Though from a sense of mystery perspective, you might want to not do this! Last warning...some of the fun goes when you find out what is/isn't actually implemented! Anyway, eben if you look, there is still lots open debate - there have been quite a few versions of DM through the years, and not everything has been found out yet.
Luck:
This is a hidden attribute, but is like Strength or Dexterity. It affects the chances of spells working, and characters inflicting/taking damage in combat. Each character starts with a score, and the range is amazingly varied. It is also adversely affected by bad outcomes, and positively affected by good outcomes.
The rabbit's foot: If a character possesses this, it adds 10 to their luck score. Any other rumours about this are highly dubious.
Cursed armour/weapons: Each piece of cursed equipment worn/carried deducts 3 from a character's luck score. There might have been an additional plan for it, but it is most likely never coded.
Skill divisions:
The four skills (fighter, ninja, priest and wizard) were infact sub-divided internally into four seperate catagories. Experience in a sub catagory is included in the main skill experience. Certain artefacts that don't have obvious properties are actually increasing one of these sub-category levels, similar to the obvious effect of the pendant feral or firestaff on the base level. These artefacts are the Moonstone, Gem of Ages and Ekhart Cross. The easiest way to see this effct is to find the potion casting limit of a mid-levels priest character. Then, wear the Gem of Ages, and see the increase in casting ability...at least a power rune ahead! Yet there will be no visible traces in the stats.
Additionally there are up to three flags that can be added (through hex editing) to clothes and weapons. Anything in these sub-headings can be cursed by adding 1 to the 4th byte, and will have the same effect as described above. Adding 2 to the 4th byte makes weapons 'poisoned', while adding 20/40 makes clothes/weapons 'broken'. These last two do not seem to have any actual effects, and it is possible they were never coded for. It is additionally possible this last 'broken' one could be tied into the ruster's missing ability.
Dragon spit:
This adds mana when carried. There was a rumour from the old Un-official board (claimed from an interview) that this was going to absorb fireballs, but that this was never coded in the end.
The Hellion:
People have supposed that this necklace would attract Chaos, or had to have some purpose being at the end of the game. But none has ever conclusively been found!
Armour of Lyte/Darc:
There were rumours and supposition from people that maybe the Armour of Lyte attracted attacks and Darc repelled them, but it is most likely that the Armour of Lyte, like Mithril mail to chain mail, is simply a lighter, slightly stronger alternative to plate armour, while the Armour of Darc might simply have the strongest armour value of all, but with the weight penalty to compensate. In CSB, the Armour of RA/Dragon Armour seem to be a direct correlation to the DM armours.
Orange gem:
This had no use or value in the DM dungeon. In the CSB one, certain monster generators could be activated if the party stood on certain tiles carrying it. This was a background dungeon mechanic, not an inherent ability.
Shields:
No one has ever found these that useful, and most people will carry them in an off-hand just for the look. It's probably that they add some small addition to armour levels when carried in either hand, and just as probably that its 'block' option could also increase this armour for a brief time, or just reduce monmster damage slightly. Nothing measureable or useful enough to give up those hand slots for has ever been discovered though!
Other attack options:
So, parry/stun/calm/brandish/confuse - what use are they? Calm and brandish are fear effects, that can turn monsters. Confuse seems to act like this too on some monsters, making them wander off. Funnily, calm can affect Lord Chaos himself and make him retreat! Different monsters react with different degrees of success. Parry most likely will, when used, temporarily increase defense or reduce monster damage...but like the shield 'block' option, nothing measureable or useful enough to make it seem worth while has ever been found! Stun too, could be likely to reduce a monsters success in attacking. As none of these effects are absolute options, where a creatrue could be stopped, or where all damage would be negated, then these effects are hard to decern, and probably not worth the effort to use!
There are some items available by hacking the DM file (with DMute) or also by playing other games (such as CSB, or DM SNES):
Stick: As it sounds, just a plain stick that looks like a tree branch, counts as a weapon which you can swing with.
The Conduit: A powerful staff, it carried 15 charges, and adds 12-15 mana when carried (dependant on some factor, maybe wisdom?). As well as swing, the two spell options were Lightning and Window (which produced the magic window). This weapon was available in the Kid's dungeon on the Apple II GS, and also there is a direct correlation in CSB, which is to the Serpent Staff.
Power towers: These are leg plate mail that also add 10 to the wearer's strength. They were a (necessary) part of CSB, and available in DM SNES, but are also available in DM for PC/Atari and Amiga though hacking.
Dexhelm: Full armour helmet that also adds 10 to the wearer's Dexterity. Only available through hacking in DM, but was available in a secret area of CSB, and in DM SNES.
Cape: This is a plain item of clothing, exactly like the Cloak of Midnight otherwise, which can be worn around the neck or on the body.
Lockpicks: Just an ordinary item like a magnifier or mirror (no actions or abilities associated to it). The Atari DM/CSB included it, and had some locks able to be activated by it aswell as a key.
Other potions and bombs: There were a few other potions and bombs available, except none of them work! Many potions don't even have proper 'in hand' graphics, and all have a (?) beside their name. There are two additional potions, ZO and SAR, that cannot be created or consumed, and look like VEN bombs when placed in the dungeon. They can still activate things like other items if you edit dungeons with an editor suck as DMute.
Shield of SAR/Neta and Crystal shield:
Available in CSB, there were no correlating suits of armour. They replaced the large shield and buckler of DM, and should be just the corresponding items.
Magic Map:
This was available in the Amiga version of CSB. It showed a 7x7 view of the surrounding dungeon, and there were additional spells coded to use with it that would let you see creatures/secrets or magic with it. It apparently replaced an obsure scroll in the Atari version.
