Can the thief class backstab if you get in a swing from behind an enemy in Dungeon Hack? The manual mentions nothing about it under the class description, and I haven't seen it happen yet with my fighter/mage/thief.

You know, I have never, ever played a thief in Dungeon Hack (and seriously estimate I've logged over 100 hours on this game.) I dunno if backstab is implemented.

If it is, though, it's still of very limited usefulness. With no adventuring party to convince enemies to turn their back on the thief, opportunities to come at a foe's back are few and far between.

I haven't gotten very far in this game yet (dungeon level 3), but I've had probably half a dozen chances to attack an enemy from behind.

It could be that I always forget about the armor restriction with backstab. Leather is the heaviest one can wear in order to backstab, isn't it? My character is wearing ring mail. I took it off and got a few tried to hit from behind, but no extra damage seemed to incur, and no text stating -backstab- like you'd see in the Gold Box games.

Yeah, it might be useful early on, but in a solo adventure you're pretty much limited to backstabbing once, if you happen to meet an enemy from behind. In a party adventure, like the traditional goldbox games, you can backstab half a dozen times an encounter if your friends are able to distract your foes from your existence.

Trying it with leather armor might be worth a try. Later in the game I remember there is at least one named artifact thief armor, so don't despair that you'll be stuck with 4 AC (-2 leather, -4 dex, right?) forever. Although the RNG is cruel...

Dungeon Hack really does not favor the Thief class. Unless you are intentionally looking for a challenge, I recommend playing a different class.

The breakdown is really as follows:

Fighter: Works decently well. The lack of magic is an issue, especially when it comes to enemies that need magical weapons to hit. However, the game favors physical attacks over magical attacks, and at higher levels, fighters rarely miss (especially with 18/00 or more Strength).

Paladin: Like Fighter, but gets Cleric spells at higher levels (which makes a huge difference).

Ranger: Like Fighter, but levels more slowly with no real benefit. Half-elves have a higher level cap for this cap then they do for Fighter, making Ranger/Cleric better than Fighter/Cleric in the long run (but not for shorter dungeons with easier monsters). Rangers don't even get spells!

Thief: The only real advantage here is the ability to pick locks, but the game always generates keys for this not to be necessary (though I hear there is a bug that may cause this not to happen past the 20th floor or so). Otherwise, they are not good at fighting and can't use magic, making them the worst choice.

Cleric: Best class. Without having to rely on the RNG, gets a nice weapon (Spiritual Hammer, which is eventually +3), can tell which items are magical, doesn't need to worry about food (Create Food, anyone?), can instant kill (at least one of the possible final bosses can be killed this way), can fully heal, and gets some nice support spells. Easily the best class; could probably beat most dungeons without any equipment (maybe I should try this, using no items except the starting holy symbol (magically created weapons allowed)).

Druid: Missing in this game.

Mage: Can identify items found in the dungeon. Depends on the RNG to get good spells. If you are lucky to get Vampiric Touch, that is probably the best spell in the game. If not, expect the game to be a lot harder. (I wish Mages got to choose spells at level up, like in the Dark Sun games or Temple of Elemental Evil.)

Bard: Like Mage, but limited to 6th level spells, but levels faster (making spells that scale with level a bit more useful) and is a bit better at fighting.

I so far agree with you both on the Thief issue. There doesn't seem to be a lot of value in that class in this game.

Is the entire dungeon set up at the beginning of the game or are certain parts, like the items that you find, randomized as you play so that you could reload a save game and get a different item?

If it's all set up in advance, does the dungeon seed include this information so that if someone else plays the same seed, they will get all of the same items on each level?

The monster spawning algorithm is pretty cheesy. On more than one occasion, I've had a creature spawn right in front of my face. You'd think they'd have even a simple check like "is spawn location within X squares of player? If so, choose new location."

I'm pretty sure same dungeon seed + same settings seed = same dungeon, including monsters (summoning notwithstanding) and treasure.

What if you play a different class? I noticed I only get items appropriate to my current class.

Good question, dtgreen.. I don't remember it being that way. I don't actually have FR collection here yet and haven't taken the time to get my original Dungeon Hack working on my current platform, so I can't confirm now but I seem to remember finding class-inappropriate gear. But my memory is the last thing I'd trust.

Come to think of it, I haven't yet encountered an item that my character can't use. Mind you, as a F/M/T, there isn't a whole lot that's off-limits.

As a pure cleric, have you encountered bladed weapons?

No, and I haven't encountered mage scrolls either. Have you encountered any clerical scrolls?

On the other hand, note that I am playing with minimal treasure (and am not allowing myself to use most of the things I do find).

By the way, note that multi-class clerics are able to use bladed weapons in this game. (In fact, I don't know of any SSI game that forbids multi-class clerics from using bladed weapons.)

No, I haven't encountered any clerical scrolls.

I was wondering about the fighter/cleric combo. If I recall, in the tabletop game, a cleric will lose their ability to cast divine spells if they use a bladed/piercing weapon.

Edit: I have come across scrolls I can't scribe into my book, but I'm not sure if they're cleric scrolls. Scroll of gas protection? Protection from dragon breath?

On my Ranger/Cleric run, there weren't any issues with using bladed weapons. Of course, I was actually using spiritual hammers most of the time.

Same with my Fighter/Cleric/Mage. However, arcane spells are not usable when wearing armor (though robes are OK).

I don't think any of the SSI games implemented the rule against multi-class clerics using bladed weapons. The Infinity Engine games, on the other hand, did implement that rule. (Of note, it is possible, with an editor, to create an item that is only usable by multi-class clerics and no one else.)