=== Attacking and Being Attacked ===
 
Attacking is simple in Angband.  If you move into a creature, you attack him.
You can attack from a distance by firing a missile or by magical means (such
as aiming a wand).  Creatures attack in the same way.  If they move into you,
they attack you.  Some creatures can also cast spells from a distance, and
others can use various breath weapons (such as fire) on you from a distance.

Creatures in walls can not be attacked by wands or other magic attacks
normally stopped by walls, nor can they be shot at with bows and arrows.
Tunnelling into the wall (using the "tunnel" or "alter" command) will allow 
you to attack any creature in the wall. This applies to creatures which 
"pass through" walls: if they "bore through" walls, the wall is no longer
there, and the creature can be targetted normally.

If you are wielding a weapon, the damage for the weapon is used when you hit
a creature.  Otherwise you get a single punch which does minimal damage.

You may wield both a primary weapon for melee combat, and a bow or other
missile launcher for launching missiles at the same time (along with a
light, an amulet, two rings, a helmet, boots, gloves, a shield, a cloak, and
body armor).  Be sure not to try and kill a dragon with a shovel, it makes
you look silly and probably won't work. (Note that "probably" is used 
advisedly: it has actually been done...)
 
Firing a missile (while wielding the appropriate launcher) is the only way to
get the "full" power out of the missile.  You may of course throw an arrow at
a monster without shooting it, but you will find the effects may not be what
you had hoped.

Hits and misses are determined by ability to hit versus armor class.  A hit
is a strike that does some damage; a miss may in fact reach a target, but
fails to do any damage.  Higher armor classes make it harder to do damage,
and so lead to more misses; they also reduce the damage from a strike that
actually occurs.
 

=== Monster Memories ===

There are hundreds of different creatures in the pits of Angband, many of
which have the same letter symbol and color on the screen.  The exact species
of a creature can be discovered by looking at it.  It is also very difficult
to keep track of the capabilities of various creatures.  Luckily, Angband
automatically keeps track of your experiences with a particular creature.
This feature is called the monster memory.  You monster memory recalls the
particular attacks of each creature (whether or not technically a monster)
which you have suffered, as well as recalling if you have observed them to
multiply or move erratically, or drop treasure, etc.  Otherwise you would
simply have to take notes, which is an unnecessary bother.

If you have killed enough of a particular creature, or suffered enough
attacks, recalling the monster memory may also provide you with information
not otherwise available, such as a armor class or hit dice.  These are not
explained, but may be useful to give the relative danger of each creature.
This memory can be passed on to a new character even after you die by means
of a reduced save file.
 

=== Your Weapon ===

Carrying a weapon in your backpack does you no good.  You must wield a weapon 
before it can be used in a fight.  A secondary weapon can be kept by keeping
it in the backpack, and switching it with the primary weapon when needed.

Weapons have two main magical characteristics, their enchanted ability to hit
and their enchanted ability to do damage, expressed as `(+#,+#)'.  A normal
weapon would be `(+0,+0)'.  Many weapons in Angband have bonuses to hit
and/or do damage.  Some weapons are cursed, and have penalties that hurt the
player.  Cursed weapons cannot be unwielded until the curse is lifted.
Identifying a weapon will inform you of the magical bonuses and penalties
and whether or not it is cursed.

Angband assumes that your youth in the rough environment near the dungeons
has taught you the relative merits of different weapons, and displays as
part of their description the damage dice which define their capabilities.
Any damage enchantment is added to the dice roll for that weapon.  The dice
used for a given  weapon is displayed as "#d#".  The first number indicates
how many dice to roll, and the second indicates how many sides they have.  A
"2d6" weapon will give damage from 2 to 12, plus any damage bonus.  The
weight of a weapon is also a consideration.  Heavy weapons may hit harder,
but they are also harder to use.  Depending on your strength, dexterity,
character class, and weapon weight, you may get several attacks per turn.

Missile booster weapons, such as bows, have their characteristics added to
those of the missile used, if the proper weapon/missile combination is used,
and the the launcher multiplier is applied to the total damage, making
missile weapons very powerful given the proper missiles, especially if they
are enchanted.

Although you receive any magical bonuses an unidentified weapon may possess
when you wield it, those bonuses will not be added in to the displayed
values of to-hit and to-dam on your character sheet.  You must identify the
weapon before the displayed values reflect the real values used.

Finally, some rare weapons have special abilities.  These are called ego
weapons, and are feared by great and meek.  An ego weapon must be wielded
to receive the benefit of its abilities. It should be noted that some of 
these items are considerably more powerful than others, and generally the 
most powerful items are the rarest. Also important is the fact that not all
ego-items are nice... some have good and bad points, others are totally 
worthless and dangerous to the player's health. Check the 'egoitem.txt'
help file for more info on these.

There are rumors of unique "artifact" items in the dungeon - weapons and armor 
of all types. Many of these are more powerful than even the greatest ego-items:
some are weak and have little more than a name to recommend them. In all cases, 
and indeed if the player desires to find out the powers of an ego-item with
random powers, use of a scroll of *Identify* will reveal all the powers of any
given item.

=== Magic and Magic types ===

Most classes (except Warriors) can cast magic spells of one form or another. 
Mages, mystics, priests, paladins and rangers all cast book-based spells, while
bards use musical instruments. Note that Paladins and Rangers only gain spell 
abilities upon reaching levels 5 and 3 respectively.

All classes that can use magic have a selection of spells that they can use,
though the sources of these spells may differ. Each spell costs a certain 
amount of mana to cast, which is taken out of your mana pool. If you don't
have enough mana to cast a spell, you can still try casting - but better do
so only if you have no other choices because this is very risky, and liable to
cause you to fall unconcious, and cause permanent damage to your statistics. 

In addition to the mana cost, every spell has a chance of failure, which is
determined by your class, level, and statistics. Mages, priests and mystics 
may attain 0% failure on most spells, but Rangers, Paladins, and Bards always
have some chance of failure. Mages, Bards and Mystics must not wear gloves
(except a few special types), otherwise they suffer a severe penalty to spell
success rates. Also, every magic-using class suffers from wearing heavy
armor, though different classes can wear different amounts of armor safely. 
Finally, some magic items may hinder your spellcasting abilities.

=== Book-Based Magic ===

Each class has a list of books from which it can choose spells. You can tell 
whether your character can use a specific book according to its color in the
inventory - if it's gray, you can't use it. The same book always contains the
same spell list for every class, though some classes might need to be a higher
level for certain spells, and have a lower fail rate. 

You can cast a spell from a book by pressing the 'm' command, then picking 
the book and finally the spell. You must study spells before using them - 
if you see the study display at the lower right corner of the screen, you 
may study new spells by pressing 'G'. Priests and Paladins may not choose 
their own spells, but rather gain a random one out of the chosen book, while 
the other classes can pick which spell they wish to learn. 

=== Musical Instrument Magic ===

Bards use musical instruments to cast their spells. They must wield an  
instrument to be able to cast spells from it. However, they do not need to 
study spells - a bard can automatically cast any spell offered by the instrument
if he's of a high enough level. However, musical instruments vary by quality;
and a low-level instrument will not offer the same selection of spells as a 
higher-grade instrument of the same type. A musical instrument +x can only 
offer spells up to level 10*x - to cast better spells, you must find better
quality musical instruments.
