Malignus · Traps · Combat

Traps

A trap has two parts, wired together.

Trigger: notices something.

Mechanism: does something.

A minion on Traps duty builds both.

Triggers and mechanisms

Triggers: tripwires, pressure plates, sensors and levers.

Mechanisms: spinning blades, flame and gas sprayers, electric coils, dart throwers, and the blast, spider, web, terror and alarm traps.

Every item with Trap in its name is a mechanism and still needs a trigger.

Triggers need at least 3 tiles between them.

A trigger or a mechanism with nothing wired to it does nothing.

Wiring

With the Wiring tool, drag a wire from a trigger to a mechanism. When the trigger starts, the mechanism starts too. Each trigger can be wired to only one mechanism, and each mechanism can have only one trigger. Wires can also run through walls inside your domain.

A timer adds a delay, and you set its length on the timer. Wire the trigger to the timer, then the timer to the mechanism. A timer is neither a trigger nor a mechanism, so the trigger still has only one mechanism.

You can wire timers one after another, and their delays add up. A timer works in one direction only: from the trigger toward the mechanism. After each use, a minion must reset the timer, like the other parts of a trap.

Wires can cross. Drag straight across another wire, and your wire jumps over it. A small bump shows the jump, and the two wires stay separate. Where the other wire bends or ends, your wire joins it instead. To join a wire, start or end your drag on it. Joined wires work as one wire, so the rules above still apply.

Built in place

Triggers, mechanisms and locks are built in place, like any other structure. Minions bring the materials to the site, then a minion on Traps duty does the work. Each one needs metal.

Resetting

A trap has two parts: a trigger, like a pressure plate, and a mechanism, like spinning blades. After a trap is used, each part needs a reset before the trap works again. A timer on the trap's wire is a part too, so it also needs a reset. Levers are triggers too, but they never need a reset.

A minion on Traps duty does each reset, and each reset has its own dice roll. When the roll for any part is a botch, one of two things happens, each with a 50% chance.

In one, the trap is triggered at once and can hit that minion. The part still needs a reset.

In the other, the trap's trigger becomes rigged. A rigged trigger reacts to anyone, even your own minions. Only the minion who botched the reset is safe from it.

The trigger is normal again after it triggers the trap once, or after a minion resets it. A lever can't be rigged, so on a trap with a lever, a botch always triggers the trap.

Moving a trap doesn't reset it. A part that needs a reset still needs it after the move.

Traps need a reset every 2 days

A trap has two parts: a trigger, like a pressure plate, and a mechanism, like spinning blades. Both parts need a reset every 2 days, even if the trap was never used. A timer on the wire also needs this reset.

When the 2 days end for a part, it stops working, and a crossed-out dart icon shows on it. A minion on Traps duty then comes to reset it, and it works again. After each reset, the 2 days start again from zero.

Levers are triggers too, but they never need this reset. The mechanism wired to a lever still needs this reset.

More traps mean more resets, so you need more minions on Traps duty.

Your own minions

Your minions don't trigger your traps, unless a trigger is rigged. A botched reset can rig a trigger, as the Resetting section explains. A rigged trigger reacts to anyone, even your own minions.

A minion who becomes your enemy, like one on a rampage, triggers your traps like any other enemy.

Wild creatures trigger your traps, but a trigger wired to an alarm trap ignores them. A creature that lives in one of your lairs joins your dungeon and stops triggering your traps.

Doors and locks

Doors can make adventurers take another way. A locked door also stops them until they pick the lock or bash the door.

When adventurers see a closed door and another way around it, they take that way 50% of the time. With a Scout in the party, they take it only 25% of the time. If the door is the only way, they go through it.

If an adventurer with the Mapmaker trait escapes alive, their faction's next party never takes the way around.

Locking

Build a padlock on a door to lock it. A new padlock starts armed.

To make it a normal door again, select the padlock and press Disarm Lock. Arm Lock locks it again.

Your minions, your Boss and your dungeon's creatures unlock it and walk through. So do visiting traders.

Adventurers can't. They have to pick the lock or bash the door.

During an invasion, a minion unlocks a door to reach an enemy only if you ordered that attack. Your dungeon's creatures never unlock a door to reach an enemy. Your Boss always can.

Holding doors open

A door closes by itself after someone walks through it. To keep a door open, select it and press Hold Door Open on its selection panel.

