The (Not Yet) Comprehensive ToME 2.1.2 Skill Spoiler
[Last modified 2007-09-30. See
below for recent changes.]
It's a common dilemma among ToME players: which skills to raise? Well,
that depends on the answer to the next question: What benefits am I
getting from these skills? For some skills, like Magic, the effect of a
skill increase is immediate and obvious (more mana, in this case), but some
skills don't have obvious effects, leading one to wonder whether
increasing, say, one's Weaponmastery skill is actually buying one anything.
This spoiler is an attempt to answer those questions. I've examined the
source (specifically, the 2.1.2 release version) looking for everywhere a
skill level is used, and I describe here the specific, quantitative effects
that different skills have on gameplay. For this first pass, I've skipped
a few skills whose effects are obvious in gameplay (mainly the spell realm
skills), but the rest should be completely covered.
[NOTE: This spoiler is (intended to be) correct for
ToME v2.1.2. Some of this information is obsolete in later versions of
ToME; for more up-to-date information, see the
2.2.x or 2.3.x
version of this spoiler, as appropriate.
Notation
For notational convenience, we will use the following conventions herein:
- A×B denotes multiplication; for instance 5×6 evaluates
to 30.
- A/B denotes integer division, rounded down to the nearest integer.
For instance, 9/5 evaluates to 1.
- A//B represents "fixed-point" division. Typically the result is
something like a percentage (represented internally as an integer from 0
to 100) or a weight (represented internally in tenths of a pound), so
that the result of the division is effectively retained to one or two
decimal places.
- A^B denotes exponentiation, or A to the B'th power. For instance,
3^4=3×3×3×3=81.
- NdM is the standard "dice" notation; for instance, 3d6 denotes the sum
of three independent uniformly distributed random integers from 1
to 6, or three six-sided dice. For more complicated forms, we will
use parentheses, as in (A×B)d(C+D/2).
- S is your skill level in the skill under discussion, rounded down to
the nearest integer.
- (S@N) represents a "scaled" skill level, with the usual 0-to-50 skill
range scaled linearly to 0-to-N. Specifically, it is defined as
(sk×N)/50, where 'sk' is the un-rounded skill level. For instance,
if your skill level in the skill under discussion is 2.600, then (S@100)
evaluates to 260.0/50=5.
Skills vs. Abilities
As a result of ToME's Angband heritage, ToME characters have other
skill-like properties that are not directly adjusted on the skill selection
screen. These are listed on the 'C'haracter screen as
"(Miscellaneous Abilities)", and include things like Fighting,
Perception, and Saving Throw. The base level of an ability is determined
by your race, sub-race and class, and does not increase with level; some of
them, however, increase along with the corresponding skill.
The amount by which a skill affects an ability depends on class, and is
referred to as the "class modifier" for the ability, hereinafter denoted
CM. The class modifiers for different abilities and classes are listed
below. Typically, an ability will be increased by
your scaled skill level in the corresponding skill, where the scale factor
will be some multiple of the class modifier.
The skills
Some skills have additional annotations, as follows:
- Skills marked with "(FF)" can be gained or improved by a
Fumblefingers/Lost-Sword quest.
- Skills marked with "(NG)" are "no-gloves" magical skills; if any of
these skills is 1 or higher, wearing gloves or gauntlets will reduce your
maximum mana to 75% of its normal value, unless the gloves provide free
action, increase your DEX, or can contain a spell.
- Combat (FF)
-
The Combat skill has the following effects:
- You receive a damage bonus of +S/5 for melee and ranged attacks.
- Your Fighting and Bows/Throw abilities are increased by
(CM×3×S)/100.
- The total weight in pounds of armor (body armor, helm, gloves, boots,
shield and cloak) that you can wear without being burdened and reducing
mana is S+20; your maximum mana is reduced by 1 for every full pound
you exceed this maximum.
- A given "combat" item (weapons, armor, ammo, trap kits and Demonology
paraphernalia) in your inventory or equipment will pseudo-ID on a given
turn with probability 1 in 9000/(S×S+40); if S≥11, the
pseudo-ID will be "heavy" ({average} detection, distinguishing
{good} from {excellent}, and so forth).
