I congratulate you once again, student, for having been accepted into the prestigious Dungeonmans Academy! This Student Handbook will be your guide to the academy courses and other choices your juvenile mind is far from ready to handle, like whether you should increase your Foom stat above all else as pure Fightermans, whether you hold the sword by the pointy end or the boring end, or whether "consuming" this book should mean shoving its pages down your noisemaker while making unforgivable chewing sounds.

Let's get that last one out of the way right now, in fact. Please do not eat the Dungeonmans Academy Student Handbook. You will not be afforded a new one.

In all, the Dungeonmans Academy Student Handbook will contain a section with important information regarding the Mastery Abilities related to the courses offered by the Academy, a small section devoted to explaining the difference between Weapon Types - and yes, that matters - and whatever else the Headmaster insisted I write about, the doddering old fool.

Every fledgling Dungeonmans knows that it takes great Stremf and Skills, a solid grasp on Science, and a healthy dose of Foom to survive in the mysterious dungeons of this world. But what do they do, really?

Always...

• Increases Max Health a lot
  
• Increases Max Stamina a little
  
• Increases Melee Hit
  
• Increases Melee Damage and Offhand Damage

With a Hammer equipped...

• Increases Melee Hit more

With a Bow equipped...

• Increases Ranged Damage a little

Always...

• Increases Melee Hit
  
• Increases Dodge
  
• Increases Parry
  
• Increases Critical Hit
  
• Increases Critical Damage a little

With a Bow equipped...

• Increases Ranged Hit
  
• Increases Ranged Damage a lot

With a Sword equipped...

• Increases Melee Hit more

Always...

• Increases Max Stamina a lot
  
• Increases Spellpower
  
• Increases Critical Damage a lot

With a Bow equipped...

• Increases Ranged Hit
  
• Increases Ranged Damage a little

With a Staff equipped...

• Increases Ranged Hit
  
• Increases Melee Damage

Always...

• Increases Elemental Resistances
  
• Increases Duration of most consumable items a lot
  
• Increases Duration of very specific abilities a lot
  
• Increases Damage of very specific abilities a lot

This section is simple. Damage is simple. You hit a monster, damage is done, and the monster is crushed. But what does that Melee, Offhand, and Ranged number under the Damage section of your Inventory Status screen mean, precisely, and why doesn't it match how hard you just hit that barrel? Why, for that matter, are you crushing barrels instead of monsters?

I don't know the answer to that second question - nobody does, you weirdo - but allow me to enlighten you on the first. All those numbers aside from Spellpower represent the average damage per normal hit you'd deal with that weapon.

See? So simple even our students can grasp it.

In case you're curious, the formula for Melee and Offhand values is:


And the Ranged formula is the same, but with a Skills, Foom, and Stremf bonus rather than just Stremf and possibly Foom:


The Stat Bonus formulae are a mystery that stumps even our greatest Scholarmens to this day...

Did you know, fair student, that there is a difference between the various Weapon Types throughout the game? No, no, I don't mean how some weapons stab, some slash, and some smash. I mean that each Weapon Type gives bonuses or has uses that are entirely unique to that type!

To understand these complex and intricate effects, however, you must first understand the following. On your Inventory Status screen, under the Hit section, the Melee and Ranged values represent how accurate you are with Melee and Ranged attacks. The higher the number, the more arbitrarily accurate you are.

Back to the weapon types!

Axe, Hammer, and Sword are your typical Melee weapons.

When an Axe, Hammer, or Sword is equipped, Melee Damage (or Offhand Damage if it's equipped in the Offhand) is increased by Stremf.

Below is a breakdown of these three primary melee weapon types and their unique effects:



Note that Dual Wielding any combination of 1H Hammer and 1H Sword will not result in having both effects active, as their effects require they be in the Main Hand slot. Dual Wielding Axe, though? That works fine.

So, the takeaway?

