SPECIALTY ABILITIES Version 0.3.0 Update 2005-05-04 ====================== List of Specialty Abilities ====================== Armor Mastery The player's body armor has its base AC increased by 2 / 3 of its normal amount. For example, instead of The Power Dragon Scale Mail 'Bladeturner' (-8) [50, +35] you would effectively have The Power Dragon Scale Mail 'Bladeturner' (-8) [83, +35] . Armor Proficiency The maximum amount of armor that the player can wear without a penalty to mana is increased by five pounds. In addition the weight over this limit necessary to reduce the player's mana to zero is increased by an additional fifteen pounds. For example, a mage can normally wear 25 lbs. of armor without a penalty to mana, and is reduced to 0 mana after a further 60 lbs. (for a total of 85). With this specialty, the mage can wear 30 lbs. of armor without a penalty and is reduced to 0 mana after a further 75 lbs. (for a total of 105). Armsman When attacking with a melee weapon and the opponent is visible, you get a free 1 / 6 chance of inflicting a critical. If this chance fails, you still have your normal skill-based chance of a critical hit. Athletics Gives a +2 bonus to and partially sustains and dexterity and constitution. Any attack that would drain either and is affected by sustains (i.e., not time attacks) has only a 50% chance of reducing the stat. Beguile Increases the power of slow, sleep, confusion, and fear effects from spells and devices by 50%. Note that this does not affect the power of these effects from other sources, including a druid's confusion blows and scrolls of confuse monster. Channeling Your caster level increases as your mana level increases (as a proportion of your total mana). The maximum caster level increase is equal to 4.5 levels plus 0.2 levels per character level, to a maximum of 14.5 levels at character level 50. This maximum is then multiplied by the square of the ratio between your current and maximum spell points, so, for, example, if you have half your maximum mana, you receive one quarter of the maximum caster level increase. Finally, the caster level increase is rounded to the nearest level, with bonuses of at least 0.5 levels rounded up and smaller bonuses rounded down. This specialty is cumulative (after rounding) with the heighten magic specialty, and the description given when browsing your spellbook describes the combined effect of the two specialties. Clarity Gives a +2 bonus to and partially sustains intelligence and wisdom. Any attack that would drain either and is affected by sustains (i.e., not time attacks) has only a 50% chance of reducing the stat. Enhance Magic Increases the length of time beneficial timed abilities last by 50%. The abilities affected by this are temporary see invisible, temporary ESP, superstealth, temporary elemental brands, temporary infravision, temporary haste, protection from evil, heightened magical defences, heroism, berserk, blessing, magical shielding, and temporary resistances. In addition, temporary resistances to acid, electricity, fire, cold, and poison now grants five levels of resistance, rather than four (a permanent resistance grants two levels). The following status effects also gain power: Status | Without | With -----------------------+------------+----------- heightened defences | +25 AC | +35 AC blessing | +5 AC | +10 AC | +10 to-hit | +15 to-hit shield of protection | +50 AC | +65 AC | +35 AC | +50 AC [for a necromancer] heroism | +10 to-hit | +15 to-hit | +5 to-dam | +10 to-dam berserk | +5 to-hit | +10 to-hit | +15 to-dam | +20 to-dam | -10 AC | -15 AC haste | +10 speed | +13 speed temporary infravision | +30' infra | +50' infra Evasion Gives a chance to evade melee attacks and fired boulders, shots, bolts, arrows and missiles. The exact chance to evade depends on your dexterity, level, and armor weight. To get any evasion chance, your total armor weight must be less than 15 lbs. plus 0.3 lbs. per level. If your total armor weight is less than 60% this amount (9 lbs. plus 0.18 lbs. per level, rounded down to the nearest tenth lb.), you get the full evasion chance listed in the table below; otherwise, you get the reduced chance. | Melee | Missile | Melee | Missile Dexterity | Evasion | Evasion | E Chance | E Chance | Chance | Chance | (Reduced) | (Reduced) -----------------+---------+---------+-----------+----------- 3 - 10 | 25% | 33.3% | 12% | 16.0% 11 | 26% | 34.7% | 13% | 17.3% 12 | 27% | 36.0% | 13% | 17.3% 13 | 28% | 37.3% | 14% | 18.7% 14 | 29% | 38.7% | 14% | 18.7% 15 | 30% | 40.0% | 15% | 20.0% 16 | 31% | 41.3% | 15% | 20.0% 17 | 32% | 42.7% | 16% | 21.3% 18 - 18/19 | 33% | 44.0% | 16% | 21.3% 18/20 - 18/39 | 34% | 45.3% | 17% | 22.7% 18/40 - 18/69 | 35% | 46.7% | 17% | 22.7% 18/70 - 18/99 | 36% | 48.0% | 18% | 24.0% 18/100 - 18/129 | 37% | 49.3% | 18% | 24.0% 18/130 - 18/159 | 38% | 50.7% | 19% | 25.3% 18/160 - 18/189 | 39% | 52.0% | 19% | 25.3% 18/190+ | 40% | 53.3% | 20% | 26.7% Level | Max Weight | Max Weight | (full) | (reduced) -------+------------+------------ 1 | 9.1 lbs. | 15.3 lbs. 5 | 9.9 lbs. | 16.5 lbs. 10 | 10.8 lbs. | 18.0 lbs. 15 | 11.7 lbs. | 19.5 lbs. 20 | 12.6 lbs. | 21.0 lbs. 25 | 13.5 lbs. | 22.5 lbs. 30 | 14.4 lbs. | 24.0 lbs. 35 | 15.3 lbs. | 25.5 lbs. 40 | 16.2 lbs. | 27.0 lbs. 45 | 17.1 lbs. | 28.5 lbs. 50 | 18.0 lbs. | 30.0 lbs. Extra Trap Gives the ability to have one additional monster trap set on the same level, more available modified traps, and earlier access to otherwise available modified traps. With this specialty, you can have two traps set on the same level through level 24 and three thereafter; without it you are limited to one trap on the same level through level 24 and two thereafter. In addition, you learn to set one type of modified trap at 1st level and one additional type every level divisible by 4 (up through level 44), for a total of 12 types. Without this speciality, you learn one type at first level and one additional type every level divisible by 6 (up through level 48), for a total of 9 types. Fast Attacking Gives a chance at a single extra melee blow each round. The chance is equal to the number of blows the character gets divided by eight. This specialty applies to attacks both with and without weapons. Fast Casting The amount of energy required to cast a spell is reduced by (5 + (your level - level of the spell) / 2. The energy required to cast a spell whose level is more than 25 below yours is further reduced by the difference in level less 25; however, the minimum amount of energy used for any spell is 50, regardless of spell or caster levels. Normally, it takes 100 energy to cast a spell. With this specialty, a 50th level mage casting a 11th level spell would take 100 - 5 - (50 - 11) / 2 - (50 - 11 - 25) = 62 energy; this is a speedup of (100 - 62) / 62 or around 61%. The same mage casting Mana Storm (a 46th level spell) would take 93 energy, for a speedup of around 7.5%. Fury Each time you take damage or attack in melee, you gain a temporary boost to speed. When taking damage, this boost is equal to 1 plus the one tenth the percentage of your hit points just lost rounded to the nearest tenth, up to a maximum bonus of +2.5 plus 3/20 points of speed per level. After you kill a monster, you gain a bonus in tenths of a speed point equal to three times the amount of energy used this round in killing the monster (100, except for warriors level 40 or greater who kill the opponent with fewer than a full round's complement of blows, where it is proportional to the number of blows used to kill the enemy) divided by twice the amount of energy you gain each game turn (10 at normal speed, 20 at +10 speed, 30 at +20 speed, 38 at +30 speed), with a minimum of 0.1 point. Fractional boosts of at least 0.5 points of speed are rounded up for purposes of calculating your actual speed (though they are stored to the nearest tenth for aggregating cumulative fury boosts); fractional boosts of less are rounded down. Each boost is cumulative with earlier bursts, subject to rounding errors and the maximum mentioned before. This boost decays at a rate of +1 every 10 game turns (one normal-speed player turn). Harmony Each time you cast a spell successfully, you regain a percentage of your normal maximum HPs. This percentage is equal to 3% plus 1% per 3 mana the spell costs to cast, up to a maximum of 10% (for a spell that costs at least 21 mana). This is in addition to any HP that may be gained due to the spell itself (so, for example, a character with 700 max HP casting Call on Varda, a 45 mana spell, would heal 570 points of damage: 500 from the spell itself and 70 additional points