
=============================== Character Birth ===============================

     This file describes your character and his creation.  It discusses the 
races and classes available in FAangband; racial and class tables are provided 
at the bottom.


=== Creating a Character ===

FAangband is a role-playing game, in which you, the player, control a character
in the First Age of Middle-Earth.  Perhaps the most important thing you 
control is the birth of your character, in which you choose or allow to be 
chosen various attributes that will affect his future adventures.

You choose a race, a class, and may set various birth options.  You may start 
over at any time by pressing 'S'.

Once you have accepted a character you will asked for a name.  The actual 
choice of a name may have some effect on the game itself.  It is used to 
specify character-specific preference files, is shown in the high score 
list, and, in some operating systems like Macintosh and Windows, is used to 
save the character to disk.


=== Races ===

There are thirteen different races that you can choose from in FAangband, 
representing most of the enemies of Morgoth found in Tolkien's Silmarillion.  
Some races will have difficulty with some professions, and each race has its 
own adjustments to a character's stats and abilities. Most races also have 
intrinsic abilities.  Most importantly, each race starts in a particular town.
Since the wilderness around some of these towns is very dangerous, these races
start with some experience already, and sometimes improved equipment.
     Maiar are especially designed for new and inexperienced players, and are 
not recommended for veterans.  Hobbits, Beornings and Longbeards also make 
good races for players new to Angband in general and FAangband in particular.  
Druedain, Edain, Grey Elves and High Elves particularly are only recommended 
for experienced players.

***** <Easterling>
     Easterling:
         Easterlings are the swarthy humans who came into Beleriand late in 
	 the First Age of Middle-Earth.   All other races are compared to them.
         Easterlings can choose any class and are average at everything.  They 
         have a slight bonus to fighting skill when using swords and 
         crossbows, and have more hit points than many other races.  They get
	 a bonus to hit in plains.
 
***** <Green-Elf>
     Green Elf:
         Green elves are a branch of the Teleri who abandoned the Great Journey
         of the elves to Aman, but later crossed the Blue Mountains into the
         Land of the Seven Rivers, Ossiriand.  They tend to be smarter and 
         more agile than Easterlings, but are not as strong.  Green elves are 
         better at searching, saving throws, stealth, perception, 
         and shooting (especially with bows), but they are not as good 
         at hand weapons, disarming and magic devices.  Like all elves, Green 
	 elves are able to move freely among trees
 
***** <Grey-Elf>
     Grey Elf:
         Grey elves are the people of King Thingol, and the first elves to
         settle in Beleriand.  They tend to be wiser and more dexterous than 
         humans and tougher and stronger than green elves.  Grey elves have
         better saving throws but less stealth than green elves, and are better
         at hand-to-hand combat but not as good at shooting.  Grey elves
         resist light effects intrinsically, and like the forest.
 
***** <Hobbit>
     Hobbit:
         Hobbits are very good at bows (especially slings), throwing, and have 
         good saving throws.  They are even better at searching, disarming, 
         perception, and stealth; so they make excellent rogues, but prefer to 
         be called burglars.  They will be much weaker than humans, and no 
         good at melee fighting.  They have few hit points, but can sometimes 
         endure ailments that would lay other races low.  Hobbits have fair 
         infravision, so they can detect warm creatures at a distance.  
         Hobbits, like Easterlings, are people of the plains.
 
***** <Petty-Dwarf>
     Petty-Dwarf:
         Petty-dwarves are an ancient and diminished race of dwarves thought
         at first by the elves to be orcs.  They were all but wiped out, with
         just one small settlement left in the south of the Ered Luin.
         Petty-dwarves make excellent mages, are the best magical device users 
         of any race, and are good at searching, disarming, and perception.  
         They are reasonably stealthy. They are, however, rather frail and
         are not very good at fighting with hand weapons.  Petty-dwarves have 
         good infra-vision, so they can detect warm-blooded creatures at a 
         distance.  Petty-dwarves are intrinsically protected against 
         paralysis and some slowing effects, and like all dwarves are harder
	 to hit when in the mountains, and can move easily through rubble.
 
