TABLE OF CONTENTSA MESSAGE FROM DRIZZT ...............................................................2HOW TO PLAY .............................................................................................4

Basic Training for Combat ..............................................................4Apprentice Instructions for Spellcasting...................................5Adventuring.............................................................................................8Movement .................................................................................................8NPC Encounters..................................................................................11Things You Can Do from the Adventure Screen ...............13Save, Load, Pause, and Quit........................................................19

PLAYING IN-DEPTH..............................................................................20Inventory Screen ................................................................................20Automapping ......................................................................................23The Menzoberranzan City Interface.........................................27Adventuring Strategy......................................................................28Game Options .....................................................................................30

CREATING YOUR PARTY OF CHARACTERS.....................32Generating Characters ....................................................................32Character Basics ................................................................................33

Races..............................................................................................33Classes...........................................................................................36Single-Class vs. Multi-Class................................................39Alignments..................................................................................40Ability Scores.............................................................................41Other Characteristics .............................................................42

SPELLS AND POWERS .......................................................................44Legend .....................................................................................................44Character Powers ..............................................................................45Cleric Spells...........................................................................................49Mage Spells ..........................................................................................57Strategies for Using Spells ............................................................68

BESTIARY .....................................................................................................71TABLES ...........................................................................................................86

Level Advancement Tables ...........................................................86Ability Scores.......................................................................................88

INDEX OF SPELLS AND POWERS .............................................91

What Comes with This Game?Your game box should containthis rule book, a CD-ROM orgame disks, and a data card. Therule book explains game com-mands and contains handyreferences on characters, mon-sters, and spells. To play, installyour disks according to theinstructions on the data card,which also shows how to startquickly with a pre-saved game.

Using the MouseIn this book, the term “click”means move the cursor to thedesired area on the screen andpress either the left or rightmouse buttons. “Left-click” meansmove the cursor to the desiredarea and press the left mouse but-ton. “Right-click” means move thecursor to the desired area and

press the right mouse button.“Double-click” means move thecursor to the desired area andpress the right mouse button twotimes in quick succession.

Getting Started QuicklyThis game includes a charactergenerator that allows you to indi-vidually design and name thecharacters for your adventure.However, to start right away, youmay begin with a party of charac-ters already included in apre-saved game.

Because your success depends onthe skills and talents of thesecharacters, you may wish to readon, even when starting with theparty included in the game. Thesections “How to Play,” starting onpage 4, and “Creating Your Partyof Characters,” starting on page32, can be very helpful.

WELCOME TO THE UNDERDARK . . .

T here is a world beneath the world humans know — a vast, lawlessland under the realms that see the sun. It is a perilous land of dark

caverns, crevices, and labyrinths: the realm below, the vast and mysteri-ous Underdark. No surface dweller has seen all its depths and corners.Beasts that no surface dweller yet knows of lurk in its shadowy depths.Surviving explorers say the known dangers are bad enough.

To the unwary traveler in the Underdark, a city may seem a refugefrom the creeping doom in the darkness. It is, after all, bustling withlife — with food, tools, and perhaps aid. Or, perhaps not.

Menzoberranzan is a place of evil within a infinite night. A city ofcarved and spired stone castles, their smooth, unjointed, unbrokenexpanses are lit with the soft, tinted flows of permanent faerie fires.There live the dark elves, drow as they name themselves, who plotagainst each other to praise Lolth, the Spider Queen.

Do you dare enter their realm? If so, danger and excitement beyondyour wildest nightmares are yours as your characters delve into themurky Underdark. Riches and glory await, as well as horrible creaturesand danger. You know your party can face them and, perhaps, evenbeat them in the light of day, but how will they fare in the darkness?

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As darkness falls, the dark elves rise

to serve their Spider Queen.

The world below is the Underdark –

a blinding darkness to behold.

If you dare upon the drow elves’ lair,

their dark hearts and swords will fly.

Like spiders in their webs they wait,

for you, alas, are simply bait.

repeated so often and demonstrated so wellthat they ring true in the minds of all mykind. All, that is, except me. I do not knowhow I survived these falsehoods, nor how Iovercame the rage and deceit my family soughtto plant within me. Yet survive I did, and indoing so, I became a traitor to the dark elves,and a traitor to Lolth, their Spider Queen.

Such treachery is unforgivable. I was luckyto have escaped the Underdark, to have foundmy way to a new life in the world of light.Still, the memories of my evil homeland,located so far beneath the earth, haunt me evennow. And other drow remember too. Thus theyhave come for vengeance, come to find Drizztthe merciful, Drizzt the weak, Drizzt thefool. Your village merely got in their way.

Now I must descend once again into aworld I thought to have left behind. Innocentsshall not suffer because of me. Those who tookyour villagers prisoner will feel the sting of myscimitars. Finally, I tell you this: if it is withinmy power to do so, I shall return your friendsand family members to you, unharmed.

A MESSAGE FROM DRIZZT

On the Recent Danger from the Underdark

You will never believe these words and,indeed, I may never find the opportunity todeliver them. Nevertheless I commit them toparchment in an effort to ease the troubledturnings of my own spirit. The raid upon yourvillage was not my doing. Or perhaps it was,but not in the way you think. I led no drowwarriors out of the Underdark to burn yourhomes and take your people hostage. Oh, no, Iwas not their leader, nor was I among them.But cause rests with me, I am certain. Placethe blame upon my shoulders if you will, forthe drow may have come in search of me asmuch as for any other gain. Yes, they searchedfor me. And, not finding me, they turnedtheir frustration upon you.

Compassion has no place in the city of mybirth. Menzoberranzan lives in the belief thatanything is acceptable if you can get awaywith it. These laws bind drow society together, Drizzt Do’Urden

To attack, start at the AdventureScreen. Place the mouse cursorover the weapon you wish to useand left-click with the mouse.Place the cursor over the imageof the opponent. If your charac-ters are close enough to engagetheir enemy, the cursor changesinto a sword icon. Each time youleft-click, a character attacks witha weapon. Note that this optiondoes not affect potions or books acharacter may be carrying; it acti-vates weapons only. Availableweapons appear above the char-acter portraits at the bottom ofthe screen, while the image of abare hand means the characterholds no weapon.

While it seems easy, keep somecommon sense rules in mind:

♦ Both ranged and thrownweapons have to be retrievedafter a fight and made “ready” again.

♦ Ranged weapons, such as bowsand slings, require ammuni-tion. Arrows are convenientlycarried in your character’squiver, while rocks for slingsare carried in a sling pouch.

To fire ranged weapons, left-clickon the readied weapon on theAdventure Screen. More informa-tion on ranged and thrownweapons can be found in the“Adventuring” section starting on page 8.

Note: it is possible to have anitem “in hand” but not “ready.”Two-handed weapons, such asbows, battle-axes, and two-handedswords, demand the attention ofboth of your character’s hands. Onthe inventory screen, the weaponappears in one hand, and the sec-ond hand needs to be free beforethe weapon is “ready.”

Drow warriors receive a life-time of battle training. Foryoung nobles like Drizzt, whatbegins at the hands of a HouseWeapon Master continues inMelee-Magthere, where theexhausting disciplines of theAcademy hone the students’fighting skills to a razor’s edge.After graduation come thepatrols, excursions into theUnderdark to protect the cityfrom marauding monsters or toraid the mines of the deepgnomes. Occasionally a raid onthe surface world is arranged.Above all others, the drow hateelves, their distant cousins wholive in the world of light.

Apprentice Instructionsfor Spellcasting You know your party is about toencounter more dangers, anotherdrow raider, verbeeg giant, or per-haps a cloaker lord flying out ofthe darkness, intent upon shred-ding your party to pieces with itslashing tail. If the area is safe and

HOW TO PLAY

Basic Training for Combat The village burns, innocent men,women, and children have beentaken hostage, and those respon-sible still lurk among the ruins ofthe village. “Dark elves!” someoneshouts, and suddenly the nature of the raid is all too clear. Risingup out of the Underdark, the drow have struck! Among the first creatures your party is likelyto encounter are the drow, themerciless dark elves. Wieldingboth swords and magic, they areformidable enemies.

To attack, your characters musthave their weapons “in-hand” and“ready.” To accomplish this, placethe mouse cursor over one of thecharacter portraits at the bottomof the screen and left-click with

the mouse. The inventory screenis displayed and the gamepauses. Items owned by yourcharacters, including weaponsand armor are displayed on thisscreen. Do the standing figureshold weapons in their hands,swords, axes, slings, etc.? If so,those weapons are “in hand.” Ifyour characters are barehanded,look for weapons in the inventoryslots at the bottom of the screen.By left-clicking on an object in aninventory slot you can move it upto your character’s hand. Left-click again and it is “in hand.”

By “ready,” we mean the weaponis in a usable condition. If it isnot, the weapon is shaded out onthe Adventure Screen.

A right-click returns you to theAdventure Screen, and your char-acters are ready to do battle.

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Left-clicking on the buttonslabeled 2, 3, 4, etc. displays readiedspells from those levels, if any.Pointing the cursor to the name ofthe spell itself and left-clickingactivates that spell. Spells whichproject an object or an effect overdistance require a second step:pointing the cursor to theintended target and left-clickingagain. Spells requiring the charac-ter to touch an opponent areshown as a change in the handsymbol above the character’s por-trait. Left-click on the altered handimage to use the spell.

Once used, spells must be regainedby praying for or memorizingthem, then resting once again.Mages pick up more spells as they journey through the variouscaverns and labyrinths of this for-saken world. These spells arefound in the form of scrolls whichcan then be added to the mage’sspellbook. A character who is botha cleric and a mage has his or her spell lists displayed in two dif-ferent colors, allowing you todifferentiate between the types ofspells. For more information onscrolls and spellbooks, see the sec-tion, “Adding Spells to a Mage’sSpellbook,” on page 13.

Drow Powers: In addition tospells, special drow powers areavailable to the party when theyare magically disguised as darkelves. A ribbon appears whenpowers are present, displayed in

the same location as a cleric’sholy symbol or a mage’s spell-book. The ribbon appears incombination with these icons ifthe character is a cleric, mage, ormulti-classed magic-user. Left-clicking on the ribbon iconbrings up a standard spell list. Todisplay the characters’ powers,left-click again on the A whichappears to the left of the 1st- levelspell button.

Drow magic: faerie fire andlevitation are two inherentabilities of the drow. More devi-ous and deadly than its nameimplies, faerie fire is often usedto outline a target in magicallight, making it all the more dif-ficult to escape a drow attackin the Underdark. Levitation iscommon in everyday life for thedrow; their cities and greathouses are built in a mannerwhich practically requires levi-tation. Another common trickof drow warriors is to throw aglobe of darkness whichenvelops their opponent in ablack sphere within which eventhe infrared vision of the drowcannot operate. Beyond thesebasic abilities, the priestessesand wizards of the drow trainfor long years to acquire moredeadly and potent spells. Theycan be as formidable as themost dreaded practitioners ofmagic in the surface world.

fate has given you time enoughto prepare, spells can be prayedfor or memorized.

To spellcast, first determine if amage or a cleric accompanies yourparty. A mage has a golden spell-book displayed above his or herportrait on the Adventure Screen.For a cleric, a golden holy symbolappears in the same location. (Anicon comprised of both a bookand a holy symbol is displayed fora character with both skills.)

Bring up the Main Menu by mov-ing the cursor to the upper left orright corner of the AdventureScreen, and left-clicking on thebutton in either corner. The MainMenu will appear in the center ofthe Adventure Screen. When youbring up the Main Menu, some ofthe choices are: REST, PRAY, andMEMORIZE. To choose cleric spells,left-click on PRAY. To choose magespells, left-click on MEMORIZE.

When you click on MEMORIZE, aspell screen appears; it contains alist of mage spells. It also indicatesthe number of spells available foreach level of your mage’s experi-ence. To decide which spells arereadied for use, place the cursorover the – or + signs next to yourchoice and left-click. For example,if three Level 1 spells are avail-able, you may decide to use threechill touch spells, or you may havetwo of one sort and one ofanother, or you could choose threeseparate Level 1 spells.

If more than one mage is with theparty, icons bearing the names ofthe mages appear at the top of thespell screen. Simply click on thename of the mage you wish tomemorize spells. Click on DONEwhen you are finished.

When a cleric prays for spells, it isdone in a similar fashion. Simplychoose PRAY instead of MEMORIZEand follow the same pattern.

In order to use the spells chosen,your character(s) must now rest.REST is one of the choices on theMain Menu. It is available only ifthere are no monsters nearby andif your party has the time to stopand prepare its spells. Select theREST option and your magic-usersprepare their mystical spells. Ifcharacters with healing abilitiesare in your party when this optionis chosen, a window appears andasks if the healers wish to healthe wounded members of theparty. Select YES and the healingtakes place while the screeninforms you of passing time. Youshould note that a party’s restmay be disturbed at any time ifintruders enter the area.

After praying for or memorizingspells and then resting, the magesand clerics in your party are readyfor battle. Point the cursor to themage’s golden spellbook or thecleric’s holy symbol and left-clickto display a menu of Level 1spells ready for immediate use.

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On Screen MovementWhile holding the left mouse but-ton down, move the cursor intothe top third of the screen. Thecursor becomes an arrow andyour characters move in the direc-tion it is pointing. Try moving thecursor to various areas on thescreen and watch how the screenresponds to that movement.Pushing the arrow to the very topof the screen results in a “doubletime” forward march. Movementcontinues as long as the leftmouse button is held down. Aslong as the left mouse button isheld down, no other function isavailable. You cannot move andsimultaneously click to pick up

objects, or move and simultane-ously use the cursor to bring upmenus, etc. Once the left mousebutton is released and movementceases, the mouse cursor can beused for other available functions.

Free Mouse MovementFor free mouse movement, pressthe space bar on your computer’skeyboard. Next, move the mousewithout pressing either the rightor left mouse button. The partymoves in the direction the mouseis moved. Push the mouse for-ward and the party movesforward. Push it to the side andthe party moves to the side.

Adventuring

MovementAll movement takes place on the Adventure Screen. You caneven customize basic movementto your taste.

Arrow MovementPlace the mouse cursor over oneof the directional arrows centeredat the bottom of the screen andleft-click to move in that direc-tion. The arrows displayed are:

forward and “double time” for-ward, move forward and turn tothe right, and move forward andturn to the left. Also available are:backward, side-step to the right,side-step to the left, and turn rightand turn left. The movement con-tinues as long as the left mousebutton is held down and stopswhen the button is released.Walking your party into a wall orother obstacle also effectivelystops their progress.

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THE MOUSEPOINTER AS ITAPPEARS INCOMBAT

AN IN-HANDITEM

A CHARACTERPORTRAIT

FRONT RANKCHARACTER

REAR RANKCHARACTER

FRONT RANKCHARACTER

REAR RANKCHARACTER

MESSAGE AREA

A HITPOINT

BAR

QUICK RESTORE

MAP

QUICK SAVE

HOLYSYMBOL

GAME OPTIONS

COMPASS

MAIN MENU BUTTON MAIN MENU BUTTON

MOVEBACKWARD

MOVE LEFT

TURN LEFT

MOVEFORWARDAND TURN

LEFT

MOVE FORWARD

MOVEFORWARDAND TURNRIGHT

TURN RIGHT

MOVE RIGHT

DOUBLE-TIMEFORWARD

SPELL MENUDIRECTIONAL ARROWS:with the exception of DOUBLE-TIME FORWARD,all the arrows refer to the same movements asthose on the game screen

The Adventure Screen

LEVITATION BAR

NPC EncountersBlasting monsters with fireballsand having your characters wieldtwo-handed swords against bug-bears is but half the fun. Muchcare has been taken to designthis game as an interactiveadventure, one in which the story-telling and combat are effectivelybalanced. When your party comesacross an NPC, or Non-PlayerCharacter, you are given theopportunity to ask several ques-tions and learn more about thedangers and difficulties of life inthe Underdark.

NPC DialogueYour party is close enough to con-verse with an NPC if placing themouse cursor over the NPCresults in a “talk bubble.” Left-click and a close-up of the NPCappears along with one or morequestions your party may ask thisinhabitant of the Underdark.Move the cursor to highlight thequestion of your choice, then left-click to set the response inmotion. Several levels of continu-ing questions may follow theresponse. When you have learnedall you need to know, one ormore right-clicks takes you backto the Adventure Screen.

Press the right mouse button and the party moves forwardwithout the mouse having to bemoved. The party starts slowlyand then accelerates to a “doubletime” march.

When you leave this mode, thecursor reappears in the position itoccupied when you began freemouse movement. Try workingwith this method for a while andsee if it is right for you. If not,press the space bar again to returnto the previous movement options.

Step MovementStep movement is possible forplayers who find the smoothscrolling interface difficult to con-trol. It allows the party to move“one square at a time.” To activatethis option, move the cursor overthe compass located above themovement arrows and left-click.Please note, however, that “stepmovement” is not availablesimultaneously with “free mousemovement” as described in theprevious paragraphs. Step move-ment is possible only when thedirectional arrows are used. Inaddition to clicking on theAdventure Screen compass, stepmovement may be activated fromthe game options screen.

Levitation and FlyingAt certain points in the game,your party gains the abilities tolevitate and to fly. When theseabilities are present, a levitationcontrol bar appears to the right ofthe movement arrows on the bot-tom of the Adventure Screen. Thiscontrol allows your party to levi-tate from one level to the next.You should note that this abilityexists only when your party isdisguised as drow, or when theability is activated by a specialscroll or potion. Once levitation isactivated, you may use the bar inthe following fashion: place themouse cursor over the bar andmove it up or down along its“slot.” On the Adventure Screen,the viewpoint of your party risesor falls as you move the levitationbar up or down.

Levitation results in movementup and down only. It is the abilityto change levels and not the abil-ity to fly. Other spells, however,may add flying to the party’s abil-ities for short periods of time.When your party is flying, youmay not only change their level,but may also use the other move-ment options as well. Forexample, you could raise the levi-tation bar to its top position, thenclick on the forward movementarrows to send your party flyingforward through the cavernousreaches of the Underdark.

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QUESTION

NON-PLAYER CHARACTER

RESPONSE

PRINT OPTION

Add an NPC to Your PartyWhen the game begins, yourparty starts with a maximum oftwo characters. While these char-acters can never be dropped fromthe party, many NPCs (Non-PlayerCharacters) eagerly await theirarrival, hoping to join the loyaland dedicated characters on theirsworn quest. Should you decide toallow another character into theparty, their portrait is placed inone of the empty character slots atthe bottom of the AdventureScreen. From then on, the newcharacter is handled in the sameway as the original characters.

Should you accept an NPC intothe party when all the characterslots on the Adventure Screen arefilled, a prompt appears askingwhich NPC currently with theparty is to be dropped. Charactersdropped from the party mayannounce a location where theycan be found by the party at alater time, or they may go theirown way, never to be seen again.

When you drop an NPC from theparty to pick up a different NPC,any objects in the departing char-acter’s inventory are swapped intothe new character’s inventory. Alltwelve slots are filled if necessary.Objects from the departing char-acter’s “mannequin” are the lastitems swapped, and any object forwhich there is no room in inven-tory is dropped to the ground.

