ADOM Guidebook

Tips and tricks

0.14.1 Recharging wands

Recharging wands

Potion or scroll	Status	Trials	Average charges	Min/Max charges	Dice
Boost mana	Blessed	60	5.8	3/9	3d3
	Uncursed	60	3.9	2/6	2d3
	Cursed	60	1.9	1/3	1d3
Booze	Blessed	60	3.1	2/4	2d2
	Uncursed	60	1.9	1/3	1d3
	Cursed	60	1.5	1/2	1d2
Mana	Blessed	60	7.5	3/11	3d4
	Uncursed	60	4.6	2/8	2d4
	Cursed	60	2.7	1/4	1d4
Scroll of charging	Blessed	60	6.0	3/9	3d3
	Uncursed	60	4.1	2/6	2d3
	Cursed	60	1.8	1/3	1d3

Remember that a potentially endless supply of booze is available from beggars in Lawenilothehl. Give them 50 gold pieces, then 'C'hat with them and they will often drop a potion of booze. Only one per beggar, though, so those who have given up their potion need to be killed (alignment hit) or led into the wilderness to encourage more beggar generation. Get rid of all the other random monsters in the town to further encourage monster generation.

Potions of raw mana do *not* work. Note that potions of mana can be used to permanently increase the PCs Mana stat; the player may want to save them for that purpose. Wizards can also recharge wands at level 32, only once per wand though. Wands of wishing can't be recharged. For these, you'll want to use the chance to wrench a final charge from the wand, destroying it. See also potions of raw chaos below.

0.14.2 Huge rocks and anvils

In addition, huge rocks can be used to keep ants from escaping anthills. Whenever an ant wants to escape, you get a message like "The uncursed huge rock (-10, 10d6) seems to be shaking.". Eventually the huge rock is destroyed ("Something from below destroys the uncursed huge rock (-10, 10d6)!") and ants can come out of the hole again. Sometimes this happens after only a few turns, sometimes it takes more than a hundred. Multiple huge rocks are destroyed one after the other and thus last longer than a single one.

0.14.3 Statues

Stephen White has done some research on the b/u/c status of statues re wand generation. His PC kicked 200 statues with each status to pieces. The results were as follows:

• Blessed statues: 62 wands generated, about 1/3
  
• Uncursed statues: 17 wands generated, about 1/10
  
• Cursed statues: 3 wands generated, about 1/100

0.14.4 Potions of raw chaos

PoRC will only create items of a danger level that corresponds to the level on which you dip the item. For creating an amulet of lifesaving, you should dip amulets on DL2. Your odds are poor - 1.08%. You can safely dip amulets of balance, free action, health, hunger, luck, chaos, order, speed, teleport control, cold hearts, water breathing, silver tongue, and mana.

Wands dipped into a PoRC will turn into a wand with a different number of charges. This is one way to recharge wands with 0 charges left. The type of wand, however, is unpredictable.

A heap of items that are dipped into a potion of raw chaos will always transform into a single item. Potions of raw chaos can be created by dipping any corrupting artifact (those containing the essence of chaos and corruption + Moon Sickle) into any ordinary potion.

0.14.5 Potions of exchange

0.14.6 Regeneration of HP and PP

Regeneration occurs at the same rate whether walking around or resting. RegenRate is measured in *turns*, not game time. High speed or seven league boots lead to exactly the same regeneration rate in turns. Thus regeneration is faster with respect to game time if the PC is fast or walking around with seven league boots. If a PC with low walking energy cost wants to spend the minimum amount of game time regenerating, the best bet is to walk around while regenerating. The Cursed, Doomed, Lucky and Fate smiles intrinsics do not make a difference for regeneration purposes. Hunger status has no effect on regeneration.

0.14.6.1 HP regeneration

The modifiers are applied in the order listed here. E.g. Trollish Healers with exceptional Toughness get a starting regeneration time of 20 / 2 - 1 - 1 = 8.

RegenRate = Max (2, NaturalRegen *10 if Sick *0.8 if Healthy talent *1/0.5/0.125 if wearing C/U/B necklace of rapid healing) *10 if wearing rotting armor.

The Healing skill provides additional chance for regeneration every turn: (Healing / (1200 *4.67 if Sick))%. So with 100 Healing the chance is 0.83% per turn (0.39% if sick). The Candle birthsign provides additional regeneration every 12 turns.

RegenAmount = 1 + ClassBonus + CandleBonus + RoomBonus. ClassBonus is 1 for lvl 6-11 Healers, lvl 32+ Bards, lvl 32+ Druids in wilderness, 2 for lvl 12+ Healers, 0 otherwise. CandleBonus is 1 for Candle borns, 0 otherwise. RoomBonus is 3 if in "refreshing" room, 1 if in "herbs and antiseptics" room, 0 otherwise.

Separate from these RegenRate and RegenAmount calculations, every piece of regenerating equipment (except amulet of rapid healing) grants additional 1 HP per turn. The regenerating corruption grants additional 1 HP every 5 turns, but 1 scar every 1000 regenerations (-1 Dx or -1 Ap).

All HP regeneration is stopped, if the PC is in the "devoid of all life" room, or in water without water breathing.

