Improved ADOM Guidebook

Monsters

0.9.1 Significance of the first kill

0.9.1.1 Courage skill

0.9.1.2 Filk quest

0.9.1.3 Strategy for the first kill: where and what?

If the PC wants the Courage skill and wants to attempt an Ultra ending, the following requirements must be met: the first kill must be a monster readily available after receiving the Old Barbarian's quest; it must also be uncommon in the various dungeons the PC will face so that the Filk quest does not get out of control. Entering the Small Cave at the start of the game and killing a rat, kobold or goblin as the first kill, for instance, makes it much more difficult to finish an Ultra ending.

Beggars, goodwives, children, and farmers all make good, risk free first kills (the alignment drop is pretty negligible). For the latter 3, you should lure them out of Terinyo first. Also, if you're going for both Courage and the Filk quest, outlaws are excellent first kills, since they're rare enough to avoid, but can be easily generated on the road by the Pyramid, as well as being guaranteed in Lawenilothehl.

0.9.2 Cats f – the significance of felines

The Cat Lord resides on D: 35 in the Caverns of Chaos. He rewards PCs who have avoided killing any cats with a powerful artifact ring. He will be hostile towards PCs that have killed cats and becomes more powerful with each cat killed (+10 HP for each cat killed, +1 level for each 25 cats killed, max level 20).

Many players consider the Ring of the Master Cat to be the most powerful and desirable ring in the game. It grants +16 to Dexterity and +16 to Speed. In addition it causes the PC to deliver considerably more critical hits with melee and missile weapons and grants the Fate smiles intrinsic.

It is important to remember that even after receiving the ring, the PC must not kill any cats while wearing it, since it explodes in that circumstance. The ring does not explode if it is in the backpack or left on another level when a cat is killed after receiving the RotMC.

Make no mistake about it, the requirement to kill no cats for the entire game is a difficult one, causing many to refer to them as "those damn cats". The power of the ring makes it worthwhile to attempt to avoid killing them.

There are several ways to deal with cats. Teleportation is one, from a wand or spell. Either teleport the cat away, especially if the PC does not have teleport control, or teleport the PC. Potions of exchange thrown at a cat will turn it into another monster. Potions of raw chaos, available at any time once the PC has Moon Sickle, will turn cats into writhing masses of primal chaos when thrown at cats. Cats can be led over traps until they are killed or turned into a writhing mass of primal chaos. Luring a cat across an alarm trap causes other monsters to become hostile and attack the cat. Note that the PC is charged with killing a cat if she creates or sets off a trap that kills a cat. Wands of destruction can be used to safely kill cats since monsters "destroyed" in this way do not appear in the kill list.

PCs that are near Dwarftown can bring cats to Dwarftown and have the Priest, for instance, kill them. This is probably a bit dangerous, since bringing hostile monsters into Dwarftown repeatedly may eventually result in some of the inhabitants becoming hostile. It should also be possible for PCs near the Banshee's level to bring cats to her level and have her wail kill them. Additional monsters that can be used include vortices. Lure a cat close enough to one and allow it to explode. Be familiar with vortices before trying this.

Companions can kill cats for you. Cave lions and wild cats can be tamed with rat and/or giant rat corpses, if you have enough of them. Cave tigers can eventually be tamed with pieces of fresh and/or raw meat, but it requires five or more pieces. If the PC can become invisible, and has not attacked the cat in question, it can simply be walked away from. Cats can be confused with the Ventriloquism skill. While they are confused, run away. Cats can also be confused or blinded by throwing potions of confusion or blindness at them. Again the run away tactic would be used.

0.9.3 Karmic beings

Three unique beings share the Cursing/Dooming property of karmics: Filk, the quickling bard, the Oracle, and Sharad-Waador, the ancient karmic wyrm.

Karmic beings will occasionally leave corpses when killed. Eating the corpse of a karmic being will, in order, remove the Doomed intrinsic if present, remove the Cursed intrinsic if present, grant the Lucky intrinsic if not present and grant the Fate smiles intrinsic if not present. Remember all or any of these intrinsics can be present simultaneously. Thus a PC that is Doomed and Lucky would lose the Doomed intrinsic and retain the Lucky intrinsic after eating a karmic corpse. The same is true for a PC that has the Cursed and Doomed intrinsics – the PC would lose the Doomed intrinsic but not the Cursed intrinsic and would not gain either the Lucky or Fate smiles intrinsics.

0.9.4 Monster types

0.9.4.1 Animals

Regarding animals:

• There are no known weapons that slay all animals (except for the Black Whip of Extinction).
• Beastfighters attacking animals in unarmed melee have a greater chance of landing critical hits on them than against any other type of monsters.
• All animals can be calmed and eventually tamed by music, with pieces of raw meat or fresh meat.
• If the PC is a Druid, all animals in the game will be generated non-hostile, unless summoned, or created in tension or threat rooms. Also chaos animals, animals in the evil druid Keethrax's lair in the Druid Dungeon, and bugs in the Bug Temple are exception.
• Additionally, if the PC is a non-chaotic Druid, it is a major offence to their god to sacrifice an animal.

The following are animal subtypes:

• Aquatics A – underwater creatures found in the Water Dragon Cave, they have a speed bonus while in water.
• Bats B – these annoying little creatures rank among the weakest monsters. However, they all see in darkness, see invisible, and ignore water (and traps). And they taste like chicken, whatever that might mean.
• Bears N – nothing remarkable.
• Cats f – section 0.9.2 above.
• Dogs d – can be tamed by giving them bones.
• Insects – ants a, bees b, centipedes c, and bugs i – artifact weapon ebony spear "Bugbiter", Eagle's Claw, and sling bullets of insect slaying slay them all; they are immune to mindcraft (except giant ant warrior, giant ant queen, giant bee queen, giant bee warrior and ankheg). Almost all insect corpses provide intrinsics or other special effects. They are also largely indigestible and cause the PC to vomit, losing satiation.
• Lizards l – lizard meat is very tough, meaning that cooking it yields a much greater amount of satiation. Many lizards feature elemental ranged attack.
• Snakes s – snakes, vipers, cobras – they all poison, and drop corpses with very low probabilities (1-2%)
• Spiders S – are not classified as insects, but are a separate animal subtype. Obviously, they are poisonous, and they ignore webs. Except tarantulas, spiders also spin webs. Their corpses grant poison resistance.
• Rabbits r – they only appear on special Battle Bunny level, deep in the CoC. Rabbit knife slays them.
• Rats r – the artifact weapon Cat's Claw slays them; they are potent swimmers.
• Worms w – see later annoying monsters.