- If your ranged weapon ricochets (see
Archery and
subskills below), the number of times
your ammo will attempt to ricochet is S/10-1, with a minimum of zero
(obviously).
- A confusion attack (that is, a melee attack after reading a Scroll of
Monster Confusion, or as a possible chaotic effect of hitting with a
Chaotic weapon) will confuse the monster for 10+R/5 turns, or increase its
current confusion duration by that amount, where R is 1dS-1.
- After completing the Thieves quest, the next quest offered at the Bree
Mayor's office will be the Troll quest with probability 95% if your Combat
skill is higher than your Magic skill, 5% if it is lower, and 50% if they
are equal; otherwise, it will be the Wight quest.
- Weaponmastery (FF)
-
Your Fighting ability is increased by (CM×7×S)/100 if you have
selected the "Weapon combat" melee style under the 'm' menu.
Submasteries: If all of your wielded melee
weapons are covered by the same sub-skill of the Weaponmastery skill (as
described below), you receive additional bonuses based on your skill level
in said sub-skill:
- You receive S/25 extra melee attacks.
- You receive a to-hit bonus of +S and a damage bonus of +S/2 for melee
attacks.
- Sword-mastery
-
Sword-mastery covers the following weapons:
- Broken Dagger
- Broken Sword
- Dagger
- Main Gauche
- Rapier
- Small Sword
- Basillard
- Short Sword
- Sabre
- Cutlass
- Khopesh
- Tulwar
- Broad Sword
- Long Sword
- Scimitar
- Katana
- Bastard Sword
- Great Scimitar
- Claymore
- Espadon
- Two-Handed Sword
- Flamberge
- Executioner's Sword
- Zweihander
- Blade of Chaos
- Bluesteel Blade
- Shadow Blade
- Dark Sword
Its effects are described in the "Submasteries" entry
under Weaponmastery.
- Critical-hits
-
If you are wielding a weapon covered by the Sword-mastery skill that weighs
less than 5 pounds, your probability of scoring a critical hit with
that weapon is increased by (S@200)//50 percent. In addition, the power of
the critical hit is computed as though the weapon's weight were
(S@400)//10 pounds greater.
- Axe-mastery
-
Axe-mastery covers the following weapons:
- Hatchet
- Cleaver
- Light War Axe
- Beaked Axe
- Broad Axe
- Battle Axe
- Great Axe
- Lochaber Axe
- Slaughter Axe
Its effects are described in the "Submasteries" entry
under Weaponmastery.
- Hafted-mastery
-
Hafted-mastery covers the following weapons:
- Club
- Whip
- Quarterstaff
- Mace
- Ball-and-Chain
- War Hammer
- Lucerne Hammer
- Three Piece Rod
- Morning Star
- Flail
- Lead-Filled Mace
- Two-Handed Flail
- Great Hammer
- Mace of Disruption
- Mighty Hammer (of Grond, presumably)
Its effects are described in the "Submasteries" entry
under Weaponmastery.
- Stunning-blows
-
If you are wielding a weapon covered by the Hafted-mastery skill that
weighs more than 5 pounds and you score a critical hit with that weapon,
the monster will be stunned with probability S percent. If the
monster is not currenly stunned, the stunning will last (S@60)+20 game
turns (where 10 game turns corresponds to one player turn at normal speed);
if it is already stunned, the stunning duration is increased by (S@30)+10
game turns, to a maximum of 200 game turns.
- Polearm-mastery
-
Polearm-mastery covers the following weapons:
- Spear
- Sickle
- Awl-Pike
- Trident
- Fauchard
- Broad Spear
- Pike
- Glaive
- Halberd
- Guisarme
- Scythe
- Lance
- Trifurcate Spear
- Heavy Lance
- Scythe of Slicing
Its effects are described in the "Submasteries" entry
under Weaponmastery.
