
====== Talents ======

     The game will notify you of any new talents you get as you raise skills.

     Typing '[' brings up a list of talents.  If you have at least one talent,
you can browse (get extra information about) it by typing '*', or mark it (get
notification when it is again available for use) by typing '!'.


--- List of Talents ---

Turn skin to stone:
     Increases your armor class substantially.  Requires a wrestling skill of 65
and the Oath of Iron.

Berserk fury:
     Drives you into a berserk fury, which greatly increases your strength,
melee skill, and hitpoints, but hinders archery and throwing, reduces your armor
class, and leaves you exhausted.  Requires a wrestling skill of 80 and the Oath
of Iron.

Resist damage:
     Lets you go into a brief trance-like state in which you take only 2/3rds
damage from all forms of attack.  Requires a karate skill of 90 and the Oath of
Iron.

Learn about monster:
     Gives you partial information about a single monster, especially about
attributes that would determine which weapon you might use against it.  Requires
the Oath of Iron.

Detect magic:
     Reveals most kinds of magical items nearby, which is very helpful for
finding concentrations of neat loot.  This talent does not reveal essences.
Requires a wizardry skill of 40.  Wizards use a spell instead.

Phase warp:
     Semi-controlled teleport.  At levels not much above the minimum, is only
slightly better than a phase door, but at high levels, gives good control of
movement.  Requires a wizardry skill of 70.  Wizards use a spell instead.

Tap magical energy:
     Allows you to regain mana by tapping magical devices (especially staffs and
wands).  This can be a very useful ability indeed, because ways to magically
recover mana are rare.  Requires a wizardry skill of 75.  Wizards use a spell
instead.

Sense evil:
     Detects evil monsters (even invisible ones) nearby.  Requires a holy
alliance skill of 30.  Priests use a prayer instead.

Restore stats:
    Instantly restores all of your vital statistics to maximum.  Requires a holy
alliance skill of 75.  Priests use a prayer instead.

Sense animals:
     Detects natural creatures (even invisible ones) nearby.  Requires a nature
lore skill of 25.  Druids use a technique instead.

Mend self:
     Reduces cuts, stuns, blindness, poison, and disease.  Requires a nature
lore skill of 50.  At very high skill levels, allows you to heal yourself
rapidly.  Druids use a technique instead.

Sense undead:
     Detects all undead monsters nearby.  Requires a blood dominion skill of 25.
Necromancers use a ritual instead).

Restore experience:
     Restores your skills.  This talent is very powerful, but you need a blood
dominion skill of 85 to use it.  Necromancers use a ritual instead.

Sense charges:
     Those skilled with magical devices often automatically sense charges on
wands and staffs.  If this automatic sensing fails, this talent guarantees
success.  Requires a magical device skill of 70.

Detect and Nab objects:
     Does either of two things:  1) Detects objects and gold in the current room
and/or in line of sight, 2) Fetches an object in line of sight to you, even if a
monster is on top of it.  The maximum weight of the object goes up with skill.
     Requires a burglary skill of 40.

Poison ammo:
     Allows you to use certain mushrooms and potions to poison ammunition; such
missiles do extra damage to all monsters not resistant to poison.  Requires a
burglary skill of 55.

Hit and run:
     Casts a spell around you; when you next hit a monster in melee, or steal
from it, you will execute a phase door.  The neat thing is that the monster gets
no chance to retaliate.  Requires a burglary skill of 70.

Predict weather:
     Druids rely on this talent to tell them what the weather is like.  The
accuracy of weather predictions goes up with perception skill, and down as you
descend into the dungeon.  A druid needs to wait some time between forecasts,
but may get automatic reports when the weather changes (again, depending on
perception skill and dungeon depth).

Sense area:
     Magically maps the local area, revealing walls and floors (but not objects
or monsters).  Requires a perception skill of 55.  Eventually gains extended
range.

Sneaking:
     When you use this talent (or type the 'S' (or '#') key), you start to sneak
around.  This slows you down but makes you more stealthy (depends on stealth
skill).  Also, the higher your Burglary skill, the more likely that you will get
especially deadly sneak attacks (much more effective than the ordinary sleeping
monster bonus) on sleeping monsters.  Requires a stealth skill of 10.

Superstealth:
     Temporarily makes you partially invisible.  Power depends on stealth and is
in addition to any equipment bonuses to invisibility.  Requires a stealth skill
of 75.

