Player

The player is an entity in the game controlled by you. The player is currently the only entity that can change pick up items and modify their attack and armor attributes.

Attributes
Full Page: Attributes

The player starts with the following attributes:

Initiative
If the player enters combat and attacks before their opponent, they gain a damage bonus. The player's base damage is normally 0-5. However, on initiative, the player will deal:

Example
A player weilding a butterfly knife has an attack of two. The calculation for the minimum damage they could deal is (2 + 0)*3 - 4 = 2, while the max damage would be (2 + 2)*3 - 0 = 12.

Bottom Line
All this math may seem very complicated, but the bottom line is, you don't have to do any of it. The game figures all this out. All that need concern the average player is that you will deal a bunch more damage if you attack your enemy before they are ready.

Item Pickup
You, as the player, are free to pick up almost all the items you can get your hands on. Your starting attributes don't bind you! You can pick up new weapons and put on new armor to improve yourself.

Experience
As you progress through the game, your HP will gradually increase. This shows that you are learning more and more. Monsters don't regain hp this way. They regenerate after a battle and that's it. This means that monsters almost never learn, while you do.