chapter 1 "Introduction" If you are unfamiliar with LPC based muds in general or Dead Souls mudlib in particular, you will find this handbook valuable in orienting you around what you can do and how you can do it. Keep in mind that this handbook describes the features of a mud running an unmodifed version of the lib. The mud you are on may differ somewhat, though probably not extremely so. To advance a page in a chapter, just hit "return". Let's start with just navigating this book. Once you are done reading this chapter, you can read the next chapter by typing: %^GREEN%^read chapter 2 in handbook%^RESET%^ Make sure you wait until you are done reading this chapter, though. The reason you should wait is that you are now in "reading mode", which means that anything you type and send to the mud is actually a command to the editing system that is displaying this text. To leave reading mode (or more accurately, pager, or ed mode) you can hit "return" a bunch of times to complete the chapter, thus automatically exiting the pager. Another way is to enter the letter "q" (without the quotes) and then "return". That will also make you stop reading. When you are not in reading mode, you can find out the chapter titles by typing: %^GREEN%^read index in handbook%^RESET%^ You really should read the whole thing, but in case you don't, the chapter titles will help as a reference to find the information you need. Something to watch out for is that if you or your environment contain another handbook, the mud may not know which one you are trying to read. If you get a message like "Which of the two handbooks would you like to read?", you can try one or more of the following: %^GREEN%^read index in first handbook%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^read index in my handbook%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^read index in my first player handbook%^RESET%^ \n chapter 2 "Command Syntax: Doing Stuff" Section 1: Manipulating Objects ---------- You've already noticed that Dead Souls, like most modern LP muds, uses natural-like command syntax, like: %^GREEN%^read first handbook%^RESET%^ rather than: %^GREEN%^read handbook 1%^RESET%^ This is because Dead Souls uses a natural language parser. It isn't perfect, of course. If you try to "put all apples from box in my bag after opening them" you won't see much success, but this will work: %^GREEN%^open box%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^open bag%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^get apples from box%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^put apples in bag%^RESET%^ The parser will understand "the first box" or "my second bag", assuming those objects exist in your inventory or in your environment. If you want to know what is in the box, the command is: %^GREEN%^look in box%^RESET%^ The command "look at box" or "examine box" will usually *not* show you the contents of that box. This is because normally, boxes are opaque, and in the real world, just looking at a box is rarely enough to see what it contains as well. An exception to this rule are transparent containers (a glass trophy case, perhaps) whose interior is always visible from the outside. Sometimes looking at an object reveals its contents because of the nature of the object. A table, for example, can have things on it, and typing: %^GREEN%^look at table %^RESET%^ ...will usually let you know what is on it. It is also possible to see what other players are carrying by just looking at them, unless what they have is inside a container. You'll want to remember that while you can "put apple in bag", if you want to put that apple on a surface like a table, you'll need to: %^GREEN%^put apple on table%^RESET%^ You can give things to people, and they will automatically accept them. However, you may not "take" or "get" things from living beings. It's theirs, and it's up to them if they want to share. You can try to "steal sword from fighter" if you dare, but unless you have trained a lot, this is unlikely to succeed. We'll talk more about training and skills in a later chapter. Naturally you may also drop things you no longer need, though it's nicer to your fellow mudders (and the mud's memory) to put them in recycling bins so the bits can be reused. Some other common object manipulation commands are: close, donate, attack, eat, drink, listen, smell, search, shoot, touch, turn. There are many others you may find useful, but these will be the ones you use most often to handle simple objects. * A note about articles: Dead Souls understands both definite and indefinite articles. This means that you can refer to a specific apple, like so: %^GREEN%^get the apple%^RESET%^ But you can also be unspecific. If there are a dozen apples in a crate and you don't care which one you pick up: %^GREEN%^get an apple from the crate%^RESET%^ Section 2: Navigation --------- Moving around here is probably much like any other mud. You can expect to move mostly in cardinal directions (like north and northwest), but you may sometimes need to go up, down, or out. Strictly speaking, the way to do this is: %^GREEN%^go south%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^go out%^RESET%^ ...and so on, but this can get tedious after a while. Instead of having to type in "go" plus