The Hemisphere ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Pool of Radiance Stuff From the clue book ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction: Pool of Radiance is Strategic Simulations Inc.'s first Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Computer Role-Playing Epic set in the Forgotten Realms game world. Pool of Radiance is a huge game, with over two dozen different individual missions and adventures. It is designed to mirror the kind of connected adventures that form the basis of the AD&D role-playing game. Pool of Radiance does not rely on obtuse puzzles or unfathomable word games to create challenges. Instead, Pool of Radiance relies on challenges that arise from within the scope of the adventure. Each adventure centers around solving a mystery, defeating an enemy force, or discovering the true allegiance of the mysterious groups you meet. You are sure to have questions as you adventure through Pool of Radiance. First, read the rule book and Adventurers Journal that come with the game. These books will answer most of the questions that come up. Second, you can refer to this clue book for answers. Third, you can look into the many AD&D books for background on the game. The AD&D Players Handbook and the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide provide the basis for the rules in Pool of Radiance. The Forgotten Realms Campaign Set and Ruins of Adventure module provided the background material for the storyline. These sources should tell you all you need to know about Pool of Radiance. Keep your current objective in mind while you play through each mission in Pool of Radiance. Each mission has a specific goal that is given in the city council proclamation and in the council clerk's description of each mission. In some missions you simply have to hack your way through everything in front of you. In other missions you must simply survive. Stay true to your objective as each mission unfolds. Finally, remember the overall goal of your quest, the liberation of Phlan from its evil oppressor. It is not necessary to clear every block, defeat every evil, or even complete every mission to free phlan. As soon as the Boss That controls Phlan is defeated, the undirected monsters that were under his control will fall like wheat to the scythe. Always remember that the defeat of the Boss is you're final goal. Good Luck! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SELECTING HEROES With differing ability scores, classes, class combinations, and races you can create many different kinds of characters in Pool of Radiance. You can win the game with almost any combination of characters, but some will make it easier than others. You will need a party with a balance of fighting ability, clerical spell use, and magic-user spell use. You will also want a character with thieving abilities in your party and at least one character with an extraordinary strength. You will need to balance each characters race against the class of characters you need. Human characters can excel at any single character class, but non-human characters can be mixed class and have several sets of capabilities at once. But, mixed class characters advance more slowly than single class characters. They will generally be one or two levels behind a single class character after the same amount of adventuring. Non-human characters have a maximum possible level in each class . Because of these limits human characters will always achieve higher level than non-human characters after sufficient adventuring. So, non-human characters should play to their strong points and be mixed class and let humans be the single class characters. Human fighters can be the best fighter in the game because of their high maximum strength and unlimited maximum level. Non-human characters can help with the fighting as mixed class fighter/thief, fighter/magic-user, fighter/cleric, or fighter/magic-user/cleric. Non-humans have lower maxi mum strengths and have limited max level. Human clerics can also help with the fighting but they cannot have exceptional strength, or use the best weapons, nor is their HP, THAC0, or number of blows as good as a true fighter. Clerics are especially useful in your party, they have the second fastest advancement and get the most spells of any spell using class. The cleric's bless, cure light wounds, detect magic, hold person, and prayer spells are very useful. Only two races can add clerical abilities to your party, humans and half-elves. Human clerics can reach the maximum 6th level allowed in Pool of Radiance. At 6th level a cleric is much more powerful against undead than at lower levels, he can even destroy skeletons and zombies, rather than just turn them. Half-elf clerics can only reach 5th level, so they are most useful as mixed class cleric/magic-users and fighter/cleric/magic-users. Magic-user spells provide much of the offensive punch of your party. Charm person, magic missile, sleep, stinking cloud, fireball, Invisibility 10' radius, and lightning bolt are all powerful spells in the magic-user arsenal. But, magic-users are very vulnerable in combat; they have few HP and can wear no armor. But, both