
   [angband3.gif] Character generation
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       Hints | Warriors | Mages | Priests | Rogues | Rangers | Paladins
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       Basically, Warriors are easier at the beginning and hardest to win
       with. Mages are hardest to start with, and easiest to win with.
       Priests have less offensive spells than mages, but do get really
       cool heal spells later. While a mage can begin with an offensive
       spell, a priest will not get an offensive spell until level 9 -
       Orb of Draining (a very good spell).
       Rangers are easy to start and play when first learning the game.
       You get the toughness and durability of Warriors, with a few mage
       spells to help out along the way. You might like to try a Half-Elf
       or Elf Ranger to start.
       High elves and Dunedain (yes, it's plural - Dunadan is singular)
       make good characters of any class, but they have the slowest rate
       of going up levels. They're good when you're first learning the
       game, but are very slow to win with.
       Gnomes : Their free action intrinsic more than compensates for the
       lousy hit-dice, at least for spell casters. They get good racial
       adjustments to most stats except hand-to-hand melee.
       Dwarves are reasonable characters as well, especially as Priests
       or Warriors.
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       What is maximize mode?
       At initial character generation, maximize mode makes no difference
       for statistics under 18. For scores above 18, each die spot turns
       into 5 to 20 percentage points when not in maximize mode; in
       maximize mode, each spot turns into exactly 10 percentage points.
       Therefore, you can achieve higher stats when not in maximize mode.
       However, in maximize mode the racial and class stat
       bonuses/penalties are applied to your statistical maximums; this
       enables you to eventually attain a higher natural set of
       statistics. In the long run, the game is easier in maximize mode,
       but it's much tougher in the beginning. Characters created in
       maximize mode get their statistic corrections applied after the
       roll. The maximum then is not 18/100 for all stats but 18/(100 +/-
       10*correction).
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       What is preserve mode?
       Characters created in preserve mode receive no special level
       feelings, but any artifacts, if missed, may appear again later in
       the game and are not lost forever. Anything that would have caused
       a special feeling contributes to the general level feeling that
       your character receives instead.
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       Hints
       For all characters:
       Watch your hit points. Don't let them get too low. Rest as soon as
       possible after every fight, to get your hit points and mana (if
       any) to maximum. You have nothing to gain by running around with
       your guns half loaded. If you need more convincing, try counting
       the number of times you've survived with zero hit points, or cast
       your last spell with just enough mana. It shouldn't happen, but it
       does.
       Also, missile weapons (aka bows/crossbows) are a pain, take a lot
       of inventory space, and are heavy (including ammo), but they are
       also very devastating weapons that can dish out a -lot- of damage.
       They are very handy. Also, you can use flasks of oil as relatively
       cheap and effective missile weapons.
       For Spellcasters:
       Don't take every spell the moment you are allowed to. If you 'G'
       to learn a spell and there is nothing you really need right now,
       press <Esc>. You can learn an extra one later. If you get in a
       spot, and need a spell you might have learned but didn't, it only
       costs a turn to learn - you have a lot more flexibility if you
       have an unlearned spell or two up your sleeve. Sometimes you have
       more than one spell you would like to learn at once - if you 'save
       up' a couple, you can get them all right away. It is also handy to
       have a couple spare for when you find the special books - e.g.
       Resistance of Scarabtarices as they have some handy lower level
       spells.
       If you are a mage with 18/50 or higher Intelligence, you may be
       better off learning the spells and getting the experience for
       casting them while still at low levels. Even for a character like
       this, however, getting all three 7th level mage spells at 7th
       level might be worthwhile for survivability.
       For pseudo spellcasters - (rangers/rogues/paladins)
       Until you are VERY high level, do NOT rely on your magic to get
       you out of tight spots, since their failure rate will be too high
       for emergency usage, and you won't have enough mana to really cast
       them more than once.
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       Warriors
       Warriors get through the early levels easily, and make a good
       choice if you want to learn the game. This will be frustrating
       until you get a good intuition of where hidden doors are, so your
       first character should be a Ranger.
