Draft:Boots

Omega 0.90.4

Boots are a separate equipment category with seven types, displayed as a brown {. Their powers cover combat, jumping, levitation and travel across LOCUS. They occupy the Boots slot and can be worn with body armor, a shield and a cloak. Boots do not have a general armor bonus: their particular effects determine what they add.

Types

All types initially weigh 30. Values are base Au values, not shop prices; generation level does not restrict who can wear the boots.

Boots	Value	Level	Noncursed effect	Cursed effect
Speed	1,000	4	Haste; clears existing slow	Clears haste and adds slow
Heroism	1,000	6	Heroism: combat bonuses and lower action delay	Clears heroism; fear unless immune
Levitation	500	3	Sustained levitation	Boot weight becomes 1,000
Agility	250	3	Adds absolute enchantment + 1 to current Agility	Subtracts the same amount
Jumping boots	200	2	+2 jump range and no ordinary landing tumble	Same jumping benefit; stuck when worn
Leather	7	0	No magical effect	No magical effect; stuck when worn
Seven league boots	2,700	7	No normal terrain time for successful world-map steps on foot	First such step scatters the wearer and consumes the boots

The individual pages give the limits of these powers. Neither seven league boots nor jumping boots require ordinary item activation: their checks occur during the relevant movement command.

Generation and identification

All seven types are repeatable ordinary items. They can appear in random loot, random monster possessions, pawn-shop stock and acquirement. Blessed acquirement lets you select a type, but the resulting boots still receive their own blessing roll. The seven-way type choice occurs before the caller's generation restrictions; equal constructor choices are not equal unconditional final-drop probabilities.

Ordinary new boots start at +0: 20% are cursed, 60% neutral and 20% blessed. Nonzero blessing magnitudes range uniformly from 1 to 10 within their branch. Enchantment improves the Agility change of agility boots; it does not increase the other six types' listed powers.

The game shuffles twenty appearances and assigns seven to these types at initialization. There is no fixed association between, for example, elven boots and agility, or roller skates and speed. Even ordinary leather boots are shuffled.

Possible appearance	Possible appearance
sturdy leather boots	heavy workboots
calf-length moccasins	polyurethane-soled sneakers
dark-colored tabi	clodhoppers
patent-leather shoes	wooden shoes
beaten-up gumshoes	ski boots
alligator-hide boots	hob-nailed boots
comfortable sandals	elven boots
roller skates	cowboy boots
purple suede gaiters	flipflop slippers
mirror-plated wingtips	riding boots

Identify uncertain pairs before wearing them. Equipping some types reveals their identity, but seven league boots can be worn uneventfully and become dangerous only when you start walking on the world map.

Wearing and changing boots

Use inventory control to put the pair in the Boots slot. A spare in the pack does not provide its movement benefit. Cursed boots in use cannot normally be removed; the blessing and dispelling rules explain how curse strength affects recovery.

Speed, heroism and levitation boots normally sustain their respective statuses while worn. Removal subtracts an equipment contribution from the shared status; it does not restore a snapshot of your previous buffs. In particular, levitation boots remove more floating duration than they add, and cursed speed or heroism boots erase the opposing beneficial status when equipped. Curing the item does not automatically restore an erased potion effect.

Enchantment or blessing can remove and reapply a worn effect. Ordinary magical boots can also lose their power through hostile enchantment; their old name alone does not prove that they still work.

Choosing a pair

Speed and heroism are distinct combat benefits. Their complete timing formula, including burden and mounting, is explained in Defense and protection.

Choice	Main gain	Important limit
Speed	Halves base action delay before burden; doubles available tactical maneuvers before the eight-maneuver cap	Does not halve the later burden penalty
Heroism	Adds current Dexterity to hit, Strength to damage and Agility to defense; halves delay after burden	Does not itself increase tactical maneuver count
Agility	Improves current Agility, carrying capacity and Agility-dependent checks	Defense and delay change at attribute thresholds, not by one point per plus
Levitation	Crosses many local ground hazards without triggering them	Mounted movement and deliberate location activation bypass that protection
Jumping boots	Longer controlled jumps without the ordinary random tumble	Still needs sight, an empty legal destination and an unburdened character
Seven league boots	Fast world travel on foot	Outdoor events still occur; local movement and world searching are not accelerated by the boots

Only one pair can occupy the slot. Carrying a travel pair and a combat pair lets you change roles, provided neither is stuck. A potion or other source of one status can supplement boots granting another; two sources of the same active status do not double its combat multiplier.