Wanderer

Version 0.14: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Wanderers are people who have not learned a specific trade. Instead, they've travelled around becoming "jacks-of-all-trades, masters of none". They start the game with a large assortment of skills and maybe some small items they picked up along the way, but, other than that, they're pretty much on their own.

The wanderer is an adventurer who has tried multiple professions without devoting himself to any particular discipline. The items in a wanderer's starting inventory usually (but not always) relate to his starting skills.

Preferred Races

If you feel you must play a Wanderer, the game recommends you play as a Human, Hill Orc, Spriggan, Centaur, Merfolk, Draconian or Demonspawn.

Starting Equipment

Wanderers start with 1-2 random weapons (weighted towards those you have good aptitudes for) that may be enchanted up to +3, random armor, various miscellaneous items, and sometimes a random starting-level spell book. You will also sometimes start with a level 1 spell memorized, though it may not have any relation to your race's aptitudes or your starting spell book (if you have one).

Possibilities include any of these:

• Melee Weapons - Club, Mace, Dagger, Short Sword, Falchion, Hand Axe, Spear, or Quarterstaff, possibly enchanted up to +3.
• Ranged Weapons - Sling, Bow, Crossbow or Blowgun, with ammo but often not a lot, and also possibly enchanted up to +3.
• Occasionally a second weapon (melee or ranged) which will always be +0
• Shields: Buckler or (normal) Shield, always +0
• Armour: Robe, Leather, Ring or Scale Mail, always +0
• Spellbooks: 1st level spellbooks including Book of Air, Battle, Callings, Maledictions, Changes, Translocations, Minor Magic, Conjurations, Necromancy, Fire, Ice, Earth, or the Young Poisoner's Handbook
• Spells: Any first level spell including Freeze, Magic Dart, Apportation, Beastly Appendage, Shock, Sandblast, Corona, Pain, Flame Tongue, Sting and Summon Small Mammals.
• Scrolls: Blinking, Teleportation or Fear
• Wands: Magic Darts, Frost, Flame, Random Effects, possibly Slowing.

You will always get 1 Melee Weapon or 1 Ranged Weapon and at least a Robe for armour. If you get a Ranged Weapon you may not get a Melee weapon. This leads to the worst-case scenario of getting a Blowgun with 1 Curare needle and nothing else.

Starting Stats

Wanderers receive 12 stat points distributed at random when they start the game, with a 50% less chance to increase a stat if it is already 17 or higher when a point is assigned by the algorithm. It is not correlated to their starting equipment, so it is possible for a Wanderer to start with little more than a robe and spellbook, yet still have an Intelligence of 10. This does not affect racial modifiers, of course; a DEWn will still have a higher intelligence than a TrWn on average.

Starting Skills

You may receive 1-5 levels in the Weapon skill of your default weapon (but not always), Fighting, Armour, Unarmed Combat, Dodging, Stealth, Invocations, Evocations, Spellcasting, and various schools of magic, not necessarily relevant to any starting spell book or memorized spell you may have.

History

In 0.16 wanderers will start with a randart spellbook instead of starting with a level one spell memorized. they will 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 will also be recorded in the game log.

Prior to 0.14, wanderers began with scrolls of teleportation recognised.