Abilities

Melee

Power

• Gives a bonus of +1 damage sides to your melee attacks.

• But increases the amount needed to score each level of critical hit by 1.

  • e.g. need to hit by 8 + weapon-weight instead of 7 + weapon-weight.

Finesse

• Lowers the amount needed to score each level of critical hit by 1.

  • e.g. need to hit by 6 + weapon-weight instead of 7 + weapon-weight.

Throwing Mastery

• Gives a +5 bonus to melee when using throwing attacks.

• Prevents thrown items from breaking.

Polearm Mastery

• Gives a +1 bonus to melee when using polearms.

• Allows you to ‘set’ a polearm to intercept attackers.

  • If you waited last turn (pressed ‘5’ / ‘z’) and any opponent who wasn’t adjacent to you moves into an adjacent position, you get a free attack on them.

  • Note that you don’t get the free attack if you cannot see the opponent or you are confused.

Charge

• If you attack an opponent after having just moved towards that opponent (so that your move and attack are in the same direction or at most 45° apart), then your attack is calculated as if you had 3 more points of strength and dexterity.

• The damage bonus is only gained if this is a regular, flanking, or controlled retreat attack.

Follow-Through

• If you kill an opponent, you get a free ‘follow-through’ attack on another opponent adjacent to you.

  • Note that you don’t get the free attack if you cannot see the opponent or you are confused.

• The follow-up attack only applies if the killing blow was a regular, flanking, controlled retreat, or follow-through attack (so it can be chained).

Zone of Control

• If an opponent moves between two squares which are both adjacent to you, you get a free attack.

  • Note that you don’t get the free attack if you cannot see the opponent or you are confused.

Subtlety

• If you wield a one handed weapon and have nothing in your off-hand, then the amount needed to score each level of critical hit is reduced by 2.

  • Note that hand-and-a-half weapons like Bastard Swords do not count as one handed weapons for these purposes.

Momentum

• Allows you to apply your strength more effectively with your weapon. Your strength bonus to damage is usually limited by the weapon weight in pounds. With Momentum, this upper limit is doubled.

  • For example a character could get up to 3 bonus damage sides with a 1.5 lb shortsword.

  • This works for melee and thrown weapons.

Rapid Attack

• You receive two melee attacks instead of one, but they are calculated as if you had 3 fewer points of strength and dexterity.

• The extra attack is only gained if this is a regular, flanking, or controlled retreat attack.

  • In other cases the single attack doesn’t suffer the above penalties.

Two-weapon Fighting

• You can wield a weapon in your off-hand instead of a shield.

• Only one-handed weapons can be placed in your off-hand (no hand-and-a-half weapons).

• You receive an attack with this weapon which is calculated as if you had 3 fewer points of strength and dexterity.

• The extra attack is only gained if this is a regular, flanking, or controlled retreat attack.

Knock Back

• When you hit a monster, you make a skill check to see if you can force them back a square. You roll twice your effective strength with that attack against twice their constitution. Your effective strength includes the modifiers for abilities like Charge or Rapid Attack, it is capped by the weight of your weapon, and then there is a +2 bonus if wielding a weapon with two hands.

  • They are only knocked back if there is an empty square for them to move into.

  • They miss their next turn if they are actually moved back.

  • Opportunist attacks don’t trigger Knock Back

Whirlwind Attack

• When you attack an enemy in an open area (no walls or rubble adjacent to you), you get a free attack on all other enemies that are adjacent to you.

  • Note that you do get the free attacks even if you cannot see the opponent or you are confused.

• The extra attacks are only gained if this is a regular, flanking, or controlled retreat attack.

• Note that all the attacks are treated as whirlwind attacks, so they are incompatible with many other abilities.

Strength

• You gain a point of Strength.

Archery

Careful Shot

• Halves the chance of arrows breaking (from 20% to 10%).

Precision

• Lowers the amount needed to score each level of critical hit by 1.

  • i.e. need to hit by 6 + bow-weight instead of 7 + bow-weight.

Point Blank Archery

• When you provoke attacks of opportunity by firing your bow, the enemy you fired at doesn’t get one.

