2133 replies to this topic

[greywolf]

You *can* compete in the arena, you just have to be really fast and have 3-5 potions of visibility.

[Potatoe]

Here are some dumb questions:
What is a tension room? One of the rooms that are absolutely full of monsters?
What is the use of playing a farmer?
What is polymorphing?
How do you get wishes?

[greywolf]

Potatoe, on Dec 8 2006, 08:41 PM, said:

Here are some dumb questions:
What is a tension room? One of the rooms that are absolutely full of monsters?
What is the use of playing a farmer?
What is polymorphing?
How do you get wishes?

1. Yes.
2. They get really good beginning skills (imho, at least), like food preservation, cooking, and need less weapon marks to train polearms (which is a big plus because at higher levels you get the best DV bonuses of any weapon except for quarterstaves, which are two-handed.
3. Dipping an item into either a potion of raw chaos (dangerous!) or a *blessed* potion of exchange. The point is to get a more desirable item, like polymorphing useless brass rings into rings of djinni summoning or rings of ice, for example.
4. Drinking pools, 'U'sing *blessed* rings of djinni summoning, wands of wishing, a spellbook of wish (I don't think there are scrolls of wish).

[A. J. Raffles]

I've been saying this several times already, but one of my best winners so far was a farmer. Most of their class powers (like making iron rations from corpses) are fairly useless by the time you get them, but their special herb-picking skill is very useful indeed. If you're lucky enough to find an altar early in the game, all you need to do is plant your herb seeds in the right spot, harvest stomafillia herbs like mad and sacrifice them. I've got up to three precrownings that way.

[Chrysanthemon]

Greywolf, I wrote the following:
"But isn't spellcasting of little use when you're confused? Don't you end up casting spells on the wrong person, similarly to striking haphazardly when fighting confused?"
- in relation to my death by a doppleganger lord. You asked why I didn't use spells: my answer is spells would have been useless since he confused me right from the start; he caught me by surprise in a winding hallway and I couldn't get away in time.

[Havell]

Chrysanthemon, on Dec 9 2006, 03:42 PM, said:

Greywolf, I wrote the following:
"But isn't spellcasting of little use when you're confused? Don't you end up casting spells on the wrong person, similarly to striking haphazardly when fighting confused?"
- in relation to my death by a doppleganger lord. You asked why I didn't use spells: my answer is spells would have been useless since he confused me right from the start; he caught me by surprise in a winding hallway and I couldn't get away in time.

Such a situation is deadly to any sort of character, spellcaster or not.
EDIT: Like A.J. says, your best option in such a situation is to switch to coward until the confusion wears off and then blast him with all you've got (spell damage/to hit are not affected by tactics).

Spellcasters can be incredibly powerfully, some of my best characters have been wizards (particularly grey elven, the high learning is incredibly useful).  I'd advise gonig into the Infinite Dungeon at the start of the game and staying there for a while, so you can build up experience and, importantly, spells.  My current wizard character stayed there until he was level 14 and had more than a full page of spells.  That was a little extreme but I kind of got caught up.  Also very importantly, don't neglect your weapon skills (both melee and ranged).  On leaving the ID, the wizard I mentioned had level 6 in staves and 3 in both bows and crossbows (I tend to train both to maximise the amount of slaying ammo I can use).  Only use your spells when you have to, against quite powerful monsters.  Tension rooms are a godsend for melee training.
It's also best if your wizard starts of with a quaterstaff instead of a dagger (1d4 damage vs. 1d10 + huge DV bonuses).  With regard to spells, you probably want to specialise, using a particular bolt spell (one that you have many marks in) so it gets more powerful and cheaper.

[A. J. Raffles]

Chrysanthemon, on Dec 9 2006, 04:42 PM, said:

Greywolf, I wrote the following:
"But isn't spellcasting of little use when you're confused? Don't you end up casting spells on the wrong person, similarly to striking haphazardly when fighting confused?"
- in relation to my death by a doppleganger lord. You asked why I didn't use spells: my answer is spells would have been useless since he confused me right from the start; he caught me by surprise in a winding hallway and I couldn't get away in time.

Well, you probably weren't on coward tactics, then, or he couldn't have killed you. By the way, sometimes you can cast spells even when confused, it just doesn't work every time.
Generally it's a good idea to have some source of confusion resistance, though.

[Juni Ori]

Havell, on Dec 9 2006, 06:45 PM, said:

Spellcasters can be incredibly powerfully...

That's definitely true, but I must say that I've found priests above all! Well, they have prayers, not spells, but in practice they don't differ at all... Autoidentify for items are they blessed, normal or cursed. Far more potential in melee than other spellcasters. Overall, working combination of two extremes: might and magic! But then again I have never reached above level 14-ish with other classes and only 20-ish with priest. Random character, btw, female dark elven priestess. Immediately made me thinking The Forgotten Realms. Which reminds me: priests (or such) seem to be overpowered in every game...

[Tom Henrik]

Hmm... I have a question about my random Human Beastfighter. Where do you think I should go next?

