ADOM Manual

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The Horoscope

The sky of Ancardia is covered by a myriad of stars. One moon circles the world. The inhabitants of Ancardia believe in the magical forces controlling the movements of the celestial bodies. Magic energies influence one's life depending on the time of birth.

The Ancardian Month

Each month is named after a particular star sign. One year has 12 months, each with four weeks of seven days each. In addition, there are two special days in each month which don't belong to any week. The first day in a month is Darknight, when no moon is visible. The 16th day of a month is called Silvernight, when the moon shines brightly. Darknight is considered to be a dangerous day followed by a night filled with evil magics. In contrast, Silvernight is a joyful day (when nobody usually works) and is followed by a night full of feasts and revelries.

During the day of Darknight all evil magics are very strong while good magics are severely hampered. On the day of Silvernight good magics enjoy great advantages while evil magics are severely hindered. The weeks are named Oneweek, Twoweek, Threeweek and Fourweek. Thus a typical month is structured like this:

Day Specific Name
1 Darknight
2- 8 Oneweek
9-15 Twoweek
16 Silvernight
17-23 Threeweek
24-30 Fourweek

The Ancardian Calendar

The following twelve star signs are used to name the months:

Season Month #
Spring Book 2
Wand 3
Unicorn 4
Summer Salamander5
Dragon 6
Sword 7
Autumn Falcon 8
Cup 9
Candle 10
Winter Wolf 11
Tree 12
Raven 1

The Meaning of the Star Signs

When the game is started, a star sign is determined (together with your character's birthday). The star sign has some effects on the career of the character. Note that some signs are quite variable in the attributes they govern. Your character will also be slightly favored during the month named after his star sign. Finally, characters tend to be very lucky on their birthday. You might want to consider these factors when creating a character.

The game itself begins on the first day of the month of the Unicorn.

Star Sign List

Each star sign has specific game effects which will be enumerated below:

Raven

Harder to trick by deceptions, messengers will reach you faster, you are faster (+10 to speed), companions are more powerful, +2 to initial Perception.

Book

Lawful tendencies (it's harder to change), one free skill increase per level, increased chance to learn spells, +3 to initial Learning.

Wand

Lawful tendencies (it's harder to change), spells for neutral casters are 10% cheaper in power points, +2 to initial Charisma, starts out with lawful tendencies but gets +2 to Mana and 10% more power points if neutral initially.

Unicorn

Harder to corrupt by Chaos effects, hard to change to a different alignment once lawful, +2 to initial Appearance.

Salamander

Fire magic is 20% cheaper in power points, +1 to initial Charisma, +3 to initial Mana, +20% to power points (always).

Dragon

10% increased effects from Tactics settings, -3 to initial Willpower, +2 to initial Strength, +1 to initial Toughness, costs to increase weapon skills are reduced by 10%, combat magic is 10% cheaper in power points.

Sword

Positive modifiers from Tactics settings are increased by 10%, costs to increase melee weapon skills are reduced by 20%, +1 to the initial Learning score.

Falcon

Very good at surviving in the wilderness, +2 to initial Willpower, +1 to initial Charisma, one free talent.

Cup

Requires 10% less experience points to advance in level, receives one free skill advance every two levels, learns spells more effectively (20% better than others), +2 to initial Learning.

Candle

Heals faster, the gods are more forgiving when asked for favors, one free talent.

Wolf

+3 to initial Perception, +3 to initial Willpower, food is more nutritious for you (by +10%) (by +25%).

Tree

It's generally hard to change alignment, +5 to initial Willpower, +2 to Toughness, +1 to PV.