Motif · from book 2

Race and class

The third-floor choice that can never be unmade. Donut stays a cat and tricks Mordecai into being her manager by picking Former Child Actor; Carl turns down Hobgoblin and Sasquatch for Primal — a blank slate with every skill unlockable to 20 — and Compensated Anarchist. Eighty per cent of crawlers stay human.

First appears: Book 2

Series arc

As of book 3. Book 2's choices; book 3's consequences: Donut's Character Actor keeps skills across classes by a bug; Katia's doppelganger race is the floor's discovery — mass from a backpack, a third eye, a 98% gnoll, a sentinel gun; Elle's race came with a manager; Chris's changed him; Frank did not choose his.

Through book 2

Chosen in B2 ch. 1–B2 ch. 2; what everyone else chose in B2 ch. 7; regretted by Bautista (B2 ch. 23).

Through book 3

Donut's Character Actor keeps skills across floors by a bug; Katia's race is the floor's discovery — mass, shape, a third eye, a 98% gnoll (B3 ch. 1, B3 ch. 13, B3 ch. 18, B3 ch. 26). Elle's race came with a manager; Chris's changed him; Frank did not choose his.

Through book 4

Glass Cannon; a clipped cleric; shapeshifters and body-takers taxonomised; Igneous, Kuhli, bune (B4 ch. 1, B4 ch. 5, B4 ch. 14, B4 ch. 28); specialisation and guilds announced (B4 ch. 33).

Through book 5

Specialisation in a booth, three choices, ten minutes (B5 ch. 1); a manager reduced to a court pet (B5 ch. 2); a bard's songs in key (B5 ch. 4); Swole, Prison Bitch or Stepson at strength 100 (B5 ch. 36); a guide's bad advice that fused two brothers — and saved them (B5 ch. 41, B5 ch. 77); Laundry Day to fifteen (B5 ch. 55); Viper Queen, unread (B5 ch. 78).

Through book 6

Charisma's pull on NPCs weakening with depth (B6 ch. 20); a Havana brown's Toxoplasma (B6 ch. 16).

Through book 7

Deathbed Hellcat; the Oak Fell (B7 ch. 1, B7 ch. 77).

The dossiers

Every crawler card the system shows, in order.

Book	Chapter	Crawler	Name	Level	Race	Class
1	B1 ch. 2	#4,119	Princess Donut	1	Cat	Not yet assigned
1	B1 ch. 20	#324,119	Frank Q	8	Human	Not yet assigned
1	B1 ch. 20	#324,116	Maggie My	9	Human	Not yet assigned
1	B1 ch. 22	#12,330,671	Brandon An	6	Human	Not yet assigned
1	B1 ch. 22	#7,450	Agatha	2	Human	Not yet assigned
2	B2 ch. 21	#9,077,265	Katia Grim	9	Human	Monster Truck Driver
2	B2 ch. 23	#2,165,570	Daniel Bautista 2	18	Tigran	Swashbuckler
3	B3 ch. 8	#12,329,440	Imani C	24	Obsidian Butterfly	Fire Spiritualist
3	B3 ch. 18	#4,122	Carl	—	—	—
3	B3 ch. 19	#324,119	Frank Q	17	Night Elf	Blood Assassin
3	B3 ch. 21	#9,077,240	Eva Sigrid	27	Half Nagini, Half-Orc	Nimblefoot Enforcer
4	B4 ch. 6	#4,778,551	Low Thi	25	Human	D-Bag Geek
4	B4 ch. 14	#324,116	Chris Andrews 2	35	Igneous	Zulu Warrior
4	B4 ch. 20	#1,293,776	Gwendolyn Duet	34	Human	Boring Ol’ Fighter
6	B6 ch. 5	#8,199,454	Paz Lo	45	Human	Santero
6	B6 ch. 5	#8,199,451	Anton Lopez	47	Human	Fugitive
6	B6 ch. 5	#8,199,462	Sister Ines Quiteria	47	Cat Girl	Poet Laureate

