Human

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This page is about the player species. For the monster, see Human (monster).

Humans tend to be hardworking and industrious, and learn new things quickly. The Human species is the most versatile of all the species available to players. Humans advance quickly in levels and have equal abilities in most skills.

Innate Abilities

Humans have no innate abilities or drawbacks. If they want special powers, they must turn to mutations, magic, or the gods.

Humans have a base Strength, Intelligence and Dexterity of 8 (before Background modifiers) and have normal base magic points.

Preferred Backgrounds

• Zealots: Berserker, Cinder Acolyte
• Mages: Conjurer, Necromancer, Ice Elementalist

Level Bonuses

• +1 to a random stat every 4th level.
• Average hit points.
• +3 willpower per level.

Starting Skills and Equipment

Humans receive all the skills and equipment listed for their background.

Difficulty of Play

Humans are not a difficult species thanks to their fast experience gain and their balanced, but overall good, aptitudes and stats. However, for better or for worse, Humans lack the specialization of other species, which means that another species can often outperform them in a given background, even if that species is much worse than a Human outside of its niche. (For example, Minotaurs are tougher and more skilled than Humans in melee combat, even though they perform much worse than Humans at spellcasting.)

Skill aptitudes

The higher the value, the better the aptitude.

Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude	Skill	Aptitude
Attack		Miscellaneous		Magic
Fighting	0	Armour	0	Spellcasting	-1
		Dodging	0
Maces & Flails	0	Shields	0	Conjurations	0
Axes	0	Stealth	1	Hexes	0
Polearms	0			Summonings	0
Staves	0	Invocations	1	Necromancy	0
Unarmed Combat	0	Evocations	0	Translocations	0
Throwing	0	Shapeshifting	-1	Alchemy	0
				Fire Magic	0
Short Blades	0			Ice Magic	0
Long Blades	0			Air Magic	0
Ranged Weapons	0	Experience	0	Earth Magic	0

Strategy

'Item-centric' versus 'aptitude-centric' strategy

The opposite of a deep elf coming across a suit of crystal plate armour, or a minotaur chancing upon a Necronomicon, being almost entirely average in skill aptitudes ensures that few items will be practically unusable to a human character. This versatility allows for a more 'item-based' play style, which, in a game like Dungeon Crawl -- where you're almost guaranteed to chance across at least a few incredibly powerful, if ill-suited, items -- can be a huge asset.

One way to capitalize on this is to keep your human character from becoming too focused on any one particular strategy... at first. Invest in universally good skills like Fighting, Dodging, and (a little!) Spellcasting. Remain ready to make some quick, mid-course changes depending almost entirely upon what you find. By maintaining a particularly adaptable play style, you can make your aptitude for 'averageness' into an overall strength, rather than a weakness to be overcome.

Jack-of-all-trades?

In a similar vein to the above, humans are well-suited to a generalist, rather than specialist, play style. Given that unmutated human beings lack any and all innate special abilities, it may be advantageous to play to this more 'jack-of-all-trades' style, rather than one of preplanned specialization. As just one simple example, with equal ability to perform melee, ranged, and spells, humans are well-suited to dabble in all three. Staying well-rounded in such ways might not only help round out weaknesses, but also provide you an answer for virtually any monster situation you come across.

Don't worry - you'll still be in a fine position to make those significant skill investments with the external motivation you eventually find. (Eventually) specializing in one or multiple fields is what seperates a human from a Gnoll. And at all times, make sure you can comfortably kill things in one way before investing in anything else.