Versatility

• If you have more skill points in archery than in melee, you gain a bonus to melee of half the difference between the two scores (rounding down).

Crippling Shot

• If you score a critical hit using archery (and do at least 1 point of net damage), your opponent has to make a Will check against 4 times the level of your critical hit. If they fail, they become slowed for one round for each level of the critical hit.

Flaming Arrows

• Your arrows do an extra die of damage against enemies that are not fire-resistant, but they always break.

  • Remember that you can turn abilities off when you don’t wish to use them.

Rapid Fire

• When you fire at an enemy, you fire two arrows instead of one, but the attacks are calculated as if you had 3 fewer points of strength and dexterity.

  • If the first shot kills the enemy and there are no more enemies in that direction, there will be no second shot.

  • Note that if it is your final arrow there will be only one shot and no penalty.

Dexterity

• You gain a point of Dexterity.

Evasion

Dodging

• Gives you a bonus of +3 to evasion if you moved last turn.

  • This is not displayed on the side of the screen, but does happen.

Blocking

• Doubles the number of dice of protection granted by your shield against ranged attacks, and also against melee attacks on any turn where you wait (press ‘5’ / ‘z’).

Parry

• Doubles the evasion bonus granted by your weapon.

  • This bonus does not apply to a weapon wielded in your off-hand.

Crowd Fighting

• Halves the bonus to melee that opponents get for surrounding you.

Leaping

• You can leap over a square of a chasm, a false floor, or a pit.

  • You must have moved roughly towards it on the previous turn.

  • It takes the usual two turns to reach your destination, one of which is spent in the air and you can’t do anything in this turn, but can be attacked.

Sprinting

• You gain +1 speed if you move four or more squares in roughly the same direction.

  • Each of the four moves can be up to 45° different from the one before it.

  • The speed lasts until you fail to meet the condition.

  • Note that you can never exceed speed 3.

Flanking

• Gives you a free attack on an opponent if you move between two squares which are both adjacent to it.

  • You cannot get a flanking attack and a controlled retreat attack on the same turn, flanking simply adds to the eligible opponents.

  • Only works on one opponent each time and gives preference to the one that is targeted (if any).

  • Note that you don’t get the free attack if you cannot see the opponent or you are confused.

Heavy Armour Use

• Gives you [1dX] extra protection, where X = total armour weight / 15 lbs

Riposte

• If an opponent misses you in melee by at least 10 + your weapon weight, you get a free attack on it.

  • You only get at most one riposte per round.

  • Note that you don’t get the free attack if you cannot see the opponent or you are confused.

Controlled Retreat

• Gives you a free attack on an opponent if you move from a square adjacent to it to a square not adjacent to it, but only if you didn’t move on the previous round.

  • You cannot get a flanking attack and a controlled retreat attack on the same turn, controlled retreat simply adds to the eligible opponents.

  • Only works on one opponent each time and gives preference to the one that is targeted (if any).

  • Note that you don’t get the free attack if you cannot see the opponent or you are confused.

Dexterity

• You gain a point of Dexterity.

Stealth

Disguise

• Halves any bonuses that awake but unwary monsters have to notice you due to you being in their line of sight.

Assassination

• Gives you a melee bonus equal to your stealth score when you attack unwary or sleeping opponents.

  • Note that you don’t get the melee bonus if you cannot see the opponent or you are confused.

• The melee bonus is only gained if this is a regular, flanking, or controlled retreat attack.

• The bonus is not applied if you are doing a charge attack.

Cruel Blow

• If you score a critical hit in melee (and do at least 1 point of net damage), your opponent has to make a Will check against 4 times the level of your critical hit. If they fail, they become confused with pain for one round for each level of the critical hit.

Opportunist

• If an opponent moves from a square which is adjacent to you to one which is not, you get a free attack.

  • Note that you don’t get the free attack if you cannot see the opponent or you are confused.

Exchange Places

• You may use the ‘X’ command to swap places with an adjacent enemy.

• Alert enemies get a free attack on you unless they are confused or mindless.

• Cannot be used when you cannot see the enemy, or you are in a web or pit.

Vanish

• It is easier to make enemies unwary again.

  • Instead of needing to beat them by more than 25 in their perception check when out of line of sight in order to reduce their alertness, you only need to beat them by more than 15.