***** <Dwarf>
     Dwarf:
         Dwarves are the headstrong miners and fighters of legend.  They are 
         strong, smart, and tough, but not very wise or agile.  Since 
         dungeons are their natural home, dwarves have very good infravision, 
         can never be blinded, and make good warriors, mages, and necromancers.
         They gain a small bonus to combat skill when using polearms, but 
         don't know the first thing about bows.  Because they are so 
         headstrong, they resist spells which are cast on them.  They do have 
         one big drawback, though:  Dwarves are loudmouthed and proud, singing 
         in loud voices, arguing with themselves for no good reason, screaming 
         out challenges at imagined foes.  In other words, dwarves have a 
         miserable stealth.  They get the same terrain bonuses as 
	 Petty-Dwarves.
 
***** <Druadan>
     Druadan:
         Druedain, also known as woses, are the woodspeople who live alongside
         the people of Haleth.  They are tough, wise and stealthy, but not very
         street-smart and are poor at devices, disarming and shooting; they
         make excellent druids.  Druedain look, well, funny.  They tend to pay 
         more for goods in town.  Their uncanny appreciation of the natural
         environment gives them the power of telepathy, and they fight more
	 skilfully in forest.
 
***** <Longbeard>
     Longbeard:
         The longbeards are the eldest of the seven lines of the dwarves.  
         Their home is in Khazad Dum, away from the chief conflicts of 
         Beleriand, but they are always ready for a challenge.  They have all
         the strengths of other dwarves, but their weaknesses are less.

***** <Adan>
     Adan:
         The edain are the elf-friends of the houses of Beor, Hador and 
         Haleth.  First of men to enter Beleriand, they surpass the abilities 
         of other humans in every field, are superb melee fighters, and have 
         amazing wisdom and constitution.  They may play any class.  Their 
	 constitution cannot be reduced, and like druedain fight their best in
	 the forests of Beleriand.
 
***** <High-Elf>
     High Elf:
         High elves are the Noldor, who fled from the Undying Lands to try and
         wrest the Silmarils back from Morgoth.  They are masters of all 
         skills, and are agile and intelligent, although their wisdom is 
         sometimes suspect.  High-elves begin their lives able to see the 
         unseen, and resist light effects just like Grey elves.  As other 
	 elves, they move freely through trees.
 
***** <Maia>
     Maia:  
         (Special race for players new to FAangband.  Score is reduced by 50%)
         The Maiar, lesser deities of the created world, often take tangible 
         form and mingle among earthly beings.  They can be found among the 
         ranks of wise counselors, peerless warriors, mighty wizards and 
         deadly necromancers; indeed they can play any class with credit.  
         Their vital statistics put all other races to shame, their standard 
         abilities are always good and sometimes superlative, and they recover 
         divinely quickly from all sorts of wounds and ailments, and are not 
	 slowed in water like other races.  Maiar are 
         perfect for those desiring a character able to survive the perils of 
         an unfamiliar game.

***** <Dark-Elf>
     Dark Elf:
         Dark elves are those who chose to stay among the stars of Middle-
         Earth rather than see the Light of the Trees in Aman.  They are
         wise and agile, but frail and poor with weapons.  However, dark
         elves are not merely stealthiest of all races, but they never 
         aggravate monsters.  (If they normally would, they suffer a penalty 
         of three to stealth).  The price they pay, though, is an increased
         sensitivity to bright light.  Dark elves have the usual elvish 
	 ability to move unhindered through trees.

***** <Ent>
     Ent:
         Clad in bark-like skin, and with bodies like the trunks of trees, Ents
         can nevertheless move about perfectly well.  They have poor dungeon 
         survival skills, and are bad at archery and with polearms, but handle 
         other weapons well.  As long as they stay away from fire, Ents will 
         find themselves well capable of surviving many a bitter fight.  As 
         they age, Ents slowly lose the relative suppleness of their sapling 
         youth, trading dexterity for increased strength and constitution.  
         Members of this wise race can never gain feather fall by any means, 
         but will slowly acquire the ability needed to tear rock apart with 
         their weaponless hands.  Since they only need to stand still to be
	 mistaken for trees, Ents are incredibly stealthy in forests.
 