the entire direction, the mud allows you to enter shortcuts like "sw" for "go southwest" or "u" for "go up". When you enter a room, very often you will see letters in brackets above the room description, like this: [n, u, out] These are the "obvious exits" of that room, and help you quickly find your way around without having to go through each description. But remember! Just because a room has obvious exits doesn't mean those are the only exits. Sometimes a room must be searched to discover an exit, or there may be an exit available that just doesn't happen to be very obvious. If a room is dark, obvious exits may not be visible at all. Aside from those ordinary means of travel, there are situations that require more specific locomotion than just "go". These are examples of the use of some other commands to get around: %^GREEN%^jump onto road%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^enter window%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^climb ladder%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^crawl east%^RESET%^ (if you are lying down and can't get up) %^GREEN%^fly up%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^follow thief%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^evade hunter%^RESET%^ Section 3: Armor ------- Now that you can manipulate objects and move around, you'll want to be able to defend yourself, should the need arise. The special object categories of "weapons" and "armor" should help. Armor is an item that can be worn. That means that a pair of blue jeans is considered armor, and a suit of chainmail is considered armor as well. Basically, if you can wear it, it's "armor", because whether it's a lot or a little, it protects you. Assuming you are humanoid, you have the following limbs: head, neck, torso, right arm, right hand, left arm, left hand, right leg, right foot, left leg, left foot. Properly coded armor must be worn on the corect limbs. Usually a command like: %^GREEN%^wear chainmail%^RESET%^ or %^GREEN%^wear all%^RESET%^ ...will cause you to automatically wear armor where it makes most sense. However, it is possible to find armor that, for example, can be worn either on your neck or your torso, like an amulet. If this is so, you'll need to specify where you want it. There are various types of armor, like cloak, pants, glove, etc. Many of them overlap. You can wear a shirt on your torso as well as a cloak and combat armor, but you may not wear two of the same type. If you have a robe and a cape that are both cloaks, you'll have to decide which one is going on. You will find that shoes and gloves are often for one of your hands but not the other. Sometimes you will find shoes, or gloves that don't care which appendage they occupy, but usually these are simply incorrectly coded. If you are of some exotic or non-humanoid race, you may have additional limbs to consider, and humanoid armor may not work for you. Section 4: Weapons --------- You may be surprised to learn that almost any manipulable object can be wielded as a weapon, or thrown as a missile. You can wield a can of Spam and try to kill an orc with it...and you may even succeed, if you are strong and tough enough. Don't count on it, though, and instead go for items that are made specifically with personal security in mind. There are four main types of weapons: knife: knives, daggers blade: like swords, and spears blunt: like clubs, staves, and shillelaghs projectile: things designed to be thrown, like darts or grenades Unless it is a special device or magical item, weapons must be wielded in order to be of use in combat. Some weapons, like staves or pikes, may require the use of both hands. If this is the case, wearing a shield may not be possible at the same time. Like armor, weapons differ in quality and effectiveness. A "well-crafted sword" is probably a better choice than a "small rusty knife", but then again, you never know. Maybe rusty knives are exactly what some monster is most vulnerable to. Note also that, like armor, weapons wear down with use. Examples of commands that involve weapons or fighting: %^GREEN%^wield sword%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^wield hammer in left hand%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^wield staff in left hand and right hand%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^unwield dagger%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^shoot gun at otik%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^throw dart at beggar%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^kill all%^RESET%^ (this makes an enemy of everyone in the room) %^GREEN%^ignore first orc%^RESET%^ (lets you concentrate on the other orcs) %^GREEN%^ignore all%^RESET%^ (don't fight anyone in the room, even if they are attacking you) %^GREEN%^target boss orc%^RESET%^ (this makes you ignore attacks from anyone else) %^GREEN%^wimpy 30%^RESET%^ (this makes you run away if your health points drop below 30%) Section 5: Miscellaneous Things to to with Things --------- %^GREEN%^turn on flashlight%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^turn off flashlight%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^strike match%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^light torch with