0.9.4.2 Constructs Y

Regarding constructs:

• All constructs are immune to death rays, stunning, paralysis, blindness, petrification, poison, sickness.
• Amulet of protection from constructs protects against their special attacks 60% / 80% / 120% of the time B/U/C. It does not protect against explosion of a vortex.
• Unlife slayers in the game include arrows/quarrels/sling bullets "of construct slaying"; and a small number of artifact weapons including Purifier and Vanquisher.
• Note that although the game most often uses the term "constructs" to refer to the monster type, weapons that slay constructs display the line "It is an unlife slayer." when Greater Identify is applied to them.
• Mindcraft and stethoscopes cannot be used on constructs.
• They never panic or become enraged.
• Weapons of vampirism and Necromancer's Shadow Touch do not provide HP if used against constructs.

A construct subtype exists, called Elementals, which includes (greater) elementals and vortices. They are aligned to one the elements – fire, ice, air/lightning, acid, water, earth. Elementals feature immunity to their element (of course), and ranged attack (elementals) or explosion (vortices). Elementals not aligned with fire or earth can cross water.

0.9.4.3 Demons &

Demons are vulnerable to the aptly named arrows/quarrels/sling bullets of demon slaying. Additionally, several artifact weapons in the game slay demons: Trident of the Red Rooster, Rune-Covered Trident, Executor, Purifier, Justifier, Grod, Vanquisher. Furthermore, blessed weapons deal 1.5 times their base damage to demons.

0.9.4.4 Dragons D

Regarding dragons:

• They are vulnerable to any weapon (greater) identified as "a dragon slayer". These include arrows/quarrels/sling bullets of dragon slaying, and the artifact weapons Wyrmlance and Vanquisher.
• A number of dragons yield a small alignment boost when killed. Of course, this only includes dragons that are chaotic to begin with, and does not include baby dragons.
• Colored dragons and wyrms can be enraged by giving them a dragon-hide item that is the same color as them. They will also instantly destroy the item. There is, of course, usually very little reason to actually do this. In 1.1.1, black and white dragons react to the opposite color when given items like this, instead of their own.
• Dragons have a unique characteristic when killed: a dragon that has picked up gold pieces will drop twice as many when killed, in addition to whatever gold and other treasure it may have been carrying. This is probably a bug and can obviously be used to multiply gold potentially indefinitely once the PC is buff enough to dispatch dragons. There is some risk involved since many types of dragons can destroy entire heaps of gold with their breath attacks. Note that the amount of gold in a single stack is limited to a 32-bit integer (2³¹ – 1 or 2,147,483,647). Generating larger stacks will cause errors. This so called "dragon doubling bug" was fixed, dragons no longer double gold.
• All dragons and wyrms can smash doors.

0.9.4.5 Giants H

0.9.4.6 Humanoids @

Regarding humanoids:

• Arrows/quarrels/sling bullets of humanoid slaying exists, along with Kinslayer, Skullcrusher, Serpent's Bite, Executor, Vanquisher, Foeslammer.
• Humanoids can be Chatted with, and are capable of using items in a number of ways.
• Humanoids can be pickpocketed.
• They are vulnerable to Mindcraft.

0.9.4.7 Jellies j

Gelatinous cubes can be particularly annoying because of their ability to destroy items that are lying on the ground. Losing that waterproof blanket in the SMC to one of these ugly blobs is extremely frustrating. Easily killed with missiles, spells and mindcraft.

One of the nastier jellies is the stone ooze. The paralysis attack of these can be very, very nasty for PCs who have no means of paralyzation resistance (such as an amulet of free action). Attack them from a distance or run away.

Here is the list of all jellies and their specialties:

• death ooze, yellow ooze – poisons, regeneration
• gelatinous cube – paralyzes, dissolves items on ground
• gibbering mouther – confuses
• gray ooze, ochre jelly – breeder, corrodes weapons (or hands, gloves, boots)
• green blob, green slime – breeder, sickens
• stone ooze – breeder, paralyzes, bypasses PV
• writhing mass of primal chaos – corrupts, slows; very dangerous for low level PCs

Apart from arrows and quarrels of jelly slaying (no sling bullets), only Soaker and Vanquisher slay jellies.

0.9.4.8 Plants P

Regular trees T are probably plants as well, however they can't be attacked. Though you may extract logs from them by Using a hatchet on them. Be wary that chopping trees is very long process, which is shortened by the Woodcraft skill. It is rumored that handling trees may yield treasure if one is persistent enough.

There are no arrows or quarrels of plant slaying. Three artifact weapons which slay plants are Scorched Spear, Black Thumb, and Foeslammer. Sling bullets of plant slaying were added.

0.9.4.9 Undead Z

Undead powers

Undead	Special attack	Other notes
skeletons	none	giving bones heals them; don't leave corpses but bones
zombies	none	corpse poisons
ghuls	paralyzation	corpse paralyzes
ghosts	aging	leave no corpses, ignore walls
liches	glowing balls, confusion, paralyzation	more powerful liches have additional spells; immune to cold [1]
mummies	sickness or poison	vulnerable to fire
shadows	attribute drain	ignore water; immune to cold
spirits	attribute drain	corpses provide To and alignment drop

[1] Regular liches are also vulnerable to fire.

