Ten Things You Should Do When You Start to Play
1. Switch to the alternate keyset if you don't have a numpad.
Press 'Esc' then 'k' to view the key mapping menu. Press 'F2' to switch
keysets.
2. Hotkey your activated abilities.
Press 'a' to view your activated abilities on the Manage Abilities menu.
To bind an ability to a key, scroll down to the ability you wish to bind,
press 'Enter', then press the key to which you wish to bind the ability.
3. Scroll through your character menus.
Press 'x' to view your character sheet, press 'i' to view your inventory,
press 'e' to view your equipment, press 'q' to view your quests, press 'k'
to view the tinkering menu, and press 'p' to view your skills and powers.
You may scroll through these menus by pressing '7' and '9' on the numpad
(or your NW and NE keys if you are using a different keyset).
4. Look at things by pressing 'l'.
Press 'l' and scroll around to look at things. Looking at something can
tell you a great deal about it. For example, looking at a creature will
tell you the creature's name, physical description, approximate health,
equipment worn, your chance of defeating it in combat, and its attitude
toward you.
5. Interact with most objects by pressing 'Space'.
Open doors, talk to people, pick up items: all by pressing 'Space'.
6. Press 'Alt' for some additional information about the area.
Pressing 'Alt' will bring up an overlay with additional information about
the map. Staircases appear magenta, friendly creatures appear green,
hostile creatures appear red, chests appear yellow, items appear white.
7. Find a sidebar view you like.
Press '*' to scroll through sidebar views or press '/' to hide the sidebar.
8. Get acquainted with the common key mappings.
'-' or '<' to walk up stairs,'+' or '>' to walk down stairs, '`' to
rest until healed. Press 'Esc' then 'k' to view a list of the key mappings;
scroll down to a mapping and press 'Enter' to remap it!
9. Get acquainted with the weapon and armor stats.
Weapons have a penetration value and a damage value
(for example, 4 
1d4). The penetration value represents the armor value
that this weapon will usually penetrate with ease. The damage value
represents the amount of damage this weapon deals per penetration.
Pieces of armor have an armor value and a dodge value. The armor value is
added to your character's armor value which represents how well protected
you are from physical attacks that hit you. Likewise, the dodge value is
added to your character's dodge value which represents how likely you are
to be hit by physical attacks. For both values, the higher the number, the
better. (See Attributes and Weapons and Armor).
10. Speak with Tam, dromad merchant.
Speak with the merchant Tam in the southeastern corner of Joppa. Press
'Tab' to trade with him. You'll be able to stock up on basic provisions,
weapons, armor, and ammunition.
Strength
Your strength score determines how effectively you penetrate your
opponents' armor with melee attacks, how much damage your melee
attacks do, your ability to resist forced movement, and your carry
capacity.
Agility
Your agility score determines your accuracy with both melee and ranged
weapons and your ability to dodge attacks.
Toughness
Your toughness score determines your number of hit points, your hit point
regeneration rate, and your ability to resist poison and disease.
Intelligence
Your intelligence score determines your number of skill points and your
ability to examine artifacts.
Willpower
Your willpower score modifies the cooldowns of your activated abilities,
determines your ability to resist mental attacks, and modifies your hit
point regeneration rate.
Ego
Your ego score determines the potency of your mental mutations, your
ability to haggle with merchants, and your ability to dominate the wills
of other living creatures.
Armor Value and Dodge Value (AV / DV)
Your armor value (AV) is a measurement of how well protected you are
against physical attacks that hit you. The higher your score, the less
likely an opponent's attack will do severe damage to you. Most characters
start with a base AV score of 0.
Your dodge value (DV) is a measurement of how likely you are to be hit by
physical attacks. The higher your score, the less likely an opponent's
attack will hit you. Your DV is modified by your Agility modifier. Most
characters start with a base DV of 6.
Mental Armor (MA)
Your mental armor (MA) is a measurement of how well protected you are
against mental attacks, much as your armor value is a measurement of how
well protected you are from physical attacks. The higher your score, the
less likely an opponent's mental attack will have a severe effect on you.
Your MA is modified by your Willpower modifier. Most characters start
with a base MA of 4.
Quickness (QN)
Your quickness score is a measurement of how quickly you perform each and
every action you take. Your base quickness score is 100. Note that there
are very few ways to augment this score.
Movement Speed (MS)
Your movement speed is a measurement of how quickly you walk or fly.
