40d:Strange mood

v50.13 · v0.47 · v0.34 · v0.31 · v0.28.181.40d · v0.23 This article is about an older version of DF. More Info · V

xTATTEREDx  · +FINE+  · *SUPERIOR*  · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡  · ☼MASTERWORK☼

This article or section contains minor spoilers. You may want to avoid reading it.

Periodically, individual dwarves are struck with an idea for a legendary artifact and enter a strange mood. Dwarves which enter a strange mood will stop whatever they are doing and pursue the construction of this artifact to the exclusion of all else. This will be based on a particular skill that creates a finished end product that can have a quality, rather than intermediary material such as bars of metal or raw food. They will not stop to eat, drink, sleep, or even run away from dangerous creatures. If they do not manage to begin construction of the artifact within a handful of months, they will go insane and die soon afterward.

A dwarf will only be struck by a mood once in their lifetime. Upon completion of their artifact they will usually become legendary in that skill, and will then return to their normal life in the fortress with their newfound skill. A fortress can have at most one dwarf in a strange mood at any one time.

Overview

The entire process can be summarized as follows:

1. Strange moods can only occur when the below necessary conditions are met. Babies and activated Soldiers with military skills cannot enter moods, nor immigrant nobles, but any other dwarf can, including children.
2. The game will pause, center on a dwarf, and announce that the dwarf has entered one of five different types of strange moods. The types of moods are listed below. While in a mood, a dwarf will display a blinking exclamation point (see status icons).
3. For the duration of the mood, the dwarf will claim a workshop related to the skill that the mood affects (not all skills are eligible), kick out any dwarf who was using it, and render it otherwise unusable until the mood has been resolved. If a moody dwarf does not claim a workshop, it is because the appropriate workshop does not exist. (See skills and workshops below to determine which workshop(s) might be required.) A moody dwarf will not be available to build a needed workshop; another dwarf with the appropriate labor designation must do so for them, if one is necessary.
4. After claiming a workshop, the dwarf will set about collecting the required materials for their artifact. If the dwarf remains idle inside the workshop, it's because they cannot find the right material. Reference the demands section to determine what may be required.
5. Once all materials have been gathered, the game will once again pause and center, and the moody dwarf will begin construction. Upon completion the dwarf will create a semi-random artifact related to the skill affected and gain legendary (or higher) status in that skill (unless the mood type is possessed). See the skills and workshops for information on which skills can be gained, or the artifacts created section for more details on the artifacts themselves.

Types of moods

For each of the following types of moods, the first message is how the mood is announced; the second message appears in the dwarf's profile when he or she is viewed with the v key. All moody dwarves will have "Strange Mood" listed as their active task and are "quite content", regardless of any recent thoughts they may have had.

Fey

• <dwarf> is taken by a fey mood!

Has the aspect of one fey!

This is the most basic strange mood. Fey dwarves will clearly state their demands when the workshop they are in is examined.

Secretive

• <dwarf> withdraws from society...

Peculiarly secretive...

Secretive moods are the same as fey moods, except a secretive dwarf will sketch pictures of their required materials instead of clearly stating their demands if they cannot find what they need. Descriptions of all these secretive requirements can be seen only by viewing the workshop that the moody dwarf has claimed, with q, and then only while the dwarf is waiting inside it. More than one "picture" is likely; these will cycle through the entire list automatically if any one is not available. (Since materials are gathered in order, it's quite possible that only one of a long list is needed to allow the moody dwarf to continue on their project. If the dwarf has gathered some of the materials (seen as "tasked" when looking at the workshop with t), then the next in the list is what they are looking for.)

Possessed

• <dwarf> has been possessed!

Possessed by unknown forces!

Possessed dwarves have cryptic material requests, and have the unfortunate distinction of not receiving any experience upon successful construction of an artifact. It is unknown if controllable circumstances lead to a possessed mood instead of one of the more desirable fey or secretive moods. Possessed dwarves will mutter the name of the artifact they are working on once they have all the materials they need.

A possession is the only mood that does not result in a jump in experience.

Fell

• <dwarf> looses a roaring laughter, fell and terrible!

Has a horrible fell look!

A dwarf that goes into a fell mood will always take over a butcher's shop or a tanner's shop. If neither are available, any other workshop will be used instead. The dwarf will then murder the nearest dwarf, drag the corpse into the shop and make some sort of object out of dwarf leather or bone. Once the artifact is completed, the fell dwarf will become a legendary bone carver or leatherworker. Strangely, none of the other dwarves seem to mind the murder. Only unhappy dwarves may enter a fell mood.