match%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^extinguish match%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^dig hole with shovel%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^move bed%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^search %^RESET%^ (by default searches the room) %^GREEN%^search rocks%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^unlock east door with silver key%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^bait pole with worm%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^fish with pole%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^stop fishing%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^drop all%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^donate 2 silver%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^get all%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^get all from corpse%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^sell first right glove to otik%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^sell all to otik%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^buy sword from otik%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^buy 8 from otik%^RESET%^ (get Otik to sell you item number 8) chapter 3 "Your Health and Abilities" In the previous chapter you learned the basics of getting around and taking care of yourself. It's important also to care *for* yourself, and this chapter describes the various aspects of your body's state and what abilities you may have. The command that tells you almost everything you need to know is "stat". This diplays a whole lot of stuff, perhaps some of it completely unfamiliar. Let's start at the top, using my output as an example. First line: ---------- %^CYAN%^Cratylus aka Cratylus the unaccomplished, level 10 male human Explorer%^RESET%^ Here you see my short name, my name with title, my level, my gender, my race, and my class. Let's go over each. * short name: What a person would use to address you. "look at cratylus", for example. * name with title: This displays my title. Creators can have whatever title they want. Players can only have the titles they earn. As a player, a title is usually earned when you are promoted a level or complete a quest, though it is not always so on every mud. * level: This is a measure of your overall experience, expertise, and all-around game status. Being promoted a level means your skills, health, and vital statistics increase. This often means you can handle tougher monsters, for example, or tackle more challenging quests, learn new spells, and so on. * gender: This has no effect on your status. It is a cosmetic feature of your body that is only useful to you in the social context of your fellow mud players. * race: In Dead Souls, race has nothing to do with your local genetic makeup on planet Earth. In the mud, "race" refers to what one typically would call "species" in real-life. An example of a race other than human might be "orc" or "feline". Not all races are available for players. Once you have chosen a race to play, it is in theory possible to change it, but there is a nonzero chance you'll hose up your player file and lose your character forever. Besides, it's up to your local admins whether race changing is permitted on your mud. Different races have different abilities. Elves see better in darkness, for example. Orcs are stronger than some other humanoids, but dumber, too (which does affect gameplay). * class: This can be considered an occupational specialty. In the real world you have plumbers, doctors, soldiers, etc. In the mud world, we can have explorers, fighters, mages, and the like. Each class brings its own unique advantages and disadvantages to your gameplay. A fighter can really kick more butt in melee combat than a mage, but a mage gets to cast powerful spells. Explorers are a middle of the road class that gives you a bit of everything without specializing in anything. Next line: ---------- %^CYAN%^Alive / Awake%^RESET%^ It is indeed possible for your virtual body to cease life functions. When this happens your spirit speeds off to the land of the dead, where you drift until you decide to "regenerate" and regain your physical form. Except for some special magical items, anything you were carrying when you died is with that dead body, so it's a good idea to rush your new body back to the scene of the fatality and get your stuff back before someone else grabs it. Death is not only inconvenient, it also incurs major penalties on your statistics, so it should be avoided. It is also possible to sleep. If you are drunk and asleep, your injuries will heal more quickly. It's magic, don't worry about the logic behind it. If you are attacked while sleeping, you will wake up. You can force yourself awake, too, but it's a bit tedious. Next line: --------- %^CYAN%^Health: 350/350 Magic: 560/560 Stamina: 400/400 Carry: 1184/1300%^RESET%^ In each case, the number on the left of the slash indicates the current level, and the number on the right indicates what the maximum is. health: When I am 100% healthy, I have a total of 350 hp. If my hp ever reach 0 or less (!), I die. Poison and illness can cause hp's to gradually decrease, and although with time my hp's will normally return to 350 as I heal, poison and illness can slow down