***** <Beorning>
     Beorning:
         These hardy woodsfolk, though of human origin, have developed a deep
         affinity with nature.  Many of the Beornings have learned the secret
         languanges of animals and some have learned to transform themselves
         into the forms of great bears.  They have respectable survival
         skills and are comfortable with all manner of weapons, but they are
         mediocre with magical devices.  They are at a slight disadvantage in
         charisma and intellegence, but they have better wisdom and 
         consistution than other humans.  When needed, they can take the form
         of an increasingly powerful bear (use the ']' command), making them
         more effective in combat and weaker in magic and archery.  Beorning
         are best known as warriors, rangers, and druids, though they make 
         fine rogues and priests as well.  They fight most skilfully on the 
	 plains.


=== Classes ===
 
Nine different classes are available in FAangband.  Some classes are not re-
commended for certain races; for instance, a Petty-dwarf would be a very 
confused Paladin.  More information about magics available to each class can 
be found in the help file "magic.txt".  For the first few adventures it is 
suggested that you run a warrior, rogue, or paladin.  The pure spellcasters 
generally require a more experienced player that is familiar with survival 
techniques.  Different classes have access to different specialty abilites 
(described in "specialt.txt").

***** <Warrior>
     Warrior:
         The great melee fighter, capable of doing more damage and surviving 
         longer at close quarters than any other class.  So skilled in combat 
         can a warrior become that he gains permanent protection from fear at 
         level 30, learns to probe for weaknesses (see the help doc 
         "magic.txt") at level 35, can spread attacks out among weaker 
         monsters, and regenerates intrinsically at level 40.  A 
         warrior gets an extra specialty ability at level 1.  He is 
         unchallengable with melee weapons, and is also good with all missile 
         launchers, shooting quickly with bows and crossbows.  His biggest 
         drawback is his ignorance of spells and many magical items.  Most of 
         his survival skills are average or worse.  A Warrior learns no 
         magical spells, and has poor magical defences.  He has strong 
	 pseudo-ID.  His prime stat is Strength, and a good Dexterity 
         and Constitution can really help at times.

***** <Mage>
     Mage:
         Master of sorcery.  A mage is not really happy without an assortment 
         of magical devices to use in addition to his spells.  He can master 
         the higher level magical devices far more easily than anyone else.  
         A mage fights very poorly, except with the lightest of weapons, and 
         is almost as bad at archery.  He is stealthy at low levels, but his 
         magic betrays his presence later on.  Most of his other skills are 
         mediocre.  He has excellent magical defences, but dangerously poor 
         physical ones.  He has weak pseudo-ID.  Intelligence is his primary 
	 stat, and a high Constitution is very useful.

***** <Priest>
     Priest:
         Committed to the Valar and Eru Iluvatar. He explores the dungeon only 
         to clease the evil that lurks within, and if treasure just happens to 
         fall into his pack, well, so much more to the glory of Aman!  A 
         priest is spoilt for choice with protection and healing prayers, and 
         can wield the power of holy light like no other character can.  In 
         addition, pious characters can fight fairly well, as long as they 
         stay away from archery and edged weapons.  They have average survival 
         skills, but know quite a bit about magical items, and resist magic 
         very well.  Priests gain +1 to light radius at level 35.  They have
         weak pseudo-ID.  Wisdom is a Priest's primary stat.

***** <Rogue>
     Rogue:
         The flexible dungeon sneaker, first in line when dungeon survival
         skills were handed out.  Rogues can fight very well with light weapons
         and shoot very quickly with slings, but have trouble with heavier 
         gear.  They can fight hand-to-hand more quietly than can any other 
         class, and gets the most effective sneak attacks against sleeping 
         monsters.  Rogues have the capacity of filching purses and setting 
         traps (use the '+' command.  See the help file "combat.txt for more 
         details).  They have strong pseudo-ID.  They will also get a fairly 
	 good collection of spells to improve their natural skills, aid in 
	 battle, and gain information.  Unfortunately, no shopkeeper trusts a 
	 rogue, and so members of this class will pay dearly for goods in town. 
	 A rogue's primary stats are Intelligence and Dexterity.