because of harmony (3% + 45 / 3 = 20%, but the max gain is 10%, and 10% * 700 = 70). Heighten Magic Your caster level is increased, depending on how many spells you have cast recently, by a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 7 plus one per four levels (rounded down to the nearest tenth of a point). Each spell cast increases the bonus to your caster level by 2 (up to the maximum for your player level); however, this bonus decays at a rate of 1 to 1.3 per 10 game turns (1 normal-speed player turn) down to the minumum bonus of 1 level. The decay is 1 per 10 game turn if your current bonus is no more than 6.4 levels, 1.1 if it is from 6.5 to 11.9, 1.2 if from 12.0 to 17.4, and 1.3 if at least 17.5. Bonuses of at least 0.5 are rounded up to the nearest level for purposes of determining your actual caster level; smaller bonuses are rounded down. For example, a level 2 caster has a maximum spell level bonus of 7.5 levels; at this maximum bonus, then, all spells he casts will act as if cast by a level 10 caster for purposes of damage, duration, etc. (2 + 7.5 rounded up to 8). In your status, '(empowered)' means that your level is increased by from 4.5 to 9.4, '(Empowered!)' by from 9.5 to 15.4, and '(**Empowered**)' by 15.5 or more. If you also have the channeling specialty, the describes the combined effect. Neither specialty affects which spells you can learn, only their power when cast. Note that not all spells increase in power with increased caster level (Cure Poison, for example). Holy Light Your light radius increases by one, you gain resistance to light, you gain additional melee damage versus undead and evil beings, and light spells and effects have a chance of scaring undead, evil, or light-susceptible beings. Against undead, you gain an additional 0.4 slay modifier when you would normally have a 3.0 multiplier (wielding a whip of the balrog against a non-fire resistant undead), an additional 0.3 modifier when you would normally have a 2.0 or 2.5 (a mace of *slay* orc versus a skeleton orc, for example), and an additional 0.2 modifier otherwise; this is cumulative with all other applicable slays and brands. For example, a flail of melting versus non-acid resistant undead would act as if it had a 1.9 muliplier, rather than 1.7, and against acid-resistant undead would have a 1.2 multiplier rather than 1.0. Against evil beings, you gain an additional 0.3 slay modifier when you would normally have a 3.0 multiplier, an additional 0.2 modifier when you would normally have a 2.0 or 2.5, and an additional 0.1 modifier otherwise. Weak light spells (anything which only damages light-susceptible creatures, like illumination spells, rods of light, and the like) gain a 1 in 5 chance of attempting to scare any undead, evil, or light-susceptible being. In addition, any creature on which this 1 in 5 chance succeeds will be damaged by the light, regardless of whether it is light-susceptible or whether the attempt to scare it succeeds. For the attempt to scare, 2 more than the monster's level (or 20 more than its level for uniques) is compared versus a random number between one and 10 more than the player's level; if it is no greater, the monster is scared for 1 + 3d(level/2) turns. Normal light damage (Ball of Light, light hound breath, etc.) has a 1 in 3 chance of attempting to scare any undead, evil, or light-susceptible being. In this case, 2 more than the monster's level (or 20 more than its level for uniques) is compared versus a random number between one and 15 more than three halves the player's level, and if it is no greater, the monster is scared for 1 + 3d(3*level/4) turns. Magic Resistance Your saving throw is increased by half the distance between a perfect saving throw (100) and its current value, after adjustments for level and wisdom. However, if your current saving throw is at least 80%, you gain a constant +10% bonus instead (this can be useful because certain instances, like the save for disenchantment to return a shapeshifted character to normal form, require saves that can be failed even with a 100% saving throw). Mana Burn Your first critical hit (if any) of each round does extra damage and drains mana from spellcasters. Each round in which you score a critical hit, that critical does one additional die worth of damage (in addition to the