0.14.6.2 PP regeneration

PP regeneration is applied every turm if one the following checks pass:

• TurnNumber mod NaturalRegen = 0 (once every NaturalRegen turns)
• Concentration > 1d500
• Concentration >= 75 and Concentration > 1d500
• Concentration >= 90 and Concentration > 1d500
• Concentration = 100 and Concentration > 1d500 (100 Concentration provides about 59% overall chance)
• Charged talent and 3%
• the PC is in magical island in Terinyo and 100% (means the island grants PP regeneration every turn)
• Mana battery corruption and 10%

RegenAmount = 1 + ClassBonus. ClassBonus is 1 for lvl 40+ Bards and lvl 12+ Druids in wilderness, 0 otherwise.

All PP regeneration is stopped if wearing anti-magical armor.

0.14.6.3 Potions of troll blood and raw mana

Potions of troll blood and raw mana

Potion status	Modification to RegenRate
blessed	-4d3
uncursed	-2d3
cursed	+2d3

Bottom line: always bless your potions of troll blood or raw mana.

As can be seen, many blessed potions of troll blood will get you more than good healing skill, but having Healing at 100 is best. Likewise, potions of raw mana are nice, but not as important as having a high Concentration skill.

0.14.6.4 Troll corpses

1. "Urg! Foul meat! Your blood suddenly courses faster through your veins!"
2. "Urg! Foul meat!"

Message a. indicates that natural HP regeneration decreased by one
Message b. indicates that natural HP regeneration did not change

For Troll PCs, the messages are slightly modified:

1. "Yum! Your blood suddenly courses faster through your veins!"
2. "Yum!"

The behaviour is the same: a. decreases natural HP regeneration, b. does not.

No corpse can reduce the regeneration time below 6. Trying this always gives b. message. This differs from potions of troll blood, which always result in the "Your blood suddenly curses faster..." message, even if the regeneration time is already minimal. Note that the lower threshold is 6, unlike the threshold for potions of troll blood, which is 5. This means that Trolls, who cannot make use of potions of troll blood, cannot lower their regeneration time to 5, unlike the other races.

The probabilities of getting a decrease in regeneration time depends only on the B/U/C status of the corpse. Specifically, it does not depend on:

• Current regeneration time (no difference between the lowest eligible value 7 and the unrealistically high value 200)
• PC race (Human vs. Troll)
• Cooked/uncooked status
• Type of troll corpse (troll, troll berserker, troll chief, troll king)

Results indicate that blessed corpses work in 100% of the cases (although, like all corpses, they cannot lower it below 6), and uncursed or cursed corpses work in 50% of the cases. There was no observable difference between uncursed and cursed corpses:

• 94 blessed troll corpses: 94x decrease
• 621 uncursed troll corpses: 314x decrease, 307x no decrease
• 361 cursed troll corpses: 187x decrease, 174x no decrease

There was no difference in weight or satiation value of the various kinds of troll corpses. All corpses weigh 240s if not cooked, irrespective of B/U/C (rotting) status, and 228s (= 5% less) if cooked, again irrespective of B/U/C (rotting) status.

An uncursed corpse yields 500 units of satiation (like a large ration). This is doubled if the corpse is cooked (presumably this holds for other corpses too, but this needs further verification). The resulting value is modified by +25% for blessed corpes and -50% for cursed corpses, just like for other food items. So, e.g. a blessed cooked troll chief corpse gives 500 * 2 * 1.25 = 1250 units of satiation.

Summary

• Item: [troll/troll berserker/troll chief/troll king] corpse
  
• Weight: 240s (-5% if cooked)
  
• Nutritional value: 500 (*2 if cooked, *1.25 if blessed, *0.5 if cursed)
  
• Effect when eaten [blessed]: If natural HP regeneration is >= 7, it is reduced by 1
  
• Effect when eaten [uncursed/cursed]: If natural HP regeneration is >= 7, it is reduced by 1 with a probability of 50%
  
• Message when eaten [non-troll PC]: "Urg! Foul meat!"
  
• Message when eaten [Troll PC]: "Yum!"
  
• Additional message if and only if natural HP regeneration was reduced: "Your blood suddenly courses faster through your veins!"

0.14.7 Freezing water

0.14.8 Safe places to store items

• The top line of the Terinyo map
  The only monster in Terinyo that can step on the top line is the sheriff, and he can easily be lured to the first level of the puppy cave. It is then 100% secure. Skriek can step on the top line as well, if one lures him there.

• Locked rooms
  Locked rooms are one of the safest places to leave items in ADOM. With the current state of the monster inventory system (they can pick up items but not use them), a monster will never be able to unlock a door. Several monsters can smash doors, however. Some monsters (balors spring to mind) can teleport into locked rooms.

• The Old Barbarian's glade
  The Old Barbarian's glade is a decent place to store items. He is the only monster ever generated in this location, so nothing randomly generated is going to run away with the PC's stuff. If the PC leaves items far away from the Old Barbarian, he will not have time to find them prior to the PC's next visit.

• The Mad Minstrel's clearing
  In ADOM 1.0.0, the Mad Minstrel will leave his hut, and will pick up items. The safety re storage is therefore similar to the Old Barbarian's glade. No other monsters are generated in his clearing, so leaving items far away from the Mad Minstrel should not allow him time to find them prior to the PC's next visit.