The swapping of inventorydescribed in the last paragraph has one important limitation.Objects specific to a particularcharacter are never swapped. Agood example are Drizzt’s scimi-tars. Although Drizzt allows otherparty members to use his famousblades while he is with the party,he takes his scimitars with himwhen he leaves their company.Items of this nature are describedin inventory by having the charac-ter’s name appear before the object.For example: Drizzt’s scimitar.

Things You Can Do fromthe Adventure ScreenAll combat, spellcasting, andexploration takes place from theAdventure Screen. When otherscreens are activated, they overlaythe Adventure Screen. Optionselections such as REST, PRAY, MEMORIZE, AUTOMAP, LOAD, SAVE,QUIT, and OPTIONS are available byleft-clicking on the Main Menubuttons in the upper left or rightcorner of the Adventure Screen.When the Main Menu appears,left-click on a selection in orderto choose it. You can access theinventory screen by left-clickingover any character’s portrait.

Add Spells to a Mage’s SpellbookWhen the party comes across hidden scrolls, you can add theseto your mage’s spell list by scrib-ing the scrolls into the mage’s

In addition to the main encoun-ters, your party has theopportunity to talk with a numberof minor NPCs. In these cases aleft-click on the “talk bubble”results in a single question fromthe party. The face of the partymember asking the question isdisplayed, along with his or herquestion, in the center of theAdventure Screen. The responseof the NPC may push your partyin the right direction, or offer youvaluable information about thelevel you are exploring.

Many interesting quests and sub-plots await your party on its wayto the Underdark, and in thehouses, taverns, and temples ofMenzoberranzan. The dialoguemakes communication as inter-esting as exploration.

Talk or FightOccasionally, when your partycomes across a sentient creatureby itself, a talk bubble appearsover the creature where you

normally expect the sword icon toappear. Intelligent and cunning,this beast may have informationof interest to your party, or it maybe preparing to strike. Whetheror not to take the chance is yourdecision. Clicking on the talkbubble with the mouse causestwo selection buttons to appear,one for “talk” and one for “fight.”

If “fight” is chosen, the creatureresponds with a challenging com-ment, something along the linesof, “I have no need to talk to thelikes of you. Prepare to die!” Afterthis, the response window van-ishes. The creature pauses for asecond or two before attacking,and the first-strike advantageremains with the party.

If “talk” is chosen, one of theparty members asks a questionrelating to the level beingexplored, whereupon one of twothings happens:

1. The creature imparts helpfulbut non-critical information.

2. The creature chooses to fight,even though the party wishes totalk. In this case, the party losesthe first-strike advantage. Shoutingan appropriate battle cry, some-thing like, “Death to you, surfacedweller!”, the creature lunges tothe attack. The Underdark can be aplace both dangerous and treach-erous, so be careful who, andwhat, you talk to!

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ing on the name of the spell, thenfollowing the instructions as theyappear. Spells requiring the char-acter to touch an opponent areshown as a change in the handsymbol above the character’s por-trait. Left-click on the alteredhand image to use the spell.

Cast Spells from Mage and Cleric ScrollsLeft-click on the in-hand scroll.The scroll is consumed when thespell is cast.

Check Character StatusThe golden bar to the right of eachcharacter’s portrait is a graphicrepresentation of the character’shealth. It diminishes if your char-acter is wounded or harmed byany magic means. Once the bar isempty, your character is dead;avoid this at all costs!

Left-click on the white skull iconto display a list of afflictionsaffecting a character. Poison,paralysis, and rotting disease arebut a few of the unwelcomeexamples. This icon only appearsif a character is afflicted.

Drink a PotionLeft-click on an in-hand potion orselect the potion and move it overthe character’s portrait, then rightor left-click. From the InventoryScreen, this can be done by mov-ing the potion over the head ofthe mannequin figure and left-clicking to have the characterdrink the potion.

Fire a Ranged Weapon (Bow,Sling, or Hand Crossbow)Left-click on any in-hand bow,sling, or hand crossbow. To pre-pare a ranged weapon, place theweapon in the character’s primaryhand. As you fire the weapon,ammunition is expended fromeither the quiver (arrows), or beltpouch and backpack (slingstones). You must have ammuni-tion to fire ranged weapons.

Look atSign orWritingWhen theparty isnear asign or

other writing (such as on a tombor wall), the writing can be dis-played for easy reading byplacing the mouse cursor over thesign or writing and left-clicking.

Memorize SpellsWith this option, mage charac-ters select the spells they wish to memorize. A menu includingthe selection MEMORIZE appearswhen you left-click on one of theMain Menu buttons. Left-click on MEMORIZE to display a list ofavailable mage spells. If morethan one mage is in the party, the mages’ names appear onicons at the top of the screen. Youcan then choose which mage is to memorize spells by clicking onthe appropriate icon.

spellbook. To scribe a scroll, thescroll must be selected andmoved on top of the spellbookicon. Pick up the scroll and moveit to the inventory screen. Left-click to place the scroll (and thusthe spell) into the mage’s spell-book. In this game the spellbookis an icon displayed in the mage’sinventory. If the spell alreadyexists in the spellbook, the scrolldoes not scribe; however, thescroll can still be used by placingit in a mage’s hand and left-click-ing to activate. See “Cast Spellsfrom Mage and Cleric Scrolls” onpage 15. (A side note: the spell-book cannot be picked up ormoved. It is a permanent fixture,as it should be, for the spellbookis a mage’s link to his art andspellcasting ability.)

Attack OpponentsAs previously mentioned, launchyour character’s attack by left-clicking on a weapon which is“in-hand” and “ready.” Once used,a weapon is shaded out until it isready again. Fighters, paladins,and rangers can carry and fightwith a second weapon, but theymay suffer a penalty to their com-bat ability for doing so. As aranger, Drizzt is renowned in boththe Underdark and the surfaceworld for his ability to wield twoscimitars at once. Drizzt’s father(and teacher) was fond of callingthe young drow “two-hands.”

Perhaps Drizzt’s greatest friend,Guenhwyvar, is a black pan-ther from another plane ofexistence. Using the power of apolished onyx figurine, Drizztcalls Guenhwyvar to his side intimes of need. To use the powerof Guenhwyvar in combat,place the onyx figurine inDrizzt’s hand. From theAdventure Screen, left-click onthe panther figurine in thesame way you activate anyweapon held by a character.Guenhwyvar’s paws lash outinto the adventure window,taking their toll on any oppo-nent within range. When Drizztis holding the image ofGuenhwyvar, he can only wieldone of his scimitars. After aperiod of time at Drizzt’s side,Guenhwyvar must return tothe home plane from which itcomes. Therefore, Guenhwyvarmay not be available duringevery combat encounter.

Cast Mage and Cleric SpellsAfter praying for or memorizingspells and then resting, all ofyour magic-users’ spells are readyfor use. Left-click on the mage’sgolden spellbook or the cleric’sholy symbol to display a menu ofLevel 1 spells ready for immedi-ate use. Left-clicking on thebuttons labeled 2, 3, 4, etc. dis-plays readied spells from thoselevels. Activate the spell by click-

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and move it to the character’sportrait. Left-click to bring up theinventory screen, and click againover an inventory slot to place theitem in that slot. After picking upthe object, you may also doubleright-click when the object is overthe character’s portrait. This auto-matically adds the item to thatcharacter’s inventory. In the caseof an arrow, a double right-clickover the character’s portrait auto-matically adds the arrow to thecharacter’s quiver. In the case of asling stone, a double right-clickover a character’s in-hand slingpouch automatically adds thestone to the sling pouch.

In this gameworld, someobjects can bepicked up fromtables. Impor-

tant scrolls, books, and items,those generally of critical impor-tance to the game, can be foundresting on tables of similardesign. Pick up an object from atable just as you would pick upany other object.

On the Adventure Screen, right-click to pick up, drop, use, andthrow objects, and left-click tomove, activate buttons and levers,and operate character interactions.This allows the party to continueto move while “holding” an objectin the Adventure Screen.

Place an Object in aCharacter’s HandAfter picking up an object on theAdventure Screen, double right-click over the character’s hand inwhich you wish to place it. If anobject is already in the handyou’ve chosen, the new object isswapped with it and you can dropthe previous object by moving itonto the adventure window andright-clicking with the mouse. Anyobject in a character’s hand can bedropped or swapped in this way.

Pray for SpellsWith this option, clerics (alsocalled priests) select the spells forwhich they wish to pray. A menu,including the selection PRAY,appears when you move the cur-sor into the upper left or righthand corners of the AdventureScreen, and left-click on the buttonin either corner. When you left-click on PRAY, a screen of availablecleric spells appears. If more thanone cleric is in the party, theirnames appear on icons at the topof the screen. You can then choosewhich cleric is to pray for spells byclicking on the appropriate icon.

Left-click the cursor over the –and + signs on the pray-for-spellsscreen to select spells. Only thenumber and type of spells avail-able to a character of your cleric’slevel and experience are allowed.With experience, the clerics inyour party will advance levels,becoming ever more masterful

Left-click on the – and + signs onthe spell screen to select spells.Only the number and type ofspells available to a character ofyour mage’s level and experienceare allowed; however, you havemuch to look forward to as themage(s) in your party advance inlevels, becoming ever more mas-terful spellcasters. Remember, amage must REST before his or herspells can be cast. For a detailedlook at spellcasting, see the“Spellcasting” section beginningon page 5.

NavigateWatch the compass to maintainyour orientation and use theAUTOMAP selection to view yourprogress throughout the game.Choose AUTOMAP from the menuwhich appears in the center of thescreen. More information onautomap is available in the sectionon “Automapping,” on page 23.

Open or Close a ContainerTo open a container, such as asack or a chest, place it in a character’s left hand on the character mannequin. To closethe container, left-click on thecharacter’s left hand.

Open a GateTo open a gate, click on the releaselever or button near the gate. Somegates are locked or guarded byhidden traps and can only beopened with keys or specialactions. See the section “Unlock aDoor or Gate” on page 19.

Open DoorsOpen most doors by having yourcharacters walk through them.Open other unlocked doors bypointing the cursor to the centerof the door and left-clicking withthe mouse — assuming of course,that your party is close enough toopen it. Other doors may requirea key, a spell, or the activation ofa hidden pressure plate to openthem. If the door is locked, seethe section “Unlock a Door orGate” on page 19.

Pick a LockTo pick a lock, left-click on thethief’s lock pick, move it over thelock and click. Sometimes locksare booby-trapped; thieves auto-matically attempt to disarm thesetraps. However, a thief’s skill leveldetermines his or her success indisarming such traps.

Pick Up and Drop Objects /Add Items to InventoryIn the vast, unearthly reaches ofthe Underdark many treasuresexist: gold, supplies, armor,weapons, and keys to help theparty on its way. When you movethe cursor over an object whichcan be picked up, the cursorchanges into a golden hand icon.Right-click when the golden handicon is over the object to pick theobject up. Another right-clickdrops it. To keep the object andadd it to one of your character’sinventories, pick up the object

16 17

Unlock a Door or GateTo unlock a door or gate, placethe appropriate key over a key-hole on the adventure windowand left-click. Keys on a key ringneed not be removed from thering; simply place the key ringover the keyhole and left-click.

Use a Drow PowerTo use a drow power, first look fora ribbon placed near a cleric’s holysymbol or a mage’s spellbook.Then left-click on the ribbon iconto bring up a standard spell list. Todisplay the characters’ powers, left-click again on the A whichappears to the left of the 1st-levelspell button.

Use an Object in a Character’s HandTo use an object that is in a char-acter’s hand, left-click on theobject or weapon where it appearsabove the character’s portrait.

Save, Load, Pause, and Quit

SaveTo save your game, left-click onone of the Main Menu buttons,and then left-click over the SAVEoption. This displays a list ofnamed, saved games. Click on anavailable slot, type in a name forthe game you are saving, andpress Enter to save it. Saving yourgame from time to time is a verygood idea.

You can Quick Save by pressingS on your keyboard, or by left-clicking on the QUICK SAVE buttonon the Adventure Screen. Thesemethods allow you to save thegame without going through theMain Menu.

To restore the game from thequick save position you can eitherclick on the QUICK RESTORE button,or you can press Shift + R onyour keyboard.

If your party dies, you have theoption to restore the game from apreviously saved position. Thissaves you the trouble of goingthrough the menus to reestablishyour adventure.

LoadTo restore a previously saved game,left-click on one of the Main Menubuttons, and left-click over the LOADoption. This displays a list ofnamed, saved games. Click on thebutton to the left of the game youwish to play to load it.

PausePress P on the keyboard to pauseyour game; press P again toresume. The game also pauses ifyou open the Main Menu, or opena character’s inventory screen.

QuitTo quit the game, go to the MainMenu and left-click on QUIT toend your game.

spellcasters. Clicking on DONEreturns you to the AdventureScreen. Remember, a cleric mustREST before his or her spells canbe cast. For a detailed look atspellcasting, see the “Spellcasting”section beginning on page 5.

Read Books or ScrollsTo read books orscrolls, left-clickon the docu-

ment. Some books or parchmentmay be written in a language yourcharacters do not understand. Inthis case, use a character who hasthe comprehend languages abilityor spell. Or, perhaps your partyneeds to find an NPC who canread the text.

RestClick on either Main Menu buttonin the top corners; choose REST.This option allows characters torest, heal, and memorize spells.How long they rest depends onthe number and level of spellsbeing memorized (or prayed for).The party cannot rest with crea-tures nearby. Even if there are nomonsters in the vicinity, there isalways a chance of a randomencounter while the party sleeps.

Resurrect Dead CharactersWhen a character dies, his or her portrait turns to a shade ofgray and all of the objects in theirinventory drop to the ground. Acleric in the party may bring thecharacter back to life with a

raise dead spell. Unfortunately,unlike other races, elves cannotbe resurrected.

Note: Dead characters can bereplaced when new NPCs join theparty; however, when a dead char-acter is replaced with anothercharacter, the dead character is lostforever and cannot be returned tolife with a raise dead spell.

Throw an ItemAfter selecting an item from yourcharacter’s inventory, or doubleright-clicking to select the objectin a character’s hand on theAdventure Screen (as described in“Place Object in Character’sHand”), move the object onto theAdventure Screen. Right-clickagain when it is over the centerline of the screen to throw theobject. To drop an item, right-click below the center line of theAdventure Screen. This type ofthrowing is not the same asthrowing a dart or dagger, whichis described next.

Throw a Ranged Weapon(Dagger or Throwing Knife)To throw a ranged weapon, left-click on any in-hand dagger orthrowing knife. These weaponsare automatically replenishedwith like items (if available) fromthe character’s inventory. They arenot available for quick replace-ment if enclosed in a chest orother container.

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To change the rank positions ofyour characters, left-click with thecursor over the character’s nameat the top of the screen. The char-acter’s slot becomes outlined inwhite. Click on a blank slot tomove the character to that slot.Click on another character’sname to switch their positions.

Hit Point BarHit points for each character arerepresented by a yellow bar at theright of the character’s portrait.As a character takes damage, thehit point bar descends to the bot-tom of the portrait square. Whenhit points are dangerously low,the bar turns red. When the bar isempty, the character is dead andhis or her portrait turns gray.

Armor Class SymbolThe golden shield to the right ofthe character portrait representshis or her Armor Class (AC). Thenumber displayed on the shield isthe current AC value.

Scale Symbol/EncumbranceTo the right of the Armor Classsymbol is the scale symbol. Left-click on this icon and a windowappears displaying how muchweight the character is carrying,how much he or she is capable ofcarrying, and an encumbrancerating from the “EncumbranceTable” found on page 90. Theinside of the scale changes color

as encumbrance increases andturns red when a character isseverely encumbered.

A moderately encumbered char-acter receives a –1 penalty whenattacking; a heavily encumberedcharacter receives a –2 penaltywhen attacking and a +1 penaltyto Armor Class; a severelyencumbered character receives a –4 penalty and a +3 ArmorClass penalty when attacking.

White Skull SymbolLeft-click on this icon to display amenu of afflictions currently affect-ing a character. Poison, paralysis,and rotting disease are but a fewof the unwelcome examples. Note:this icon does not appear unless acharacter is afflicted in one formor another.

White SpellbookLeft-click on the white spellbookand a menu of magic spells cur-rently influencing a character isdisplayed. As with the white skullsymbol, this icon does not appearuntil an active spell begins toinfluence the character.

Statistics DisplayNext to the character’s portrait onthe inventory screen is a smallred box with a curved arrowinside. Left-clicking on this icondisplays statistical informationpertaining to the character.Information displayed includes

PLAYING IN-DEPTH

Inventory ScreenTo display the inventory screen,move the cursor over one of thecharacter portraits at the bottom ofthe Adventure Screen and left-click.

The inventory screen is dividedinto four sections, one for each offour possible characters, and con-tains slots for storing variouspieces of equipment in inventory.Names and character portraitsappear at the top of each section.

Character Positions in PartyCharacters whose portraits appearon the left and right sides of thescreen are considered to be in therear rank of the party. Characterswhose portraits appear near thecenter of the screen are consid-ered to be in the front rank. Thisfront and rear ranking appliesonly to interior locations.Characters outside are consideredto have formed a less-orderedgroup and all react as if they havepositions in the front rank.

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ARMORCLASS

DISPLAYINVENTORY

WHITESKULL

WHITESPELLBOOK ENCUMBRANCE

DISPLAYSTATISTICS

OBJECTINFORMATION

CONTAINERSLOTS

A MAGE’SSPELLBOOK

INVENTORY SLOTSINVENTORY SLOTSINVENTORY SLOTS CHARACTER STATISTICS

RING

BODY

HAND

WRIST

SHOULDER

NECK

HEAD

MOUSEPOINTER WITH

AN OBJECT

CHARACTER PORTRAITHIT POINTBAR

AutomappingAs your party explores the manylairs and labyrinths of theUnderdark, the last thing youwant to do is map each step of theway with pencil and paper. We’vemade it easy by including a versa-

tile automapping feature. The mapis displayed from the AdventureScreen. To the left of the move-ment arrows at the bottom of thescreen are four icon buttons, thethird of which is a parchmentmap icon. Left-clicking on this

the character’s class and align-ment, as well as total experiencepoints gained and the number ofexperience points necessary toreach the next level. Right-click-ing on the red box icon displaysstatistical information for all ofthe characters in the party.

When a character ‘s statistics aredisplayed, the red box appears as ablack grid with a curved arrowinside. Left-clicking on the changedicon returns the view to the charac-ter’s inventory information. Aright-click on the black gridreturns the inventory informationfor every character in the party.

Character MannequinsBelow the character portraits onthe inventory screen stand char-acter mannequins. Theserepresent the characters’ bodies,upon which can be placed cloth-ing, armor, various weapons, anditems such as key rings, helmets,etc. Items may be placed on thefollowing areas:

♦ Head: helmets.

♦ Neck: amulets and medallions.

♦ Hands: weapons, shields, sacks, key rings, potions, orany similar objects you wishthe character to use.

♦ Wrists: bracers and gloves.