- Archery (FF)
-
For notational convenience, we will use the technically ungrammatical
singular "an ammo" in the following to refer to a single launched arrow,
bolt or shot.
- Your Bows/Throw ability is increased by (CM×7×S)/100.
- Your probability of scoring a critical hit with a ranged attack is
increased by (S@100)//50 percent.
- The probability of an ammo breaking when thrown at a monster,
normally 50 percent for arrows and 25 percent for shots and
bolts, is divided by (S@10), rounded down to the nearest percent; thus,
at skill level 50, arrows break with probability 5 percent, and
bolts break with probability 2 percent. This does not apply to
boomerangs, which appear to have a constant 10-percent breakage chance.
- If an ammo has not already
ricocheted its maximum number of times
(as determined by the Combat skill above),
it will ricochet (again) with probability S+45 percent.
- If S≥1, you can forge shots from rubble using the 'm'
command. [We will describe the process for doing so here, since it is
different from that of forging shots and bolts, and this difference has
apparently confused many people (including, at one time, the author):
First stand next to the pile of rubble; then select the "Forge
ammo" skill under the 'm' menu , select "[S]hots",
and indicate the direction to the pile of rubble when prompted.]
- If S≥10, you can forge arrows out of junk in your inventory or
at your feet ("junk" here means things like Broken sticks and Elf
skeletons -- but not skeletons dropped by killed monsters).
- If S≥20, you can forge bolts out of junk in your inventory or
at your feet.
Submasteries: You can also gain
additional effects depending on your skill level in the sub-skill of
Archery corresponding to your wielded launcher (as described below):
- You receive a to-hit bonus of +(S@25) for ranged attacks.
- You receive a bonus to shots (as per a launcher of Extra Shots) of
S/16. Not applied to boomerangs.
- You receive a bonus to multiplier (as per a launcher of Extra Might)
of S/25, with an additional +1 bonus if S≥30 and you have the
corresponding ammo in your quiver. Not applied to boomerangs.
- If S≥26, a thrown ammo will
ricochet with some probability (see also notes under
Combat and
Archery).
- Sling-mastery
-
Sling-mastery covers pebbles and iron/mithril shots launched by slings.
Its effects are described in the "Submasteries"
entry under Archery.
- Bow-mastery
-
Bow-mastery covers arrows launched by bows. Its effects are described in
the "Submasteries" entry under Archery.
- Crossbow-mastery
-
Crossbow-mastery covers bolts launched by crossbows. Its effects are
described in the "Submasteries" entry under
Archery.
- Boomerang-mastery
-
Boomerang-mastery covers boomerangs thrown from the launcher slot. Its
effects are described in the "Submasteries" entry
under Archery.
- Barehand-combat (FF)
-
The following effects are applied if you have selected the "Barehanded
combat" melee style under the 'm' menu:
If you have Dodge skill, your Barehanded-combat skill is applied as a
percentage bonus to your dodging probability (as described
therein).
- Bearform-combat
-
If you have selected the "Bearform combat" melee style and are in
bear form, you will receive the following effects:
- +S/11 bonus to STR and CON.
- -S/11 penalty to INT and WIS.
- -(5+S/10) penalty to speed.
- +(2+S/5) bonus to number of blows.
- -S/5 penalty to-hit.
- +S/2 damage bonus.
- +(7×S)/100 increase to Fighting ability.
- Free action if S≥10.
- Regeneration if S≥20.
- Resist confusion if S≥30.
- Resist nexus if S≥35.
- Antimagic (FF)
-
The Antimagic skill has the following effects:
- If S≥20, you can disrupt the space-time continuum, preventing
teleportation (yours and monsters').
- If S≥25, you can detect traps; if S≥35, this will also
destroy adjacent doors.
- Sneakiness (FF)
-
Your Searching and Perception abilities are increased by
S+(S@(5×CM)).
- Stealth (FF)
-
Your Stealth ability is increased by (S@25)+(S@(5×CM)). [Note
that the class modifier for Stealth appears to be zero for all classes,
rendering that term of the formula apparently pointless. -ed]
- Disarming (FF)
-
Your Disarming ability is increased by (S@(5×CM)).