Skeletons: skeleton z, skeletal warrior, skeletal king Z
Zombies: zombie z, steel zombie Y
Ghuls: ghul, frozen one z
Ghosts: ghost, ghost lord, ghost king, dwarven ghost warrior G, ghost bat B
Liches: lich, master lich, lich king, emperor lich L
Mummies: mummy, greater mummy, revenant Z, corpse fiend z
Shadows: shadow, shadow lord, slow shadow G, shadow troll T, shadow centipede c, shadow wyrm W
Spirits: spectre, wraight G, vampire, wight Z

Regarding undead:

• All undead can attack in the dark.
• All undead are immune to death rays, blindness, confusion, stunning, paralysis, poison, sickness.
• Liches, mummies, the Banshee and Griff Bloodax can see invisible.
• Amulet of protection from undead protects against their special attacks 60% / 80% / 120% of the time B/U/C.
• Necromancers level 6 and Paladins level 40 get some resistances against undead attacks, especially attribute drain and paralyzation.
• Paladins and Priests have the ability to turn undead, when they are in good standing with their deity. When turned, any affected undead will become scared and attempt to flee. Holding a holy symbol and Using it will accomplish the same thing, but this costs a small amount of piety. Level 40 Priests can instantly destroy undead, through a class power.
• Weapons with the suffix of the sun will do double damage to the undead. Blessed items will similarly inflict +50% damage on undead (and demons). Finally, slaying weapons and ammunition that slay undead will get an automatic critical hit. A mace of disruption is a non-artifact undead slayer. Black Torc slays undead if used as a missile.
• Ashen weapons do no damage to undead.
• Destroy Undead spell, as one might imagine, inflicts decent damage on undead. Healing spells damage the undead instead of healing them, thus allowing Healers (and others lacking more offensive spells) an additional opportunity. Likewise, Bless spell causes damage to undead instead of standard effect. Thrown (or wielded) potions of holy water also work.
• Mindcrafters are warned to never use their mind-damaging powers against the undead, as the experience causes a backlash, harming the Mindcrafter. At level 50, they receive only half of this damage. Note that telekinetic powers (Telekinetic Blast and Greater Telekinetic Blast) are safe to use against undead, since they do not cause backlash damage. Undead are also not visible for Eyes of the Mind.

0.9.5 Strategies for dealing with particularly annoying monsters

This section is about annoying monsters. Not necessarily very dangerous or life-threatening, just monsters that are your personal pet peeve with some attack or characteristic that infuriates you.

0.9.5.1 Early game

• claw bugs i
  Since claw bugs always ignore PV (luckily, they never damage armor) and there are almost no wearable items substantially increasing DV at this point in the game, fighting them in True Berserker mode – wearing nothing and switching tactics to Berserker (section 0.7.4) might be worthwhile. In this mode, there are good bonuses to to-hit and to-damage values – usually enough to take them out in one hit. Of course, this is not necessary once the PC has some missiles and/or spells to take them out. Note that claw bugs are immune to mindcraft as are all insects. They are very fragile and pose a threat only due to their numerous (8 per turn!) armor-punching attacks.

• ghuls (and frozen ones)z
  They are only dangerous because of their paralyzation ability. Otherwise easy to kill. PCs with halfway decent DV should not have a problem.

• gibbering mouthers j
  They have a strong confusion attack, kill them from range or have resistance.

• jellies j
  Refer to section 0.9.4.7 above.

• karmic lizards l
  See the section 0.9.3 above.

• pixies (archers) p
  These have an annoying habbit to steal most of the gold your PC is carrying, then teleport away. Wear money belt to prevent stealing. They are not dangerous otherwise.

0.9.5.2 Midgame

• worms w
  Worms are a group of breeding monsters of various colors that may pose significant annoyance and even danger to the PC. Their main threat is that they multiply very quickly and, if killed in large numbers, tend to become significantly stronger – see 0.9.7.

  The following is a quick overview of the worms in the game and the abilities they possess:

  • brown worms: may cause paralysis
  • green worms: may cause sickness
  • purple worms: may cause poison
  • red worms: can breathe low-damage fire which may destroy items, immune to fire
  • white worms: nothing remarkable

• eyes e
  One should slow down when an eye is encountered. These floating little beings can prove quite troublesome, especially for PCs with low Willpower and without confusion resistance. They generally have only 90 speed and thus can be outrunned. Also they have relatively low HP and don't cause too much damage – the main threat is their special attack which may leave the PC vulnerable for an attack of more powerful monsters, so a good strategy is dealing with them when they are alone. All eyes ignore water and traps.

  The following is a quick overview of the eyes in the game and the abilities they possess:

  • chaos eyes: may cause corruption
  • eyes of destruction: may destroy worn items and cause confusion, shrug off bolts often
  • floating eyes: may cause paralysis
  • magebane and magedoom eyes: may cause confusion, drain PP
  • staring eyes: may cause confusion

• dark elven princesses/priestesses/wizards u
  These monsters, nicknamed "spider factories," have the following nasty traits: they summon spiders (poisoning monsters with high DV and PV that quickly gets even higher) quickly and in large numbers, they occasionally shoot energy bolts and they are highly magic resistant. Priestesses also have a corrupting hit and can paralyze in melee. Spiders (like all animals) can't open doors. If you can put closed doors between you and all the exits the spiders can use, you'll be protected until something else wades through them and opens them. You may also need to seek ways to slow the spiders (Slow Monster, stunning, paralyzation, confusion, Ventriloquism, etc.) so you can actually close the door. Spider corpses poison you shortly, but grant permanent poison resistance. Eat one as soon as you find one and can get a breather. Obviously bolt spells/wands are good against the spiders, though early characters often have too few PP/charges to use them easily for the task. Try to zap the summoner along with the summoned. In the rare cases where they don't resist, they tend to die quickly – they have low HP.

• doppelgangers @
  These are frustrating because they deflect missiles and cause confusion. Doppelganger lords (greater doppelgangers) are somewhat more dangerous. Doppelganger kings (ultimate doppelgangers) are exceptionally dangerous even for very experienced PCs: they reflect the nature of the PC exactly in terms of DV and PV and may inflict substantially more damage than the PC is capable of dealing. Their speed is also nearly identical to the PC's although movement cost and hitpoints are not copied. Normal doppelgangers are easily killed with spells or Mindcraft. All doppelgangers share an inherent weakness: they are helpless in the dark. If the PC can create darkness, from the spell, the scroll or the crystal, doppelgangers are easily killed in melee.

• Dorn Beasts F
  Annoying because of their constant paralysis attack. An amulet of free action will solve this problem. Less well known is the tactic of attacking them in darkness, while blind, or simply with missiles. Their paralysis attack does not seem to engage when using missile weapons.

