Getting started

Choose a race and class

Your race sets attribute limits, natural resistances and which classes you can choose. Your class sets proficiency limits, equipment restrictions and starting abilities. Check both pages before allocating your starting points. The points above are the allocation budget in addition to your starting attribute and proficiency values.

Check your starting equipment

Your weapon proficiency and investment in a fighting style influence your starting weapon. Investing in Two Handed favors a two-handed version where that weapon family has one. Two Weapons can add a second weapon; Shield investment can add a small shield when your main weapon leaves that hand free. Chest armor is chosen from your armor training and class preferences.

You also receive health and mana potions, Ethereal Glow, and your class’s starting abilities. Check your equipped items and quick slots before leaving town.

Bring light and supplies

Darkness makes attacks miss and spells fail more often. The light indicator beside your health and mana shows whether you are currently in light or darkness. Ethereal Glow provides light and improves trap detection, but it also increases your noise and visibility. Detecting a trap lets you avoid or disarm it; it can still trigger when stepped on.

Carry food and watch hunger and fatigue. Walking and waiting use less food and stamina than running. Sleep restores stamina and improves recovery; taverns let you sleep for free without renting a room, while your own home gives extra recovery benefits. Damaged equipment becomes less effective, so visit a blacksmith or learn to repair it.

Start with local quests

Town quest givers send you into nearby areas. Check the destination’s level before travelling: the centre of the world is more dangerous, and deeper dungeon floors grow harder. Return to the giver to claim a completed quest’s reward.

The main story entries in your quest journal start with a single step: meet the thane of your starting region’s city. After that, the journal lists meeting any other thane, earning each met city’s trust with five quests from that city or nearby villages, and, once a city trusts you, slaying its region’s dragon. Each region progresses on its own. The Quests page gives the requirements and rewards.

Understand death before choosing permadeath

In an ordinary game, death ends the current attempt and you can return to a saved game. With permadeath enabled, death deletes that run’s local manual and automatic saves. Choose the mode with that consequence in mind.