- Trapping (FF)
-
The probability of a monster detecting a trap set by you is decreased by
S//3 percent. (Oddly, the skill level used here is your level at the time
the monster encounters the trap, not at the time you set the trap.)
- Backstab
-
If you have the Backstab skill, the total damage (including all to-damage
bonuses) of a melee attack on a sleeping monster that is visible to you is
multiplied by 1+(S@100)//100; the total damage of a melee attack on a
fleeing monster is multiplied by 1+(S@70)//100.
- Stealing
-
The Stealing skill has the following effects (D denotes the stat index
of your DEX, as shown below; W denotes the
weight of the item to be stolen in tenths of a pound):
- Your probability of stealing an item from a monster without being
noticed is (S@25)+1 in 41-D+(S@29)+(W/1+(S@19))+M-Z, where
M is the monster's level and Z is 10 if the monster is asleep,
0 otherwise.
- Your probability of successfully stealing an item from a store is
11 in 40-D-(S@15)+(W×N)/(5+(S@15)), where N is the
number of items to be stolen.
- Dodging
-
Your "base dodge chance", denoted BDC, is
(S@150)+Sb-(2×Wa)-Wt/100, where Sb is your Barehanded-combat
skill level rounded down to the nearest integer, Wa is the total
weight of worn armor in tenths of a pound, and Wt is the total weight
of everything you are carrying in tenths of a pound. Given this, your
chance of dodging a melee attack from a level-M monster is
BDC-(M×5)/6 percent, and your probability of dodging a bolt
attack from a level-M monster is (BDC-(M×5)/6)/3 percent.
- Magic (FF)
-
The Magic skill has the following effects:
- Your maximum mana is 1+(S@200)+(M×L)/4, where L is your
level and M is an adjustment amount based on your INT (see
below). This is subject to a modifier based on
subrace (+5% for Spectres, -30% for Skeletons and Zombies, -50% for
Barbarians, +20% for Hermits), and a cumulative +50% bonus for Mages and
subclasses thereof [so that, for instance, a 50th level Hermit Mage
with 18/220 INT and Magic skill level 50 will have a maximum mana
of ((1+200+(18×50)/4)×120//100)×150//100=766].
- A given "magical" item (potions, scrolls, wand, staves, rods and rod
tips) in your inventory or equipment will pseudo-ID on a given turn with
probability 1 in 12000/(S+5); if S≥11, the pseudo-ID will be
"heavy" ({average} detection, distinguishing {good} from
{excellent}, and so forth).
- After completing the Thieves quest, the next quest offered at the Bree
Mayor's office will be the Wight quest with probability 95% if your Magic
skill is higher than your Combat skill, 5% if it is lower, and 50% if they
are equal; otherwise, it will be the Troll quest.
- Magic-Device (FF)
-
Your Magic Device ability is increased by (S@20)+(S@(10×CM)).
- Spell-power
-
The effect of a cast spell is computed as though you had skill level
Sr+(S@20) in the skill corresponding to the spell realm, where Sr is your
actual skill level in said realm skill.
- Sorcery (NG)
-
Your max hit points are reduced by S%.
[Incomplete; Still working on this. -ed]
- Mana (NG)
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Fire (NG)
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Water (NG)
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Air (NG)
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Earth (NG)
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Meta
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Conveyance (FF)
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Divination (FF)
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Temporal
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Mind
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Nature
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Udun
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Demonology
-
The Demonology skill is gained automatically when you acquire the Demon
Realm corruption. It has the following effects:
- If S>20, you gain resist confusion.
- If S>30, you gain resist fear.