• ghosts G
  Ghosts (lords, kings) and even ghost bats are very dangerous to short lifespan races like Trolls or Orcs. A couple of hits can age the PC to death easily – use ranged attacks.

• giant slugs F
  They breathe acid, very dangerous for low HP characters. Should one leave a corpse, be sure to eat it – it grants acid immunity!

• invisible stalkers @
  They are what their name implies: invisible. You won't know what is attacking, only after it is killed you will find an invisible stalker in the kill list. Unless the PC has the See invisible intrinsic of course. The message "You feel something passing very closely besides your head!" or "Something hits you!" means an invisible monster just attacked and possibly hit the PC. If the PC moves into an invisible monster, you get either "You swing at the air!" or "You hit something!" message. Besides invisible stalkers, only ogre magi and some uniques will cast Invisibility on themselves, but no other monster has intrinsic invisibility. Fighting these in a corridor would be a good tactic if the PC does not have access to the See invisible intrinsic.

• mimics m
  These annoying creatures can appear in a shop when the player is least expecting it (although they do not seem to show up in Terinyo or Lawenilothehl, thankfully, they do appear in the HMV shop – a warning for players that elect to descend through the UDto start the game). By the time the PC encounters them, they can generally be killed; they are simply surprising and startling. One is almost guaranteed in Waldenbrook's shop. Note that tension rooms full of mimics, master mimics and mimic hiveminds are much more dangerous than a single mimic in a shop. They have a paralyzing hit.

• ogre magi O
  See the section on invisible stalkers above. On the top of being invisible most of the time, ogre magi also posses moderately powerful ice based ranged attack. Have See invisible intrinsic, cold resistance, a ring of fire equipped, and the PC should have no problem dispatching ogre magi.

• ratling duelists r
  Very annoying in melee thanks to their disarm ability. Have at least weapon mastery or use missiles/magic, if you want to avoid dropping your primary weapon. You will continue fighting unarmed if not paying attention. Alternatively, non-standard weapons (say, a statue) cannot be disarmed. Ratling duelists and especially later, ratling fencers and warlords, are not to be underestimated. They are fast, dodge attacks often, and have multiple attacks which ignore PV. Ratling duelists always drop gauntlets when killed. Other monsters with the disarm ability are: (master) swordsmen, Bugs, the bunny master, and the Mad Minstrel.

• rust monsters R
  These beasts will rust vulnerable armor and weapons. Extremely annoying, since all they have to do is touch the PC and a perfectly functioning sword of sharpness or phase dagger can be reduced to a useless hunk of metal. They can be pacified by throwing metal items at them. Quarrels are a good choice if the PC has some expendable ones. Their brethren, large rust monsters and giant rust monsters, unfortunately cannot be pacified in this way.

• vampires Z
  Vampires can be annoying due to their ability to drain Strength and Toughness. They hit quite often. Again, missiles or magic is preferable.

• vortices V
  There are four types: fire, ice, acid and lightning. All will explode when near the PC and always do a significant damage, both to HP and equipment – regardless of DV and PV. On encounter, equip the PC with the appropriate resistance if possible. Fire and ice vortices are efficiently dispatched by cold based or fire based spells respectively. Killing them from distance or in one hit is recommended, though it may not be easy to achieve. Being at full HP is as well recommended strategy. Darkness could be very useful, since it seems vortices won't explode in darkness.

0.9.5.3 Late game

• annihilators C
  Can destroy your precious eternium gear in no time.

• gorgons F
  These are very dangerous because of their petrifying attack. By the way, petrification means death. Do not eat a gorgon's corpse unless the PC is wearing an amulet of petrification resistance! (or has petrification resistance intrinsic). High DV allows the PC to avoid gorgon's breath.

• emperor lichs L
  Emperor lichs are trouble. An exception to the general rule in this section, these annoying monsters are quite capable of killing a PC quickly. They cast Death Ray, so resistance is essential. They see invisible, are attribute drainers and are summoners. A group of emperor lichs, such as those found in greater undead vaults, is a challenge even for level 50 PCs who have won the game. They are vulnerable to high effectivity fire spells. Improved Fireball with effectivity +20 or more and Willpower 48 or greater is a spellcaster PC's friend against emperor lichs.

• molochs &
  Molochs, and their larger brethren greater molochs, are a significant threat. Their melee attack can be for 100 HP or significantly more in the case of GMs. They fall into the annoying category because it is possible to run away from them with any PC that has halfway decent speed. They typically have a speed in the 60-70 range.

• quicklings p
  In addition to punching through armor, all quicklings and are very, very fast. Regular quicklings and quickling queens will employ hit and run tactic. Quickling lords and kings use dark elven quarrels. They all try to avoid bolt spells by returning to a position where they cannot be hit, if possible. Quickling kings and queens see invisible. Quickling queens have very strong poison attack, so it may be necessary to deal with poison damage even if the PC has poison resistance. All quicklings regenerate health. Since they try to avoid melee and bolt magic, they are most easily killed with missiles, or in a corridor.

• titans H
  Titans and greater titans are very powerful late game monsters. They have excellent health, defense, damage output and speed. They shoot eternium quarrels. They see invisible. They are immune to fire and lightning. A threat room full of titans could prove a significant challenge to even the most advanced PCs. Do not compare these to giants or ogres. Titans are much stronger.

• writhing masses of primal chaos j
  They can appear even early game if a monster runs over corruption trap enough times. They get multiple attacks per round, hit extremely hard, and have a corrupting attack. Try to stay at range. Late game when they appear regularly, they are usualy not a problem anymore.

0.9.5.4 General strategies

Dirty fighting strategies

Disability	Means	Effect on monster	Notes
Webs	Web spell, wand of webbing	no move	does not work on large opponents and spiders; often does not work at all
Poison	potion of poison [1], wand of poison	damage	does not work on undead and constructs
Stunning	Stun Ray spell, wand of stunning [3]	wander aimlessly; -4 to hit	shrugged often, short duration
Sickness	potion of sickness	damage; reduced attack damage	does not work on undead and constructs; good duration
Confusion	potion of confusion, potion of wonder	wander aimlessly	very useful, works on everyone [2]; usually lasts longer than stunning
Blindness	potion of blindness [4]	wander aimlessly; -4 to hit	very useful, works on everyone [2]; lasts longest
Paralyzation	wand of paralyzation	cannot do anything	most useful, works on everyone [2] unless shrugged
Corruption	(cursed) potion of raw chaos [5]	turn into WMoPC	effectivenes depends on monster size
Disable	potion of cure corruption	disable special attacks + damage	most useful on monsters with corrupting hit and uniques

[1] Potion of poison can also be used to poison a weapon. The weapon then stays poisoned for several attacks.

