Editing Archeologist

{{MakeshiftSitenotice}}{{Wikipedia|Archaeology}}

'''Archeologists''' are one of the [[Role difficulty|harder roles]], but can become powerful in the late game. They are often called '''Arc'''s for short.  According to the [[guidebook]]:

 Archeologists understand dungeons pretty well; this
 enables them to move quickly and sneak up on the local nasties.
 They start equipped with the tools for a proper scientific expedition.

Archeologists can be [[Alignment|lawful]] ([[human (starting race)|human]] or [[dwarf]]) or [[Alignment|neutral]] (human or [[gnome (starting race)|gnome]]).

==Starting equipment==

*+2 [[bullwhip]],
*+0 [[leather jacket]],
*+0 [[fedora]],
*3 to 6 uncursed [[food ration]]s,
*+0 [[pick-axe]],
*uncursed [[tinning kit]] (30 to 99 charges),
*uncursed [[touchstone]],
*uncursed [[sack]].
*Following chances of ONE of:,
**10%    uncursed [[tin opener]],
**22.5%  uncursed [[oil lamp]],
**6.75% uncursed [[magic marker]] (30 to 99 charges).

==Abilities==

Archeologists gain the following abilities upon reaching the specified [[experience level]]:

*XL 1&nbsp;: [[Stealth]]
*XL 1&nbsp;: [[Speed]]
*XL 10: [[Searching]]

Additionally:

*You can use [[two-weapon combat]].
*You can use uncursed [[touchstone]]s as blessed.

==Stats==

{{main|Hit points|energy}}

You start with a base 11 HP, with a racial bonus: +2 for humans, +4 for dwarves, +1 for gnomes. 

You start with a base power of 1, with a racial bonus: +2 for gnomes, +1 for humans.

==Quest==

{{main|Archeologist quest}}

The archeologist quest artifact is [[The Orb of Detection]], a [[crystal ball]]. When carried, it confers [[magic resistance]], [[telepathy]] and half damage when attacked by spells. When #[[invoke]]d, it toggles [[invisibility]] on/off.

==Gods==

{{main|Religion}}

*Lawful:  Quetzalcoatl
*Neutral: Camaxtli
*Chaotic: Huhetotl

==Rank titles==

The [[status line]] shows you to be one of the following ranks when you reach the specified experience level:

*XL 1-2: Digger
*XL 3-5: Field Worker
*XL 6-9: Investigator
*XL 10-13: Exhumer
*XL 14-17: Excavator
*XL 18-21: Spelunker
*XL 22-25: Speleologist
*XL 26-29: Collector
*XL 30: Curator

==Origin==

The archeologist's attire is heavily influenced by the [[Wikipedia:Indiana Jones|Indiana Jones]] movies - you start with a leather jacket, fedora and bullwhip.

==Strategy==

Early Archeologists are neither berserkers nor powerful spellcasters, but can - and must - become proficient tool-users. The early game must be played cautiously, akin to the [[Tourist]] and [[Healer]]. 

Your starting touchstone will instantly identify a gem even when uncursed, which can make the first few floors of the [[mines]] very profitable. Between the ability to identify gems and the ability to use your [[pick-axe]] to dig up [[vault]]s, you can accumulate a lot of wealth in just the first few floors of the dungeon and mines. You can aim to purchase [[protection]] as soon as you reach [[minetown]], even without having to play a dangerous [[protection racket]] strategy. Archeologists should always go through the mines after XL 4 or so, before continuing on to Sokoban. They are well equipped to do so from the very beginning, and can even brave the mines as very low level if they have a well trained pet. [[Luck]] is very important early in the game, so save at least one cheap gem to throw to a co-aligned [[unicorn]]. Throwing an identified precious gem gives a very large boost to luck, so you might consider doing it even before you find a [[luckstone]].

Archeologists should try to have [[poison resistance]] before even thinking of doing the quest because the quest is full of poisonous snakes.

===Weapon selection and skills===

<div class="thumb tright">{{Archeologist skill table}}</div>

The best early [[weapons]] are the [[pick-axe]] and your starting whip (purely for the +2 bonus; whips are ordinarily quite poor). The whip can be applied towards a monster, which will disarm the monster if your [[Attribute#Dexterity|dexterity]] is 6 or higher. This can be a lifesaver when fighting some monsters, given your poor starting AC. [[Dwarvish mattock]]s are two handed pick-axes that do more damage than any other non-artifact weapon.

A good [[artifact]] weapon for you is [[Grayswandir]], which does double-damage and [[silver damage]]. A normal [[silver saber]] is an excellent weapon - the [[watch captain]] in [[Minetown]] often carries one, so consider getting a pet to kill him for it. If you disarm him with your whip, that will help your pet, and will anger him but not anger other guards.

Archaeologists have several decent options for melee weapons available in the early game, but the lack of a good ranged weapon will really hurt in the beginning. [[Boomerangs]] can be advanced to expert, but your chances of finding one without [[polypiling]] aren't very good. [[Slings]] can be advanced to skilled, but they are weak and rocks are very heavy. [[Darts]] and [[daggers]] are your other two plentiful options in the early game, both of which can be advanced to basic. Of these, daggers are probably the better option because you will never lose them. However if you find a large stack of darts with +2 or better [[enchantment]], you might consider using those instead.

So you will definitely want to give a skill slot to daggers (or possibly darts). Advancing pick-axe to expert is probably also a good idea, as a [[dwarvish mattock]] may be your primary weapon until you get an [[artifact]]. That artifact will hopefully be [[Grayswandir]], so advance saber if you find one. That uses 12 [[skill slot]]s so far, which you will have available at [[experience level|XL]] 13 - before you do the quest.

Later on you may want expert (or skilled if you can get away with decent spell failure rates) divination for casting [[magic mapping]] (which is the Archeologist's special spell) and [[identify]], and basic in two weapon combat for supplementing your artifact sword with a [[silver saber]]. That uses 19 skill slots, for which you must be XL 20.

[[Boomerangs]] are a very powerful ranged weapon. They are probably the most powerful ranged weapon available to Archaeologists in the game. Unfortunately they are also very rare. If you find one or two early on, it's probably worth advancing your skill to basic. Very late in the game (XL 20 or over) you might consider [[polypiling]] for them. A stack of +7 boomerangs can do a lot of damage if advanced to expert level. However, it's probably not worth advancing your skill in boomerangs past basic if you only have 1 or 2 of them--thus this is only a viable strategy late in the game.

===Actions Specific to an Archeologist===

The following actions abuse your [[alignment record]]:

* digging up graves, if you are lawful. You get the additional "You feel like a despicable grave robber." message in all cases, but you don't abuse your alignment if you're neutral, for example.
* breaking historically significant statues, like the ones on the [[Oracle]] level.

===Ascension kit===

{{main|Ascension kit}}

You should not rely on [[The Orb of Detection]] as a source of magic resistance; the [[Wizard of Yendor]] and other [[covetous]] monsters can easily steal it. Assuming you do not wish for another quest artifact, that essentially requires you to wear either [[gray dragon scale mail]] or a [[cloak of magic resistance]].

== Encyclopedia entry ==

{{encyclopedia|
Archeology is the search for fact, not truth. [...]
So forget any ideas you've got about lost cities, exotic travel,
and digging up the world. We do not follow maps to buried
treasure, and X never, ever, marks the spot.
|[ Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ]
}}

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[[Category:Roles]]