Wizard

Wizard is a class in ADOM.

Wizards are the masters of arcane magic, and very powerful magic users overall. They are the most effective class at learning and casting arcane spells, and seem to get more PP and find more spellbooks than other classes. Due to their talents in magic — which can deal with most enemies relatively risk free (with enough persistence) — they seem to be considered by common consensus as one of the easiest classes to win the game with. They have good class powers that especially help them with their spellcasting, and start with good skills like Healing, Herbalism and Alchemy.

Whilst Wizards are potentially one of the most powerful classes in the game, they might be difficult for (new) players to keep alive during the early parts of the game. They are one of the physically weakest and most frail classes in the game (along with mindcrafters), and start with little armor to protect them early in the game. They are guaranteed to start with at least one offensive spellbook and a few magical items to compensate for this, though. They are weaker in melee than other classes — not only do they usually have poor strength scores compared to other classes, but they require twice as many marks as most other classes to advance in skill levels for all types of weapons (and shields). Of course, their problems with melee combat are irrelevant for those wishing to play Wizards that will only use spells and not physical force to win battles.

When considering race-class combinations, there are two general ways to play a Wizard — either as pure casters that are extremely powerful with magic, or as average melee fighters that can tap into the natural arcane abilities of Wizards to learn a bit of magic to survive some difficult fights. Elves have great magical talents and thus can make extremely powerful Wizards, though elven Wizards are considerably frail and at particular risk of traps etc. in the early game. Drakelings, dwarves and ratlings can be sturdy Wizards with a decent chance of learning spells, whilst trollish and orcish Wizards are decent fighters which at least have more hope of learning and using spells than other classes. Gnomes stand out as a 'happy medium' due to their great magical talents and decent Toughness, and in 1.2.0 are one of the race-class combinations suggested by the game for new players[1].

Basic Information

Manual Description

Wizards are masters of the 'art'. They wield great magical powers and are able to create fireballs, lightning strikes and magical protection spells. Their great magical powers are balanced by their mediocre fighting abilities. Most mages spend their lives studying books and conducting arcane experiments in hidden laboratories and thus have next to no time to practice their physical skills.

Base/Typical Stats

The base stats for grown up male Wizards are tabulated below; female characters will have approximately -1 Strength and +1 Dex, and young characters have slightly less Strength, Learning and Willpower. These stats were generated using the method described on the Talk:Archer page; except with star sign factored in. Variations of +/- 5 to each stat will usually exist; or even more if the question system is not skipped.

As might be expected, Wizards have superior mental and magical stats over (most) other classes, whilst having generally mediocre Strength and Toughness scores.

Race	St	Le	Wi	Dx	To	Ch	Ap	Ma	Pe
Human	11	18	15	13	12	13	11	16	12
Troll	20	8	12	10	22	8	6	10	8
High Elf	11	20	14	20	10	13	15	21	17
Gray Elf	11	20	15	18	8	10	20	24	17
Dark Elf	10	15	18	20	11	9	13	26	16
Dwarf	13	17	17	12	16	12	10	16	13
Gnome	10	17	14	16	13	16	11	22	13
Hurthling	7	15	15	20	14	16	11	13	12
Orc	15	12	15	13	16	10	8	10	10
Drakeling	14	15	18	12	16	13	9	16	11
Mist elf	9	23	15	18	8	10	24	29	19
Ratling	11	15	15	17	16	9	5	16	16

Starting Skills

Skill	Typical Value	Typical Modifier	Available Ingame?
Alchemy	36 (depends on Learning)	4d5	No
Concentration	42 (depends on Willpower)	4d5	No
Healing	18 (depends on Learning)	3d5	Yes
Herbalism	35	4d5	Yes
Literacy	100	2d4	Yes
Stealth	25	3d4	Yes
Ventriloquism	30	3d3	No

Crowning Gifts

• Brannalbin's Cloak of Defense
• Ring of immunity
• Robes of resistance
• Staff of the archmagi (double chance prior to 3.0.0)
• Staff of the Wanderer
• Ring of the archmages

The ring or robes are both very desirable for Wizards, especially seeing as they tend to be more frail than most of the other classes. Wizards unfortunately have a 50% chance of receiving a staff instead when crowned, which often makes a poor substitute for wielding a shield for defence.

Special Abilities

Class Abilities

• Wizards are more likely to find spellbooks as loot than (most) other classes.
• The Library has particular benefits for Wizards: a Wizard may find a spellbook of every type there, including Wish.
• Heir gift: A wand of fire with 30 charges.
• On the negative side, Wizards require twice as many weapon marks to advance weapon skill levels as most other classes.

Class Powers

• Level 6: Costs of using spells are reduced to 90% of their base cost.
• Level 12: Costs of spells are reduced to 80% of base cost
• Level 18: Costs of spells are reduced to 60% of base cost
• Level 25: Gradually increases spell knowledge of a randomly chosen spell. Each time the Wizard levels up again, a new spell will be chosen.
• Level 32: Can recharge wands at a cost of 50 PP per charge. No wand can ever be recharged again using this power. Note that the player will be prompted for the amount of charges to invest into the wand (not to be mistaken with the amount of PP invested!!!) , and trying to invest too many chargesr can overcharge the wand which injures the PC and drains one Mana point from him/her permanently. Exercise caution; one can easily be killed in the ensuing explosion if one attempts to put too many charges in the wand (trying to invest 50 charges into a blessed wand, while having the mana battery corruption, resulted in a death with -1400 HP from 500HP).
• Level 40: Can uncurse items at the cost of one Mana point
• Level 50: Receives some knowledge of all existing spells (apart from Wish?)

Starting Gear

All Wizards start the game with

• a robe
• a quarterstaff or dagger (the dagger will be mithril for mist elves)
• two spellbooks (one of which will always be an offensive spell, or Fire Bolt if PC is born on month of Salamander)
• two rings
• a wand
• two or three potions
• one or two scrolls
• either an extra spellbook, scroll, or wand
• torches, flint and steel and tinderbox (except for dark elves)
• some gold

Race specific gear

Human	Troll	High Elf	Grey Elf	Dark Elf
Sandals or leather boots Iron ration	Sandals or leather boots Iron ration	Sandals or leather boots Iron ration	Sandals or leather boots Loaf of elven bread	Sandals or leather boots Spider bread
Dwarf	Gnome	Hurthling	Orc	Drakeling
Sandals or leather boots Iron ration	Gnomish boots Iron ration	Cursed Ring Cooking set Iron rations	Sandals or Leather boots Iron ration	Sandals or Leather boots Iron ration
Mist Elf	Ratling
Gloves Sandals or Leather boots Iron ration	Sandals or Leather boots Iron ration