[2] Everyone including the ElDeR cHaOs GoD!

[3] Thrown potions of cure poison will stun monsters with poisonous attacks, with 100 percent effectivity, except revenants which are undead and cannot be stunned.

[4] Cursed potion of invisibility, cursed potion of raw mana, Phial of Caladriel (humanoids only), light trap

[5] (blessed) staff of corruption dissemination, corruption trap

Other means include teleporting away (you or the opp), the Scare Monster spell, exchanging the opp via thrown potion of exchange, or pacifying it via Calm Monster spell, thrown potion of balance, berzio potion or Music skill where applicable. Wands of destruction, wands of earthquakes or the Earthquake spell can also be used in dire situations. Remember darkness and/or invisibility often can be your friends, too.

0.9.6 Weapon status – blessed, uncursed, cursed

• for blessed weapons, inflicted damage = (normal damage * 1.5) - PV
• for uncursed weapons, inflicted damage = (normal damage * 1.0) - PV
• for cursed weapons, inflicted damage = (normal damage * 0.5) - PV

Cursed weapons also seem to be more prone to breakage. Blessed weapons seem to be less prone to breakage.

0.9.7 Monsters gain experience level – the uberjackal effect

• PV +2 per 3 levels
• DV +1 per 5 levels
• number of attacks +1 per 10 levels
• damage +1 per 3 levels
• random HP increase proportional to level

The uberjackal effect has been significantly reduced.

0.9.8 Gaining experience

The experience gained per killing a monster is dependent on Speed of both combatants according to the following formula:

Exp_gained = base_exp * (monster_speed / PC_speed)

This means lowering speed as well as increasing monster speed before delivering the final hit are means of generating more experience. This is most commonly achieved by repeatedly casting Slow Monster spell at the PC. Beware however, there is a limit on maximum xp gain. Going beyond the limit will yield only 1 xp.

Besides killing monsters, very small amounts of experience can be gained via disarming traps. A fraction experience (1/20) is gained when offering peace and when sacrificing monsters at an altar. There is no other known way of gaining experience.

0.9.8.1 Shambling mounds P

0.9.9 Spellcasting monsters

0.9.9.1 Spell ranges

Spell ranges

Range	Spellcasting monster
3	kobold shaman
4	dark elven wizard, dark sage
5	black druid
6	great white wyrm, ogre magus
7	druid
8	great black wyrm, ki-rin, lich, master necromancer, skeletal king
10	ancient karmic wyrm, great blue wyrm, master lich, minotaur mage, multi-headed chaos dragon, priest
12	Ancient Chaos Wyrm, ancient blue wyrm, great karmic wyrm, great red wyrm, lich king, old crone, Oracle, shadow wyrm
14	emperor lich
15	Chaos Archmage, ElDeR cHaOs GoD, ancient sage, quickling bard

0.9.9.2 Spell powers

Spell powers

Spell power	Spellcasting monster
0	dark elven wizard, dark sage
3	kobold shaman
4	priest
5	master necromancer
6	black druid
8	ogre magus
12	Cat Lord, great white wyrm, shadow wyrm
13	druid, quickling bard
15	greater daemon
16	great black wyrm
18	black wizard, green hag
20	fairy dragon, great blue wyrm, lich, skeletal king
22	ancient karmic wyrm
24	great red wyrm
25	annis hag, master lich
30	Ancient Chaos Wyrm, ancient blue wyrm, great karmic wyrm, ki-rin, lich king, Oracle
35	emperor lich
40	old crone
45	minotaur mage
50	multi-headed chaos dragon
63	Chaos Archmage, ElDeR cHaOs GoD, ancient sage

0.9.9.3 Directed spells

0.9.9.3.1 Energy bolt / Death ray

Death ray

Death Ray user	Resisted damage range
ki-rin, Oracle	30-119
emperor lich	35-139
Chaos Archmage, ElDeR cHaOs GoD, ancient sage	63-251

0.9.9.3.2 Stream of energy

Getting hit gives message: "You are hit by a painful stream of energy!" Dodging it gives message: "You barely avoid the energy blast."

Stream of energy

Stream of energy user	Base damage range
dark elven wizard, dark sage	2d4
priest	6d4
Ancient Chaos Wyrm	32d4
old crone	42d4
Chaos Archmage, ElDeR cHaOs GoD, ancient sage	65d4

0.9.9.3.3 Confusion

Confusion

Confusion user	Wi thresholds to resist confusion with a given probability							Max confusion durations
	50%	75%	90%	95%	99%	99.9%	99.9999%	Is level 6+ Mindcrafter
								No						Yes
								Number of -Conf items
								0	1	2	3	4	5	0	1	2	3+
black druid	3	4	5	5	6	8	11	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
great white wyrm, shadow wyrm	6	9	10	11	11	12	15	6	2	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1
druid	7	10	11	12	12	13	16	6	2	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1
great black wyrm	8	12	14	15	15	16	19	8	2	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	1
great blue wyrm, lich, skeletal king, fairy dragon	10	15	18	19	19	20	22	10	3	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	1
ancient karmic wyrm	11	16	19	20	21	22	24	10	3	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	1
great red wyrm	12	18	21	22	23	24	26	12	3	2	2	1	1	2	1	1	1
master lich	13	19	22	23	24	25	27	12	3	2	2	1	1	2	1	1	1
Ancient Chaos Wyrm, ancient blue wyrm, great karmic wyrm, lich king	15	22	27	28	29	30	33	14	4	2	2	2	1	2	1	1	1
emperor lich	18	26	31	33	34	34	37	16	4	3	2	2	1	2	2	1	1
old crone	20	30	36	38	39	39	42	20	5	3	2	2	2	2	2	1	1
minotaur mage	23	34	40	42	44	44	47	22	6	4	3	2	2	3	2	1	1
multi-headed chaos dragon	25	37	45	47	49	49	52	24	6	4	3	2	2	3	2	2	1
Chaos Archmage, ElDeR cHaOs GoD, ancient sage	32	47	56	59	62	62	64	30	8	5	3	3	2	3	2	2	1

0.9.9.3.4 Glowing balls / Magic missile

Getting hit gives message: "You are hit by a barrage of glowing balls!" Dodging it gives message: "You barely avoid a magical barrage."

