Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord/Walkthrough

Process
In order to beat the game, you must defeat the evil wizard Werdna in combat, and retrieve the amulet he stole. Werdna resides on the tenth floor, the lowest level of the dungeon maze. Aside from gaining enough experience to reach class levels that actually permit you to survive the trip to the tenth floor and subsequently the final battle that takes place there, there is very little else that you actually have to do. There are, however, a few items that you should collect, relatively early on, in order to access deeper levels of the dungeon more easily.
 * You must locate and obtain the Bronze and Silver keys on the first floor. These open locked doors that are found on the second floor.  (In the NES version, there is an additional Gold key that you must collect on the second floor in order to open a door on the first floor.)
 * There are two statues located on the second floor. However, only one statue is required in order to access a door found on the fourth floor.  The other is not needed.
 * You must engage in a particular fight and succeed in order to access the path that leads to the Blue Ribbon. This item will authorize you to use the second elevator that leads to much deeper levels of the dungeon without the need to go from staircase to staircase.

The castle
When you begin the game, you start inside the castle, with no party formed. From here, you can visit the following places, each of which are described below:
 * Gilgamesh's Tavern
 * Adventurer's Inn
 * Temple of Cant
 * Boltac's Trading Post
 * Edge of Town

Gilgamesh's Tavern
All of the options available here pertain to examining your characters, and constructing your party. The following options are available to you here:
 * ADD: Allows you to select characters from your available roster to include in your party, which may not contain more than six members. As soon as you choose one member who is Good or Evil, characters belonging to the opposing alignment will no longer be available for selection, as they will not cooperate together.
 * #INSPECT: On a computer, you must press the number of the character you would like to inspect. Choosing this option lets you examine your character in detail, viewing all of his or her stats and equipment.
 * REMOVE: By choosing this option, you can select one member of your party to leave, freeing up a spot on your team for someone else.
 * DIVY GOLD: If you have traded gold among some of your party members, this option will pool all of the gold in your party, and then evenly distribute that amount among all of the characters.
 * LEAVE: Exit the tavern and return to the Castle.

When constructing a party, it is generally recommended that you include at least two fighter-type classes (Fighter, Samurai, Lord), one thief for disarming traps on treasure chests, and two to three spell casters with at least one Mage and one Priest.

Adventurer's Inn
If your character is low on health or magic, or on the verge of reaching the next level for their class, they should spend a night at the Inn. Once you enter the Inn, each character is dealt with individually. You choose which character will stay the night, and in what kind of room.

Choosing what kind of room to stay in is important. Rooms that are more expensive allow characters to heal faster. The longer it takes for you to recover from your wounds, the more a character will age. Age doesn't impact your character too much until they go beyond 50 years of age, at which point they are less inclined to adventure and think more about retirement.

Staying at an Inn is not the only way to restore health, but it is the only way to restore magic. Fortunately, only one night's stay is enough to restore all of the spell casting ability of even the most powerful spell caster. (Most players take advantage of this fact, and prefer to allow only spell casters to sleep in Stables for one night. This enables Priests to cast healing spells on damaged party members and spare them the process of aging at the Inn.)

The following table illustrates your room selection choices:

Note that if one character does not have enough money to afford a particular room, but the entire party does, you can elect to POOL GOLD from the party and give it to one character. If you choose any room other than the Stables, you will remain in that room until either the character is fully healed, or you run out of money. While you stay, your health and the cost will be displayed. You can end the process early if you wish (on computers, press the Space Bar).

Leveling Up
If you stay at the Inn after having accumulated enough experience points to attain the next level, you will be informed of the achievement. At that time, several things will take place: You may only increase one level per stay. If you feel your character is due to increase by more than one level, you should continue to stay at the Inn until no more levels are gained. When a character is not due for a level increase, staying at the Inn will inform you of how many more experience points are needed to reach the next level.
 * Some or all of your stats may change. Generally, they will increase, but it's possible for them to decrease as well.  Stat changes are chosen entirely at random and have nothing to do with your character's performance.  It is only through these stat changes that some of the more difficult-to-reach elite classes become available to you.
 * Your health will increase. It will increase by at least one hit point, but if your vitality is high, and you belong to a class with good hit point potential (like a Fighter or Priest), it will generally increase by more than one point.
 * Spell casters may learn new spells. The likelihood of this is also somewhat random, although the chances to learn certain spells increase with each level.  Two characters of the same class will not necessarily learn the same spells at the same rate.