that healing or even cause me to die. Injury in combat is the most common source of hp loss, though spells, falls, and other adverse events can cause you injury or death. magic: I cast magic missile! Spell casting takes a toll on your magical abilities, and mp measure how much magic you've got left in you at any given point. Like hp, mp gradually grow back to your max if you avoid spellcasting for a while. stamina: Fighting is tough work, and swinging around swords while getting bashed with hammers really takes a lot out of a guy. Therefore keep an eye on this stat while you're fighting, because if it gets too low you will collapse and be unable to do anything for a while. carry: Objects have mass, and your body is of limited size and strength. My carry capacity is 0 when I carry nothing, and 1300 when I can carry no more. Creators are allowed to exceed their bodies' carry capacity, but players cannot. Next line: --------- %^CYAN%^Food: 0 Drink: 0 Alcohol: 0 Caffeine: 0 Poison: 0 %^RESET%^ These are pretty self-explanatory. Alcohol is good for healing, bad for fighting. Food and drink also help speed healing. Poison has the opposite effect. Caffeine can speed up your combat slightly, but tends to prevent full rest. You will not die from lack of food or lack of drink, but you will do better with a body not starved for nutrients. Your maximum load for any of these is not fixed, and varies depending on many factors, such as level, endurance, etc. Next line: --------- %^CYAN%^Training Points: 0 Quest Points: 0 Experience Points: 50 %^RESET%^ Training points can be cashed in with special NPC's called trainers, who can help you improve some skills. A trainer that specializes in fighting might be able to raise your "blade attack" skill, for example. you earn training points when you are promoted a level. Quest points are awarded when you complete a quest. In the default version of Dead Souls, you cannot advance past a certain player level unless you earn some qp's. Read the sign in the adventurers guild for more details on this. Experience points can be awarded for various reasons: completing a quest, solving a puzzle, winning a contest. Most often you will receive xp after killing an NPC. The amount of xp awarded will depend on the level of the NPC. Like qp, xp are needed to qualify for level advancement. Limb section: ------------ Remember how wearing armor requires the right body parts? Well here they are, and this is their health. You can issue the "body" command for a quicker self-check. Let's look at what the numbers mean with an example: %^CYAN%^left leg (2) 160/160%^RESET%^ Obviously the first item identifies the limb in question. The (2) is a kind of "importance score", indicating how critical a body part is. If this number is (1), like the head, it means that losing that limb causes immediate death. The number on the right side of the slash indicates the hit point damage you may receive on that limb before it is severed. The number on the left is how many of those hits you have left. It doesn't mean my leg has 160 of my hitpoints. If that were true, my hit points would add up to a heck of a lot more than 350. This means that if I've lost, say, 200hp fighting a troll, and 159hp of those hits were on my left leg, getting hit there again means I lose my left leg. I would then collapse and have to crawl away to seek medical attention. Wearing armor on your limbs is a great way to minimize the danger of this happening. Skills section: -------------- Let's review skills by examining one of mine: %^CYAN%^blade attack (1) 00% - 20/24%^RESET%^ This measures how likely I am to hit an opponent when I use a blade, and how good a hit it was. The number (1) means that this is a skill critical to my class. If an explorer can't swing a sword, he oughta think about another line of work. The 00% means I have thus far earned no blade attack experience toward achieving the next level of this skill. The 20 is my current proficiency level. The 24 is the maximum level I can reach at my current player level and with my current stats. What's all this mean? Well, if I practice a lot of blade attacking, that 00% will gradually climb up to 99, and one more point causes me to go from a level 20 slicer of things to a level 21 slicer of things. This increases my likelihood of hitting my target in the future. Meaning, in short, practice a skill, and you'll get better at it. Of course, if my blade attack level reaches 24, I can advance my blade attack skills no further until my player level rises. Stats section: ------------- Remember these from Dungeons & Dragons? No? Well these vital statistics measure your general giftedness in that feature of your body. Let's look at one of mine: %^CYAN%^coordination (2) 42/42%^RESET%^ Coordination is one of those important stats for fighting and such. The more coordinated you are, the more likely you are to hit your target. The (2) indicates that this stat is important to my class, but not critical. This influences its effect on my skills. 