******************************************************************************* This file is designed to help you learn to play The Pit, based on Version 3.52. It is entirely free. You are under no cost or obligation with respect to this file. You are free to destribute this file in a limited fashion. However, you may not sell this information. If distributed on a disk, a reasonable fee for the disk and/or shipping may be charged. This file may not be mass distributed on disket without specific written permission of the author. I retain all rights to this file. Ok, that is most of the legal BS I see at the start of files that I could come up with off the top of may head. Although I want the wording of the above to be followed, basically, what I want is: For you to understand that I spent quite a few hours gathering information, designing this hint file, and putting it together. And that does not count the time I spent playing before I got around to making the file. I specifically became Immortal three times during the writting of this file to test information and correct errors. However, I give the information to you freely to help you learn this enjoyable game. But I do not want you to make a profit on my efforts without getting a cut for my time and effort. Basically, I'd like you to be reasonable. Fairly simple. Now of course, I am not really giving you this file without a catch. I do ask on thing of people who find this file helpful: Please leave me a message saying thanks and/or that you enjoyed the file. In the Atlanta area, you can find me {Brian Grove} on Android II, or R's BBS, or Commport with regularity. Outside Atlanta, leave me a message in the the RIME or UNI net Games conference. If you get desperate, you could write to me @ Brian Grove 2072 Howard Cir N.E. Atlanta, GA 30307 That address should be correct through July of '94 or so. Then I'll be moving to Texas. You'll probably see an update to this by then anyway. Also, please try to get me any errors, corrections, suggestions, or strategies you use that are not included in this file so that I may correct/add them in/to future versions. Thanks. Ok, that's it. Now the information you wanted: ******************************************************************************* Ok, here I am playing this strange door game - The Pit - and I don't even know what I am doing. How do I get started? Here is how: You start with 100 Gold Pieces (GP). Go to the weapon shop and haggle for a long bow (90 GP after haggling) and ten arrows (1 gp each if you haggle for 1 arrow and then buy them one at a time.) Don't worry about buying armor or hand weapons EVER in this game. Go to the Arena and fight a trainee. Use the bow to kill him from a distance. Take their armor and hand weapons. As needed, buy more arrows after each fight or few fights, trying to keep around 50 arrows. Keep this up until you have 900 GP. Then go back to the weapon shop and sell your long bow. Haggle for a Great Bow (900 GP). Remember, you can sell off any armor and hand weapons you accumulate from your opponents if you wish. I usually don't bother, and I recommend having some armor before you attack heros. Start on warriors level 4. They still should not be too difficult with the Great Bow. Just stay back and think of them as pincushions. Attack Veterans around level 7-8. You may lose some by starting at 7, but not many. Here you should pick up the +1 Plate Armor and +1 hand weapons. I'd sell these until I decide to fight stronger enemies, as they are not very necessary here, but are valuable. Somewhere around Level 10, consider attacking humanoid Monsters, but not without a magical hand weapon, or you will be unable to hit the were-creatures. Sell the amulets you get from medusa. Her gaze weapon has a very limited range, so if you stay back, she is easily killable. Beware the King with the Trident, he is deadly with it, and you do NOT get it as a weapon for killing him. You can pick up several +3 weapons here. The +3 Halberd is the best, but it really isn't worth hunting for. You will not use hand weapons much until you fight heroes, and then you wish to paralyze. With gods, you want the occasional damage bonus a weapon capable of a critical hit yields. Start on Heros around level 13 or 14, (I sometimes start around level 12, but realistically the risk is too high then. You'll still die or need to run pleanty fighting at level 14. ). I have included additional (and more detailed) hints on heros in the hint section at the end of this file. Later editions of this hint file will improve it still more. Beware of Elric, who weilds Stormbringer, and Kargoth who weilds Soul Shatterer, and Yykroon who weilds the MournBlade, as they drain levels. Immediately run to the exits when you encounter them, unless you are sure you will not get hit by their hand weapon. (The exit is the break in the wall surrounding the Arena.) When you are finished fighting Heros, you should have acquired the Silver Shaft as your range weapon. Try to get the Shadow Blade for fighting heroes or sorcerors as the paralysis is helpful. However, as Elementals and Gods are immune to paralysis, get a vorpal weapon when you are done with heroes. This occasionally do extra damage to elementals and gods. Additionally, you should have the following before mmoving on: the Supreem Plate Armor, the Old Dusty Boots, Helm 'Skitoon', Leather Gauntlet, Gold Arm Band, and the Bronze Bracelet. You will get even better Weapons and Armor later, but these are VERY GOOD for now. At some point around level 25 - 30, and considering your armorment, you may consider fighting Creatures. Dragons tend to be worth more money than heros. Beware the Fang Dragon, as it drains levels. Don't bother with Elvin Heros at any point. They just aren't worth the trouble, as you always fight at least three of them. Some people like to fight them and try to kill one to get his stuff at a fairly early level. It just is not worth the risk and number of losses. Sorcerors should probably not be fought before you have 200 hit points, and then only if you really want magic items. I usually don't bother, as I just sell the magic items I get, and I dislike fighting them. (If there is an item I really need, I buy it at the magic shop when it becomes available.) Fight Random Encounters aroung level 45, but you'll lose sometimes. The dragons here are especially tough. Also, some creatures here do drain levels. I believe that those the do weild swords I have listed with the Level Draining ability so you should be able to recognize them and play accordingly. You should get the Bow and Sword of the Ancients here. Fight Elementals when the number of Heros or Randoms become excessive. Fight these from a distance. Try to move out of the line of their range weapons when you cannot shoot, and let them step to you when you can. Take you shots (and let them shoot you), then move out again. Do not get into a battle of hand weapons here, as they tend to win those. Just accept the fact that you will sustain damage and fight from a distance. Two Elementals are worth a special note: Moon Deva - RUN! This enemy drains multiple levels with his RANGE weapon. Do not let him hit you. He just isn't worth it; Sun - His range weapon blinds but does no damage. If you have the Helm 'Skitoon', just let him hit you from a distance and shoot him repeatedly. But do beware, as he drains levels in close combat. Start on Gods aroung level 250-300. At 250, you will only be getting 4 attacks at a time whereas at 300+ you get 5. Until you are confident in you ability to use the pattern, wait until level 300. THE GODS IN THE PIT: Aesir - Weak God. Uses his sword and an Invulnerable Wall. Use the standard pattern discussed in the notes at the end of this file. Baldur - Weak God. Weilds his sword and +5 Plate Armor. Use the standard pattern to slay him. Frey - Weak God. Has his sword and Rune Armor. Use the standard