Player
The character is you, the player. You are represented by the @ symbol. There are also other characters represented by an @, such as your quest leader and the oracle, and if the showrace option is turned on, your symbol will instead be that of your race.
In another sense, a character is any printable ASCII symbol. Thus the @ that represents you, the player, is also a character. Monsters, items, and even dungeon features, are also represented by characters.
The player character can be any one of the archeologist, barbarian, cave[wo]man, healer, knight, monk, priest, ranger, rogue, samurai, tourist, valkyrie, or wizard classes. They each have varing difficulties, strengths, weaknesses, quests and starting items.
The player can also choose from the five races: human, elf, dwarf, gnome, or orc, and the three alignments: lawful, neutral or chaotic. The available races and alignments are dependent on the class one picks. The following table lists all possible combinations:
| Arc | Bar | Cav | Hea | Kni | Mon | Pri | Ran | Rog | Sam | Tou | Val | Wiz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L | N | C | L | N | C | L | N | C | L | N | C | L | N | C | L | N | C | L | N | C | L | N | C | L | N | C | L | N | C | L | N | C | L | N | C | L | N | C | |
| Human | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | ||||||||||||||||||
| Elf | * | * | * | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dwarf | * | * | * | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gnome | * | * | * | * | * | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Orc | * | * | * | * | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
One should bear in mind that the choice of class (and to a lesser extent, race and alignment) has a dramatic effect on the style of play. Although in the late game, the characters can be played almost the same way (with a few exceptions), during the early game it is crucial that one utilizes the varying abilities of each of the classes and/or races. For example, running up and bashing a monster as a wizard would likely result in YASD, and reading unidentified spellbooks as a valkyrie or samurai could lead to paralyzation and death by newt.
Special character names
Your name is up to you, but some special names have a few minor effects on the game:
| Name | Effect |
|---|---|
|
Croesus |
You can truthfully claim your name is one of these to a vault guard (lying carries a -1 alignment penalty). |
| Maud | A scroll of amnesia will give a slightly different message |
Shopkeepers in bones files remember the name of the character that angered them. If you have the same name, they'll be angry at you too.