Temple of Cant
If a member of your party dies, or is stricken with a status ailment such as paralysis, they must be taken to the Temple of Cant to be restored. Characters who you attempt to aid in this fashion must be a member of your party in order to help them.

After selecting which character you would like to heal, you will be shown how much gold you must pay as a tithe in order to receive the services. For paralysis, the base fee is 100 gold, for death 200 gold, and to restore a character from ashes 500 gold. The base fee is then multiplied by the intended recipient's level. You then select which character should attempt to pay the tithe. If that character does not have enough gold, all of the party members will pool their gold together for the fee. If you do not have enough money, you will be kicked out.

Successfully removing paralysis is almost entirely assured. However, resurrecting dead characters, or those characters who have been reduced to ashes, has a lower chance of success. If the priests fail to resurrect a dead character, he or she will be reduced to ashes. If the priests fail to revive a character who has been reduced to ash, they will be gone permanently

Vitality and age have a great deal to do with the chances for success with resurrection. The higher the vitality, and the lower the age, the better the chances are that the character will be successfully restored. Those who are brought back from the dead will only have one point of health remaining and will need to heal. Those who are reassembled from ashes (for a much steeper tithe) will have their hit points fully restored.

Boltac's Trading Post
The trading post is more than just a run-of-the-mill shop. Besides buying and selling good, you can do a number of things concerning your inventory when you visit, including identifying unidentified treasure, and uncursing character who have equipped cursed items.

Boltac can only serve one character at a time, so you must select which character will approach the counter. From there, that character may BUY an item for their inventory, SELL an item from their invetory, IDENTIFY unknown items in their inventory, UNCURSE any cursed items that they may have equipped, or LEAVE the shop. Some versions also allow other party members to POOL GOLD together and give it to the active character.


 * Buying equipment:If you would like to buy an item, you will be shown a list of available items which you must advance FORWARD or BACKWARD through until you find a list that contains an item or items that you're interested in. While most items are in plentiful supply at the trading post, no item is unlimited.  Some items do not appear unless they were discovered in the maze and sold to the post prior to your visit.


 * Once you find an item, you must request to PURCHASE it and then press the number next to the item in question. If you have enough money, the cost of the item will be deducted from your gold.  If you attempt to buy an item that is unavailable to your class, Boltac will first ensure that you actually want to buy it.  It is important to note that while you may have bought new equipment, that equipment will remain ineffective until you actually equip it at a camp.


 * Selling equipment:If you would like to sell an item, you will be shown which items you have in your possession that are available for sale. Press the number next to the item you would like to sell.  Boltac will pay you exactly 50% of what he sells each item for in the shop.  He will not buy items which have cursed you unless they are uncursed, and he will not buy unidentified items until you pay him to identify them.  If you try selling an item that you have equipped, Boltac will once again make sure you really want to do that.


 * Uncursing characters:Boltac is also skilled in removing curses. If one of your characters finds a cursed item and unwittingly equips it, the item will be stuck to him with the character unable to remove it or swap it for another.  When you ask Boltac to uncurse an item, you must choose the number of the item in question, just like when you attempt to sell one.  Provided you have enough money to afford the service, Boltac will break the curse on the item.


 * Identifying items:It is quite common for you to come across items in the maze which are at first unidentifiable. It is a good idea for you to attempt to identify them before using them, lest they be cursed.  Boltac can identify such items for you, for a price.  Of course, there is one class who possesses the same ability to identify objects as Boltac, the Bishop/Wizard.  However, if you have your Bishop/Wizard attempt to identify the item, he may inadvertently curse him or herself when touching the item in order to get a better idea of what it is.


 * Pooling gold:Later versions of the game provide a handy means of pooling all of the party's gold to one character. This saves you some time, and enables you to purchase more expensive items than one character might be able to on his or her own.  Early versions of this game lack this feature, and so you must enter a camp, and individually hand over each character's gold to a target character.  If you do this, it is wiser to let that character shop for all the other characters, and dole the purchased items back out in camp, rather than constantly shuffling money around to each character.