       If you are trying to go as a Warrior, then Half-trolls, Dunedain
       or High-elves are good choices...You can almost guarantee a STR >
       18/50 with one of these, and the last two can give you a DEX >
       18/50 with luck, thus giving you TWO swings with that broadsword
       at the start of the game. This extra advantage makes up for the
       slow advancment of the last two races.
       A High Elf warrior with 18/57 Str and 18/50 Dex can get _four_
       hits with a 5lb weapon.
       A Human warrior goes up levels _fast_. Take a high dex and
       strength for multiple hits with light weapons.
       Enchant your weapon as quickly as you can and look for rings of
       damage or slaying, etc.
       Also, look for high CON (no less than 14), and not too low WIS or
       INT (you will need to use wands and staffs)...Furthermore, these
       last two will help your pseudo-ID work faster.
       General hints for warriors
       Really easy - Go in and kill. Rest after every battle (if
       necessary). You *should* be able to get down to 200' on the first
       trip without problems (assuming no out of place monsters), but
       returning to town may be tough. A possibility is to start with two
       complete trips to 100', collecting everything, digging out all
       treasure. By this time, The character is around 5-6th level...all
       depends on what you find.
       Most Warriors should have multiple hits (often a lighter weapon
       can do more damage *per turn* than a heavy one, if it gets more
       hits). Watch for anything to increase your damage. A Strength of
       18 gives you +3 immediately. Enchant-to-Dam scrolls can take your
       damage up further and are readily available. Watch carefully for
       rings of damage, rings of slaying, gloves of slaying, etc (I once
       got all 3, and a total of +33 to damage for each of three hits
       before going down as far as Wormtongue!). Even a total of +10 to
       damage (when counted three or four times) makes most uniques on
       the low levels easy. Jellies usually don't get a hit in.
       Use the Warriors' pseudo-ID all the time. After the first few
       levels, drop any weapon or armor that you don't need that gives
       you a Average or Cursed id. NOTE that if the p-ID message says
       "You feel that [ ] is terrible." then this is a SPECIAL cursed
       item, possibly a cursed artifact. KEEP THIS until you have
       complete ID.
       Collect all wands that are beneficial to you. After 500', start
       carrying a ranged weapon with you. Remember that you are the worst
       class at high levels...always have a WoR and some ability to ID
       items (Staff of Perceptions) at these deep levels.
       DO keep magic items onhand--but you should prefer the more obvious
       Scrolls and Potions---since these can't fail due to low Int (I
       think). Useful Rods are Recall, Illumination, and Restoration.
       These may (and probably will) fail a lot, but use them when in a
       "bare" area cleared out by yourself (of monsters).
       DO get a bow/arrow quickly---this is your ONLY reliable distance
       attack, and you'll NEED it against acid-breathers/spitters (e.g.
       Green Naga/Worm). Actually, a crossbow (especially a heavy
       crossbow) is probably more reliable.
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       Mages
       High-elves make good Mages. They generally have better abilities,
       and a high stealth. Starting attributes: 18/80 intelligence, and
       10 strength. Less than 10 strength really puts a limit on what you
       can carry. With a 18/80 intelligence, a single ring of
       intelligence (+1) can put you into the big bonus mana region.
       Gnome mages are really good too, since they can still get the
       highest starting mana ratio with 18/70 intelligence, and best of
       all, have innate free action.
       General Hints for Mages
       In general, keep your mana up. Don't run out of mana.
       Cast Detect Monster and Find Hidden Traps/Doors everytime you
       sneeze. Turning on the 'stop between screens' option guarantees
       that you don't walk into any offscreen traps, if you cast detect
       traps as soon as the screen changes. It is pretty safe to disable
       that option to speed gameplay, but it is recommended to avoid
       Murphy's Law and re-enable it if you are on a special level, lest
       you be running down some corridor and fall into an offscreen trap
       door. Avoid or prepare for large groups of monsters.
