Spell Casting

Spell Levels

Spells have 14 different levels:

• Minor cantrip, denoted by the letter "c", equals to level -1
• Major cantrip, denoted by the letter "C", equals to level 0
• Levels 1–12

Spell Schools

Spells can belong to one of the following spell schools:

• Abjuration — Int/Wis, non-somatic
• Arcane — Int, somatic
• Celestial — Wis/Cha, non-somatic
• Clerical — Wis, non-somatic
• Conjuration — Int/Cha, somatic
• Divination — Int/Wis/Cha (Any), non-somatic
• Enchantment — Int/Cha, non-somatic
• Healing — Wis, non-somatic
• Movement — Int/Wis, somatic
• Nature — Wis/Cha, non-somatic
• Necromancy — Wis/Cha, non-somatic
• Transmutation — Int/Wis, somatic

Attribute Bonus to Spell Casting Success Chance

Spells in a particular spell school get a bonus to the spell casting success chance (see below) from one of the mental attributes:

• Intelligence (Int)
• Wisdom (Wis)
• Charisma (Cha)

Most spell schools use more than one attribute, and in that case they use the highest of the attributes. The attributes used by each spell school are listed above.

Armor Penalty to Spell Casting

If a spell has a somatic component, using heavy armor incurs a spell casting penalty. If a spell has a somatic component usually depends on which magic school the spell belongs to. This fact is listed in the above list of magic schools.

Spell Casting Success Chance

Each spell has a chance to cast it successfully. It depends on the following factors:

1. Spell level: -50% per each spell level
2. Skill level in appropriate spell school: +100% per skill level above Unskilled
3. Character level: +0.25%/+0.5%/+0.75%/+1%/+1.25%/+1.5% per character level when one has Unskilled/Basic/Skilled/Expert/Master/Grand Master skill in the appropriate spell school
4. Attribute score: +15% x Highest appropriate attribute score
5. Armor penalty: -X% from armor spell casting penalty for somatic spells only (see below)
6. Item spell casting bonus: +X% from items that give bonus to spell casting

The whole spell casting success formula is as follows:

-130%
+ -50% x Spell_Level
+ 100% x Skill_Level
+ (Skill_Level + 1) x Character_Level x 0.25%
+ 15% x Highest_Appropriate_Attribute
- Armor_Penalty_For_Somatic_Spells_Only
+ Item_Spell_Casting_Bonus

Spell Components

Spells can have 3 types of components:

• Verbal component — Most spells require speaking magic words. If you are strangled or drowning, you cannot cast spells with a verbal component.
• Somatic component — If a spell has a somatic component, you get penalty to spell casting success chance for wearing heavy armor. Usually, wizard spells have a somatic component while priest spells do not have it.
• Material component — Most spells require you to prepare (mix) them by using their material components. You do this by using the Mix command.

Preparing/Mixing Spells

Most spells have one or more material components. When you mix the spells, you get a number of castings for that spell.

You prepare spells by using the Mix command.

You see the number of remaining castings in both Cast and Mix menu.

Casting Spells

You cast spells using the Cast command. Spells have:

1. Mana Cost
2. Success chance (see above)
3. Casting Time
4. Cooldown
5. Number of castings (from mixing, see above)

Mana Cost

Spells cost mana (energy) to cast. The amount of current mana and your maximum mana amount are listed in the status bar (old versions of the game) or as a blue orb on the left side of the screen (mobile versions of the game).

You get maximum mana from:

• Character Class
• Race
• Intelligence or Wisdom — Higher of Int/Wis is used to calculate your mana pool.
• Experience Level — You gain more mana as you level up.
• Items — Some items increase your mana pool.

Mana regenerates over time at the rate of Max_Mana/640 per turn. Energy regeneration from items doubles the rate.

Casting Time

Spells usually take 0 or 1 turns to cast. Most spells require 1 turn, but healing spells that restore lost hit points do not consume a turn to cast.

Cooldown

Spells can also have a cooldown, which prevents the spell being cast again before the cooldown has expired. For example, healing spells that restore lost hit points have a 2-turn cooldown.

Learning spells

You learn spells from:

• Spell books
• Priest NPCs
• Artificer NPCs

When learning a spell from a spell book, the following rules apply:

• Opening a spell book you have not identified yet first tells you which spell it contains, identifies the book, and asks whether you want to continue, showing the spell's level and school. Declining costs only that one turn. A few special books only describe their topic at this point and must be read through to be identified.
• Reading a blessed spell book gives you a 100% chance to learn the spell.
• Reading an uncursed spell book succeeds when a roll of 1–20 does not exceed your read ability: the spell's casting attribute + 8 + your experience level + 4 for each skill level above Unskilled in the spell's school − 2 × the spell's level, and + 2 more if you have enhanced vision. Each point of read ability below 20 is a 5% chance to fail; at 20 or more the book cannot fail.
• When your read ability is below 20 and you are not confused, the game warns you how difficult the spell book seems and asks whether to continue, so you can still back out.
• Failing to learn from an uncursed spell book confuses you for a few turns half of the time, and, as a separate roll, the book crumbles to dust half of the time. A failure never paralyzes you.
• Reading a cursed spell book always fails and gives you a negative effect: a teleport, aggravated monsters, blindness, lost gold, confusion, contact poison, an explosion that destroys the book, or a curse on the items you carry. The higher the spell's level, the more of these effects are possible. Unless it exploded, the book also crumbles to dust half of the time.
• When you learn the spell, the spell book crumbles to dust.

NPCs ask you for a fee, but you learn the spell with a 100% chance.

Managing Spells

Using the Spell menu, you can:

• Reorder spells
• Sort spells
• Make shortcuts to spells, assigning them to the number keys (0–9)
• Forget spells

Notes

• Spell books crumble to dust when read.
• You cannot forget spells over time like in NetHack.
• If you are cancelled, you cannot cast spells or use wands.