***** <Ranger>
     Ranger:
         An archer skilled in nature lore.  Rangers are better than any other 
         class with any missile weapon except slings, shooting quickly with
         slings and crosbows and very quickly with bows.  They learn about
         monsters abilities very quickly.  Rangers are better than average in
         melee, and find their spells to be mighty handy.   They have pretty
         good dungeon survival skills and stealth, but are a little uncertain
         about magical devices, and have strong pseudo-ID.  A ranger's primary 
	 stats are Wisdom and Constitution.

***** <Paladin>
     Paladin:
         A champion of the Valar.  A paladin is the second best melee fighter 
         available.  As long as he sticks to priestly weapons, his mastery of 
         the elements and of battle prayers will render him formidable to his 
         foes.  Missile weapons and magical devices confuse him.  He has 
         little stealth, and poor survival skills, but can survive as well or 
         better than any other class in battle or against magic.  He has a sub-
         set of the priestly prayers.  Plus one to light radius at level 45 
         and above.  He has strong pseudo-ID.  His primary stats are Wisdom 
	 and Strength.

***** <Druid>
     Druid:
         At one with nature.  He possesses a wide and varied range of healing, 
         dungeon alteration, and knowledge spells, plus a large number of 
         spells to hinder and reduce foes.  Can fight well bare-handed and 
         acceptably with slings, but not with other missile weapons or any 
         melee weapon.  Although a druid can do a lot of damage, his spells 
         are more random than are those of other realms.  He has decent 
         magical skill, fairly high stealth, and good magical defences.  A 
         Druid will have decent survival skills.  He has weak pseudo-ID.  His 
	 primary stat is Wisdom.

***** <Necromancer>
     Necromancer:
         Dealer in death.  He has an unsurpassed collection of highly deadly 
         combat spells, and can dish out damage like nobody's business.  His 
         magical item ability is acceptable, but virtually all of his other 
         skills are poor, and he has a hard time protecting himself.  Fortu-
         ately, at higher levels his magic can help with some of these prob-
         lems.  He has weak pseudo-ID.  His primary stat is Intelligence, and 
	 he needs to watch his Constitution.

***** <Assassin>
     Assassin:

         The death-dealing stalker.  He is better than a Rogue at melee, but 
         is still limited to reasonably light weapons.  An Assassin is deadly 
         with lighter missile launchers, and can eventually poison missiles, 
         but does not shoot especially quickly.  He is a master at using 
         thrown weapons against sleeping monsters.  He has rather good 
         stealth, but lacks protection if caught.  His other dungeon survival 
         skills are good, and he has access to a sub-set of the necromantic 
         spells.  He can shoot missiles and throw objects more quietly than 
         any other class, and makes little noise in melee as well.  An 
         Assassin will have mediocre magic skill, and poor magical defences.  
         He has strong pseudo-ID.  His primary stats are Intelligence and 
	 Strength.


=== Combinations of Race and Class (recommendations only) ===
 
                 Warrior      Priest      Ranger      Druid     Assassin
                         Mage       Rogue      Paladin      Necro

     Easterling    Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes
     Green Elf     Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes
     Grey Elf      Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes
     Hobbit        Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   No    Yes   No    Yes
     Petty-Dwarf   Yes   Yes   No    Yes   No    No    No    Yes   Yes
     Dwarf         Yes   Yes   No    No    No    Yes   No    Yes   No
     Druadan       Yes   No    Yes   No    Yes   Yes   Yes   No    No
     Longbeard     Yes   Yes   No    No    No    Yes   No    Yes   No
     Adan          Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes
     High-Elf      Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   No    Yes   Yes
     Maia          Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes
     Dark Elf      Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   Yes   No    Yes   Yes   Yes
     Ent           Yes   No    Yes   No    Yes   No    Yes   No    No
     Beorning      Yes   No    Yes   Yes   Yes   No    Yes   No    No