I'm level 17, and I've killed a Dorn Beast in hand-to-hand combat (without paralyzation immunity). He just couldn't hit me enough to actually kill me, and whenever I could move, I was able to hurt him severly. I've also killed a couple of Hydras in hand-to-hand, and also cleaning out a Terror Room full of 35 Stone Statues (or whatever they are called - they spew fire). And I also walked through the Dwarven Halls, killing everything in my way. So I reckon I am pretty tough.

I've completed all of Thundarr's quest (apart from the Arena, and the graveyard). I've also killed Rehetep.

Now I am just walking up and down the Infinite Dungeon, trying to think of something to do next.

Any ideas?

[greywolf]

Chrysanthemon, on Dec 9 2006, 08:42 AM, said:

Greywolf, I wrote the following:
"But isn't spellcasting of little use when you're confused? Don't you end up casting spells on the wrong person, similarly to striking haphazardly when fighting confused?"
- in relation to my death by a doppleganger lord. You asked why I didn't use spells: my answer is spells would have been useless since he confused me right from the start; he caught me by surprise in a winding hallway and I couldn't get away in time.

Ah, I understand now.

Tom Henrik, on Dec 11 2006, 11:34 AM, said:

Hmm... I have a question about my random Human Beastfighter. Where do you think I should go next?

I'm level 17, and I've killed a Dorn Beast in hand-to-hand combat (without paralyzation immunity). He just couldn't hit me enough to actually kill me, and whenever I could move, I was able to hurt him severly. I've also killed a couple of Hydras in hand-to-hand, and also cleaning out a Terror Room full of 35 Stone Statues (or whatever they are called - they spew fire). And I also walked through the Dwarven Halls, killing everything in my way. So I reckon I am pretty tough.

I've completed all of Thundarr's quest (apart from the Arena, and the graveyard). I've also killed Rehetep.

Now I am just walking up and down the Infinite Dungeon, trying to think of something to do next.

Any ideas?

If you have a climbing set (which you should, if you've been in the pyramid by now), I'd head over to the tomb of high kings and level there for a while and get some confusion resistance and a wand of cold before going for the Ring of High Kings. If that doesn't strike your fancy, then you can always try darkforge (note: TRY - it's probably still gonna be really tough) or the gremlin cave (I hope you have disarm traps!).

[Tom Henrik]

Nope. No Climbing Set. I've never found where it's supposed to be hiding in the Pyramid.

Hmm... I guess I could head to Darkforge. I should be able to level a bit there. As for resistance, I don't think I have any. I've eaten plenty of Fire Lizards and Fire Beetles, but one makes me hot, the other cold, so I have no idea

I have a couple of rings and artifacts, though, so I should be able to ward off all types of elements (apart from lighting, I think). I also have a waterproof blanket (not from the Small Cave - couldn't find that one. I think a monster picked it up), but I do not have a fireproof blanket.

Also I do have about 6-8 spells in my grimoire. Most of my talents are 100, and all of my stats are around 25 (+/- 5).

I could post a character file when I get home from work.

[A. J. Raffles]

Tom Henrik, on Dec 11 2006, 09:07 PM, said:

Nope. No Climbing Set. I've never found where it's supposed to be hiding in the Pyramid.

It's on the bottom level, in a hidden room somewhere to the right. There's a pickaxe as well.

[Tom Henrik]

Here's my character.

Attached Files

•  GRUNTY.txt   25.78K   14 downloads

[A. J. Raffles]

I'd say go to the pyramid and find the climbing set. Make sure it's blessed, put on whatever dexterity-boosting items you have, leave items you really really DON'T want to be destroyed in a safe place (for example you can lead the barbarian away from his clearing), dump a few corpses so you're no longer burdened and go down the rift. You should be able to handle it by now - permanent invisibility helps too - and it's a good way of gaining both xp and a couple of scrolls of chaos resistance.

[Tom Henrik]

I went to Darkforge, but the Steel Golem guarding the down stairs was too tough for me. I had to drink all my potions of healing, and even pray once, in order to kill it. Basically I hit it all the time, but 90% of the time I did no damage. When I did hurt him, I only did a very small amount of damage.

Oh well, at least I killed him in the end, but it did make me realize that I need to be a bit more careful from now on. After that I went to the Gremlin Cave and got the Climbing set from there. Reason I did not venture back into the Pyramid is that I am "jumpy", and have no teleportation control. So all the traps could be dangerous - as I have no Trap Detection or Disarm Traps.

I like being jumpy. It can be a real pain in the butt when you are trying to get to a certain point, and it keeps teleporting you away, but the same thing has also saved my characters more times than I can count. Like being teleported away from a dangerous foe that would kill me in seconds. Also, it is a great way to discover hidden places (like Royal Vaults).

Of course, I am always on the look out for Blink Dogs, but I don't have a problem being tossed around the level like a ragdoll.

I have yet to be teleported into water, so I don't know if that is possible. But if it is possible to be teleported into water, then I should get teleportation control before I venture into the Tomb of the High Kings. Swimming doesn't really help there