=== XAngband Magic System ===

XAngband uses a "realms of magic" system. This magic system, as 
implemented in XAngband, consists of four magic realms: Sorcery, 
Magic, Life and Combat as well as the elemental realms of Fire, 
Ice, Sky, Sea, Dark, Chaos, Earth and Death.

In general, Life is defensive although it offers some good attacking
spells against evil monsters, Sorcery has good utility spells while
Magic is strong in defensive capability. The Combat realm, as you'd 
expect, supports fighters by enhancing them, their weapons and armor.

In XAngband, spellcasting classes can select a realm from those 
available. Realms available depend on class (with not all classes 
having a choice of realms). Although spells are split among different 
realms there are also ultra powerful rare high-level spells in many 
realms.

While any given realm of magic typically includes spells of a certain
type or theme, each realm should have enough high-level spells to
remain effective throughout the later stages of the game. The main
difference lies in how they support your playing strategy. For example,
some offer attacking spells which let you directly hurt your enemy,
while others offer spells for protection, healing and gathering
information.

In XAngband, there are 3 spellbooks per realm. Two of them can be bought
in the town stores and the remaining one must be found in the dungeon
(although they may occasionally appear in the Black Market). 

All realms have 30 spells, and each book contains 10 spells.


***** <ClassSpellAbil>
=== Class Spell Ability ===

Warriors
     Warriors cast no spells. They hate magic. In fact, they even gain
     experience for destroying high level spellbooks.

Mages
     Mages can freely choose between Sorcery and Hex when a character 
     is created:

Priests
     Priests have Life magic as their primary realm. When learning
     spells, priests cannot voluntarily decide which spells to study:
     they are rewarded with new prayers by their patron deities, with
     no money-back satisfaction guarantee. 

Rangers
     Rangers may choose between Life magic and Combat magic. However 
     they are slow to learn spells and unable to memorize some high 
     level spells.

Paladins
     Paladins are trained in Life magic (only), and they despise the
     other realms of magic (which they regard as the Devil's work).
     Like priests, they cannot select which prayers to learn but are
     rewarded with new prayers by their deities. They can learn all
     Life spells, but not as fast as priests. 

Warrior-Mages
     Warrior-mages begin the game with either Sorcery or Combat magic.
     Although they do not gain new spells as fast as regular mages, 
     they will eventually learn every spell in their realm, thus making 
     a very competitive choice for players who appreciate magic.

Mindcrafter
     Although the powers of a Mindcrafter may seem like magic, this is
     not -- strictly speaking -- the case. They are mental powers,
     independent of the ordinary sources of magic. Consequently,
     Mindcrafters are not interested in 'magic' and learn no spells.

Archer
     Archers cannot use magic.  They are more interested in 
     marskmanship.

Archaeologist
     Archaeologists are trained in Sorcery, although they will not 
     progress in magic as fast as mages can.

Elementalists
     Elementalists choose their elemental realm on character creation.
     They gain fixed powers centred on their element as they increase
     level.  The elemental realms are Fire, Ice, Sky, Sea, Dark, Chaos, 
     Earth and Death.

***** <MagicRealms>
=== The Realms of Magic ===

Life
     Life is magic is 'good' magic; it relies mostly on healing and
     protective spells. It does have a few attack spells as well, but
     these are mostly used for harming and banishing foul minions of
     evil. It is rumored that there is a secret high level prayer which
     will make the priest (or paladin) completely impervious to all
     forms of hostile action.

Sorcery
     Sorcery is a `meta` realm, including enchantment and general
     spells. It provides superb protection spells (such as Teleport
     spells for fleeing and even Globe of Invulnerability), spells to
     enhance your odds in combat (like Haste Self) and, most 
     importantly, a vast selection of spells for gathering 
     information. In the rare books, there are spells with which you 
     can enchant your items or turn unwanted items to gold. 

Hex
     Hex is the only realm outside of Life to include healing 
     spells.  It is also strong in defensive and enhancing spells,
     as well as spells to inconvenience monsters.  However it has 
     few spells that directly damage the enemy.
    