• The Dwarven Mystic's room in Dwarftown
  The ultimate in security, if the PC has not destroyed it with a wand of destruction (see section 2.5.4). After 'C'hatting wih the Dwarven Mystic, he disappears, leaving a 2 x 2 room that cannot be entered except by teleportation. Since there are no teleporting monsters found in Dwarftown (except for the greater daemon - kill it) this is as safe as storage areas get. Other Dwarftown inhabitants can, in extremely rare circumstances, be generated in this room. Since they will be nonhostile, killing them is not a good idea. Teleport them out if possible. Alternatively, use the Ogre Cave (see below).

• The Ogre Cave in Dwarftown
  Once the Ogre Cave is cleared, monster generation there is slow or nonexistent. Items can be left adjacent to the stairway. If the PC leaves immediately, no time passes on the level, so there should be almost no chance the items will be disturbed.

• The secret room in the HMV
  Another room accessible only by teleportation, therefore almost perfect theoretical security. A monster teleporting into this room has never been seen. In extremely rare circumstances, however, monsters can be generated in this room. They may well be hostile, so killing them is a simple solution. Teleporting them out is a worthwhile alternative.

• Sharad-Waador's room
  Items left in Sharad-Waador's room never seem to be disturbed. Sharad-Waador never moves from the square where he is initially generated (unless he is attacked or the PC reneges on the deal to take the quest), and no time passes on the level between the PC's departure and reemergence from the blue dragon caves. This is very important, since the player may want to leave important non-artifact equipment behind in order to avoid its potential destruction in the blue dragon caves (see section 3.9).

0.14.9 Seven league boots

• blessed: time needed for walking is divided by 6
• uncursed: time needed for walking is divided by 3
• cursed: time needed for walking is multiplied by 2

Blessed/uncursed/cursed seven league boots also alter the base energy cost for movement outside the wilderness from 1000 to 500/750/1500, respectively. The Long Stride talent stacks, reducing base energy cost further. Seven league boots should be blessed immediately. They enable the PC to outrun anything other than quicklings. Consequently, some players regard seven league boots as the most important item in the game, and will use a wish to obtain them, if necessary.

0.14.10 Stethoscopes

Stethoscope messages

Message	Meaning
"Silence."	corridor (this message is shown even if the corridor is full of monsters, so be warned)
"You hear nothing."	empty room
"You hear some low-volume sounds."	1 monster in the room
"You hear some sounds."	2-3 monsters
"You hear many sounds."	4-8 monsters
"You hear lots of sounds."	9 or more monsters (tension rooms and rooms filled with breeders or summoned creatures also give this message)

See section 0.14.11 below concerning a Healer's special ability with stethoscopes.

0.14.11 Undocumented character abilities

• All characters gain to-hit and to-damage bonuses when fighting as a true berserker, which means no armor can be worn and Tactics must be set to berserk. Shields are acceptable, any worn armor is not. Level 40 and higher Barbarians get additional bonuses on top of this when fighting as a true berserker. Note that Monks do not seem to receive this true berserker bonus.
• Monks gain the ability to kick down walls at experience level 13.
• Merchants always specialize in a certain item: potions, rings, scrolls, or wands. This specialization allows them to identify any item in that category on sight.
• Merchants get additional bonuses to throwing coins (+level to hit, +level/2+3 to damage). Dopplegangers cannot deflect a merchant's thrown coins. The coin throw action costs 1200 energy points as opposed to the normal 1000. Getting the Quick Shot talent does apply to the coin throw attack, bringing it to 1080. The coin throw attack is not capable of receiving weapon marks, nor does it benefit from the Strong Thrower talent. The Archery skill is not trained by coin throwing. Coin throwing does benefit from a high Dexterity stat, rings of slaying, archery gloves, the Good Shot talent, the Keen Shot talent, the Quick Shot talent, the Missile Weapon Master talent, and the Find Weakness skill. Coin throw attacks start out with a range of only 3, but at exp. level 10, it increases to 5, and increases a further +2 with each 10 experience levels gained.
• Healers have the ability to use a stethoscope without consuming any game time. All other classes consume one turn of game time when using a stethoscope.
• Archers have a unique ability to dodge missiles. When a missile misses any other class PC, it simply stops at the PC's square. Missiles often fly past Archers. This is actually probably undesirable since Archers want to pick up those missiles, but it is nevertheless an undocumented unique ability.

0.14.12 The weight and appearance of objects

0.14.13 Smithing

Smithing is a complicated task. You need the following ingredients:

1. Any kind of hammer
2. An anvil. There are two guaranteed in the game (kill Kherab and Glod), but they also rarely appear in dungeons
3. Something to smith! You need to know what kind of metal it's made of (use Metallurgy)
4. An ingot of the appropriate metal. A lump of ore won't cut it, but can be converted into ingots by applying the Smithing skill to it first. Generate some lumps by Mining.
5. A forge. You can't carry these around with you, but you can hope to find one in your travels. There are two locations in the game where forges are guaranteed (Dwarftown and Darkforge), and there can be additional forges at random locations

Other useful facts regarding Smithing:

• An easy way to train Smithing is by removing rust. Low risk of damaging the item, no lost ingots, and easy to get rusty items with a river or a water trap. Also quite fast.
• Glod charges exactly 2500gp in all cases, and only if he is on the current level, for the use of his forge. Killing him, luring him off the level, and turning him into a writhing mass of primal chaos will all stop the demands; making him hostile won't.
• The Smithing skill costs a base 5000gp from Glod, 5250 if female. If you have very high Charisma, you get a discount; 1% per 1 Ch over 15. Being cursed doubles the price, doomed triple, being Troll doubles, being Orc quadruples, all cumulative.
• You need a hammer wielded in either hand and an anvil in inventory and equipment to smith. If multiple such items apply, the best by BUC is used. The following items count as hammers: large eternium hammer, large mithril hammer, large adamantium hammer, huge iron hammer, eternium warhammer, warhammer, adamantium warhammer, mithril warhammer, hammer of the gods, large hammer.
• You can do three things with a smithing setup - smelt ore, remove rust, and improve items.
• Teleportitis does not occur during smithing sessions.
• Smithing is influenced by the statuses of all involved items (hammer, anvil, worked item, and ingot if applicable). BUCMod in the below formulas means +10 per cursed item and -10 per blessed item.
• You can never smith artifacts.