Aside from the potential loss of an important dwarf in the wrong place at the wrong time, there doesn't seem to be any downside to a fell mood. The end result is always an artifact and a legendary craftsdwarf. Since the only ingredient used (a dwarf) is available in abundance, a fell mood will only fail if the fell dwarf is completely isolated from other dwarves, or if the proper workshop does not exist.

Macabre

• <dwarf> begins to stalk and brood...

Brooding darkly...

Macabre moods are similar to fell moods, but the dwarf will not murder a fellow dwarf. A macabre dwarf may require bones, skulls, and chunks/remains; if you do not happen to have any, you will have to "make" some, or let the moody dwarf go insane. Like fell moods, only unhappy dwarves can enter macabre moods.

Demands

Once a workshop is claimed, the dwarf will begin collecting materials. Each artifact will require between one and ten materials to complete - 1-3 "primary" components and up to 7 additional items based on your fortress's population (up to 1 per 20 dwarves eligible to enter a mood) and previous moods (up to 1 per artifact successfully produced). If the moody dwarf remains idle, then the necessary materials are not available. Forbidden items must be reclaimed (d - b - c) before they may be used, but moody dwarves will ignore settings regarding economic stone. Press q and highlight the workshop to receive a series of clues about what the dwarf needs. Hints that stay active for longer than 2 seconds mean that multiple pieces of that material will be required; each single demand will be displayed for 2 seconds, so if it says "gems... shining" for 6 seconds, 3 gems are demanded. Materials will always be fetched in order, so if at least one item has already been retrieved (the items will show up with "TSK" ("task") next to them when the workshop is viewed with the t context menu), it will usually be possible to tell what item is required next.

You can use this to your advantage to get your dwarf to pick specific types of items, even if the moody dwarf has already started storing materials in their workshop: if a fey weaponsmith starts piling up copper bars, forbid those bars and he'll go pick another bar instead. If you forbid all metals except say steel (the stocks screen makes this fairly convenient), then he'll skip all those other metals and make his artifact weapon out of strong, valuable steel instead of whatever random inferior metal he might have picked otherwise. Don't forbid any of his materials after your dwarf has begun building his artifact - he won't go back to collecting materials once started and will end up going insane.

Note though that if a dwarf has a demand for a specific item, such as a bar of metal, raw gem, or shell, then that item type will be required. For this reason, it is usually a good idea to keep an example of each item type on hand, particularly cut and raw gems, shells, bones, leather, raw (green) glass, both silk and plant cloth.

In somewhat rarer cases, a dwarf with a personality preference for a specific material, such as steel or silver bars, will demand exactly that specific sub-type of material. For this reason, it is a good idea to keep as many types of material on hand as possible, including the three different kinds of glass. Forbidding materials won't let you get around this either: if they want a specific material subtype and you forbid it in favor of something else, they'll just sulk in their workshop until you unforbid the material or they are able to find it some other way - or they go insane. Asking a liaison for likely materials in advance is a good plan - "next year" is far too long for a moody dwarf to last. Check your dwarves' preferences if you care.

Once you have struck Adamantine, all moods which use cloth or metal as a primary component will insist on using Adamantine cloth or wafers over all other materials; moody dwarves which happen to want metal for decorations will still choose bars based on distance or preference. Moods involving stone crafting or masonry will not prefer raw adamantine over other stones.

The various demands are translated here:

Material	Fey	Secretive	Possessed
	<dwarf> screams "I must have <demand>!"	<dwarf> sketches pictures of <demand>.	<dwarf> mutters "<artifact> needs <demand>..."
Stone	rock	a quarry	stone... rock
Stone block	rock blocks	square blocks	blocks... bricks
Wood	wood logs	a forest	tree... life
Metal bar	metal bars	shining bars of metal	bars... metal
Gems (cut)	cut gems	cut gems	gems... shining
Gems (raw)	rough gems	rough gems	rough... color
Glass (green)	raw green glass	glass	raw... green
Glass (clear)	raw clear glass	glass and burning wood	raw... clear
Glass (crystal)	raw crystal glass	rough gems and glass	raw... crystal
Bone	bones	skeletons	bones... yes
Shell	shells	a shell	a shell...
Leather	tanned hides	stacked leather	leather... skin
Cloth (plant)	plant fiber cloth	stacked cloth	cloth... thread
Cloth (silk)	silk cloth	stacked cloth	cloth... thread

Dwarves in macabre moods will list their demands in the same fashion as those in fey moods (though with them brooding "Yes. I need <item>." instead of screaming "I must have <item>!"). They may also say "Leave me. I need... things... certain things", in which case they want either a skull or some vermin remains.