42/42 means that my coordination is not currently impaired. If someone cast a "stumble" spell on me, for example, this might look more like 30/42, and if I were drunk, it would look very shabby indeed. Last section: ------------ "Cratylus has amassed a net worth of 11 gold." means that when you add up the money in my bank accounts and the money I'm carrying, converted to gold, I have 11 gold to my name. It looks bad, but gold is actually quite valuable in the default Dead Souls economy. "Money on hand: 79 dollars, 34 silver" means that this is the amount of money I'm carrying. Don't forget that the amount of money you are carrying affects your overall carry capacity. Gold is an especially heavy currency. Final notes: ----------- "stat" is a great command to get thorough information about yourself. It is, however, quite a screenful. Briefer reports can be viewed with the following commands: %^GREEN%^body%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^skills%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^stats%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^score%^RESET%^ %^GREEN%^status%^RESET%^ chapter 4 "Quests" Some muds don't have quests, and the fun people have is through role-playing and social activities with other players. Other muds prefer to concentrate on killing lots and lots of monsters, a lot, over and over. Quests give you a chance to problems-solve by performing some series of actions that satisfies a pre-determined requirement. For example, Dead Souls' sample town contains a quest called Orcslayer. Leo the archwizard lives in the basement of the old abandoned church, and he has lost a powerful magic sword called "Orcslayer". If you return it to him, he will reward you with experience points, quest points, and a new title you can use. To complete the quest, you need to defeat the warrior orcs, penetrate deep into their lair, defeat the orc shaman, and take Orcslayer from his corpse, then go to the church basement and give the sword to Leo. In this case, if you're a level 1 newbie, the orcs will massacre you before you get anywhere near the shaman. So either team up with friends to tackle the orcs together, or raise your level to the point where you're tough enough to take them on. To raise your level, wander around in the newbie mansion, which is south of the village church. There's lots of loot there you can sell at Otik's shop, and with the cash you can then get some proper weaponry and armor. Silver is heavy, so don't try to carry all your money around all the time. Request an account from Zoe the banker and keep your money there until you really need it. There is a quest in the newbie mansion, and solving it by finding the secret room will give you experience and quest points too. (hint, there might be more than one secret room) Once you have enough experience and/or points, go to Dirk in the adventurers hall and "%^GREEN%^ask dirk to advance%^RESET%^". Make sure you learn some spells from Herkimer, because if you go up against a bunch of orcs in their lair, you'll want spells to shield you from attacks, and spells to recover your strength after combat. As a non-mage, your spell abilities will be limited at lower levels, but as you gain levels you'll get better. Also, spells will rarely work after you first learn them. Keep casting them, even if you screw them up, so that your magic skills increase. Also, save your money. Drinking and sleeping help you heal, but not fast enough. By the time those natural processes finish and you're ready for combat again, the orcs may have gotten reinforcements. So if you can afford it, buy healing slips and use them at Clepius' healer's guild. His treatment is expensive, but you will heal much more quickly. In the tragic event of the loss of a limb, Clepius can also magically regenerate a new limb...but obviously at some great cost. There. I've just spoiled the Orcslayer quest for you. Normally, all you'd know about a quest is a cryptic clue, like the one in the scroll in the adventurers guild. Instead I've just spoiled the quest for you by telling you all about it. They're more fun when you have to figure them out on your own, like puzzles. Normally, spoiling quests like this is a bannable offense on a mud, so if you solve a quest, keep it to yourself unless you know the admins on your mud don't mind. chapter 5 "Communication" There are many ways to communicate with other players. If you're in the same room as your intended listener, you can just use the "say" command, like this: %^GREEN%^say hi, crat%^RESET%^ If the message is secret, you can "whisper": %^GREEN%^whisper to cratylus are you idle?%^RESET%^ If you want to say something that everyone in the mud can hear, use the "shout" command (at the cost of a lot of stamina): %^GREEN%^shout hey crat, wheredya go?%^RESET%^ Or, if it's an important secret and the target is not in the same room as you, you can use the magical "tell" command: %^GREEN%^tell cratylus are you mad at me or something?%^RESET%^ There are also special communication lines on the mud that are class or role-specific. For example, if you type: %^GREEN%^newbie does anyone know what's up with cratylus?