Get to know the types of encounters your character can handle and the types he/she must flee from. I'll point out a few particularly dangerous encounters later on in this spoiler. It's better to flee from a dangerous encounter as soon as possible, because if you get surrounded, you may not be able to.
Being surrounded is also bad for your fighting ability, especially if you don't have the Courage skill yet. If you're close to being surrounded, back off in Coward mode. In fact, it's a good idea to stay in Coward mode except when you're attacking a monster physically. A little tip from the manual: if you're very badly wounded (1/3 of maximum HP or less) and in Coward mode, you can run away faster (you're fleeing in panic).
Magic users have the advantage over fighters that they can kill many monsters with one bolt spell. Since they often don't have many HP and are weak in melee combat, they should probably stay in Coward mode and rely on their spells. Sometimes they should back off to give their power a chance to regenerate or line up more monsters for a bolt spell.
This spoiler is under construction. If you can add to or correct the information about minimum level requirements for encounters and the types of wilderness area where they can occur, or if you have any other corrections, please email me.
Encounter | Minimum level | Where found | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Group of roving raiders | 1 | Hills, forest, plains | It's okay to run away from them. You'll still have the chance of meeting them again, until you kill the raider lord. However, they disappear when you reach experience level 6, or if you're a troll, when you obtain 5000 experience points. |
Hill orc patrol | 1 | Hills | |
Outlaw band | 1 | Hills | |
Pack of wolves | 1 | Hills | |
Wandering wizard | 1 | Hills | He is a summoner. |
Group of bandits | 1 | Forest | |
Huge grizzly bear | 1 | Forest | |
Orcish patrol | 1 | Forest | |
Wandering brown bear | 1 | Forest | |
Hobgoblin patrol | 1 | Plains | |
Large jackal pack | 1 | Plains | May contain one or two jackalweres. Kill them first if you can. |
Pack of wild dogs | 1 | Plains | |
Roving barbarian group | 1 | Plains | This is a dangerous encounter because the barbarians shoot arrows. |
Encounter | Minimum level | Where found | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Horde of huge frogs | 1 | Swamp | |
Horde of lizard men | 1 | Swamp | |
Lone hydra | 1 | Swamp | Run away! Hydras use poison, and it takes a lot of bolts to kill one, so you can't rely on zapping it before it can touch you. |
Group of lost souls | 1 | Swamp, road | Take care - ghuls can paralyse you and wights can drain your Toughness. |
Group of outlaws | 1 | Road | |
Lone necromancer | 1 | Road | Summons ghuls who can paralyse you. |
Pilgrimage of chaos monks | 1 | Road | They're fast and they corrupt you, but they're easy to kill with bolt spells. |
Skeleton patrol | 1 | Road |
Encounter | Minimum level | Where found | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Giant boar | 15 | Forest | |
Group of horribly deformed beings | 25 | Forest, plains | |
Herd of rust monsters | 30 | Forest, swamp | |
Lone knight surrounded by an aura of hate and fear | 26 | Forest, plains | |
Wandering giant | 15 | Forest | |
Entourage of chaos knights | 30 | Forest, mountains, plains, swamp | Horrible Dorn Beast | 15 | Plains | If you don't have free action, run. |
Wild air elemental | 15 | Plains | |
Quickling raiding party | 30 | Plains, forest | |
Ogre army | 28 | Plains, hills, forest | |
Party of assassins | 16 | Hills | |
Lone black dragon | 15 | Swamp | |
Gnoll warband | 24 | Road, mountains | |
Cave bear | 17 | Mountains | |
Gnoll war party | Mountains | ||
Lone red dragon | 21 | Mountains | |
Black unicorn | |||
Dark hooded figure | 30 | Swamp, plains, mountains, forest | |
Horde of plague bearers | 16 | Swamp | |
Hunting party of hill giants | 18 | Hills | |
Lone corruptor | 33 | Forest | |
Lone stone giant | 17 | Mountains | |
Pack of cave lions | 18 | Mountains | |
Warband of stone giants |