♦ Shoulder: a quiver to hold arrows.

♦ Body: Armor, cloaks, robes.

Though male, female, short, andtall figurines are displayed, mostclothing fits any character. Twoexceptions to this rule exist. Acentaur wears only centaur armorand a kenku wears only kenkuarmor. Any other character canwear centaur armor, but no othercharacter can wear kenku armor.

RingsTo the right and left of each char-acter mannequin is a white linesketch representing the character’shands. Rings can be placed onthese representations by left-click-ing when a ring is over the handicon. Each character may wear upto two rings at any one time.

Inventory SlotsTwelve inventory slots existbeneath each character man-nequin. An exception to this isthe centaur, who has only eightinventory slots. Although the cen-taur has fewer inventory slots, hehas twice the weight-carrying-capacity of a fighter. Objects youwish your characters to carry withthem on the adventure may beplaced in each character’s inven-tory slots. To do this, use theobject manipulation techniquesdescribed in “Pick Up and DropObjects/Add Items to Inventory,”in the section “Things You Can Dofrom the Adventure Screen,” start-ing on page 13.

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To Open a ContainerTo open a container, such as asack or a chest, place it in a char-acter’s left hand on the charactermannequin. When this is done,the container opens up and dis-plays its contents. Objects withinthe container may now be put intoinventory or swapped with itemsalready in inventory, or the charac-ter may simply place the entirecontainer in inventory. To close thecontainer, left-click on the charac-ter’s left hand.

Object InformationWhen you select an object, it issuperimposed over the mousepointer. When you select theobject on the inventory screen, amessage bar appears centered onthe screen below the characterportraits. The message bar givesa short description of the object.

To return to the Adventure Screen,right-click anywhere on the inven-tory screen except over the iconused to switch between the inven-tory area and the statistical display.

QUILL

MAP TEXTON/OFF

ERASE

PRINT

SAVE MAPTO DISK

RETURNTO GAME

VIEWCUTAWAYMAP

GLOBAL SAVEAND RESTORE

SCROLL MAP SOUTH

SCROLLMAPEAST

MAPPINGAREA

SCROLLMAP

WEST

SCROLLMAP NORTH

Map Text On /OffThe third button has a capital letterA. Clicking on this button hides ordisplays the text which you haveentered on the map. You can tem-porarily hide text to allow betterviewing of the map. Restore text byclicking on the button again. Notethat when the text button is off, textwill not be printed on any maps.

EraseThe fourth icon is a pencil eraser.Left-click on the eraser and youmove the cursor over any line oftext on the map, then left-clickagain to erase the line you havechosen. Click on the eraser againto exit this mode.

PrintThe fifth icon is a computerprinter; click this button to printthe current map. Note that textprinted looks different from theway it appears on your computerscreen. Text is printed below themap, and letters at various loca-tions on the map correspond totext notes beside the same lettersprinted beneath the map.

Special Note: Please be certainyour printer is On and set up toprint out a map. In order for theprint function to work, the printermust be set to print the IBM char-acter set. Refer to your printerinstructions for information onhow to set up your printer, and if you are using a laser printer, be aware you may have tochange the printer font to theIBM character set.

Save Map to DiskThe sixth icon is a save button. Itrepresents information beingsaved to a computer disk. Byselecting this option you save thecurrently viewed map into a filein the “Automaps” subdirectory.They can be viewed in any texteditor and are in the formatAUTOXXX.MAP (where XXX isreplaced by numbers).

ExitThe seventh icon is an exit button.It looks like a miniature versionof the Adventure Screen. Left-clickon this button to return to theAdventure Screen.

button displays the automap. Youcan also choose the feature fromthe Main Menu. To do this, chooseAUTOMAP from the Main Menu.

FeaturesYou have a map area, scrollingbuttons, a legend, and variousfunction buttons. The legend andbuttons appear on the right sideof the screen. They represent theabilities to: scroll through severalmaps, display text, save to disk,return to the game, display thecut-away map, and global saveand restore. These buttons add anumber of versatile features tothe mapping process.

Line of SightThe map area is based on yourcharacter’s line-of-sight, so onlyparts of a dungeon that havebeen explored are shown.Everything on the map reflectsthe current status of the itemsshown. Doors are displayed openor closed. This makes automap-ping a very useful tool. Walls,insets, doors, floors, trap doors,rugs, pressure plates, illusionarywalls, your party, trees, creatures,NPCs, and furniture are all dis-played on the map. Note,however, that items and creaturesof which your characters are notyet aware are not shown.

Scroll Map – North, South, East, WestAt the top, bottom, and sides ofthe automapping window aresmall pyramids or triangles, iconswhich can be used to scroll to thenorth, south, east, and west of themap. This becomes useful whenthe map grows larger than can bedisplayed in one window.

Scroll through MapsThe first icon below the legendappears as a number of parch-ments between a right and a leftbutton. By clicking on the buttonsto either side, you scroll throughthe maps you have made fromthe levels you already explored.

Add TextThe second icon is a quill. Left-clicking on the quill allows you totype notes anywhere on the mapwindow. Simply move the cursorto the desired position and left-click to begin your text line.Hitting the Enter key allows you tocontinue your text on the next line.Up to four lines of text are avail-able for each entry. Press the Esckey to return the cursor to thescreen. Click on the quill again toexit this mode.

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The MenzoberranzanCity InterfaceYour party exits the mouth of atunnel, deep in the Underdark,and before them stretches the city of Menzoberranzan. TheMenzoberranzan City Interface isa single screen displaying a mapof the city. Move the mouse cursor

over the screen, and the names of the various drow houses andother areas appear. To enter a specific house or other area, left-click when the area’s name isdisplayed. Your party moves intothe chosen map and continues itsjourney on the Adventure Screen.Doors which leave any map in the city and return you to the

Cut-Away MapThe eighth icon, located to theright of the exit icon, represents acut-away map. This map is notavailable at first, but is given toyour characters by one of the NPCsthey meet along the way. Once themap is in your party’s possession,left-clicking on this icon displays acut-away view of your party’sdescent into the Underdark. Thisserves two functions. First, it givesa sense of how far beneath thesurface your party has venturedand how much distance yetremains to Menzoberranzan.Second, it allows you to access theautomaps of levels your party hasalready explored in a quick andeasy fashion. Using the mouse cur-sor, simply highlight the levelcontaining the automaps you wishto review, then left-click to displaythose maps in the regular

automap mode. The first map ofthe selected level appears automat-ically. This saves the time ofscrolling through a long list ofmaps, a helpful feature if the infor-mation you want is several levelsabove the current position of yourparty. Information on the cut-awaymap appears in two stages. Areaswhich appear in outline have notbeen explored by the party, andautomaps for these levels are notyet available. Detailed areas havebeen explored and can be high-lighted by moving the cursor overthem as previously described. Youcan simultaneously highlight allexplored levels by left-clicking onthe draftsman’s tool displayed inthe upper right hand corner of thecut-away map. To the right of thecut-away map are two icons, oneto return to the game and one toreturn to the regular automap.

26 27

Global Save and RestoreThe ninth icon shows two disks,one on either side of a global map. The disk to the left is “globalsave” and the disk to the right is“global restore.” Using this featuresaves all of the maps, text, andinformation you have acquired,even if your party dies. Ordinarilymapping information is lost whenthe last party member falls; how-ever, if global save has been used,your party’s hard won information

can be made available to the nextset of characters sent into theUnderdark. Global save saves all of the areas explored by the partyat the time of the save. Globalrestore restores the maps andinformation available at the time of the last global save. Map areasexplored only in a previous gameare shaded out. In this way you cansee which areas are newly exploredand which have been restored froma previous adventure.

HOUSEDO’URDEN

GOLLVELIUS’TAVERN

MANTLE CAVERN ONE

TOWER OFSORCERE

MANTLE CAVERN TWO

MERCHANT’SBAZAAR

HOUSE BAENRE

APPROACH TO MENZOBERRANZAN

CARPATHIAN’STOWERHOUSE FEY

BRANCHE

HOUSEDO’URDEN

GOLLVELIUS’TAVERN

MANTLE CAVERN ONE

TOWER OFSORCERE

MANTLE CAVERN TWO

MERCHANT’SBAZAAR

HOUSE BAENRE

APPROACH TO MENZOBERRANZAN

CARPATHIAN’STOWERHOUSE FEY

BRANCHE

weapon being used. What dam-age each weapon can do issummarized in the “WeaponsTable” on page 89.

Sometimes monsters take par-tial or no damage from certainweapons; animated fungi skeletons, for example, take only half damage from sharp or edged weapons.

Combat StrategyThrown WeaponsCharacters who use thrownweapons should carry them in-hand. After a character attackswith the last of his or her thrownweapons, a shield or short swordis readied automatically (if avail-able). Be sure to recover yourcharacter’s ranged weapons aftereach battle. Collect all the rangedweapons your character finds;they are used quickly in battle.

Moving and FightingPay attention to the compass onthe screen to help with mapping.In an unexplored area, move witha spell menu on the screen andan attack spell showing so yourcharacters can cast spells quickly.

Prepare your characters for battlebefore opening any door, climb-ing or descending stairs, orpushing any button that mightopen a door or secret wall.Monsters often crouch behindclosed doors or secret walls, wait-ing and hungry for combat!

Remember, your characters canmove and fight at the same time,even backward to dodge a meleeattack and sideways to dodge aranged attack. Another strategy isto retreat behind a door and closeit, blocking the attack of a partic-ularly nasty beast. Be carefulthough, some monsters can opendoors to follow.

HintsThis section contains hints to helpyour characters along their way.

Carry Items with YouYou never know when your char-acters might need somethingthey’ve found! To carry an itemalong for the adventure, pick it upand move it into an inventory. Ifthere is no more room in yourcharacter’s inventory, find a safeand easily accessible location tostash items that can’t be carried.

Keep Track of Buttons andLevers to Solve PuzzlesSome puzzles are activated in onepart of the dungeon, yet affectother parts farther off. If yourcharacters cannot get through anarea, go back and change a fewbuttons or levers, one at a time,then see if the change makes adifference. Using the automapfeature may help you figure outhow certain puzzles work.

Menzoberranzan City Interface areeasily recognizable. Also, any twomaps within the city which lieadjacent to one another may bereached by moving from one mapto the next. Thus, it is not necessaryto return to the MenzoberranzanCity Interface for every move withinthe city.

Adventuring Strategy

Attack OptionsCharacters most often engage in“melee combat,” which is face-to-face battle with weapons such asswords and maces. Other optionsinclude casting spells and engag-ing in ranged combat using bowsor slings.

Combat MechanicsUnderstanding the technical side ofcombat allows you to choose themost effective strategy for yourparty in battle. Each character’sability in combat is defined by hisArmor Class, THACØ, and damage.

Armor ClassArmor Class (AC) represents howdifficult a monster is to hit with aweapon. The lower the ArmorClass, the harder it is to hit thetarget. Armor Class is based onthe type of armor a character iswearing, and can be supple-mented with a bonus for a highDexterity score. Some magicitems also help improve (orlower) an Armor Class rating.

THACØTHACØ is your character’s abilityto hit enemies. THACØ stands for“To Hit Armor Class Ø.” A charac-ter must “roll” a number equal toor greater than this to damage atarget with an Armor Class of Ø.The lower the attacker’s THACØ,the better its chance to hit the tar-get. A character’s THACØ is basedon his class and level.

NOTE: the generation of a randomnumber is often referred to as a“roll.” In determining if an attackhits, the number generated is from1 to 20. The base roll is modifiedby the character’s ability scores andby the use of magic weapons.

An attack is successful if the rollis greater than or equal to theattacker’s THACØ minus the tar-get’s AC.

Example: A fighter with a THACØof 15 attacking a monster withan AC of 3 would need to roll:(THACØ 15) - (AC 3) = 12+. Butto hit a monster with an AC of –2he would need to roll: (THACØ15) - (AC –2) = 17+.

DamageDamage is the hit point loss anattacker inflicts on his opponent.This damage is based on theattacker’s Strength and the

28 29

SkySelect ON or OFF to show or hidethe sky. Without the sky, thegame responds more quickly.

Sprite DitheringSprite dithering enhances theimages of creatures as they comecloser to your party. It works toblend the colors of adjacent pixelsand keep the images ofapproaching creatures frombecoming too “blocky.” Turningthis option OFF slightly increasesgame speed.

DistancingSwitching between the minimumand maximum values of “dis-tancing” determines whethermonsters, trees, and objects areseen from as far away as possibleor not until they are much closer.

SoundSwitch sound on and off with thisoption.

MusicThis option allows you to turn themusic on and off; switchingbetween the minimum and maxi-mum values allows you to find abalance between the game’ssound effects and its music.

Palette IntensityAltering the palette intensitychanges the brightness of colorsand images in the game. Left-click on the bar and move it withthe cursor to change between theminimum and maximum valuesof palette intensity.

Step MovementStep movement allows you toturn the game’s step movementon and off. For more informationon what step movement is about,refer to the “Step Movement” sub-section (in the “How to Play”section) on page 10.

Screen SizeThree buttons, representing small,medium, and large appear withthis option. They refer to theadventure window on theAdventure Screen. By making thewindow smaller, you enhance thespeed at which the game runs. Inaddition to the three set sizesfrom which you may choose, youmay also may also bring in thesides of the gaming window byusing the < and > keys on yourcomputer keyboard.

Look for Hidden Buttons on the WallsAlways check walls for hiddenbuttons and bricks. Moving yourparty sideways down a wall oftenmakes such things easier to spot.

Keep Your Eye on the CompassWatch the compass as your char-acters explore the realm of theUnderdark. There are a numberof traps that can change theparty’s facing. Magic portals andteleporters may reveal themselvesin this way.

When to Save the GameSave the game any time youbelieve something might happento hurt your character. Use thequick save option by pressing Son your keyboard. Save yourgame at the beginning of eachlevel. If a puzzle is difficult tosolve, save the game and try dif-ferent solutions. If monsters areattacking thick and fast, save thegame and try new strategies.When things are really tough,save before opening doors.

Go OnWhen all else fails, go on withthe game. Your characters neednot open every door, fight everymonster, and obtain every item towin. Remember any areas your

party bypasses. If they arestumped in a later area, or needan item to go on, go back and trythe puzzle again.

Game OptionsTo the left of the movementarrows on the Adventure Screenare four icons: game options,quick save, map, and quickrestore. The top button is thegame options button. By left-clicking on this button youdisplay the game options screen.This screen can also be displayedby left-clicking on the OPTIONSchoice from the Main Menu.

The game options screen displaysthe following eleven options.

Double-Click SpeedClick on this bar and move itwith the cursor to change themouse’s double-click speedbetween its minimum and maxi-mum values.

FloorsSelect ON or OFF to show or hidethe floors. Without floors, thegame responds more quickly.

CeilingsSelect ON or OFF to show or hidethe ceilings. Without ceilings, thegame responds more quickly.

30 31

NameNames can be up to twelve char-acters in length. Once completed,your character’s name is dis-played on his or her portrait.

Keep or DeleteAt this point, all the pertinentinformation about the character isknown. The next brazier showstwo icons, KEEP and DELETE. Youmay decide whether to use thecharacter generated, or start theprocess over again. Selecting KEEPsaves the character informationand you are automaticallyreturned to the first brazier tobegin the process over again, thistime in order to generate the sec-ond character necessary to startthe game. Selecting DELETEreturns you to the first stage tobegin the generation again.

UndoOne button which appears on thescreen throughout the charactergeneration process is the UNDObutton. This button starts the pro-cess of selection at the currentbrazier over again.

Using the Escape KeyAt any point during the genera-tion process, you may return tothe beginning of the charactergeneration process by pressingthe Escape (Esc) key.

Character BasicsFor each character, there are four basic factors which make up the foundation of his or heridentity: race, class, alignment,and attributes.

RacesSix races inhabit the world ofMenzoberranzan. Of these,humans prove the most numer-ous and adaptable; however, youdecide which races you’d like inyour party.

♦ Dwarf

♦ Elf

♦ Gnome

♦ Half-Elf

♦ Halfling

♦ Human

While all races can becomeexperts in fighting, some aremore adaptable than others, anda few can wield powerful magic.Only humans may join those elitewarriors battling in the name oftruth, the paladins. Each race pos-sesses certain strengths, whichshow up as modifiers to theirability scores.

CREATING YOURPARTY OF CHARACTERS

Generating CharactersCharacter generation takes placein the chapel of House Baenre,where an altar is surrounded byeight burning braziers. One bra-zier at a time, the process ofcreating your characters begins.After each Player Character char-acteristic is chosen, the viewcircles around the scene to thenext brazier.

Player characters are generatedby clicking on icons whichappear within each of the bra-ziers. Selected icons shift to thebottom of the screen, so that youremain continuously aware ofyour choices throughout the gen-eration process.

For detailed information on char-acter races, classes, etc., read thesection “Character Basics” whichbegins on page 33. If you are anovice player, we recommend thatyou read “Character Basics.”

Select SexIn the first brazier, two icons repre-sent male and female characters.Select one.

Select RaceThe six choices for the character’srace are: human, gnome, dwarf,elf, half-elf, and halfling.

Select ClassThe available classes (occupa-tions) are: fighter, paladin, ranger,cleric, mage, and thief. You maypick any class legally available tothe previously chosen race, andyou may make whatever multi-classed characters are allowed.

Select AlignmentThe selections are: lawful good,lawful neutral, chaotic good,chaotic neutral, neutral good, andtrue neutral. Your choice may be limited by certain characterclass restrictions.

Select FaceSeveral of the portraits availableto your character are displayed,along with an icon which allowsyou to scroll through more facechoices than can be displayed ona single screen.

Select Attributes/Age/Hit PointsThe next step in the generationprocess is to determine the char-acter’s attributes. During thisphase, you are given the opportu-nity to REROLL and EDIT characterability scores. The reroll optionrandomly generates another set ofstatistics for the character. The editoption allows you to edit anattribute number and change it upto the numerical limit allowed bythe AD&D second edition rules.

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♦ Half-elves prove to be skill-ful in a wide range of activities,their mix of elven and humanblood providing them with manyadvantages over other races. Theirtalents, however, are not soappreciated as to make them wel-come company in either humanor elven society. While they areseen travelling and mingling inboth groups, they are often tootall and heavy to be acceptedamong the elves, while their slen-der, elven features often makethem outcasts among men.

On the average, half-elves live for250 years and inherit an inbornresistance to sleep and charmspells, though this protection isless than in true elves.

Ability Score Modifiers: None

Allowable Classes: Cleric, Fighter,

Mage, Ranger, Thief, Fighter/Cleric,

Fighter/Thief, Fighter/Mage,

Cleric/Ranger, Cleric/Mage, Mage/Thief,

Fighter/Mage/Cleric, Fighter/Mage/Thief

♦ Halflings avoid strenuousadventures as a rule. Their back-sides are used to the comfort ofpadded chairs and their feet enjoyresting atop mounds of well-feath-ered pillows. This is not to say

they are lazy, for as a racehalflings prove to be sturdy andindustrious, always making cer-tain their larders stay well-stockedand their burrows remain warm,well-furnished homes.