Edge of Town
The Edge of Town is your gateway to areas beyond the castle. These include the TRAINING GROUNDS and the MAZE. You may also return to the CASTLE, use the UTILITIES, or simple LEAVE GAME. All of the features of the castle are explained above, and all of the features of the maze are explained in the next section below.

The LEAVE GAME option is important. It will ensure that the progress that you've made throughout the game is saved and can be restored when you return to play again. If you quit before doing this, there is every chance that your progress will be lost.

The UTILITIES are a small collection of options that you may use. One is to CHANGE NAME if you would like to rename your character. If you choose this, you must enter the old name of a character and you will be given the opportunity to rename him. Another option is to RESTART AN OUT PARTY. If you happened to quit your game while you were in the maze, and couldn't properly leave the game from the Edge of Town, you can enter the name of a character who is "OUT" and the game will restore your progress in the spot where that party last stood. And last, but not least, you may LEAVE the Utilities page.

Training Grounds
The TRAINING GROUNDS are most important of all. This is where you create your characters. Once you enter the Training Grounds, you are given four options, CREATE A CHARACTER, INSPECT A CHARACTER, ROSTER OF CHARACTERS, and LEAVE.


 * Creating a character:As described in the section of the guide, this is where you go through the process of creating a character.  Enter a name, and optionally a password.  Then choose the character's Race and Alignment by pressing the letter next to your choice.  You will then be presented with your race's base stats and a random number of bonus points which you must entirely distribute such that at least one character class is available to you.  When you done this, you can press the ESC key and choose from the list of available classes.  Finally, you must decide if you wish to keep the character, or throw it away.


 * Roster of characters:With this option, you can examine all of the characters that you have made, and see various pieces of information concerning their availability. You will be shown whether a character is alive or dead, and whether a character is waiting in the castle, available to be assigned to a party, or whether they are out somewhere in the maze.


 * Inspecting a character:This option not only allows you to examine a specific character's details, but also perform some amount of maintenance on them. After you choose which character you would like to examine, you can INSPECT them, DELETE them, CHANGE CLASS, or ALTER PASSWORD.  Inspecting the character shows you all of that characters stats, level, money, equipment, health, etc.  Choosing to delete a character will permanently erase that character, and you will first be asked if you are sure you wish to perform the deletion.  Altering the password is self-explanatory; you must enter a character's original password, followed by the new password you would like to set.


 * Of all the options available when inspecting a character, changing a characters class is the most interesting. Changing a class allows your character to begin in a new profession with several bonuses and penalties.  For one thing, training in a new class takes time, and will cause your character to age (and only that character).  Your character's stats will also be reduced to the minimum base stats of your race.  Your experience points drop to zero and you begin anew at level 1.  You will keep your equipment, but changing classes causes all of your items to become unequipped (in case of potential conflicts).  You will remember how to cast of the magic you have learned thus far, and you will be given at least one spell point per spell level per spell known.  In fact, if you have learned at least one spell in a given spell level, you will eventually learn all of the spells in that spell level, even if your new class does not learn spells.

The Maze
While the Castle and the Edge of Town allow you to maintain your characters and the party that they are in, the Maze is where the majority of the game actually takes place. It is in the Maze where you will explore, engage in combat with monsters, and obtain experience and treasure that permit your characters to grow in power.

You must have an assembled party of players ready to go before you can enter the Maze. This is explained above in Gilgamesh's Tavern. Once your party has been created and you choose the enter the Maze, you will begin in a camp.

Camping
Camping is something is always done just before you enter the maze, and can be done at virtually any time you are not engaged in combat. While camping, you have several options, including inspecting your characters (press the number of the associated character), REORDER the party, EQUIP your party, and LEAVE the camp to explore the maze.


 * Inspecting character:Inspecting a character in a camp is a lot like inspecting a character in the Training Grounds; you can see all the vital information about the character. However, in a camp, you have several more options.  You may READ your spell books to learn which spells are available to you during the expedition, and cast a SPELL by typing out the name of the spell you would like to cast (or selecting it from a menu).  You may USE an item, EQUIP different items, or even DROP one from your inventory.  You can also TRADE items, as well as gold, between characters in your party.  One exclusive option for Bishops/Wizards is the ability to IDENTIFY unidentified objects.  It's not guaranteed to work, especially if your Bishop/Wizard is low in experience, and there's a chance they may curse themselves if the item is in fact cursed.


