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Ancient Domains of Mystery (view source)

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* {{spoiler|[[A God Is You]]}}: If you dare, if you've solved all the (optional) puzzles to gain the right equipment, and if your character is sufficiently badass.
* [[Amazing Technicolor Battlefield]]: {{spoiler|The Chaos dimension.}} along with the top level of the Tower of Eternal Flames, level 66 of the Infinite Dungeon and bottom of the Scintillating Cave.
* [[Armor -Piercing Attack]]: There is a weapon called ''phase dagger'' that completely ignores the armour of the target. The downside is that on each hit, the game throws at you a message about you easily cutting through the armour, which requires you to press [more] much more often. And the dagger itself doesn't do much damage anyway, making it useful only against [[Heavily Armored Mook|Heavily Armored Mooks]].
** Also, any weapon with the "penetrating" prefix. [[Heh Heh You Said X|Hur hur hur.]]
* [[Artifact of Doom]]: {{spoiler|The Chaos Orbs contain powerful magic, but the player is corrupted upon using. There are many other artifacts that qualify; some literally "doom" the player, some corrupt the player merely by carrying them around, some do both and curse themselves on equipping to make it as hard as possible to get rid of them.}}
* [[Artifact Title]]: Averted. When it initially had only one dungeon, ADOM stood for ''Advanced Dungeons of Mystery'', and a couple of versions later for '''''Ancient''''' ''Dungeons of Mystery''. In version 0.9.0, where the overworld was implemented, the title was changed to the current ''Ancient'' '''''Domains''''' ''of Mystery''.
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: Quite a few class powers sound powerful but are really nerfed by other costs. For instance, the monk's level 6 power is a [[Hurricane Kick|circular kick]], but kicking is among some of the weaker attacks in the game and the power costs 2500 energy points to use. In other words, anything you don't manage to kill with the attack gets at least 2-3 free hits on you.
** The ''Wish'' spell also counts, due to it taking so long to <s>cast</s> learn and cast that the PC will often starve to death in the attempt. Said spell normally takes at least '''3000PP''' to cast -- even level 50 wizards can't cast it without [[Level Grinding|grinding stats]] and flat-out abusing the game mechanics. Oh, and casting it drains a random stat by 10. One [[Self -Imposed Challenge]] is to [http://ancardia.wikia.com/wiki/Archmage raise a character that can cast it at will].
* [[Bare -Fisted Monk]]: You can play monks as the standard, unencumbered fast-moving fighter, [http://adomguides.blogspot.com/2008/05/guide-to-being-monk-by-molach.html but there's more than one way to play a fighter in this game]. [[Good Old Fisticuffs|Beastfighters]] are similar, but [http://adomguides.blogspot.com/2009/03/guide-to-being-beastfighter-by-molach.html more restrictive].
* [[Beef Gate]]: Comes in weak, strong and instant death varieties.
* [[Blackout Basement]]: The Gremlin Cave, which has water traps. You've seen the [[Gremlins|film]], so you can imagine the [[Explosive Breeder|problems]]. However, anyone who knows the Light spell can have ''fun''.
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** Can't resist one example: most players risk being bitten by swarms of tiny spiders if they are trapped in a [[Giant Spider|giant spiderweb]]. If you're a Dark Elf, however, "You welcome your spidery friends."
** Has its [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything/ADOM|own page]].
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Required for the [[Multiple Endings|Special endings]]. Even a regular ending gives you plenty of opportunity to shine against some pretty horrifying stuff.
* [[Dodge the Bullet|Dodge The Arrow]]: Archers somehow have the ability to dodge missiles; instead of dropping at your feet when they miss, they fly on past.
* [[Dr. Jerk]]: "This is Jharod, the healer. He does not care about you." Good to know.
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* [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]: [[Shoplift and Die|Angry shopkeepers]] can one-shot-kill players with [[Improbable Weapon User|a single coin]].
* [[Improvised Weapon]]: You can use ''anything'' as a melee or projectile weapon, including clothes and scrolls. There are challenges, for example, to get through the game wielding a rock or an anvil.
* [[Infinity Plus One+1 Sword]]: {{spoiler|The Trident of the Red Rooster}} is probably the best artifact in the game. It's also required for one of the ultra endings and is a huge [[Guide Dang It]].
* [[In Universe Game Clock]]: Time runs far faster when you travel in the overworld because it's a zoomed-out representation of a large area. (And you do need to keep track of the time or date for several quests: ctrl-E tells you how much time has (E)lapsed since you first set out. Though it's easier to use Alt-q or "@" to check character details.)
* [[Item Crafting]]
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* [[Kill It With Ice]]: Naturally, the easiest way to get through the Tower of Eternal Flames. [[That One Level|Still not very easy, though.]]
* [[Kill It With Fire]]: Remember these words when you find the Temple of Elemental Water.
* [[Kill It With Water]]: Specifically, holy water. Use it on the undead for a [[One -Hit Kill]].
* [[Kleptomaniac Hero]]: Almost anything can be useful, so it makes sense to pick up different things. Even a "scroll of cure blindness" (which can be turned into a blank scroll by dipping it in water) or a "potion of uselessness" ({{spoiler|which can be thrown to propel yourself on the [[Slippy Slidey Ice World|icy level]] of the Caverns of Chaos, resulting in an impressed deity giving you an artifact.}})
* [[The Legions of Hell]]: The Forces of Chaos are pretty much [[Expy|this game's version]] of them.