0.14.13.1 Smelting ore

• Takes 25 turns (even for Weaponsmiths). If you are interrupted, the ore is lost.
• Let Difficulty = BUCMod + 0/-5/-10/-20 by ore material (iron/mithril/adamantium/eternium - better materials are easier).
• If Smithing >= 1d(110+Difficulty), you now have an ingot (10/80/10 B/U/C and 2% chance of rusty if iron) instead of the ore.
• Otherwise, you fail. Normally you keep the ore. There is a Difficulty+1 in Smithing*4 chance of losing the ore.

0.14.13.2 Removing rust

• Takes 25 turns, or 6 for level 12+ Weaponsmiths. Being interrupted has no lasting effects.
• If Smithing >= 1d(110+BUCMod), you remove the rust.
• Otherwise, nothing happens. There is a BUCMod+1 in Smithing*4 chance of the item becoming broken.

0.14.13.3 Improving items

• Requires an ingot of the same material as the work item, which is consumed in the process.
• Requires (200 - Smithing) turns (one-quarter that for level 12+ Weaponsmiths). Being interrupted has no lasting effects and does not consume an ingot.
• If the item is broken, you will attempt to fix it. Succeed if 120 + BUCMod < Smithing. No penalty on failure.
• Otherwise, you attempt to increase the item's stats. This is a two-step process; first you must pass a Smithing check to improve the item at all, then the amount by which the item is improved is determined. Improvement amounts are determined only by the item's existing stats, not by skill. If you fail the Smithing check, "You fail to improve the -item-". If you pass it but zero improvement is rolled, "Despite your best efforts the quality of the -item- does not improve.". Otherwise, "You manage to improve the -item-.".
• The difficulty of the check is determined as follows:
  • Start with Difficulty equal to BUCMod.
  • If the item is a weapon, add 12 times the sum of the absolute values of the to-hit and to-damage numbers (X and Y in (+X, 1d4+Y)).
  • Otherwise, add 18 times the sum of the absolute values of the DV and PV numbers.
  • If you are a Weaponsmith of any level and Difficulty is positive, divide it by 2. Otherwise, add 20.
  • Subtract your experience level.
  • Final Difficulty is 120 + Difficulty, with a minimum of 120.
• Supposing you pass the test (Smithing >= 1dDifficulty), the amounts and types of increase depend on the item's class.
• For melee and missile weapons:
  • Increase to-hit by 1d4 if to-hit is less than 9 and one chance in the (absolute value of to-hit or 2, whichever is larger).
  • Increase to-damage by 1d4 if to-damage is less than 9 and one chance in the (absolute value of to-damage or 2, whichever is larger), and to-hit was not increased.
  • For melee weapons only, increase the DV modifier by 1 if it is no more than 3 more than the base DV modifier of the weapon type, and neither to-hit nor to-damage were increased.
• For helmets, armor, girdles, shields, bracers, gauntlets, and boots:
  • Increase DV by 1d3 if it is less than 6 more than the base value OR on a one-in-(3 + 2*abs(DV)) chance.
  • Increase PV by 1d3 if it is less than 4 more than the base value OR on a one-in-(3 + 2*abs(PV)) chance, and DV was not increased.
• All other item types cannot be improved.

0.14.14 Darkness

• Darkness spell
• Crystal of darkness
• Scroll of darkness

Removing darkness:

• Light spell
• Crystal of light
• Scroll of light (note that while it is impossible to read a scroll while in darkness, you can read a scroll of light while standing next to a dark area)
• The artifact potion Phial of Caladriel
• Torch - temporary
• Prayer

Thanks to gut for the following section.

Darkness is one of the most useful options available to all literate PCs, yet it's one of the most underused. I can't count the number of players that say that they never even bothered with trying it.

Monsters that can't see in Darkness will allow the PC to pound them to death without retaliation. The only exception is for monsters that are capable of panic. These monsters will be able to hit the PC when in a state of panic, but only if they do not have an escape route. For this reason, it's best to avoid using Darkness in a narrow corridor, because stray monsters can easily cut off the escape path of a powerful monster that is capable of killing the PC with one hit.

No giant can see in Darkness, most humanoids also can't, with the notable exceptions of trolls, orcs, minotaurs, and dark elves. This is especially important to remember against tough monsters such as ogre magi (yes even the arena champion kind). Vortices, mimics and several other early-game PC killers are all helpless in Darkness and vortices aren't even capable of panic.

There is a bug in the game that keeps Darkness from working properly on door squares. It is important to mention that the PC is perfectly safe to use Darkness if the PC is on the door square, but not if the monster is on the door square.