pattern, and he will die fairly easily. Heimdall - Weak God. Rune armor and his sword. Just stay back and use the strategy for killing unarmed opponents discussed in the notes. Hel - Very tough God. Hel is very fast. Typically, he isn't worth the damage and risk. Just suck up the damage and head for the exit. Loki - Tough God. Loki has his dagger and bow and a Wall of Demons. You are rewarded with an Extra Special Item for killing him. Just suck it up, stand next to him, and fight. If necessary, run. He will do a lot of damage with his range weapon, so avoid it. Magni - Weak God. Weilds a Hammer and +5 Plate Armor. Use the standard pattern and kill him easily. Modi - Weak God. He gets the occasional with his sword, but does not posesses a range weapon. Mordred - Extremely high probabilty of him scoring a fatality. This is frustrating. I reccommend running unless you are short on time remaining in that session, and do have more sessions remaining. Mordred is tough but killable. Odin - Tough God. Fight him with hand weapons. Avoid allowing him to hit you with his range weapon as it does vastly more damage than your range weapon. Sif - Weak God. Weilds his sword and +5 Plate Armor. Use the standard pattern and he dies easily. Thor - God of Gods. Just run from him. The only way I have found to kill him is to fight up close, use the Glass Eye of Tyr when you have less than 100 hit points left, and NEVER get hit by his hammer as a distance weapon. Unfortunately, no magic item is awarded for the killing of this amazingly deadly foe. He just isn't worth it. Thrym - Weak God. Weilds his Axe and wears +3 Plate Armor. Use the standard pattern and kill him. Tyr - Fairly easy, with the best Extra Special Item. Advanced idea: if you already hold the Eye, when you have nearly killed Tyr use the Eye to heal yourself before finishing him. This limits the amount of damage you have to heal at the end of the match. Vidar - Weak God. Has his Hammer and +4 Plate Armor. Use the standard pattern and he dies easily. What about all the choices of magic items? If it doesn't heal you or return some number of drained levels, and is not a Miscellaneous Item, I sell it. I usually don't bother with protection items as I'd rather have the cash. Also, read the notes at the end of the file. Selling an item at the magic shop gets you only ten percent (10%) of the item's value (plus any addition you get for haggling). Not good, but better than nothing. And that is pleanty when selling an Extra Special Item. MAGIC ITEMS IN THE PIT: RINGS: A: Yursheen Resistance to Fire 12,000 B: Wozitkis No Effect 4,000 C: Vulate User Teleports 38,000 D: Penchand User has Invisibility 25,000 E: Trouband No Effect 5,000 F: Erigin User Regenerates 240,000 G: Drakton Dragons do Double Damage 12,000 H: Diltif No Effect 10,000 I: Goolfate No Effect 22,000 J: Tulfevl No Effect 43,000 K: Tulfuchs No Effect 2,000 L: Gratfing User Hits More Effectively 20,000 M: Fergitchu User Becomes Confused 7,000 N: Winris User Hits Less Effectively 30,000 O: Soltak Level Drain User 13,000 P: Yikson User Gains 5-20% Health 35,000 POTIONS: A: Purple Liquid True Seeing 5,000 B: Dary Grey Liquid Cure Blindness 6,000 C: Red Brown Liquid User Becomes Confused 3,000 D: Yellow Liquid Blind User 1,000 E: Black Oil No Effect 10,000 F: Ruby Red Liquid Disease User 5,000 G: Pink White Liquid Poison User 8,000 H: Brown Elixir No Effect 3,000 I: Dark Blue Elixir User Becomes Drunk 4,000 J: Dark Blue Liquid Gain 10-20% Health 42,000 K: Dark Brown Oil Immunity to Paralysis 9,000 L: Dark Grey Oil Poison - Kills User 6,000 M: Healing Elixir Gain 5-20% Health 80,000 N: Bright Red Liquid No Effect 6,000 O: Dull Brown Goop No Effect 4,000 P: Bubbly Red Goop No Effect 12,000 MISCELLANEOUS A: Helm 'Skitoon' True Seeing 320,000 B: Belt - Giganto Decrease User Movement 54,000 C: Silver Metal Rod Nothing 32,000 D: Gold Arm Band User Does Double Damage 12,000 E: Silver Feather Nothing 1,000 F: Crystal Lens Innumity