Character Information Screen: What You See

This screen shows your character's complete array of attributes, stats and abilities:

• Attributes which are permanently fixed for the duration of the game (e.g. Race);
• Attributes which cannot be changed by you but which will alter during the game (e.g. Experience);
• Stats, which you can change on this screen (see Character Stat Generation), and which are then set for the duration of the game (barring magical intervention, as we shall see later);
• Secondary skills that cannot be changed directly, but will alter based on your choices for stats

The names of the attributes and stats are shown in white; values are in blue, green, yellow or red. Starting from top left:

Top Left

• Name: This is currently blank, and will be the last thing you choose for your character
• Sex: The gender of your character, as already chosen
• Race: The race of your character, as already chosen
• Class: The character class already chosen for your character
• Title: Your character's level within the class; this changes as you gain experience (see below), and each class has a different 'ladder' of titles.
• HP: The number of Hit Points your character has – this is the amount of damage he or she can take in combat before dying, This is based on character race and class, and is also influenced by CONstitution (see below). This is shown as two values, separated by a slash: the number of hit points your character currently has, after accounting for any damage absorbed, then the maximum.
• SP: The number of Spell Points, or Mana, your character has – these points are used to cast spells, so the more you have, the better, for a spell caster. These are based on race and class, and are influenced by WISdom (for Priests and Paladins) or INTelligence (for other classes). This is shown as two values, separated by a slash: the number of spell points your character currently has, allowing for the cost of spells cast, then the maximum.

Bottom Left

• Level: As your character progresses through the dungeons of Angband - killing monsters, casting spells and using abilities – he or she gains experience, expressed as a number of points. When the experience point total reaches predetermined values, your character's experience 'level' increases, which can mean (depending on class) improvements in combat, magical and non-combat abilities. At the start, obviously enough, your character has no experience, and is at level 1, as shown here.
• Cur Exp: The number of experience points your character currently has; this starts at zero.
• Max Exp: The maximum number of experience points your character currently has. Certain creatures and attacks can reduce experience points, so Current Experience may at times be lower than Maximum Experience, but most of the time the two numbers will be the same.
• Adv Exp: The number of experience points your character needs to advance to the next experience level.
• MaxDepth: The maximum depth your character has reached in the dungeon. Initially this is Town, as the character hasn't been into the dungeon. Once your character has begun to explore the dungeon, this will be show as Level <number> (there are 100 levels in the dungeon) or as a depth in feet, where each level is counted as 50 feet; you can set an option flag to say which you prefer.
• Turns: The number of turns for which you have been playing this character. See later in the User Guide for an explanation of turns.
• Gold: Your character has an variable initial amount of money to spend on buying equipment in town. If you are using point-based character generation, this will be much higher, but each point you allocate to character stats will reduce the remaining gold total. While exploring, your character may find money lying around in the dungeon, or on the bodies of slain enemies, and may also sell items found in the dungeon for money as well.
• Burden: The total weight of all the armour, weapons, equipment and other paraphernalia your character is carrying. Overburdening your character can result in him or her being slowed down and suffering penalties in combat &#8211; the level at which overburdening happens is dependent STRength.

Top Centre

• Age: Your character's age in years. Should your character defeat Morgoth in the dungeons of Angband, he or she can expect to live to a ripe old age, but otherwise life in Angband is usually brutal and short.
• Height: Your character's height in inches. This has no effect on gameplay.
• Weight: Your character's weight in pounds. This has no effect on gameplay.
• Status: This is a number between 0 and 100 (although the scale is not linear), which determines the social status of your character - this is for flavour only, and the descriptive text version is shown beneath the stats - e.g. You are the first child of a Townsman.
• Maximize: This flag is an option that can be set once you are playing the game, so will affect future characters you create, but not this one. Your character's main stats can be raised up to 18/100 (see below for more on what this means); with Maximize set to Y (the default), race and class bonuses can increase stats beyond this limit, up to the theoretical maximum of 18/220; with it set to N (the original design), the race and class bonuses increase stats below and up to this ceiling, but not beyond.