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* [[Mercy Rewarded]]: Leading the [[Brainwashed and Crazy|Brainwashed and]] [[Ax Crazy]] village carpenter to a healer benefits you far more than killing him, including learning the essential Healing skill.
** {{spoiler|Also, the [[Goddamn Bats|Goddamn Cats.]]}}
** {{spoiler|And giving a (very rare) amulet of life saving to Khelavaster will grant you the [[Infinity Plus One+1 Sword|best weapon in the game.]] [[Chain of Deals|Eventually]].}}
* [[Metal Slime]]: Giant boars, oy. Required for the ultra endings, sadly.
* [[The Minion Master]]: This is the [[Planet of Hats|hat]] of necromancers; bards can be played like this too, although having too many followers at once may result in them jealously attacking one another.
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* [[Nominal Importance]]: If you ever meet a hostile named monster, or anything referred to as "the", you're going to have a tough time. If you meet one in a normal level, it may be an artifact guardian.
* [[Nonstandard Game Over]]: Many, including [[Body Horror|being turned into a chaos beast.]]
* [[One -Hit Kill]]: A few monk and assassin class powers grant a very low chance to do this.
** Another important example is Death magic. The good news is, players can actually obtain the Death Ray spell and use it on enemies. The bad news is, [[Awesome but Impractical|death rays usually miss except against the weakest of foes]]. The very bad news? {{spoiler|Enemy spellcasters can do it too. You better hold on to that amulet of death ray resistance.}}
* [[Outlaw Town]]: Lawenilothehl
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* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: Despite what your fortune cookie tells you, don't eat the corpse of an annis hag. Or a harpy.
** And then there's {{spoiler|the IBM guild manuals, which take this to the logical extreme: reading one makes you ''permanently'' confused.}} The only thing you can do at this point is pray.
* [[PowerupPower-Up Letdown]]: Beastfighters can summon bears and/or silver wolves at level 25. Sounds cool, but most of the monsters you meet will be stronger than your companions by then.
** Mindcrafters gain the ability to [[Enemy Scan|sense the number of enemies]] on a level. They later get 'Eyes of the Mind' <s>as an apology</s> which finally shows ''where'' they are, but only the monsters with a mind. Undead and golems (two of the nastiest classes of enemy) don't show up at all.
** Most classes have one or two class powers at higher levels that are quite useless. The strongest classes tend to be those that don't.
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** Some gravestones read "Great treasures lie buried here." Dig one up at your own risk.
*** It doesn't say {{spoiler|that the treasure won't be guarded}}.
* [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money]]: There is a trainer who can train your stats beyond the normal 20-25 points, but he requires obscene amounts of gold pieces. Combined with the casino which allows for you to [[Game Breaker|easily make obscene amounts of gold pieces]], you can easily raise your stats to very high levels. Theoretically, if you win money at the casino you're forced to spend it -- and quite a bit more besides -- at the hugely overpriced casino store if you want to progress, but that can be bypassed by teleporting the guard blocking the way.
** And the "Heir" talent, a hard-to-qualify-for 1st level talent that starts you off with a magic item dependent on your class. These range from specialized armor and awesome wands to the near-essential [[Sprint Shoes]]: Seven League Boots. Very ''very'' useful for getting places before Bad Things Happen.
** Did you deeply offend your deity by committing sacrilege against the very principles of your faith? Sacrifice a couple hundred grand and you're his bestest friend again.
*** Subverted with {{spoiler|champion crowning}}, however. You only get that once per game, no matter how many gods you impress.
* [[Self -Imposed Challenge]]: Nearly every aspect of the game has been played to death, so there are quite a few of these. One of the most extreme was playing (and ''winning'') with a weight limit of 100s. A normal player would finish the game holding 100-500 times that much in inventory, never mind their equipment. In addition, several artifacts that are needed to complete the game each weigh 100s, so the PC had to be naked and carrying nothing else (including food, armor or weapons) while moving them to the bottom of the dungeon.
** One player nearly won the entire game with a completely blind character. The only reason it wasn't finished was because there is a particular endgame action that cannot be done while blind.
* [[Shout Out]]: Many. Notably, you can find phase daggers, moss of marelion and morgia root, which originally appeared in ''[[Zork (Video Game)|Beyond Zork]]'', [[Infocom]]'s oddball text adventure/RPG hybrid.)
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* [[Vancian Magic]]: When you learn spells, you get a limited number of castings for said spell. On the other hand, your character usually learns a hundred castings or so per spell reading. Unintelligent characters learn fewer or not at all.
** Also, casters have Power Points, which ALSO limit how often they can cast spells. When you run out of power points, you either stop using magic or start [[Cast From Hit Points|casting from hit points.]]
* [[VideogameVideo Game Caring Potential]]: Panicked enemies that run away from you can be (c)hatted with and calmed down. Doing so gives you [[Mercy Rewarded|a bit of EXP and a Lawful boost]] on your [[Karma Meter]].
** Healing injured monsters is a fast (if risky) way of gaining Lawful alignment.
* [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]]: Blup the baby water dragon in the first village is looking for his mother. If you find and kill her, then tell him that you've found her, he thanks you then flies off to meet her. Also in the starting village, you can get a quest to rescue a young girl's puppy from a spooky cave. It is possible to bring said puppy back to her, and then kill it and eat it while she watches. There's also a chance the puppy will become hostile, and maul her to death.
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