Yeoman

The Yeoman is one of the roles available to the hero in SLASH'EM, SlashTHEM and Hack'EM. From the guidebook:

Yeomen are sturdy fighters. They are famed for their ability to stand doing nothing for hours. It is said that this is because they are none too bright. Yeomen can both take a lot of damage and inflict it on others.

Yeomen are always lawful and male, and can be humans, elves or hobbits.

Starting inventory

Each Yeoman starts with the following equipment:

• a +2 short sword
• a +1 partisan
• +1 leather armor
• +0 high boots
• +0 leather gloves
• 10-20 uncursed apples
• 10-20 uncursed carrots
• 3 uncursed potions of water
• an uncursed +0 fishing pole

Yeomen start with knowledge of all non-magical weapons and armor, along with any applicable racial equipment.

The Yeoman's default starting pet is a saddled pony.

Intrinsics

Yeomen gain the following intrinsic properties upon reaching the given experience levels:

• XL 7: Speed
• XL 15: Swimming

Skills

Yeomen have the following skills available to them:

Yeoman skills
Max	Skills
Basic	Weapons: knife, broadsword, hammer, spear, sling, dart, whip, unicorn horn Spells: Body spells
Skilled	Weapons: dagger, axe, long sword, saber, paddle, quarterstaff, javelin, trident, lance, firearms, crossbow Spells: enchantment spells, protection spells Combat: bare hands, two weapon combat
Expert	Weapons: short sword, polearms, bow Combat: riding

Yeomen start with Basic skill in short swords and polearms. They use the wisdom stat to cast spells, and their special spell is knock.

Techniques

Yeomen can learn the disarm technique by reaching Skilled in any weapon, and also gain the following techniques at the listed experience levels:

Level	Technique
1	Calm steed

The calm steed technique may be bugged depending on the version of SLASH'EM being played—it is fixed in the Hardfought version of SLASH'EM, as well as in SlashTHEM and Hack'EM.

Special rules

Yeomen move at a base speed of 10, compared to 12 for every other role in SLASH'EM minus the Undead Slayer.

Yeomen have a +2 bonus to casting emergency spells.

Rank titles

The status line displays one of the following ranks for the corresponding experience levels:

• XL 1-2: Usher
• XL 3-5: Steward
• XL 6-9: Keeper
• XL 10-13 :Marshal
• XL 14-17: Master Steward
• XL 18-21: Chamberlain
• XL 22-25: Constable
• XL 26-29: Chancellor
• XL 30: Regent

Gods

The Yeoman pantheon is the three estates, the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christian Europe from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe—in modern Britain, the nobility and clergy are combined into one lordly estate, with "commons" as the other estate. Their first sacrifice gift is the Sword of Justice, and their second sacrifice gift is Reaper.

• Lawful: His Majesty
• Neutral: His Holiness
• Chaotic: The Commons

Quest

The Yeoman's Quest sees them fighting Colonel Blood for The Crown of Saint Edward, an artifact helm of telepathy. While carried, it grants magic resistance and half spell damage.

Strategy

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"Structure and expand where necessary, similar to other SLASH'EM role strategy sections, and differentiate accordingly."

At a glance, there are apparent and tangible similarities Yeomen and Knights: Both roles can become expert riders and start with a saddled pony, as well as apples and carrots to keep their ponies fed and train apport. Yeomen are much more combat-oriented and focused on riding than Knights, who have some level of spellcasting ability and magically-inclined techniques. Yeomen also have the calm steed technique, and can reach Expert in polearms and Skilled in lances, with the reverse being true for Knights—Yeomen are the only SLASH'EM role that can reach Expert in polearms.

The roles' quest artifacts are also notably similar, with both granting magic resistance and telepathy: while The Magic Mirror of Merlin also doubles the damage of certain spells for Knights and can simply be carried for its traits, The Crown of Saint Edward must be worn for its telepathy due to its base item, but grants magic resistance and half spell damage while carried. The similarities even extend to much of their early game, the overall details of which the sections below will discuss in detail.

Early game

The early game can be difficult with the Yeoman's base 10 speed, but they can become quite a strong fighter very quickly if played well. Your initial focus should be on playing to the role's strengths by raising your pony to become a warhorse and improving your polearms skill using the partisan—though partisans are the weakest polearm type, the starting +1 partisan outputs the same average damage as the Knight's starting lance (minus the ability to joust), and can be exchanged for any stronger polearms you come across. While collecting a stack of daggers from the Gnomish Mines for ranged fighting is not a terrible idea, be very mindful of your carrying capacity so that an already-slow Yeoman hero does not become burdened. Finding unlocking tools is also paramount if you aim to remain mounted as long as possible, and an axe or pick-axe can suffice in a pinch.

