IVAN Guide

IVAN pasta: AKA "OH GOD THAT DWARF JUST EXPLODED" (Updated to 5.x edition)

So, you wanna play something new and interesting and this IVAN game seems to strike your fancy, but you keep dying over and over?
Suffer no more, fellow adventurer! After reading this guide you'll learn all you need to not die (as often) while traversing the merciless world of Iter Vehemens ad Necem! That's latin for "Violent road to death", by the way, but something tells me you had a feeling about that one already.

I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but give enough game tips to keep your character alive and healthy, plus some things I've discovered throughout the years that will certainly help you in your journey.

First off, let's start with your attributes. You're going to care about the following:

Dexterity (for hitting things better and evading things) (You train it by hitting using small weapons and whips)
Agility (for walking away from enemies) (you train it by walking or running)
Leg Strength (To carry more stuff without being burdened) (you train it by walking or running while stressed [this has a negative effect on your agility and it's the least important skill of the three, but it's still nice to have])

All the other attributes either give nearly no benefits(Wis/Cha/Arm Strength) make the game harder for you (Endurance) or require tons of work to get going, making them a chore to train (Intelligence).

If you wish to know more about those or anything else, feel free to look at the wiki for more info.
https://attnam.com/wiki/Main_Page

Now, let's start with the dungeons.

The Underwater Caves:

>Pick up and wear all armor you can find, except for shields. Shields are useless in the game.
>Prioritize weapons like daggers, whips and short blades in general. They're the best when starting out and whips are great even in the endgame. Inaccurate weapons like axes and maces and spears might seem better because of their higher damage, but they're actually terrible.
>Don't eat kobold meat or mutant meat. Try to keep the fights with zombies short, they can carry leprosy if they bite you enough times.
>don't stay too much around UC3, the enemies that spawn there only get stronger over time.
>If you've got a wand of teleportation, remember you can use it to teleport away monsters. It's especially useful against immobile ones that block the way. *Hint Hint*.
>Don't go around burdened.

Once you cleared UC, good job! Give yourself a pat on the back, you managed to get over the first part of the game, where most people end up dying.
It's also the easiest.

Give the scroll to Petrus, in Attnam (just go straight into the cathedral), to reveal the location of the next dungeon. Or give it to the necromancer in the cellars under attnam, if you want to try something different! Watch out though, this makes the game significantly harder and it's not recommended for new players.
I recommend getting a source of fire resistance before entering the next dungeon. They're never guaranteed, but there's a high chance of getting a cloak of RF in attnam's shop.
There's a smith and a tailor to repair the broken items you've found in UC, if you have the cash to pay them.
Pass by the library, it's got some really great books. The Librarian also drops some hints here and there.

Before we delve into the next dungeon, let's talk about Gods.
All gods give you benefits, but some are more useful than others.
You should wait 3 (three) hours between each prayer, praying too early will annoy the god and add 24 hours to their counter.
You lower your reputation with a god when you pray to one of his opposite alignement, so don't expect to be able to pray to good gods after having worshipped the chaotic ones for a while.
Neutral gods are the most useful and a staple of the game. They get less pissed at you for praying to good or chaotic gods, so people usually juggle neutral&good or neutral&evil gods.

Useful gods:
Mellis gives you free food and healing potions every time you pray to him. Neutral.
Loricatus repairs your items and makes your metallic items of better quality. Neutral.
Sophos gives you a quick and easy tele. Good.
Atavus enchants your armor to +3. Good.
Cleptia gives you haste and invisibility. Chaotic.
Cruentus enchants your weapons and gives you heal potions. Chaotic.
Infuscor gives you ESP, polycontrol and telecontrol. Chaotic.
Neutral/evil is easier, considering most good gods don't give as many advantages as the evil ones. Feel free to experiment.

The Gloomy Caves:

>There's mines everywhere, the second highest killer in IVAN. It's extremely recommended to grab a source of levitation before entering this dungeon. Luckily there's one in the starting town! You just have to beat up a guy ten times your size. There's many ways to do it, but fighting him head-on is not the best idea considering he's a lot stronger than you. Luckily he's a glutton and he'll move out of his home if you leave a trail of bananas right outside his doorstep.
>>Ever seen a really fat guy fall on a banana peel?
>Dwarves are the real nightmare of IVAN players. Don't let them get close, shoot them from afar with all the wands you have. Don't ever let them get close to you.
>>Always carry your wands inside a small chest in case they do happen to get close to you.
>The Third main killer of IVAN is a singer seldom seen by mortal men. If you get this far, it's better to stay away and fire at it with wands of striking.
>>Ever seen someone break glasses with their voice? It'd be a real waste if they were full of something good.
>The Big room is a big mess. Run towards the downstairs immediately, don't tarry.
>Spellcasters are a terrible bunch. Fear them and kill them as quickly as you can.
>Better red than dead.

If you manage to get to the final boss fight:
You need to have 20+ agility for this.
Get hasted, start running, but don't blindly charge towards her, get a tile away from her then back away and "s"earch the arena until she's right next to you.Hit her once. Retreat. Hit and run. Hit and run. Keep doing it until she dies.
If she actually bites you, chances are you're going to be dead meat for one reason or another.

Have fun and post a lot of screenshots!