Other monsters that are known to see in Darkness (thanks mike):

All orcs, all dark elves, all minotaurs, all undead, all red dragons, great blue wyrm, stone golem, stone grue, stone snake, earth elemental, greater earth elemental, living wall, wall beast, diamond golem, eternium golem, steel golem, steel horror, carrion crawler, chaos brother, WMoPC, master assassin, fire demon, quickling king, quickling queen, greater claw bug, killer bug, least daemon, lesser daemon, greater daemon, jackal demon, black unicorn.

0.14.15 Dipping stuff into a potion

• holy water: bless items
• unholy water: curse items
• water: clear scrolls, rust iron items
• poison: poison weapons
• raw chaos: exchange items, see 0.14.4
• blessed exchange: exchange items, see 0.14.5
• oil: waterproof items (cursed potions work almost 100%, uncursed about 50%, blessed almost 0%)
• cursed oil of rust removal: rust items
• uncursed oil of rust removal: remove rust from items
• blessed oil of rust removal: rustproof items
• booze, mana, boost mana: recharge wands, see 0.14.1

Other potions used for dipping are usualy wasted. The exception is when an item containing the essence of Chaos and Corruption is dipped into a potion - then the potion is transformed into raw chaos. The other exception is Alchemy.

When dipping a stack of items into a potion, the amount you can dip depends on the weight of the item. You can dip:

Dipping

Weight	Stack size
1s	19
2s	9
3s	6
4s	4
5-6s	3
7-9s	2
10+s	1

You can always only dip 1 potion of -stat- or 1 potion of gain attributes. You can dip missile ammo in stacks of 40.

0.14.16 Rumors

• fortune cookies found randomly in the dungeons
• beggars found in Lawenilothehl
• Torgall the innkeeper in Dwarftown
• the book The Collected Works of Confucious
• special room effect with a mouth on a wall
• Yggaz the fool in Terinyo

Yggaz also regularly spews what seems to be complete nonsense; it is included at the end of the list below. The list, along with some explanation:

0.14.16.1 Fortune Cookie messages

1. A sharp axe is easier to wield than a sharp wit. - Weapons are more effective than Learning in battle.
2. All roads lead to chaos, in the end. - To the chaos gate, falling to the forces of Chaos, or becoming a chaos being.
3. Always consider the consequences of yer deeds lest ye be surprised. - The PCs actions will affect the game.
4. Always watch your back! - Especially since PCs have 360 degree vision.
5. An anvil is nothing more then an oversized ignot of iron. - And can be melted just like one.
6. Being light as a feather makes you very rifty. - The rift is even more dangerous when burdened.
7. Care for more intelligent monsters. - They could be useful - and more dangerous.
8. Didst ye ever eat a hag? Try it, it's very fulfilling! - And cursing.
9. Don't believe everything *they* say. - Not all rumors are true.
10. Eating a demon daisy will make you a demon lover. - Nonsense. Demon daisies poison.
11. Feeding rust monsters is costly but definitely worth it. - Feed them with thrown metal items - quarrels are a good choice.
12. Gift shops are overpriced, unless you use a five finger discount. - The Great Gift Shoppe in the Casino is overpriced - unless it is robbed.
13. If you are doomed, this will be the last fortune you ever read. - False, although Dooming can be difficult to cope with.
14. If you eat the heart of a Dragon, you will share in its strength. - The PC gains a resistance corresponding to the dragon's color.
15. If you lick a Karmic Lizard, you can get high. - If the PC eats a karmic corpse, it grants luck-related intrinsics.
16. In the land of eternal darkness, light must come from within. - In the Gremlin Cave, if the PC retrieves the Phial of Caladriel, the light it produces uses up the PC's power points.
17. It takes an iron stomach to eat a black dragon steak. - Acid resistance, that is.
18. Living sacrifices are the most valuable of all. - Not always. Gold and artifacts are safer.
19. Look for strange items. - The si.
20. Putting undead to rest with holy water indeed is a lawful act. - Griff Bloodax, yes. Don't waste holy water on them otherwise.
21. Rifts are deep. - You'll always fall down.
22. Some gems harbor magical powers. - Darkness, light, knowledge, power, health and fire spring to mind.
23. Sting and Needle... Needle and Sting... twins they are and united they should be. - They become *much* more powerful when dual-wielded.
24. The coin of chaos has two faces -- power and corruption. - The corruption far outweighs the power.
25. The Mad Minstrel harbors a dark secret. - He knows the location of the Scintillating Cave.
26. They say that a good memory might pay. - Remember the first kill.
27. They say that a paragon of Order must not violate his beliefs by any means. - Although obtaining the Platinum Girdle still seems buggy.
28. They say that an empty stomach is one's worst enemy. - Avoid starvation.
29. They say that at times mindless rage might save your life in fights. - Berserk tactics.
30. They say that at times things can get zorky. - There's a lot of Zork references.
31. They say that attacking shopkeepers is bad for your karma. - Cursing and Dooming may result depending on alignment.
32. They say that balors are the gatekeepers of Chaos. - There are nine on the level containing the Chaos Gate.
33. They say that being able to read is very useful when visiting the library. - Literacy is necessary if the PC wants to read anything found in the Library.
34. They say that Berzio potions are useful for taming monsters. - True.
35. They say that blessed items improve ones eyesight. - If they are potions of carrot juice or necklaces of the eye.
36. They say that blessed potions of extra-healing might be a real boon. - True.
37. They say that boozed bozos can be very helpful. - Give the fool some booze.
38. They say that bugs can be really nasty. - Both programming ones and claw ones.
39. They say that burning torches can be very dangerous. - They deal nice damage.
40. They say that champions may pray for more favors then ordinary people. - True.
41. They say that converting an altar is difficult without losing ones faith. - Not if the PC uses gold pieces.
42. They say that companions fear darkness. - True - they can be accidentally attacked.
43. They say that controlled teleportation is really great. - True.
44. They say that corpses mark the realm of death. - There's a lot of corpses on the Banshee level.
45. They say that corrupted things can be your boon and your doom. - A chaos creature's corpse will yield a potion of cure corruption from Guth'Alak, but being attacked by corrupting chaos creatures is very nasty. Alternatively, this may refer to artifacts which contain the essence of Chaos and Corruption. They are very powerful (boon) but will corrupt the PC (doom).
46. They say that cursed potions of invisibility might have strange effects. - They blind you.
47. They say that cursed thieves picks might do strange things. - By triggering traps?
48. They say that distortion is the way to godhood. - Probably a leftover from earlier gammas, when a PC had to be extremely corrupted to achieve the chaos god ending. Still true for champions of balance and chaos.
49. They say that drinking black potions during the night corrupts your soul. - If the black potion is a potion of raw chaos.
50. They say that eating beings of true evil corrupts your very essence. - True.
51. They say that eating humans is evil. - Apparently not, from recent tests.
52. They say that eating magic-wielding monsters might be a boon for your mana. - True.
53. They say that elemental altars can only be converted by the most faithful. - That is, champions of Order or Balance.
54. They say that elves trade strength of body for speed. - Dark elven corpse effects.
55. They say that essence of mareilon moss is proof against the undead. - No, it increases Dexterity.
56. They say that excitement is a messenger of battle. - Messages about feeling excited mean a vault is present on the level.
57. They say that faster blood means faster recovery. - True.
58. They say that fire is the most violent element. Be as resistant as you can. - Fire resistance stacks in the ToEF. But acid deals more damage.
59. They say that fortunes must be followed by the incantation 'in bed' to work. - Reference to real-world fortune cookies. Old joke about adding 'in bed' to the end of the message to make them more humorous.
60. They say that gambling is bad for your finances. - There is a requirement to spend more than is won in the Casino.
61. They say that gods like sacrifices of food and valuable stuff. - True.
62. They say that good gamblers know which coins they have to use. - More accurately, which slot machines...
63. They say that graveyards are dangerous places. - Strength and Toughness might go down, age might go up.
64. They say that greater vaults are hiding places for artifacts. - True, but watch out for the guardians.
65. They say that green pools contain deadly slime. - Nonsense.
66. They say that herb bushes grow according to magical patterns. - Conway's rules of life, not magic.
67. They say that herbs have strange effects. - Good or bad.
68. They say that holy water might bear fruits. - This probably refers to the ability to create herbs with holy water (see section 0.13.6).
69. They say that hurthlings don't like shoes. - Shoes reduce their Dexterity.
70. They say that Infinity does not permit to visit any place twice. - It's impossible to visit an ID level twice.
71. They say that it is good for your survival if you can't hear death coming. - With death equaling the Banshee.
72. They say that it is not wise to leave ones cause after being crowned to be a champion. - True.
73. They say that it might come in handy to discover a use for useless potions. - Very true.
74. They say that Khelavaster is still alive. - Maybe. It depends on what has happened in the particular game.
75. They say that kicking a stuck door helps. - If it isn't trapped.
76. They say that kicking stairs might be bad for your health. - It might collapse the dungeon.
77. They say that kicking stairs helps to train your strength. - Don't.
78. They say that killing cats is bad for your karma. - It does not affect luck-related intrinsics, but makes the Cat Lord angry.
79. They say that killing friends won't help you finding new ones. - Killing friendly monsters is a chaotic act; attacking the inhabitants of Dwarftown will (generally) make the whole town hostile.
80. They say that libraries are especially useful for wizards. - They find every spellbook available in the game.
81. They say that long jumps require small moves. - Might refer to alignment changes via small gold sacrifices at non-aligned altars.
82. They say that many cursed items cause bad luck. - They do not explicitly affect the luck-related intrinsics in most cases, but are definitely a pain to deal with.
83. They say that merchants are really well-spoken thieves. - At least they know how to take away your money.
84. They say that merchants are well-versed in handling coins. - True. Even throwing them.
85. They say that monsters tamed by bards will never willingly leave. - True.
86. They say that monuments can hold dark secrets. - This probably refers to the Infinite Dungeon, which was once a monument to Law. Chaos has transformed it into its current condition, and it holds a dark secret, the location of the Sceptre of Chaos (as well as Filk, but this message probably predates Filk). Might also refer to the Stone Circle, where the Crown of Chaos is located.
87. They say that nobody ever heard the wail of the Banshee more than once. - The Banshee's wail instakills.
88. They say that not all herbs must be eaten. - Some must be 'U'sed, some are harmful.