Once all materials have been gathered, viewing the workshop with q will display a special message depending on the type of mood:

• Fey - "<dwarf> works furiously!"
• Secretive - "<dwarf> works secretly..."
• Possessed - "<dwarf> keeps muttering <artifact>..."
• Macabre - "<dwarf> works, darkly brooding..."
• Fell - "<dwarf> works with menacing fury!"

The mechanics of moods

Frequency

When a fortress is started, an internal counter is set to 1000. Every 100 frames (12 times per day), this counter is decremented by 1, running down to zero in about 3 months. When the counter would ordinarily be decremented when it has already reached zero, there is a 1 in 500 chance that a strange mood will strike. This means that, once all conditions are met and the clock is ticking, while there is approximately a 2.4% chance of a strange mood per day, or very approximately a 50% chance of a strange mood per month, there is no guarantee when a mood will strike - might be sooner, might be (almost) never.

Conditions

In order for a dwarf to be struck with a strange mood, three conditions must be met:

• There is no currently active strange mood,
• The maximum number of artifacts is not met,
• There are at least 20 eligible dwarves (see below).

If all three of these conditions are true, the game may trigger a strange mood according to the frequency.

Maximum number of artifacts

The maximum number of artifacts in any one fortress is limited by the lower of:

• The number of items created divided by 100.¹ Mined-out rock does count as an "item created", though it is not clear whether bolts or units of drink are counted individually.
• The number of revealed subterranean tiles divided by 2304 (this is an area equivalent to a 48x48 square). Using exploratory methods is a great way to increase your artifact limit.

¹ - actually the sum of all items by type and by type+subtype+material+matgloss, divided by 200.

Eligibility

The deciding factor for eligibility is a dwarf's actual profession. (Note that "custom professions" have no effect on this!) Thus, dwarves may enter strange moods regardless of what skills they have or don't have, so long as they are of an acceptable profession. Dwarves who have already created an artifact are not eligible to create another, and since every mood ends in either an artifact or death, every dwarf may enter at most one mood. Dwarves who have obtained one or more legendary skills without creating artifacts may enter strange moods.

Appointed nobles may enter moods as per their default profession, but immigrant nobles are not eligible for moods. That includes:

Advisor, Baron/ess, Baron/ess Consort, Count/ess, Countess Consort, Duke/Duchess, Duke/Duchess Consort, Dungeon Master, Hammerer, King/Queen, King/Queen Consort, Philosopher, and Tax Collector.

Further, dwarves with a military profession other than "Recruit" can not enter moods. Incidental military skills make no difference - eligibility (and weighting) depends purely on the actual profession, as listed at the time. Military professions include:

Axedwarf, Axe Lord, Champion, Crossbowdwarf, Elite Crossbowdwarf, Hammerdwarf, Hammer Lord, Macedwarf, Mace Lord, Marksdwarf, Elite Marksdwarf, Speardwarf, Spearmaster, Swordsdwarf, Swordmaster, Wrestler, and Elite Wrestler.

Babies may not enter moods.

Any other profession is eligible to enter a mood, but not all have the same chance to enter a mood...

(Note - Specifically, and to avoid previous misunderstandings, Strand extractor, Clerk, Administrator, Trader, Architect, Alchemist, Recruit and Child are moodable professions.)

Chance

When determining who will have a strange mood, each eligible dwarf is put into a weighted lottery. The odds are assigned a higher or lower weight based on the dwarf's profession. The default weight is 6, but some professions are more likely to enter a strange mood than others. (This is like most dwarves getting 6 tickets to the lottery, and others getting more.)

Weighting	Professions
21	Armorer, Blacksmith, Bone Carver, Clothier, Craftsdwarf, Jeweler, Gem Cutter, Gem Setter, Glassmaker, Leatherworker, Metalcrafter, Metalsmith, Stonecrafter, Weaponsmith, Weaver, Woodcrafter
11	Bowyer, Carpenter, Stoneworker, Mason, Woodworker
6	Engraver, Mechanic, Miner, Tanner, & all other professions.

Example: What this means is: if you had 21 dwarves, made up of 20 eligible farmers, furnace operators, miners, woodcutters etc. (with 6 chances each) plus one Armorer (with 21 chances), that one Armorer would have a 21 in 141 chance (20 dwarves x 6 chances each = 120 + 21 chances more = 141 total) of the mood striking them. That's about 1 in 7, while the other 20 have a 6 in 141 chance each, or about 1 in 24. The odds are still against the armorer, but much better than for any other single dwarf.