• 1H Axe and 2H Axe are best if you feel comfortable with your Melee Hit, are stacking Critical Hit, or are stacking Stremf and Skills in equal measure. It is the strongest weapon type against enemy types with low Dodge, but is the weakest against enemy types with high Dodge. 1H Axe is also the strongest Offhand weapon since its effect is actually active when in the Offhand slot.
  
  
• 1H Hammer and 2H Hammer are best if you're stacking more Stremf than you are Skills and plan to either use your Ranged weapon as your secondary weapon or not use a Ranged weapon at all, during which it is the most accurate weapon type against enemy types with high Dodge.
  
  
• 1H Sword and 2H Sword are best if you're stacking more Skills than you are Stremf and plan to use your Ranged weapon as your primary weapon but still want access to abilities that require melee weapons, during which it is the most accurate weapon type against enemy types with high Dodge.
  
  
• The reality, though, is that these bonuses are so small that you should typically just use the strongest weapon you have regardless of type. These bonuses between the weapon types only matter with all other things being equal.

The Bow is a simple, yet masterful weapon. It is a Ranged weapon and comes with either 4 or 6 Range depending on the Bow. There is also a legendary (but only mid tier) Bow with 7 Range.

Bow damage is based off of Ranged Damage in your Inventory Status. When a Bow is equipped, Ranged Damage is increased majorly by Skills and minorly by Stremf and Foom.

The Polearm is a unique 2H weapon type that, while a melee weapon, has a Range of 2, allowing it to hit an enemy not quite in melee range. If you can line up two enemies in a row, one adjacent to you and the other one space away, a Polearm attack will hit both of them.

Polearm damage, even for the Ranged attack, is based purely on Melee Damage. When a Polearm is equipped, as with all Melee weapons, Melee Damage is increased by Stremf.

While wielding a Polearm, you may not equip a Bow.

Staff is a magical weapon type that deals elemental damage. Every Staff is innately imbued with the power of an element, which shows up as an effect on the Staff's tooltip with text the color that corresponds to that element. The Staff's element will decide the element of your Bolt of Foom spell, which a Staff will automatically use when you attempt to use a Ranged attack with one equipped (much like you shoot with a Bow), as well as the element and secondary effect of the Foom From The Skies spell.

Rather than coming with the usual damage numbers, a Staff will have a Spellpower value, which will directly contribute to the Spellpower stat on your Inventory Status. Spellpower is used by offensive Foominology spells. That said, your Inventory Status' Melee Damage value will get a tiny bonus depending on the tier of the Staff equipped.

When a Staff is equipped, Spellpower is increased solely by Foom and Melee Damage is increased majorly by Foom and minorly by Stremf.

While wielding a Staff, you may not equip a Bow.

Here at the Dungeonmans Academy, students can enroll in a variety of courses that aim to teach them how to live long lives as famous and successful Dungeonmans.

This has yet to happen. Most of our graduates suffer from the Scrobold Incident that ravaged our Academy's Alchemy Lab... The same Scrobold Incedent, actually. In fact, even the same Scrobolds. Multiple times over the years. Please stop dying to Scrobolds, graduates. It's embarrassing.

Moving on!

Applying what you learn in the courses we teach here (or just reading a book for once in your life instead of eating it for lunch, you uneducated twit) in real world dungeons will eventually result in mastery of various skills! Refer to your Mastery window to read the actual description of each ability. No, I won't do something so redundant as write all their descriptions from the Mastery window here as well; far too much work!

This section of the Student Handbook will give little details about specific masteries from our courses that do not appear in your Mastery window or its descriptions.

This is a good resource for if you're ever wondering something about a specific ability, such as what its damage scales with or if it's dangerous to use under specific circumstances despite its description. Or, in rare cases, if its description is plain wrong.

A few general things to note:

• Unlocking an ability that requires a resource you don't have will unlock access to that resource with the exception of Masters Programs abilities, which will not unlock the resource.
  
  
• Unlocking an ability that requires a weapon type you can't equip will allow you to equip that weapon type with the exception of Masters Programs abilities, which will not unlock the weapon type.
  
