (by pressing Enter), you will be asked for its name (see below [c]). If not, you may press 'r' to resume rolling and searching for the next match or, if this is not your first match, 'p' to return to the previous character which met your criteria. Note: The statistics are not independent of each other and trying to maximize each one using the auto-roller will not work. A good idea is to specify statistics close to maximum that are critical for your class (for example, high wisdom for priests, intelligence for mages and strength and dexterity for warriors). You should set minimum acceptable levels for the remaining statistics rather than looking for high rolls. If you select not to use the auto-roller, the computer will roll one random character at a time and then display it for you to either accept or reject. The 'r', 'p' and Enter keys will work as outlined above. ***** === Life Ratings === In Hengband, Life Rating is not displayed at character making, but displayed later by magical means such as Self Knowledge. Life Rating is an indication of how many hitpoints your character will have at character level 50 before taking into consideration any bonus from having a high constitution. The life rating will be displayed in the form of x/100 where 'x' is typically a number varying between 80 and 120. Your life rating is only a guarantee of your character's hitpoints at level 50. This might be achieved by small increases in the early stages and much larger increases in the later game or the other way around. Generally, however, the increases tend to be fairly even. ***** === Naming Your Character === Once you have accepted a character you will be asked to provide a name for the character. In general, the actual choice of a name is not important, but do keep in mind that it may have some effect on the game itself. For example, on some machines, the character name determines the filename that will be used to save the character to disk. On others, the character name specifies special "pref" files. And the character name is used on the high score list. ***** === Starting Inventory === Once you have named your character, you will be prompted to press 'Esc' and, having done so, you will be brought to the town screen from where you will begin your adventuring. You should note that each character starts in the town with a small number of items in their inventory. Which items you are given will depend upon your chosen race and class and the number of such items depends on chance. For example, all classes receive either food rations or scrolls of satisfy hunger but the number of rations or scrolls received is random. Typically, you will receive a weapon, a piece of armor, some food, some torches and a magical item although there is some variance from this. -- Original : (??) Updated : (??) Updated : Zangband DevTeam Updated : Hengband 1.0.11 ***** Begin Hyperlinks ***** [1] birth.txt#AutoRoller ***** [2] birth.txt#RandomQuests ***** [3] option.txt#StartUp ***** [4] dungeon.txt#TownLevel ***** [5] charattr.txt#TheRaces ***** [6] charattr.txt#TheClasses ***** [7] magic.txt#MagicRealms ***** [8] dungeon.txt#RandomQuests ***** [9] charattr.txt#PrimaryStats ***** [a] charattr.txt#StatBonusTable ***** [b] birth.txt#LifeRating ***** [c] birth.txt#CharName