• Spoilers
• Level Feelings

Level Feelings

When you first enter a new dungeon level, you get a sense, or feeling, of just how interesting that dungeon level is. That feeling describes the "goodness" of the generated level. A better feeling indicates a more unusual dungeon layout, better items, and more out of depth monsters.

These feelings are, from stronger to weaker:

• Feeling	Rating
  "You have a superb feeling about this level"	> 100
  "You have an excellent feeling..."	81 - 100
  "You have a very good feeling..."	61 - 80
  "You have a good feeling..."	41 - 60
  "You feel strangely lucky..."	31 - 40
  "You feel your luck is turning..."	21 - 30
  "You like the look of this place..."	11 - 20
  "This level can't be all bad..."	1 - 10
  "What a boring place..."	0

Using the command "Repeat level feeling (^F)" will repeat the original level feeling.

There are also some nonstandard level feelings, which are described below.

Level Rating

The dungeon level's feeling depends upon the level's rating. The rating is calculated by adding together the following number of points for each room, item or monster feature that is generated:

• Room generation
  • Monster nest: +10
  • Monster pit: +10
  • Lesser Vault: depends on vault, usually +2,...,+10
  • Random Vault: +10
  • Greater Vault: depends on vault, usually +20,...,+45
  • Special Level: +40 (only useful if the flag DESC is not used)
  • Random Princess Quest: +10
• Item generation
  • Dragon Armour: +30
  • Dragon Shield or Helm: +5
  • Ring of Speed: +25
  • Ring of Lordly Protection: +5
  • Amulet of the Magi: +25
  • Blood of Life: +25

  • Fixed Artifact: +10 (+20 if value > 50000)

  • Random Artifact: +40
  • Ego item: depends on ego type, +0 for bad types, otherwise +1,...,+60
  • Out of depth item: +level difference
• Monster generation
  • Out of depth unique: +2 times level difference
  • Out of depth monster: +level difference

An actual example:

• You enter DL41 of Mordor. It is a Fumblefingers quest level for 13 Great Crystal 
  drakes. There is a minature vault on the level. Castamir the Usurper is also 
  there. The drakes drop, among other things, three randarts and a ROS +7. 
  
  Great Crystal drakes are native to DL45. 13*(45-41) = 13*4 = +52
  Castamir is a unique native to DL38, so he is not out of depth: +0
  small vault: let's say +5
  3 randarts: 3*40 = +120
  ROS: +25
  plus whatever other ego items, nests, etc. were also present
  
  total: A minimum of 52 + 5 + 120 + 25 = 202

Monsters and items created later don't affect the level rating. For example, you might still run into a unique monster on a level with the feeling "What a boring place...", but that would mean the monster appeared after level generation.

Option auto_scum

This birth option forces the generation of good levels in the dungeon. The minimum "goodness" of the level is based on the dungeon level, so the deeper you go, the better the level will be. For example, with auto_scum turned on, boring levels are never generated, and starting with dungeon level 40, only good or better levels are generated.

Non-standard level feelings

Some levels are described with a non-standard level feeling:

• "You feel that you will meet your fate here" when you are on a level where you meet a fate (not in a special / quest level).
• "You are fated to die here. DIE!" when you enter a death fate level.
• "Looks like a typical quest level" when you are in a quest level.

• If the flag DESC is set, Special levels will have their own feelings. E.g. "This level looks filled with evilness" for Deathwatch.

• "You hear the sound of a market" when you are on a level with a random dungeon town.
• "Looks like any other level" when you spent fewer than 1000 turns on the previous dungeon level.
• If you are playing with preserve mode turned off, you obtain a special feeling "You feel there is something special about this level" whenever
  • a fixed artifact is created on the level
  • monster pits, nests, or vaults are created (sometimes)
  • the level is a special level

Changing level feelings

A function tied to HOOK_FEELING can override a feeling (if the function returns TRUE) or add a few lines to the standard feeling (if the function returns FALSE). For example, the first case is used in the Thieves quest in Bree (see q_thief.c), the second case in the random quests (see q_rand.c).