=== Magic and Magic types ===

Most classes (except Warriors and Rogues) can cast magic spells of one form or
another.  Mages, mystics, priests, paladins, spellswords and rangers all cast 
book-based spells, while bards use musical instruments.  Note that Paladins and
spellswords can only gain spell abilities upon reaching levels 5, and rangers
need to wait until level 3.

All classes that can use magic have a selection of spells that they can use,
though the sources of these spells may differ.  Each spell costs a certain 
amount of mana to cast, which is taken out of your mana pool.  If you don't
have enough mana to cast a spell, you can still try casting - but better do
so only if you have no other choices because this is very risky, and liable to
cause you to fall unconcious, and cause permanent damage to your statistics. 

In addition to the mana cost, every spell has a chance of failure, which is
determined by your class, level, and statistics.  Mages, priests, bards and 
mystics may attain 0% failure on most spells, but Rangers, Paladins, and 
spellswords always have some chance of failure. Mages, Bards and Mystics must
not wear gloves, unless the gloves are of a magical that provides free action,
or a bonus to dexterity or mana, or they suffer a severe penalty to spell 
success rates. Also, every magic-using class suffers from wearing heavy armor,
though different classes can wear different amounts of armor safely.  Finally,
some magic items may hinder your spellcasting abilities.

Magic-users should note that many monsters in the dungeon are either resistant
or vulnerable to many elements. If a monster is especially vulnerable to, say,
fire, it will take 1.5 times the normal damage from fire bolts and other fire
based attacks (like fire brands).


=== Book-Based Magic ===

Each class has a list of books from which it can choose spells. You can tell 
whether your character can use a specific book according to its color in the
inventory - if it's gray, you can't use it. The same book always contains the
same spell list for every class, though some classes might need to be a higher
level than others to access certain spells, and spend more mana. 

You can cast a spell from a book by pressing the 'm' command, then picking 
the book and finally the spell. You must study spells before using them - 
if you see the study display at the lower right corner of the screen, you 
may study new spells by pressing 'G'. Priests and Paladins may not choose 
their own spells, but rather gain a random one out of the chosen book, while 
the other classes can pick which spell they wish to learn. 

Mages, mystics, and spellswords ocasionally have to make a further choice.  
In their books, some spells don't have a mana cost and fail rate, but rather 
have asteriks ("*") in these columns.  These spells offer a variety of 
power levels, and after choosing the spell you must choose what power you want
to cast in.  The more mana you spend, the more effective the spell, though 
there is usually an efficiency drop in the amount of effect you get per mana
point.  There are shortcuts which allow you to save some keypresses, and they
depend on the state of the "spellbook_menu" option.  If the option is off (as
it is by default), you get the menu if you type a lower-case letter for the 
spell: maaa, and the top level spell if you type a captial letter: maA.  If it
is on, you get the lowest level power if you type a lower-case letter for the 
spell: maa, the highest level power if you type a upper-case letter: maA, and a
menu only if you type a captial letter for the spellbook: mAaa.


=== Mushroom Magic ===

Shamans practice their own special form of magic, based on eating magical
mushrooms, and asking favours from their Mother Spirits.

Bad mushroom effects are either changed to a positive version of the effect or
targeted at monsters instead of you, depending on the mushroom. If you (I)nspect
a mushroom, you can read a description that hints at both negative and positive
effects.

Good effects are mostly not altered. The mushrooms that cure wounds are an
exception: they function at a higher power level. For example, Cure Light Wounds
becomes Cure Medium Wounds if eaten by a Shaman.