[Incomplete; still working on this. -ed]
- Necromancy (FF)
-
The Necromancy skill has the following effects:
- The failure rate for using Necromancy powers is reduced by
(S-L)×3 percent, where L is the "spell level" of the power
(subject to a CON-based minimum fail rate; see
- Necromancy powers are affected as follows (P denotes the
spell-power boost conferred by a Mage Staff of Power or similar
equipment):
- Horrify causes stunning for 1+(3+L/10)dN turns and fear for
1+3d(N/2) turns, where L is your experience level and N is
(2+(S×2)/3)d4+P×2. The area of effect is a bolt if
S≤20, a beam if 21≤S≤35, a ball of radius 3+S/10 if
36≤S≤45, or line of sight if S>45.
- Raise Dead reanimates corpses in a radius of 1+S/10+P/2, and
heals monsters in that radius by S×3 hit points, up to their max
hit points.
- Absorb Soul lasts 50+S+1d(30+S×2) turns; each soul absorbed
during that time heals you by 1+M/2+(S@40) hit points, where M is
the level of the monster killed.
- Vampirism drains up to 100×(S/15+P/2+1) hit points from
monsters in the selected direction.
- After casting Death, you must kill S+1d(S/2)-S/4-1 monsters to
regain life.
- The results of a backfire from a failed use of Necromancy powers are
affected as follows:
- If you are forced into undead form, you must kill S×2
monsters to regain life.
- If undead are summoned, they will be greater undead
if S≥30.
- If you take damage, the amount is 10dS.
- Runecraft (FF)
-
The mana cost of a runespell is increased by P×(S/5), where P is
the sum of the difficulty modifiers of all secondary runes used in the
runespell (+0 for Self and Arrow, +1 for Ray, +2 for Sphere, +3 for
Armageddon, +4 for Power Surge).
[Yes, that's apparently all it does. This is generally
considered a bug, and is hoped to be fixed in later versions. -ed]
- Thaumaturgy (FF) (NG)
-
The Thaumaturgy skill has the following effects:
-
You will have a total of (S@100) Thaumaturgy spells, receiving additional
spells as your skill increases.
-
The probability of failure when casting a Thaumaturgy spell of
level L is reduced by 3×(S-L) percent (subject to an
INT-based minimum fail rate; see below).
- Alchemy
-
The most important effects of the Alchemy skill are described in the
Essence spoiler
included in ToME's in-game documentation. Other effects are as follows:
-
A temporary artifact will revert after S×S×3 turns.
-
When extracting essences from an item, you will lose some of the essences
with probability 52-S in 156. This probability is checked
separately for each type of essence in the item's recipe; the usual
number of extracted essences, N, is reduced to either N/2 or N/3, with
equal probability.
-
The explosion from an alchemy failure does 3d(L-S) damage, where
L is the object's level plus the level of the ego type, if any.
-
If you learn an item's recipe while extracting its essences (this happens
with probability 1 in 3) and S≥10, you will also gain full
knowledge of the item, as per a Scroll of *Identify*.
-
The various bonuses of a created item (to-hit, to-dam and armor class
bonuses, and pval-based bonuses for rings and amulets) are computed as
though the object appeared on dungeon level S×2.
- Spirituality (FF)
-
Your Saving Throw ability is increased by (S@(5×CM))+X, where
X is a "stat"-based adjustment using (S@37) as the "stat index" (see
below).
- Prayer
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Mindcraft (FF)
-
The Mindcraft skill has the following effects:
- Music
-
[Still working on this. -ed]
- Monster-lore (FF)
-
The Monster-lore skill can be gained or improved by completing a Bounty
quest from the Beastmaster Shanty. It has the following effects:
- You will gain (S@120) percent of the usual experience for a
monster killed by your pet. (Yes, that's 120% at skill level 50.)
- You can have at most 1+(S@6) companions.
- Summoning (FF)
-
The Summoning skill has the following effects (where M denotes the
monster level of the corpse or totem being used):
- Creating a totem from a corpse will fail with probability
M-S percent.
- A true totem of a non-unique monster will be destroyed upon use with
probability (M×25)/S percent. (True totems of unique monsters
are always destroyed upon use.)
- A monster created from a true totem will be a pet with probability
(S×130)/(M+1) percent if non-unique, or
(S×70)/(M+1) percent if unique.
- A monster created from a partial totem costs ((M×100)/S)//100
mana per turn to maintain.
