Damage is more than just hit points... there are other effects as well. Some attacks will leave you stunned or paralyzed, others may damage objects in your pack.

First things First

Most effects won't kill you immediately -- they might be rather painful, but you still have the chance to bug out and then wonder what happened. The one exception is paralysis: nothing can be done when paralysed. It's quite agonising to watch your character take blow after blow while being completely unable to do anything about it.

Usually, the game gives the danger first and the remedy later: you'll be blinded many times before you find something that protects you from blindness, for example. However, protection from paralysis is available some time before you first encounter a paralyzing monster – if you see something that protects you from paralysis (aka "free action"), take it and wield it! It will save your life.

That said, this page will now continue to give you a pretty good overview of all kinds of damage and effects you may encounter; and might well be considered a spoiler. If you just started with Angband, you don't need to know this, and besides: it's a lot of text. You might better consider this article as a resource you can refer to later.

• First things First
• Temporary Effects
  • Fear
  • Blindness
  • Confusion
  • Concussion
  • Cuts
  • Poison
  • Paralysis
• Elements
  • Overview
  • Resistance to Damage

Temporary Effects

All of these will wear off after some time -- possibly after a very long time, but eventually they will get better.

Fear

You're afraid and cannot attack in melee.

Blindness

You're blind. Should be rather obvious, really... you may still strike or shoot in the direction where you suspect an opponent, but the to-hit chance is much reduced. Spellcasting and praying is impossible, but using devices (wands, staves, rods) still works.

Confusion

You're confused. Movement and melee has a high chance of being random, aiming is completely random (aiming means: throwing/shooting an object, using a wand or rod, etc). You cannot read spells or prayers from books and scrolls, but may be able to activate an device (though the failure rate is high)

Concussion

You're stunned. Impairs your fighting and spellcasting abilities, but nowhere as much as confusion. "Heavy stun" is the same but worse, and if you're "knocked out" -- well, that's pretty much the same as paralysis. Don't let it happen to you.

Cuts

Cuts prevent hit point regeneration, and also cause loss of hit points every turn from bleeding. Here is a table showing the various degrees of cut severity:

                              Damage
 Cut counter   Description  per turn
 -----------------------------------
      1-10         Graze         1
     11-25     Light cut         1
     26-50       Bad cut         1
    51-100     Nasty cut         1
   101-200    Severe cut         2
  201-1000     Deep gash         3
     1000+  Mortal wound         3

Every turn the wound heals a bit, high Constitution helps. If you run out of hitpoints before the wound is full healed, you die.

Poison

You're poisoned. This works pretty much like cuts, only that it's much more common and you have no means of telling how badly poisoned you are.

Paralysis

You cannot do anything as long as the paralysis lasts, and are vulnerable to attacks and further paralysis. This can easily be lethal.

Elements

The simplest elements in Angband are Fire, Frost, Acid and Electricity. These are called the "Basic Four", either because they're so common or maybe because they were the first elements in the game. There's quite a few more, though, some have several names and not all work strictly in the same way. In short, the whole topic of "elements" is bound to be somewhat confusing.

Overview

There's a few things they all have in common, though:

a. Elemental (or "Branded") attacks tend to do much more damage than ordinary hits.

b. Technically speaking, elements do damage with a flavor: later in the game, many monsters (as well as your character) will be resistant to some, but not all elements. This occasionally creates sword/scissors/rock-like situations.

c. Elemental attacks have side effects: acid may damage your armor, sound may stun your character, and so on.

Resistance to Damage

1. ''Magic Resistance:'' The alchemist usually sells potions of Resist Heat and Resist Cold; there's also spells that provide resistance to some or all of the basic four elements. While the effect lasts, the damage you take from the respective element will be reduced to 1/3rd.
2. ''Resistance through Equipment:'' many items will make you resistant to some or several elements. Mostly armor, of course, but also branded weapons: for example, a Rapier of Acid will usually also provide resistance to acid, for example. While you wear or wield such a piece of equipment, you will likewise only take 1/3rd of the nominal damage. Having it once is enough, though: if your shield makes you resistant to a certain element, wearing a suit of armor that provides the same resistance won't improve the protection.
3. ''Double Resistance:'' if you're resistant due to equipment and also apply a spell or potion, these two reinfore each other. You'll take only 1/9th of the nominal damage.