elves and half-elves can be magic-users, both can progress to the maximum 6th level allowed in Pool of Radiance, and both can become mixed class to gain the benefits of more HP and Heavier armor. In general, then, Your magic-using characters should be elven or half-elven fighter/magic-users, or half-elven cleric/magic-users or fighter/cleric/magic-users. Thieves have the fastest advancement of any class. They also have special abilities that allow them to open locks, find and remove traps, climb walls, and backstab. Unfortunately, thieves are almost as vulnerable as magic-users in combat, they have only a few more HP and the heaviest armor they can wear is leather. Luckily, all races have unlimited advancement as thieves, and all the non-human races can be mixed class fighter/thieves. Dwarves and half-elves make the best fighter/thieves because of their high maximum strength and their high maximum strength and their high maximum fighter level. Some kinds of characters are at a disadvantage because of their ability score or max level limits. Female characters are at a disadvantage as a fighter or fighter mixed class character because of their reduced maximum strength. But, for most other types of characters, especially pure clerics and mixed class cleric/magic-users, they function just as well as male characters. Their lot is actually better than that of halflings and gnomes, neither of which excels at any particular class. Each character's capabilities are built around his ability scores. Since it only takes a second for the computer to roll a set of scores it is no crime to roll a few times until you get a character whose ability scores match what you want. You can also modify a characters ability scores after he has been built, but not after he has gone up a level. If you want your characters to have the maximum fighting efficiency they will need impressive ability scores. Fighters need the highest possible strength to get maximum bonuses to THAC0 and Damage. Magic-users need an intelligence of at least 16 to get their experience bonus. Clerics need a wisdom of 17 or better to get the maximum number of spells. All characters need the highest possible dexterity because dexterity gives you: the best chance to move before your opponent, a +1 AC for each point of dexterity over 14, and a +1 THAC0 with missiles for each point of dexterity over 15. All characters need a constitution of 16 or better, and fighter types need a constitution of 18, to get the maximum bonus to their HP. The party's spokesman needs a charisma of 18 to get the maximum reaction bonus. The characters in a party do not need such amazing scores to win the game. In fact, any well played party should be able to win. The computer is smart enough to gauge the power of the party and it often modifies the number of monsters in an encounter to give the party a good fight regardless of their power. Beginning characters with very high ability scores look to the computer like high level Adventurers. This may put them at a disadvantage because the party does not have the HP, spells or the magic treasure of high level adventurers. A balanced party needs at least four characters with good fighting capabilities, at least two characters that can throw clerical spells, at least two characters that can throw magic-user spells, at least two characters who are equipped with bows, and at least on character who has thieving abilities. As this is more than six characters, some of the characters will have to have multiple capabilities. Once you have these bases covered, mix and match the party's capabilities to match your style of play. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS Here are some important concepts that you will need to understand to play Pool of Radiance to the fullest capacity. Block: A 16 square by 16 square area that is displayed from a 3D point of view. Unless the party is lost, or it is impossible to find one's way, the X and Y coordinates are available beneath the list of characters in the party. 0,0 is in the northwest corner; 15,15 is in the southeast corner. Commissions: The city council awards commissions as a way to direct heroes towards awaiting adventures. The party does not have to accept a commission. As soon as the clerk informs the party of a mission, they may freely undertake it. In fact, if the party completes a mission while exploring on their own they may also get the reward, even though they have never formally received word of the commission. Drain and Restoration: Powerful undead such as wights, wraiths, and vampires can drain levels from a character when they hit in combat. The character loses his level or levels along with the additional HP, improved THAC0, and the other advantages of level. His XP will be reduced to the minimum for his new level. A cleric can cast a restoration spell of a scroll to restore one drained level. The character will regain his HP, THAC0, and other advantages of his level. But, his XP will be raised only to the minimum for his restored level. Maps: Page 25 and 26 of the Adventurers Journal contain three accurate maps of the city of Phlan, the area near Phlan, and the Moonsea. The city