Glowing balls

Glowing balls user	Damage
black druid	3d6
druid, great white wyrm, quickling bard, shadow wyrm	6d6
great black wyrm	8d6
great blue wyrm, lich, skeletal king	10d6
ancient karmic wyrm	11d6
great red wyrm, master lich	12d6
ancient blue wyrm, great karmic wyrm, lich king	15d6
emperor lich	17d6
old crone	20d6
Chaos Archmage, ElDeR cHaOs GoD, ancient sage	31d6

0.9.9.3.5 Cone of cold

0.9.9.3.6 Shock bolt

0.9.9.3.7 Avoiding directed spells

0.9.9.4 Touch attack spells

0.9.9.4.1 Drain attribute

The Drain attribute spell is used by the following spellcasters: black druid, great white wyrm, greater daemon, lich king, emperor lich, old crone, minotaur mage, multi-headed chaos dragon, Chaos Archmage, ElDeR cHaOs GoD, ancient sage.

0.9.9.4.2 Curse

The Curse spell is used by the following spellcasters: black druid, quickling bard, great black wyrm, black wizard, green hag, annis hag, master lich, lich king, emperor lich, old crone, minotaur mage, multi-headed chaos dragon, Chaos Archmage, ElDeR cHaOs GoD, ancient sage.

0.9.9.4.3 Teleport other

The Teleport other spell is used by the following spellcasters: druid, quickling bard, fairy dragon, old crone, Chaos Archmage, ElDeR cHaOs GoD, ancient sage.

0.9.9.4.4 Avoiding touch attack spells

Curse item and Teleport other use easier save. They are avoided if 1d(spell power)-1 < Mana+Luck. Thus, high Mana can make you safe from item curses; the Mana needed in this way must be equal to the relevant spell power. With 25 or higher Mana, any item is safe from all cursing monsters that are not also attribute drainers (if the PC has positive Luck, and it is not Darknight).

0.9.9.5 Non-targeted spells

0.9.9.5.1 Invisibility

0.9.9.5.2 Darkness

0.9.9.5.3 Heal

0.9.9.5.4 Greater heal

0.9.10 Monster abilities

Major abilities

Ability	Description	Monster memory
Spellcasting	See 0.9.9.	They are able to cast spells.
Summoning	Summonners have the ability to magically call upon assistance.	They are able to summon help.
Breeding	Breeders are monsters with the ability to replicate.	They are able to duplicate.
Archery	Archers are defined by their missile of choice, range, and frequency of missile attacks. See also 0.14.12.	They use missile weapons.
Breathing	Breath attacks are defined by the element, power, range, and frequency.	They are able to breathe <element>/various types of energy.

0.9.10.1 Summoning

List of summoners and what they summon:

• Balor – random monsters
• Black wizard – random monsters
• Blink dog – blink dog
• Chaos wizard – chaos servant, greater chaos servant, chaos warrior, writhing mass of primal chaos
• Dark elven priestess – large spider, giant spider, cave fisher, tarantula
• Dark elven princess – large spider, giant spider, cave fisher, tarantula
• Dark elven wizard – large spider, giant spider, cave fisher, tarantula
• Emperor lich – random monsters
• Greater Balor – random monsters
• Greater daemon – lesser daemon, quasit
• Jackalwere – jackal
• Lich king – random Monsters
• Master lich – random undead
• Master Necromancer – random undead
• Master Summoner – random monsters
• Mimic hivemind – mimic, greater mimic, master mimic
• Necromancer – zombie, ghul, skeleton
• Chaos Archmage – random monsters
• Shadow wyrm – shadow
• Shopkeeper – thug (this summon happens once; Waldenbrook summons muscular dwarves instead)
• Skeletal king – skeletal warrior
• Wererat – rat, giant rat
• Werewolf – wolf, dire wolf, silver wolf
• Werewolf lord – wolf, dire wolf, silver wolf, werewolf
• Werewolf king – wolf, dire wolf, silver wolf, werewolf, werewolf lord

0.9.10.2 Breeding

One major difference between breeders and summoners is that breeders can be sterilized – ie. kept from replicating – using a scroll of vermin control, or a prayer. Note that Gremlins – who replicate only when being splashed with water, for instance from a water trap – are not true summoners nor are they true breeders – true summoners and breeders require no outside influence to create more monsters. They are included here for sake of completeness. It should also be noted that duplicated gremlins are considered summoned – not bred – creatures by the game.

List of breeders and how they breed:

• Battle bunny – duplicates
• Brown worm – spawns
• Chaos rat – duplicates
• Chaos spawn – spawns
• Claw bug – spawns
• Gray ooze – duplicates
• Greater claw bug – spawns
• Green blob – duplicates
• Green slime – duplicates
• Green worm – spawns
• Gremlin – multiplies itself when it meets water
• Killer bug – spawns
• Mutated battle bunny – duplicates
• Ochre jelly – duplicates
• Purple worm – spawns
• Red worm – spawns
• White worm – spawns
• Stone ooze – duplicates

0.9.10.3 Archery

0.9.10.4 Breathing

Elemental breath, along with missile attacks, is one of the more common special monster abilities. Fire breath seems to be the most common, and is possessed by a diverse range of monsters, whereas cold, acid, and lightning breath are rarer. Elemental breath is treated as a bolt spell for purposes of monsters' resistance. Lightning breath bounces off walls, so the PC should try not to be in a closed space with a monster that can use it.

Resistance to the corresponding element can help PCs reduce damage taken from elemental breath, and elemental immunity eliminates any injury the PC may otherwise suffer from the attack. Inventory destruction may still occur if the attack hits the PC though, depending on the element in question. PCs with high Alertness can often dodge breath attacks completely; high Dodge skill also helps (but to a lesser extent).