%^RESET%^ All people who are tuned into the newbie line will get your message. To see what lines are available to you, type: %^GREEN%^lines%^RESET%^ To see who is listening to the newbie channel: %^GREEN%^list newbie%^RESET%^ To see who is listening to some other channel on some other mud: %^GREEN%^list otherchannel@othermud%^RESET%^ To enable or disable a line, just type the name of it with no message. To see a brief history of the past few messages on a line (in this case, the newbie line), type: %^GREEN%^hist newbie%^RESET%^ Spamming lines is rude and probably dangerous to your character, so be sure you comply with your mud's rules on lines. Your mud may be on the intermud network. To find out, type the command: %^GREEN%^mudlist%^RESET%^ If a list of muds comes up, you know your mud is probably on the intermud3 communication network. Dead Souls by default restricts players from access to intermud channels, but you can "tell" to players on other muds, if you want. If you think your friend Xyzzy is online on a mud on intermud3, you can issue this command: %^GREEN%^locate xyzzy%^RESET%^ If he's logged into a mud on i3, you will get something like: Xyzzy was just located on Frontiers. (idle 00:03:17) [status: inactive] You can then tell to him: %^GREEN%^tell xyzzy@frontiers dude, what's the deal with crat lately?%^RESET%^ Sometimes a player or NPC does not understand your character's native tongue. For example, if you are en elf, your native tongue is not English, it is Edhellen. If someone talks to you in English, you might see something like this: Xyzzy says in English, "leka mifahmam, potong-hwa." Since your character doesn't speak English, what you see is gibberish. If you find a language teacher, your proficiency in the language they teach you will allow you to understand more of the words you hear. Suppose that your elf character is now 100% fluent in English. If you greet a human player named Xyzzy by typing: %^GREEN%^say hello there, xyzzy%^RESET%^ Xyzzy will probably see something like: Noobie says in Edhellen, "pericolo temak, forshtor." Instead, if you want to speak to a human, you'll have to type: %^GREEN%^speak in english hello there, xyzzy%^RESET%^ To find out what languages you speak, type: %^GREEN%^language%^RESET%^ chapter 6 "Note to New Creators" You should probably hang on to this book for reference. If you lose it, pick up a copy at the adventurers hall. However, you need to start reading the Creators Manual. If you don't have one on you, get the one in the chest in your workroom. If you're new to coding, start with chapter 31. It'll get you started with the Quick Creation System, or QCS. Cratylus @ Frontiers 04 Jan 2006 chapter 7 "Hints and tips" * The "wimpy" command helps you avoid death due to inattention or network lag. If you "wimpy 20", you will automatically try to escape combat if your health goes below 20% of your maximum. * "target" and "ignore" are extremely useful when fighting more than one enemy. You should always target the toughest npc first, and always ignore any npc who can't get up because their foot or leg is severed. But if they collapse due to exhaustion, it's a good idea to keep beating on them, otherwise they may get back up and get healthy sooner than you expect. * By default, different races speak different languages. If someone says something to you and you see no words in the same language as the rest of the mud, it means they are speaking a language you do not understand. For example, if you are an elf, and you ask Radagast to teach magic attack, you might get something like this: Radagast exclaims in English, "embleer con boltehe oota goota nehi auch" Even though in the real world you may speak English fluently, in the mud world, you do not speak English fluently. As an elf, your native tongue is Edhellen, and you may find human speech incomprehensible. If you find a trainer to teach you English, your skills in that language will need time to improve. As you get better at a language, you will see fewer gibberish words. If you are a "newbie", this does not apply to you. A newbie in the default Dead Souls distribution is a player at level 4 or below. This definition may be changed by your admin. Newbies need all the help they can get just to survive, so they are magically granted understanding of all languages, until they outgrow their naivete. If you are a student of languages in the Real World, you may recognize many of the "gibberish" words used by Dead Souls to represent a foreign tongue. Your understanding of these words is not useful in the context of the game, however, because they are not intended to convey meaning other than "non-comprehensible words". * Your ability to see is affected by various things: - A room's ambient light level - Time of day - Local light sources (flashlights, torches, etc) - Your race's light sensitivity - Magical effects - Exposure to an excessive-light event It's important to remember that a room may be too dark for you to see everything in it. You might be able to see the description of a room with no problem, but it may be necessary for you to light a torch in order to see the treasure chest there. In the same way that darkness can impair vision, brightness can do the same. For elves, an outdoor area in bright sunlight that contains additional light sources can be just as hostile to vision as a dark cave with no torch would be for a human. Regardless of race, a sufficiently adverse event, such as a bright flash or special spell, can render you temporarily blind. As with languages, newbies have some exemption to light-level limitations. * Mages can wield knives but are pretty much helpless with any other kind of edged weapon.