Halflings can usually be spottedby their curly hair and round,broad facial features. They areplump, quiet, and well-liked bythe other races, especially thegnomes. When adventuring,halflings show their mettle bytheir innate resistance to magicand the +1 bonus they receive fortheir skill with slings.

Ability Score Modifiers: Dexterity +1,

Strength –1 (for non-fighters)

Allowable Classes: Cleric, Fighter, Thief,

Fighter/Thief

♦ Humans often risk theirshort, 70 year life span in questsfor immediate, personal gain. Yetit proves difficult to say any onething about them. Though oftenimpatient and short-sighted,humans live in the most diversesocieties and frequently strive tomeet high ideals.

Ability Score Modifiers: None

Allowable Classes: Cleric, Fighter,

Mage, Paladin, Ranger, and Thief.

♦ Dwarves combine the quali-ties of the ferocious and the artistic.They are as at home crafting a cir-clet of jewels as they are wieldingan axe in battle. Firm muscleaccounts for much of their average150 pound weight, although at amere 4 to 4 1/2 feet in height,dwarves appear stocky at best. Theyare tenacious and demonstrate afanatical courage through most oftheir four centuries (or more) of life.Their weapons and other dwarven-crafted wares demand high pricesin the marketplace.

Part of the dwarven mystique istheir innate resistance to spells andto many poisons. Dwarves are, bynature, non-magical creatures.

Ability Score Modifiers: Dexterity –1, Constitution +1,

Charisma –2

Allowable Classes: Cleric, Fighter, Thief,

Fighter/Cleric, Fighter/Thief

♦ Elves spend much of their timein the carefree company of nature,as far from cities and towns aspossible. Because of this they areoften thought to be haughty andcold, especially when forced intothe company of others. The land ofthe dark elves presents a specialchallenge for elves, for the droware sworn enemies of their surfacedwelling cousins. At their best witha bow or a song, elves may spendmore years in playful wandering

than most other creatures have tolive; their life span can exceed1,200 years. They are distin-guished by their fine features andpointed ears, and when standingbeside the average man theyappear a bit shorter than most.Taught archery from an early age,elves receive a +1 bonus with anytype of bow, and with both shortand long swords. Mages find elvesresistant to any type of sleep orcharm spells. Raise dead spells donot affect them either.

Ability Score Modifiers: Dexterity +1,

Constitution –1

Allowable Classes: Cleric, Fighter,

Mage, Ranger, Thief, Fighter/Mage,

Fighter/Thief, Mage/Thief,

Fighter/Mage/Thief

♦ Gnomes may be the world’sfirst practical jokers and have aproven reputation as enthusiasticpranksters. Carefree and lively, itis often as difficult to believe theyare kin to dwarves as it is to getany gnome to admit the relation.Their life span is about 600years, reached in part because oftheir resistance to magic.

Ability Score Modifiers: Intelligence +1, Wisdom –1

Allowable Classes: Cleric, Fighter, Thief,

Cleric/Thief, Fighter/Cleric, Fighter/Thief

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♦ Clerics, also called priests,may be the most favored class ofthe gods, for they receive theirpower directly from them andcast spells through their holysymbols. No cleric battles hisadversaries with faith alone, how-ever. They prefer to back up theirmagic with the authority of amace or flail. Limited to usingblunt weapons, clerics are notopposed to wearing a good suitof armor on their journeys.

No tomes of spells and ritualsdangle from a cleric’s belt or hidein the dark and musty reaches ofhis pack, for a cleric’s magic is ofdivine origin. While mages poreendlessly over the spells they mustmemorize, clerics pray in order tobe receptive to divine magic.

Clerics with Wisdom of 13 orhigher gain extra spells. (See the“Cleric Wisdom Spell Bonus”table on page 86).

Prime Requisite: Wisdom

Races Allowed: All

Weapons Allowed: Mace, Flail, Staff,Sling, War Hammer

♦ Fighters often tread inharm’s way, relying on a strongsword arm and their brave, some-times foolhardy natures to win theday. Trained in the use and main-tenance of all types of weaponsand armor, fighters can utilize anyavailable piece of hardware with-out restriction, including magicalitems such as rings and gauntlets.

Like practicing athletes, fightersimprove their skills and speed asthey move up in levels. An extrasword thrust, delivered with blind-ing speed, may prove the differencebetween the living and the dead,and high-level fighters such as pal-adins and rangers can attack moreoften with melee weapons.

Prime Requisite: Strength

Races Allowed: All

Weapons Allowed: All

♦ Mages control powerful spellsby memorizing their arcane wordsand ancient symbols. Knowledgeof this art is their treasure and thesecret to their mysterious power.

Because their ability to cast spellsdepends upon freedom of move-ment, mages cannot wear armorand tend to make poor fighters.Instead of weapons (and they canuse but a very few), mages rely onintellect and the ability to memo-rize spells to see them through.

Still, a high-level mage is apotent entity. When armed with ahoard of musty spellbooks andscrolls gathered after many trialsand much experience, a mage canbecome truly powerful.

Prime Requisite: Intelligence

Races Allowed: Human, Elf, Half-Elf

Weapons Allowed: Dagger, Staff

ClassesWhile the race of each characteris important, another quality critical to success is their class.Some races boast talented mem-bers who are able to handle morethan one occupation at a time.These are referred to as multi-class characters.

Some characters learn magicwhile others become experts inbattle tactics. Some are masters ofthe arcane art of spellcasting,while others are malcontents ableto pick almost any lock. Eachbelongs to his own defined occu-pation, or class. While themembers of some races maybelong to more than a single-class, the six basic choices are:

♦ Cleric ♦ Fighter

♦ Mage ♦ Paladin

♦ Ranger ♦ Thief

Select the classes of your charac-ters with care. A good sword armand knowledge of tactics are thehallmark of warriors such as thefighters, rangers, and paladins,but skill in battle alone is oftennot enough. To survive the manydangers of the Underdark, the artof picking locks and avoidinghidden traps can be useful too.These are the skills of a thief.Magic-users such as mages andclerics possess the knowledge ofpowerful spells, and clerics areable to cure wounds.

Each class has one or more primerequisites, ability scores that areimportant to that class. A charac-ter with prime requisite scores of16 or greater advances faster in levels.

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Single-Class vs. Multi-ClassSingle-class characters have morehit points than multi-class charac-ters with the same amount ofexperience. They do more damageto their opponents in battle.Single-class clerics and magesgain higher level spells soonerthan their multi-class counterparts.

Non-human characters maychoose to belong to one or moreclasses, and in so doing reap afew rewards for their trouble. Afighter/mage can both meleeeffectively and cast spells, thoughhis single-class counterpartsprove better at their individualspecialties and advance levelsmore quickly. While this maysound at first like a weak choice,ask yourself what your bravefighter will do when he encoun-ters a locked gate for which thereis no key.

Because their experience pointsare distributed evenly betweentheir classes, multi-class charac-ters move up through the levelsvery slowly.

Racial AdvantagesIf you’ve been wondering whichrace/class combinations are best,here are a few examples:

Single-ClassDwarven Fighter: This charac-ter has less to worry about thanmost when battling poisonouscreatures. With a maximumConstitution of 19, the dwarvenfighter may benefit as well fromincreased hit points. Readingdwarven writing is their specialty.

Paladin: With a gentle touch,your paladin may heal thatwound which otherwise couldsignal the end for the afflictedcharacter. Yet laying on hands isbut one benefit of choosing thiselite warrior to do battle in therealm of the dark elves. Capableof fighting as well as any fighter,when paladins reach the ninthlevel, they are able to master afew cleric spells.

Elven Mage: Moving swiftly,your elven mage steps betweenthe paths of two hurtling arrows,demonstrating inhuman graceand Dexterity. Benefiting from ahigh Armor Class (due toDexterity) and the ability to gainlevels swiftly as a single-classcharacter, the elven mage boastsa maximum Constitution of 17and a maximum Dexterity of 19.They also read elven writing.

♦ Paladins radiate an aura ofprotection, a shield of sorts whichcauses their attackers to suffer apenalty even before these elitewarriors have unsheathed theirswords. In this and other magicalabilities, paladins prove them-selves as more than mere fighters.

Walking the most difficult path ofany class, the paladin abides bythe rules of lawful good andleads others by the example ofhis chaste and pious ways. Inaddition to skill with all types ofarms and armor, paladins pos-sess extra resistance to magicalattacks and poisons. No diseasecan lay them low. And once perday, they can heal with their layon hands ability, a skill similar tothe cleric’s cure light woundsspell. This restores two hit pointsper his or her experience level.

Once they reach the ninth level,paladins can use certain clericspells: bless, cure light wounds,detect magic, and slow poison.Paladins pray for these spells andcast them exactly as clerics do.

Prime Requisites: Strength, Charisma

Races Allowed: Human

Weapons Allowed: All

♦ Rangers follow the tracks oftheir quarry across hard lands, orbeneath the dim light of a forestcanopy, yet never lose the trail.They are trained trackers, hunters,and woodsmen, succeeding by

their wits as much as by theirskills with the bow and sword. Atone with any type of weapon orarmor, rangers usually avoidheavy armor as too restricting. Itprevents them from using theirspecial ability to wield a weaponin both hands without penalty. Forthis reason they are seen moreoften in studded leather or other,lighter armors. Rangers, like otherhigh-level fighters, can attackmore often with melee weapons.

Prime Requisites: Strength, Dexterity,Wisdom

Races Allowed: Human, Elf, Half-Elf

Weapons Allowed: All

♦ Thieves accept no single ruleor philosophy by which to runtheir lives. While some may stealchange from a beggar’s cup, oth-ers may share their ill-gottenprizes with the less fortunate. Stillothers see themselves as basicallygood businessmen, with perhapsa slight character flaw.

In a castle, town, or dungeon, anexperienced thief of many levels isproficient at picking locks andavoiding whatever traps have beenlaid to catch the unwary. To movefreely and quietly, thieves prefer towear leather armor, though they arenot averse to travelling well-armed.

Prime Requisites: Dexterity

Races Allowed: All

Weapons Allowed: All

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example of a neutral good char-acter. A true neutral, on the otherhand, strives to maintain the bal-ance of good and evil, even to thepoint of fighting on evil’s side.

Chaotic characters impulsivelyfollow their beliefs, no matter ifthey meet with society’s views ornot. Whereas a chaotic goodcharacter may show occasionalstreaks of kindness and benevo-lence, a chaotic neutral charactermay have no preference towardsgood or evil deeds, and not careabout anything either way.

Ability ScoresAbility scores are a numericalsummary of a character’s naturalfaculties and abilities. The higherthe score, the better their abilityin that area. Each character hasthe following abilities.

♦ Strength (STR)

♦ Dexterity (DEX)

♦ Constitution (CON)

♦ Intelligence (INT)

♦ Wisdom (WIS)

♦ Charisma (CHA)

The Edit and Keep commands allowyou to make changes to theseability scores and then save them.

Each ability score is between 3and 18. Modifications to the basescore caused by the character’srace are automatically factored in

by the computer. The highest anyscore can be is 19, unlessboosted upward through magic.

For fighters, a percentile valuemay be added to Strength toshow exceptional ability.

StrengthStrength provides a measure ofeffectiveness in battle. As theword implies, physical power,muscle, and stamina are beinggauged. Stronger characters areable to do more damage with aweapon because they are swing-ing the weapon harder than aweaker character can.

Fighters, rangers, and paladins are capable of extraordinary featsof physical prowess and so maypossess exceptional Strengthscores higher than 18. These special scores are displayed as a percent value following the base Strength, such as: 18/23.Exceptional Strength means thecharacter has a superior ability todo the following: hit an enemy,increase the damage done witheach hit, and carry more withoutbecoming encumbered. Refer tothe “Strength Table” on page 88and “Encumbrance Table” on page90 for more information.

Unfortunately, halflings, evenhalfling fighters, cannot acquireexceptional Strengths.

Human or Half-Elven Cleric:Proud of their often formidableintellects, these single-class charac-ters gain levels swiftly. They canascend to a maximum Wisdom of18, and in so doing acquire themaximum number of bonus spells.A skilled human or half-elvencleric can attain the maximum lev-els permitted in the game.

Multi-ClassHalf-Elven Fighter/Mage/Cleric:If only this character can survivelong enough, his various talentswill show promise in overcomingany obstacle the Underdark mighthave to offer. With the exception of lock picks, a specialty of thieves,your Half-Elven Fighter/Mage/Cleric can employ every item in the game. Although he or she can cast spells, draw a sword, andheal wounds, he or she cannot perform any of these tasks as wellas a single-class character with the same amount of experience.

Elven Fighter/Mage/Thief:Here is a jack-of-all-trades whocan pick locks as well. But likethe Half-Elven Fighter/Mage/Cleric listed previously, this char-acter also rises slowly throughthe levels and suffers from ascarcity of hit points for most ofthe game.

AlignmentsThere are six possible alignments,or philosophies of life, although a character’s chosen class maylimit your selections. Paladins, for instance, can only be lawfulgood. The choices are:

♦ Lawful Good

♦ Lawful Neutral

♦ Neutral Good

♦ True Neutral

♦ Chaotic Good

♦ Chaotic Neutral

Two parts make up a character’salignment, and both are equallyimportant: world view and per-sonal ethics.

Lawful characters obey the lawsof society and strive for thosethings which will bring the great-est benefit to the most people andcause the least harm. Whereaslawful good characters strive todo everything according to thelaw and believe the law is alwaysright, lawful neutral charactersbelieve in the institution of soci-ety and will obey orders even ifthey disagree with them.

Neutral characters believe in bal-ancing the laws of society andtheir personal views. A baronwho violates the orders of hisking in order to destroy some-thing he sees as evil is an

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wear the best, dwarven-tooledarmor, that beast waiting aroundthe next corner may boast thesame Armor Class because it isfast and small.

Both magical armor and a highDexterity score improve a charac-ter’s Armor Class.

Hit Points (HP)Hit points act as a scale showingyour character’s life force. Themore hit points you have, the bet-ter, but when your character’s hitpoints reach zero, he or she isdead. At that point you either haveto replace the character withanother one met by your party inits adventure into the Underdark,or have your party’s cleric attempta raise dead spell. (Note: the raisedead spell is not effective on elves.)

Experience Points (EXP or XP)An experience point is a concretemeasurement of a character’sprogress. Avoiding that gnoll’ssilent leap from behind taughtyour character something, as didhoning his sword skills againstthe drow raider two doors back.Finding treasure, completing partsof the adventure, and dispatchingfoes all lead to increased experi-ence points and, eventually, anincrease in a character’s level.

Characters with ability scores of16 or more increase their experi-ence earned by 10%.

All characters begin the gamewith some experience points andearn more as they adventure.Multi-class characters, however,have these points distributedevenly among their classes, sowill gain levels more slowly.

LevelLevel measures how much acharacter has advanced in his orher class, and is raised automati-cally when a character gainsenough experience points. Whena character rises in experiencelevel his or her hit pointsincrease, and his or her fightingability (THACØ) improves as well.

Characters at higher levels showa resistance to the effects of poisons and magical attacks.When at advanced levels, mages,clerics, and paladins find them-selves able to memorize a greaternumber of spells.

To find out how many experiencepoints a character needs toachieve a certain level, refer to the “Level Advancement Tables”that begin on page 86.

DexterityDexterity measures a character’sspeed and agility. Accuracy in fir-ing a bow or letting loose with asling are other advantages of ahigh Dexterity as well as receiv-ing bonuses to one’s ArmorClass. Adversaries simply find ithard to hit a quick-moving target.

When the Dexterity score reaches16 and above, fighters can moreeffectively manage a weapon ineach hand with less penalty.

ConstitutionConstitution measures the fitness,health, and physical toughness ofyour character. A high score inthis area boosts the total numberof hit points your characterreceives, and with more hit points,your character becomes all themore difficult to injure or kill.

IntelligenceIntelligence becomes a key factorin a character’s ability to memorizeand use spells. Mages in particularmust be highly intelligent to learnand use their repertoire of magic.In all, this ability measures mem-ory, reasoning, and learning.

WisdomWisdom ensures that the characterpossessing a lot of it is less sus-ceptible to magic. Likewise, a lowscore in this area (7 or less) leavesa character open to the slightestspell. Wisdom scores of 13 andabove offer some protection.

Clerics find that a high Wisdomscore (13 or more) enables themto cast extra spells. For more infor-mation, see the “Cleric WisdomSpell Bonus” table on page 86.

CharismaCharisma measures a character’sability to persuade and commandothers. A human character with a high charisma may become apaladin.

Other Characteristics♦ Armor Class (AC)

♦ Hit Points (HP)

♦ Experience Points (EXP or XP)

♦ Level (LVL)

Four other elements; ArmorClass, hit points, experiencepoints, and level define how wella character is doing at any givenpoint. Unlike race or class, thesescores change constantly basedon a character’s actions (eitherwhat he’s doing or what’s beingdone to him).

Armor Class (AC)Armor Class reflects both a char-acter’s Dexterity bonuses andwhatever armor or shield he orshe may be wearing. As a score,it measures how difficult yourcharacter is to hit and damage.The lower the AC, the harder it isfor him or her to be hit. Butremember, low AC values are rel-ative. While your character may

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CHARACTER POWERS

Magical Abilities Acquired from Magical Objects

♦ IMMUNITY TO POISONRANGE: 0 DURATION: Short AREA OF EFFECT: One character

This power provides an immunity to every known poison for a shortperiod of time. It affects only the character in possession of a particu-lar drow artifact.

♦ LIGHTNING BOLTRANGE: Long DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Special

This spell is provided to all characters, even non-magic-users, who arein possession of a certain drow artifact. Upon casting, the artifactreleases a powerful bolt of electrical energy, inflicting from 1–60points of damage to each creature within its area of effect. It can beused in this fashion once every twenty-four hours.

♦ GUST OF WINDRANGE: 0 DURATION: Short AREA OF EFFECT: Path 10’ X 30’

This spell is provided to all characters, even to non-magic-users, whoare in possession of a certain drow artifact. It acts exactly like the third-level mage spell of the same name. When this spell is cast, a stronggust of air originates from the artifact and moves forward with enoughforce to extinguish candles, torches, and other unprotected flames. Itcan force back small flying creatures and slow down larger ones, aswell as force away gaseous or other levitating creatures. The artifactcan be used to produce this spell once in every eight hour period.

♦ CHARM DROWRANGE: Close DURATION: Short AREA OF EFFECT: One character

Characters in possession of a certain drow artifact are endowed withthis power. By activating the power, the character charms all drow inthe immediate vicinity, and forestalls any attacks those drow wereabout to make. The effect follows the drow artifact, and is not a spellcast on a particular character. If the object were to be given away afterthe power was invoked, the protection of the charm moves to the newowner of the artifact.

SPELLSYour party challenges the might of the drow on a journey which takesthem into the dark and treacherous world of the dark elves. To survivein this land where High Priestesses train for decades in the halls ofArach-Tinillith to be master practitioners of magic, no party should bewithout its own magic-users trained in the ancient art of spellcasting.Following the legend are descriptions of spells your magic-wieldingcharacters may use to fend off the dangers of the Underdark, or to con-quer its greatest challenges.