extra dice from it being a critical hit) and drains 20 mana from the monster hit. However, a monster cannot have its mana drained below 0. Marksmanship The equivalent of Armsman, except for ranged weapons. When attacking with a ranged weapon (even one not necessarily intended as such, like a thrown suit of plate mail) and the opponent is visible, you get a free 1 / 6 chance of inflicting a critical. If this chance fails, you still have your normal skill-based chance of a critical hit. Martial Arts Makes a warrior similar to a druid with Power Strike. You gain a level / 2 bonus to hit when unarmed, lose the doubled chance of a shield bash when attacking without a weapon (as a druid), and do damage as a druid with Power Strike when attacking without a weapon, except with a 1/6 chance of a power strike, rather than 1/8. Meditation Your mana restoration rate is doubled. Multiplies with the 50% increase in mana restorion from the regeneration attribute of equipment (for a total of triple the normal mana restoration rate). Mighty Throw Doubles the distance to which you can throw items. This doubling increases the maximum distance to which light objects can be thrown from 10 squares to 20. Phasewalking You gain a saving throw versus monster spells that teleport you to the monster or teleport you away and against the nexus effects that do the same thing. You also gain immunity to the monster spell and nexus effect of teleport level. In addition, after teleporting yourself (including phase door, but _not_ teleport level) by any means, you gain a bonus to speed of 2 plus one tenth the distance that the method used teleports you, up to a maximum bonus of +2.5 plus 3/20 points of speed per level. This bonus decays at a rate of +1 per 10 game turns (one normal-speed player turn). This speed bonus is combined with the speed bonus from the Fury specialty (if any) and the combined bonus is subject to the same maximum and decay rate. The distance various methods of teleportation transport you are listed below, organized according to distance at 50th level. Method | Distance -------------------------------------+---------------- Staff of Winds | 6 Scroll of Phase Door | 10 Phase Door spell | 10 Blink spell | 10 The Mithril Chain Mail 'Belegennon' | 10 Hit and Run spell | 6 + level / 5 Dimension Door spell | distance moved (max 25) Rod of Portals | distance moved (max 25) Random artifact teleport self | 30 Amulet of Escaping | 40 Portal spell | 2 * level Scroll of Teleportation | 100 Staff of Teleportation | 100 The Cloak 'Colannon' | 100 Teleport Self spell [mage/rogue] | 50 + 2 * level Teleport Self spell [priest] | 4 * level Random artifact major displacement | 200 Piercing Shot Successful bow and crossbow attacks have a 50% chance of continuing. If there is another target in the line of fire, your normal total attack bonus on that target (after modifications for distance) is increased by 50%. If this attack hits, there is again a 50% chance for a pierce, and so on. Power Siphon When a monster in your line of sight (not necessarily visible) casts a spell, you gain mana equal to the amount the spell cost to cast. The line of sight check is applied after the spell occurs, so, for example, you would not gain mana if a monster teleported you away (unless you happened to land still in line of sight of the caster) but you would gain mana if a monster teleported to you. The amount of mana the various monster spells cost is given below. Spell | Cost --------------------------------------+------ Shriek for help | 1 Acid balls/storms | 4 Lightning balls/storms | 4 Fire balls/storms | 4 Frost balls/storms | 4 Stinking clouds/poison balls/storms | 4 Light spheres/explosions/starbursts | 5 Darkness balls/storms | 5 Confusion balls/storms | 6 Sound explosions/storms/thunderclaps | 4 Shard blasts/storms/whirlwinds | 4 Little/raging storms/whirlpools | 5 Nether orbs/balls/storms | 6 Chaos spheres/explosions/maelstroms | 7 Manabursts/balls/storms | 5 Acid bolts | 4 Lightning bolts | 4 Fire bolts | 4 Frost bolts | 4 Poison bolts | 4 Plasma bolts | 4 Ice bolts | 4 Water bolts | 5 Nether bolts | 5 Mana bolts | 4 Sparks of lightning | 3 Lances of ice | 6 Nether Beams/lances/rays of death | 7 Fire columns/enveloping/flamestrikes | 7 Thrust/hurl/throw you away | 5 Haste self | 6 Restore mana | 0 