
====== Monsters ======

Monsters are worth experience:
     Defeat a monster, and you will gain experience.  The amount you gain
depends on the base monster value (which goes up rapidly deeper in the dungeon).
This is divided by your own total experience value:  the combination of spent
plus unspent experience, ranging from 1 to 100.  Note that raising skills has no
effect whatsoever on this value.

Your Monster Memory:
     When you see a monster for the first time, all you know are its physical
attributes and whatever information the monster description may provide.  As you
fight and kill monsters, use various attacks on them, probe them with magic, and
get killed by them, you learn more about their strengths and weaknesses.
     You recall this memory in one of two ways:  'l'ooking at / e'x'amining the
monster and then pressing 'r' for recall, or by pressing '/' and typing the
monster's letter.
     Unlike object memory, monster memory can be passed on even after your
character dies, by loading his savefile and creating a new character.

The Monster Health Bar:
     A good way to keep track of a specific monster is to target it.  When you
do so, its health bar appears on the left side of the main screen, just below
the hitpoint and mana indicators.  Similar health bars are also used when
looking around and when displaying the closest monsters.
     The health bar uses several colors to tell you more about the monster.
Frightened - violet, Confused - brown, Stunned - light blue, Sleeping - dark
blue.  Otherwise - dark and light green when healthy, and yellow, orange, and
red when wounded.
     The health bar is bracketed in green when you have direct line of fire to
the monster, in white when monsters block your line of fire, and grey when walls
or something else non-passable does.

Extra monster health bars:
     You can display additional monster health bars on the left side of your
main screen or (in most interfaces) in separate windows.  Consult the options
section for more details.

Monster attributes:
     The special attributes of monsters can make all the difference to the
danger they pose to you.  Some of the more interesting are listed and described.

  Hitpoints : Some monsters die easily, others can withstand almost anything.
  Armor : Some monsters are easy to hit with melee blows or missiles, others
       very difficult.
  Awareness : Some monsters will stay asleep even if you dance in front of them,
       others are ever vigilant.  The distance that monsters can perceive you
      (if you are not in line of sight) also varies greatly.

  Color : The color of a monster can be a valuable hint; different kinds
       of power and magic are associated with particular colors.
  Multi-hued : Changes colors randomly.  Often you can tell what a dragon
       can breathe by watching it flicker.
  Invisible : Cannot be seen with normal sight.
  Warm-blooded : Some monsters can be seen with infravision, others can not.
  Telepathy : Some monsters are always visible with telepathy, others are
       rarely visible, and others still never visible.
  Uses symbol : Appears exactly like whatever terrain it is on.
  Shining : Can be seen even in shadow

  Groups : Monsters may appear in groups, or have escorts.
  Multiply : Some monsters breed explosively!

  Drops : Monsters may drop anything from nothing at all to large quantities
       of marvelous objects.
  Experience : The experience you get from killing monsters varies greatly.

  Regenerate : Recovers battle damage unusually quickly.
  Evasive : Monster is especially hard to hit with melee blows, missiles, or
       bolt spells.
  Clouds : Monster constantly releases clouds of venom, fire, etc. around it.
       Approaching such creatures is especially hazardous.

  Bash Door : Most monsters (but not all) can either bash down or open doors.
       Everyone can close doors, and some characters can lock or bar doors to
       delay their foes considerably.
  Pass Wall : Ghosts and some other creatures can float right through ordinary
       walls.
  Flying : Can float or fly over hostile terrain or monster traps.

  Hurt by ... : Monsters can be especially susceptible to light, rock remover,
       fire, or cold.
  Resistant to ... : Monsters can be especially resistant to edged and/or blunt
       weapons, any or all of the elements or poison, or any of the esoteric
       magics.
  Cannot be ... : Monsters can be immune to fear, slowing, stunning, sleeping,
       or confusion.

  Spells : Monsters may fire physical missiles, breathe, cast spells to hurt and
       hinder you, blink and teleport you and themselves, heal and cure and
       restore themselves, haste themselves or other monsters, summon more
       opponents, and many other things!
  Casting speed : Be careful of monsters that cast spells very often, especially
       if they also move quickly.
  Smart : Monsters can be skilled at choosing spells, somewhat skilled, or
       unskilled.
  Breath Powerfully : Dragon breaths lose less power with range.
  Archer : Can fire physical missiles most of the time.
  Morgul-Spells : Poisonous missiles, and cold, poison, and darkness spells
       become much more nasty.
  Spells of Udun : Fire become Hellfire, a dreadful combination of darkness and
       fire.

  Blows : Monsters can do great damage and inflict nasty effects in melee.  A
       few monsters never miss.


Detecting monsters:
     There are many ways to find out if monsters are nearby.  Bright light
reveals all but invisible creatures; if you can light up an area, you are much
less likely to be surprised.  Many spells and magical devices, and some talents
detect monsters, and you may perhaps be able to find and wear an item that
grants telepathy.
     A number of skills can also be very helpful here, as they allow you to
sense nearby creatures.  The effect of each skill is given below.

     Nature Lore:  powerful detection of natural creatures
     Holy Alliance:  powerful detection of demonic creatures, some ability
          to sense evil at high level
     Blood Dominion:  powerful detection of undead creatures
     Wizardry:  some detection of magic-users with mana at high level

     Stealth:  If you are in pitch darkness, gives you a significant bonus
          when listening for monsters
     Perception:  perception skill may reveal invisible creatures adjacent
          to you, and at high level this skill can help you hear distant
          monsters not mentioned above
     Burglary (Guild):  general bonus to hearing and sensing ability


Player Ghosts:
     Player ghosts vary from game to game depending on the name, sex, race, and
spell realm of the adventurer or legendary Hero whose bones file was used during
ghost creation.  Should your character die, information about him will often be
added to a new bones file, inside the folder /lib/bones, and a future game might
bring him back from the dead...
     Should a ghost be slain, he may vanish forever, or he may re-emerge later
in a new, more powerful form!