map shows the locations of the different blocks within the city. The area near Phlan map shows the extent of the wilderness in Pool of Radiance. The Moonsea map shows where Pool of Radiance occurs in relation to other areas in the Forgotten Realms game world. Other AD&D computer products may be set in the area near the Moonsea. Memorizing Spells: In Pool of Radiance, spell casters must memorize their spells before they can cast them. Each character can only have a small number of spells memorized at any time. The number of spells a character can memorize at one time is based on the characters level and is shown in the Appendices of the Adventurers Journal. To memorize spells, send the party to camp. Highlight the first character you want to memorize spells. Access the magic menu and then the memorize command. The characters list of available spells is shown. Use the next and Prevs commands to find the page with the spell you want to memorize. Choose the Memorize command. Highlight the spell you want to memorize and press the Return or the joystick button to pick it. The computer displays the number of remaining spells your character can memorize by level. Choose spells until you have indicated the spells you want your character to memorize, or your character can memorize no more spells. Choose exit from the spell list and from the memorize menu. The computer displays the list of spells you have chosen. Confirm that this is the list of spells you want your character to memorize. Repeat this process for all of your spell casters. Once you have picked all the spells your characters want, it is time to rest and actually memorize the spells. Choose the rest command. Note the time already listed on the clock. This is the minimum time necessary to memorize all the spells you have picked. Choose the rest command from the rest menu. The computer will display each spell as it is memorized. If your characters rest is interrupted, they may not memorize all of their chosen spells. If the characters rest is not interrupted then they will have all their chosen spells memorized and be ready to adventure. Quick Combat: If you don't want to deal with combat, you may turn on Quick Combat and let the computer run things for you. You may put any character into Quick Combat. You may put all characters into Quick Combat by typing "Q" during any characters turn. You may take manual control of all characters by typing the spacebar while one of your characters is moving on the screen. You may set characters to cast spells by typing "M" during any characters turn. When you type "M" the computer displays 'MAGIC ON' You may turn off spell casting by typing "M" again. Then the computer displays 'MAGIC OFF'. With 'MAGIC ON', the computer will pick spells for player characters in Quick combat. With 'MAGIC OFF', player characters will not throw spells in Quick combat. You have some tactical control over characters in Quick Combat. Characters with readied arrows and a bow will stand fast and fire arrows until the enemy comes adjacent. Characters without readied arrows will charge toward the enemy. Characters will attempt to use readied magic items. Your character's choice of spells is also important if you use Magic On in Quick Combat. Avoid spells with large areas; the computer normally aborts an offensive spell if the computer sees an ally in the target area. Offensive spells such as magic missile, hold person, and stinking cloud are useful because they are single target or have a small area of effect. Large area spells, such as sleep or fireball, are very useful under manual conrol, but may often be aborted in Quick Combat. Healing and detect spells have little use in Quick Combat, though bless and Prayer are sometimes useful. If you do not want to bother with a fight and want combat over as soon as possible, access a characters second menu and choose the Speed command. Set the Speed to ). Decide how each character will fight by readying or unreadying their arrows and magic items. Then type 'Q' to set all characters in Quick Combat. If a fight is particularly difficult you may want to type 'M' to turn 'Magic On'. Then, sit back and watch the computer do all the work for you. The computer is not as good a tactician as you are. You may be able to direct your heroes to win a fight that they would lose in Quick Combat. But as your characters get tougher you can use Quick Combat with less risk. But, if your characters begin to lose too badly, be ready to hit the spacebar and take control back. In the end, you may have to save the day. RANDOM ENCOUNTERS: Often monsters roam around the blocks where the missions take place. These monsters do not have a fixed location or time, but may occur in many different places. Often a player must defeat a number of these random encounters, as well as all the fixed encounters, to clear a block. Resting: A party must rest seversl hours for characters to memorize spells. The party may also rest for a full day so that each character can heal one HP. Manyareas are so dangerous that the party can not rest; they will be interrupted by the enemy. Safe areas are places where the party can rest without interruption. SET