In addition to spells, a number of character “powers” have been imple-mented. These powers include class and race powers, as well as specialpowers bestowed by magical objects, and drow powers available to theparty when they are magically disguised as dark elves. A ribbonappears when powers are present, displayed in the same location as acleric’s holy symbol or a mage’s spellbook. (The ribbon appears incombination with these icons if the character is a cleric, mage, ormulti-classed magic-user.) Left-click on the ribbon icon to bring up astandard spell list. To display the characters’ powers, left-click again onthe A appearing to the left of the 1st-level spell button.

Legend for Spell and Power Descriptions

RANGE:

0 = the spell caster

Touch = the character or creature touched

Close = adjacent square

Medium = up to 2 squares away

Long = as far as visible range

DURATION:

Instantaneous = flash or instant effect

Short = single combat round

Medium = effect lasts for some time

Long = effect lasts quite a while

Permanent = effect lasts for entire game

Special = see spell description

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♦ READ LANGUAGES (THIEVES)RANGE: 0 DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Special

By the time a thief reaches 4th level, he or she has a fair chance ofreading most languages. In the underground world of Menzoberranzan,the two languages most likely to need translating are dwarven anddrow. Click on this power and then on whatever runes or cryptic bookspresent themselves, to call your thief’s language reading skills intoaction. They may be up to the challenge, but then again. . . .

♦ HIDE IN SHADOWS (THIEVES)RANGE: 0 DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: Special

The caverns and corners of the Underdark present many opportunitiesfor a thief to hide in shadows. This power works much like an invisibilityspell, concealing the thief from the attention of his or her opponents.Unfortunately, once the thief makes an attack the concealment ends, andhe or she is visible to all attacking creatures. This power is representedon the Adventure Screen by the shading down of the thief’s portrait.

♦ DETECT NOISE (THIEVES)RANGE: Special DURATION: Short AREA OF EFFECT: Special

One power of value in the Underdark is the power to detect noise. Byusing this power, thieves increase their chances of hearing any crea-tures in the vicinity. A hook horror or an umber hulk shuffling downa dark corridor may well reveal itself to an alert thief.

Race-Related Powers

♦ READ DWARVEN (DWARVES, GNOMES, AND HALFLINGS)RANGE: 0 DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Special

Dwarves, gnomes, and halflings all have the ability, or at least a fairchance, to read dwarven runes and writings. Click on this power tohave your dwarf translate those mysterious runes for the party, or forthe gnome or halfling with the group to give it his or her best effort.

♦ DETECT SECRET DOOR (ELVES AND HALF-ELVES)RANGE: Medium DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Special

Concealed doors, such as illusionary walls, are difficult to hide fromelves and half-elves. Merely passing close to a concealed door gives anelven or half-elven character a one in six chance to notice it. When thedetect secret door power is used, an elven or half-elven character activelysearches for concealed doors. This gives the character a one in threechance to detect an illusionary wall within the immediate area.

Class-Related Powers

♦ DETECT PRESENCE OF EVIL 60’ RADIUS (PALADINS)RANGE: Long DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Special

Activating this power allows a paladin to use his or her natural abilityto detect evil. If a specifically evil creature or opponent lurks in thearea, the paladin responds by alerting the party to its presence. Whilethe paladin does not discern a particular distance or direction to theoffending presence, a warning of coming trouble is often appreciated.

♦ LAY ON HANDS (PALADINS) RANGE: Touch DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

Once per day, a paladin is able to heal 2 points of damage for everyexperience level of the paladin. This healing touch can be used by thepaladin for his or her own good, or can be employed to heal awounded party member.

♦ CAST CLERIC SPELLS (PALADINS)RANGE: Special DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: Instantaneous

Upon reaching his or her ninth level, a paladin is able to cast priest(cleric) spells, limited to the spheres of combat, divination, healing,and protection. The appropriate spells appear automatically in thepaladin’s spell list once the ninth level is achieved.

♦ FIND AND REMOVE TRAPS (THIEVES)RANGE: Touch DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Trapped chest

A chest may contain treasure, or it may be booby-trapped; it mayeven be both! To find out, click on the find and remove traps powerof your thief, then have the thief pick up the chest. While a trap maystill do unwelcome damage to your party, a thief at least has a chanceof disarming the problem beforehand.

♦ BACKSTAB (THIEVES)RANGE: Close DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Creature attacked

The backstab power improves a thief’s attack by adding + 4 to his orher chances to hit. For thieves from levels 1–4, the damage done isdoubled, for thieves of levels 5–8, damage is tripled, and for thievesfrom levels 9–12 it is quadrupled. To activate this power, click on back-stab in your thief’s power list before launching his or her next attack.

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CLERIC SPELLS

First-Level Cleric Spells

♦ BLESSRANGE: Medium DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Whole party

Upon uttering this spell the morale of your party rises, and all mem-bers gain a bonus to their attacks. Bless spells are not cumulative.First-level clerics and high-level paladins can cast bless spells.

♦ CAUSE LIGHT WOUNDSRANGE: Touch DURATION: Permanent AREA OF EFFECT: One creature

This spell is identical to the first-level cure light wounds spell, exceptthat it causes 1–8 points of damage.

♦ CURE LIGHT WOUNDSRANGE: Touch DURATION: Permanent AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

By casting this spell upon a wounded character, 1–8 hit points ofdamage can be cured. High-level paladins can cast cure light woundsspells, and often need to after tangling with the deadly hook horrorsthat lurk in the passageways of the Underdark.

♦ DETECT EVILRANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 10’ path

This spell discovers emanations of evil from any creature, object, orarea. Powerful monsters send forth emanations of evil, and a cursedobject may radiate an aura of evil.

♦ DETECT MAGICRANGE: 0 DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Carried items

This spell allows the caster to determine if any of the items being car-ried are magically enchanted. All magic items are indicated for ashort period of time. High-level paladins can cast detect magic spells.

♦ LEVITATE (DROW)RANGE: 0 DURATION: Permanent AREA OF EFFECT: Character

By using their innate ability to levitate, drow can rise or descendthrough the air with ease, changing vertical levels at will. Drow citiesand houses are built with this ability in mind and often can only beentered by using the power of levitation. It is also a useful ability toemploy in the Underdark, where caverns often change levels, or incombat, where the ability to rise out of danger or descend upon anopponent can provide a tactical advantage.

♦ GLOBE OF DARKNESS (DROW)RANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Special

This power functions much the same as a darkness spell. Whenemployed against an opponent, it causes total, impenetrable darknessin the area of effect. Infravision is useless. Neither normal nor magicallight works unless a light or continual light spell is used.

♦ FAERIE FIRE (DROW)RANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 10’ square/level, 40’ radius

This power functions in exactly the same manner at the spell faerie fire.It enables the caster to outline one or more objects or creatures with apale, glowing light. Outlined objects or creatures are visible in the darkand are therefore easier to strike. This provides a +2 bonus to attack indarkness. This spell does not effect non-corporeal or gaseous creatures,nor does the spell itself cause any damage to its target.

♦ DETECT MAGIC (DROW)RANGE: 0 DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Carried items

This power functions in exactly the same manner as the spell detectmagic. It allows the caster to determine if any of the items being car-ried are magically enchanted. All magic items are indicated for ashort period of time. High-level paladins can cast detect magic spells.

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Second-Level Cleric Spells

♦ AIDRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

This spell acts like a bless spell and adds 1–8 extra hit points to thecharacter’s current base hit points. The temporary hit points are sub-tracted before the character’s own if he or she is injured in combat.The spell’s duration increases with the level of the caster.

♦ DARKFIRERANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 1 fire source

Originally developed for use in the ritual worship of Lolth, darkfirehas since become a well-known battle-spell of the drow. Darkfiregives off no light at all, although creatures with infravision see dark-fire as brighter than ordinary flame. Thrown darkfire does 1–3 hitpoints of damage plus 1 point per level of the caster. Fire resistance isonly partially effective against this “wild magic” energy.

♦ DRAW UPON HOLY MIGHT — DEXRANGE: 0 DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Caster

Similar to draw upon holy might — STR, invoking this spell causesthe cleric’s body to act as a vessel for the energy of his or her god.This time, however, the caster’s Dexterity increases by +1 for everythree levels of experience. The effect lasts for the duration of the spell.It cannot increase Dexterity beyond a value of 18.

♦ DRAW UPON HOLY MIGHT — STRRANGE: 0 DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Caster

While the warriors and wizards of Menzoberranzan cower in fear oftheir spider goddess, Lolth, the cleric in your party may become a ves-sel for the power of his or her god. Upon invoking this spell, his orher body shudders and glows with energy. As a result, the caster’sStrength increases by +1 for every three levels of experience. Theeffect lasts for the duration of the spell. It cannot increase Strengthbeyond a value of 18.

♦ FAERIE FIRERANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 10’ square/level, 40’ radius

This spell enables the caster to outline one or more objects or crea-tures with a pale, glowing light. Outlined objects or creatures arevisible in the dark and are therefore easier to strike. This provides a+2 bonus to attack in darkness. This spell does not effect non-corpo-real or gaseous creatures, nor does the spell itself cause any damageto its target.

♦ LIGHTRANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 20’ radius globe

This spell causes a luminous glow to appear. The light is equal inbrightness to torch light, but multiple castings do not provide agreater light. This is a good spell to use when no torches are avail-able, in the caverns of the Underdark, for example.

♦ MAGICAL STONERANGE: 0 DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: Special

After temporarily enchanting up to three small stones (no larger thansling bullets), a cleric may hurl them at an opponent for 1–4 pointsof damage. The stones are considered +1 weapons, and the magic ofeach stone lasts for one half hour or until used. To use this spell, yourcharacter must find the stones, hold them in his or her hands, andthen cast the spell.

♦ PROTECTION FROM EVILRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

When this spell is cast, it creates a magical barrier around the recipientat a distance of one foot. The barrier moves with the recipient and allattacks made by evil creatures against the protected character receive a–2 penalty to each attack roll. Any saving throws against such attacksare made by the recipient with a +2 bonus. In addition, the spell pre-vents bodily contact by creatures of an extraplanar or conjured nature(such as the handmaidens of Lolth and the myrlochar).

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Third-Level Cleric Spells

♦ CURE DISEASERANGE: Touch DURATION: Permanent AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

This spell enables the caster to cure most diseases by placing hishand upon the diseased character. Thereafter, whatever affliction tor-tures the character rapidly disappears, depending of course upon thetype of disease and the state of its advancement when the cure dis-ease spell is cast.

♦ DISPEL MAGICRANGE: Medium DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Immediate area

This spell negates the effects of any spell affecting your party. Dispelmagic does not counter cure spells, but it dispels hold person, bless,and similar spells.

♦ MAGICAL VESTMENTRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Caster

This spell enchants the caster’s clothing, providing him or her armorprotection that is at least the equivalent of chain mail (AC 5). Thevestment gains a +1 enchantment for each three levels beyond 5thlevel. The magic lasts for five rounds per level of the caster, or untilthe caster loses consciousness. If the vestment is worn with otherarmors, only the best AC (either the armor or the vestment) is used, as this protection is not cumulative with any other AC protection.

♦ PRAYERRANGE: 0 DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Whole party

This spell is a powerful version of bless, and increases your charac-ters’ combat ability while decreasing the enemy’s. The spell has nocumulative effect. The spell’s duration increases with the level of thecaster.

♦ REMOVE PARALYSISRANGE: 0 DURATION: Permanent AREA OF EFFECT: Up to 4 characters

Carrion crawlers produce a sticky secretion which can paralyze theirvictims for 2–12 turns. Luckily for those who have mastered thisspell, it negates the effects of any type of paralyzation or relatedmagic. The spell counters hold or slow spells.

♦ FLAME BLADERANGE: 0 DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 1 target

This spell causes a flame-like blade to leap from the caster’s hand.The blade attacks like a normal sword and does 7–10 points of dam-age. The character attacks as he or she would with any other meleeweapon. The spell does slightly less damage against targets protectedfrom fire. Spell duration increases with the level of the caster.

♦ HOLD PERSONRANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Up to 4 characters

Hold person affects human, demi-human, and humanoid creatures.Creatures that are affected become rigid and unable to move or speak.Spell duration increases with the level of the caster.

♦ SLOW POISONRANGE: Touch DURATION: Long AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

This spell slows the effects of any type of poison for a limited time.When the spell dissipates the victim suffers the poison’s full effectunless a neutralize poison spell is cast. The spell’s duration increaseswith the level of the caster. High-level paladins can cast slow poisonspells.

♦ SPIRITUAL HAMMERRANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Special

The caster of the spiritual hammer spell brings into existence a fieldof force shaped like a hammer, one that seems almost eager to strikeany opponent within its range. As long as the spell lasts, the spiritualhammer can be directed against opponents, in much the same man-ner that any regular weapon can be used. The spiritual hammerstrikes as a magical weapon with a +1 to hit for every six experiencelevels of the caster, up to a maximum of +3. The damage done is thatof a normal war hammer, 1–4 hit points.

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♦ PASSWEBRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Whole party

Identical to the 5th-level mage spell passweb, this spell creates a pas-sage through existing webs, both natural and magical, as though theydid not exist. The webs are not disturbed or altered in any way by thisspell or the passage through them.

♦ PROTECTION FROM EVIL, 10’ RADIUSRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 10’ radius sphere

The effect of this spell is centered on and moves with the charactertouched. It is identical to a protection from evil spell, except that itencompasses a larger area. Any protected character breaks this spellif he or she attacks an enchanted or summoned monster.

Fifth-Level Cleric Spells

♦ CAUSE CRITICAL WOUNDSRANGE: Touch DURATION: Permanent AREA OF EFFECT: Creature touched

This spell is identical to the first-level cause light wounds, except thatit inflicts 6–27 hit points of damage.

♦ CURE CRITICAL WOUNDSRANGE: Touch DURATION: Permanent AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

The cure critical wounds spell is a more potent version of the curelight wounds spell used by a first-level cleric. It can heal 6–27 hitpoints of damage.

♦ FLAME STRIKERANGE: Long DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: 1 square

The cleric calls a column of flame out of the sky, hopefully annihilat-ing an unlucky target. Creatures affected by the spell suffer 6–48points of damage.

♦ RAISE DEADRANGE: Long DURATION: Permanent AREA OF EFFECT: 1 target

When a cleric casts a raise dead spell, he or she can restore life to adwarf, gnome, half-elf, halfling, or human. The raised character mayremain gravely weakened for a short period after being revived.Unfortunately, this spell cannot help full-blooded elves.

♦ VENOM IMMUNITYRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 1 character

This spell renders the recipient immune to all toxins for the duration ofthe spell. Poisons are neutralized and will have no effect; however, thespell leaves no permanent immunities.

Fourth-Level Cleric Spells

♦ CAUSE SERIOUS WOUNDSRANGE: Touch DURATION: Permanent AREA OF EFFECT: Creature touched

The reverse of cure serious wounds, this spell inflicts 3–17 points ofdamage upon the creature touched by the cleric.

♦ CURE SERIOUS WOUNDSRANGE: Touch DURATION: Permanent AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

This spell is identical to the first-level cure light wounds spell, exceptthat it heals 3–17 hit points of damage. Characters courageous enoughto face an aboleth may well hope their party’s cleric knows this spell.

♦ FORTIFYRANGE: 0 DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

Cast this spell upon a character, and the next cure wounds spell castupon the same character is strengthened. When complete, the curewounds spell so fortified always functions to its maximum effect.

♦ FREE ACTIONRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Creature touched

This spell enables the character touched to move and attack normallyfor the duration of the spell, even if under the influence of a magic orof a paralysis that impedes movement.

♦ NEUTRALIZE POISONRANGE: Touch DURATION: Permanent AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

This spell detoxifies any sort of poison or venom, whether it exists ina poisonous creature or in a poisoned party member. It cannot, how-ever, bring a character back to life if he or she has already died. It is amore powerful and versatile spell than venom immunity.

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MAGE SPELLS

First-Level Mage Spells

♦ ARMORRANGE: Touch DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

When casting this spell, a mage surrounds himself or another charac-ter with a magical field that protects as scale mail (AC 6). The spellhas no effect on characters who already have AC 6 or better and itdoes not have a cumulative effect with the shield spell.

♦ BURNING HANDSRANGE: Close DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Caster

When a mage casts this spell, a jet of searing flame shoots from hisor her fingertips. The damage inflicted by the flame increases as themage increases in level and gains power. The spell does 1–3 pointsof damage plus two points per level of the caster. For example, a10th-level mage would do 21–23 points of damage.

♦ CHILL TOUCHRANGE: 0 DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Caster

When casting this spell, a blue glow encompasses the mage’s hand.This energy attracts the life force of any living thing upon which themage makes a successful melee attack. If the creature fails its savingthrow, it suffers 1–4 points of damage and loses 1 point of Strength.

♦ FEATHER FALLRANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Special

When this spell is cast, the recipients immediately become as light asa feather. The recipients’ falling speed instantly changes to a mere twofeet per second, and they incur no damage upon landing — as long asthe spell is still in effect. Feather fall affects one or more creatureswithin a 10 foot radius.

♦ IMMUNITY TO ADHERENCERANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

This spell confers upon a character a temporary immunity to magicalwebs, natural webs, and roper strands. These perils do not hamper orcling to the spell’s recipient, who may move and act normally.

♦ TRUE SEEINGRANGE: 0 DURATION: Short AREA OF EFFECT: Special

Menzoberranzan can be a maze to those unfamiliar with its manytwists, turns, and magical wards. With this spell, a cleric can see thingsas they really are: your character is not fooled by illusionary walls, andinvisible monsters, items, or magical effects become visible.

Sixth-Level Cleric Spells

♦ BLADE BARRIERRANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Special

The cleric employs this spell to set up a wall of circling, razor-sharpblades. These whirl and flash around a central point, creating animmobile barrier. Any creature attempting to pass through the barriersuffers 8–64 points of damage. The barrier remains for three roundsfor every level of the caster.

♦ FIRESEEDRANGE: Touch DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: Special

The fireseed spell creates special missiles which burn with great heat.Once cast, up to four grenade-like missiles can be hurled up to 40yards. Each missile explodes upon striking any hard surface, creatinga burst of flame capable of doing 2–16 points of damage. If a suc-cessful saving throw vs. spell is made, a creature within the burst areareceives only half damage.

♦ HARMRANGE: Touch DURATION: Permanent AREA OF EFFECT: Creature touched

Terribly effective, this reverse of the heal spell brings a target todeath’s door, reducing its victim to very few hit points, no matter howmany hit points the target had before the spell was cast. But is yourcleric brave enough to shake hands with a verbeeg giant, or would sopowerful a creature ever allow him to approach that close?

♦ HEALRANGE: Touch DURATION: Permanent AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

A tremendously potent heal spell, this spell completely heals theaffected character of all damage, poison, blindness, and paralysis.

