Mindcrafters are the psion Class that specializes in confusing and killing their enemies with their brain. The catch is that the target has to possess a mind for it to work - thus, Mind Blast, Confusion Blast and their upgrades do not work on mindless beings. Worse, linking to undead damages the caster. Until they reach lvl 15 and unlock Telekinetic Blast, the player will have to find alternative means of dealing with both.
Other drawbacks exist. They are very bad at learning spells from books, although they can bookcast if they get lucky with a Potion of wonder or Wand of wonder. Wands are thus very important - though Mindcrafters all receive a wand at the start, a Wand of fire or similar can mean the difference between living through their first battle and getting killed by an outlaw. Linking with corrupted minds corrupts the mindcrafter. Their powers cannot be used without sufficient PP - running out is at best annoying and at worst deadly. The starting equipment is reminiscent of the Wizard. They always start with a random ring, a Ring of stun resistance, 1 or 2 random wands, 2-3 potions and 1-2 scrolls. If the PC is very weak, the starting equipment may be slightly better. Mindcrafters have poor melee prospects compared to other classes, but yet they may find themselves having to engage in physical combat to win most battles until they learn Mind Blast (or Telekinetic Blast when dealing with mindless or corrupted creatures); this is perhaps the main reason they are considered to be a challenging (but still interesting) class to play as. They do gain weapon skill levels more quickly than pure casters and semi-casters (the latter being Priests and druids). Their prospects of surviving the early game are also somewhat challenged by the fact that they do not start with the Healing skill.
There are a few upsides. Their mindcraft goes through walls (helpful for tension rooms). It cannot miss, which increases the usefulness of Telekinetic Blast massively, and Mind Blast ignores both PV and DV. Confusion is a very powerful status effect, as confused enemies cannot fire missiles, cast spells or even attack consistently. There is also some evidence that confusion prevents enemies from summoning. They deal better than any other non-Wizard with unwanted wilderness hordes or enemies—one Confusion Wave or Blast can let the PC (and it) escape unscathed. As such, they are a choice for the expert player who wants to think through every fight. Focus on confusing enemies first, then peppering them with missiles, fleeing or engaging in melee before confusion wears off.
Their stats and skillset are tilted towards avoiding strong enemies, raising their willpower and regenerating their PP, and the skills Concentration, Herbalism, Music and Stealth reflect this. They also learn Gemology, which may produce an occasional Crystal of knowledge or Crystal of fire.
Depending on playing style, when considering a race-class combination for a mindcrafter it might be a good idea to pick the stronger races to play as fighters who leave mindcrafting until later. Gnomes don't lose too much strength, level up fast, have great PP regeneration and have the toughness to survive as purer mindcrafters—Ventriloquism can be handy when you're in need of confusion; Gemology is trained too. Dark elves add Alertness and Find Weakness to the skillset at the cost of strength and toughness. Drakelings level up more slowly but have Alertness, added strength and endurance, and the life-saving acid spit.
Basic Information[]
Manual Description[]
Mindcrafters use a very exotic and very different magic. They utilize their mental powers to evoke astonishing effects. Mindcrafters are very rare and only few people have ever heard about them. While they are physically weak, they are mentally extremely strong and resistant.
Base/Typical Stats[]
The base stats for adult male mindcrafters 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 skipped.
Mindcrafters receive a large boost to Willpower and have good Learning and Mana scores while taking a considerable penalty to Strength.
Race | St | Le | Wi | Dx | To | Ch | Ap | Ma | Pe |
Human | 10 | 17 | 16 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 12 |
Troll | 18 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 22 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
High Elf | 10 | 18 | 14 | 20 | 10 | 11 | 15 | 17 | 17 |
Gray Elf | 10 | 18 | 16 | 18 | 8 | 9 | 20 | 20 | 17 |
Dark Elf | 9 | 14 | 19 | 20 | 11 | 8 | 13 | 21 | 16 |
Dwarf | 12 | 15 | 18 | 12 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 13 |
Gnome | 9 | 15 | 14 | 16 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 18 | 13 |
Hurthling | 6 | 14 | 16 | 20 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 12 |
Orc | 14 | 11 | 16 | 13 | 16 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 10 |
Drakeling | 13 | 14 | 19 | 12 | 16 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 11 |
Mist elf | 8 | 21 | 16 | 18 | 8 | 9 | 24 | 23 | 19 |
Ratling | 10 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 13 | 16 |
Starting Skills[]
Skill | Typical Value | Typical Modifier | Available Ingame? |
Concentration | 60 | 3d5 | No |
Gemology | 35 | 4d4 | No |
Haggling | 48 (depends on Charisma) | 4d4 | N/A |
Herbalism | 15 | 3d4 | Yes |
Literacy | 70 | 3d3 | Yes |
Music | 30 | 2d4 | No |
Stealth | 25 | 3d3 | Yes |
Crowning Gifts[]
- Brannalbin's Cloak of Defense
- Iron Crown of Havlor
- Ring of immunity
- Robes of resistance (double chance prior to 3.0.0)
- Staff of the Wanderer
- Circlet of the pure mind
Mindcrafters have a very desirable gift set overall, though perhaps most of them might be disappointed to receive the staff of the Wanderer instead of armor as wielding the staff forfeits the benefits of wielding a shield. The staff does still provide its own defensive benefits, as well as a boost to Toughness which may be helpful to mindcrafters.
HP, PP, To-hit Growth by Level[]
HP: Very low
PP: Very high
Melee to-hit: Low
Ranged to-hit: Very low
Special Abilities[]
Class Abilities[]
- Mindcrafters, as might be obvious, have exclusive access to the powers of mindcraft (details of which are found on the corresponding article).
- Heir gift: Empowered robes of protection (typical stats [+0, +5]).
- It is very difficult for mindcrafters to learn spells from books. Even with every possible bonus to book learning they will still frequently suffer mishaps when reading spellbooks.
Class Powers[]
- Level 6: The number of turns required to recover from confusion is reduced. This works independently of, and stacks with, intrinsic confusion resistance
- Level 12: Can use telepathy to sense the number of hostile monsters on the level, at the cost of 16 PP. Does not detect monsters immune to telepathic mindcraft.
- Level 18: Gains +1d6 extra PP per level
- Level 25: +5 bonus to Willpower
- Level 32: Amount of corruption incurred by using mindcraft on a monster with a corrupting attack is reduced by 80%
- Level 40: Gains +3d5 extra PP per level (stacks with level 18 class power)
- Level 50: Damage received from mindcrafting undead monsters is halved
Starting Gear[]
All mindcrafters start the game with
- a ring of stun resistance
- an additional ring
- one or two wands
- one or two scrolls
- two or three potions
- some gold
Race specific gear[]
Human | Troll | High Elf | Grey Elf | Dark Elf |
Dwarf | Gnome | Hurthling | Orc | Drakeling |
Mist Elf | Ratling | |||