Use the Wiring tool to connect a door to a trigger, such as a lever or a pressure plate. Start or end your drag on the door. A drag that only passes through the door doesn't connect to it. When the trigger turns on, the door opens and stays open. If you hold the door open, the trigger closes it instead.

A lever turns on when you switch it on, and it stays on until you switch it off. A pressure plate, tripwire or sensor turns on when someone steps on it, walks into it or comes near it. It stays on until a minion on Traps duty resets it.

When the trigger turns off, the door closes by itself again, and a door you hold open opens again.

If the door has a padlock, the trigger also locks and unlocks the padlock. When the trigger closes the door, the padlock locks. When the trigger opens the door, the padlock unlocks. When the trigger turns off, the door closes and locks again. A door you hold open opens and unlocks again. You can still lock or unlock the padlock yourself with Arm Lock and Disarm Lock. The trigger sets the padlock again each time it turns on or off.

A closed door isn't a locked door. Anyone can still open a door that a trigger closed, and it closes again behind them. Only a locked padlock stops adventurers. They have to pick the lock or bash the door.

To trap adventurers in a room, hold its door open and put a padlock on the door. Wire the door to a trigger inside the room. The trigger closes and locks the door behind them.

One trigger can be wired to one trap and to any number of doors.

Breaching

An adventurer at a locked door either picks the lock or bashes the door.

Pick: they roll Craft against the lock.

Bash: they roll Battle against the door. Bashing takes twice as long.

The party picks the lock 70% of the time and sends its best member for that method. The higher that adventurer's stat, the faster they work.

A party with a Locksmith always picks. Otherwise, a party with a Doorbreaker always bashes.

After 5 failed rolls, the party tries the other method. If that fails too, the party gives up on that door.

A breach leaves the door open and the padlock disarmed. A minion on Drudgery duty closes the door and arms the padlock again.

Locks never block the walking path

The game never lets you cut the last walking path from a portal at the map edge to your sanctum. Nothing you build or dig can cut it, and neither can a cave-in. A locked door counts as open for this rule.

So you can lock every door on a corridor. Adventurers still get in, because they pick or bash each door.

Trap knowledge

Adventurers don't know where your traps are. Each adventurer has their own knowledge of your traps, and what they know changes how they move.

Knowledge is per adventurer

Each adventurer remembers the triggers they know about. Knowledge spreads by distance, not by party.

When someone triggers a trap, every conscious adventurer within 10 tiles of the trigger learns about it, from any party. When an adventurer spots a trigger, every conscious adventurer within 10 tiles of them learns about it too.

A Rogue's Detect Traps works another way. It shows every trap within 7 tiles of the Rogue to their whole party.

Spotting

An adventurer can spot a trigger before stepping on it. The first adventurer in a party who can see it from up to 6 tiles away rolls to spot it.

A higher Hunt makes a spot more likely. A Shoddy trigger is easier to spot, and a trigger in the dark is harder to spot.

Each party rolls only once for each trigger. If that roll fails, the party never rolls for that trigger again.

The Cautious status

An adventurer walks around a trigger they know about when they can, and steps over a known tripwire. When a known pressure plate or sensor blocks the way, the party tries to disarm it.

A party becomes Cautious when one of its members triggers a trap, or walks into a corridor 1 tile wide. Seeing old blood or old scorch marks also makes it Cautious, once in each area.

While Cautious, every member moves 20% slower and gets +1 to spot, disarm and resist traps. If a member triggers a trap while the party is already Cautious, the bonus becomes +2. Cautious lasts until the party's next fight.

If a Cautious party spots a trap, it stops being Cautious. After that, corridors don't make it Cautious again. Only a triggered trap, or old marks in a new area, can.

A Cautious party is slow, and that helps you even if no other trap is triggered.

Learning from triggered traps

When someone triggers a trap, the adventurers nearby learn from it. That means everyone who triggered it, plus every adventurer within 10 tiles of the trigger who isn't knocked out. Each of them gets two bonuses.

Spot bonus: +1 to spot that kind of trigger. Tripwires, pressure plates and sensors are different kinds. A tripwire and a wide tripwire are the same kind.

Block bonus: +1 to Block against that kind of mechanism. A mechanism is the part of a trap that hurts, like spinning blades, a dart thrower or a flame sprayer.