       Learn escape spells as soon as possible. (i.e. Phase Door and
       Teleport) Learn to use them efficiently.
       Stinking cloud is a very handy spell. Fantastic for taking out
       flies or fleas. It is a pretty powerful early spell, and it's a
       ball spell, so you can do very handy things with it. You may do
       more raw damage with Lightning bolt (which has the -highest-
       damage/mana ratio of almost all the spells) but can only affect
       one at a time, and you can't shoot -over- anything with a bolt
       spell.
       Also, learn to use Sleep and Spear of Light, as mentioned in
       various parts of this document. They are very useful relatively
       low level spells.
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       Priests
       Priests are somewhat easier because of their heal spells
       (especially the 200hp and the full heal). By healing 200 hp
       whenever you lose this many you are less likely to die from any
       big breath attack (cf. mage with potions thinking how much can so
       and so breath for if I have this, this and that?). A priest can
       get a lot of heals out of one lot of mana!
       Suggestion 1: Play a dwarf priest with 18/50 wisdom, other stats
       don't really matter - go for a decent strength and/or con. You
       could also try a Dunadan with similar stats.
       Suggestion 2: Play a Half-Troll priest. Seriously. Those extra hit
       points come in -handy-. Try either: a) 18/12 Str, 14 Wis, 10 Dex,
       18 Con and wield a whip (2 hits - double the plus!); b) 18 Wis and
       18 Con and wield the heaviest damage weapon you can use; or c)
       18/?? Str and 18 Wis.
       In either case play the early levels like a (weak!) warrior.
       General Hints for Priests
       If you've played Moria before, the first 9 or so levels of the
       priestly life in Angband play very similarly.
       Many of the same rules for mages apply. Watch your mana. Cast
       Detect prayers, especially Evil and Traps, whenever the screen
       changes. These prayers cost a fair amount of mana, compared to the
       mage spells, (Detect Doors and Detect Traps are two different
       prayers, for one thing), and so you will want to take it fairly
       slowly.
       At low levels, melee bites, even though your mace is much better
       than a mage's dagger. Be prepared to phase door around a lot.
       Don't count on Cure Light Wounds to work, especially below level
       10. Carry a few potions of same at all times. You can't cast Cure
       Light Wounds while you are blind - but you can quaff the potion.
       Of course, if you can retreat to a safe spot, Cure Light Wounds is
       a good prayer. Once you get above level 10 or so, you can
       reasonably cast it "on the fly", so to speak, but still be
       careful.
       Aside from the Detect and Cure prayers, most of the low level
       prayers are pretty useless. Create Food and Portal are notable
       exceptions. Basically, below level 9 you will be playing like a
       warrior, but a damn wimpy one. Don't overexert yourself. At level
       9 you can get... Orb of Draining! Then life becomes much easier.
       When you get to level 7, *stop* taking prayers when you gain
       levels. [If you have 18/50 Wisdom you can stop at level 8.] You
       want to do this because you can "force" your gods to give you Orb
       of Draining. You want this prayer. Badly. It does 3d6 plus your
       level damage, double to evil (which is good), is a ball spell
       (very good), and (best of all) there are no monsters that resist
       it, unlike with the mage spells.
       Here's how:
       1) Get a copy of Chants and Blessings, the prayer book with OoD in
       it.
       2) When you get to level 9, do the following:
       a) Go up to town and drop all your copies of the first two books
       (Beginners' and Words of Wisdom) in your home. You could do this
       in the dungeon, but this way they won't get stolen or
       inadvertently lost.
       b) Take your copy of Chants and Blessings.
       c) Hit 'G'. Voila! You should now have all three 9th-level spells:
       Neutralize Poison, Orb of Draining and Cure Serious Wounds.
       Use Detect Evil to find hidden Ghosts (its only advantage is that
       it DOES detect invisible critters), and if you're not high enough
       level, RUN AWAY (some low-level ghosts drain Wisdom).
       To save ID scrolls, use the priest's ID, Remove Curse. Try on any
       armor, rings, or amulets you find lying around. If they're cursed,
       you can de-curse them and drop them, thus keeping you from burning
       ID scrolls on useless stuff. Note that priests eventually get
       Identify as a prayer, but it's in Godly Insights, which is pretty
       rare above 2000'.
       Caveats.
       1) Don't try this with weapons. Morgul weapons cannot be uncursed
       with the standard grade Remove Curse. In most current versions of
       Angband, reading a scroll of enchant to-hit or to-dam will zap any
       curse on a weapon, allowing you to take it off. This at least
       allows you to get rid of it. However, this seems to be a bug, and
       it may be removed from later ports or versions.
       2) Wait a few levels after getting Remove Curse before using this.
       That way, if you have a high WIS, allowing you to gain more than
       one prayer/level, and you put on an Iron Helm of Wisdom (-5) or
       something, you won't lose the Remove Curse prayer when your WIS
       plummets...
       In theory, one could get the One Ring of Power, which cannot be
       de-cursed by any means, this way. However, this is so unlikely at
       pre-Godly-Insights levels that I've neglected that possibility.
       [Some people think that the One Ring could be very useful back
       then....]
       The very high level prayer Elemental Brand can be used to make
       very deadly bolts/arrows by wielding the bolts and branding them.
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       Rogues
       Rogues are among the best fighters and are experts at the Art of
       Not Being Seen. If the monster doesn't see you (/wake up), it
       won't hit you.
       Suggestion 1: Hobbit Rogue. Infravision is very nice and you can
       sneak around well. Monsters often won't even notice you until you
       tap them with your sword (very hard of course). Also, being able
       to disarm traps and locked doors is handy.
       Suggestion 2: Half-Orc Rogue. This is really a totally different
       character than the Hobbit Burglar: a Half-Orc Rogue has lower
       Stealth, but good fighting, and some limited spellcasting. In a
       way, the character is a bit more like a Warrior with some
       spellcasting ability.
       General Hints for Rogues
       There are two kinds of rogues, the tough rogues (like a Half-Orc)
       and the sneaky rogues (like a Hobbit). The 'standard' rogue is the
       'sneak'. They are often able to walk right through a room without
       waking things up. Rogues get some good detection spells (but
       essentially no offensive spells), and combined with the ability
       not to be noticed, they can often avoid damage. If you see
       something nasty when you peek in a room, you can often quietly
       close the door without waking it up.
       If you do fight, try to do it from a distance when you can.
       Rogues can also fight well in the conventional sense. You will
       want to use the spell Detect Traps heavily, and probably won't
       need to use many other spells all that much (until you get
       Identify and Recharge spells).
       The 'tough' Rogues are essentially played like Warriors in the
       early levels, but later they get some helpful spells as well.
       Play these guys a bit more cautiously than a Warrior. Be sure to
       have a starting Dex of 18/50 (AT LEAST) and a starting Int of 18
       (so you can cast more of your key spells). Also, beware of FUN
       group monsters---use the Mage strategy at high levels---you need
       to rely HIGHLY on your Stealth and a few scrolls of Teleport to
       get you out of messy situations, since your spells aren't that
       reliable for quite awhile. Halflings tend to make superb
       Rogues---the Rogue abilities compliment the Halfling's ones
       beautifully (also Halflings get Dex sustained---a Rogue's prime
       stat).
       Also, gain the spells soon---and cast Detect Treasure/Objects on
       every screen. These two lovely spells will let you find the
       treasures buried on levels (MASSIVE amounts of cash you can dig up
       when you get a nice Pick). Use these detection spells A LOT, since
       they give you the subtle edge in combat. Also, you should get a
       Bow as soon as possible---as with Rangers, you're excellent with
       Bows, and you should be using Bows as your distance attack.
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       Rangers
       Rangers have good bow skill, and have reasonable magic device,
       disarm, etc, and fight better than mages and priests. They get all
       but the most powerful magic spells. Because they are reasonably
       effective fighters, they gain levels more quickly than mages early
       on (mages need to run away more often). They make an excellent
       compromise between the early might of the warrior, and later power
       of a mage. Rangers should take advantage of their missile weapon
       skill.