to Blindness 35,000 G: Bronze Bracelet User Takes Half Damage 15,000 H: Golden Key No Effect 2,000 I: Wooden Wand Fire Shooting Star 240,000 J: Obsidian Horn 3 Effects (Good, Bad, and None) 25,000 K: Jade Statuette Protection VS. Dragons 40,000 L: Ruby Wand Protection VS. Demons 50,000 M: Old Dusty Boots Increase User's Movement 42,000 N: Red Ruby Slipper Decrease User's Movement 80,000 O: Leather Gauntlet User Gets One Extra Arrow Per Attack 2,300,000 P: Jeweled Necklace Poison Needle Hits User 42,000 SCROLLS A: Awesprae Protection from Demons 38,000 B: Ritogan Restore User's Lost Levels 76,000 C: Zaptoyd No Effect 11,000 D: Deiltone Fire Acid Arrow 80,000 E: Yelwing Fireball 95,000 F: Levato User Teleports 12,000 G: Laguepay Fire Insect Plague 105,000 H: Oyveay User Loses Half Health 11,000 I: Degenty Protection vs Undead 95,000 J: Protoct No Effect 50,000 K: Otreoni Lightning Bolt 65,000 L: Wilotyp User Takes Half Damage 22,000 M: Rotuero Protection from Elves 74,000 N: Spetuy User Slips on Oil 23,000 O: Igorist User is Paralyzed 13,000 P: Uiresol Paralyze All Monsters 32,000 AMULETS A: ?????? ?????????? ?????? B: Opal Amulet Fire Lightning Bolt 400,000 C: Topaz Amulet User Fails Attack 20% of Time 90,000 D: Emerald Amulet No Effect 110,000 E: Ruby Amulet Resist Cold 25,000 F: Pearl Amulet Fire Force Blast 120,000 G: Stone Amulet Cause Fear (1 Opponent) 85,000 H: Gold Medallion Sheild User 170,000 I: Silver Medal Fire Ice Spear 270,000 J: Amethyst ?Amulet? Fire Magic Missile 230,000 K: Bronze ?Amulet? No Effect 890,000 L: Platinum Scarab Demon Gate Blocker 1,000,000 M: Gold Sphere No Effect 78,000 N: Blue Glowing Orb Permanent Paralysis Immunity 115,000 O: Golden Chalice No Effect 21,000 P: Light Green Orb No Effect 110,000 EXTRA SPECIAL A: Sceptre of Law Lightning Hits All Monsters 99,999,999 B: Sceptre of Chaos Shoot Power Beam 99,999,999 C: Glass Eye of Tyr User Totally Healed 99,999,999 D: Crown of Heroes User Gains a Level 99,999,999 I have not ever seen Amulet A, and do not know what it is or what it does. If you find out, I'd appreciate hearing from you. I am starting to doubt it even exists. All the actions I have listed are activated by use in combat, except the Miscellaneous Items. The special abilities of those work by having the object in your possession. I sell all the Extra Special Items because they are not all the effective IMHO. The Glass Eye of Tyr has the added ability of regeneration while you possess it. However, it will never regenerate 9,999,999 worth of damage. Maybe keep one after you have sold a couple of Extra Special Items, as then money will not be an object. Also, you seem to regenerate even though you have sold the Eye. This may be a bug, I am not sure. WEAPONS IN THE PIT: HAND WEAPONS BONUS DAMAGE SPECIAL Regular: Dagger + 0 d 4 - Short Sword + 0 d 6 - Hammer + 0 d 7 - Long Sword + 0 d 8 - Battle Axe + 0 d 9 - Halberd + 0 d10 - Great Sword + 0 d12 - Special: Death Kiss +60 d 9+6 Vorpal Weapon Dragon Slayer +60 d12+6 Dragon Slaying Excaliber +50 d 8+5 Vorpal Weapon Giant Slayer +60 d 8+6 Giant Slaying Grim Reaper +70 d10+7 Vorpal Weapon Hammer of Thunderbolts +60 d 7+6 - Moon Sword +60 d 6+6 Cause Paralysis Shadow Blade +70 d 6+7 Cause Paralysis Soul Keeper +70 d 8+7 Level Draining Soul Shatterer +70 d 7+7 Level Draining Sword of the Ancients +80 d12+8 Vorpal Weapon Terminator +70 d 9+70 Vorpal Weapon RANGE WEAPONS RANGE BONUS DAMAGE SPECIAL Regular: Throwing Knife - Sling 30' + 0 d 4 - Short Bow 40' + 0 d 6 - Long Bow 60' + 0 d 6 - Short Composit Bow 80' + 0 d 6 - Long Composit Bow 100' + 0 d 6 - Great Bow 120' + 0 d 7 - Note: For Regular +X weapons, the Bonus is X * 10, and the damage increases by +X. I.e. a Battle Axe has a bonus of 0 and damage of d 9. A +2 Battle Axe has a bonus of +20 and damage of d 9+2. It works the same with bows, and the + does not alter the range of the weapon. Special Archer's Hand 100' +70 d 6+7 - Bow of Second Sight 40' +60 d 6+6 - Bow of