 * Reodering a party:Your party is composed of six slots. While exploring the dungeon, the first three slots occupy the front row, while the last three slots occupy the back row.  This means that only character in the first row can attack with or be attacked by physical means.  Characters in the back row cannot swing weapons at enemies, nor can they get hurt by slashes and bites.  However, characters in the back row can cast spells, as well as be affected by spells and other special attacks that have range beyond the first row.


 * As a result, you should always place your best and most protected warriors in the front, and keep weaker spell casters in the back. When reordering a party, you must enter the current number of the character you want to fill each position.  If a character dies, they are automatically placed in the back of the formation.  This means that if a character in the front row dies, one character in the back row will be forced to take his or her place in the front row.


 * Equiping the party:While it's possible to individually equip each character by inspecting them, there are times when it can be useful to run through the equipping of the entire party. This is especially true after creating a party of new character who have just made their first visit to Boltac's Trading Post.  Purchasing items is not enough to make them effective; they must be equipped before you go into battle, or they will have no effect.

Exploration
Once you leave the safety of a camp, you will be in the Maze, and be vulnerable to anything that the maze has to throw at you. The screen displays many different pieces of information while you explore the Maze, including the rendering of a three dimensional view of the maze in front of you, as well as a list of some options available to you. As explained above, you may enter a camp at any time when you are not engaged in combat by pressing C. You may also press the O key at any time to toggle the display some windows on or off in order to make the screen easier to read.


 * Inspecting an area: You may inspect your current location by pressing I. Inspecting lets you look around for any characters who may be dead, or simply lost, and were left at that location.  They do not appear on the display, so you must inspect an area in order to find them.  In order to find lost characters, you must be close enough to them that you could walk to them without opening a door.  Once you find them, you may add them to your party, but you must have enough room for them before you are filled to the maximum capacity of six characters.


 * Updating your status:While exploring the Maze, you may wish to have your status updated. You can do this by pressing S.  This will update the screen with the latest information (and make it visible to your if you pressed O).  The game does not do this automatically in many early versions of the game, so if you've been poisoned, you must refresh the display of your status in order to see how many hit points a poisoned character has remaining after taking a number of steps.


 * Changing message speed:As the game reports information to you, there is a typical amount of time that the game waits before presenting the next piece of information to you. You can speed up or slow down this time delay by pressing T.  You can then enter number between the specified range to change the rate at which messages appear.  If the game is running too slowly for you, reduce the number.  If the game is presenting the messages faster than you can read, increase the number.


 * Quitting the game: If you are in a hurry to end your game and you can't make it back to the Edge of Town in time, you can press the Q key to quit the game. This causes the game to save your progress.  However, when you return to the game, all members of your party will be marked as "OUT".  You must then enter the Utilities page and RESTART AN OUT PARTY in order to pick up where you left off.  While most things are remembered, the status of certain spells which are supposed to last the duration of your expidition will be forgotten.


 * Tracking your progress:Movement through the maze is described in the controls section of . With each step forward that you take, a new event or scene may play out, although a majority of the spaces in the game are uneventful.  While you explore the Maze, it is highly recommended that you track your progress for yourself on a sheet of paper or graph paper.  Due to some traps in the maze like teleport locations, it can be incredibly easy to lose your place in the maze and become eternally lost.  When you enter the maze, you arrive in the southwest corner of the first floor, facing north.  Note that each floor is exactly 20 x 20 units in size, and a magical field surrounds the maze so that if you are permitted to travel off one edge of a map, you will arrive on the opposite side.  For example, if you travel south off the bottom of the map, you will arrive on the north side of the same column.


 * Mapping Aids:Experienced explorers rely on certain tools to assist them in their travels through uncharted regions of the maze. The priest prayers of light MILWA and LOMILWA permit your party to see deeper into the dungeon than you can without the aid of added light.  They also make secret doors more detectable.  Secret doors are doors which do not always appear in front of you when you look right at them (although they may appear in your view every now and then.)  Teleport traps may completely disorient you and make tracking your progress much more difficult.  Mages can lend a hand by casting the DUMAPIC spell.  Doing so causes the mage to know the exact coordinates of the party with the maze, in the format of number of squares east and number of squares north from the southwest corner of the maze, and number of floors down from the Castle.  In addition, you are provided with the current direction your party is facing.