Gibberish scroll:
In the Atari version of CSB, there was a scroll with the words "Grynix jernum quey ki skebow redni u os dey wefna enocarn aquantana" on it. No one has said what it is, worked out what this means, or what this is for. It is probable that this is a red herring, just to add a nice touch of mystery!
Mostly stats, not complete.
Armour sets:
Fire: The helm and shield add 10 Anti-fire each, the plate adds a fighter
level, the female plate is also only 4.7kg as opposed to the male 10.8, the
poleyn adds 15 strength (equates to an additional 4kg carrying capacity after
the 8kg for poleyn) and the greaves add only 4 anti-fire.
RaSar: The helm adds 15 dexterity, the plate adds 20 Mana, the poleyn
and greaves appear normal, and the shield has an invisibility spell (oh ew sar).
Tech: The helm adds 15 wisdom, the tech plate adds 30 to anti-magic,
the poleyn and greaves appear normal, and the shield adds 10 anti-magic, and
has the all important teleport option, and also a low level reflector spell
(uselessly short, but gives you the spell for casting yourtself at better levels).
Misc: All other armours and shields are probably normal, there is an
extra scale mail and semi-plate set in between mail and plate, and a great helm
(no visible bonuses, seems to go with the semi-plate). The Sar shield is as
the CSB version except it has an additional parry option, the crystal shield
has an additional spellshield (ya ir dain) spell.
Necklaces:
Suzeran: Adds 10 mana
Clan amulet: Nothing visible.
Mezmer: adds 5 dexterity.
Rune charm: No visible effects
Staves:
Spiral staff: adds 15 mana, and has aura of dexterity (oh ew ros).
Numen staff: adds 40 mana, and can be recharged in the vexirk cauldron.
Staff of neta: adds 25 mana
Rainbow wand: adds 10 mana, has aura of wisdom (oh ew dain).
Rogue staff: adds 13 mana, has confuse option.
Emerald ord: adds 30 mana.
Serpent staff: adds 10 mana, and has spellshield too.
Combat staff: adds 20 mana, and has melee option
Bainbloom: adds 6 mana like a staff, has poison cloud spell.
Weapons:
Excymitr: adds 10 mana, has melee option and double attack.
Blue steel: has sever option.
Tech mace: May need very high (above = master) fighter levels for ultimate option.
Kudan guantlet: adds 20 mana, has push/pull spells (oh kath ku/ros).
ZO blade: this does NOT harm non-material beings. Maybe good against armoured?
Meteor metal: has a high level fighter option?
Vorax: has berserk option
The Dragon:
Yes, it is killable...it's got alot of health, but it is very killable. And yes, it does indeed drop alot of nutricious dragon steaks on death. Ah, for the days when I thought it was immortal and chased it around with the Horn of Fear and the Staff of Claws.
The thing that you can't do is use an 'official' cheat to kill it, or its CSB friends. It went: 'pause the game, cast MON GOR SAR, then type "Lord Librasulus smites thee down" '. It was an April's Fool joke, it doesn't work, but lots of other magazine's since then have repeated it as fact!
Water elementals:
Water Elementals in 'The Cistern' level of CSB would, if they moved over a water drain, appear to fall down it! This was a game mechanic trick in that area though, NOT an inherent property of elementals/drains.
Golems and Knights:
Yes, these creatuires are virtually immune to magic. They have such a high magic immunity that even the most powerful spells cause only a handful of health of damage (an Archmaster casting MON spells would probably only do 5 health damage from a fireball, and around 20 from a Lightning Bolt). In these cases a good fighter or ninja attack (like berserk or cleave) will vanquish them much faster.
Other creature immunities:
The undead (skeletons and mummies) are immune to poison, though not posion darts. Conversely, Trolins and Rock monsters are very susceptible to it. While non-corporeal creatures are immune to spells, if you can cause explosions to occur on the squares they are on, they will take damage, if only a small fraction of the original (3% was a figure presented by someone testing the phenomenon).
Generators:
Ever walk away from an area, or enter a certain area, and find creatures kept appearing, even though the room was clear and had nothing in it before? Yep, there are monster generators in DM (more than you would think). They are invisible floor objects, and have to be triggered, by pressing wall objects or by standing on floor pads. So you weren't imagining this phenomenon.
Hidden characters in CSB:
See the posting in the main faq for questions about Lor, Kazai, or even the mysterious Halk Gonzo Barbarian.
'Put the gem back':
There is a pressure pad behind the iron grate here that will open the grate if the green gem is places on it (not while inside the chest though). So what you have to do is pull the lever to drop the chest, then restore the floor by pulling it back. Now go and collect the chest and recover the gem. To 'put the gem back' you need to find the stairs up that lead to a short corridor ending in a pit. Throw the gem down the pit, and the gem is returned, and the grate opens! Of course, every DM player (well, me at least! : ) ) didn't ever try this, and simply jumped down the pit, and used the green gem button to open the grate from the other side. Ah well : ) The mystery is finally solved!
Confuse/invisibility spell:
The spell OH EW SAR is an invisibility spell. When cast, for the short period of time of it's use, the party are invisible (party icons darken too), but it does not fool creatures if they are right beside thje party. Creatures otherwise can drift away not seeing them. There has been mention of a 'confusion' spell in certain books, but it is most likely this one.
Random disk access:
There is a memory by one fairly reliable poster that random disk accessing during the game was built into DM, just to keep players alert and on their toes. Since the surrounding levels seem to be kept in memory during play, then there would be no reason for the disk to acess otherwise!
That's all I can remember. Click here to return to the faq.