Bottom Centre

• Armor: This shows how well your character is armoured &#8211; or how difficult your character is to hit, and how much damage will be absorbed by the armour. The format is the same as that used for items of armour in the game, i.e. two numbers inside square brackets. The first number represents the physical protection of the material of the armour itself, and the second number shows any magical bonuses (positive or negative) from the armour or any other effects your character is subject to.
• Fight: The two figures shown here are bonuses your character receives in combat &#8211; both hand-to-hand and using missile weapons. The first is the bonus to hit &#8211; i.e. your chance to hit your opponent in order to inflict damage; the second is the bonus to damage &#8211; increasing the amount of damage your character deals when a blow is landed. This and the following two ratings cannot be directly set by you, but can be increased by increasing STRength (which primarily improves damage bonuses) or DEXterity (which only improves the hit bonuses). All can also be improved by wielding magical weapons or other magical means.
• Melee: Bonuses to hit and to damage, as for Fight above, but these bonuses only apply to hand-to-hand combat.
• Shoot: Bonuses to hit and to damage, as for Fight above, but these bonuses only apply to using a missile weapon, such as a bow, sling or crossbow.
• Blows: The number of blows your character can make during each turn of hand-to-hand combat. This can be modified by STRength and DEXterity, but is also affected by the weight of weapon you wield. Multiple blows with a smaller, lighter weapon can inflict much more damage than a single blow with a larger weapon, even though the latter is far more powerful.
• Shots: The number of shots your character can make with a missile weapon each turn. Rangers gain extra missile shots with bows as they become more experience, and some powerful magical weapons increase the number of shots made, but otherwise you cannot alter this value.
• Infra: Some races have the inherent ability of infravision &#8211; the ability to see warm-bodied creatures (so it doesn't help you see ghosts, undead and other such creatures!) in the dark. Your character can also find magical devices that endow him or her with infravision.
• Speed: This is the speed at which your character moves and fights. Initially this is normal, but it can be modified by magical devices found in the dungeons.

Top Right

These stats are the ones you can set on this screen. The methods for doing so, and the descriptions of the stats, are explained on the next page - Character Stat Generation. Stats can influence many of the other attributes and abilities shown on this screen.

• STR
• INT
• WIS
• DEX
• CON
• CHA

Bottom Right

These attributes are all represented by descriptive ratings only, although behind these are numerical ratings; initially these are mainly based on race and class, but later your character stats and experience level will have a major effect on these; some attributes can also be affected by magical items found in the dungeons of Angband.

• Saving Throw: Resistance to magic and mental attacks. When a character is the target of a spell (or his or her own spell backfiring), a monster's magical or mental attack, a trap being set off, the system will use this saving throw to determine if the attack has a full, partial, or no effect. The saving throw is modified by WISdom.
• Stealth: The ability to move without disturbing sleeping monsters or setting off traps, which may let your character sneak up and strike a first, and sometimes fatal, blow before being seen. Stealth can be improved by magical equipment.
• Fighting: The better this rating is, the better your character's general ability to land blows on an opponent, and the greater the chance of a critical hit. STRength and DEXterity modify your Fighting rating, and wielding a magical weapon can improve it. Note that this is related to the Fighting Bonus (bottom centre) but includes race and class bonuses.
• Shooting: Similar to the Fighting (Melee) rating, but for using missile weapons. As with the Fighting rating, is can be modified by STR and DEX, and improved by wielding a magical missile weapon, and is related similarly to the Shooting Bonus figure.
• Disarming: Aptitude for picking locks (doors are often locked in Angband) and disarming traps. INTelligence and DEXterity modify the disarming ability.
• Magic Device: Ability to use magical devices, such as wands and staves, and items with activated abilities. Every time a character attempts to use such a device, there is a chance of failure, which increases with the power of the item; this stat is used to determine if your character uses it successfully. INTelligence is the main stat which influences this ability.
• Perception: Your character's ability to notice traps and secret (concealed) doors merely as you pass by them.
• Searching: Your character's ability to notice traps and secret (concealed) doors when actively looking for them. This can be modified by magical items.

At the bottom of the screen is some descriptive background about your character. The information about your family background (e.g. your father's social standing) and status (e.g. whether you are a 'credit to the family' or a 'black sheep) are derived automatically from the numerical Status value (see Top Centre section, above); the description of the character's appearance is for flavour only, and like gender has no effect on gameplay.