Wanderer

Version 0.32: This article is up to date for the latest stable release of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.

Wanderers are "jacks-of-all-trades, masters of none". They start the game with a random assortment of skills, items, and maybe spells.

A Wanderer is an adventurer who has tried multiple professions without devoting to any particular discipline. The items in a wanderer's starting inventory heavily correlate with their starting skills.

Preferred Species

If you feel you must play a Wanderer, the game recommends you play as a Human, Mountain Dwarf, Gnoll, Barachi, Merfolk, Draconian or Demonspawn.

Starting Equipment

Wanderers start with 1 "good" item set, 2 "decent" item sets, and 1 consumable (50% for a "good consumable"; 50% for a "decent consumable").

Each item set is named after, and represents, a given skill. They are chosen randomly, based off your species' aptitudes. The higher the skill aptitude, the more likely you are to get a set of that skill. You will always receive 1 decent offensive set and 1 decent defensive set. The good set has a 1/3 chance to be a defensive set; otherwise it will be an offensive set.

Possible equipment types

Offensive item sets	Decent	Good
Weapon skills except Staves	Short sword, falchion, mace, hand axe, spear, sling	+2 'decent' weapon (2/3 chance) Rapier, long sword, flail, war axe, trident, shortbow (1/3 chance)
Staves	not possible	Quarterstaff
Unarmed Combat	1 decent consumable	2 good consumables
Spellcasting	2 spells of a random school, totalling 4 levels	4 random spells (max. level 3) including a level 1 spell
Spell schools	2 spells of that school, totalling 4 levels	3 spells of that school (max. level 4) including a level 1 spell
Defensive item sets	Decent	Good
Fighting	+1 to weapon enchantment (if possible) + 1 decent consumable	Good weapon, weighted based on skill aptitudes
Throwing	6–10 boomerangs, 7–15 poisoned darts	7 ammunition: 1–4 curare-tipped darts + 3–6 javelins
Armour	Ring mail, scale mail If large/tiny: 1 random aux slot	+2 scale mail, chain mail If large/tiny: acid dragon scales
Dodging	1 random aux slot	+2 leather armour, leather armour + 2–4 throwing nets If large/tiny: 2 aux slots, 1 aux slot + 2–4 throwing nets
Stealth	1 random aux slot	+2 dagger + good consumable, +0 dagger with 1–2 darts (atropa or datura-tipped)
Shields	Buckler	Buckler of protection (1/3 chance), +2 buckler
Evocations	3–7 charges of a wand of flame or polymorph	Any miscellaneous evoker (1/3 chance), otherwise 1 random wand: 2–4 charges of a wand of acid, light, warping, quicksilver, iceblast or roots; 5–20 charges of a wand of charming, paralysis or mindburst; 8–23 charges of a wand of flame or polymorph.
Shapeshifting	Beast talisman	Beast talisman or flux talisman

Non-formicids will never be given both a two-handed weapon and a shield; if this occurs, one of the sets will be rerolled. You also cannot be given items for more than one of armour, dodging and stealth; instead, an extra decent consumable will be given.

Then, the following adjustments are made:

• If no weapon is given, start with a club or dagger.
• If no body armour is given, start with a leather armour (if starting strength > intelligence) or a robe (otherwise).
• Bucklers are replaced with kite shields for large species.
• Javelins are replaced with large rocks for large species and twice the number of boomerangs for small species.

Getting an item set of a skill does not guarantee you have any training in said skill, although it does make it significantly more likely.

Consumables

As mentioned above, Wanderers start with at least 1 consumable (and possibly more, depending on your item sets).

Type	Possible consumables
Decent	Scroll of teleportation, scroll of fog, scroll of vulnerability, scroll of silence, potion of curing, potion of lignification, potion of attraction, potion of mutation
Good	Scroll of fear, scroll of butterflies or scroll of summoning, scroll of blinking, potion of heal wounds, potion of haste, potion of berserk rage, potion of might, potion of brilliance, potion of invisibility

Consumables are guaranteed to be usable, e.g. Mummies won't get potions. However, these are not guaranteed to be useful, so a character with no spells can get a potion of brilliance.

Starting Stats

Wanderers receive 12 stat points distributed at random when they start the game. These stats tend to correlate with your skills and gear. But it is possible for a Wanderer to start with little more than a robe and a few spells in their spell library, yet still have an Intelligence of 10. This does not affect racial modifiers, of course; a DEWn still has a higher intelligence than a TrWn on average.

Starting Skills

A total of 10 skill levels (subsequently adjusted by aptitudes) are given out as follows:

• If you were given any spells at all, you will always be given at least 1 Spellcasting skill to ensure you have at least 1 spell level at the start of the game.
• Then, you get 2 levels of your good skill, and 1 level each of your decent skills.
• All other skill levels are chosen randomly, up to a maximum of 5 skill levels in a given skill, but weighted heavily towards the skill for your good item set, and moderately towards the skills for your decent item sets. Fighting, Armour, Dodging, Stealth, Throwing, Spellcasting, Evocations, Invocations, and Shapeshifting can all also receive skill levels, each with relatively low weights.

Strategy

Wanderer is a random start, but some general tips apply to almost anyone. You should focus on finding one thing - whether from your start or from the floor - that can reliably kill monsters. Try to figure out how useful an item is for the short- and medium- term. A +2 dagger may be pretty decent for D:1, but probably isn't worth training.

There is the possibility for some awful Wn starts, such as: a +0 club, +2 leather armour, the spells Apportation + Gell's Gravitas, and 2 potions of attraction. Thus, this is not the best background for winstreaks. However, this kind of start is unlikely.

History

• In 0.32, Wanderers gained the ability to start with talismans, and several other skills' starting equipment was rebalanced.
• In 0.29, Wanderers gained an extra consumable (potion or scroll); most other backgrounds were buffed.
• In 0.28, Wanderer's gear pool was updated. Skill, gear, and attributes were made generally smarter and closer towards a character's aptitude.
• Prior to 0.21, Wanderers could start with a wand of confusion instead of a wand of paralysis.
• In 0.16, Wanderers start with a randart spellbook instead of starting with a level one spell memorized. They also have a chance to spawn with a box of beasts or an elemental evoker instead of a wand. The starting equipment your character receives is also recorded in the game log.
• Prior to 0.14, Wanderers began with scrolls of teleportation recognised.

References

Also see: ng-wanderer.cc:1 (0.32.1)