ADOM Manual

Previous - TOC - Next

Weapon Skills

Every character also has some weapon skills he can train. Weapon skills can only be increased in one way: by practice. Basically, this means that your skill will increase after a certain number of successful attacks (hits). Depending on the weapon type, this can result in increases in to-hit and to-damage ratings. Hand weapons also can yield a bonus to the character's DV.

Note that ADOM traditionally assumes that everyone is right-handed and thus your right hand will be your stronger hand. This might (in certain cases) result in reduced bonuses if your character for whatever reason prefers to wield weapon in his left hand.

For all weapons the following titles of mastery are used.

Weapon Skills Titles
Weapon LevelTitle
0 unskilled
1 basic
2
3
4 skilled
5
6
7
8 excellent
9
10
11 Mastery
12
13
14
15 Grand Mastery

For melee weapons, the following numbers are used to mirror the experience of a character with the weapon of his choice (note how different weapon types yield different advantages):

Melee Weapon Skills

  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Unarmed Fighting

To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2+2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +6 +6 +9 +10 +10 +10 +12 +12
To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +6 +6 +8 +10 +10 +12
DV Modifier 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6 +8 +10 +12

Daggers & Knives

To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20
To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +11 +12
DV Modifier 0 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5

Clubs & Hammers

To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18
To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +11 +12
DV Modifier 0 0 0 0 1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +6

Maces & Flails

To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18
To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +11 +12
DV Modifier 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +6

Swords

To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18
To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +11 +12
DV Modifier 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +6

Axes

To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18
To-Damage Modifier 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +12 +14 +16
DV Modifier 0 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4

Whips

To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +8 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20 +22 +24
To-Damage Modifier 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +7 +9 +11 +13 +15 +17 +19
DV Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +10 +11 +12 +13 +14 +15

Polearms

To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20
To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +11 +12
DV Modifier 0 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +8 +10 +12 +14+16 +18 +20 +22

Twohanded Weapons

To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20
To-Damage Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +6 +8 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +21 +25 +30
DV Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +6 +8
Note that twohanded weapons are specifically built to be used with great strength. Thus you
receive one-half the standard damage bonus from strength as an extra bonus when wielding a
weapon of this category (and only this category - other weapons like staves and polearms are
built differently). The extra damage is limited by twice your weapon skill (minimum limit: +4).

Staves

To-Hit Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +10 +12 +14 +16 +18 +20
To-Damage Modifier 0 0 0 0 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +5 +6 +6 +7 +8 +10
DV Modifier 0 +1 +2 +3 +5 +7 +9 +11 +14 +17 +20 +23 +26 +30 +35 +40

Fighting with Two Weapons

If a character wields two melee weapons, his DV modifier is calculated by taking the DV modifier of the weapon in the right hand plus one-half of the DV modifier of the left hand weapon. If the character fights without any weapon he will receive DV bonuses but once. Wielding a shield does not count as fighting unarmed since it impedes your mobility.

Missile Weapons

ADOM features the following missile weapon categories: Slings, Bows, Crossbows, Thrown axes & hammers, Thrown daggers, Thrown rocks & clubs, Thrown spears, Boomerangs & scurgari. Each of these categories can be trained as usual; however, there is no difference in weapon skill progression. Missile weapon skills yield a +2 to hit and +1 to damage for every skill level and an additional +1 to damage for skill levels 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14. Missile weapon skills have no effect on the character's DV, but instead, the range of your missiles is increased by +1 for every 3 skill levels.

Missile Weapons 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
To-Hit Modifier 0 +2 +4 +6 +8 +10+12 +14 +16 +18+20 +22 +24 +26 +28 +30
To-Damage Modifier 0 +1 +3 +4 +6 +7 +9 +10 +12 +13 +15 +16 +18 +19 +21+22
Range Modifier 0 0 0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5

Shields

The shield skill yields a +2 bonus to DV per level in that skill. The trick is that you can't get a higher bonus to your DV than twice your shield DV bonus (e.g. if your shield yields a +4 DV bonus, the shield skill can't provide more than +8 to DV). Shield skill marks are gained when you manage to block an attack with your shield (e.g. the attack would have hit without your shield DV bonus). A prerequisite for gaining more shield skill marks is to use a shield that would allow you to benefit from a higher shield skill. You also must not fight with berserk tactics (see the T command). When you are using two shields, you will only gain the better skill bonus of the two, not both, since two shields are too unwieldy to be used effectively. Note that wielding two shields prevents spellcasting and also greatly inhibits the usage of ranged weapons.

Advancing Weapon Skills

The following table shows the number of required successful weapon checks to advance to the level in question (after achieving a new level you start collecting marks from scratch). Note that missile weapons require but one-half as many marks.

Weapon Skills Marks
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Melee 152540651051702754457201165188530504935798512920
Missl 7 12203252 85 137222360582 942 1525246739926460

NOTE: If your character is fighting too defensively, he won't get any marks for successful attacks (which basically means that you should not use the 'very defensive' and 'coward' settings of the T command, if you want to increase your weapon skills).

NOTE: The number of marks required to increase a weapon skill is partially dependent on the class of your character. True spellcasters (Wizards, Necromancers and Elementalists) need twice as many marks as listed above. Semi-spellcasters (Priests and Druids) actually need 50% more marks than listed above. Farmers are so skilled in the use of polearms that they need 20% less marks to increase in their use. All other classes need to collect the number of marks specified above.

NOTE: A character can hone his melee skills only to a certain amount when fighting against the same monster. After a certain time (a certain number of turns), he will have picked up all the specific tricks and moves of the monster and will no longer gain any weapon skills by fighting that specific beast. The more powerful a monster is, the more you usually will be able to learn from it.

NOTE: Fighting with two whips at once is not recommended since this is very difficult since you have to avoid getting entangled in your weapons. Rules-wise this means that you will require a lot of speed to fight effectively with these two whips.

Weapon Skills and Attack Energy

Attacking with a weapon without the appropriate skill requires 1000 energy points. If you attack with a weapon you are skilled with, the attack energy required is reduced according to the following table:

Weapon Skills Energy
Skill 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Cost 1000980 960 940 920 895 870 845 820 790 760 730 700 665 630 595

Fighting with two weapons costs [800 plus the maximum of the two attack energy values for the weapons in question] energy points (although possession of the Two Weapon Combat skill can lower this).