Recharging:
     Allows you to use essences to recharge wands, staffs, and even rods.  This
method is riskier to you than normal recharging, but is much less likely to blow
up the item you are working on.  Of course, you have to find the right kind of
essences first.  Requires a magical infusion skill of 30, and a magical device
skill of 30.

Weapon forging:
     Allows you to create weapons using components.  Requires a weapon forging
skill of 15.  Increases in skill greatly improve your ability to make powerful
weapons.

Armor forging:
     Allows you to create armor using components.  Requires an armor forging
skill of 15.  Increases in skill greatly improve your ability to make powerful
armor.

Bowmaking and Fletchery:
     Allows you to create bows and ammunition using components.  Requires a
bowmaking skill of 15.  Increases in skill greatly improve your ability to make
powerful bows and missiles.

Alchemy:
     Allows you to create potions, scrolls, rings, and amulets using bottles,
parchments, and essences.  Requires an alchemy skill of 10.  Increases in skill
greatly improve your ability to make powerful weapons.

Dragon-breathing:
     If you are in dragonform, you can use this talent to consume essences and
breathe them out in powerful breaths.  The amount of damage you do depends on
your total power and on the type of essence you choose (the more likely the
breath is to be resisted, the more damage it does).
     Of course, you have to find a way to turn into a dragon first...


--- Other skills-based abilities ---

Dodging Ability:
     Dodging skill is the most important factor in overall dodging ability, as
shown on your character screen.  However, several other things can make a big
difference.

Conditions:  When paralyzed, blinded, confused, hallucinating, or stunned, your
dodging ability is greatly reduced.  An extremely high dodging skill (above 95)
allows you to ignore most of these conditions.

Dexterity:  You need a Dexterity above 7 to dodge much at all.  Each point above
this increases your potential dodging (assuming you have the skill).

Weight:  Carrying too much relative to your strength reduces your dodging
ability, and wielded shields are by far the worst offenders.  However, increases
in dodging skill boost the percentage you can carry without penalty.

Special:  Some spells increase dodging ability temporarily.  Burglars moving in
the dark get a bonus.  It is hard to dodge in the water.



====== Object Forging ======


--- Supplies ---

     When using an object-forging talent, you usually need some kind of input.
You can only create weapons, armor, and missiles in the town (except in ironman
mode).

Components:
     Components of metal come in several different types; the higher level the
component, the more powerful the weapon, armor, or missiles that can be forged
from it.  Certain components add special qualities to the items they create;
mithril is unusually light, adamantium unusually heavy, and both ignore acid and
fire.

Bottles:
     You need empty bottles to create potions.  You start saving empty bottles
as soon as you get your alchemy skill up to 10.  Bottles come in several
varieties; the higher level the bottle, the less likely potions made from it
will shatter when frozen.

Parchments:
     You need blank parchments to create scrolls.  You start saving parchments
as soon as you get your alchemy skill up to 10.  Parchments come in several
varieties; the higher level the parchment, the less likely scrolls made from it
will burn or be destroyed by acid.

Essences:
     Essences are foci of concentrated magic; they slowly gather near objects
and monsters with strong attributes of a particular type.  Every poisonous snake
on a newly created level has some chance of having attracted an essence of
poison, fire-branded weapons might have attracted essences of fire, and potions
of cure critical wounds might have attracted essences of healing.  Objects and
monsters generated while you are exploring the level cannot have attracted
essences, because they haven't stayed in one place long enough.
     Essences cannot be detected with magic; you have to find them the old-
fashioned way, by thoroughly investigating places where you think they might be.
The higher your Magical Infusion (and also Perception) skills, the more essences
you will find.  Essences are more numerous but harder to spot deep in the
dungeon.  Once you find an essence, you pick it up by moving onto it.  It
automatically goes into a special pouch slot in your equipment; you may
'I'nspect or e'x'amine this pouch to see what essences you have.


--- Forging Wargear ---

What you need:
     Weapon, armor, and missile forging all compete for the same kind of input:
components.  The more skilled you are, and the better the component you choose,
the greater the maximum power of the object you create.
     You also need some moderate skill in using any weapon you forge, or it will
be less powerful.  For example, if you don't have any throwing or clubbing
skill, then you cannot make such powerful throwing or blunt weapons.

