Sorcerer Playing Manual
Combat
Without some sort of challenge, Sorcerer would just be a game of mapping. And, after all, who gathers all the moeny in the maze together so that the characters can get it all in nice packages? That's right, it's the job of the hard working, and hopefully luckless, monsters. Thus, every so often your party will encounter monsters. They may be wandering around like you, or tehy may be inhabitants of a room that you have just entered. In any case, since monsters do not generally like the habits, morals, and taste in aromor and weaponry of characters, and because tehy really do like the smell and taste of a good "leg of adventurers", it is likely that a fight will take place.
When you have encountered monsters, a message to that effect will appear. In an few seconds that will be replaced with the names of the monsters that are opposing you, as well as a full color picture.
For each Group of monsters, and there can be four of them, you will be told the group number of the monsters, how many there are, what they appear to be, and, in parentheses, how many are abel to attack the party.
It is interesting to note that you do not always know exactly what the monsters are! Most of the time you will be told what they look like, and later on in the melee you will find out what they really are.
There is a small chance that if your party is of LAW alignment (no CHAOS and at least one LAW character), the monsters you meet may be friendly and will invite you to pass. If not, combat will ensue. Combat consists of a series of rounds, during which each character and monster can do a single activity. First, the computer decides what the monster are going to do. You may notice monsters moving forward in order to attack you. Monsters in group 1 are closest to you, so they hace the best chance of being able to physically attack you, and physical attacks by characters have a better chance of hitting them. Spells can be cast without penalty by any monster in any group which has the ability to cast spells, thus spell casting monsters will generally hang back, where it is harder for your fighters to attack them. Similarly, the first 3 characters in your party automatically defend the second three (if any). This means that the second three cannot be attacked physically. It also means that they cannot physically attack monsters.
COMBAT OPTIONS
After the monsters have made their decisions, it is time for you to select the activities your characters will engage in. In the area where the active spells were displayed, a list of options will be presented for each character. Just as in other areas of Sorcerer, options can be selected by pressing the option. The options are:
FIGHT a monster. If more than one group of monsters oppose the party, you will have to press the group you want to fight. Note some kind of monster without body (Ghosts, Spirits and so on) is immune to Physical Attack. However, a magic weapon with elemental or spiritual power (like a sword of flame) can hurt them.
PARRY. You use weapon as a tool of defense. Makes you harder to hit.
SPELL. You choose the spell you wish to cast, and if you can cast it, you may be asked which group or person you wish to cast it on.
USE an item. A list of your items that can cast a spell are displayed and you can use an item by pressing the name of the desired item. Or you can press RETURN to try another option. You may be asked the further questions needed to direct the spell to the proper recipient.
RUN! Using this option causes the entire party to try to run. There is a chance your party won't get away, which is dependent on depth in the maze, party size, etc. If you don't get away, the monsters may chase you through several rooms, so running can get you lost!
Dispell. This options in only available to Priests, and high level Bishops and Knights. It works only against the "Undead"(Zombies, Mummies, Skeltons, Wraiths, etc.), and causes some of them do disintegrate. The effectiveness of Dispell depends on how powerful the dispeller is and how resistant the dispellees are. Like Fight, you have to specify the group you are attempting to dispell.
If you make an error entering the activities you want your characters to perform, there are several ways you can make a correction. If the options requires more information, such as a group number, you can press CANCEL the selection and make another.
When all this is done, the computer will mediate the combat.
Actions as they occur will appear in the mesaage area. It may be that your character will be killed or incapaciated before he has a chance to do what you wanted him to. At the end of the round the statuses are replotted. Dead or incapaciated characters are shifted to the back of the marching order. Monster groups totally destroyed will disappear and the other groups will shif up.(If you are fighting three groups and you kill off group 1, then the second and third groups would shift up to become the first and second groups.) remember that the number after the monster name in parentheses is the number of live monsters that are active. For example:
7 BUSHWACKERS(4)
means there are seven libve Bushwackers of which only four are able to fight. Perhaps you cast a SLEEP spell and three fell into a coma?
This entire process repeats itself until either all of party is dead(in which case it is off to the cemetery as you have made a tasty snack for the monsters), or all the monsters are dead, in which case all the survivors get loot and experience.
A Reminder-Dead or Incapacitated characters are not left in the maze, but are automatically carried by surviving party members. Only when the entire party is slaughtered or disbanded are characters left in the maze. It is these unfortunates who can searched for via the INSPECT option and the SEARCH BODY spell.
The experience each character gets will be plotted where the monster names were listed, and the gold and items found, if any, will plot in the message area.
However, there may be one slight problem! The treasure may be in a chest, which you will have to open. And there may be some sort of trap in the chest. However, chest can hold a lot more loot.
OPENING TREASURE CHESTS
If a treasure chest is found, you will have to try to open it. A chest will be displayed, and you will have the following options. Each will ask you who is doing the action, and you will have the following options. Each will ask you who is doing the action, and you will have to choose the person.
OPEN the chest, If you think the chest is not trapped, then just open it! But, if it is trapped, watch out!
INSPECT the chest. There is a chance that inspecting the chest will set off the trap (if there is one), but the chance is much lower for Thives. If you inspect, you will be tokd what you THINK the trap is. But it may not be that at all! Each person can inspect only once.
CAST Spell. IDENT TRAP spell is a priestly spell that determines the correct trap 95% of the time. Only a character who knows the IDENT TRAP spell, and has a spell point to cast it with, may use this spell.
DISARM the trap. You will have to choose what trap you think is. If you choose the wrong trap name, and trap goes off, you may be in trouble.
LEAVE the chest alone. You don't get the loot but you don't set off any traps, either!
After the chest has been opened, the loot will be distributed. Gold will be evenly divided between surviving characters , and any items found will be distributed from in front of the party. It is a good idea to leave one or two of your item slots open.
After the combat, it may be a good idea to CAMP and cast a few restorative spells if anyone got hurt. Otherwise it's onward ever onward!
Tips for Beginners
-Balance your party. When first starting out, have a party of 2 fighters, a priest, a thief, and 2 wizards. This is the strongest party you can make out of level 1 to 3 characters.
-Remember that "Discretion is the better of Valor". A good motto for begining adventurers might be "He who quits and runs away, lives to fight another day". It is inevitable that you will eventually meet a group of monsters tougher than you are. If party members start dropping right and left, run for it.
-Use your spell casters wisely. When fighting monsters, have them use "SLEEP" to knock out the opposition so that you can slit thier throats. Of course, this may not work against some monsters, and these you should run from until you are more powerful.
-If anyone gets hurt, or if you use any spells, get out of the maze as fast as you can and recuperate. The best way to build up characters is to dash into the maze, fight one encounter and run out again.
-Make accurare maps, and check them constantly. Be wary of nasty tricks designed to create inaccurate maps. Maps are especially useful if tyou are running away from monsters a lot.