The two bonuses grow separately. When they learn from the same kind of trigger a second time, the spot bonus becomes +2. The Block bonus grows the same way for each kind of mechanism. Neither bonus goes higher than +2.

Only a triggered trap gives these bonuses. A spotted trigger teaches only where it is.

A Cautious adventurer gets these bonuses and the Cautious bonus too. While they stand in gas from a gas sprayer, they lose the Cautious bonus but keep these two.

An adventurer keeps their bonuses until they die or leave the map. A prisoner keeps them too. A new party starts with none. To see an adventurer's bonuses, select them and open the Log tab of their panel.

So one kind of trigger, used again and again, gets easier to spot. Mix tripwires, pressure plates and sensors, and mix your mechanisms too.

Adventurers are coming

Most adventurers come to kill your Boss. Others come to steal your treasure, rescue your prisoners or smash one of your altars. When their goal is done, most parties also take what treasure they can carry, and then they leave.

The arrival letter and the Party tab of each adventurer show the party's goal. If that goal is gone before the party gets there, the party hunts your Boss instead.

Adventurers arrive as a party at a portal on the map edge and walk in. Most parties choose a portal with a walking path to your dungeon. Some choose one where they must cross water.

When they come

The first invasion comes on day 2, at a random hour.

After an invasion ends, each hour has a chance that the next one comes. That chance starts low and rises every hour, so the next invasion can come in the first hour. A time limit also starts when an invasion ends. When the limit runs out, the chance is 100%. The limit is 48 hours if the last invasion ended on day 2. It's 30 hours if it ended on day 7 or later. For the days between, it's a little shorter each day. So the next invasion always comes before the limit runs out, unless something stops all invasions.

At the top right of the screen, "Invasion" shows the chance as one word. From lowest to highest, the words are Quiet, Unlikely, Possible, Likely and Imminent. Quiet means a 0% chance. You see it on day 1, and when no invasion can come. Hover over the word to see the chance that an invasion comes this hour, as a percent.

Sometimes no invasion can come. This happens during a Rite of Storms, a rite you can learn in the Dark Arts. It also happens when adventurers can't reach your dungeon from the map edge.

While invasions are stopped, "Invasion" shows Quiet. The time limit still counts down. If it runs out while invasions are stopped, no invasion comes. Then a new limit of the same length starts right away, and the chance starts low again.

A settlement can send a war party against you, and a Hostile evil camp can send its warriors. Either one comes instead of the next invasion, and it doesn't wait for the hourly chance. It leaves for your dungeon at once. If another invasion hasn't ended yet, it leaves when that invasion ends. When the war party or the warriors are gone, a new time limit starts, as after any invasion.

Party size

First invasion: 1 peasant

Second invasion: 1 or 2 members, with a 50% chance of each

Every later invasion: at least 2 members

A drifter can ask to hide in your dungeon. If you let them join your dungeon, the adventurers who chase them count as one of these invasions. That invasion is never a mob of peasants, and it's never weaker or stronger than usual for that day.

A party's size and levels grow with the game day, not with the number of invasions. A party first grows to 5 members, and then its members gain levels. Level 3 members can come from day 10, level 4 from day 15 and level 5 from day 30. From about day 50, a party can be 5 adventurers at level 5.

Peasants count as members. Members of one party can have different levels, and early parties are mostly peasants.

Mob of peasants: from the 3rd invasion, about 1 in 8 invasions is a group of peasants with no adventurers. Early in the game, a mob has 2 or 3 peasants, and sometimes 4. It grows to about 12 peasants later on.

Weaker or stronger: from the 4th invasion, about 1 in 5 invasions is weaker than usual for that day. It has fewer members or lower levels. Another 1 in 5 is stronger, with more members or higher levels.

War parties: a settlement's war party or a Hostile evil camp's warriors come instead of the next invasion. They're as big and as strong as that invasion would be. A camp sends only warriors, one for each member of that invasion, and none of them is below level 1. A camp never sends a mob of peasants.

Treasure, rooms and raids don't change any of this.

Arrival

A party walks the Overworld to your dungeon from its home settlement. A party with no home comes in from the edge of the Overworld map. A scrying charge can show you the next party on its way. Your Boss gets scrying charges at your scrying pool.