89. They say that once you have opened the final gate there is no way back. - When the D: 48 staircase points down, there's no way back until the chaos gate is closed.
90. They say that pools contain mysterious secrets. - Among other things.
91. They say that potions of toughness tend to remove your hungry feelings. - True.
92. They say that praying at altars of your deity is helpful. - No, *sacrificing* at coaligned altars is helpful.
93. They say that quests are noble and just. - Not all of them.
94. They say that repetitive requests are frowned upon by the gods. - Praying too often will result in an angry deity.
95. They say that rubbing moss of mareilon onto your skin might get you moving. - It increases Dexterity.
96. They say that sacrifices can be dangerous. - Especially live ones on a noncoaligned altar.
97. They say that shopkeepers base their prices upon racial preferences. - Waldenbrook hates Dark Elves.
98. They say that shopkeepers sometimes try to cheat the customer. - True.
99. They say that shops are dangerous at night. - Shopkeepers don't see the PC pick up items in the dark, but the PC still must pay.
100. They say that Sis might enhance your creativity. - By making the PC think of uses for them.
101. They say that skeletons like bones. - Giving them bones heals them.
102. They say that some items are useful when worn shortly before special moments. - Some items give nice resistances and abilities not often needed.
103. They say that some statues have magical bones. - Statues may yield wands when broken by kicking.
104. They say that some stuff needs a lot of blessing to improve. - One blessing (of seven league boots, rings of djinni summoning, potions of gain attributes, rings of the fish) is enough.
105. They say that some wands are not very reliable. - True - rusty wands of ball lightning, for instance.
106. They say that smashing statues might yield magical wands. - True.
107. They say that swamp hydras are tough food. - And poisonous.
108. They say that the ancient dwarf knows a lot about quests. - He has six.
109. They say that the banshee transformed after losing her beloved husband. - True.
110. They say that the cat lord finds no fault with ye if ye has never harmed any cat. - True.
111. They say that the dungeons of mystery consist of 100 levels. - Except now it's the Caverns of Chaos with 50 levels.
112. They say that the forces of Law built a monument to Infinity. - But Chaos twisted it into the ID.
113. They say that the gods do not yearn for material wealth. - Nonsense. They *love* money!
114. They say that the gods greatly favor living sacrifices. - True, as long as they aren't summoned or bred.
115. They say that the great rift is very dangerous for almost everyone. - True.
116. They say that the guild of industrious brutal muggers writes really confusing manuals. - The IBM Guild Manual permanently confuses.
117. They say that the home of the banshee is ruled by eternal decay. - Actually, corpses never rot there.
118. They say that the king hid a lot of gold in these dungeons. - There are some royal treasuries.
119. They say that the library charges high fees. - Nonsense.
120. They say that the lofty nature of some writing sets is influenced by the degree of magic invoked with it. - Writing scrolls of chaos resistance is costly.
121. They say that the mint-flavored juice distilled out of morgia roots improves stamina, slakes thirst and conceals bad breath. - Eating morgia roots increases Willpower and Toughness.
122. They say that the radiance of chaos will corrupt you the faster the deeper you descend. - True.
123. They say that the secret to becoming a Chaos God is hidden in the Drakalor Chain. - True.
124. They say that there are many gems deep under the mountains. - True.
125. They say that there is a secret level guarded by many powerful monsters which contains several artifacts. - Greater vaults generally contain an artifact or two.
126. They say that thick gauntlets are great for isolating your hands. - ... from poison.
127. They say that tiny caves can be very large. - Especially the ID.
128. They say that those who manage to empty a pool, will receive a wish. - Nonsense.
129. They say that those who have too many friends also have too many enemies. - A PC with many companions may find that they fight amongst themselves.
130. They say that those who hear the wail of the banshee are doomed. - Not doomed, dead.
131. They say that to be a champion of one's cause is very valuable when using ancient magic. - True.
132. They say that to leave the animated forest you will have to reach the corner opposite the enterance. - True.
133. They say that too much chaos essence corrupts thy inner self. - True.
134. They say that true berserkers fight naked. - True.
135. They say that using artifacts costs a lot of energy. - True.
136. They say that when you hear a "Hurumph!" you'd better start to run. - A Dorn Beast. Be paralyzation resistant.
137. They say that you might find gems on the deep levels. - You can find gems anywhere.
138. They say that you need a lot of leverage to stop the forces of Chaos. - Two levers, actually.
139. They say that you need a strong will to enter the great rift. - True (see section 2.22).
140. They say that you need persistence and peace to truly profit from religious scriptures. - The "persistence and peace" probably refers to the fact that tracts are difficult to read, so the PC must not be disturbed by monsters. Interestingly, however, teleportitis does not bother PCs trying to read tracts.
141. They say that you need to be an expert climber to survive the great rift. - Climbing 100 is required.
142. They say that you need to be very experienced to enter the great rift. - Experience level 18.
143. They say that you only can be the champion of your deity if you are very close to your deity. - Or extremely.
144. They say that you should not slow down in your final fight. - Avoid being hit by writhing masses of primal chaos.
145. They say that you should seek the heart of the mountains. - There's a neat library in the middle of the mountains.
146. They say that you should try to investigate the potential uses of beeswax. - For the Banshee's level.
147. They say that you should wish for charisma.
148. They say that you should wish for friends.
149. They say that you should wish for knowledge.
150. They say that you should wish for strength.
151. They say that you should wish for toughness.
152. They say that you should wish for wealth.
153. They say that you should wish for willpower.
154. They say that you should wish for wishes. - Never.
155. They say that you will feel the corrupting incursions of Chaos. - Unavoidable if the PC lives long enough.
156. They say that you'll have to pull mightily to plug the chaotic intrusions. - The PC must 'h'andle two levers.
157. They say that you will need a weapon of mass destruction to come closer to your goal. - A *wand* of destruction helps.
158. They say that your piety depends on your disposition towards all gods of your pantheon. - True.
159. They say that wands of knocking might split your skull. - They never deal any damage.
160. They say that white dragons suffer from a bad cold. - They are vulnerable to fire and grant cold resistance when eaten.
161. They say ye cannot shoot yourself, no matter how hard ye try. - The PC cannot shoot his doppleganger "self" since they are immune to missiles. The PC can shoot his real self easily, with lightning bolt, death ray, magic missile, wands of ball lightning or wands of far slaying.
162. This cookie will make you pay a high price. - Nonsense.
163. This is a joke. - Nonsense.
164. Those of Trollish Blood must drink from the Bloody Pool. - Nonsense.
165. Those who guard artifacts are deadly enemies. - Usually.
166. Those without overwhelming piety won't affect elemental altars. - The PC must be a champion of Order or Balance.
167. To be heavy is not very nifty in a deep rift. - Even worse than normal.
168. Ye dost not need to find some kind of amulet to save the world. - Reference to the original Rogue and its descendants.
169. Your termination is long due. - Right. So is the termination of this list.
170. They say that Fire is the only element living on the surface. - Refers to the Tower of Eternal Flames on the Wildnerness map.
171. They say that drinking holy water with bland rations will make them taste better.
172. They say that Mana is a kind of side trek. - The Mana Temple is located in a side branch of the unreal cave system.
173. They say that fury makes you less stubborn.
174. Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur. - What is said in Latin is looked upon highly. [thanks to Kassandra Velez for translation]
175. Join DARK (*D*ragons *a*gainst *r*easonable *k*illing).
176. MADE: Mindcrafters Against Drunken Explorers.
177. Note: Don't forget to throw all the poisoned cookies away.
178. They say that every coin has two sides.
179. They say that it might be useful to remain persistent with uncharged wands. - Wrench the final charge from them if there is no means of recharging them.
180. They say that rusted electrical items might be dangerous to the user. - Rusty wands of (ball) lightning can be hazardous to the PC's health.
181. Smoking is bad for your health!
182. Remember to write something on this cookie. - Not on the cookie, on blank scrolls (if the PC can take the possible consequences).
183. They say that patience is the better part of valor.
184. They say that dark elves are especially good in the night.
185. They say that many wands depend on the power of the wielder. - Willpower is a factor when zapping wands.
186. Stoma Pubis enjoys throwing anvils at opponents.
187. Who are they, anyway?