Water breath deals non-elemental damage to the PC, and can rust iron items and ruin paper ones. Having Water breathing reduces the damage by around 67%. Stone breath (or shrapnel) deals non-elemental damage to the PC, and can destroy items not made of adamantium, truesilver, eternium, or crystal. There is no way to reduce the damage. Petrifying breath is exclusive to gorgons, and they only use it rarely: about once in 30 turns. It only has a range and power of 2. When used it will instantly kill any target within two spaces in front of the gorgon, unless they have petrification resistance or dodge the breath.

0.9.10.5 Minor abilities, sorted alphabetically

Ability	Description: Monsters with this ability can/will ...	Example monsters	Monster memory
Acidic skin	injure the PC and/or try to damage her equipment if she engages in melee with them. Acid resistance helps.	gray ooze, ochre jelly	They are covered in acid.
Adjust power	adjust their level depending on the PC's level.	molochs, undead slaves	They adjust in power.
Age	increase the PC's age if their attack injures her.	ghosts, shadow wyrm	They are able to age someone by touching them.
Bouncing	bounce or absorb bolts.	stone monsters, juggernaut	no message
Chaotic to kill	significantly decrease PC's alignment when attacked or killed.	most Terinyo/Dwarftown inhabitants, Cute Dog	no message
Charge	greatly increase their Speed temporarily in order to catch the PC.	juggernaut, tyrannosaurus	They can charge their enemies.
Confusion	confuse the PC for several turns if their attack injures her. Intrinsic confusion resistance does not prevent the PC from becoming confused (high Willpower does), but will reduce the duration.	eyes, gibbering mouther, jackal demon	They are able to confuse living beings by touching them.
Corruption	increase the PC's accumulated corruption points when the PC receives damage from their attacks. They lose the ability to corrupt if hit with a thrown potion of cure corruption.	chaos monsters, balors	They have a corrupting touch.
Destroy worn items	instantly destroy a randomly selected piece of the PC's equipment (not their inventory). Only artifacts are immune to this power; even the most powerful eternium or crystal items can be torn apart.	annihilator, eye of destruction	They are able to annihilate equipment.
Diagonal movement	prefer to use exclusively diagonal movement when pursuing the PC. This can make sacrificing and maneuvering around them more difficult.	killer bug, vortices, angels, minotaurs; many more	no message
Dig	be able to dig through dungeon walls leaving behind rocks, huge rocks, ores or gems.	ants, dwarves, molochs, giant racoon	They are able to dig through the ground.
Disarm	sometimes attempt to disarm the PC, which if successful will move the PC's equipped weapon from her hand(s) to an adjacent tile. The chance to resist disarming depends on skill level with the wielded weapon in question.	ratling duelist/fencer/warlord, (master) swordsman, Bugs	They are able to disarm others.
Doppelganger	have a chance to cause confusion for 1d2 turns (high Mana attribute helps to prevent confusion), and they deflect all missiles except potions and gold. They will usually fail to use their deflection ability while confused, stunned, or paralyzed.	(greater/ultimate) doppelganger	They are able to imitate other beings.
Drain PP	steal PP from the PC at random intervals. High Willpower helps to resist PP drain.	magebane/magedoom eye	They are able to drain mana in their surroundings.
Drain St	have a chance to permanently decrease Strength, if their attack injures the PC. High Mana helps to prevent Strength decrease.	shadows, vampire, living wall, quasit	They are able to drain strength.
Drain To	have a chance to permanently decrease Toughness, if their attack injures the PC. High Mana helps to prevent Toughness decrease.	wight, wraith, spectre, vampire	They are able to drain your health by touch.
Eat item	periodically dissolve items lying on the ground in the space which they occupy. Only one item (or stack of identical items) will be destroyed at a time.	gelatinous cube only	They are able to dissolve objects.
Frost aura	damage every hostile monster in their immediate vicinity.	frost salamander only	They exert a deadly aura.
Ignore PV	penetrate the PC's PV on every successful hit. Such monsters present a significant threat to PCs relying on high PV.	see 0.8.4	no message
Immunity	be immune to acid, cold, fire, lightning, water, death rays, petrification, poison, Mindcraft, traps, webs, locked doors, or fear.	most monsters have some immunities	They are immune to <element> attacks./They ignore <feature>.
Karmic	If the PC successfully hits a "karmic being" with a melee attack, they get less luck in the form of intrincics. See 0.9.3.	karmic monsters, Oracle, Filk	They are karmic beings.
Mimic item	be able to disguise themselves as items. Walk commands will not treat disguised mimics as monsters, and the PC will remember their location, even if out of LOS.	(greater/master) mimic (hivemind)	They are able to mimic objects.
Paralytic skin	sometimes paralyze the PC for some turns if she hits them with a melee attack. Paralyzation resistance helps.	floating eye, gelatinous cube, stone ooze, Dorn Beast	They are covered in paralytic fluids.
Paralyze	paralyze the PC if their melee attack injures her. The effect is not guaranteed to occur; Willpower and Luck play a role in determining whether or not the PC gets paralyzed by an attack.	mimics, liches, ghul, brown worm and more	They are able to paralyze by touch.
Phasing	be able to pass through walls, doors, and webs. These monsters are unable to pass through undiggable walls, however. Phasing also confers immunity to the telekinetic abilities of Mindcrafters.	ghosts, earth elementals, stone grue, spectre	They are able to pass through solid objects.
Poison	have a chance to poison the PC on successful hits. Having intrinsic poison resistance will not allow the PC to completely resist this effect, but will greatly reduce the damage from poison. They are vulnerable to thrown potion of cure poison – it will stun them.	assassins, bees, spiders, snakes, quicklings, and more	They are using poison.
Regeneration	be able to regain a few hit points at the end of every turn.	quicklings, slayers, molochs, unicorns, wyrms, and more	They are able to quickly regenerate.
Rust and destroy	rust and destroy PC's worn eqipment made of iron on successful attack. They can be cured with a thrown oil of rust removal.	(large/giant) rust monster	They are able to rust metallic items.
See in darkness	act normally in darkness.	see 0.15.5	no message
See through invisibility	see invisible monsters.	most advanced monsters	no message
Sickness	cause the PC to become sick if their melee attack injures her. Generally, the chance of an attack causing sickness is very low, but still a significant danger.	mummies, rats, green blob/slime/worm, corpse fiend	They are able to cause sickness.
Sleep	sing or touch to try to put the PC to sleep for a few turns. Sleep resistance will prevent the PC from sleeping; otherwise, high Willpower reduces the chance to get put to sleep.	homunculus, harpy, werejackal, fairy dragon	Their song is very alluring./They are able to make you fall asleep by touching you.
Slow	inflict the PC with the Slowed status for several turns if their melee attack injures her, which reduces their speed to 50% (does not stack). High Mana reduces the chance to get slowed.	clay golem, stone snake, slow shadow, WMoPC	They are able to slow by touch.
Spin webs	leave webs as they move around dungeons.	spiders, tarantula, cave fisher	They are able to spin webs.
Stay put	stay where they are, not moving randomly like is the common practice of other monsters. Unless attacked of course.	Oracle, dying sage, Sharad-Waador, Thrundarr, Dwarven Elite/Eternal/Ogre/Ratling Guardian, casino guards, Great Water Dragon	no message
Steal gold	attempt to steal the PC's gold if in melee range with them. There's a chance that some percentage of the stolen gold will be taken by the god of thieves, essentially removing it from the game. Money belt prevents stealing.	cutpurse, thieves, pixies	They are damned thieves.
Teleport	teleport themselves to random locations. They will use this ability more frequently when they have been disabled by something other than paralysis.	balors, blink dog, pixies, unicorns, Filk, Yulgash	They are able to teleport.
Thumb	be detected from a distance by the *THUMB* sound produced by their footsteps.	greater/emperor moloch, titans	no message
Trap creation	create traps.	kobold trapmaster, trapster	They can build traps.
Trap disarming	disarm traps.	detrapster	They can disarm traps.
Vulnerability	take double, triple, or quadruple damage from that element. The element can be fire, cold, or lightning.	usualy cold/fire based monsters; golems are vulnerable to lightning	They are highly vulnerable to <element> attacks.
Wail	The wail will instantly kill all monsters within a few squares of the Banshee that hear it. The PC can save herself from the wail by becoming (temporarily) deaf. See also 3.10.	the Banshee only	Her song is a deadly wail.
Wall building	create walls.	builder	They can build walls.
Wishability	be wished for.	all common monsters, small dwarf, Raider Lord, Cute Dog, Seraphim of Order.	no message