the Ancients 140' +80 d 7+8 - Death Reaper 80' +70 d 6+7 - Demon Bow 60' +70 d 6+7 Demon Slaying Dragon Flight 80' +60 d 6+6 Dragon Slaying Grim Tooth 40' +70 d 6+7 - Heart Bow 120' +70 d 7+7 - Night Hawk 60' +60 d 6+6 - Seeker 100' +60 d 6+6 - Silver Shaft 120' +60 d 7+6 - Armor Armor Value Padded Cloth 5 Leather 10 Studded Leather 15 Ring Mail 20 Chain Main 25 Plate Mail 35 Field Plate 40 Plate Armor 45 +1 Plate Armor 55 Demon Armor 120 Armor of Ancients 140 Holy Plate Armor 150 Supreem Plate Armor 160 Cube of Force 170 Dealnar's Ring 180 There are quite a few more armor variants, but this gives you an of what is out there. Dealnar's Ring is the best on I believe, but is gained by fighting the Moon Elemental. Not worth it, but if you challenge someone with it, GET IT! NOTES: 1. Please understand that I have not contacted or consulted with the author of Thie Pit while creating this file. I therefore cannot gaurentee the accuracy of the information in this file. It is accurate as far as I know. Should you find errors, please attempt to contact me so that I may get them corrected. Thanks. 2. To hit an opponent with your Range Weapon, they must be more than on square away from you. Shots at an opponent in an adjacent square will be blocked by your opponent. To hit them with your Hand Weapon, they must not be more than one square away from you. 3. The Pattern: Once you get fairly high in levels, opponents typically pause aftering hitting you. This gives you a free move during attacks. That couples with the fact that you do more damage with your Range Weapon (on average) than you do with your hand weapon gives yields a way to increase you damage to opponents who do not weild Range Weapons. When the round starts and you realize that your opponent does not have a rande weapon, do the following: 1. Shoot him with arrows every time you get the opportunity; 2. When you do not have the opportunity, move backwards trying to keep you opponent near the maximum of you range; 3. When they get to you, do not just stand in place and hit them. Instead hit them, then step away from them, but stay in line with them. Then shoot them with the bow. If they step to you again, then hit them, step back, and shoot them. Those are the basics of the pattern. Play with it some to perfect it. 4. Computer played opponants have a bit of a blind spot in their strategy against range weapons on diagonals. If you line up horizontally to shot your opponent (who cannot fire back either because he is out of range, not currently capable of firing, or does not possess a Range Weapon) he may move towards you at a diagonal so you cannot shoot him. However, if you line up on a diagonal, he will move towards you on the diagonal. This allows you free shots if you line them up on the diagonals. Again, play with it some and you'll see what I mean. 5. Challenging other players can be VERY profitable. Since the computer is not a very good opponent, you can defeat opponents that are stronger than you are. Also, a player that ends the day having gotten killed by the computer in the arena has around 20% of his max hit points when you attack them. However, DO NOT GET KILLED WHEN YOU CHALLENGE an opponent. Run instead. If you are killed when you challenge someone, you lose ALL your magic items. (Of course if you win you may take any of theirs you do not already have.) Ok, that was it. I'm sure there is more, and I am the type of person who would keep playing with this forever (I've been holding it for two weeks to add less than ten lines even as I write this), but it is good enough for now. Please do let me know your opinion, and suggestions for improvement. Especially quiestions that you have that are not covered in this file. Also, try to be nice about it when you point out spelling errors that probably exist. Neither spelling nor typing are my stong suits, and the combination leads to some unfortunate results. Thanks and ENJOY! Brian Grove A.K.A. Asterisk -*-