ENCOUNTERS: A set encounter is an encounter in a fixed location and/or time. Most set encounters are keyed to the maps in each adventure description. TEMPLES: Temples provide a number of services that the party cannot get anywhere else. If a character has died due to wounds, the temple can raise dead. If a character has been turned to stone, the temple can turn him back to flesh. If a character has been killed by poison, the temple can neutralize poison and then raise hime from the dead. If the party has a third level cleric, they can use the slow poison spell to make the poisoned character 'alive' when he goes into the temple. Then the temple need only to throe a neutralize poison to bring the character back. If the party's characters have lost HP it is cheaper to go to an inn and rest for many days than to have the temple throw cure spells. THIEVING ABILITIES: Characters who are thieves or mixed class thieves have a number of special abilities including the chance to : pick locks, climb walls, find traps and disarm traps, and the ability to backstab for multiple damage. But, for a mixed class character to exercise his thiefly abilities he must not be wearing any armor heavier than leather. Remember, before the fighter/thief can backstab, or pick a lock, he must unready his heavy armor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMBAT Your characters will be fighting alot in Pool of Radiance. Monsters and Human enemies abound. Learning to fight well, and to fight smart will make the game go faster and make it much more enjoyable. There can be alot of details to successful combat, but most of them are common sense and will become second nature after a few fights. To fight effectively you must understand your own group's capabilities. Does your group have ranged weapons? Does you group have mass attack magic spells such as sleep or fireball? How heavily armored is the front line of your group? How fast is the fastest and slowest member of your group? All of these details change which tactics your party can apply effectively. You should also understand your enemy's capabilities. The basic information about ranged weapons, mass attack spells, heavy armor, and speed still apply. Monsters also often have unuasual capabilities that you'll want to be aware of. Finally, you need to understand the terrain where you are fighting. Are you inside a building where space is limited or are you in an open field with unlimited room to maneuver? Are there choke points, such as doorways, that you can use to channel an enemy's attack? Are there large pieces of terrain, such as a tree or a wall, that you can acchor your flanks on? Taking full advantage of terrain will multiply your fighting strength. Whether you outnumber the enemy or he outnumbers you will decide your opening tactics. If you outnumber the enemy, move up your toughest fighters and pin them in place. Then move other troops around the enemy's flanks to get attacks from behind. A shot from behind can hurt even to most unstoppable monster. Thieves are at best when they can be part of a gang and backstab. Concentrate your attacks by having a single character attack some of the enemy and have many characters gang up on the remainder to eliminate them as quickly as possible. If the enemy has as many or more troops than you have, then make the shortest possible line without giving the enemy a way around your flanks; doorways and corridors are good defensive locations. Don't just attack the enemy in front of you, mass as many attacks against each target as possible to get quick kills. If your tactics are successful, you will soon outnumber the enemy and you can surround and move in for the kill. An important tactical consideration is whether one side and/or the other has ranged weapons such as bows, crossbows, slings, and ranged attack magic. If neither side has significant ranged weapons, your side sould quickly move to the most advantageous terrain and prepare to meet the enemy. If only you have ranged weapons then try to begin the battle at the longest possible range. Keep a front line of clerics and fighters without bows to protect your archers as long as possible. Magic-users with darts and clerics with flasks of oil have a short range, and are only useful once both sides are in contact. If both sides have ranged weapons then the enemy archers and spell casters should be your primary targets. An enemy who is turning your flank or who can get back shots on your front line is also a good target. Don't shoot at enemy front line fighters unless you are trying to disengage your front line to maneuver or retreat. If only the enemy has ranged weapons the close as soon as possible. Once you get adjacent to an enemy, it's much harder for him to use his bow or magic against you. Try to use terrain to block the enemy archer's line of sight and limit his targets to your troops with the heaviest armor. Magic has the capability to change defeat into victory into defeat. Tactically, some simpler spells and magic items act very much like bows or thrown weapons. The more devastating spells are the ones that can incapacitate an entire group of troops in an instant. These mass