- Corpse-preservation
-
The Corpse-preservation skill can be gained by completing a Bounty quest
from the Beastmaster Shanty (if you already have the skill, though, a
Bounty quest won't improve it). It has the following effects:
- A given monster will leave a corpse when killed with probability
10+(S@75) percent, unless it is of a monster type that never leaves
corpses.
- When using Possessor power to leave your body to possess a corpse,
the probability of your previous-body corpse rotting on departure is
75-S-(Sp@25) percent, where Sp is your Possession skill.
- Possession
-
The Possession skill has the following effects (where L denotes the
monster level of your possessed body):
- When leaving your body to possess a corpse, the probability of your
previous-body corpse rotting on departure is 75-(S@25)-Sp percent,
where Sp is your Corpse-preservation skill.
- In order to use the "major" powers of your possessed body, you must
have (S@100)≥L. Major powers include most breath, bolt and ball
attacks (except fire, frost, acid and lightning), most summoning spells,
the more powerful cause-wounds spells, firing rockets and the Hand of
Doom.
- Using a monster power of a possessed body will cost no mana with
probability S+X in M+L, where M is the base mana cost for
the monster power and X is a class-based constant in the range 5-10
(X=7 for Possessors). [Actually, it appears from the code that X was
intended to be an INT- or WIS-based stat adjustment, but was coded
incorrectly. -ed.]
- Your maximum hit points in your possessed body will be
(OH+BH+SBH)/3, where OH is your maximum hit points in your
original body, BH is 20+(S@80) percent of your possessed body's
maximum hit points, and SBH is the square root of BH,
rounded to the nearest integer.
- Symbiosis (FF)
-
The Symbiosis skill has the following effects:
- The failure rate of using a symbiosis power is reduced by
(S-L)×3 percent, where L is the "spell level" of the
power (subject to an INT-based minimum fail rate; see
below).
- The probability of failing to charm a never-moving monster is
M in S×3, where M is the monster's level.
- The "Heal Symbiote" power heals 15+(S@35) percent of your
symbiote's maximum HP level.
- On any given turn, your symbiote might rebel and attack you if
S+(2×L)<M, where L is your level and M is your
symbiote's monster level. The probability of it doing so is
M-(2×L)-S in 1000.
- Your symbiote will take the damage from a given attack instead of
you with probability S+5 percent.
- Mimicry (FF)
-
The Mimicry skill has the following effects:
- When using a Cloak of Mimicry, the failure rate is reduced by
(S@150) percent (subject to a minimum of 2 percent), and the
duration is increased by (S@70).
- When using other mimic powers, the failure probability is decreased
by (S-L)×3 percent, where L is the "spell level" of the
power (subject to a DEX-based minimum fail rate; see
below), and the duration is
50+1d(50+S×2) turns (except for Invisibility, for which the
duration is 10+S+1d20+P, where P is the spell-power boost conferred
by a Mage Staff or Power or similar equipment).
- The probability of resisting an abomination attack is increased by
S percent.
Ability effects
Specifying how much a skill level affects an ability level, of course, just
pushes the question back another stage: what effect, then, does the
ability have? Here we attempt to quantitatively describe some of these
effects. We denote by A the ability level of the ability in question.
- Fighting
-
A melee attack on a monster will miss with probability
(C×3)/4 in A+3×H+L, where C is the monster's armor
class, L is a luck-based modifier in the range -10≤L≤10,
and H is your total to-hit bonus from your weapon, STR, DEX,
skill-based sources and your current mimic form, if any (this amount is
displayed on the character screen as '+ To Melee Hit');
thus, the Fighting ability roughly acts as a +A//3 to-hit for melee attacks.
[NB: Actually, you will automatically hit with 5% probability and
automatically miss with 5% probability; the above probability is applied
the other 90% of the time. Also, if you cannot see the monster you are
attacking, the probability is modified to
(C×3)/4 in L+(A+3×H+1)/2.]