Combat
     The Combat realm includes much magic to enhance melee and ranged 
     combat.  It seems there are spells in the higher levels that are
     cast on weapons and armor.  It also includes a few attack magics.
     With this realm you can get great ability to attack, but for 
     detection and identify you'll have no choice but to rely on
     magic items.


***** <CastingSpells>
=== On Casting Spells ... ===

Players who select spellcasting characters may notice a few unusual
phenomena during the course of the game. Here's a few helps and
hints on what may be happening.

--- Armor and Spell Casting ---

All spellcasting classes are penalized for wielding armor above a
certain total combined weight. The threshold varies between 30lbs
for a mage and 40lbs for a paladin. Typically, the more reliant on
spells/prayers your class is deemed to be, the lower your weight
allowance. If you exceed your weight limit, your mana will drop.
This penalty is fairly stiff for low level characters but can
generally be ignored by high level ones.

--- Mage-Types and Gloves ---

Spellcasters who use INT as the stat determining their spellcasting
ability will be penalized heavily for wielding armor on their
hands. The exception to this is that wielding gloves, gauntlets or
cesti which boost DEX or which grant Free Action will result in no
penalty. The rationale behind this is that the hands are needed to
perform intricate gestures that accompany the casting of the spell
and anything encumbering the hands would interfere with this. The
priest-type classes (priest, paladin and monk) do not have the same
restrictions as they are viewed as invoking the power of their
deity directly through prayer.

--- Casting Spells With Insufficient Mana ---

Occasionally, you may try (either by accident or in desperation) to
cast a spell when you have insufficient mana to do so. In these
circumstances you will be told by the game that you do not have
enough mana to cast the spell and then asked if you want to anyway.
Casting the spell under these conditions has a drastically reduced
chance of success and may also result in your constitution being
damaged. It may also cause you to faint from the effort which will
effectively paralyze you for several turns (even with free action).
The CON drain and the paralyzation may happen regardless of whether
the casting was successful or not.

--- Spell Durations ---

Some spells such as Haste-Self or Resistance grant an effect which
wears off after a certain period of time. With very few exceptions,
multiple castings of such spells are not cumulative in terms of the
duration of the spell. In other words, casting a spell which has a
duration of 20 turns three times will not result in a duration of
60 turns. Typically, the subsequent castings will add only a small
amount to the total duration.


***** <SpellTypes>
=== Spell Types ===

--- Bolts and Beams ---

A bolt spell is aimed in a direction or at a target but will hit
the first monster or obstruction in its targeted direction. This
may or may not be the intended target. Occasionally, you may note
that your bolt spell hits multiple targets along the line of fire.
This is because some bolt spells are granted a chance of 'beaming'
which may be either fixed or level-dependent. A beam will hit every
target within range along a 'straight' line in the direction in
which it was aimed.

--- Balls ---

There are two things to remember about ball spells. Firstly, unlike
bolt spells, they can be aimed at a specific target which allows
you to target a specific monster as opposed to the first one in the
direction you are aiming. Secondly, they have a radius (which
varies from spell to spell). A radius value of one or more will
result in the spell affecting monsters (and possibly objects, etc)
around the target in addition to the target itself.

--- Line-of-Sight ---

Line-of-sight spells affect all monsters that that are currently
in sight of your character. This includes monsters that may not
currently be visible due to darkness but would be if it was light.

--- Area ---

Area spells affect an area around the player. The size of the area
can vary considerably. For example, Light Area lights a single room
while Detect Traps affects a map panel and Genocide the entire
level.

***** <Pets>
=== Summoned/Charmed Creatures ===

A friendly creature can be a mixed blessing. At first sight, one
might think that they can make the game much easier. It is of
course highly satisfying to send your pet Hell Wyrm into a Troll
pit and wait outside listening for the howls of agony and terror,
the sounds of guts splattering, bones crunching and so on. But one
should not expect to gain any experience for such a combat: you
will only gain experience for creatures to whom you deliver the
death blow yourself. New experiences require hazards, nobody gains
experience by sitting home watching the TV.

