Mutation

A mutation is a trait your character is created with. Your character randomly has two mutations: One physical mutation, and one mental mutation. They can be activated from the "U"se menu or by pressing 'p' (physical) or 'm' (mental).

Mutations are assigned randomly at character generation and cannot be chosen or changed during gameplay.

Physical Mutations

 * Acidic Saliva: This mutation can be used every 8 rounds. You can spit a caustic substance at a distance, although you hit more easily and do slightly more damage at close range. You do 4 dice damage, where the dice size is given by 3 + (your level - distance between you & target)/2
 * Blood Structure Change: Your Constitution is raised to somewhere between 19 and 20. You consequently have more hit points, and you take much-reduced damage from poison (half what a character without Blood Structure Change would take, even with the same Constitution). You also are less likely to suffer lingering stat losses from poison, and recover from sickness attacks (like the skunk) three times faster.
 * Electrical Generation: You can generate electrical currents on your skin which will damage any creature touching you during the round used (touching means the creature scores a successful hit on you with a contact-attack like a bite, but not no-touch attacks like radiation or mental attacks. The damage done to each creature is 2 dice of size (4 + your level). This is extremely useful against swarms like Killer Bees, Locusts.
 * Foul Musk: You can generate a cloud of stinking gas that causes creatures to flee from you. You will occasionally make creatures sick, causing them to barf (during which time they are mostly defenseless from attack). This is effective as a defense, particularly when you get surrounded by beasties.
 * Heightened Dexterity: Your Dexterity is raised to somewhere in the range of 19-23. Your Armor Class is much improved, and you can hit significantly easier with range weapons (even range tech weapons).
 * Heightened Endurance: You have more hit points than most characters, can carry more than twice the weight with the same encumbrance, you grow hungry less quickly, and can endure time underwater much longer.
 * Heightened Speed: You can temporarily double your speed, allowing you more attacks and enabling you to outrun many creatures if you're in a bind. A very useful mutation, especially if coupled with an attack-type mental mutation such as Life Leech or Cryogenics.
 * Heightened Strength: Your Strength is raised to somewhere in the range of 19-23. You consequently do more damage and hit more often with contact weapons. You can also carry more stuff, and have an easier time getting out of spider webs, breaking down doors, etc.
 * Heightened Vision: You can see more clearly and in a broader EM spectrum, giving you minor bonuses to hit with weapons, allowing you to see further in darkness, and allowing you to look over long ranges to see, for example, whether there are any goodies in nearby regions of the map. You can also see radiation zones and avoid them. With this mutation, one can usually skip the Munsters' Castle, since spotting the hidden castle of the Grinch is relatively straightforward.
 * Laser Generation: Every 10 rounds you can fire a laser beam. This beam can strike a single target at a fairly long range, hitting often and doing 3 dice damage, with dice size given by 5 + (your level)/3
 * Poison Claws: These do very irregular damage, occasionally only doing 1-4 points, but capable of doing up to 10-40 when you are at 10th level. Although their range is short, they have several advantages. If you miss, they are immediately available for use again. They occasionally make the creature hit nauseous (barf). It is also useful to have a readily-available non-kinetic attack form for those creatures which take only 1/3 damage from kinetic attacks (like Zapweed, Rot Fungus, Slugs).
 * Quills: Quills provide protection from creatures which must touch you to do damage, inflicting 1 die damage of size (3 + (your level/3)). You may also shoot them at a single creature for 3 dice damage of size (2 + (your level)/2, but you will then be unprotected until they regrow (in 8 rounds).
 * Radiation Generation: You can shoot a beam of radiation every 15 turns that is capable of causing damage to any creature in its path. The damage done is 2 dice of size (3 + (your level)/2).
 * Reflective Skin: Your Radiation Resistance is raised to somewhere in the range of 19-23. The damage you receive from laser attacks is halved, while you only receive 2/3 damage from heat attacks.
 * Sonic Attack: You are able to generate an ultrasonic blast that does heat damage to all creatures standing next to you. The damage done is 1 die of size (5 + (your level)*1.5)
 * Tentacles: You can entwine a creature (which makes it harder for them to hit you, and impossible for them to run away) and cause constriction damage to them every round. The damage done is 1 die of size (3 + (your level)/2), and you are able to do other things (like use your weapon or tech devices) while constricting. If you move, the tentacles release.
 * Tough Exoskeleton: Your Armor Class is always at least as good as if you were wearing Titanium Chainmail, and you sustain only 80 percent normal damage from kinetic attacks. You are slightly encumbered by this exoskeleton, but no more so than if you were wearing the equivalent armor.

Mental Mutations

 * Cryogenics: This attack mutation is particularly effective against powerful creatures. It does exponential damage, first 1 die, then 2 dice, then 4, 8, 16 etc on progressive "hits". The dice size is given by (5 + (your level)/2).
 * Force Field: While this mutation is being used, you sustain reduced damage (in general, about 2/3 normal) from all attacks. This can be tiring to use, and if you become too fatigued, it will turn itself off.
 * Heightened Willpower: Your Mental Resistance is raised to somewhere in the range of 19-23, and you are able to periodically raise all of your stats and your hit points for a brief period. Note that you will never die when your hit points are reduced back to normal.
 * Hypnosis: You can use this mutation to put creatures to sleep. This is usable fairly often, and can be a real asset when fighting several creatures at once, or when you want to flee.
 * Invisibility: You can make yourself invisible, making creatures wander at random and enabling you to get off "free" attacks. This is also useful when you need to retreat. In addition, since this mutation is the ability to bend light rays around you, you are less susceptible to blindness attacks (you typically recover in one third the time).
 * Life Leech: A powerful mutation, you are able to leech hit points from creatures standing next to you and add them to your own. The number of points damage done (and subsequently added to your total) is 2 dice where the dice size is given by (2 + (your level)/2).
 * Mental Blast: This mutation allows you to psionically blast a selected creature every 10 rounds up to 7 squares away. The damage done is 2 dice of size given by (your Mental Resistance + your level)/2.
 * Mental Healing: This mutation allows you to heal yourself rapidly. When used, you select how many rounds you will sit motionless (and prone to attack), during which time you will heal back 3 hit points per round. This mutation is best used after battles, so that you are always at full hit points when venturing into uncharted territory.
 * Military Genius: You recieve a +2 to hit and +4 damage with all weapons you use. This includes contact and thrown weapons, and tech weapons as well.
 * Molecular Disruption: You can disintegrate matter, destroying a creature or other object at which it is targeted. This is useful for going through walls, and will kill a creature if a random roll of dice size (25 + the creature's hit points/2) is less than a random roll of dice size (15 + your mental resistance + your level).
 * Psychokinesis: You can create a grenade-like explosion that does kinetic damage to all creatures in its blast radius. The damage done is 2 dice of size (2 + (your mental resistance)/6 + (your level)/3 ).
 * Scientific Genius: Your Intelligence is raised to somewhere in the range of 19-23, and you are able to build new tech devices from parts and energy salvaged from old devices. You are potentially able to build any device which you are familiar with (those listed when you press F3) and for which you have enough parts. Often, you must try several times in order to be able to build the device you would like.
 * Teleportation: You are able to transport yourself over either long distances (useful as a speedy mode of transportation and as a means of escape) or short distances (useful when you want to get to another part of a castle level or lair). Teleporting blind is dangerous, and if you end up inside a solid object, you may be killed. It is occasionally an effective attack to teleport into a creature if you are at full hit points, but not one generally recommended. Note that short range teleporting isn't 100% accurate, so if you try to teleport next to a castle wall, you may end up inside the wall, which tends to be unhealthy.