Dexterity

• You gain a point of Dexterity.

Perception

Eye for Detail

• Gives you a bonus of +5 to perception rolls for finding traps and secret doors.

Focused Attack

• Gives you a bonus equal to half your Perception score to your attacks if you waited on the previous turn (pressed ‘5’ / ‘z’).

• Only works for the first attack of the round.

  • A set of attacks using rapid attack, or two-weapon fighting, or rapid fire count as a single attack for this purpose).

Keen Senses

• Allows you to see enemies who are just beyond the edge of a pool of light.

• Provides a +5 bonus to spotting ‘invisible’ enemies.

Lore-Keeper

• Allows you to tell the which items are cursed, and to distinguish between mere special items and artefacts.

Concentration

• Gives you a +1 bonus to attack for each consecutive round spent attacking a particular enemy (to a maximum of half your perception).

  • Spending a turn waiting/blocking (‘5’ or ‘z’) doesn’t break concentration.

Bane

• You receive a bonus to all skill rolls against a selected broad category of enemy.

  • The categories are: Orc, Wolf, Spider, Troll, Wraith, Rauko, Serpent, Dragon.

  • You need to have killed 4 enemies from the category to select it.

  • When you reach 2n kills of your chosen enemy, the bonus increases to +n.

Lore-Master

• You can immediately identify all items and gain full knowledge of all types of enemy that you might encounter.

  • You still gain the experience for identification only when you actually encounter an item of a type you had not seen before.

Listen

• Gives you a chance each turn to detect monsters that you cannot see (including around corners and through doors).

• This chance takes the form of a perception skill check:

  • difficulty = opponent’s stealth score

  • –3 if it is awake but unwary

  • –5 if it moved

  • –10 if it called out or smashed a door

  • –15 if it tunnelled through rock

  • +(Song/2) if you are singing the Song of Silence

  • +1 per square of distance along the shortest sound path

  • +5 per closed door along the shortest sound path

• Successes represent the opponent as a grey asterisk, unless you succeed by 10 or more, in which case they are completely revealed.

Master Hunter

• Gives you an attack bonus of +1 for each time you have killed an opponent of the same narrow type (up to a maximum of a quarter of your Perception).

• e.g. killing 3 Orc soldiers gives you a +3 attack bonus against Orc soldiers.

Grace

• You gain a point of Grace.

Will

Channelling

• Gives you a bonus of +5 to your Will when trying to use staves or horns.

• Lets you know how many charges remain in a staff.

Mind Over Body

• Lowers the rate at which you grow hungry to one third the normal rate.

Curse Breaking

• Allows you to remove cursed equipment and thereby break the curse.

Inner Light

• Strengthens the light in your light radius against the unnatural darkness that some monsters create.

Clarity

• Gives resistance to confusion, stunning, and hallucination.

Hardiness

• Gives you [1dX] extra protection, where X = Will / 6

  • This protection works against all damage types, like a ring of protection.

Poison Resistance

• Gives you a level of resistance to poison.

Strength in Adversity

• Gives you bonuses to Strength and Grace when seriously injured:

  • +1 when ≤ 50% health,

  • +2 when ≤ 25% health.

Critical Resistance

• Increases the amount by which an enemy must successfully hit you in order to score a critical hit (by 1 for every 5 points of Will).

Majesty

• Makes monsters more likely to flee, by lowering their morale (by half the difference between your Will and theirs).

Constitution

• You gain a point of Constitution.

Smithing

Weaponsmith

• Allows you to create weapons when at a forge.

  • Includes bows and arrows.

Armoursmith

• Allows you to create armour when at a forge.

Jeweller

• Allows you to create rings, amulets, and light sources at a forge.

Enchantment

• Allows you to create {special} items at a forge.

Artistry

• Allows you to improve the attack, evasion, damage, and protection values of items that you create at a forge.

Artifice

• Allows you to create your own custom artefacts with many different properties.

  • Note that these require three uses of a forge each.

Masterpiece

• Allows you to create items whose difficulty exceeds your Smithing skill.

  • For each excess point of difficulty, you lose one Smithing skill point.

