Searching
A secret door looks like the wall around it, and a hidden trap looks like the floor it lies on (see Traps). Until you find one, it is wall or floor to you. You cannot see through a secret door or walk through it, and neither can the creatures. You find hidden things by searching, or in passing if you are the kind who notices such things. Both work the same way for every hidden thing.
The thin wall of a greater treasure room is hidden the same way, and is as hard to find as a secret door. Once found, the wall here sounds hollow. It stays a stone wall until you dig or blast through it.
How to search
sor numpad5waits a turn (6 seconds) and searches the cells around you. Waiting and searching are the same thing: every turn you wait, you search. Resting does not search.Alt+s(orAltwith numpad5;Optionon a Mac) searches for a while: turn after turn, up to 10 turns, and it stops at once when you find something. Like a rest, it also stops when a hostile creature comes close in view or something happens worth a message.
Each turn of searching gives every hidden thing on the eight cells around you a fresh chance to be found. The chance depends on how hard the thing is to find, your Intelligence, and your Search skill (see Skills). For a hidden trap, whether on a floor, a door, or a chest, your Detect traps skill counts instead of Search. A master searcher also searches one cell farther out, as far as they can see.
A search that finds nothing tells you nothing. There may be nothing there, or you may have missed it. Every turn is a new try, and you may search as often as you like. It only costs time.
Noticing in passing
Some characters notice hidden things without looking for them. After every turn you take, whatever you did, each hidden thing on the eight cells around you has a chance to catch your eye. The chance is smaller than a search’s. It depends on your Willpower and your Spot skill, or your Detect traps skill for a hidden trap. Who notices things in passing:
- Elves and drow: everything.
- Dwarves and duergar: what is hidden in stone, such as a secret door in a stone wall or a trap in a stone floor. That is most of a dungeon, but not a door in a timber wall or a trap in the grass.
- Kobolds: hidden traps, anywhere, but never a secret door.
- Anyone trained in Spot: everything but traps. Some races and classes train it (below).
- Anyone trained in Detect traps: hidden traps. Thieves and kobolds start trained in it.
- Everyone else notices nothing in passing, but can always search.
| Race | Notices in passing | Finds hidden things |
|---|---|---|
| Drow | Everything | — |
| Duergar | What is hidden in stone | — |
| Dwarf | What is hidden in stone | — |
| Elf | Everything | more easily (+2) |
| Gnome | Only if their class trains Spot or Detect traps | — |
| Goblin | Only if their class trains Spot or Detect traps | — |
| Half-elf | Everything but traps (trained in Spot) | — |
| Half-orc | Only if their class trains Spot or Detect traps | — |
| Halfling | Only if their class trains Spot or Detect traps | — |
| Human | Only if their class trains Spot or Detect traps | — |
| Kobold | Hidden traps | more easily (+2) |
| Lizardfolk | Only if their class trains Spot or Detect traps | — |
| Ratfolk | Only if their class trains Spot or Detect traps | — |
Classes trained in Spot, who notice everything but traps in passing: Ranger, Thief.
Classes trained in Detect traps, who notice hidden traps in passing: Thief.
Noticing something stops a rest, as any message does.
What you find
- A secret door becomes the closed door it is: “You find a secret door!” From then on it is a door like any other.
- A hidden trap becomes known: “You notice a tripwire: an alarm trap.” It shows as
^in its own color from then on, and stepping onto it asks first (see Traps).
Either way you remember it at once, even in the dark.
How hard things are to find
Each hidden thing has its own difficulty. The table gives the chances for an average, untrained character with Intelligence and Willpower 10. It shows one turn of searching, ten turns (one search for a while), and one turn of noticing in passing. Better scores, a trained skill, and an elf’s eye all do better. For example, such a character finds a secret door of difficulty 14 on about 46% of their turns of searching, so ten turns all but always find it.
| Hidden thing | What gives it away | A turn of searching | Ten turns | A turn in passing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secret door | A seam in the wall | 45.8% | over 99% | 19.4% |
| Alarm trap | A tripwire | 61.8% | over 99% | 31.2% |
| Arrow trap | A pressure plate | 45.8% | over 99% | 19.4% |
| Fireball trap | Faint scorch marks | 25% | 94% | 6.9% |
| Frost trap | A rime of frost | 25% | 94% | 6.9% |
| Lightning trap | A blackened line on the floor | 25% | 94% | 6.9% |
| Pit | A thin crust over a hole | 54.2% | over 99% | 25% |
| Pitfall | A thin crust over a hole | 38.2% | 99% | 14.6% |
| Spear trap | A pressure plate | 38.2% | 99% | 14.6% |
| Stake trap | Sharpened stakes | 38.2% | 99% | 14.6% |
| Teleport trap | Faint runes | 19.4% | 88% | 4.2% |
| Tripwire | A tripwire | 38.2% | 99% | 14.6% |
Deeper in a dungeon, everything hidden is harder to find. Generated dungeons hide a door or two on each level of rooms. They only hide doors you can do without: you can always reach the stairs and the keys without finding any. Behind a secret door there may be a room nobody has entered in a long time.