Note that not every profession is from a moodable skill. An Alchemist, Architect, Furnace Operator or Strand Extractor can be taken by a mood, but that will not make those skills legendary, nor will they create an artifact bar of soap, building, bar of metal or wafer of adamantine.

NOTE: If your game was saved shortly before one of you dwarves acquired a mood, reloading that game will most likely cause the chances to be completely re-figured, resulting in a different mood at a different time for a different dwarf with different materials. This is true for most all random events and results in Dwarf Fortress.

Skills and workshops

Artifact Skill Rewards
Highest skill	Workshop used
Armorsmith	Magma forge or Metalsmith's forge
Bone carver	Craftsdwarf's workshop
Bowyer	Bowyer's workshop
Carpenter	Carpenter's workshop
Clothier	Clothier's shop
Engraver	Craftsdwarf's workshop
Gem cutter	Jeweler's workshop
Gem setter	Jeweler's workshop
Glassmaker	Glass furnace
Leatherworker	Leather works
Mason	Mason's workshop
Mechanic	Mechanic's workshop
Metal crafter	Magma forge or Metalsmith's forge
Metalsmith	Magma forge or Metalsmith's forge
Miner	Mason's workshop
Stone crafter	Craftsdwarf's workshop
Tanner	Leather works
Weaponsmith	Magma forge or Metalsmith's forge
Weaver	Clothier's shop
Wood crafter	Craftsdwarf's workshop

A dwarf will claim a workshop according to their highest applicable skill, and upon completion of the artifact, gain 20,000 experience in that skill (excepting possessed dwarves). This will give the dwarf a legendary-level skill (specifically, "legendary+1" or higher, depending on the dwarf's initial skill level) and a number of attribute gains. The table to the right describes all applicable skills and their potential workshop requirements - there are only 20 skills that determine the workshop and that can be affected by a mood (sometimes referred to as moodable skills.) If a dwarf does not possess at least one of the moodable skills listed to the right, they will take over a craftsdwarf's workshop and gain one of bone carver, stone crafter, or wood crafter skills, producing an artifact craft.

When selecting the desired mood skill, only the level itself is checked, and if the highest level found is shared by multiple skills, then one will be selected randomly.

If any magma forges exist in your fortress, even if they haven't actually been constructed yet, all moody metalworkers will insist on using one instead of a coal-powered metalsmith's forge. Whether or not they want a magma forge is determined the instant the strange mood begins, so you should wait until the magma supply is completely full before even designating it for construction, since a magma forge losing power for even a moment will cause its strange mood to instantly fail. Note that this does not apply to Glassmaker moods, which will always demand a coal-powered glass furnace regardless of how many magma glass furnaces you might have.

Below is a list of all non-moodable skills; if all of a dwarf's skills are found on this list and none from the table to the right, then they have no moodable skills and will construct their artifact at a Craftsdwarf's workshop, producing an appropriate craft as described above:

Ambusher Animal caretaker Animal dissector Animal trainer Appraiser Architect Brewer Butcher Cheese maker Cook Dyer Fish cleaner Fish dissector Fisherdwarf Furnace operator Grower Herbalist

Lye maker Milker Miller Potash maker Pump operator Record keeper Siege engineer Siege operator Soaper Strand extractor Thresher Trapper Wood cutter Wood burner All military skills All social skills

This fact can be utilized to maximize the possibility of getting a dwarf with the specific legendary skill you want: since non-moodable skills are ignored, when ever possible make sure that each dwarf's highest moodable skill is one of those you want*. Have all your peasants, farmers, non-professional military and other dwarves without any moodable skills do a tiny bit of work in the skill(s) you most want; if a "dabbling" skill is the highest moodable skill they have, that is the skill that will be used.

(* Armorsmith, Weaponsmith, Metal crafter and Metalsmith are possibly the most-desired legendary skills, but much depends on your fortress, your current mix of skills, and your play style.)

(Note that Tanner is a moodable skill, the only Farmer category skill that is moodable.)

Artifacts created

The type of artifact created will depend on the skill selected for the mood and will be selected from the table below. If your dwarf does not have a preference for any possible items, the game will randomly select one from the list. Entries with "any" are treated as a single item which will randomly select a subtype which your civilization is capable of making, while "each" is treated as multiple entries, one for every possible subtype - this explains why bowyers and clothiers regularly produce foreign artifacts, while weaponsmiths do not.

