
====== Magic ======


--- The Four Realms of Magic ---

Wizardry:
     Wizardry is the magic of power:  the power of the elements, of chaos and
confusion, of nexus and planar travel, and of pure mana.  Wizards can befuddle
their enemies, vanish into thin air, and wield all sorts of esoteric powers.
Wizardry can be tricky to use, however; miscast spells can unleash all sorts of
wild magic.
     Special realm skill:  Wizardry

Piety:
     Piety is the channeling of divine force; those allied to Heaven have
extraordinary powers to heal and Judge.  They wield light against the darkness
of evil, the darkness of ignorance, the darkness of the hidden and unknown.  The
pious can dispel and banish, wield holy fire, and expose the very minds of their
enemies to the untrammeled might of God.
     Pious characters can only wield blunt (hafted) and blessed melee weapons
effectively.  If they chose to wield any other kind of weapon, they get a
penalty to melee skill, a reduced light radius, and their prayers are more
likely to fail.
     Special realm skill:  Holy Alliance

Druidic Lore:
     Druids and druids alone understand the lore of nature; the earth, the sea,
and the sky are at their beck and call.  They wield the elements like no other
magic-user can, and alter the weather itself to enhance their powers.  Druids
may shapeshift into many marvelous forms, wither their foes, and have powers to
heal and recover second only to the pious.
     Special realm skill:  Nature Lore
     See the sections on weather and shapeshifting below.

Necromancy:
     Black hexes and red blood, foul rituals:  dread, terrible necromancy.
Users of the Dark Arts wield night, nether, life-draining and dispelling, pure
mana, poison, and mental powers to crush all who stand against them, and can
ritually enhance their powers to achieve horrific strength.  Great in power
although necromancy is, it can be very dangerous when cast incautiously.  A
necromancer is well advised to pay attention to his saving throw.
     Special realm skill:  Blood Dominion
     See the section on shapeshifting below.


--- Spellcasting ---

     The magics of the major realms are found in books, seven for each realm.
Three are readily available in stores, the other four are harder to find.

Getting spell information:
      You may browse books of your realm.  When browsing, you may get more
information about individual spells that are not too high-level by pressing
their letter.  Spells that you have cast successfully will display any power or
damage information.  This information usually updates to reflect temporary
conditions (weather being the major exception), so you get up-to-date
information on the approximate current power of your spells.
     Be aware that the true usefulness of some spells only becomes apparent with
much experimentation.

Gaining new spells:
     You learn new spells by pressing 'G', choosing a spellbook with unlearnt
spells that are not too high level for you, and (unless you use holy magics)
choosing a spell.

Casting spells:
     You may cast any learnt spell that has a spell level less than or equal to
your Spellcasting skill.
     You cast spells by typing 'm' or 'p', choosing a spellbook, and then a
spell.  If you don't have enough mana to cast that spell, the failure chance is
increased, you may lose a point of constitution, and you may faint dead away
(especially if you didn't have nearly enough mana).  Having chosen a spell, you
then try to cast it.  Failing means that priests and druids just lose their turn
(and their mana), but wizards may unleash wild magic and necromancers get
attacked by the dark forces they failed to bind.

Mana:
     Your mana depends on your magic power skill and your spell stat.  All
spellcasters lose a percentage (not a fixed amount) of mana for wearing heavy
armour; specialist spellcasters are most affected.  You can reduce this penalty
by increasing your dodging skill.

Spell failure chance:
     Your spell failure chance depends on the spell itself (some spells are
inherently hard to cast), the minimum skill required to cast the spell, your
spell stat, and your special magic-user skill.  Your special magic-user skill
also has an important effect on the reliability of many spells.
     Those using wizardry or necromancy suffer if they wear gloves that do not
provide free action, increase dexterity, or enhance magic mastery skill.
Priests suffer likewise if they wield an unblessed edged weapon.  Stunning
(especially if heavy), fear, and lack of mana all make magic harder to use.

Weather:
     The knowledge of weather is an art, not a science.  However, it is believed
that values for wind, temperature, and humidity are generally near average with
only occasional extremes.  It is also rumoured that each of these three
components of weather affect two kinds of druidic magic; one benefits from low
values, another benefits from high ones.  In contrast, attempting to use
techniques in unfavorable weather works poorly, if at all.
     Druids have a talent that allows them to forecast the weather.  Weather
forecasting becomes more accurate with Nature Lore skill, and less accurate as
you travel further below the surface.

Shapeshifting:
     There are two kinds of shapechanges.  Druids (and necromancers) can take on
the form of various creatures for as long as they like.  Certain other magics
and elixirs can also change your shape, but their effects last only for a short
time.
     In all cases, you can return to your normal form by typing ']'.  You lose a
third of your mana whenever not in your normal form, and your magical device
skill usually drops, but you often gain some infravision.  Various effects can
be checked by using the Character screen.
  Goat    : Slow digestion, can eat almost anything safely.
  Bear    : Hard hitter, tough and strong.
  Mouse   : Weak, but incredibly stealthy.  Never aggravates.  Perceptive.
  Hound   : Telepathy.
  Cheetah : Fast and dexterous but not very strong.
  Lion    : No fear, excellent bare-clawed fighter.
  Dragon  : Good fighter, bonuses to various stats.  Can breath using essences.
  Ent     : Strong, wise, resist poison and cold, free action, see invis, great
            at tunneling.  Cannot have feather fall, cannot be immune to or
            resist fire, lousy dexterity.
  Troll   : Extreme regeneration and toughness.  Dumb.  No feather fall.
  Bat     : Fast but weak.  Infravision, feather fall, and resist blindness.


