Mechanics

Mechanics are the systems in Caves of Qud which govern how various actions and interactions behave in the game.

For a full list of mechanics, please see Category:Mechanics. A non-exhaustive summary of the more central mechanics is included below.

Combat Mechanics

Mechanic	Description
Hitpoints (HP)	The amount of health a creature has. If this drops to zero, the creature dies.
Armor (AV)	How heavily-armored a creature is. Defends against penetration in an attack roll.
Dodge Value (DV)	How evasive a creature is. Defends against accuracy in an attack roll.
Mental Armor (MA)	How shielded or resilient a creature's mind is, somewhat analogous to AV. Used when resisting various psychic attacks.
Penetration	The ability of an attack to penetrate the target's AV.
Accuracy	The ability of an attack to hit the target (contested by the target's DV).
Quickness	How quickly a creature performs actions. More quickness means the creature can perform more actions each turn.
Resistances	How resistant a creature is to various elemental effects.

Mechanic	Description
Item Mods	The various modifications that can be applied to a base item, both by players with the appropriate Tinkering skill and by the game when it generates the item.
Commerce	The mechanic governing how much various items are worth when trading with a creature.
Artifact examination	The process by which the player can identify unidentified artifacts.

Mechanic	Description
Hunger	How hungry the player character is. Hunger cannot kill the player, but becoming Famished! will inflict a quickness penalty.
Thirst	How thirsty the player character is. Excessive thirst can kill the player.
Cooking	The process by which a player cooks ingredients into useful food. Cooking is done at a campfire or clay oven.
Cooking Effects	The special effects which the player gets by eating cooked meals. Different ingredients give different effects.

Mechanic	Description
Attributes	A creature's stats.
Reputation	How a creature is viewed by the various factions present in Caves of Qud.
Glimmer	A stat increased by having a high number of high-level mental mutations. Represents how noticeable the player's mind is to psychic creatures (including those from other dimensions), with higher glimmer attracting more dangerous psychic assassins.
Illnesses	Various non-fungal diseases which the player can contract in Qud.
Fungal Infections	Various fungal diseases which the player can contract in Qud.
Experience	The stat representing how seasoned and experienced a creature is. Experience is awarded for a variety of things, including killing creatures, completing quests, and giving books to Sheba Hagadias, Librarian of the Stilt. After gaining enough experience, a creature or player can level up.
Effects	The various status effects that can be applied to an entity in Caves of Qud.

Mechanic	Description
Fast Travel	The mechanic allowing the player to quickly travel across the world map, at risk of getting lost.
Zone Tier	A general description of how "high-level" a region of the map is. Higher-tier zones tend to have more dangerous creatures and better loot.

Mechanic	Description
Phase	A mechanic determining whether two entities can interact. Creatures/players/items/walls with the same phase can interact, those with different phases cannot.
Quests	The objectives a player completes to guide them through the main storyline of Caves of Qud.
Tier	A general description of how strong, good, valuable, or powerful something in Caves of Qud is.
Water Ritual	A ritual in which two creatures share water and exchange secrets or ask for help. Performing the water ritual is the main way a player affects and uses their reputation in Caves of Qud.