attack spells include: sleep, hold person, stinking cloud, lightning bolt, and fireball. These spells can turn the tide of battle in an instant. More often than not, you will have magic and your enemies will not. If you have magic-users or magic items guard them with your life. Magic-users are very fragile in combat; they wear little armor and don't stand up well to being hit. Keep them behind the lines and safe, even if they have thrown all of their spells for this battle. The magic-user you save this battle may save you next battle. Magic need not kill the enemy to be useful in combat. Sleep, hold person, and stinking cloud can make the enemy helpless and a sitting duck to your fighters attacks. Remember that you can affect up to three different targets with a clerical hold person spell. An effective way to use these spells is to eliminate the threat of enemy archers and magic-users. Another tactic is to make the front ranks of the enemy helpless, thus blocking his melee attacks and making your own shots sure kills. You can even retreat behind the enemies helpless front line troops and safely engage the others with ranged attacks. If the enemy has mass attack magic, you may have to modify your tactics. Defensively, try to keep your troops spread out; most mass attack magic operates over a limited radius. Keep some fighters unengaged in reserve, so that they can run up and fill any holes in the front lines caused by an enemy magic attack. Be careful not to concentrate important targets like magic users or archers together behind your own lines; such concentration invites attack. Offensively, you should concentrate magic spells and bow fire on enemy magic-users. Even if a bow shot doesn't kill a magic-user, it can disrupt his ability to cast a spell. Magic Missile is very good for this because it always delivers a few points of damage and keeps an enemy magic-user from casting for the rest of the turn. Proper use of magic, both offensively and defensively, is often the key to your victory and the enemy's defeat. Some monsters have abilities that might as well be magic. Dragons often have breath weapons that can do great damage over a wide area. Your characters should spread out to avoid several being attacked by a single attack. Phase spiders cannot be affected by any attack until just as they move. Your characters should choose Guard or Delay and then attack as the Phase Spiders advance or after they move. Driders know spells as powerful as any spell caster in Pool of Radiance. Your characters should spread out, just as if they were fighting an enemy magic-user. One of the most important things to get for your heroes is the best possible Armor Class. A good AC is always useful, but it is especially important against mass attack by weaker monsters. High dexterity, heavy armor, rings of protection, bracers of defense, magic shields and armor all can contribute to giving your heroes the lowest possible AC. Your front line fighters go in harms way more often then the archers and magic-users, make sure they have the best AC in the party. When fighting a heavily armored foe, flanking, swarming attacks, magic, and the backstab take on increased importance. Tactics that multiply the number and effectiveness of your attacks, and reduce the value of the enemy armor are worthwhile. Soldiers often forget that mobility is as much a weapon as a sword or spell. If you are more mobile than your opponent, you can remain disengaged and fire arrows. You can choose to retreat or stay for battle. You can occupy the best defensive terrain and force the enemy to come to you. Be careful not to get your troops spread out if they have differing movement rates. If the enemy is equal or superior in mobility, it multiplies their effective numbers. You must worry more about flank security and keeping your front line secure. Fast enemy's will also try to attempt to run away when their morale breaks. Once the enemies morale has broken, use archers to bring them down. Even a fleeing foe can be dangerous if cornered and forced to fight. One of the most potent weapons in the hero's arsenal is the ability of thieves to backstab their opponents for extra damage. Thieves of level 1-4 do douuble damage when they hit with a backstab. Level 5-8 thieves do triple damage when they hit with a backstab. Level 9+ thieves do quadruple damage when they hit with a backstab. Mixed class fighter/thieves with exceptional strength and a magic long sword can take out very large monsters with one shot. A backstab happens when a thief attacks a monster directly from behind. Unfortunatly, whenever a monster attacks or is attacked, his facing can change. The following method can guarantee the thief his chance to backstab.. To attack you need a fighter or cleric as a stalking horse, and a thief. Choose the Delay command when each characters chance to move comes up. This guarantees that the monster will get his chance to move, and that its facing won't be upset. After the monster has moved, have the stalking horse move up adjacent to the monster and attack. This sets the monster's facing towards the stalking horse. Then have the thief move up and attack from directly