--- Getting Good at Magic ---

1)   Take a spellcaster's Oath to tap the full power of a realm.  You take an
Oath by selecting the special realm skill in the skills screen, and typing '*'.

2)   Use the right magic for the monster.  Most combat spells are resisted by
some monster races; some actually do extra damage against certain foes.

3)   Use spells in the right tactical settings.  Many magics only reveal their
true usefulness in particular tactical settings; they often differ greatly from
those that may be familiar to you from other games of this type.

4)  Be aware of special conditions.  Druidic magic relies heavily on the
weather; if conditions are sufficiently adverse, natural magic just fizzles out.
Wizards, Priests, and Necromancers all also have magic that works best when cast
repeatedly, or when other spells are cast previously, or when a lot of light
exists nearby.  The spell comments will mention such requirements.

5)  Test unfamiliar spells.  All attack and hindrance magics are known to be
effective, but the best way to use them may not be easy to discover.  In
general, the more random or resist able the spell, the more powerful it can be
when used appropriately.


--- Spell Projection Types ---

     The names of spells and magical devices sometimes give you information
about what areas they affect, and what shapes they take.

"Bolt", "Missile":
     Fires a magical bolt in a direction or at your chosen target.  Are stopped
by the first monster or wall in their way; monsters in walls take full damage.
Some also "Beam" upon occasion.

"Beam", "Spear", "Lance", "Line", "Spark"
     Fires a beam of magic in the direction you choose, or towards your target.
They are quite useful because they do full damage to every monster in a straight
line.  Wands and Rods of Light work this way.  A few beam spells ("spark") have
short ranges.

"Arc", "Cone", "Breath"
     Fires an arc, centered in the direction of the target.  These are
relatively short-range spells, because arcs lose energy as they expand.
Monsters in walls take no damage.  All monster breaths are arcs.

"Ball", "Storm"  (storms have a larger radius)
     If you target a specific monster, such spells explode centered at that
location.  Otherwise, they travel in the direction you choose, and explode as
soon they hit a monster or wall, or reach their maximum range.  Monsters in
walls take no damage.  These spells only do full damage to the single grid at
the center of the explosion, but can affect monsters that can't see you.  Many
monster spells are balls.

"Orb", "Sphere"
     Orbs are ball spells that do full damage to every grid they affect, and
usually have small explosions.

"Dispel", "Confuse/Slow/Frighten/etc. Monsters"
     A fair number of spells affect all monsters in line of sight (no walls,
rubble, or trees between you and them, up to a range of 20).

<<various>>
     Ball spells that center on you do full damage to all adjacent grids.  Ball
spells can take the form of starburst explosions; they do full damage to all
grids they affect, but are less likely to hit grids further away from the
center.
     There are also many different kinds of special projections, such as walls
of fire, beam storms, seeking vortexes, lingering clouds, and so on.

Special notes:
     Monsters that you cannot see take half damage from magic, for the same
reasons that make non-magical combat less effective against them.  Monsters that
are only partially visible take two-thirds damage from magic.


--- Hindering your foes ---

     If it looks too tough to kill, perhaps you can knock it down a bit.  There
are few monsters that cannot be hindered in some way if you work hard enough at
it.

 Sleep:
     Sleeping monsters can't hurt you - until they wake up again.
 Slow:
     If you can slow a monster, you are well on the way to killing it.
     Slowed monsters eventually return to normal speed.
 Stun:
     Bashing, strong electrical attacks, and some other things can stun
     monsters, reducing their spellcasting and melee ability.
 Confuse:
     Monsters may be confused by bright light (blinding), confusion attacks,
     or spells of confuse monster.  They move randomly about and cannot cast
     any spells until the effects wear off.
 Fear:
     Most monsters can be frightened.  Those that are will attempt to teleport
     away (if they have such a spell) or run.  Monsters slower than you will
     charge and go down fighting if nearby.
 Mana:
     Wait for the monster to run out of mana; most monsters have a limited
     amount of mana.  It may take a long time for them to run out, but once
     they do, they'll need a while to recover.  Be aware that some monsters
     can magically recover mana.


--- Magical Devices ---

     Wands, staffs, and rods are an important part of many adventurers'
arsenals, and some specialize in their use.  In addition to these items, certain
rare rings and amulets can be 'A'ctivated and there are rumours of weapons and
armour with extraordinary powers.
     If you depend on magical devices much, it is important to have a high
enough magical device skill.  This applies especially to magical devices that
hinder monsters.

Getting exact damage information:
     If you use magical devices often enough, you will eventually get the
message "you feel you know more about...".  'I'nspect the object, and you may
very well see extra numerical information about damage, etc.  This takes a lot
of the guesswork out of using staffs, wands, and rods to fight your battles.

Recharging:
     Wands and staffs have to be recharged every so often.  The failure rate of
recharging depends on item type (wands are more fragile than staffs), item
level, your magical device skill, and the power of the recharging spell you are
using.  A high magical device skill makes magical recharging much safer.

















