Objects and monsters

The mines of Angband and the surrounding areas of Beleriand are full of objects just waiting to be picked up and used. The treasures of fallen kingdoms, dragon's hordes, heirlooms, wizard's stashes, and the plunder from the First Age ofthe world and before unite with the scattered earthly possessions of all the foolish adventurers that died before you to offer unimaginable wealth for those bold enough to seize it.

Your inventory (backpack) and equipment (your person): You pick up objects by moving on top on them (if you have the "auto_pickup" option on), or using the 'g'et command. You may carry up to 23 different items or piles of items, and have 12 areas of your body where wearable equipment may go. If you somehow manage to stuff 24 items into your pack, for example, by removing a helmet from your head while your pack is full, then your pack will overflow and the most recently added item will fall out and onto the ground.

 Carry too much weight, and you will begin to slow down, making it 
 easier for monsters to catch up to you.  The point at which your load thus 
 hinders you depends on your strength.

Your quiver: Your equipment includes a quiver, which may hold up to ten different kinds of ammo or throwing weapons. Once placed in the quiver (using the wield command), ammo and weapons normally sort in the quiver slots just as they do in the packpack. You may lock them into a specific slot, and make ranged combat a lot more convenient, by inscribing them with inscriptions similar to "@1", or "@f1", or "@v1". Wherever you store it, ammo still takes up space; for every 99 missiles (or fraction thereof) that you place in the quiver slots, you lose an inventory slot. Throwing weapons take the space of 5 pieces of ammo each. Any such slots will be clearly marked in your inventory listing. Ammo on the floor will automatically combine with similar items in the quiver, which makes cleaning up after a big fight much easier.

Specific Types of Objects: Many objects in the world have special commands for their use. Wands must be Aimed, staves must be Used, scrolls must be Read, and potions must be Quaffed. You may, in general, not only use items in your pack, but also items on the ground, if you are standing on top of them.

 Wands:
      In FAangband, known wands stack, combining their charges.  Such a stack 
      may be heavier, but can be recharged more safely and effectively.
 Staffs:
      Staffs do not combine their charges and only stack if they happen to 
      have the same number of charges (they take up plenty of space in your 
      backpack).  If stacked, the number of charges that they display is 
      prefixed by a quantity indicator (e.g. "(2x 13 charges)", which shows 
      that each of two staffs have 13 charges.  Although bulky, staffs often 
      have plenty of charges and recharge well.
 Rods:
      Rods always stack.  A stack of rods with at least one charging member 
      will show an appropriate inscription.  When zapped, a rod is "timed 
      out" for a given number of turns.  Each recharging rod in a stack 
      contributes to the stack's total recharge rate; if three out of five 
      rods are charging, the stack's total timeout period will decrease by 
      three per normal player turn.  
      Note:  In FAangband, rods are not invulnerable...

 Chests:
      Chests are difficult and dangerous to open, as they contain both traps 
 and locks, but the adventurer that opens one may be rewarded handsomely.

 Scroll of Word of Recall:
      The Scroll of Word of Recall deserves special mention.  Read away 
 from home, it brings you back to your home town.  Read in your home town, 
 it takes you to one of four points you have been to.  This spell takes a 
 little time to take effect, so don't expect it to save you in a crisis.  
 Should you mistakenly read a Scroll of Word of Recall, you may cancel it 
 by reading another.

Object Inscriptions: Use the '{' and '}' keys to inscribe and uninscribe objects. Inscriptions go very well with keymaps and macros: See the help file "macro.txt".

 To designate a main and backup weapon:
      Inscribe both with "@0" (or "@w0").  The 'X' command will replace 
      whatever melee weapon you are wielding with another so inscribed.  
      You may also inscribe these or other weapons with "@1", etc., and 
      wield weapons 0, 1, 2 and so on as desired.

 To prevent accidental use of an object with any command:
      Inscribe it with "!x", where 'x' is the letter you type to issue that 
      command.

 To be very paranoid about an object:
      Inscribe it with "!*".

 To set up a wand that is always aimed with the same set of keystrokes:
      Inscribe it with "@a#", or "@z#" in the roguelike keyset, replacing 
      the '#' with whatever digit you desire.  This allows you to set up 
      macros to, say, check for traps instantly.  Similar inscriptions make 
      archery very convenient, and make certain that spellbooks are always 
      accessed using the same keystrokes.

 To get notification when an object that recharges automatically is ready 
 for use:
      Inscribe it with "!!".

 Inscriptions for fun and profit:
      Try inscribing the first monster killed by a weapon, hidden object 
 abilities (once you discover them), and where you found the item or who 
 dropped it.

      The game also inscribes objects automatically.  Wands and staves which 
 are known to be empty will be inscribed with "empty".  Objects which have 
 been tried at least once but haven't been identified yet will be inscribed 
 with "tried".  Artifacts that you discovered by trying to destroy them 
 will be inscribed "special".  Items purchased at a discount are so marked.
 Some of these inscriptions will disappear when the item is identified, 
 and you may overwrite others.

Pseudo-ID: All adventurers are able to automatically gain information about many equippable objects, but some classes learn more about objects this way than others. Priests, Mages, Druids, and Necromancers can tell whether an item is "good" (with magical enhancements of some sort), or "dubious" (items with some disadvantages). Warriors, Rogues, Paladins, Rangers and Assassins can learn whether an item is "perilous" (a powerful item with some disadvantages), "dubious", "average" (an item with no magical bonuses or penalties), "good", "excellent" (an item that grants special bonuses or abilities), or even "special" (an artifact).

Cursed Objects: Some objects, mainly armor and weapons, are cursed. There are many different curses, some of them more deadly than others - for more information on the different types, see the help file "equip.txt". Some curses have the potential to be removed; curse removal on these does not always work, though, and attempting again may destroy the item (even artifacts). The curses on many items and standard artifacts are known immediately on identification, but there are other items where the curses need to be discovered by use or by a Scroll of Reveal Curses.

ID by Use: Most objects - particularly those which can be worn or wielded - can be learnt about by using them. Once you have learnt all the properties of an item it will be marked as fully known; if you're in more of a hurry, you can use the Identify spell.

Sensation ID: Most rings and amulets have magical properties. Once you are aware of a property of a ring or amulet you are wearing, you will be able to recognise that property on other jewellery items.

Monsters: Monster Memories, Stealth, and Player Ghosts

Your Monster Memory: When you see a monster for the first time, all you know are its physical attributes and whatever information the monster description may provide. As you fight and kill monsters, use various attacks on them, probe them with magic, and get killed by them, you learn more about their strengths and weaknesses.

Stealth: Characters have a base chance to wake up monsters that increases as player speed does (since a speedy character will perform more actions making noise every time a monster gets to take its turn) and greatly decreases as stealth improves. This value can be modified: combat and bashing boors makes it more likely that monsters will awake (especially those in line of sight), and resting makes it less likely. The higher your base stealth, the less extra noise you will make in combat.

Player Ghosts: Player ghosts vary from game to game depending on the name, sex, race, and class of the adventurer or Angband/Oangband/FAangband Hero whose bones file was used during ghost creation. Should your character die, information about him will often be added to a new bones file, inside the folder /lib/bones, and a future game might bring him back from the dead...