=== Stat Bonus and Hit Point Tables ===

                    STR  INT   WIS   DEX   CON   CHR  Hit Dice Home Town
     Easterling     +1    0     0     0    +1    -1       9    Eriador
     Green Elf      -1   -1    +2    +2    -1    +2      10    Ossiriand
     Grey Elf       +1    0    +2    +2     0    +3      10    Menegroth
     Hobbit         -2   -1    +2    +3    +2    +1       7    Gladden Fields
     Petty-Dwarf    -1   +3    -3    +3    -1    -4       8    Ered Luin South
     Dwarf          +2   +1    -2    +1    +2    -1      11    Belegost
     Druadan        +2   -2    +2    -1    +2    -4      11    Ephel Brandir
     Longbeard      +3   +1    -1    +2    +2     0      12    Khazad Dum
     Adan           +1   +1    +3    +1    +3    +1      10    Ephel Brandir
     High Elf       +2   +3     0    +3    +2    +5      10    Gondolin
     Maia           +2   +3    +3    +2    +4    +4      12    Gladden Fields
     Dark Elf       -2   -1    +2    +2    -1     1       7    Taur-Im-Duinath
     Ent            +4   -4    +2    -3    +3     0      12    Taur-Im-Duinath
     Beorning       +1   -1    +1     0    +1    -1      10    Gladden Fields

                   STR   INT   WIS   DEX   CON   CHR  Hit Dice
     Warrior       +5    -2    -2    +2    +2    -1      +9
     Mage          -4    +3     0    +1    -2    +1      +0
     Priest        -1    -3    +3    -1     0    +2      +2
     Rogue         +2    +1    -2    +3    +1    -5      +5
     Ranger        +2     0    +1    +2    +1    +0      +6
     Paladin       +2    -3    +1     0    +1    +2      +7
     Druid         -2    -2    +3    +1     0    +1      +2
     Necromancer   -2    +3    -2    +1     0    -2      +0
     Assassin      +2    +1    -3    +2    +0    -2      +4
 
 
=== Ability Tables ===

     See the help file "abilattr" for complete explanations of what each 
ability does for your character.

Abilities are ranked on a comparative scale ranging from 1 to 10.

                 disarm device save stealth search percep melee shooting
     Easterling    5      5     5      5      5      5      5      5
     Green Elf     4      4     8      8      7      6      4      8
     Grey Elf      4      4    10      6      9      7      5      7
     Hobbit       10      8     9      8     10     10      1      7
     Petty-Dwarf   8      9     7      6      8      7      1      5
     Dwarf         7      7     9      3      6      6      7      4
     Druadan       2      1     8      7      6      9      6      4
     Longbeard     7      7     9      3      6      6      8      4
     Adan          9      9     5      6      6      8      6      5
     High Elf      9     10     9      7      7      9      7      8
     Maia          9      9    10      6      7     10     10     10
     Dark Elf      9      8     5     10+    10     10      3      4
     Ent           3      4     9      5      3      5      7      3
     Beorning      6      4     5      6      6      8      6      5

                 disarm device save stealth search percep melee missile
     Warrior       5      3     5      3      4      4      10     8
     Mage          3     10     6     5->2    5      6      3      3
     Priest        3      6     8      4      5      5      5*     5
     Rogue         9      6     6      8     10     10      6      8
     Ranger        5      4     6      6      6      7      6     10
     Paladin       3      2     6      3      3      3      9*     4
     Druid         4      5     7      6      6      7      4      6
     Necromancer   3      6     4      4      4      4      3      3
     Assassin      7      5     3      7      8      8      9      9

* : With blunt weapons; otherwise much worse (use the 'I'nspect 
    command to find out which weapons are blunt)

=== Stat rollers ===

There are currently two different ways to determine the starting stats of
your character - you can choose which one to use from the birth screen.

***** <Point-based>
          Point-based
              The point-based method allows you to "buy" improvements to
              your basic stats by "spending" points on them.  You have a
              fixed number of points to spend, and making small changes
              to a stat costs proportionally less than making large changed.
              Any unspent points are converted into your starting money that 
              you can use to buy equipment at the start of the game.

              This is the recommended birth method.

***** <Standard roller>
          Standard roller
              The standard roller is the traditional Angband method of
              determining the starting stats for a character, it simply
              "rolls" up a single set of starting values, and gives you
              the choice of asking for another "roll" to be made or 
              accepting the current outcome.  This can obviously make for
              harder characters to play than the other two methods as
              you are less likely to have high values in the stats that might
              be most useful to you.
   
    

