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This article is about the playable race. Their NPC counterpart is the Black hurthling.

Hurthlings are a playable race in ADOM.
Prior to version 0.9.9, Hurthlings were called hobbits in ADOM. After the name change, the manual was amended to explain that Hurthlings are only known as "hobbits" in later ages and/or outside of Ancardia.

Manual Info[]

Hurthlings are the smallest of the little people. They grow to be an average three to three and a half feet high. They are sturdy and brave. Most hurthlings prefer to walk without shoes. Their feet are very well accustomed to this as they sport a leathery sole and are covered with thick and bushy hair. Hurthlings rarely wear beards and generally prefer short-cut hair. They (mostly) are not an adventurous people. They enjoy their burrows, like to farm and sit together to tell stories. Their greatest pride are their beautiful gardens and the good tobacco they produce. Hurthlings generally mistrust outsiders and foreigners and shun them most of the time. A hurthling needs six meals a day to be happy and a comfortable bed to sleep in. Those few hurthlings who chose to be adventurers are mostly very talented thieves. Because of their small size and their low strength, hurthlings are not very well suited to be fighters. One of their favored sports is tossing rocks (with or without slings) at distant targets — consequently many hurthlings are deadly shots both with slings and thrown rocks.

Hurthlings have been known as hobbits in later ages and in other areas.

Gameplay Effects[]

Skills[]

Hurthlings train in Archery, Cooking, Food preservation, Gardening and Stealth. Food preservation is useful for all PCs as it increases chances of corpse drops — which is useful since many corpses have desirable effects, such as those of blink dogs and giant slugs. Cooking is useful for Hurthlings since their deities like cooked food as sacrifices. Their other skills are somewhat useful as well, though Archery doesn't give a lot of bonuses to non-Archers (but still better than none).

Attributes[]

Hurthlings are extremely dexterous, and surprisingly tough. In contrast to their toughness, however, non-Weaponsmith Hurthlings tend to have very low Strength scores. Hurthlings also tend towards poor Mana scores. Thus, they may typically be underwhelming as either fighters or mages.

Starting Equipment[]

Hurthlings always start off with torches, extra food, and a cooking set. They tend to be lightly armored and generally poorly equipped for combat, with the exception of Paladins. Since Hurthlings are more suited to ranged attacks, a number of classes pack missiles — usually a sling and rocks, but sometimes a bow and arrows; notably, assassins start out with a rare boomerang.

Furthermore, all Hurthlings have a unique problem — they start with a random cursed ring equipped (yet another reference to J.R.R Tolkien's "The Hobbit"). Hurthlings are the only PCs that can — and always will — start off with a cursed item. This can be particularly problematic if it is a ring of damage.

Lifespan[]

Hurthlings have similar lifespans to humans, albeit slightly longer. They start out at 26-45 (25 + 2d10) years old and die at 81-120 (80 + 10d4) years old. Whilst not as safe from unnatural aging as elves or gnomes, Hurthlings still have a lot more protection against it than Orcs and Trolls.

Power Point and Hit Point Regeneration Rate[]

Hurthlings have average HP generation rates, and slightly lower than average PP generation rates.

Relations with Other Races[]

Despite the manual saying that Hurthlings shun and mistrust outsiders, they are by far one of the most popular and unassuming races in Ancardia (along with Ratlings). Hurthling adventurers are liked by Human, Elven, Dwarven and Gnomish shopkeepers. Hurthling shopkeepers don't penalize any races, except for perhaps Mist Elves.

Alignment[]

Hurthlings start off Lawful, though Class can affect this.

Eating habits

Like most other playable races, Hurthlings vomit after eating rats, fat worms and cooked roaches, and refuse to eat doppelgangers unless starving. Hurthlings also refuse to eat black hurthlings (the message "You wouldn't eat a member of your own race...even if it was evil!" is usually generated).

Other gameplay effects

  • Champion rock throwers: Hurthlings have a huge advantage over other races in throwing rocks — they start at an incredible level four in the weapons class (five for archers). They are also extremely proficient with slings, and need approximately only 66% of the usually required marks to advance levels in it.
  • Level advancement: Hurthlings require less experience per level to advance in level than most other races (i.e. all others but Gnomes).
  • Talented: Hurthlings receive an extra starting talent (another trait they share with Gnomes).
  • Dislike for shoes: On the negative side, Hurthlings receive a penalty to Dexterity whilst they are wearing anything in the boots slot.
  • Extra piety from cooked food: Hurthlings receive an extra bonus to their piety while sacrificing cooked food. This is particularly advantageous since all Hurthlings start with a cooking set, and that cooked corpses from summoned monsters can be sacrificed, making it very easy for Hurthlings to accumulate piety.

Suggested Classes[]

Hurthlings' excellent dexterity and natural ability in throwing rocks makes them excellent Archers — particularly in the early game, where they can easily overcome most opponents by throwing rocks at them. Their talent in archery also makes them good Assassins. Additionally, they can make good Monks and fair Beastfighters (in spite of their typically low Strength) given their rapid leveling and high toughness.

Something to consider is that Hurthlings receive an immense boost to strength when rolled as Weaponsmiths and Chaos Knights, averaging a starting value of 18 compared to the paltry 11 of a Barbarian.


Starting Ring[]

Starting ring is always a DL 1, so it's easy to narrow down it's properties.

Unidentified name pool Item(s) Note
Ordinary ring
Opal ring
Onyx ring
Adamantium ring
Ring of damage Always negative
Jade ring
Marble ring
Ring of cold resistance Always positive
Wooden ring Ring of fire resistance Always positive


Nograin ring Wedding ring Mostly useless
Brass ring Brass ring Useless
Amber ring
Black ring
Bronze ring
Copper ring
Coral ring
Glowing ring
Golden ring
Peridot ring
Ruby ring
Scratched ring
Silver ring
Ring of luck Always positive
Ring of searching Always positive
Agate ring
Aquamarine ring
Electrum ring
Emerald ring
Iron ring
Fire opal ring
Plain ring
Topaz ring
Vibrating ring
Ring of acid resistance Always positive
Ring of stun resistance Always positive
Ring of the fish Mostly useless (also autocursing)
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