Though the starting +2 short sword is pretty decent as an early weapon, Yeomen that find a long sword can dip for Excalibur—they can train to Skilled in long swords. Human and elven yeomen can perform two weapon combat with Excalibur and the Sword of Justice, another artifact long sword which has +5 to-hit and +12 damage bonuses against non-lawful monsters; this exact prospect is less attractive for hobbit Yeomen since they cannot two-weapon, but both artifacts are still decently powerful options on their own. Alternately, the Yeoman's second sacrifice gift Reaper is a halberd with fantastic +5 to-hit and +20 damage bonuses when used in mounted melee combat or applied for pounding: with a high damage average and superb accuracy on an already-stellar base weapon, combined with jumping (e.g. from jumping boots) and a light source, any Yeoman can become a highly-mobile monster-mulching menace.

A good strategy is to repeatedly engrave Elbereth in the dust and chop away at foes by applying your partisan at range. Other strategies to improve polearm skill include moving so as to keep your horse between you and your foe, picking up an item in a shop and attacking over the shopkeeper's head, and attacking with it in melee while mounted. The last strategy should be delayed until you have enough HP to survive a failed mounting attempt (at least 20). You will get speed at level 7, and by the time your pony grows up it will let you move faster than even a pair of speed boots.

Mid-game

The Yeoman's midgame is straightforward and not overly difficult. Try to get a source of reflection and magic resistance: the latter is especially critical, as losing your warhorse to a polymorph trap will make you much slower. As with most SLASH'EM roles, you should make for the Black Market as soon as you finish Sokoban (or possibly after getting the luckstone from Mine's End) and before doing any of the dangerous SLASH'EM dungeon branches. If you plan to kill Sam for his ascension gear, hold off on buying protection until after you have done so.

Once you are sufficiently strong in melee and well-armored, you should complete the Yeoman quest. Colonel Blood hits hard, but is not an overly tough foe, and the Crown of Saint Edward will give you both magic resistance and half spell damage, as well as extrinsic telepathy. You will also find plenty of bullets and firearms from the soldiers on the quest, as well as a guaranteed long sword and co-aligned altar if you have yet to obtain one. Pick up bullets whenever you see them, as exploding grenades will destroy them if they are lying about or in a soldier's inventory.

The late game

If you are Skilled in two-weapon combat and long swords, a +7 Excalibur and +7 Sword of Justice deals more damage per hit than a +7 Reaper with Expert in polearms. The primary tradeoffs of this setup are vital drain resistance and automatic searching combined with a simplified melee gameplan from two-weaponing, versus the ability to maneuver at short distances with Reaper while bribing lawful demon lords and princes (which Excalibur prevents) and dealing more damage against lawful hostiles on the ascension run.

In the late game, a good scenario to aspire to is:

• Expert at riding, riding a ki-rin with a blessed saddle (worth a wish to get a blessed figurine of a ki-rin)
• Expert at polearms, wielding the blessed rustproof +7 Reaper (or two-weaponing with Excalibur and another powerful artifact such as Grayswandir, Frost Brand, Fire Brand, or Sword of Justice)
• Wearing blessed +5 fixed gauntlets of dexterity (This is a nice boost to AC for every SLASH'EM character)
• Wearing blessed +5 fixed jumping boots (speed boots don't enhance speed while riding, but jumping does work)
• A lit blessed magic lamp or magic candle. Although the candle is preferable (lighter and no chance of giving a wish), having a permanent source of light is more important than an 80% chance of one wish while using Reaper, and required for jumping and pounding in dark places. There will always be a magic lamp you can swim for in the Sunless Sea.
• the rest of a standard ascension kit

It is also worth sacrificing for minions at higher levels, as a Yeoman has access to powerful devas, and eventually mega-powerful Archons, Planetars, and Solars. With your full ascension kit, your fast flying steed, and your powerful retinue, you can head into the end-game as a nearly unstoppable tank and have a very satisfying experience.

Origin

Yeomen are based primarily around the Yeoman Warders of the Tower of London, and are melee-focused combatants similar to Knights, with more skill in riding and polearm use.