Where they appear

Book	Chapters they are in (of the book's)	Where
2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario	9/26	1–4, 7, 9, 14, 25–26 · the book's own page
3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook	7/35	Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch. 3, Ch. 7, Ch. 19, Ch. 25, Ch. 30 · the book's own page
4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods	6/35	Ch. 1, Ch. 4, Ch. 17, Ch. 28, Ch. 34, Ch. 35 · the book's own page
5 — The Butcher's Masquerade	5/78	Ch. 1, Ch. 8, Ch. 32, Ch. 33, Ch. 53 · the book's own page
6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride	7/74	Ch. 1, Ch. 19, Ch. 46, Ch. 48, Ch. 51, Ch. 52, Ch. 73 · the book's own page
7 — This Inevitable Ruin	13/89	0–1, 16, 18, 20, 35, 37–38, 43, 56, 58, 69, 77 · the book's own page

By book

Race and class in book 2 — Carl's Doomsday Scenario

Three hundred and twenty races for Donut, 398 for Carl, hundreds of classes, and the same lesson twice: the AI's recommendations are good for survival and bad for the show (ch. 1, ch. 2). Donut games hers; Carl takes the long road. The recap shows what others did — Hekla an Amazonian, Lucia Mar a Lajabless, a man a slug, a woman Kali (ch. 7); eighty per cent stay human. Bautista regrets his tiger (ch. 23); Katia's guide should have talked her out of doppelganger (ch. 21).

Race and class in book 3 — The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook

Donut's Character Actor forces a new class every floor and, by a bug, lets her keep any skill she levels (ch. 1); Katia's race is the floor's discovery — mass, shape, a third eye, a gnoll at 98% (ch. 13, ch. 18, ch. 26); Elle's race came with a manager (ch. 8); Chris's changed him (ch. 8); Frank did not choose his (ch. 19).

Race and class in book 4 — The Gate of the Feral Gods

Glass Cannon for Donut (ch. 1); a cleric's clipped wings for Mordecai (ch. 1); shapeshifters taxonomised — changelings, doppelgangers, mimics, illusionists — and body-takers — Gondii, Intellect Hunters, Infiltrators (ch. 5, ch. 14); Boring Ol' Fighter (ch. 2); D-Bag Geek, Weather Engineer, Banana Farmer, Freelance Psychiatrist (ch. 6); Gut Rearranger (ch. 25); Lajabless, Crocodilian (ch. 4); Igneous (ch. 10, ch. 14); Kuhli (ch. 25); Lyrx Elf (ch. 28); a bune, 'the elves' of the lizard world (ch. 28). Specialisation on descent and a guild system announced for the sixth floor (ch. 33).

Race and class in book 5 — The Butcher's Masquerade

Specialisation in a booth, three choices, ten minutes (ch. 1); a manager reduced to a court pet (ch. 2); a bard's songs in key (ch. 4); Swole, Prison Bitch or Stepson at strength 100 (ch. 36); a guide's bad advice that fused two brothers — and saved them (ch. 41, ch. 77); Laundry Day to fifteen (ch. 55); Viper Queen, unread (epilogue).

Race and class in book 6 — The Eye of the Bedlam Bride

Donut's Character Actor skill is powerful now (ch. 1); a Havana brown's Toxoplasma (ch. 16); Carl cannot be the daddy because he is a primal, nor Bautista because he is a Thundercat (ch. 19); charisma no longer buys rations (ch. 20); a skin skellie, and an Ifrit (ch. 23, ch. 52). The word primal runs through the floor in its other sense: the mantises' belief that a primal engine runs the centre system (ch. 46), Orren's Primal Engines and the Macro AIs installed in them (ch. 48), Paulie's kind, who wait for the AI to go primal (ch. 51), and the AI going primal, which must wait (ch. 52).

Race and class in book 7 — This Inevitable Ruin

Donut opens the book with a Former Child Actor accessory kit in the saferoom mailbox and a Deathbed Hellcat (ch. 1); Mordecai turns out to be a Canadian (ch. 2); a crest is a Barn Burner and a Liquid Dervish (ch. 11). Carl's card still reads Race: Primal (ch. 16), and Victory credits 'the communal nature of his Primal race' for what he can carry (ch. 18); the party leader of the Royal Court of Princess Donut is inevitable (ch. 27). At the end Donut keeps her Former Child Actor benefits, with the new Oak Fell class and the champion thing on top of them (ch. 77).