opposite the stalking horse. This second attack will be a backstab that has large bonuses to hit and does multible damage. The backstab is an especially effective attack against large monsters that are otherwise difficult to hurt because of a resistance to magic , many HP, and/or a very low AC. Histories are written about great victories. But they are written by the suvivers of well executed retreats. Every party occasionally gets into combat where it is overmatched by enemy numbers or power. The earlier you realize that you should retreat, the easier and more successful the retreat will be. Once you have engaged the enemy retreat is more difficult. Anytime you turn away from an enemy to disengage, he has a clear shot at your back. This can be devistating if you get surrounded on many sides. You can be attacked half a dozen times by trying to retreat while surrounded. The first part of any successful retreat is disengagement. Flankers, archers, spell casters, and reserves can normally disengage from the enemy simply by moving away. But the front line has a more difficult problem. To disengage the front line, concentrate your attacks on a few units to create holes in the enemy front line. When your front line troops each have a few enemies still engaged, turn and begin the retreat. Retreat as far as you can to protected positions that minimize the enemies ability to flank you. Stay on guard so you can strike at the enemy if they pursue. Do not retreat the flankers, archers, and spell casters so fast that they cannot support the retreating fighters. If the enemy is swift and aggressive, you may have to repeat this maneuver several times to completely disengage. If the enemy is faster then the character, then that character will not be allowed to exit the combat area. A character can often increase his movement by unreadying his heavy armor. When your movement is equal to the enemy's, you have an even chance to exit the combat area. When your movement exceeds the enemy's, you can automatically exit the combat area. The worst time to decide to retreat is after some of your characters have fallen. Even if your retreat is successful, the troops that have fallen are lost forever. Even worse is cleanly retreating almost all of your heroes, only to see the final character pinned by the enemy and overwhelmed. Do everything in your power to avoid such a situation. -When all else is said and done here are some rules to live by... Keep a staight line: Your forses are the least vulnerable and provide each other the most support when they are in a straight line.. Anchor your Flanks on terrain features: Keep the enemy from flanking or overwhelming your troops by anchoring your flanks on impassable terrain. Put your most Heavily Armored troops in the front line: Front line troops take the greatest number of attacks from the enemy. Heavy armor will increase their chance of survival. Thieves sould only backstab when you outnumber the enemy: Thieves trying to backstab must be behind enemy lines. Their light armor makes them vulnerable. Onlt send the thieves around the flanks to backstab when the enemy is outnumbered so that he can't concentrate attacks on the thieves. Spell Casters are High Priority Targets: Enemy spell casters have the greatest capability to quickly turn the tide of battle against you. Target them with archers, friendly spell casters, and flankers. Don't Panic: Even when the situation seems imposible, trust in your troops. The enemy is probably not as powerful as it seems. Many things can happen to turn the tide of battle yor way. The enemy morale may break, you may make a lucky shot, or the enemy may be weaker than you realize. Keep fighting and stay alive. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPELLS In Pool of Radiance, the efficaint use of spells, both in combat and in camp, makes the game much easiier. Some spells are useful in ways that are not obvious from their description. Here are some 'tricks' to the efficient use of some of the spells. Unless otherwise specified, all spells have saving throws. In general, damage spells do half damage if the target makes its save; non-damage spells have no effect if the target makes its save. Clerics get more spells per level than magic-users. Detect Magic, Protection from evil, hold person, and Dispel Magic are available to both clerics and magic-users. So, if you want these spells in your party your clerics should take them instead of your magic-users. Offensive spells are of two types, damage causing spells that cause hit points, and restraining spells that make a target helpless. A single melee or missile attack can kill, once a target is helpless. The best offensive spells are: Hold Person: The most powerful clerical offensive spell. You can aim at three or four targets and make them helpless... Charm Person: This spell makes one target fight on your side in the battle. When the charmed enemy changes side his formor comrades turn on him so he absorbs some enemy fire. If you attack a charmed enemy then NPC's in your party will turn on you . If the charmed enemy is not killed in the fight then you won't get his treasure. Magic Missile: Useful because it