| Level | Secret doors per level | A secret door: a turn of searching | Ten turns | A turn in passing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brocenburg 1 | 0 to 1 | 45.8% | over 99% | 19.4% |
| Brocenburg 2 | 0 to 1 | 38.2% | 99% | 14.6% |
| Brocenburg 3 | 0 to 1 | 31.2% | 98% | 10.4% |
| Brocenburg 4 | 0 to 1 | 25% | 94% | 6.9% |
| Bānfeld 1 | 1 to 2 | 45.8% | over 99% | 19.4% |
| Bānfeld 2 | 1 to 2 | 38.2% | 99% | 14.6% |
| Bānfeld 3 | 1 to 2 | 31.2% | 98% | 10.4% |
| Bānfeld 4 | 1 to 2 | 25% | 94% | 6.9% |
| Cealdhlāw 1 | 1 to 2 | 45.8% | over 99% | 19.4% |
| Cealdhlāw 2 | 1 to 2 | 38.2% | 99% | 14.6% |
| Cealdhlāw 3 | none (caves have no doors) | 31.2% | 98% | 10.4% |
| Cealdhlāw 4 | none (caves have no doors) | 25% | 94% | 6.9% |
| Cealdhlāw 5 | none (caves have no doors) | 19.4% | 88% | 4.2% |
| Cealdhlāw 6 | none (caves have no doors) | 14.6% | 79% | 2.1% |
| Dēopgang 1 | 1 to 3 | 45.8% | over 99% | 19.4% |
| Dēopgang 2 | 1 to 3 | 31.2% | 98% | 10.4% |
| Dēopgang 3 | 1 to 3 | 19.4% | 88% | 4.2% |
| Dēopgang 4 | 1 to 3 | 10.4% | 67% | 0.69% |
| Dēopgang 5 | none (caves have no doors) | 4.2% | 35% | 0.69% |
| Dēopgang 6 | none (caves have no doors) | 0.69% | 7% | 0.69% |
| Dēopgang 7 | none (caves have no doors) | 0.69% | 7% | 0.69% |
| Dēopgang 8 | none (caves have no doors) | 0.69% | 7% | 0.69% |
| Dēopgang 9 | none (caves have no doors) | 0.69% | 7% | 0.69% |
| Dēopgang 10 | none (caves have no doors) | 0.69% | 7% | 0.69% |
| Dēopgang 11 | none (caves have no doors) | 0.69% | 7% | 0.69% |
| Fennmynster 1 | 1 to 3 | 45.8% | over 99% | 19.4% |
| Fennmynster 2 | 1 to 3 | 38.2% | 99% | 14.6% |
| Fennmynster 3 | 1 to 3 | 31.2% | 98% | 10.4% |
| Fennmynster 4 | 1 to 3 | 25% | 94% | 6.9% |
| Fennmynster 5 | 1 to 3 | 19.4% | 88% | 4.2% |
| Fennmynster 6 | 1 to 3 | 14.6% | 79% | 2.1% |
| Fennmynster 7 | 1 to 3 | 10.4% | 67% | 0.69% |
| Fennmynster 8 | 1 to 3 | 6.9% | 51% | 0.69% |
| Fyrdelf 1 | 0 to 2 | 45.8% | over 99% | 19.4% |
| Fyrdelf 2 | 0 to 2 | 38.2% | 99% | 14.6% |
| Fyrdelf 3 | 0 to 2 | 31.2% | 98% | 10.4% |
| Fyrdelf 4 | 0 to 2 | 25% | 94% | 6.9% |
| Fyrdelf 5 | none (caves have no doors) | 19.4% | 88% | 4.2% |
| Fyrdelf 6 | none (caves have no doors) | 14.6% | 79% | 2.1% |
| Fyrdelf 7 | none (caves have no doors) | 10.4% | 67% | 0.69% |
| Fyrdelf 8 | none (caves have no doors) | 6.9% | 51% | 0.69% |
| Fyrdelf 9 | none (caves have no doors) | 4.2% | 35% | 0.69% |
| Fyrdelf 10 | none (caves have no doors) | 2.1% | 19% | 0.69% |
| Fyrdelf 11 | none (caves have no doors) | 0.69% | 7% | 0.69% |
| Fyrdelf 12 | none (caves have no doors) | 0.69% | 7% | 0.69% |
| Grundlēas 1 | 1 to 2 | 45.8% | over 99% | 19.4% |
| The Depths 1 | 1 to 2 | 45.8% | over 99% | 19.4% |
| The Depths 2 | 1 to 2 | 38.2% | 99% | 14.6% |
| The Depths 3 | none (caves have no doors) | 31.2% | 98% | 10.4% |
| The Depths 4 | none (caves have no doors) | 25% | 94% | 6.9% |
| The Depths 5 | none (caves have no doors) | 19.4% | 88% | 4.2% |
| The Depths 6 | 1 to 2 | 14.6% | 79% | 2.1% |
| The Depths 7 | 1 to 2 | 10.4% | 67% | 0.69% |
| The Depths 8 | 1 to 2 | 6.9% | 51% | 0.69% |
| Wulfeshol 1 | none (caves have no doors) | 45.8% | over 99% | 19.4% |
| Wulfeshol 2 | none (caves have no doors) | 38.2% | 99% | 14.6% |
| Wulfeshol 3 | none (caves have no doors) | 31.2% | 98% | 10.4% |
| Wulfeshol 4 | none (caves have no doors) | 25% | 94% | 6.9% |
| Wyrtholm 1 | none (caves have no doors) | 45.8% | over 99% | 19.4% |
| Wyrtholm 2 | none (caves have no doors) | 38.2% | 99% | 14.6% |
| Wyrtholm 3 | none (caves have no doors) | 31.2% | 98% | 10.4% |
| Wyrtholm 4 | none (caves have no doors) | 25% | 94% | 6.9% |
| Ūtgang 1 | 0 to 2 | 45.8% | over 99% | 19.4% |
| Ūtgang 2 | 0 to 2 | 38.2% | 99% | 14.6% |
| Ūtgang 3 | 0 to 2 | 31.2% | 98% | 10.4% |