Rage, or fury, is a subtle gameplay element in ADOM that influences certain attributes of PCs and monsters. It typically affects such characters' performance in melee combat, but in the case of PCs, can affect willpower as well.
Effects on PCs[]
Rage can affect PCs in three different ways.
- Controllable aggression (via Tactics): the PC can freely choose to fight more or less aggressively in melee (or missile) combat, even to the point of fighting with "berserk" tactics. However, if the PC is wearing armor of anger, they are forced to fight aggressively. The three factors influenced here are DV, to-hit and damage inflicted—PCs fight with more accuracy and power the more aggressive they are, but subsequently have a harder time dodging attacks.
- Permanent rage: eating bug corpses makes the PC feel more furious, with a subsequent permanent effect on their attributes. In this case, Willpower and Dexterity are affected—the PC gains one point in Dexterity for every two points of Willpower they lose due to their mind being taken over by rage.
- Rage via corruption: A corruption can cause the PC to be overcome by hate and anger, increasing their melee damage but decreasing their DV. While the effects of rage caused by corruption are not necessarily permanent, it is harder to remove at will than rage caused by tactics settings.
Effects on Monsters[]
A monster can be enraged/infuriated by a number of actions in the game. The exact effects of rage are the same for each monster, however[1]:
- -6 DV (-3 prior to 1.2.0);
- +3 to +6 to-hit depending on monster level (a flat bonus of +6 to-hit prior to 1.2.0);
- +3 to +6 damage bonus depending on monster level (a flat bonus of +6 damage prior to 1.2.0);
- extra attacks: monster either attacks twice as often as usual or has one to three extra attacks, whichever is lower (always double attacks prior to 1.2.0).
The following situations are known to make monsters enter a state of rage:
- Monster stepping on a corpse of another monster of the same race (and same class, where applicable); this produces the following message: <foo> steps on the foo corpse and becomes enraged!
- PC eating a corpse within a monster's line of sight that belonged to a monster of that monster's race; this produces the following message: <foo> is enraged as he/she/it watches you!
- Sometimes when a monster has taken a certain amount of damage, instead of panicking, it may decide to fight to the death; this produces the following message: <foo> decides to fight to the death in a blind rage!
- Dragons can be angered by giving them a dragon hide item that is the same color as them; this produces the following messages: <foo> rips the <item> apart in a fit of anger! <foo> roars in anger!
- If the PC kills Ruun, all the inhabitants of Dwarftown will become enraged. This makes already formidable NPCs such as Waldenbrook especially dangerous.