Combat
Whenever you explore a section of the Maze, there is always the possibility that you will stumble upon monsters. Some of these encounters are random, some of them are prearranged and always take place in the same location, and some locations simply have a higher than average likelihood of having an encounter. Some monsters are friendly, and you are given the option to leave them in peace or attack them anyway. In some cases, you may surprise the monsters and be given a free chance to attack before they can gather themselves and defend themselves. In other cases, it may be you who gets surprised, and must suffer through one round of combat without the option to counterattack.

Once combat begins, you are shown a graphical view of a monster, as well as a list of monsters that you are fighting against. You will not always be able to immediately identify the monsters at first. Sometimes you must successfully kill one before you know what you're really up against. A higher I.Q. allows you to properly identify monsters quicker, and the spell of LATUMAPIC will also help you discern which types of monsters you are facing.

Combat proceeds in rounds. At the start of each round, you are given an opportunity to provide instructions to each of your active (not paralyzed, sleeping, or dead) party members. After all members have been given an instruction, you may press Enter to authorize your party to fight, or press B to take the instructions back and start them all over. Combat proceeds until all of one side is either defeated or runs away. The following is a list of the available instructions:
 * FIGHT: This option is only available to party member who occupy the first three positions and therefore are in the front row. This is a physical attack where you swing your weapon at one enemy in a group in an attempt to wound or kill them.  This is the default selection of a party member in the first row (press Enter).
 * PARRY: By choosing Parry, you are emphasizing defense over offense. Parrying reduces the chance that a monster can hit you.  This is the default selection of a party member in the second row (press Enter).
 * DISPEL: A unique option for Priests/Clerics, as well as high level Bishops and Lords, they can appeal to their deity for the power to turn away unholy creatures who have risen from the dead to attack the living. The degree of success depends on the level of the character performing the action, as well as the strength of the monster.  Note that monster who are dispelled don't provide the party with experience points.
 * SPELL: Upon choosing this option, you are asked which spell you want to cast. If you are playing a computer version, you must type the name of the spell you wish to cast, or at least enough letters of the spell to distinguish it from any other spell you may be casting.  You will then be asked who the spell should target if more information is required.
 * USE: You can choose to use an item in the middle of battle, like a potion of healing, or a magical scroll. You can even use certain weapons or armors in battle to determine if they have special properties that produce magic effects.
 * RUN: A good option to choose if you feel the odds are not in your favor, running away isn't always guaranteed to work. If you succeed, you will escape combat and find yourself in some other portion of the Maze.  If you don't, the monsters will attack you for one more round before you can try again.

If you succeed in defeating monsters, the surviving members of your party are awarded with experience points. Note that obtaining enough experience points to reach the next level does not automatically advance a character to that level; they must escape the Maze and spend a night at the Inn to advance. Your party may also find a stash of gold which is evenly distributed among each survivor, or they may find a treasure chest. Chests must be carefully examined before being opened.

Treasure Chests
It's generally true, although not always the case, that a chest is booby trapped to keep unwanted handed out of them. When you find a chest, you can choose from a few options. If the chest is opened, the gold in the chest is distributed evenly among surviving members of the party. Items, however, are provided to one particular person in the party at random. However, they can be redistributed to others in a camp.
 * OPEN: Choose this option if you feel that the chest is safe to open. You must choose a player to open the chest.  If the chest is trapped and has not been disarmed, the player opening the chest will suffer the consequences of the trap.  Other players around him or her may also suffer.
 * INSPECT: You can take a look at the chest in an attempt to identify any traps. There is a small chance that you might set off the trap while you inspect it.  Although anyone can inspect a chest, Thieves are the only people who can inspect with any degree of accuracy.
 * CALFO: If you want a more assured way of checking a chest for traps, and if you have a character capable of casting CALFO, you can use this spell which has a 95% chance of accuracy.
 * DISARM: You can attempt to disarm a trap if you think you know what a chest is trapped with. You must enter the name of the trap that you are attempting to disarm.  If you choose wrong, you will likely spring the trap.  Even if you choose right, there is a chance you will fail, and a smaller chance that you will spring the trap, but you may try as many times as you like.  If you succeed, you will automatically open the chest.  Once again, only Thieves have any real chance of successfully disarming a trap.
 * LEAVE: Leave the chest behind, forfeiting whatever contents it contained.