Human

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

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. They have fast experience gain, decent stats, and balanced (but overall good) skill aptitudes. However, for better or worse, humans lack the specialization of other species. For example, a Minotaur might be terrible at magic, but they can rely entirely on their amazing melee prowess instead. Humans do not have something that they are great at, which makes them more difficult than a "Simple" species.

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' strategy?

The opposite of a deep elf coming across a suit of crystal plate armour, humans can be versatile with almost anything. More than many species, humans can rely on an 'item-based' play style. 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.

"Engines"

Look for items that act as an "engine" - a way to win the game, or at least get you past a certain stage of it. A demon trident you found on D:3 can be your weapon all the way until Zot. A whip of electrocution can take out most enemies before you reach Lair. For magic, you have spells like Borgnjor's Vile Clutch that, once invested, will work for most of the midgame.

If you find an engine, act accordingly. With the whip of electrocution, you can invest into some Maces & Flails skill; you only need a few points. Then, you can decide either to commit to Maces & Flails, or swap to something else you found. If you find nothing amazing, you can rely on your background. Watch out for engines that are too hard to jump-start; Vile Clutch may be too difficult for a heavy melee brute to train, for example.

Generalization & Specialization

One way to capitalize on this is to rely on universal skills, like Fighting or Dodging, in the earlier portions of the game. Have just enough of your "killdudes" skill to get past the early game, and focus on some universal skills otherwise. This lets you make quick, mid-course changes depending on the items you find and god you pick. 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.

Humans will want to specialize with something eventually. After all, this is what separates a human from a gnoll. For example, a magic-focused human probably shouldn't wear a +12 gold dragon scales they found on Zot:1. This point can vary from game to game. Often, you'll want to have a competent killing skill by the time you enter the Lair's rune branches. This doesn't mean you can't switch skills later. Just make sure you have a good way to kill things at any given point. Having 1 good way to kill things is better than 3 bad ways to kill things.

History

• Prior to 0.12, Humans had 0 to all aptitudes. This came from the fact that certain skills had hidden XP costs/reductions, which made all of human's aptitudes 0. When these costs were removed in 0.12 (and every species was changed to compensate), the "average" species changed from "0 in everything" to "what humans have".