Improved ADOM Guidebook

Previous - TOC - Next

Rift

The Rift is a wilderness location found in the northwestern mountains, southeast of the dungeon containing the Tomb of the High Kings. It is not necessary to visit the Rift Dungeon or the Sinister Library of Niltrias to complete the game, and many who play non-spellcasters completely ignore it. The whole point of entering the Rift is to gain access to the Sinister Library of Niltrias – see next chapter.

The PC must meet several requirements in order to enter the Rift:

2.15.1 Falling down

If all requirements are met, the PC will still most likely fall on the way down the Rift, destroying some equipment in the process. High Luck, the light and nimble corruption, and the very light corruptions are supposed to make the descent easier: in practice, they may only help in reducing equipment damage.

There are 27 checks. There is a chance to fall at each check and it will always fall at least once in R+, there is a chance not to fall at all. Chances not to fall:

If all these checks fail, a counter is incremented. That counter is directly proportional to the health (1d8+2) and inventory damage done. You can approximate this counter by the messages generated:

Always You slip...
  You fall...
x>5 ...for a long time...
x>10 ...a very long time...
x>18 ...almost an eternity...
Always *BLAMMMM!!!* (or "Blam!" if you have the little weight corruption).

2.15.2 Rift Dungeon

It is not possible to bring artifacts only into the Rift, since a climbing set (and probably food, although enough might be found) is required. Therefore, it is a good idea to store the PC's extremely valuable items, such as scrolls of corruption removal, in a safe place before entering the Rift. It is also a good idea to bring every bit of junk, such as missiles that do not stack, low quality armor and weapons, scrolls of ill fate, cure blindness and the like, low quality amulets, etc. along. These items are fodder for the RNG, which hopefully will destroy them rather than valuable equipment. Do not be too conservative and leave all good equipment behind, because the monsters in the Rift dungeon and especially the Sinister Library of Niltrias can be very nasty. Hopefully by this point, the PC has some decent artifact armor and weapons. A corollary is not to rush into the Rift too soon.

After the PC climbs (falls) down the Rift, she arrives in the Rift Dungeon on RL3. The dungeon consists of nine levels, which are numbered in the opposite sense compared to every other dungeon in the game (the Tower of Eternal Flames is an exception) – RL1 is the bottom, while RL9 is the top. There is a guaranteed source of water-breathing at the bottom of the rift. An amulet/helm of water breathing is generated somewhere in a corridor. The item is always generated cursed. This dungeon features dangerous monsters – greater chaos servants, chaos mutants, elementals, greater elementals and higher level quicklings are not uncommon. Two up staircases will be found on RL5 or RL6. One leads to the higher Rift dungeon level, the other leads into the wilderness in a pass inside the unclimbable mountains. A short journey, which requires a climbing set, leads to the entrance to the Sinister Library of Niltrias.

2.15.2.1 Ratling Dealer r

Ratling Dealer
Level: 1, DV: 30, PV: 0, Hits: 60, Attacks: 3, Damage: 1d6+1, Speed: 150.

cs If the PC was unlucky enough to have her climbing set destroyed during the descent through the Rift, another is available from a unique Ratling Dealer on the bottom level of the Rift dungeon, RL1. This NPC is nonhostile in an otherwise rather hostile environment. As a consequence, it is quite possible for him to be killed by other monsters. If the PC needs a climbing set from him, find him quickly and be prepared to pay 50,000 gold pieces for it. The Ratling Dealer always asks for 50,000 gp or the whole amount of gold the PC is carrying, whichever is more. Drop any excess gold if you want to buy the climbing set from him. Note that he doesn't drop the climbing set when killed, so there is no way to avoid the price completely.

Updated September 28th, 2016