0.14.16.2 Yggaz's babbling

1. A lord might come, he will kill some, others he will beat and that will be neat.
2. Age is power, fulfillment is a shower.
3. Baba's my mother, Stalker my father and I'm the eternal wanderer.
4. Convenience does not mean ease of use!
5. Discover the beginning and you will have found the end. - Discover the origin of the Chaos incursion into Ancardia and you reach the end of the game.
6. Healers are strange people - they enjoy it if you throw stuff at weak ones... - One way to satisfy Jharod.
7. Follow the course, ride the horse, eat the bean and feel pretty lean.
8. Life's a boon and ye art a goon!
9. Remember: wherever you go, there you are!
10. Search the bard and hit him hard! - May refer to Filk.
11. Search the garden, harvest the treasures and take some measures. - Probably refers to herbs and arranging them into stable patterns.
12. Sting the bee and rewarded will be thee. - Hives are more likely to leave gelee royal after kicking them.
13. Swing the anvil and smash the unyielding.
14. The avatar I was... now the fool I am. Heed the warning. - Don't become a fallen champion?
15. ...the right stuff that is. - Probably a continuation of #6.
16. The tiny island is quite magical... isn't that tragical? - Refers to the island in Terinyo.
17. The warning I was... now the fool I am. Heat the warning.
18. Wait till the dawn of time and yer problems will be solved.
19. Wild my babbling might be, mild my being might be...
20. Yagga Yagga Yeek Yeek!

0.14.17 The final score

score = sum of all skill scores / 20 +
    spell memory [the first number] for each known spell / 5 + 50 +
    MIN(piety - 200, 10000000) +
    (level - 1) * 50 +
    experience / ~3.5 +
    (sum of the danger ratings [1-50] of explored levels) * 30 +
    (# identified items * 100) +
    various amounts for having intrinsics (between 200 and 10000 each) +
    ~2000 (retrieving the cute puppy) +
    20000 (making Blup happy) +
    (sum of attribute modifications * 200) +
    (# of successful dwarven quests * 5000) +
    5000 (if member of thieves guild) +
    5000 (if head of thieves guild) +
    1000 (adhering to the principles of the Cat Lord)
    250000 (saving Khelavaster) +
    2000000 (being a paragon of order) +
    MAX(0, 300 - max. hitpoints) * 1000 (only if the game was completed) +
    20000 (no divine interventions and game complete) +
    20000 (champion) +
    -10000 (fallen champion) +
    -(chaos score * 20) (typical about 1000 points score per corruption)

MAX(0, 80000 - moves) * 1000

Then the score is once more doubled.

Dispelling final score myths - discoveries by Darren Grey