Object types:
     The actual power of the forged item greatly depends on your choice of base
object.  Melee weapons and body armor can have a lot of attributes; other kinds
of armor and missile weapons have somewhat less, and ammunition has only a few.
Also, the higher level and more powerful the base object, the fewer extra
attributes it gets.

Reducing failure chance:
     Forging may fail, and when it does, things go boom.  You reduce your
failure chance by increasing your skill, using higher quality components, and
choosing low-level base object types (daggers versus executioner's swords).

     You can give your forged items names by inscribing them.


--- Infusion of Wargear ---

     When you forge wargear with essences in your pouch, you will be asked if
you want to use essences to directly alter your forged item.  If you say yes,
you see the "Add essences" screens.  There are four screens:  Sustain/Slay,
Resist, Qualities, and Bonuses.  You navigate among them by typing '<' and '>'.
Pressing RETURN starts the forging.  Pressing ESC cancels everything.

Investing essences:
     On all screens, you see a list of object attributes (such as Resist Cold or
Sustain Strength), each followed by an indication of the essence type and the
minimum amount needed to get it.  If you have at least the required amount of
essences of that type, the essence type is displayed in grey.  Otherwise, it is
shown in dark grey.  You navigate to the attribute you want by typing '8' and
'2', then invest essences by typing '+' and '-'.  As you invest essences, the
number invested appears, colored grey, white, light blue, blue, and violet as
your likelihood of success increases.  Investing the minimum gives you a 30%
chance of success.  Investing until the indicator is violet (quite expensive)
gives you a 90% chance of getting that attribute; this is the highest possible.

Applying bonuses:
     On the bonuses screen, you also need to specify which bonus you plan to
apply, as objects may have up to three.  Usually, however, you just need to
adjust the first one (by typing '+' and '-').  Navigate to the attribute you
want, and type '4' and '6' to change to the bonus you want (usually the first).
Once you have assigned that attribute a non-zero bonus, you can then invest
essences (by typing '+' and '-').  Note that the cost of bonuses depends greatly
on the size of bonus you ask for.  Asking for a bonus of 3 is more expensive
then asking for 3 different bonuses of 1.

Be careful:
     Object infusion can be extremely powerful, but you have to be careful.  The
greater the percentage of total power you try to specify using essences, the
more likely it is that the forging will fail, and that you will lose everything.
Infusion skill helps a lot with this.  The infusion screens display a
"Potential" indicator; it changes colors from green to light green, white,
yellow, orange, red, and dark grey as things get increasingly dangerous.
     Again:  forging is very, very chancy.  Magic-using smiths and alchemists
are notorious for rearranging the landscape.  If you fail, just remember that
there are lots more essences and components waiting to be found.


--- Alchemy ---

Making potions (requires a skill of 10):
     Potion-creation requires essences and bottles.  You can only make potions
that you are aware of and whose essence cost you can meet.  The higher your
alchemy skill, the higher the maximum level of potions you can make.
     Alchemy can fail, and when it does, the potion you are working on explodes
violently.  You increase your success rate by choosing low-level potions, high-
level bottles, and by raising your alchemy skill.
     You can often make more than one potion using a given number of essences;
the amount depends on the value of the potion and your infusion skill.  Making
more than one potion at a time is especially risky, but increases in infusion
skill help.

Alchemy - making scrolls (requires a skill of 10):
     Scroll-creation is very similar to potion-creation except that you use
parchments instead of bottles.

Alchemy - making rings and amulets (requires a skill of 35):
     Making rings and amulets needs both components and essences.  The level of
object you can make depends on alchemy skill and component quality.  Failure
chance depends on the level of the item you are trying to create and on your
skill.

Infusion - making potions of essences:
     Requires an Infusion skill of 15.  Uses the same talent as ordinary potion-
making (so you also need enough Alchemy skill to make potions).
     Potions of essences ("magical grenades") can do a lot of damage, whether
you throw them, quaff them, or use them in traps.  Damage depends on the number
of essences you pack in and on your Infusion skill.  The type of essences you
use also has an effect:  the basic elements do the most damage, the esoteric
magics do the least.  If you pack too many essences in, and fail to use a sturdy
enough bottle, your potion might explode...

     Average damage:
     skill * 1.4 (up to 140) for one essence
     skill * 2.2 (up to 220) for two essences
     skill * 2.8 (up to 280) for three essences

     Note:  You can make multiple potions of essences at one time.  Unlike the
case when making ordinary potions, there is no extra risk to doing this.

