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♦ SPOOKRANGE: 0 DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: 1 creature

A spook spell enables the mage to play upon the natural fears of theunfortunate creature upon whom this spell is cast. The target of aspook spell sees whatever it fears most: a phantasm of fear whichpursues the creature without hesitation. Should the affected creaturefail a saving throw vs. spell, it turns and flees at its maximum speedas far from the casting mage as possible.

Second-Level Mage Spells

♦ AGANNAZAR’S SCORCHERRANGE: 20 yards DURATION: 2 rounds AREA OF EFFECT: 2’ X 60’ jet

Upon casting this spell a jet of flame appears at the caster’s fingertipsand bursts outward toward a chosen target. If the target remainswithin range it suffers 3–18 points of damage in the first round and3–18 again in the second. The casting mage cannot perform otheractions during the second round of the spell or discontinue the spelluntil it has run its course.

♦ BLURRANGE: 0 DURATION: Short AREA OF EFFECT: Caster

The image of a mage with an active blur spell shifts and wavers. Thisdistortion makes the character harder to hit with an attack. A trueseeing spell can counter a blur spell.

♦ DARKNESS, 15’ RADIUSRANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 15’ radius

This spell causes total, impenetrable darkness in the area of effect.Infravision is useless. Neither normal nor magical light works unlessa light or continual light spell is cast. In the former event, the dark-ness spell is negated by the light spell and vice versa.

♦ ICE KNIFERANGE: Special DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Special

By casting the ice knife spell, a mage fires a dagger of ice at his target. Asuccessful hit causes 2–8 hit points of damage. Should the dagger missits target, it shatters and releases a wave of numbing cold. Creatureswithin the range of this wave can suffer cold damage and move slowlyas if paralyzed. A thrown ice knife cannot be picked up for reuse.Touching it results in the wave of numbing cold described previously.

♦ LIGHTRANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 20’ radius sphere

This spell creates a luminous glow, equal to torch light, within a fixedradius of the spell’s center. It needs no target and is a good spell tocast when the party is low on torches.

♦ MAGIC MISSILERANGE: Long DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: 1 target

When cast, the mage creates a bolt of magic force that unerringlystrikes one target. If there are two monsters, the missile automaticallyhits the target closest to the caster. Magic missile spells do greater dam-age as a mage increases in level. Initially, the missiles do 2–5 points ofdamage, and for every two extra levels the missiles do 2–5 more points.For example, a first- or second-level mage does 2–5 points of damage,but a third- or fourth-level mage does 4–10, and so on.

♦ PROTECTION FROM EVILRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

When this spell is cast, it creates a magical barrier around the recipientat a distance of one foot. The barrier moves with the recipient and allattacks made by evil creatures against the protected character receive a–2 penalty to each attack roll. Any saving throws caused by suchattacks are made by the character with a +2 bonus. In addition, thespell prevents bodily contact by creatures of an extraplanar or conjurednature (such as the handmaidens of Lolth and the myrlochar).

♦ SHIELDRANGE: 0 DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Special

This spell produces an invisible barrier in front of the mage thattotally blocks magic missile attacks. It also offers AC 2 against hurledweapons (darts, spears) and AC 3 against propelled missiles (arrowsor sling-stones). The spell does not have a cumulative effect with thearmor spell. The spell duration increases with the level of the caster.

♦ SHOCKING GRASPRANGE: Touch DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: Creature touched

When the mage casts this spell, he develops a powerful electricalcharge that gives a jolt to the creature touched. The spell remains ineffect for one round per level of the caster, or until it is discharged bythe caster touching another creature. Shocking grasp delivers 1–8points of damage plus 1 point per level of the mage.

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Third-Level Mage Spells

♦ DISPEL MAGICRANGE: Long DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: 30’ cube

When a mage casts this spell, he or she has a chance to neutralizemagic. It removes spells and spell-like effects from characters, crea-tures, and objects. Dispel does not counter cure spells, but it dispelshold person, bless, and similar spells. It cannot permanently affectenchanted items, such as magical rings, wands, or weapons.

♦ FIREBALLRANGE: Long DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Target square

A fireball is an explosive blast of flame that damages everything in thetarget square. The explosion does 1–6 points of damage for every levelof the caster to a maximum of 10th-level. For example, a 10th-levelmage does 10–60 points of damage.

♦ FLAME ARROWRANGE: Long DURATION: Short AREA OF EFFECT: Special

With this spell, the mage is able to cast fiery bolts or arrows at oppo-nents within range. Each bolt inflicts 1–6 points of damage, plus anadditional 4–24 points of fire damage. The number of bolts a magemay throw increases with his or her experience level.

♦ FLYRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Whole party

This spell enables the caster to bestow the power of magical flight tothe party. When affected by this spell, the party is able to move andmaneuver in both the horizontal and vertical planes. Unfortunately,the exact duration of the spell is always unknown to the spellcaster.

♦ HASTERANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 40’ cube, 1 character/level

This spell allows the affected character to move and fight at doublethe normal rate, but does not allow spells to be cast at a faster rate.The spell’s duration increases with the level of the caster.

♦ IMMUNITY TO SPIDER VENOMRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Character touched

This spell confers absolute immunity to the effects of any and allarachnid venom. The spell also confers upon the protected character a +2 saving throw bonus against all other acids, venom, and poisons.

♦ IMPROVED IDENTIFYRANGE: 0 DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: 1 item

When this spell is cast, one item in the mage’s hand is identified; youcan learn the item’s name and the attack or damage bonuses it has.Before casting this spell, place the object either in the character’s handas it appears on the Adventure Screen or in the hand of the charac-ter’s figure on the inventory screen.

♦ LEVITATERANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Whole party

When this spell is cast, the party can float up and down. One smalldrawback is that a levitating creature attempting to use a missileweapon will find it increasingly difficult to shoot; his or her firstattack has an attack roll penalty of –1, the second –2 and so on, upto a maximum of –5.

♦ MELF’S ACID ARROWRANGE: Long DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: 1 target

By means of this spell, the mage creates a magical arrow that speedsto its target as if fired from the bow of a fighter of the same level asthe mage. The arrow has no attack or damage bonus, but it inflicts2–8 points of acid damage.

♦ STINKING CLOUDRANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 20’ cube

When a stinking cloud is cast, the mage creates a billowing mass ofnauseous vapors up to 30 yards away from his position. Any creaturecaught within the cloud must roll a successful saving throw vs. poisonor be sent reeling and unable to attack because of nausea. Whilethose who make successful saving throws may leave the cloud withno ill effect, others continue to be affected for 2–5 rounds after leav-ing the cloud. Any creatures remaining in the area of the cloud mustmake a new saving throw each round.

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♦ VAMPIRIC TOUCHRANGE: Close DURATION: 1 attack AREA OF EFFECT: Caster

When this spell is cast, a glowing hand appears. A mage may attackwith this hand like any other melee weapon. When the caster touchesan opponent with a successful attack, the spell does 1–6 points ofdamage for every two levels of the mage. For example, a 10th-levelmage would do 5–30 points of damage. These points in turn aretransferred temporarily to the mage, and any damage he takes is sub-tracted from these points first.

♦ VENOM BOLTRANGE: Long DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: 1 creature

When cast, the mage rushes toward a target and a burst of black, blaz-ing liquid erupts from his or her mouth. To be successful, the castermust make an attack roll at a +4 bonus, otherwise the bolt fades with-out doing damage to its target. Venom bolts are corrosive in nature andcan bypass armor or obstacles by acting like a gas or a mist of droplets.Its touch inflicts 1–16 points of damage on any living creature.

Fourth-Level Mage Spells

♦ ACID BOLTRANGE: Long DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: Special

Surface dwelling mages view this spell as an improved version ofMelf’s acid arrow, but the acid bolt is a very old spell, thought to datefrom before the Descent of the drow. The caster creates a continuousstream of shimmering liquid that emerges from his or her hand. Onimpact, the bolt does 4–16 damage, and unless neutralized, contin-ues to do damage at the rate of 1–4 points per round for everyadditional 3 experience levels of the caster.

♦ BACKLASHRANGE: Touch DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: 1 spellcaster

This little known spell affects only clerics, mages, and other spellcast-ing beings. Backlash leaves a faint spell on its target, one which maynot be activated for hours, or even years. The magic waits until thetarget of the spell makes a magical attack that fails. At that time, thebacklash spell activates the energy of the “failed” attack andboomerangs it back at the target of the backlash spell.

♦ HOLD PERSONRANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Up to 4 targets

This spell can affect humans, demi-humans, or humanoid creatures.Creatures that are affected become rigid and unable to move or speak.Spell duration increases with the level of the caster.

♦ INVISIBILITY 10’ RADIUSRANGE: Touch DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: 10’ radius sphere

The mage confers invisibility upon everyone within 10 feet of the tar-get of this spell. Gear carried is included, though light emitted from alight source remains visible. The effect moves along with the recipient,but creatures entering the sphere of radius after the spell is cast donot become invisible.

♦ LIGHTNING BOLTRANGE: Long DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Special

Upon casting this spell, the mage releases a powerful stroke of electri-cal energy that inflicts 1–6 points of damage per level of thespellcaster, up to a maximum of 60 points to each creature within itsarea of effect.

♦ PROTECTION FROM EVIL, 10’ RADIUSRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 10’ radius sphere

The effect of this spell is centered on and moves with the creaturetouched. It is identical to a protection from evil spell, except that itencompasses a larger area. Any protected creature within the circlebreaks the warding against enchanted and summoned monsters if heor she attacks them.

♦ SLOWRANGE: Long DURATION: Long AREA OF EFFECT: 2 squares

This spell makes enemies move and attack at half their normal rate.Slowed creatures have a penalty of +4 on their Armor Class and theyattack with penalties. All Dexterity combat bonuses are negated.

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♦ WIZARD EYERANGE: 0 DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Special

With wizard eye, the mage creates an invisible eye which can travelin any direction as long as the spell lasts. It allows the mage to seealong the path ahead, even up to 10 feet away in darkened areasusing infravision. Unfortunately, the magical eye cannot pass throughsolid barriers. Scouting ahead can be the difference between life anddeath in Menzoberranzan.

Fifth-Level Mage Spells

♦ CLOUDKILLRANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 40’ X 20’ X 20’ cloud

This spell generates a billowing cloud of ghastly yellowish-greenvapors that is so toxic it slays most creatures. More powerful crea-tures, however, may simply be poisoned or severely damaged by thespell. The cloud moves away from the spellcaster, rolling along theground like an unstoppable fog of death.

♦ CONE OF COLDRANGE: Close DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: 3 squares

This spell causes the mage to project a chilling cone of sub-zero cold.The numbing cone causes 2–5 points of damage per level of the caster.For example, a 10th-level mage would do 20–50 points of damage.

♦ HOLD MONSTERRANGE: Long DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 1 square

This spell is similar to the hold person spell except that it affects awider range of creatures. The spell’s duration increases with the levelof the caster. The spell does not affect undead creatures.

♦ PASSWEBRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Whole party

Identical to the 5th-level cleric spell passweb, this spell enables thepassage through existing webs, both natural and magical, as thoughthey did not exist. The webs are not disturbed or altered in any wayby this spell or the passage through them.

♦ ENCHANT WEAPONRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Weapon(s) touched

This spell turns an ordinary weapon into a magical one. The affectedweapon becomes the equivalent of a +1 weapon with +1 to its attackand damage rolls. Thus arrows, axes, bows, daggers, hammers,swords, etc., can be made temporarily into enchanted weapons. Evenexisting magical weapons can have their abilities boosted by thisspell, as long as the total combined bonus does not exceed +3.Missile weapons so enchanted lose their enchantment after hittingtheir target.

♦ ICE STORMRANGE: Medium to long DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Cross-shaped area, 3 X 3 squares

This spell produces a pounding torrent of huge hailstones. The spellpummels the targets with 3–30 points of damage. The range of thisspell is based on the caster’s level.

♦ SPIDER SHAPERANGE: 0 DURATION: Long AREA OF EFFECT: Whole party

This spell enables the caster to transform the party into spider shapes.Once they have taken arachnid form, they command all the normalabilities of spiders.

♦ STONESKINRANGE: Touch DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: 1 character

With this defensive spell, a mage may endow himself or a member ofhis party with virtual immunity to any attack by cut, blow, or projectile.Nevertheless, magical attacks have their usual effects. The spell blocksup to four attacks, plus one attack for every two levels of the caster.

♦ STOPRANGE: Medium DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 1 creature

This spell confines the movements of one target creature to the spaceit occupied when the spell was cast. The target’s motion, airborne orotherwise, is instantly halted, but otherwise it retains its full range ofbody movements. Affected creatures cannot make a saving throw vs.spell until the second round after the spell has been cast.

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♦ LICH TOUCHRANGE: Touch DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Caster

By this spell, the caster gains both the chilling touch of the lich andinvulnerability to several lich-like attacks and effects. The caster isimmune to all forms of paralysis and fear, and the caster’s touch does1–10 points of damage as well as paralyzing the target. Creatures notaffected by paralysis are entirely immune to this spell.

♦ OTILUKE’S FREEZING SPHERERANGE: Special DURATION: Special AREA OF EFFECT: Special

When casting this spell, the mage creates a small globe about the sizeof a sling stone. It can be hurled by hand or in a sling, but upon hit-ting the target it does 6–36 points of cold damage upon all creatureswithin a 10 foot radius. These special sling stones should be createdjust before a battle in which they are to be used, for they cannot bestored forever and disappear in time.

♦ TRUE SEEINGRANGE: 0 DURATION: Short AREA OF EFFECT: Special

Menzoberranzan can be a maze to those unfamiliar with its manytwists, turns, and magical wards. With this spell, a mage can see thingsas they really are. Your character is not fooled by illusionary walls, andinvisible monsters, items, and magical effects become visible.

♦ SPIDERCLOAK ARMORRANGE: 0 DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: Caster

When using spidercloak armor, the caster surrounds him or herselfwith a floating, swirling, shadowy network of webs and magical shad-ows. This magical barrier helps to deflect both physical and magicalattacks, lowering (improving) the Armor Class of the caster by 3points, plus an additional 1 or 2 points depending upon chance.

Sixth-Level Mage Spells

♦ CLAWS OF THE UMBER HULKRANGE: TOUCH DURATION: Medium AREA OF EFFECT: 1 character

When this spell is cast, the subject’s hands widen and his or her fin-gernails thicken and grow, becoming equivalent in power to theiron-like claws of the umber hulk. The affected character can maketwo claw attacks per round, each one inflicting 2–12 points of dam-age plus any Strength bonuses.

♦ DEATH SPELLRANGE: Long DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: 3 squares

This spell slays many weak creatures easily, but kills few strong ones.Some very powerful monsters may not be affected by this spell.Hordes of attacking osquip may be good targets for this one.

♦ DISINTEGRATERANGE: Long DURATION: Instantaneous AREA OF EFFECT: Special

Simply put, this spell causes matter to disintegrate. The effect isinstantaneous and permanent. The spell creates a thin, green raywhich causes the affected opponent to glow briefly and vanish. It ispossible for an attacking creature to make a successful save vs. spelland avoid the deadly effects of disintegrate.

♦ DRAGON SCALESRANGE: Touch DURATION: Long AREA OF EFFECT: 1 character

This spell causes the body of the caster, or any character touched bythe caster, to become armored in dragon scales, effectively lowering(improving) the character’s Armor Class by 2 for the duration of thespell.

♦ DEFENSIVE SPELLS

Armor, ^Blade Barrier, Blur, Darkness, ^Magical Vestment, ^Protection fromEvil 10’ Radius, Shield, Spidercloak, Stoneskin, Stop, Dragon Scales

These spells provide protection from physical attacks. Cast them on acharacter before battles that involve physical attacks.

Backlash, ^Bless, ^Prayer

These spells provide protection from magical attacks. Cast them on acharacter before battles that involve magical attacks.

♦ HEALING AND CURATIVE SPELLS

^Aid, ^Cure Disease, ^Cure Light Wounds, ^Cure Serious Wounds, ^Cure Critical Wounds, ^Fortify, ^Heal

Replace lost hit points with these spells. The aid spell can increaseyour character’s hit points over their normal maximum value, but onlytemporarily. Clerics should always have a few cure light wounds spellsmemorized to quickly heal any wounds while resting.

^Free Action, Immunity to Spider Venom, ^Slow Poison, ^Remove Paralysis,^Neutralize Poison

To slow or remove the effects of poison, paralysis, and curses, keep anumber of these spells memorized whenever your character is near amonster who can poison or paralyze.

♦ DETECTION

^Detect Evil, ^Detect Magic, Improved Identify, Wizard Eye, ^True Seeing

These spells allow the spellcaster to extend his or her senses by recog-nizing magic and looking ahead of the party. Detect magic is veryuseful in evaluating the items your party picks up during the game.The spell causes all magical items carried by the character to glow.

♦ OTHER SPELLS

^Dispel Magic

With this spell, the effect of other spells affecting your party is negated;however, it does not counter cure spells.

^Draw Upon Holy Might — STR, ^Draw Upon Holy Might — DEX

These two spells allow the cleric’s body to become a vessel for thepower of his or her god. As a result, the caster’s Strength or Dexterityare increased by +1 for every three levels of the caster’s experience.

Strategies for Using SpellsIn the hostile environs of Menzoberranzan, strategically memorizedspells are important to your party’s success. In the following sectionspells are divided into types: offensive, defensive, curative, and others.Hints are also given about when each type of spell is most effective.

Spells that are available to clerics are marked with a caret sign (^)

♦ OFFENSIVE SPELLS

Burning Hands, ^Cause Serious Wounds, ̂ Cause Critical Wounds, Chill Touch,Claws of the Umber Hulk, ̂ Harm, Lich Touch, Shocking Grasp, Vampiric Touch

Because the spellcaster must touch his or her target for these spells tobe effective, they can put a spellcaster’s courage to the ultimate test. Inusing them, the caster places him or herself in the thick of the danger.

^Flame Blade, Ice Knife, ^Magical Stone

With these spells, the caster creates a weapon and so does not need toexpose himself as dangerously as with spells requiring his touch. Theice knife and magical stone are projected weapons, putting a littlemore distance between the character and his target.

Acid Bolt, Agannazer’s Scorcher, ̂ Darkfire, Death Spell, Disintegrate, ̂ FlameStrike, Magic Missile, Melf’s Acid Arrow, ̂ Spiritual Hammer, Spook, Venom Bolt

These are ranged magical attacks affecting one target at a time.

Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Fireball, ^Fireseed, Flame Arrow, Hold Monster, ^Hold Person, Ice Storm, Lightning Bolt, Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere, Slow,Stinking Cloud

These spells affect several monsters in an area. Because of the damagethey do, they are often the preferred offensive spells of high-level spell-casters. Look closely at the area of effect for each spell.

Be careful when using the ice storm and hold person spells. If the tar-get of an ice storm is within melee range of your character, yourcharacter takes damage from the spell too.

The hold person spell only affects men and other humanoid creatures.