At your dungeon, the party appears outside the map edge and walks in. The fog hides it at first.

Spotting the party is what brings the letter. You spot it when your Boss, a minion or one of your creatures sees one of its members. A ghostly eye from the Eye Scouts boon can spot the party too. You also spot it when you fight it, when it triggers an alarm trap, or when it enters your sanctum.

A guardpost's lit torch also shows you a party within 8 tiles of the post. The torch brings no letter, and the game doesn't pause.

When you spot the party, the game pauses and the letter "Adventurers spotted in your dungeon" arrives.

A screen with the same title then opens. It shows the party's goal, and every adventurer with their class, level and abilities. The game stays paused after you close it.

At the top right of the screen, "Invasion" now says Underway. Click it to jump to the party.

The Mindeater's Eye Scouts boon sends a ghostly eye to patrol your guardposts for 24 hours. The eye also sees in the dark.

Defending

Traps, doors and locks slow a party down. Your minions and lair beasts do the fighting. Adventurers pick or bash open locked doors, so a locked corridor gives you time, not safety.

Afterwards

When your Boss is dead or out of reach, the surviving adventurers spread out to grab your treasure. They take what they can carry and leave. A party that came to rescue prisoners leaves once it has freed them.

You can capture knocked-out adventurers and keep them as prisoners. You can scrap dead adventurers at a scrapper's table, or leave them where they are. A pyre never burns an adventurer.

Combat

A fight is a series of opposed rolls. The Stats and rolls page explains the dice. This page explains everything else.

Awareness

Minions, adventurers and creatures notice an enemy when nothing blocks their view of it.

Range: 3 tiles, plus 2 tiles for each point of their Hunt stat.

Darkness doesn't shorten this range.

A minion, adventurer or creature that is hit knows where the attacker is, even out of sight.

When any minion, adventurer or creature dies, or an enemy fails to break down a door, it makes a noise. Your minions and creatures within 7 tiles of that noise learn where every enemy within those 7 tiles is.

Facing and reach

Melee: the attacker must stand next to the target, and turns to face it.

Ranged: the attacker needs a clear line to shoot along. That's stricter than seeing the target, so a wall corner you can see past still stops the shot.

Anyone standing in the way doesn't block the shot, but the shot can hit them instead.

The stance slider

Each minion has a combat stance on their Behavior tab, from Flee to Aggressive. The stance decides whether the minion fights enemies they know about, keeps their distance, regroups with allies or runs. The stance never rolls dice, so in the same situation it always makes the same choice.

Crowding

In a fight, each tile holds only one body. A melee attacker needs a free tile next to the target. Extra attackers wait for one of those tiles to become free instead of sharing a tile.

Kobolds are an exception. Two kobolds can fight from the same tile.

Knocked out

A wound can leave someone unable to fight. Then they're either knocked out or killed. The knockout chance below is the chance that they're knocked out and live. It depends on the level of that wound: Minor, Major or Extreme.

Someone is unable to fight when all their wounds add up to 10 wound points. A Minor wound counts as 1 point, a Major as 2 and an Extreme as 4. A Major or Extreme head wound can also leave someone unable to fight. The chance is in the Head wounds paragraph below.

Knockout chance: 75% on a Minor wound, 50% on a Major, 25% on an Extreme.

Blunt weapon, like a hammer, or fists: 100% on a Minor, 75% on a Major, 50% on an Extreme.

Body armor adds to the knockout chance. Leather or cloth adds 10%, chain mail 20% and plate mail 30%. For example, chain mail turns 50% into 70%.

Creatures and the Boss are always killed. The troll is the one creature that is knocked out instead, unless it's starving.

Head wounds: a Major or Extreme head wound has a 25% chance to leave someone unable to fight. Their wound points don't matter for this. With a blunt weapon or fists, it's 50%. A helmet lowers this chance by the number shown on the helmet. The Boss never gets this head wound chance.

After a head wound like this, the knockout chance is 100% on a Major and 50% on an Extreme. This is the same for every weapon. But if the head wound also brings their wound points to 10 or more, the normal knockout chances above apply.

Someone who is knocked out can be carried, healed, captured or killed.

If they aren't bleeding, they wake up on their own in 4 game hours or less. A minion who isn't bleeding wakes up in 1 game hour or less if they're carried to their own bed.