is low level, because the target gets no saving throw, and because it is fast and cannot be interrupted. This is a good spell to throw at spell casters before they have cast a spell and at undead , who ignore many other attack>. It is also useful if you fight under computer control because it has no chance to catch heroes in an area damage spell. Sleep: The magic-users most powerful low level spell. Speep can make a whole horde of low level monsters helpless, and it has no saving throw. But it is useless against larger monsters such as Trolls. Remember that sleep has a comparatively short range, and that its variable effect can sleep your heroes if you target the spell too close to your own front lines. Once your heroes reach 5th level, they are immune to sleep and you can theow speep spells with great abandon. Stinking Cloud: A powerful spell that amkes targets in a 2 square by 2 square area helpless. Its very short range, but exact area of effect, make it useful only after the enemy has closed to melee your front lines. Fireball: The classic attack spell. In a closed area < when the combat map includes walls>, fireballs have a 3 square radius and affects almost every character on the screen. In an open area, fireballs have a 2 square radius. Try to get as many enemy in the fireball as possible, and be sure to keep your characters out of the radius of effect. Lightning Bolt: This is often considered the poor cousin to the fireball, because it does the same damage but in a more limited area . But lightning bolt is best when you have to fight in a closed area. Properly used, you can throw a lightning bolt into a melee, miss your your heroes, and still hurt your enemies. Also, if the enemy is near a wall you can throw the bolt to attack the target, bounce off the wall, and then attack the target a second time. Remember that a lightning bolt always rebounds toward the caster; it does not follow the angle of the wall. Some spells are useful in preparing for combat. If you know your party is in for a tough fight, you can prepare before combat. Encamp immediately before triggering the combat. Throw as many preparatory spells as you have ready on your characters, then immediately return to the Adventure menu and advance directly into the combat. If you can't prepare before combat, many of these spells are just as effective when you throw them in the first round of combat. Many of these spells can be reversed and thrown on the enemy to make him more vulnerable to your attacks. The best preparatory spells are: Bless: this spell affects all heroes in a 5*5 area that are not adjacent to the enemy. Bless is especially useful later in the game against monsters with very low AC's. Protection from Evil: this spell only protects one person, but it improves your AC and Saving Throws by 2 against attacks from evil monsters. Prayer: This spell is great because it can be thrown in combat and it improves your THAC0, Damage, and Saving Throws by 1, while hurting your enemies values by a like amount. It can also be thrown after combat has commenced. Enlarge: This spell makes a weak character stromg, though it doesn't help a character who is already strong. A first level magic-user makes his target's effective strength 18. Each additional level adds one column to the characters effective strength, until at 6th level the target has an effective strength of 18(00). Strength: This spell adds 1-8 points to a characters effective strength, depending on his class. For every point of strength over 18, 10% is added to his exceptional strength percentage. Some spells are handy to have memorized for use out of combat, these include.. Cure Light Wounds: This spell is everyone's best friend. Use it after each battle to make sure that eeryone gets back to their full HP. You can also use cures during combat to keep a character from going down. Also, if a character is wounded at the begining of a wave of combats, you can 'Continue Combat' and cure characters to get them ready for the next encounter. Detect Magic: Use this spell in the Treasure Menu to pick out the magic items from the trash. Dispel Magic: Use this spell to remove locking spells on doors. Remember that your clerics can memorize this spell too. Knock: Use this spell to open locked doors and chests. Invisibility 10' Radius: Use this spell while moving through dangerous territory. This keeps the enemy from finding your party until one of characters attacks in combat. Use your enemies confusion to get all your characters in position for 'backstabs', bouncing lightning bolts shots, and sweap attacks. Then have all your characters choose delay, let the enemy take his turn and guard, and then have all your characters attack at once. Some spells should only be memorized when your party needs them; these spells include: slow poison, cure disease, remove curse, and read magic..... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Typed by Twin Towers Any Questions, Contact me at... The Planet of Magrathea.................................(215) 398-7764 The Exchange BBS . . ...................................(215) 926-6203 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- [SuperTac/02]: