=== 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. ***** === 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, but some personalities are restricted to male only or female only. More details of attributes are found in the Races, Classes and Personalities section (see raceclas.hlp [a]) and the Magic System section (see magic.hlp [b]). 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 riding ability. In addition to these attributes, there are several statistics which are used to determine your character's relative skills and abilities as follows: --- Primary Statistics --- Each character has six primary statistics or 'stats'. These are strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution and charisma, which modify the abilities of the character in a variety of ways. For example, strength affects your carrying capacity, the amount of damage you to a monster when you hit it and the number of blows per round you get with a weapon. A more complete discussion of the primary statistics is contained later in this document (see below [c]). --- Experience --- Experience affects almost everything else about your character. Experience can be gained as your character kills monsters, casts spells or prays for the first time, learns about an object kind by using it, disarms traps and unlocks doors. Certain classes may also gain experience by destroying specific dungeon spell books and there are potions in the dungeon that will boost your experience if you quaff them. When your character's experience crosses certain fixed boundaries, you will attain a new experience level (up to a maximum of 50). When this happens, your hitpoints, mana (if any), certain skills such as melee fighting and bows and throws will all increase. Some races and classes will also gain new powers and abilities when crossing certain experience thresholds. Deep down inside, the real objective of the game is to increase your experience, and certain other characteristics, and also to collect useful items, to give you a decent chance against the great Serpent of Chaos. Certain monsters can "drain" your experience, and thus your level, which will cause you to lose all of the effects of the higher level. Luckily, you can restore drained experience through magical means, or by simply regaining the experience all over again. --- Gold (AU) --- Each character has some gold, which can be used to buy items and services from the shops and other buildings on the town level. Gold can be obtained by selling items to the shops, taking it from the corpses of dead monsters, mining it and by finding it lying on the dungeon floor. Each character starts out with some gold, the amount of which is based on the character's social class, charisma, and other stats (less powerful characters start with more gold). Each character also starts out with a few useful items, which may be kept, or sold to a shop-keeper for more gold. --- Hit Points --- Each character has hit points, representing how much damage the character can sustain before he dies. Your hit points are derived from your race, class, level, and constitution, and can be boosted by magical means. Hit points may be regained by resting, or by a variety of magical means. --- Spell Points (Mana) --- Each character has spell points, or mana, which represents how many spells a character can cast. Your spell points (sometimes called mana) are derived from your class, level, a primary stat of your class, and race modifier of that stat. Spell points may be regained by resting, or by a few magical means. --- Character Skills --- Each character also has several primary skills: disarming, magic devices, saving throws, stealth, searching, perception, melee and bows and throws, which are derived from the character's race, class, experience level, stats and their current equipment. These skills have fairly obvious effects, but will be described more completely below. The starting abilities of a character are based upon race and class. Abilities may be adjusted by high or low stats, and may increase with the level of the character (see below for details [d]). ***** === Birth Options === During character generation you may press '=' at any time to access the birth options. A more detailed description of the various birth options can be found in the section on the Options Page (see option.txt#Birth [e]). 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 birth options is the ability to decide what type of town level you want. The various town options are discussed on the Town page (see dungeon.txt#TownLevel [f]). ***** === 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 below [c]) for your choice of race, class and personality (see raceclas.hlp [a]). 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, class and personality which you have chosen. The exact quantum of this modification can be found in the stat bonus table (see raceclas.txt#StatBonusTable [h]). 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. 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. ***** === Background Edit-Mode === The computer will randomly generate background information text of the character for you. But you can modify or rewrite it after rolling up the character in Background edit-mode. Use key-pad or cursor keys to move cursor, the Enter key to finish edit-mode, and the Escape key to finish edit-mode with discarding changes. Use Ctrl-A key to load the background information text from "histpref-<>.prf" or "histpref.prf" on lib/user. You can use conditional expressions like other pref files. Background information text can be modified in background information pref files as lines of the form "H:". Text area is not much large, so too long text will cut down. ***** === Quick Start === Once you have generated a character and dead or quit game, you will be asked whether you want to use quick start or not at start up. If you choose to use quick start, you get new character with exactly same race, class, stat, background and etc. as your last character. ***** === Primary Statistics === Each character has six primary "stats", strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, and charisma, which modify the abilities of the character in a variety of ways. Every stat has a numerical value, ranging from a minimum of 3, up to a normal maximum of 18, and even higher, into the "percentile" range, represented as "18/01" through "18/130". True maximum of each base stat is randomly ranging from 18/70 to 18/130, and average of all your stat maximums are always 18/100. These maximums are chosen randomly when your character is created or your character quaffs a Potion of New Life. Actually, every stat can be raised even above these maximum of base stat by modification from race, class, personality and magical equipment, up to a pure maximum of 18/220, which is represented as "18/***". Traditionally, a percentile stat such as "18/50" has been thought of as representing a value part way between 18 and 19, and this is one way to think of them. However, often, the best way to view the "bonus" values after the "18/" is as "tenth" points, since it often takes the same magic to raise a stat from, say, 4 to 5, or 16 to 17, as it does from, say, 18/40 to 18/50. The important thing to remember is that almost all internal calculations "ignore" the final digit of any "bonus", so that, for example, "18/40" and "18/49" are always have the same effects. --- The Primary Statistics --- Strength Strength is critical to fighting effectively in melee combat and with missile weapons. A high strength will improve your chances of getting multiple blows with your melee weapon and, in addition, will dramatically increase the amount of damage done with each hit. Strength also has a marginal effect on your chance to hit your opponent. Characters with low strength may receive penalties. Strength is also useful in tunneling, bashing and in carrying heavy items without being slowed down. Intelligence Intelligence affects the spellcasting abilities of mage-like spellcasters (high mages, mages, warrior-mages, rangers, chaos warriors and rogues). Intelligence will affect the number of spells these classes may learn each level, the number of spell points they receive and their spell fail rates. These classes cannot learn spells if their intelligence is 7 or lower. Also, intelligent characters are better at using magic devices, picking locks and disarming traps. Wisdom Wisdom affects the ability of priest-like spellcasters (priests, paladins and monks) to use prayers. WIS will affect the number of spells these classes may learn each level, the number of spell points they receive and their spell fail rates. In addition, WIS is also used to determine a Mindcrafter's ability to use his or her mental powers. These classes cannot learn spells if their wisdom is 7 or lower. Wise character's will have better chances of resisting magical spells cast upon them by monsters. Dexterity Dexterity is a combination of agility and quickness. A high dexterity may allow a character to get multiple blows with lighter weapons, thus greatly increasing his kill power, and will increase his chances of hitting with any weapon and dodging blows from enemies. Dexterity is also useful in picking locks, disarming traps, and protecting yourself from some of the thieves that inhabit the dungeons. Constitution Constitution is a character's ability to resist damage to his body, and to recover from damage received. Therefore a character with a high constitution will receive more hit points and also recover them faster while resting. Charisma Charisma represents a character's personality and physical appearance. A character with a high charisma will receive better prices from store owners, whereas a character with a very low charisma may be robbed blind. A high charisma will also mean more starting money for the character. Charisma is also used when calculating the success of a Mindcrafter at dominating a monster. ***** === Primary Skills === Characters possess some different abilities which can help them to survive. The starting abilities of a character are based upon race and class. Abilities may be adjusted by high or low stats, and may increase with the level of the character with the rate of increase dependent upon the level of the character. Melee Melee is the ability to hit and do damage with weapons or fists. Normally a character gets a single blow from any weapon, but if his dexterity and strength are high enough, he may receive more blows per round with lighter weapons. Strength and dexterity both modify the ability to hit an opponent. This skill increases with the level of the character. Bows and Throws Using ranged missile weapons (and throwing objects) is included in this skill. Different stats apply to different weapons, but this ability may modify the distance an object is thrown/fired, the amount of damage done, and the ability to hit a creature. This skill increases with the level of the character. Saving Throws A Saving Throw is the ability of a character to resist the effects of a spell cast on him by another person/creature. This does not include spells cast on the player by his own stupidity, such as quaffing a nasty potion. This ability increases with the level of the character, but then most high level creatures are better at casting spells, so it tends to even out. A high wisdom also increases this ability. Stealth The ability to move silently about is very useful. 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 entirely upon race and class, and will never improve unless magically enhanced. Disarming Disarming is the ability to remove traps (safely), and includes picking locks on traps and doors. A successful disarming will gain the character some experience. A trap must be found before it can be disarmed. Dexterity and intelligence both modify the ability to disarm, and this ability increases with the level of the character. Magical Devices Using a magical device such as a wand or staff requires experience and knowledge. Spell users such as magi and priests are therefore much better at using a magical device than say a warrior. This skill is modified by intelligence, and increases with the level of the character. Perception (Searching Frequency) Perception is the ability to notice something without actively seeking it out. This skill is based entirely upon race and class, and will never improve unless magically enhanced. Searching (Searching Ability) To search is to actively look for secret doors, floor traps, and traps on chests. Rogues are the best at searching, but magi, rangers, and priests are also good at it. This skill is based entirely upon race and class, and will never improve unless magically enhanced. Infra-vision Infra-vision is the ability to see heat sources. Since most of the dungeon is cool or cold, infra-vision will not allow the player to see walls and objects. Infra-vision will allow a character to see any warm-blooded creatures up to a certain distance. This ability works equally well with or with out a light source. The majority of Hengband's creatures are cold-blooded, and will not be detected unless lit up by a light source. Most non-human races have innate infra-vision ability. Humans can gain infra-vision only if it is magically enhanced. ***** === Proficiency Levels === In Hengband, characters possess different proficiency levels or experiences for each weapon type, spells, and a few other skills. The starting proficiency levels and the maximum proficiency levels of a character are based upon class. Each proficiency level may increase when you practice with it, and can be checked by the 'Check various information' command (~). For weapon proficiency, you need to hit monsters many times with a weapon of that type to practice. And your to-hit bonus of the weapon will increases with the proficiency level of it. The rate of increase is dependent upon the level of the character and the level of the opponents. For spell proficiency, you need to cast the spell many times in a deep level of the dungeon to practice. And the fail-rate and mana consumption rate of the spell decreases when the proficiency level increases. The level of the dungeon you need is dependent upon the level of the character and the level of the spell. The effect of the proficiency level of the Dual Wielding and the Martial Arts is almost same as the weapon proficiency; These will effect upon your to-hit bonus of dual wielding combat or bare handed combat. For the proficiency level of the Riding, you need to attack in melee or shoot with missile weapon when riding. And your speed increases up to the mount's speed when the proficiency level increases. (see monster.txt#Pets [i]) -- Original : (??) Updated : (??) Updated : Zangband DevTeam Updated : Hengband 1.5.2 ***** [a] raceclas.hlp ***** [b] magic.hlp ***** [c] birth.txt#PrimaryStats ***** [d] birth.txt#PrimarySkills ***** [e] option.txt#Birth ***** [f] town.txt#TownLevel ***** [h] raceclas.txt#StatBonusTable ***** [i] monster.txt#Pets