Stats can increase or decrease for many reasons, some of which are detailed below. When a stat changes, the following messages are generated:
Stat changes Increases Stat Decreases Your muscles feel stronger Strength Your muscles soften You feel studious Learning Thinking seems to get tougher Your will seems inflexible Willpower You feel soft-hearted Your movements are getting swifter Dexterity You are getting shaky Your health increases Toughness It seems that you are getting a cold You feel very self-confident Charisma You feel reserved Your looks improve Appearance You are growing a wart You feel more in touch with the world Mana You are getting out of touch with everything Your senses sharpen Perception You seem to get less perceptive0.6.1 Increasing stats
It is to any PC's advantage to raise stats to the potential maximum and beyond. There are several ways to do this. Stats may be increased to their potential maximum naturally by exercising the stat.
0.6.1.1 Exercising stats naturally
Examples of how to exercise stats naturally:
Strength - carrying around an inventory heavy enough to cause the PC to become Burdened or Strained will exercise the Strength stat. The downside is that carrying those heavy loads will make the PC slower. Being Strained and especially Strained! for too long probably abuses the Dexterity stat.
Learning - reading scrolls and spellbooks trains Learning
Willpower - no known way to exercise naturally
Dexterity - no known way to exercise naturally
Toughness - Toughness increases probably occur faster if the PC avoids Hungry and Starving status
Charisma - no known way to exercise naturally
Appearance - no known way to exercise naturally
Mana - casting spells and creating undead slaves exercises the Mana stat
Perception - no known way to exercise naturally
Note that all physical (St, Dx, To) stat increases are liable to be faster when they are low and the PC is gaining experience levels relatively quickly. The Athletics skill also helps raise physical stats more quickly and has a small effect on Appearance.
0.6.1.2 Training with Garth
The dwarven weaponmaster Garth, found in Dwarftown, can be paid to increase stats other than Appearance and Mana. The formula for how much to pay is $100 * stat value, doubled once for each 5 points over 15. This is a general formula that may vary according to the PC's race.
See section 2.5.5 for a bit more detail on training with Garth.
0.6.1.3 Training stats with herbs
Two of the herbs can be used in order to increase stats to a maximum of about 25 (27 has been observed) per stat. These are:
Morgia root - willpower and toughness (eat)
Eating 2 morgia roots, any status, will train toughness. Eating 4 morgia roots, any status, will also train willpower. If the stats are already at their potential maximum, 8 morgia roots are required. Eating more than 8 at once is a waste of morgia roots.
Moss of mareilon - dexterity (use)
Using 2 blessed or uncursed mosses of mareilon trains dexterity. If the dexterity stat is already at its potential maximum, 4 mosses of mareilon are required. Using more than 4 at once is a waste of moss of mareilon. Using cursed mosses of mareilon abuses the dexterity stat.
In any case, do not eat or use additional herbs until the stat increases have taken effect - this may take a while. Note that training stats in this way is more effective when the stats are low. Eating four morgia, for instance, may cause two or three increases in willpower and toughness if the stats are in the single digits. Once above ten, the stat increases seem to occur one point at a time.
As with training with Garth, there may be variations on this based on race. For instance, it seems that trolls always require double the dosages described above.
0.6.1.4 Increasing stats by eating corpses
Many corpses have an affect on stats. Some simply increase a given stat, others will increase one stat while decreasing another. Some have a limit, that is, they will only increase a stat to a certain number, after which they will have no effect. Others affect stats regardless of their value.
The effects will be compiled here eventually. Until then you can browse Appendix J for the effects resulting from eating monster corpses.
0.6.1.5 Increasing stats with potions
There are five kinds of potions that increase or decrease the PC's stats directly: potions of -stat-, potions of potential -stat-, potions of boost -stat-, potions of gain attributes and potions of carrot juice. Rearranging stats is dealt with below.
Potions of -stat- behave as follows:
uncursed potion of -stat-: an uncursed potion of -stat- will increase the value of -stat- by one, and increases the potential maximum plus one
blessed potion of -stat- : a blessed potion of -stat- will increase the value of -stat- by two, and increases the potential maximum plus two
cursed potion of -stat- : a cursed potion of -stat- will decrease the value of -stat- by one, and decreases the potential maximum by one
Potions of potential -stat- do the same with your stat potential, which determines the natural maximum of your PC in that stat.
Potions of boost -stat- work like potions of -stat-, but give a bigger boost that is *temporary*. These are useful when you need to get some stat over a certain limit, such as the Wi: 32 border that allows for bigger ball spells. Another useful application is to use potions of boost learning just before a level increase, which will probably boost learning enough to increase the number of skill increases allowed.
Potions of gain attributes raise the value of a single stat by one if uncursed or all stats by one if blessed. Note that they do not raise potential maximums. They only increase potential maximums to the resulting value of -stat-, when necessary.
Potions of carrot juice can be used to increase Perception. Drinking a blessed potion of carrot juice will increase Perception by +1. Drinking an uncursed potion of carrot juice may increase Perception if the Pe score is very low; this needs to be tested. There is a special room effect "The air of this room is filled with the smell of carrots." which will cause a one-time +5 increase to Perception when a blessed or uncursed potion of carrot juice is consumed while in the room.
0.6.1.6 Crystals of knowledge
'U'sing crystals of knowledge has two possible effects: if the crystal is uncursed, a bit of the level layout around the PC is revealed. If the crystal is blessed, a +1 (sometimes +2) increase to the Learning stat also occurs. In ADOM 1.0.0+, there is a limit similar to that encountered with herbs: Learning cannot be increased beyond 25 - 27 or so with blessed crystals of knowledge.
0.6.2 Rearranging stats
0.6.2.1 Potions of exchange
Drinking a potion of exchange changes your stats, not taking into account any effects from corruption or equipment. A cursed potion of exchange swaps six stats randomly, an uncursed one twists five, and a blessed one swaps two stats around.
0.6.2.2 Potions of balance
Potions of balance can be very, very helpful if you know how to use them. When you drink one, the game calculates the average of all of your stats, rounds it down, and adds a number depending on the potion's status. For a blessed potion, it's +3, uncursed 0, and cursed -3. The stat changes are based on this final score.
If a stat exceeds this score, it's lowered by one. If it's below this, it's raised by one. If it's equal, it remains unchanged.
Therefore, if you have a well-rounded character, with most or all stat scores close to each other and drink a blessed potion of balance, you will get a boost to most or all stats.
Potions of balance have a limit analogous to herbs in ADOM 1.0.0+: stats cannot be increased over ~25 using potions of balance. There is also another effect in ADOM 1.0.0+: alignment moves towards neutrality when drinking a potion of balance.
Note also that potions of balance take into account all stat-modifying elements including worn equipment, wielded equipment and corruptions.