Heal self | 0 Cure ailments | 3 Blink self | 1 Teleport self | 6 Teleport to you | 4 Teleport you to it | 4 Teleport you away | 8 Teleport level | 8 Create darkness | 1 Create traps | 2 Cause amnesia | 6 Drain mana | 0 Dispel Magic | 5 Cause mind blasting | 3 Cause brain smashing | 4 Cause wounds | 4 Create hunger | 2 Terrify | 1 Blind | 3 Confuse | 4 Slow | 5 Paralyze | 6 Summon minions/similar monsters | 12 Summon a monster | 10 Summon monsters | 15 Summon ants | 10 Summon spiders | 12 Summon hounds | 14 Summon natural creatures | 15 Summon thieves | 15 Summon Bill, Bert, and Tom | 5 Summon a dragon | 14 Summon ancient dragons | 20 Summon a demon | 14 Summon greater demons | 20 Summon an undead | 12 Summon greater undead | 20 Summon the Ringwraiths | 20 Summon unique monsters | 20 Power Strike With each bare-handed attack, gives a one in eight chance of performing a power strike. This increases the level of the attack by one unless the attack was already a stormwind chop (from a punch to a kick, for example), causes the attack to do maximum damage for that type, and two thirds of the time attempts to confuse the monster being attacked. On average, this means that a power attack does slightly more than twice as much damage as a normal attack and the specialty increases a druid's average barehanded damage output by slightly over one eighth. Regeneration Your hit point restoration rate is doubled. Multiplies with the doubled increase in hit point restorion from the regeneration attribute of equipment (for a total of quadruple the normal hit point restoration rate). Shield Mastery Your shield's base AC value doubles, your chance for a deflection of enemy missile fire and partial blocking of shards attacks is treated as if your shield had a base AC value three higher (not cumulative with the previous bonus), which provides a 6.25% better chance of deflecting missiles and a 12.5% better chance of partial blocking of shards attacks (reduces damage by from 1/7 to 1/2), and increases the damage from shield bashes by 1% of the base damage for a shield bash for every tenth of a pound the shield weighs. The base damage for a shield bash depends on your shield: Shield Type | Base Damage | Shield Weight ----------------------+-------------+--------------- Wicker Shield | 1d2 | 3 lbs Small Leather Shield | 1d2 | 5 lbs of the Elements | 1d2 | 5 lbs Small Metal Shield | 1d3 | 7 lbs of Thorin | 1d3 | 7 lbs Large Leather Shield | 1d4 | 11 lbs of Celegorm | 1d4 | 11 lbs Large Metal Shield | 1d5 | 13.5 lbs of Anarion | 1d5 | 12 lbs Knight's Shield | 1d6 | 16 lbs of Earendil | 1d6 | 16 lbs Body Shield | 1d7 | 20 lbs Shield of Deflection | 1d4 | 8 lbs of Gil-Galad | 1d4 | 8 lbs No shield bash can ever do more than 125 points of damage, regardless of the effects of this specialty. Soul Siphon Whenever a monster dies that is neither a demon, undead, nor stupid (most worm masses, mushrooms, molds, oozes, and jellies), you gain 2 points of mana, plus 1 mana for each 30 maximum hit points the monster has. If (from killing a large monster, or multiple monsters simultaneously) you gain mana sufficient to restore you to full mana and more than your level in mana in excess, you take 2d8 points of damage. You cannot gain more than your normal maximum in mana from this ability. Trap Setting You gain the ability to set traps, as if you were a rogue without the Extra Trap specialty. Unlight Your stealth is increased by four, your light radius is reduced by one (to a minimum of one and a maximum of two), you gain resist darkness, and you are treated for purposes of searching, disarming and opening chests, opening doors, disarming traps, stealing, setting and modifying traps, gaining and casting spells, and reading scrolls as if your square was lit (even if it isn't). Normally, if your square is unlit, your searching, opening disarming, and stealing abilities are reduced to one tenth normal, and you cannot set or modify traps, gain or cast spells, or read scrolls while blind. In addition, when being attacked from an unlit square, your AC is increased by 10 plus one eighth its normal value. Similarly, if your current square is unlit, all damage from ranged attacks (whether spells, breaths, missiles, or the like) is reduced by 1/4, cumulative with any other terrain modifiers than may be in effect.