Mood / Skill	Artifact type
Armorsmith	Each equipment item with [METAL] (plate mail, chain mail, greaves, leggings, gauntlet, high boot, low boot, shoe, high boot, sandal1), any shield
Bone carver (bone)	Each equipment item with [BARRED] (leggings, greaves, gauntlet, helm), any shield, any helm, instrument, toy, door, bed, chair, table, statue, coffer, bin, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, chain, cage, animal trap, figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, any weapon, any trap component2
Macabre Mood (bone)
Fell Mood (bone)
Bone carver (shell)	Each equipment item with [SCALED] (leggings, gauntlet, helm), figurine, amulet, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, cage, animal trap, instrument, toy
Bowyer	Each ranged weapon (crossbow, bow, blowgun)
Carpenter	Door, bed, chair, table, statue, chest, bin, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, casket, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap
Clothier	Each equipment item with [SOFT] (coat, shirt, cloak, tunic, toga, cape, vest, dress, robe, trousers, loincloth, thong, skirt, short skirt, long skirt, braies, glove, mitten, shoe, sandal, chausses, cap, hood, turban, mask, head veil, face veil, headscarf), bag, rope
Weaver
Engraver	Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, goblet, instrument, toy
Stone crafter
Wood crafter
Fell Mood (leather)	Each equipment item with [LEATHER] (dress, shirt, tunic, toga, vest, robe, coat, cloak, cape, armor, trousers, loincloth, thong, short skirt, skirt, long skirt, braies, leggings, glove, mitten, sandal, shoe, chausses, high boot, low boot, cap, hood, mask, turban, head veil, face veil, headscarf, helm), any shield, bag, backpack, quiver, instrument
Leatherworker
Tanner
Gem cutter	Large gem3, door, bed, chair, table, statue, box, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, flask, goblet, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, window, instrument, toy
Gem setter
Glassmaker
Macabre Mood (skull)	Totem
Macabre Mood (vermin remains)	Amulet, bracelet, earring
Mason	Door, bed, chair, table, statue, quern, millstone, coffer, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate
Miner
Mechanic	Mechanisms
Metal crafter	Figurine, amulet, scepter, crown, ring, earring, bracelet, chain, flask, goblet, instrument, toy
Metalsmith	Door, bed, chair, table, statue, coffer, armor stand, weapon rack, cabinet, anvil, coffin, floodgate, hatch cover, grate, cage, barrel, bucket, animal trap, pipe section
Weaponsmith	Any weapon, any trap component2

¹ these are intended to be headgear types, but the code incorrectly specifies an item type of SHOES instead of HELM

² chance of selection for this entry is reduced by 90%

³ this item may only be selected at the beginning of the mood (50% chance)

The first object grabbed by the dwarf will be the "primary" substance; all other materials will be used to decorate the artifact. If a dwarf grabs a piece of chalk and makes a statue, for instance, it will be a "chalk statue", but an artifact can potentially be composed of bone, cloth, gems, leather, metal, shell, stone, and wood all at once. As seen above, a moody dwarf can sometimes produce an item which normally cannot be made from that material, leading to such odd constructions as an obsidian bed, ruby floodgate, or turtle shell cage, but the actual item types available for each mood type are still very much restricted (e.g. only a glassmaker or jeweler can make a window, and a moody clothier cannot produce an article of clothing that could not normally be made from cloth).

Once created, most artifacts will be available for use just like a normal item of its type. Artifact furniture is useful for high value noble rooms. Weapons and armor will only be used by heroes and champions. Artifact weapons in weapon traps can also boost a room's value considerably, as in the case of artifact trap components.

Failure

If you can't provide the desired workshop and all the required component materials within a couple of months, the dwarf will go insane, which cancels the mood and the artifact. As if that's not bad enough, any dwarf who goes insane will soon die, one way or another.

A dwarf who is stark raving mad or melancholy is harmless to others (until they die and start a tantrum spiral), but a berserk dwarf will attack other dwarves and possibly pull levers at random. You may want to station a squad nearby or assign a few war dogs to the dwarf on the chance that they will lash out. If you build your workshops inside enclosed rooms with doors you can also lock the moody dwarf in the room until he or she starves. In extreme cases, building a wall around an open workshop is the best precaution.

Most events that would ordinarily interrupt a dwarf will not deter a moody dwarf - for example, while passing out from pain will cancel most tasks, a moody dwarf will continue working as soon as he wakes up. Giving birth while in a strange mood does not interrupt the dwarf either; the new mother will ignore the baby until her mood is resolved and it will happily wander off in the meantime. The only events which can cancel a strange mood are the destruction of the workshop (including loss of power for a magma forge) or a severe injury which leaves the dwarf unable to use its hands.

---

See also

• Insanity
• Artifact
• Profession
• Legendary