  • This loss is permanent, but you can always regain the point with more experience.

Grace

• You gain a point of Grace.

Song

Song of Elbereth

• Causes fear in intelligent enemies.

• This is done through a skill check of your Song skill versus:

  • difficulty = enemy’s Will skill

  • +1 per square of distance along the shortest sound path

  • +5 per closed door along the shortest sound path

• Temporarily lowers their morale by 1 per point you succeed by.

• Voice: 1⁄3 per turn.

• Noise: 8

Song of Slaying

• Gives you a bonus to attack that increases each time you kill an opponent and fades away over time.

  • Killing an enemy will give you a temporary bonus of 10% of your Song, but this will quickly start to fade

  • At any time your bonus will be proportional to your Song score

  • If you are killing enemies at a steady rate r, the bonus will be proportional to the square root of r (so you need to quadruple the killing rate to double the bonus).

• Voice: 1⁄3 per turn.

• Noise: 12

Song of Silence

• Quietens sounds in the dungeon, making opponents less likely to notice you.

• Lowers the noise you make by half your Song skill, effectively giving opponents a penalty of this size to their perception checks.

• Also gives this penalty to opponents in hearing each other when they call for help etc.

• But it even gives this penalty to your own perception checks if using the ‘listen’ ability.

• Voice: 1⁄3 per turn.

• Noise: 0

Song of Freedom

• Eases your passage through the dungeon.

• It gives you free action (protection from entrancement and slowing) and makes existing effects of these types wear off very quickly.

• It has a chance of disarming nearby traps (whether discovered or not), removing rubble, and discovering secret doors and unlocking locked or stuck doors or chests.

• This is done through a skill check of your Song skill versus:

  • difficulty = base of: dungeon-level/2 + 5

  • +1 per square of distance along the shortest sound path

  • +5 per closed door along the shortest sound path

• Voice: 1⁄3 per turn.

• Noise: 4

Song of the Trees

• Increases your light radius by 1 per 5 points of Song skill.

• Voice: 1⁄3 per turn.

• Noise: 4

Song of Aule

• Increases your Smithing skill by 1 per 4 points of Song skill.

• Voice: 1⁄3 per turn.

• Noise: 8

Song of Staying

• Gives you [1dx] protection, where x is one third of your Song skill.

  • This protection works against all damage types, like a ring of protection.

• Increases your Will skill by 1 per 3 points of Song skill.

• Voice: 1 per turn.

• Noise: 4

Song of Lorien

• Lowers the alertness of nearby enemies, making them unwary and then ultimately putting them to sleep.

• This is done through a skill check of your Song skill versus:

  • difficulty = enemy’s Will skill + 5

  • +1 per square of distance along the shortest sound path

  • +5 per closed door along the shortest sound path

• Voice: 1 per turn.

• Noise: 4

Song of Este

• Makes you recover your health X times faster, where X is a quarter of your Song skill.

• Makes you recover from all negative status effects X times faster.

  • Includes: hallucination, blindness, confusion, slowness, entrancement, fear, stunning, poison, and cuts.

• Voice: 1 per turn.

• Noise: 4

Song of Sharpness

• Helps you penetrate the armour of your opponents with swords, axes, polearms, and arrows.

• The opponent’s protection roll is reduced by 2% per point of Song.

• Voice: 1 per turn.

• Noise: 8

Song of Mastery

• Attempts to make nearby enemies completely powerless before you.

• If you succeed in a skill check against an enemy, they will completely miss their turn, staying still and not attacking.

• This skill check uses your Song skill against:

  • difficulty = enemy’s Will skill + 5

  • +1 per square of distance along the shortest sound path

  • +5 per closed door along the shortest sound path

• Voice: 1 per turn.

• Noise: 8

Woven Themes

• Allows you to add a ‘minor theme’ to your song.

• This means that you can begin a second song and have its effect in addition to your major song, but its power is less, treating you as if your Song skill were half what it is.

• The noise from your singing is the average of the two songs, and the voice cost is the sum of the two.

• You can end the minor theme without ending the major theme by attempting to sing the major theme again, and you can swap the order of the themes by attempting to sing song ‘x’.

Grace

• You gain a point of Grace.