- Bows/Throw
-
A ranged attack on a monster will miss with probability
(C×3)/4 in A+3×H-D+L, where C is the monster's
armor class, L is a luck-based modifier in the range -10≤L≤10,
D is the distance to the monster,
and H is your total to-hit bonus from your launcher, ammo, STR, DEX,
skill-based sources and your current mimic form, if any (this amount is
displayed on the character screen as '+ To Ranged Hit');
thus, the Bows/Throw ability roughly acts as a +A//3 to-hit for ranged
attacks.
[NB: Actually, you will automatically hit with 5% probability and
automatically miss with 5% probability; the above probability is applied
the other 90% of the time. Also, if you cannot see the monster you are
attacking, the probability is modified to
(C×3)/4 in L+(A+3×H-D+1)/2.]
- Saving Throw
-
With probability A percent (to a maximum of 95%), you will
successfully avoid the following effects:
- Fear from a terrify attack.
- Paralysis from a paralyze attack or spell or a TY_CURSE or
DG_CURSE effect.
- Effects of a blindness, confusion, slow, teleport level or mind-blank
spell.
- Damage and equipment cursing from a cause-wounds spell or the Hand of
Doom spell.
- Teleport-level or stat-scrambling affects from a nexus attack.
- Effects of a mind-blast or brain-smash attack. If you fail your
initial save on a brain-smash attack, you will get additional chances to
avoid the resulting INT and WIS loss (though not the other effects).
- Backlash effects from a failed Mindcraft attack on a high-level demon
or undead.
- The abomination effect of failure when using a Cloak of Mimicry.
You will also resist sanity blasts from eldritch horror (CthAngband)
monsters with probability A in M+10, where M is the
monster's level. Failing this, you will get additional chances to save
against the individual effects of the sanity blast.
Note that A is increased to a minimum of 95 if you are wearing an
Amulet of Anti-Magic or other item which produces an anti-magic shell (as
distinct from the antimagic field generated by Dark Swords).
- Stealth
-
A sleeping monster will become "less sleepy" (that is, wake up or come
closer to waking up) in a given turn with probability
1 in 2^(A//3). Note that the maximum allowed value of the
Stealth ability is 30.
- Perception
-
You will automatically search adjacent squares on a given turn with
probability 1 in 50-A, or every turn if A≥50.
- Searching
-
You have an A percent chance per turn spent searching to find an
adjacent secret door, trap or trapped chest (separate check for each).
- Disarming
-
In each turn spent attempting to pick the lock of a door or chest or disarm
a trap or trapped chest, you will succeed with probability
A-X percent, with a mininum of 2 percent, where X is an
adjustment based on the difficulty of the lock/trap.
- Magic Device
-
- When inscribing on the floor, you will fail to detect the grid's mana
with probability 3 in A-(M/10), where M is the grid's mana.
- You will fail when zapping a rod or activating an activateable object
with probability 2 in A-L, where L is the object's level (to
a maximum of 50). If A-L≤2, you will succeed with probability
1 in (4-A+L)×3. For Rods of Simplicity, you will fail with
probalitity 2 in (A-L)×10 if A-L>0; if A-L≤0, you
will succeed with probability 1 in (4-10×(A-L))×3.
[Annoyingly, this means that if A-L<0, a Rod of Simplicity is
actually harder to use than an ordinary rod. This is a bug, and is
apparently fixed in the CVS version. -ed.]