       Suggestion 1: High Elf Ranger. This is one of the slowest
       characters to advance, but See Invisible, combined with high Str,
       Int, Dex make their survival during early levels very good. Try:
       a) Str 18/02 Int 18/50 Dex 18/01, which makes a more 'mage-like'
       Ranger, for 2 x mana and 2 hits with a Sabre (18/10 for 2 hits
       with a Trident); b) Str 18/32 Int 18 Dex 18/01, for a ranger that
       fights better - 1.5 x mana and 3 hits with a Sabre. If you are a
       little more patient you may be able to get both the higher Str and
       Int.
       Suggestion 2: Human Ranger. This is a much faster character, and
       you'll have spells by the time you finish your first trip down.
       Try: Str 18/12, Int 18, Dex 10. Two hits with a Sabre, and 1.5 x
       mana make quite a powerful character.
       General Hints for Rangers
       Play a Ranger like a warrior at the start, but don't forget you
       are weaker - stand back and use your good bow skill more. Keep
       plenty of Phase Door scrolls and Cure Light Wounds potions handy,
       and Flasks of Oil are especially useful until level 3 or 4. You
       won't need oil as a weapon after that.
       DO get some enchant-weapon scrolls and make your Bow more
       deadly---that should be first thing to buy after the first major
       trip down (around level 5 or so), since Rangers are excellent with
       Bows/Arrows they should rely on THESE for the primary
       effects---their magic isn't as powerful as a Mage, and hardly
       ANYTHING can resist a missile attack outright.
       Keep your mana up. Use spells to complement your fighting ability
       - for example, cast a Magic Missile or two before closing for the
       final blows. If you time it right, the opponent will be killed by
       your first turn (so you often won't get hit by weaker creatures).
       This way you don't have to swap weapons like you do with a missile
       weapon.
       At later levels you start getting some really good spells.
       However, you don't get identify and recharge until _much_ later
       than a mage, so you need to carry scrolls and staves for longer,
       and you only get the weaker pseudo-ID, and it is very slow, so
       more cleverness is needed. Don't ID everything the second you get
       it. Pseudo ID might still kick in. Wait until you have to drop
       something. Don't ID something underground just to find out its
       charges if you aren't about to drop it - that can wait for the
       town. If you are careful, a single Staff of Perceptions and just a
       few scrolls of Identification (not too many, as reading the last
       one frees a slot) should be enough, since you'll pick up some ID
       scrolls while you are down there. Read the scrolls _first_.
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       Paladins
       Paladins fight almost as well as Warriors. They get spells right
       from the first level as well.
       Suggestion: Dunedain Paladin. Try: Str 18/12, Wis 18, Dex 10, for
       the same benefits as the Human Ranger above. Find a light weapon
       to wield for multiple attacks / round.
       Half-Elves make excellent Paladins, since they have slightly
       improved Stealth and Searching---the weaknesses Paladins have.
       Humans make playable paladins as well. If you have not played a
       human before, a Paladin might be a good one to try.
       General Hints for Paladins
       Basically, you are ALMOST as good a fighter as a Warrior (without
       ANY special bonuses--REMEMBER THAT). You should be relying on your
       good hand-to-hand fighting, rather than bows/arrows, since you're
       not that good at them. Use a hit-and-run technique, since you
       don't have the special bonuses Warriors get which enable them to
       stay in a fight with even dangerous critters for a decent amount
       of time.
       Play like a Warrior to begin with. You get Orb of Draining _much_
       later than a Priest (not until level 17), but you should be tough
       enough to make it until then. As with a Priest, you can force OoD
       by not learning spells for a level or two before, and dropping the
       earlier books (*DON'T FORGET TO PICK THEM UP AGAIN*). Use
       detection spells a lot - they help you make the most of your
       fighting ability. A Paladin with OoD is a formidable sight. Also
       Protection from Evil is extremely useful.
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