http://crawl.chaosforge.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=EreinionCrawlWiki - User contributions [en]2026-04-24T12:08:37ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?title=Manual&diff=82200Manual2025-01-16T23:26:54Z<p>Ereinion: /* Settings */ People will probably not want to remove the rest of their more messages when adding to their rcfile</p>
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<div>{{version030}}<br />
''For the instruction manual for Crawl itself, see [https://github.com/crawl/crawl/blob/master/crawl-ref/docs/crawl_manual.rst this file].<br />
{{item-noicon<br />
|itemtype = Book<br />
|name = Manual of [Skill]<br />
|cost =<br />
|weight = 7.0<br />
}}<br />
{{flavour|A valuable book which allows one to learn a certain skill faster.}}<br />
[[file:Manual 1.png]] [[file:Manual 2.png]]<br />
<br />
'''Manuals''' are rare [[book]]s which boost a skill by providing a +4 bonus to the skill's [[aptitude]], effectively doubling your XP gain. You can study multiple manuals of different skills, but multiples of the same skill are used one at a time. Each manual generates with 2000-3000 [[skill point]]s of XP; once consumed, the manual is destroyed.<br />
<br />
==Strategy==<br />
Manuals are essentially "free" bonus experience: as long as you train the skill with a manual, you get double XP. Unless you've hit the skill cap (level 27), you cannot waste them - you always get the full amount. Since manuals don't have a time limit, you can take as long as you want before actually training the skill.<br />
<br />
Don't be compelled to train a skill ''just'' because you have the manual:<br />
*Even if you have a manual, your character might not benefit from certain skills. A character committed to melee & heavy armour is unlikely to find a manual of [[Stealth (skill)|Stealth]] useful, for instance.<br />
*You don't have to train the manual right away - other skills may be more ''immediately'' important than the manual's skill. E.g. a caster may want to get their spells to a reasonable failure rate before training [[Dodging]].<br />
<br />
Still, manuals can be very nice to have. They can encourage you to train skills you otherwise wouldn't have trained, or boost the skills you were already training.<br />
<br />
===Settings===<br />
Users of manuals may want to add this to their [[rcfile]]:<br />
force_more_message += finished your manual<br />
This will alert you when your manual's skill aptitude bonus has run out and allow you to readjust your training priorities should you desire.<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
*Prior to [[0.27]], manuals took up inventory slots.<br />
*Prior to [[0.13]], you could only study one manual at a time, and you would activate or deactivate them by '''r'''eading them.<br />
*Prior to [[0.9]], manuals functioned very differently because the skill system was very different. They would allow you to assign stored up experience from your experience pool to a specific skill without actually using that skill, and would crumble to dust after sufficient uses.</div>Ereinion