The amount by which some skills increase their
corresponding ability depends on the class modifier for the class/ability
combo (denoted CM in the skill description), which are as follows:
Class | Disarming | Magic Device | Saving Throw | Stealth | Searching | Perception | Fighting | Bows/Throw |
Warrior | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 45 |
Swordmaster | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 45 |
Axemaster | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 45 |
Haftedmaster | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 45 |
Polearmmaster | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 45 |
Unbeliever | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 45 |
Demonologist | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 45 |
Mage | 7 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 |
Elementalist | 7 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 |
Warper | 7 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 |
Sorceror | 7 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 |
Necromancer | 7 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 |
Runecrafter | 7 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 |
Thaumaturgist | 7 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 |
Alchemist | 7 | 13 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 |
Archer | 8 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 45 |
Ranger | 8 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 45 |
Rogue | 15 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 30 |
Assassin | 15 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 30 |
Loremaster | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 25 |
Possessor | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 25 |
Mimic | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 25 |
Symbiant | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 25 |
Summoner | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 25 |
Monk | 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 25 |
Priest(Eru) | 7 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 20 |
Priest(Manwe) | 7 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 20 |
Druid | 7 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 20 |
Dark-Priest | 7 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 20 |
Paladin | 7 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 20 |
Mindcrafter | 7 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 20 |
Numeric ability values are translated to the descriptive labels you see on
the character screen by dividing by the ability's scale factor X and
selecting a label based on the scaled result, as depicted in the following
tables. The additional number in the "Legendary" label is
computed as ((A/X-17)×5)/2, so that, for instance,
"Legendary[2]" represents a scaled ability value of 18,
"Legendary[5]" represents a value of 19, and so forth.
Ability | Scale factor |
Fighting | 12 |
Bows/Throw | 12 |
Saving Throw | 6 |
Stealth | 1 |
Perception | 6 |
Searching | 6 |
Disarming | 8 |
Magic Device | 6 |
Scaled value | Label |
0-1 | Bad |
2 | Poor |
3-4 | Fair |
5 | Good |
6 | Very Good |
7-8 | Excellent |
9-13 | Superb |
14-17 | Heroic |
18+ | Legendary |
Some of the effects described above include stat-based adjustments; for
reference, we list here the numerical amounts of said adjustments. For
some purposes (mostly table lookup), a stat value is converted internally
to a stat index, as delineated in the second column.
Stat | Stat index | Min fail
rate | Saving throw adj | Mana adj |
3 | 0 | 99% | 0 | 0 |
4 | 1 | 99% | 0 | 0 |
5 | 2 | 99% | 0 | 0 |
6 | 3 | 99% | 0 | 0 |
7 | 4 | 99% | 0 | 0 |
8 | 5 | 50% | 1 | 1 |
9 | 6 | 30% | 1 | 2 |
10 | 7 | 20% | 1 | 2 |
11 | 8 | 15% | 1 | 2 |
12 | 9 | 12% | 1 | 2 |
13 | 10 | 11% | 1 | 2 |
14 | 11 | 10% | 1 | 2 |
15 | 12 | 9% | 2 | 2 |
16 | 13 | 8% | 2 | 2 |
17 | 14 | 7% | 2 | 2 |
18-18/09 | 15 | 6% | 3 | 3 |
18/10-18/19 | 16 | 6% | 3 | 3 |
18/20-18/29 | 17 | 5% | 3 | 3 |
18/30-18/39 | 18 | 5% | 3 | 3 |
18/40-18/49 | 19 | 5% | 3 | 3 |
18/50-18/59 | 20 | 4% | 4 | 4 |
18/60-18/69 | 21 | 4% | 4 | 4 |
18/70-18/79 | 22 | 4% | 5 | 5 |
18/80-18/89 | 23 | 4% | 5 | 6 |
18/90-18/99 | 24 | 3% | 6 | 7 |
18/100-18/109 | 25 | 3% | 7 | 8 |
18/110-18/119 | 26 | 2% | 8 | 9 |
18/120-18/129 | 27 | 2% | 9 | 10 |
18/130-18/139 | 28 | 2% | 10 | 11 |
18/140-18/149 | 29 | 2% | 11 | 12 |
18/150-18/159 | 30 | 1% | 12 | 13 |
18/160-18/169 | 31 | 1% | 13 | 14 |
18/170-18/179 | 32 | 1% | 14 | 15 |
18/180-18/189 | 33 | 1% | 15 | 16 |
18/190-18/199 | 34 | 1% | 16 | 16 |
18/200-18/209 | 35 | 0% | 17 | 17 |
18/210-18/219 | 36 | 0% | 18 | 17 |
18/220+ | 37 | 0% | 19 | 18 |