Your base movement speed is 100.
Temperature (T)
Your temperature is a measurement of how hot or cold you are. If you are
Cold, your quickness score is reduced by half. If you are Frozen, you are
unable to take physical actions. If you are Flaming, you take heat damage
every turn until you reduce your temperature.
Acid Resist
Your acid resist is a measurement of how much acid damage you ablate. Your
base acid resist score is 0. At 100, you are immune to acid damage.
Cold Resist
Your cold resist is a measurement of how much cold damage you ablate and how
insulated you are from effects that reduce your temperature. Your base cold
resist score is 0. At 100, you are immune to cold damage and your
temperature cannot be reduced.
Electrical Resist
Your electrical resist is a measurement of how much electrical damage you
ablate and how resistive you are to electric current. Your base electrical
resist score is 0. At 100, you are immune to electrical damage and you do
not conduct electricity.
Heat Resist
Your heat resist is a measurement of how much heat damage you ablate and how
insulated you are from effects that increase your temperature. Your base
heat resist score is 0. At 100, you are immune to heat damage and your
temperature cannot be increased.
Your skills and powers represent the abilities you have learned in your
life. Each skill has several powers associated with it. You begin with
several powers determined by your caste or calling. You may purchase other
powers by spending skill points which you earn when you gain a level (the
higher your intelligence score, the more skill points you earn).
To purchase a new power, you must first purchase the skill with which that
power is associated. You must meet any attribute or power requirements of
the skill or power you are trying to purchase. It is possible to begin
with certain powers without having the associated skills if your caste or
calling has granted you those powers.
Powers often grant you activated abilities. Once you purchase a power, you
may access your new activated ability from the Manage Abilities menu ('a').
Mutations are special biological powers gifted to the denizens of Qud --
true kin from the outer arcologies do not possess mutations. There are two
types of mutations: physical and mental. Each mutation has a mutation score
associated with it. The scores of your physical mutations and the cooldowns
of activated abilities granted by your physical mutations are static. On
the other hand, the scores of your mental mutations are modified by your
Ego modifier and the cooldowns of abilities granted by your mental
mutations are modulated by 5% for each point of Willpower you possess above
or below 16.
Most characters begin with mutation scores of 1. You earn a mutation point
when you gain a new level which you may spend to augment the score of one
of your mutations by 1. The mutation score of none of your mutations may
exceed 1 plus your character level divided by 2. Additionally, mutations
may only be augmented by mutation points up to a maximum score of 10,
though your mental mutations may exceed this score if your Ego further
augments them beyond 10.
Alternatively, you may spend 4 mutation points to choose a new mutation
from three randomly selected mutations. The mutation you choose begins
with a score of 1. If you are a chimera, you are offered a choice of
physical mutations, if you are an esper, you are offered mental mutations,
otherwise you are offered three completely random mutations. Mutations
often grant you activated abilities. Once you gain a mutation, you may
access your new activated ability from the Manage Abilities menu ('a').
Defects are mutations with primarily negative effects. Certain mutants
begin with a single defect. There is no score associated with defects.
Artifacts are items so technologically complex that few of Qud's denizens
understand them. An unidentified artifact will appear to you as a
"Weird Artifact". You may examine an artifact to try to identify it. If you
are successful, you will narrow down the possibilities of that artifact's
function (what was once a "club", for example, you may now identify as a
"rifle"). Eventually you may completely identify the artifact. Each time
you attempt to identify something and fail, however, there is a small
chance you will break it. Your chance of successfully identifying an
artifact is based on your intelligence score.
Tonics are chemical concoctions that enhance your mental and physical stats
in a variety of ways. They are artifacts, and so you must successfully
identify them to understand what they do. Ingesting one tonic while under
the effects of another is dangerous; for each new tonic you ingest, there is
a greater and greater chance that the tonics will react adversely to each
other. The higher your Toughness score is, the greater the chance that you
will be able to ingest multiple tonics without incurring undesired effects.
Tonics produce more potent effects in true kin than they do in mutated
humans. Also, as the body chemistry of mutants is inherently unstable,
there is a 5% chance that a tonic ingested by a mutant will instead produce
an undesired effect.
Tonics may be concocted with the Tinker skill. In addition to bits,
concocting a tonic often requires a natural ingredient.
Weapons
Every weapon has a penetration value and a damage value
(for example, 4, 1d4). The penetration value of melee weapons is related
to your strength score, though the value is capped based on the material of
the weapon ('l'ook at a weapon to view its penetration cap). Swords and
daggers have penetration values equal to your strength score. Axes have
penetration values equal to 1 plus your strength score because they are
highly penetrating. Cudgels have penetration values equal to 2 plus your
strength score because they are rattling and less dependent on your
opponent's armor. Missile weapons have static penetration values that do not
change based on your strength score. Weapons may modify other statistics;
'l'ook at a weapon to fully determine what it does.
Armor
Most pieces of armor have an armor value and a dodge value
(for example, 
4 
4)) that augment your own AV and DV (see Attributes).
Pieces of armor may modify other statistics; 'l'ook at a piece of armor to
fully determine what it does.
Melee Combat
Melee combat is combat between two adjacent opponents with standard melee
weapons such as swords, daggers, axes, and clubs. To attack a hostile
adjacent opponent, simply move in the direction of the opponent. To attack
something else, such as a non-hostile opponent or a wall, hold 'control'
and move in the direction in which you wish to attack.
When you make a melee attack against a target, the following sequence of
events occurs:
1. Determine whether or not you hit the target.
Your to-hit roll is 1d20 plus your agility modifier plus any bonuses you
receive from your weapon or skill powers. If this roll exceeds your
opponent's dodge value (DV), then you hit. An empty circle icon over your
target indicates that your attack missed.
2. Determine how severely your attack penetrates your target's armor.
Each weapon has a penetration value (4, for example). This value
represents the armor value (AV) that your weapon will usually penetrate
with ease. If your weapon's penetration value far exceeds your target's AV,
your weapon will likely penetrate several times. Each time your weapon
penetrates your target's armor, your target is dealt damage equal to your
weapon's damage value (1d4, for example). A filled circle icon over your
target indicates that your attack hit but failed to penetrate your target's
armor. A heart icon indicates that your attack hit and penetrated your
target's armor.
3. Determine if multiple attacks are made.
There is a 15% chance that you make an additional attack with your
secondary hand. Characters with multiple limbs may make additional attacks
beyond this.
Missile Combat
Missile combat is combat between two opponents with missile weapons such
as bows, pistols, and rifles. To make a missile attack, press 'f' to aim
your weapon, then 'f' again to fire.
When you make a missile attack, the following sequence of events occurs:
1. Determine the trajectory of your missile.
How far a missile is likely to veer from its projected path is determined
by your agility score and the weapon's accuracy.
2. Hit the first medium-sized or larger object along the missile's
trajectory.
3. Determine how severely the missile penetrates your target's armor.
This is resolved in the same way as a melee attack.
4. Determine if multiple attacks are made.
Certain powers allow you to fire multiple missiles with certain missile
weapons.
If you are engaged in melee combat with more than one hostile opponent,
there is a 50% chance that each missile attack you make goes wild (veers
45 degrees to the left or right).
The amount of time it takes to do something is assessed in terms of an
action cost. Most tasks have an action cost of 1000. Your Quickness
increases the rate at which you recover this cost, enabling you to act
more often than slower creatures.
Some skills, mutations, and equipment enable you to take specific actions
at reduced or zero action cost.
Created by
Brian Bucklew and Jason Grinblat
Tile Art - Samuel Wilson
Music && Sound - Craig Hamilton
QA && Additional Design - Nick Decapua
QA, Additional Design, &&
Additional Programming - Matthew Sheahan
Additional Writing - Caelyn Sandel
Background Art - Cyril van der Haegen
Logo Art - Laura && Jeff Bucholtz
Additional Music - Brandon Tanner
Additional Programming - Corey Frang
Special thanks
Ashenai
Anticheese
Gibbed
Floorislava
Dr Amazing
Devonaut
Vaos
Tyskil
Lakren
Stelas
Social Animal
Contra Duck
Saberwulf
Megaflare
Doctorfrog
Palecur
NovaPolice
Mirdath
The Glow
Dyzzy
Schister
Lazybuttons
Colonp
Niff
Matterhorn
Clamiam
Donraj
Randy Marsh
Rabbi
Getter77
Capuchin
Wafflecopter
Nomikos
Magitek
Andrew Smash
Vastin
Frumple
Sappho
Soulwynd
Cpbpunch
Tarran
Brian Turcotte
Oryx