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BESTIARYDriders, hook horrors, and rust monsters are but a few of the dangers tobe encountered in the Underdark. The warriors and magic wieldersamong the drow can prove less forgiving than a carrion crawler encoun-tered in the depths, while the derro dwarves work to surpass them all inacts of cruelty. This section contains descriptions of the creatures await-ing any traveller who dares to journey toward Menzoberranzan.

♦ ABOLETH

A loathsome, amphibious creature that inhabitssubterranean caves and lakes, the aboleth is crueland intelligent. It harbors a hatred of land-dwelling creatures that is most often soothedwhen the aboleth is able to enslave them. From itsbulbous head to its fluke-like tail, the abolethresembles nothing so much as a plump fish, butone armed with deadly tentacles that can do 1–6points of damage each. In addition, the strike ofan aboleth’s tentacle can transform the victim’sskin into a clear, slimy membrane which provesboth painful and, in time, deadly. Because its slug-gish movements make attack difficult, the abolethoften lures its victims close by creating realisticillusions. When any creature approaches within30 feet, the aboleth can attempt to enslave it. Thevictim follows all of the aboleth’s telepathic com-mands, but does not fight on the aboleth’s behalf.

♦ BUGBEAR

Large and hairy cousins of the goblins, bugbearscan move with amazing agility when the needarises. This is bad news for their opponents, forbugbears are muscular creatures, often standing afull 7 feet tall. Though not related to bears, the crea-ture gets its name from its bear-like nose, sharpnails, and long, sharp fangs. In combat, if a partylooks dangerous, bugbear scouts do not hesitate tofetch reinforcements. When outmatched, bugbearsmay retreat. Their lairs consist of one large cavernor group of caverns, and with infravision they areas at home in darkness as in daylight.

Enchant Weapon

If you anticipate a difficult encounter ahead, enchant your character’smost powerful weapon for that extra boost which may ensure his orher survival.

^Faerie Fire

Use this to make your opponents better targets in the dark, and to giveyour characters bonuses to attack.

Feather Fall, Levitate, Fly

These are useful spells when changing levels horizontally, whetherdescending safely from one level to another, rising to an overhead cav-ern entrance, or attempting to escape the attack of an unfriendlycreature by flying right over it. See each spell for specific definitions.

Haste

Use haste when your party faces monsters who prove to be very fast.The haste spell allows melee attacks to be made much faster. Cast thisspell on a character before dangerous battles.

Immunity to Adherence, ^Passweb

Immunity to adherence provides protection against the sticky strands ofwebs or against webs fired by creatures such as the roper. Passweb enablessafe passage through an otherwise impassable barrier or webbing.

Invisibility, 10’ Radius

Invisibility, 10’ radius is useful to hide your characters from mysticsensors and prying eyes. Even when your characters are invisible mostmonsters sense their general location, though monsters have troubleagainst invisible targets.

^Light

A glow equal to torch light is fixed on an object when this spell is cast.This is an especially useful bit of magic for any party exploring theUnderdark.

Raise Dead

With the raise dead spell, your cleric can bring one of his or her fallencomrades back to life (with the exception of elven characters).

Spider Shape

Can be used by the party in circumstances when only an arachnidshape will do, as well as the sure-footed abilities of spiders.

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♦ DERRO DWARF

The derro are a degenerate race of dwarven stature.Known by the drow for centuries, they have beenskulking in the Underdark for ages, making aname for themselves with their marked cruelty.Derro live for the pleasure of witnessing the deathof their enemies, preferably in a slow and humiliat-ing fashion. With skin the color of an iced-overlake, derro present a frightening vision of mad littlecreatures with staring eyes who attack with ornatedaggers. They are known to engage in dealingswith the drow and are not above trafficking humanslaves, humans being among their most hated ene-mies. Other victims of the derro often include thedeep gnomes, also known as the svirfneblin.

♦ DERRO DWARF SAVANT

When derro dwarves move in any large numbers,they are accompanied by one or more savantderro, magic-users well-trained in the use ofpotions, spells, and magical devices. Savant derroare adept at such varied and powerful spells as icestorm, levitate, and light. Savants use these pow-ers to confuse and frustrate, rather than kill in anoutright assault. As do their non-magical fellows,the derro savant take great pride in watching theslow and humiliating defeat of their enemies. As arule, the derro treasure knowledge and worshiponly those among them who have attained thegreatest level of knowledge: the savants.

♦ CARRION CRAWLER

Feeding mainly upon rotting corpses, the carrioncrawler is a scavenger of subterranean areas.Unfortunately, when such food becomes scarce, thecarrion crawler does not hesitate to attack and killliving beings. Often a rank, fetid odor accompaniesthe approach of the beast, followed quickly by theslender, writhing tentacles which lash out from thehead to paralyze its victims. Should the victim faila save vs. paralyzation, he or she soon becomes ameal for the great worm, each bite of the carrioncrawler doing 1–2 points of damage. Carrioncrawlers provide the same useful, if disagreeable,function that jackals, vultures, and crows perform.

♦ CLOAKER LORD

Endowed with a fearsome horned face, needle-sharp fangs, ivory-clawed, black wings and alashing tail, the cloaker lord is a superior sub-raceof the feared subterranean race of cloakers. Thecloaker lord flies at its targets and attempts toengulf them. During this attack, the cloaker lordoften bites, doing 2–8 points of damage. Thecloaker lord is also able to enhance its attacks byreleasing a terrible moan. This mind-numbingsound forces all creatures within range to attack at–2 and suffer a –2 penalty on all damage rolls.

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♦ DROW, continued...

Drow PriestessAll dark elves receive training in magic, and anyencountered are likely to have mastered faeriefire, darkness, levitate, and dispel magic. In thematriarchal society of the drow, however, it is thewomen who have been trained most thoroughlyin the halls of Arach-Tinillith in the ways ofmagic. These are often the daughters of a House’sMatron Mother, and after decades of intensivediscipline they attain the ranks of priestess andhigh priestess. The power of a House is oftenmeasured by the number of high priestesses inresidence. The only weapon a priestess is likely touse is a snake-headed whip. This vicious weaponis capable of penetrating armor, and is a fittingcomplement to the powerful magic wielded by aHouse priestess.

Malice Do’UrdenMalice is Matron Mother of the House Do’Urdenin the city of the dark elves known asMenzoberranzan. At the time of Drizzt’s birth,Malice was busily engaged in leading an assaulton House DeVir, breaking down their defenseswith magic even as the pain of childbirth addedits own cruel twist to her powers. DestroyingHouse DeVir allowed House Do’Urden to ascendto the rank of ninth house in the city. Thoughtechnically illegal, the move on House DeVir wasflawlessly planned by Malice. Her ambitionsknow no bounds, and the powers and ruthlessactions of Malice Do’Urden have sent shockwaves through many a great House. She is aformidable opponent.

♦ DRIDER

These strange creatures have the head and torso of adrow and the legs and lower body of a giant spider.Only Lolth, the dark goddess of the drow, can createa drider. This is done as a punishment for any real orperceived disloyalty. Often, when a dark elf of above-average ability reaches 6th level, the goddess may puthim or her through a special test. Failures becomedriders. Because they live under Lolth’s displeasure,driders are outcasts from their own communities andare most often found alone. Known to be violent andaggressive, they favor blood over other types of food,often stalking their victims in a tireless, relentlessfashion. If the drow was a mage or cleric prior to hisor her punishing transformation, he or she retains allof his or her spellcasting abilities. Only under themost unusual of circumstances is a drider evergranted its wish to return to its normal drow form.

♦ DROW

Drow FighterFew creatures who live upon the surface have ever seena drow, a member of that race of dark elves long agobanished into the depths of the earth. Once, dark elveswere a part of the elven race which roamed the world’sforests, but their selfish inclinations and fascination withthe ways of evil caused a civil war among the elves.

In the end, those elves who worshipped evil foundthemselves driven into the bleak and shadowy cavernsof the Underdark. In time, they built the magnificentlydark and gloomy cities forever hidden away from thelight of the surface world. Drow have black skin andpale, usually white hair. Drow fighters endure rigoroustraining while they are young. Those who fail therequired tests are killed at the program’s conclusion,and thus any drow fighters encountered should be con-sidered well-seasoned warriors. Most drow carry shortswords of adamantite alloy, weapons with bonuses of+1 to +3. Other drow are known to carry one-handedcrossbows, the darts for which are commonly poisoned.

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♦ DROW, continued...

Rizzen Do’UrdenAt the time of Drizzt’s birth, RizzenDo’Urden was the patron of HouseDo’Urden, though not Drizzt’s father. In the households of drow noble families,patrons come and go at the whim of theMatron Mother, but their qualities mustalways reflect the highest ideals of drowsociety, either unparalleled fighting skill, or wizardry, or simply the knack for treach-ery by which all drow advance throughdrow society. For Rizzen, the latter may ring the truest.

Vierna Do’UrdenA daughter of Matron Malice of HouseDo’Urden, the task of raising Drizzt in hisearly years fell to Vierna. To her wasassigned the task of berating Drizzt, of constantly informing him that he was nomore than a “foolish male” and that if hefailed in anything, the punishment of asnake-headed whip would not be farbehind. Under Vierna’s care, Drizzt demon-strated his own unyielding determination.In truth, Vierna never showed Drizzt thewickedness of which Matron Malice wascapable, or what he might have enduredunder the care of another of his sisters.Vierna is a high priestess and her loyalty tothe ways of the drow and House Do’Urdenshould not be questioned.

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♦ FUNGI SKELETON

Brought to life by the powers of the myconidking, this form of myconid animator is in thelast stages of decay. In the meantime, however,animated fungi skeletons are able to follow sim-ple orders given to them by the myconid king.Attacking with bony claws, these creatures cando 1–3 points of damage in defense of themyconid territory. The animator is not undeadand cannot be turned by clerics, and it alwaysstrikes last in a round. Dangerous in numbers, afungus skeleton blindly follows its orders, givingthe will of the myconid king priority over itsown self-preservation.

♦ GNOLL

Though its body is shaped like that of a largehuman, the gnoll boasts the evil and unpleasantfeatures of a hyena. It stands erect on two legs andhas hands that can manipulate as well as those ofany human. Often encountered underground orinside abandoned ruins, gnolls roam about inloosely organized bands. In combat, horde tacticsare employed, as the gnolls seek to overwhelmtheir opponents with sheer numbers. Among theirfavorite weapons are swords, pole arms, and bat-tle-axes. As a rule, gnolls detest four things:goblins, giants, humans, and any type of manuallabor. They eat anything warm-blooded.

♦ MYRLOCHAR

Myrlochar, or “soul spiders,” are the servants ofLolth most often summoned from her dark extraplanar domain by rituals of worship or sup-plication to the Spider Queen. In the abyss, theyare tireless hunters, often discovering their owngates or portals to other planes. Vicious and cruelin their attacks on weaker creatures, myrlochar actas though they are on a perpetual hunting andkilling spree — until they finally encounter anopponent strong enough to slay them. The magicalbite of a soul spider does 2–12 damage. Thoughthey produce no webs of their own, myrlochar aresurprisingly agile and have been known to levitateas a means of enhancing their attack. Soul spidersare not undead and cannot be turned, but they doshare with the undead immunities to sleep, charm,and hold related spells. They are also immune toall poisons.

♦ NIGHT HUNTER

The night hunter is one of the four known speciesof “deep bats” that are active in both the surfaceworld and the Underdark. Active at any time inthe gloom of the Underdark, the night hunterventures out only after sunset when hunting onthe surface. Known as the “dragazhar,” after theadventurer who first domesticated one as a pet,the night hunter usually seeks out small beastsfor its prey, but is not averse to fighting humansand other demi-humans when the need arises.Night hunter packs, known as “swoops,” dipdown to slash (1–6 damage) or stab (3–12 dam-age) with their dexterous, triangular-shaped,razor-sharp tails.

♦ HOOK HORROR

Nearly 9 feet tall and weighing over 300 pounds,the hook horror is a bipedal monster whichresembles nothing so much as a cross between avulture and a man with hooks for hands. Becauseof its tough, gray exoskeleton and multi-facetedeyes, the hook horror is often thought to berelated to the cockroach or cave cricket. Withintheir territory, hook horrors seek to ambushunsuspecting travellers or denizens. Using theirhooks to draw prey within striking distance,hook horrors automatically inflict 2–12 points ofdamage with each strike from their beaks.Generally, hook horrors consider other races asno more than a source of fresh meat, though theymay avoid a strong party rather than foolishlyexpose themselves to danger. Luckily, a creaturewith hooks for hands is severely restricted in itsability to manipulate objects, and hook horrorsneither use weapons nor collect treasures.

♦ LEUCROTTA

The average leucrotta stands 7 feet tall at theshoulder and can reach a length of 9 feet in itsmature form. The body of the leucrotta resemblesthat of a stag, with a leonine tufted tail and clovenhooves. The head resembles that of a huge badger,and the smell of decomposing animals follows thebeast wherever it goes. Sly and dangerous, the leu-crotta can imitate a range of noises and voices,most commonly those of a man, woman, andchild. It uses this mimicry to trick its prey intoapproaching within attacking distance. A bite fromthe leucrotta does 3–18 points of damage, and itsdreaded back kick can do 1–6 points of damagewith each hoof. Since the leucrotta is not a verysocial creature, all strangers are considered noth-ing more than food. Those lucky enough to defeata leucrotta often find the treasures of past victimsscattered throughout its lair.

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♦ RUST MONSTER

The bane of fighters everywhere, these uniquecreatures possess an appetite for all sorts of met-als, particularly the fine and durable alloys oftenused in the forging of various types of armor.Rust monsters are subterranean creatures andgenerally inoffensive. Placid by nature, rust mon-sters become excited by the scent of metal andimmediately dash toward the source. Should thelong, prehensile antennae of the rust monstertouch a fighter’s armor, the armor rusts. Affectedmetal corrodes immediately, leaving behindpieces for the rust monster to eat. So fixated uponits meal does the rust monster become that itmay stay behind to finish for at least one roundbefore pursuing the party. Leaving behind metalweapons as a meal for the rust monster may holdits attention long enough for the party to escapewithout suffering significant loss.

♦ SHRIEKER

Shriekers are one of the fungi forms that inhabitthe Underdark. In general, fungi are simple plantsthat lack chlorophyll, true stems, roots, andleaves. They are incapable of photosynthesis andlive as parasites or saprophytes. Normally a quiet,mindless fungi, shriekers prove themselves dan-gerous only by the hellish racket they are capableof making when disturbed. Light within 30 feet,or movement within 10 feet causes a shrieker toemit a piercing shriek that lasts for 1–3 rounds.Unfortunately, this noise has a 50% chance ofattracting wandering monsters in each roundthereafter. Nearby denizens of the Underdark arelikely to arrive quickly on the scene, sensing thatany wanderer that has blundered into a shriekermay be easy prey.

♦ OCHRE JELLY

The oozes, slimes, and jellies of the Underdarkare hideous, amorphous creatures that are thebane of all that lives, dissolving the weapons,armor, and flesh of their victims. Representativeof these is the ochre jelly. Seeping through dark-ened corridors, through cracks, and under doors,the ochre jelly resembles nothing so much as agiant amoeba. The secretions of the ochre jellydissolve flesh, inflicting 3–12 points of damageper round of exposure.

♦ OSQUIP

The osquip is an aggressive, multi-legged rodentabout the size of a small dog. It is hairless, with ahuge head and large teeth. Most have six legs.While rats normally flee anything larger thanthemselves, osquip prove to be both territorialand willing to attack trespassers fearlessly andferociously. If a party enters an area where theosquip make their home, the creatures emergequickly, and a typical swarm can do 4 points ofdamage per round.

♦ ROPER

Pillar shaped, with a rough, yellowish gray hide,the roper often resembles nothing more than arocky outcropping. Only when the roper attacksis the unlucky victim likely to see all of its fea-tures, including a single, yellow eye, and theroper’s maw with its razor sharp teeth. Bumps onthe roper’s body provide sources for the strands itfires at its opponents. A direct hit from a roperstrand may cause its victim to lose half his or herStrength. In a weakened state, the victim mustface the terrible possibility of being drawn intothe roper’s maw for 5–20 points of damage.Ropers are not social and rarely cooperate withone another, though a group of them may befound in a good hunting spot. Such a “cluster” ofropers should be avoided.

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♦ TROGLODYTE

Humanoid in shape, reptilian in character,troglodytes are a warlike race of carnivorous,subterranean dwellers. They hate man above allother creatures and often launch bloody raids onhuman communities in search of food and steel.Troglodytes stand about 6 feet tall and are cov-ered in roughened, leathery scales. Troglodytesprefer to wait in ambush along well-trod subter-ranean paths, attacking unsuspecting passersbywith tooth and claw. When angered or engagedin melee, troglodytes secrete a scent which is sorevolting to humans and demi-humans, that 1–6points of Strength can be lost by the unwary trav-eller for up to 10 rounds. Individual troglodytescarry nothing of worth, but their lair may containconsiderable treasure amassed during their raidson the outside world.

♦ UMBER HULK

One of the most monstrous and powerful crea-tures of the Underdark, the umber hulk usuallyacts as a solitary hunter. Their iron-like clawsallow them to burrow through solid stone insearch of prey. Umber hulks are therefore tremen-dously strong and stand nearly 8 feet tall and 5feet wide. Muscles bulge beneath their thick, scalyhides and their powerful arms and legs carrygreat claws. For all these monstrous features,umber hulks are intelligent opponents. In melee,umber hulks deliver a vicious bite, but, under-standably, their main weapon is their great claws.The one saving grace when fighting an umberhulk is its speed. Its gait is slow and ponderousand its balance is poor in wide spaces.

♦ SPITTING CRAWLER

Moving silently through the Underdark, the spit-ting crawler resembles the surface dwellingskink. Lithe of body, these creatures possess frog-like toes on their feet, but it is their toothed bitewhich causes travelers in the Underdark the mostconcern. The bite itself causes from 1–2 points ofdamage, but if it is accompanied by the acrid dis-charge which gives the spitting crawler its name,2–8 additional points of damage can be done.Against metal, the acid burns an ever wideninghole, potentially doing as much damage to a suitof armor as might a rust monster. Spittingcrawlers cannot be stunned or affected by charm,sleep, and hold spells. Occasionally, one of theseunusual beasts serves as the familiar of a wizard.

♦ STIRGE

The stirge may be closely related to the vampirebat and shares that creature’s constant thirst forblood. They are rusty-red to yellowish brown incolor, and their eyes and feet are yellowish. Inform, the stirge resembles a bird-like creaturethat has four, small pincer-like legs. These it usesto clamp onto the necks of its victims, while theneedle-sharp proboscis becomes its most danger-ous weapon and the means by which it drains itsvictims of blood. When the stirge attacks, its pro-boscis inflicts 1–3 points of damage with eachhit. Even the slightest gap in armor or protectiveleathers is enough for a stirge to sense weaknessand fly to the attack.