0.9.11 Rage

The following actions are known to make monsters enter a state of rage:

• Monster stepping on a corpse of another monster of the same race (and same class, where applicable) – "Foo steps on the foo corpse and becomes enraged!"
• PC eating a corpse within a monster's line of sight that belonged to a monster of that monster's race – "The foo is enraged as he/she/it watches you!"
• Sometimes when a monster has taken a certain amount of damage, instead of panicking they decide to fight to the death – "The foo decides to fight to the death in a blind rage!"
• Dragons can be angered by giving them a dragon hide item that is the same color as them – "The foo rips the <item> apart in a fit of anger! The foo roars in anger!"
• If the PC kills Ruun, all the inhabitants of Dwarftown will become enraged. This makes already formidable NPCs such as Waldenbrook especially dangerous.

0.9.12 Afraid

Reasons why monster may be afraid:

• monster being injured
• unholy aura corruption
• being Natural enemy of undead
• using Turn Undead
• weapon or armor with the "It spreads terror." ability

0.9.14 Monster size

• tiny: (chaos/vapor) rat, pixie (archer), quickling (lord/king/queen), shadow (lord), will o'wisp, Filk.
• small: all bats, centipedes, dogs, dwarves, eyes, goblins, kobolds, snakes, vipers, worms, (mutated) battle bunny, chaos spawn, claw bug, cobra, fairy dragon, giant bee worker, giant rat, gremlin, homunculus, imp, jackal, large spider, mimic, minor fungoid, quasit, wild cat, Blup, Cute Dog.
• medium: everything else.
• large: all (arch)angels, balors, bears, demons, elementals, (ancient) dragons, giants, golems, grues, lizards, minotaurs, molochs, ogres, titans, trolls, unicorns, vortices, wyrms, animated tree, ankheg, ankylosaurus, breaker, bugbear, builder, bulette, carrion crawler, cave lion, cave tiger, chaos spider, cyclops, (lesser/greater) daemon, djinni, dorn beast, dragon turtle, entelodon, ettin, frost salamander, gargantuan rat, giant ant (queen/warrior), giant bee queen, giant (boar/dragon turtle/eel/rust monster/shark/slug/spider/turtle), gnoll (chieftain), gorgon, greater (claw bug/fungoid/mimic), griffon, hippogriff, hydra, juggernaut, killer bug, ki-rin, large gnoll, leucrotta, living wall, master mimic, mimic hivemind, power of order, pteranodon, shambling mound, slow shadow, solar, steel horror, swamp hydra, tarantula, throne of order, triceratops, tyrannosaurus, wall beast, writhing mass of primal chaos, yeti, Ancient Stone Beast, Eternal Guardian, Fungoid Overlord, Seraphim of Order, Snake from Beyond.

0.9.15 Monsters drinking potions

Drinking monsters

Potion of ...	Message	Effect
invisibility	No message if you can't see invisible/"Nothing seems to happen." otherwise.	become invisible (even if the potion was cursed!)
boost speed	(S)he suddenly speeds up!	+15 temporary speed (-1 speed/turn)
quickling blood	(S)he suddenly really speeds up!	+1/+3/+5 speed C/U/B
cure poison	(S)he seems to be relieved of his/her agony.	cure poison
cure corruption	(S)he seems to be less corrupted now.	remove corruption
strength	(S)he suddenly seems to be much stronger!	+1/+3/+5 damage C/U/B
dexterity	(S)he suddenly seems to move with more grace!	+1/+3/+5 DV C/U/B
toughness	(S)he suddenly looks pretty tough!	+1/+2/+3 max HP C/U/B
healing	(S)he seems to be healed a bit.	+ few HP
extra healing	(S)he seems to be healed quite a bit.	+ more HP
ultra healing	(S)he seems to be healed completely.	HP = max HP
blessed blindness	His/her vision suddenly clears!	cure blindness

Monsters could pick other potion types but will not use them.