Secondly, friendly monsters are often so eager to destroy your
opponents they may forget all about you, and you get trampled under
their feet as they charge at your foe. They are not as smart as the
regular monsters, since they have given up their free will to serve
you. So don't stand next to that Snaga when your pet Cyberdemon
brandishes its rocket launcher! Pets are also rather easily
irritable.

Once you do something which causes the slightest discomfort to
them, they will revert to their normal behavior and consider you
their main target. This is something to think about before lighting
up a room if you have pet orcs. Needless to say, nobody wants to be
your friend if you are aggravating them.

Finally, it takes a lot of mental energy to maintain the control
over the charmed monsters. The first monster or the first few are
'free', but after that maintaining the control will start taxing
your mana regain rate. The higher the sum of the levels of your
pets the less mana you will be able to regain. Keep this in mind if
you have a pet which can summon or otherwise produce more pets...


***** <Hints>
=== Hints and Tips ===

If you miss the `old` magic user, try picking Sorcery magic
to get the most commonly used mage spells early on (Magic Missile,
Detect Monsters + Traps + etc, Identify).

***** <SpellLists>
=== Spell Lists ===


LIFE: Standard Spellbooks

Book of Common Prayer
     1. Detect Evil
     2. Cure Light Wounds
     3. Bless
     4. Remove Fear
     5. Call Light
     6. Detect Doors and Traps
     7. Cure Medium Wounds
     8. Satisfy Hunger
     9. Holy Light
    10. Remove Curse

High Mass
     1. Cure Critical Wounds
     2. Holy Orb
     3. Foresight
     4. Resistance Heat & Cold
     5. Reforming
     6. Protection from Evil
     7. Healing
     8. Banish Evil
     9. Star Burst
    10. Glyph of Warding

LIFE: Rare Spellbooks

Godly Insights
     This book has the most powerful prayers of protection and healing,
     as well as prayers of holy visions.

SORCERY: Standard Spellbooks

Beginner's Handbook
     1. Magic Missile
     2. Detect Monsters
     3. Phase Door
     4. Detect Doors and Traps
     5. Light Area
     6. Trap & Door Destruction
     7. Teleport
     8. Satisfy Hunger
     9. Mana Burst
    10. Word of Recall

Master Sorcerer's Handbook
     1. Stone to Mud
     2. Recharging
     3. Magic Mapping
     4. Identify
     5. Sense Minds
     6. Mana Bolt
     7. Haste Self
     8. Teleport Away
     9. Magic Rocket
    10. Genocide

SORCERY: Rare Spellbooks

Tome of Destruction
     More powerful enchantments against monsters, spells to enchant
     items, and the Globe of Invulnerability.


HEX: Standard Spellbooks

Handbook of Hexing
     1. Cure light wounds
     2. Evily blessing
     3. Word of inertia
     4. Demonic aura
     5. Stinking mist
     6. Extra might
     7. Curse weapon
     8. Evil detection
     9. Dark resistance
    10. Ice armor

Tome of Heavy Curses
     1. Cure serious wounds
     2. Call back monster
     3. Inhail potion
     4. Vampiric mist
     5. Swords to runeswords
     6. Nether resistance
     7. Touch of confusion
     8. Building up
     9. Vanish monsters
    10. Anti teleport barrier

HEX: Rare Spellbooks

Black Channels
     A flexible selection of powerful spells 
     of all types.


COMBAT: Standard Spellbooks

Trainee's Handbook
     1. Regeneration
     2. 3way Attack
     3. Heroism
     4. Jumping
     5. Resist Environment
     6. Lader Eye
     7. Charging
     8. Force Bolt
     9. Stone Skin
    10. Remove Curse

Veterans's Handbook
     1. Berserk
     2. Earthquake
     3. Jump and Attack
     4. Resistance True
     5. Aura Arrow
     6. Fast Slicing
     7. Haste Self
     8. Whirlwind Attack
     9. Inertia Beam
    10. Magical Armour

COMBAT: Rare Spellbooks

Invincible Techniques
      An impressive array of spells to magically enchance attacks 
      and defense.

--
Original   : (??)
Updated    : (??)
Updated    : Zangband DevTeam
Updated    : XAngband DevTeam
Last update: March 2, 2009