  
• Unlocking an ability that requires an armor type you can't equip will allow you to equip that armor type.
  
  
• There is a differentiation between Foom and Spellpower scaling. Some abilities scale with Foom but do not scale with Spellpower.

And to help clarify some terms used within this section:

• If I refer to "Main Hand/Offhand/Ranged Weapon Damage" or "Staff Spellpower", I mean the base average damage of the Weapon or base spellpower on the Staff BEFORE stats are taken into account.
  
  
• If I refer to "Melee/Offhand/Ranged Damage" or "Spellpower", I mean the total Damage or Spellpower as listed in your Inventory Status.
  
  
• If I don't specify what part of an ability something is scaling in parentheses, assume that it scales all forms of damage the ability deals.

Abilities Granted By Above Masteries



Abilities Granted By Above Masteries

A single mastery point in any of the three Armor lines grants you the ability to equip that armor type.

Abilities Granted By Above Masteries

Abilities Granted By Above Masteries

Masters Programs are the Dungeonmans Academy's most prestigious classes. At least they will be, once you discover what they are.

The first Dungeonmans in the Academy to master the prerequisite courses to unlock the Masters Programs will unlock them for every future Dungeonmans in the Academy as well!


Courses Required: Foominology, Cryoscience, Tricksonometry




Courses Required: Legendary Armsman, Deadcrafting, Necronomics




Courses Required: Starlight Soldier, Shieldcraft, Cartography

Many of our wonderful Academy's courses have mechanics unique to the course or a mastery line within the course. The Adventurer 101's Dungeon Dervish line's Tempo, Southern Gentlemans' Refreshing Beverages, and more.

The following section of the Dungeonmans Academy Student Handbook will go into a little more detail about the more obscure of these mechanics, giving a closer look into how each one works.

Tempo is a mechanic unique to the Dungeon Dervish line of abilities that requires you to have a 1H weapon in your Main Hand to take effect. However, you may not use Dungeon Dervish abilities to increase your Tempo rank unless you also have a 1H weapon in the Offhand.

When you kill an enemy or use a Dungeon Dervish ability, you gain Tempo for a duration. While active, Tempo increases your Melee Damage multiplier by 4% per rank and Parry by 5% at rank 1 and 3% more Parry for every subsequent rank, and causes you to counterattack when you Parry an attack. Using Dungeon Dervish abilities while under the effect of Tempo nullifies Strain, allowing you to rapidly use these abilities without climbing Stamina costs.

Every Dungeon Dervish ability used while under the effect of Tempo also increases your Tempo rank, which climbs up to rank 5. As Tempo climbs in rank, its effect stacks. Once Tempo is max rank, it will no longer refresh when you use Dungeon Dervish abilities, but its duration will refresh if you kill an enemy.

No Southern Gentlemans worth their word would leave the site of a recent tussle without a Refreshing Beverage. Upon slaying a foe or damaging a champion, a random Refreshing Beverage may spawn nearby. Upon enjoyment, the Refreshing Beverage will restore a combination of Health, Stamina, and Mana depending on just what type of beverage it is.

The resource recovery scales with max resources. You recover more Health as your max Health goes up, and so on. It also scales with your Southern Gentlemans rank, which increases as you unlock more Southern Gentelans masteries.

Sometimes, a Southern Gentlemans has no choice but to protect their honor...BY VICIOUSLY BEATING THEIR ENEMIES INTO A BLOODY PULP. That is to say, by engaging in a riveting encounter of fisticuffs.

The three abilities within Southern Gentlemans' Sound and Fury mastery row all cause you to enter a state called Tantrum when used. The Tantrum status effect rapidly drains Ire and...that's it. It's there specifically so you can't only use Ire-based abilities for damage, as that would be too resource effective.

Courteously beat the ever-living snot out of them to teach them some civility!

What are you still reading for? Go out and crush some monsters!