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♦ VIOLET FUNGUS

The violet fungus is another of the fungi forms thatinhabit the Underdark. Growing best in dark anddamp environments, the bodies of most true fungiconsist of slender cottony filaments. Violet fungiresemble the shriekers and are usually encoun-tered in the same areas. Certainly, when a shriekergives out its cry of alarm, the violet fungus is oftennearby. Though they move slowly, each fungus hasfrom one to four branches with which it can flailout at any animal which comes within range. Theexcretion from these branches rots flesh in oneround unless a successful save vs. poison is madeor a cure disease spell is used. Favoring rotted ani-mal flesh to feed upon, violet fungi are not shyabout providing such a meal for themselves.

♦ YOCHLOL

Yochlol, “the handmaidens of Lolth,” are denizensof the abyss. All known yochlol serve the Queenof Spiders, and appear on the Prime MaterialPlane only at her command, when summoned byrituals of worship to her. Yochlol appear as mistycolumns of ale-brown, dark red, or violet gas.They can extend pseudopods of their form orchange shape in order to better reach their prey.These monsters must materialize to carry items ormake physical attacks. Two common forms takenby the yochlol are that of a one-eyed roper bran-dishing eight pseudopods, or sometimes abeautiful female human or elf. When attacking asa misty column, each of its pseudopods can dofrom 1–7 points per blow. Because they takegreat pleasure in dominating and inflicting crueltyon lesser creatures, Yochlol are not above takingon a disguised form to lure a party into danger.

♦ UROPYGUS

Uropygi are members of the pedipalp family, alsoknown as “whip scorpions.” A cross between aspider and a scorpion, they are immune to allsorts of poisons and corrosives, including acidsand noxious vapors. They are often used by drowas household guardians and pets, the equivalentof hunting dogs. Though a uropygus possesses adangerous-looking, whip-like tail, this appendageactually serves only as a feeler. This pedipalpactually attacks with its two pincers and a bite. Ahit from one of the pincers can do from 1–8points of damage, while the bite does 2–8. Whennot tamed by the drow, uropygi are far-wander-ing hunters who roam fearlessly in search offood, establishing no territories and heedless offoes. They team up to face opponents or preylarger than themselves.

♦ VERBEEG GIANT

Known as “human behemoths,” these giants varyin height from 8 1/2 to 10 feet tall and weighbetween 300 and 400 pounds. Some have minordeformities, such as a club foot, but in all otherrespects appear human. Verbeeg wear as muchprotective clothing and armor as they can obtain,which isn’t much. Usually they wear furs and hideswith pieces of metal armor stitched into strategicplaces. Their typical weapon is a club. Verbeeg eatalmost anything, but they love flesh of all sorts. Ina typical attack, the verbeeg can do from 1–6points of damage, with a Strength bonus of at least+3, depending upon the Strength of the giant.

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♦ MAGE EXPERIENCE LEVELSLEVEL EXP TO REACH LEVEL HIT POINTS

1 0 1–42 2,500 +(1–4)3 5,000 +(1–4)4 10,000 +(1–4)5 20,000 +(1–4)6 40,000 +(1–4)7 60,000 +(1–4)8 90,000 +(1–4)9 135,000 +(1–4)

10 250,000 +(1–4)11 375,000 + 112 750,000 + 113 1,125,000 + 114 1,500,000 + 115 1,875,000 + 116 2,250,000 + 117 2,625,000 + 118 3,000,000 + 119 3,375,000 + 120 3,750,000 + 1

♦ MAGE SPELL PROGRESSION MAGE SPELL LEVELLEVEL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1 1 - - - - - - - -2 2 - - - - - - - -3 2 1 - - - - - - -4 3 2 - - - - - - -5 4 2 1 - - - - - -6 4 2 2 - - - - - -7 4 3 2 1 - - - - -8 4 3 3 2 - - - - -9 4 3 3 2 1 - - - -

10 4 4 3 2 2 - - - -11 4 4 4 3 3 - - - -12 4 4 4 4 4 1 - - -13 5 5 5 4 4 2 - - -14 5 5 5 4 4 2 1 - -15 5 5 5 5 5 2 1 - -16 5 5 5 5 5 3 2 1 -17 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 2 -18 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 2 119 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 3 120 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 3 2

♦ FIGHTER EXPERIENCE LEVELS LEVEL EXP TO REACH LEVEL HIT POINTS

1 0 1–102 2,000 +(1–10)3 4,000 +(1–10)4 8,000 +(1–10)5 16,000 +(1–10)6 32,000 +(1–10)7 64,000 +(1–10)8 125,000 +(1–10)9 250,000 +(1–10)

10 500,000 + 311 750,000 + 312 1,000,000 + 313 1,250,000 + 314 1,500,000 + 315 1,750,000 + 316 2,000,000 + 317 2,250,000 + 318 2,500,000 + 319 2,750,000 + 320 3,000,000 + 3

♦ RANGER EXPERIENCE LEVELS

LEVEL EXP TO REACH LEVEL HIT POINTS

1 0 1–102 2,250 +(1–10)3 4,500 +(1–10)4 9,000 +(1–10)5 18,000 +(1–10)6 36,000 +(1–10)7 75,000 +(1–10)8 150,000 +(1–10)9 300,000 +(1–10)

10 600,000 + 311 900,000 + 312 1,200,000 + 313 1,500,000 + 314 1,800,000 + 315 2,100,000 + 316 2,400,000 + 317 2,700,000 + 318 3,000,000 + 319 3,300,000 + 320 3,600,000 + 3

TABLES

Level Advancement Tables

♦ CLERIC EXPERIENCE LEVELS LEVEL EXP TO REACH LEVEL HIT POINTS

1 0 1–82 1,500 +(1–8)3 3,000 +(1–8)4 6,000 +(1–8)5 13,000 +(1–8)6 27,500 +(1–8)7 55,000 +(1–8)8 110,000 +(1–8)9 225,000 +(1–8)

10 450,000 + 211 675,000 + 212 900,000 + 213 1,125,000 + 214 1,350,000 + 215 1,575,000 + 216 1,800,000 + 217 2,025,000 + 218 2,250,000 + 219 2,475,000 + 220 2,700,000 + 2

♦ CLERIC SPELL PROGRESSIONCLERIC SPELL LEVELLEVEL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 1 - - - - - -2 2 - - - - - -3 2 1 - - - - -4 3 2 - - - - -5 3 3 1 - - - -6 3 3 2 - - - -7 3 3 2 1 - - -8 3 3 3 2 - - -9 4 4 3 2 1 - -

10 4 4 3 3 2 - -11 5 4 4 3 2 1 -12 6 5 5 3 2 2 -13 6 6 6 4 2 2 -14 6 6 6 5 3 2 115 6 6 6 6 4 2 116 7 7 7 6 4 3 117 7 7 7 7 5 3 218 8 8 8 8 6 4 219 9 9 8 8 6 4 220 9 9 9 8 7 5 2

♦ CLERIC WISDOM SPELL BONUS*WISDOM SPELL LEVELSCORE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

13 1 - - - - - -14 2 - - - - - -15 2 1 - - - - -16 2 2 - - - - -17 2 2 1 - - - -18 2 2 1 1 - - -19 3 2 1 2 - - -

* Bonus spells become available when the cleric can normally castspells of that level.

♦ PALADIN EXPERIENCE LEVELSLEVEL EXP TO REACH LEVEL HIT POINTS

1 0 1–102 2250 +(1–10)3 4,500 +(1–10)4 9,000 +(1–10)5 18,000 +(1–10)6 36,000 +(1–10)7 75,000 +(1–10)8 150,000 +(1–10)9 300,000 +(1–10)

10 600,000 + 311 900,000 + 312 1,200,000 + 313 1,500,000 + 314 1,800,000 + 315 2,100,000 + 316 2,400,000 + 317 2,700,000 + 318 3,000,000 + 319 3,300,000 + 320 3,600,000 + 3

♦ PALADIN SPELL PROGRESSIONPALADIN SPELL LEVELLEVEL 1 2 3 4

9 1 - - -10 2 - - -11 2 1 - -12 2 2 - -13 2 2 1 -14 3 2 1 -15 3 2 1 116 3 3 2 117 3 3 3 118 3 3 3 119 3 3 3 220 3 3 3 3

86 87

WeaponsWeapons are divided into 3 classes:melee, thrown, and fired. Meleeweapons are used only in close com-bat, while thrown and fired weaponsare used at range. Characters in thefront rank can use melee and rangedweapons. Characters in the rearranks can only use ranged weapons.Note the “Classes” section starting onpage 36 in the rules that limit somecharacter classes to certain weapons.The Weapons Chart lists theweapons with their range of hit pointdamage versus small, medium, andlarge-sized creatures. The damagedone by a melee weapon is adjustedby the attacking character’s strengthand any magical bonus the weaponmay have.

♦ WEAPONS TABLEDAMAGE VS. DAMAGE VS.

SMALL & MEDIUM LARGE

Melee Weapons:Quarterstaff 1–6 1–6Mace 2–7 1–6Short Sword 1–6 1–8Battle-Axe 1–8 1–8Long Sword 1–8 1–12Halberd* 1–10 2–12Warhammer 2–5 1–4Two-hand Sword*1–10 3–18Broadsword 2–8 2–7Dagger 1–4 1–3

Thrown Weapons:Rock 1–2 1–2Throwing Knife 1–4 1–3Spear 1–6 1–8Axe of Hurling 4–14 4–10

Ranged Weapons:Sling & Rocks: 1–4 1–4Bow & Arrows: 1–6 1–6Hand Crossbow & Bolts 1–3 1–2

* These two-handed weapons must be used from the primaryhand. Note that items in the other hand are unavailable.

ArmorArmor provides your character witha base Armor Class. The lower thecharacter’s armor class, the harderit is for an attack to hit him or her.Armor Class is based on the char-acter’s armor and his dexteritybonus. Some magic items also helpa character’s Armor Class. Note inthe “Classes” section, starting onpage 36, that some characterclasses are limited to certain typesof armor. The Armor Table lists thetypes of armor and the base ArmorClass they provide a character.

♦ ARMOR TABLEARMOR TYPE BASE AC

Robe 10Shield* 9Padded Armor 8Leather Armor 8Ring Mail 7Scale Mail 6Chain Mail 5Elven Chain Mail 5Banded Mail 4Bronze Plate Mail 4Centaur Breast Plate 4Adamantite Chain Mail 4Plate Mail 3Field Plate Mail 2Adamantite Plate Mail 2Drow Adamantite Armor 0–4

* A shield subtracts 1 AC from any armor it is used with.

Boots, helmets, and non-magicalbracelets may look like armor, butthey do not modify a character’sArmor Class. They can safely be leftas weights on pressure plates.Magical bracelets, however, canmodify a character’s Armor Class.

♦ THIEF EXPERIENCE LEVELSLEVEL EXP TO REACH LEVEL HIT POINTS

1 0 1–62 1,250 +(1–6)3 2,500 +(1–6)4 5,000 +(1–6)5 10,000 +(1–6)6 20,000 +(1–6)7 40,000 +(1–6)8 70,000 +(1–6)9 110,000 +(1–6)

10 160,000 +(1–6)11 220,000 + 212 440,000 + 213 660,000 + 214 880,000 + 215 1,100,000 + 216 1,320,000 + 217 1,540,000 + 218 1,760,000 + 219 1,980,000 + 220 2,200,000 + 2

Ability ScoresStrengthThe Strength Table lists the modi-fiers to melee hit probability andthe damage adjustment.ABILITY MELEE HIT DAMAGE SCORE PROBABILITY ADJUSTMENT

3 –3 –14–5 –2 –16–7 –1 none

8–15 normal none16 normal +117 +1 +118 +1 +2

18/01–50* +1 +318/51–75* +2 +318/76–90* +2 +418/91–99* +2 +518/00* +3 +6

19# +3 +720# +3 +821# +4 +922# +4 +10

* These bonuses are available only to fighters, paladins, and rangers.# These scores are only possible in this game through magic.

DexterityThe Dexterity Table lists the modi-fiers to missile hit probability andthe armor class adjustment.ABILITY MISSILE HIT AC

SCORE PROBABILITY ADJUSTMENT

3 –3 +44 –2 +35 –1 +26 0 +1

7–14 0 015 0 –116 +1 –217 +2 –318 +2 –419 +3 –4

ConstitutionThe Constitution Table lists the hitpoint adjustment that a charactergets every level.ABILITY SCORE HIT POINT ADJUSTMENT

3 –24–6 –1

7–14 015 +116 +217 +2 (+3)*18 +2 (+4)*19 +2 (+5)*

* These are available only to fighters, paladins, and rangers; for allother classes the maximum hit point adjustment for constitution is +2.

WisdomThis Wisdom Table lists the bonusspells received for high Wisdom val-ues. Bonus spells are cumulative, soa priest with a Wisdom of 15 isentitled to two 1st-level bonus spellsand one 2nd-level bonus spell.

Ability Score Bonus Spells

3–8 —9-12 013 1st14 1st15 2nd16 2nd17 3rd18 4th19 1st, 4th

88 89

Acid Bolt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Agannazar’s Scorcher . . . . . . . . .59

Aid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Backlash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Backstab (Thieves) . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Blade Barrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Bless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Burning Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Cast Cleric Spells (Paladins) . . . . .46

Cause Critical Wounds . . . . . . . . .55

Cause Light Wounds . . . . . . . . . .49

Cause Serious Wounds . . . . . . . . .54

Charm Drow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Chill Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Claws of the Umber Hulk . . . . . . .66

Cloudkill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

Cone of Cold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

Cure Critical Wounds . . . . . . . . . .55

Cure Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Cure Light Wounds . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Cure Serious Wounds . . . . . . . . . .54

Darkfire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Darkness, 15’ radius . . . . . . . . . .59

Death Spell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

Detect Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Detect Magic (Cleric) . . . . . . . . . . .49

Detect Magic (Drow) . . . . . . . . . . .48

Detect Noise (Thieves) . . . . . . . . . .47

Detect Presence of Evil 60’ Radius (Paladins) . . . . . . . . . .46

Detect Secret Door (Elves and Half-Elves) . . . . . . . . . .47

Disintegrate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

Dispel Magic (Cleric) . . . . . . . . . . .53

Dispel Magic (Mage) . . . . . . . . . . .61

Dragon Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

Draw Upon Holy Might — DEX . . .51

Draw Upon Holy Might — STR . . .51

Enchant Weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

Faerie Fire (Cleric) . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Faerie Fire (Drow) . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Feather Fall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Find and Remove Traps (Thieves) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Fireball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Fireseed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Flame Arrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Flame Blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Flame Strike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Fortify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Free Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Globe of Darkness (Drow) . . . . . .48

Gust of Wind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

THACØTHACØ is not an ability score, but it is an important characteristic. TheTHACØ Table lists a character’s base THACØ for his class and level.

♦ THACØ TABLECHARACTER LEVEL

CLASS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Cleric 20 20 20 18 18 18 16 16 16 14 14 14 12Fighter 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8Mage 20 20 20 19 19 19 18 18 18 17 17 17 16Paladin 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8Ranger 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8Thief 20 20 19 19 18 18 17 17 16 16 15 15 14

EncumbranceEncumbrance is a measure of whether or not a character is “loaded down”with so much treasure and equipment that he or she cannot properlydefend themselves. Following is a character encumbrance table:

♦ ENCUMBRANCE TABLEMX. CARRIED ENCUMBRANCE

STR WEIGHT NONE LIGHTLY MODERATELY HEAVILY SEVERELY

2 6 0–1 2 3 4 5–63 10 0–5 6 7 8–9 104–5 25 0–10 11–13 14–16 17–19 20–256–7 55 0–20 21–29 30–38 39–46 47–558–9 90 0–35 36–50 51–65 66–80 81–9010–11 110 0–40 41–58 69–76 77–96 97–11012–13 140 0–45 46–69 70–93 94–117 118–14014–15 170 0–55 56–85 86–115 116–145 146–17016 195 0–70 71–100 101–130 131–160 161–19517 220 0–85 86–121 122–157 158–193 194–22018 255 0–110 111–149 150–188 189–227 228–25518/01–50 280 0–135 136–174 175–213 214–252 253–28018/51–75 305 0–160 161–199 200–238 239–277 278–30518/76–90 330 0–185 186–224 225–263 264–302 303–33018/91–99 380 0–235 236–274 275–313 314–352 353–38018/00 480 0–335 336–374 375–413 414–452 453–480

90 91

INDEX OF SPELLS AND POWERS

CREDITS

DreamForge Intertainment

Rule Book Writer,Interaction & Game Text Scot Noel

Executive Producer James NamestkaAssociate Producer,

Voice Direction Scot NoelLead Programmer Don Wuenschell

Game Design John “Fuzzy” McGirk IVArt Director Jane YeagerLead Artist Frank Schurter

Artists Craig Mrusek, Aaron Kreader, Eric Rainer Rice, Mike Nicholson

3D Artist Jason Johnson3D Support Jeff Zehner

3D Character Generator James NamestkaMusic James C. McMenamy

Sound Effects,Voice Production Anthony Mollick

Strategic Simulations, Inc.

Executive Producer Bret BerryProducer Scott Cuthbertson

Associate Producers David A. Lucca, Jeff ShotwellManaging Doc. Editor Eileen Matsumi

Rule Book Editors Jonathan Kromrey, Mark WhislerProduct Test Supervisor Glen Cureton

Lead Product Tester Jason RayTesters Kelly Calabro, Ben Cooley,

Brandon HarrisTest Support Annette Grove, Rose Ramos

Compatibility Testing Top Star Computing Services, Inc.Special Thanks To James M. Ward

Rule Book Graphic Design and DTP LOUIS SAEKOW DESIGN: David Boudreau, Leedara Zola

Rule Book Printing Consolidated Printers

Harm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Haste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Heal (Cleric) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Hide in Shadows (Thieves) . . . . . .47

Hold Monster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

Hold Person: Cleric . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Hold Person: Mage . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Ice Knife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Ice Storm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

Immunity to Adherence . . . . . . . .57

Immunity to Poison . . . . . . . . . . .45

Immunity to Spider Venom . . . . .60

Improved Identify . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Invisibility 10’ Radius . . . . . . . . .62

Lay on Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Levitate (Drow) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Levitate (Mage) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Lich Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Light (Cleric) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Light (Mage) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Lightning Bolt (Drow Artifact) . . .45

Lightning Bolt (Mage) . . . . . . . . . .62

Magic Missile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Magical Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Magical Vestment . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Melf’s Acid Arrow . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Neutralize Poison . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere . . . . . . .67

Passweb (Cleric) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Passweb (Mage) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Protection from Evil, 10’ radius (Cleric) . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Protection from Evil, 10’ radius (Mage) . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Protection from Evil (Cleric) . . . . .50

Protection from Evil (Mage) . . . . .58

Raise Dead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55

Read Dwarven (Dwarves, Gnomes, and Halflings) . . . . . . . .47

Read Languages (Thieves) . . . . . .47

Remove Paralysis . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Shocking Grasp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Slow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Slow Poison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Spider Shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

Spidercloak Armor . . . . . . . . . . . .66

Spiritual Hammer . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Spook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Stinking Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60

Stoneskin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

Stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

True Seeing (Cleric) . . . . . . . . . . . .56

True Seeing (Mage) . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Vampiric Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Venom Bolt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Venom Immunity . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Wizard Eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

92

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