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Drakelings are a playable race of reptilian humanoids who are particularly physically strong and tough, while still generally suited for all classes. They have a desirable skill set, and the unique characteristics of being cold-blooded and having an acid spit attack (though these traits can also be granted by corruption).

Manual info[]

Drakelings are humanoid lizard-like creatures about six feet tall. They weigh 150 to 200 pounds and are covered with blue or green scales. They speak with a hissing accent and normally wear few clothes (besides their armor and weapons). Drakelings are able to spit a powerful acid at enemies, although this fatigues them. The origins of the Drakeling race are hidden in a past long forgotten. They reappeared some years ago and quickly spread across the continent. Sages believe that they remained for many centuries in a kind of hibernation which only recently ended. Drakelings are good at everything. They are very deadly shots with a weapon unique to their race, the drakish scurgar.

Gameplay effects[]

Skills[]

Drakelings train in Alertness, Music, Food preservation, and Swimming. Alertness is a particularly desirable skill, and one unavailable from wishes; the other three skills are quite useful as well.

Attributes[]

Drakelings on average begin with above average Strength, Willpower, and Toughness, while being slightly below average at Dexterity, Appearance, and Perception. Their above average toughness helps with early-game survival, although none of their attributes are tilted so strongly in either direction as to make them a poor choice for any class.

Starting equipment[]

Drakelings often start with very poor starting equipment. They rarely start with armor, but occasionally start with bracers of defense/bracers of protection or a ring of protection.

Lifespan[]

Drakeling lifespan is similar to that of Humans, leaving them without the concerns that some of the extremely short-lived races have at dealing with aging attacks, but also without the protection that the elven races have.

Power Point and Hit Point Regeneration Rate[]

Drakelings have above-average health regeneration (only worse than Troll) and slightly below-average power point regeneration.

Relations with other races[]

Drakelings receive fair prices from shopkeepers from all races, though they suffer a small penalty from High Elves, Grey Elves, Dwarves and Orcs. Curiously, Drakeling shopkeepers do not reciprocate, and offer somewhat poor prices to all non-drakeling races, and significant penalties to the usual suspects, Orcs and Dark Elves.

Alignment[]

Drakelings generally start the game neutral.

Eating habits[]

Drakelings have average eating habits, except for the fact that they are one of the few races that enjoy eating raw meat (as well as Orcs and Trolls). They vomit after eating rats, fat worms and cooked roaches, and refuse to eat doppelgangers unless starving.

Acid spit[]

The drakeling breath attack is invoked by the 'm' key. Its accuracy depends on the PC's Dexterity, and it is subject to PV and acid resistance. In ADOM 1.1.1, acid spit could not miss; a monster that was "nearly hit" would still take damage.

Acid spit's damage scales with the PC's level, According to manual it is xd6+y, there x = MAX(2, PClevel/3) and y = PClevel/2 with fractions being round down (starts at 2d6+1 and goes up to 16d6+25).

It has a maximum range equal to Str/4. If the damage dealt is greater than that needed to kill the target, the remaining damage is then applied to any monster behind it, and this continues until the total damage to be dealt has been completely expended. Since tactics have no effect on acid breath, setting tactics to 'Coward' while using it against any dangerous enemy is highly recommended.

Acid spit can be very useful, particularly in the early game, to deal with enemies that a new PC may not have any other way of dealing with. Notably, it provides guaranteed damage against vortices (except acid vortices), doppelgangers, and claw bugs, which can otherwise be significant hazards to various classes at various stages of the game.

Spitting depletes satiation (~80 pts) — which means it retains its utility until the end of the game as a way of allowing PCs to lower their satiation and eat more beneficial corpses without having to worry about carrying stomacemptia. A PC can only starve to death by using acid breath if they are starving when they use the ability. It does not appear to be influenced by effects that reduce food consumption, such as the Monk or Farmer class abilities.

At least one player has won a game using acid spit as their only source of damage.

Suggested Classes[]

There are few truly poor classes to play as a Drakeling. Their balanced stats, excellent skills, and racial acid spit ability offer something for nearly every class. They are popular for difficult classes such as Farmers, Mindcrafters, and Thieves, which benefit considerably from having an early projectile attack to deal with early threats as well as high toughness. Drakelings make excellent Fighters, Paladins, and Chaos Knights — since, in addition to their other benefits, Drakelings have excellent starting gear in these classes. For example, Drakeling Paladins start with a respectable scale armor, as well as three random weapons — which may include weapons made of mithril, a crystal dagger, a powerful bloody dagger, a pickaxe, or even (on extraordinarily rare occasions) the scorched spear.

Drakelings are not penalized in Learning, Willpower, or Mana, so they make passable spellcasters as well. Drakelings are notably powerful Monks, as their stats and acid breath are well suited to surviving the otherwise troublesome early game, and their generally poor equipment is meaningless with a class that receives none.

Special Considerations[]

Cold-bloodedness []

Drakelings are particularly vulnerable to temperatures; cold temperatures cause their speed to drop precipitously, while warm temperatures increase their speed but eventually at the cost of taking damage.

Drakelings in the Tower of Eternal Flames should prepare to take continual damage even if they are immune to fire; however, they have the advantage (or, for those concerned about XP, the disadvantage) of extremely high speed. Extra healing herbs or potions will be needed unless the PC has equipment conferring regeneration. Characters will also experience great heat if they deal with lots of fire breathing creatures — especially in greater or lesser vaults of red dragons, though entering these areas is optional anyway.

Cold blood can be very useful to characters with Alchemy: protecting themselves with fire resistance and creating a series of alchemical explosions by mixing herbs can boost speed up to around 200. This technique can be used before anticipated difficult engagements, i.e. visiting the Ancient Stone Circle, elemental temples or even fighting Andor Drakon. It should be noted, that the speed boost will have a negative effect on gained experience.

Drakelings subjected to cold temperatures, for instance from white dragons or on D:49, will find that their speed drops so low they are essentially unable to function. Offensive alchemy or the Improved Fireball spell may be used to quickly warm them up and get their speed back to normal.

Food Consumption[]

As noted, the drakeling acid spit attack depletes satiation. Thus players who intend to use this ability regularly should plan to bring extra food with them, and should err on the side of being satiated rather than hungry.

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