CIP: HuSu - Please help me keep this character alive!

Wednesday, 22nd January 2014, 04:43 by AzuredreamsXT

Either starting as a summoner is kind of hard, or I just do not know how to manage one well. Enemy AI in this game, even "mindless" monsters, seem to always beeline past my minions and come straight for me. My hunger is becoming unmanageable, I'm scrambling from one fight to the next desperately wolfing down whatever sweet sweet chunks are left in the aftermath, and earning favor with Vehumet seems impossible unless I get into the thick of things myself. I lucked out and found some solid spellbooks (Book of Minor Wizardy and Book of Wizardy) that may save this character's ass, at least for awhile. I'm throwing all my exp currently into getting fireball online, since that will finally allow me to start slinging some damage of my own instead of scrambling around hoping my minions can clean up the opposition while also screening me from attack.

Here's the dump

Code:: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.13.1 (tiles) character file. Malak the Caller (Human Summoner) Turns: 22063, Time: 03:11:24 HP 67/68 AC 2 Str 9 XL: 10 Next: 72% MP 23/31 EV 16 Int 18 God: Vehumet [......] Gold 511 SH 0 Dex 14 Spells: 6 memorised, 1 level left Res.Fire : . . . See Invis. : . r - whip (venom) (curse) Res.Cold : . . . Warding : . a - +0 robe Life Prot.: . . . Conserve : . (no shield) Res.Poison: . Res.Corr. : . (no helmet) Res.Elec. : . Clarity : . n - -1 cloak {MR+} Sust.Abil.: . . Spirit.Shd : . (no gloves) Res.Mut. : . Stasis : . (no boots) Res.Rott. : . Flight : . L - amulet of faith Saprovore : . . . K - cursed ring of magical power z - ring of wizardry @: burdened, slow, quite resistant to hostile enchantments, unstealthy A: no striking features a: Renounce Religion You are on level 11 of the Dungeon. You worship Vehumet. Vehumet is noncommittal. You are encumbered. You are hungry. You have visited 2 branches of the dungeon, and seen 12 of its levels. You have collected 491 gold pieces. Inventory: Hand weapons b - a lajatang c - a whip of reaching r - a cursed whip of venom (weapon) v - an uncursed quarterstaff w - a dagger of chaos (quivered) {Psyche} M - an uncursed blowgun Missiles N - 9 curare-tipped needles Armour a - a +0 robe (worn) m - a +0 cloak n - a -1 cloak of magic resistance (worn) J - a buckler Magical devices u - a wand of magic darts {empty} x - a wand of hasting {empty} H - a wand of hasting (4) R - a gold wand Comestibles E - 3 rotting chunks of centaur flesh G - 2 chunks of elf flesh T - a chunk of rat flesh U - a chunk of bat flesh V - 4 chunks of crocodile flesh W - a chunk of bat flesh X - a chunk of bat flesh Y - a chunk of rat flesh Z - a chunk of giant gecko flesh Scrolls d - a scroll of enchant weapon I f - 3 scrolls of fear g - 3 scrolls of teleportation q - 2 scrolls of noise s - a scroll of enchant weapon II y - a scroll labeled SOTZAS TAH {tried on +0 cloak} A - 8 scrolls labeled THONIDU QEOMN {tried} B - a scroll of immolation C - a scroll labeled WUBI LOASE F - a scroll of identify S - a scroll labeled OTEGUXZ GULUA Jewellery z - a ring of wizardry (left hand) D - an uncursed amulet of stasis K - a cursed ring of magical power (right hand) L - an amulet of faith (around neck) O - a cabochon ring Potions e - a potion of might i - a potion of flight k - 2 murky orange potions l - a sedimented white potion o - 2 purple potions {tried by monster} p - a yellow potion t - an oily green potion I - a cyan potion Books h - a book of Cantrips Spells Type Level Confusing Touch Hexes 1 Animate Skeleton Necromancy 1 Summon Small Mammal Summoning 1 Apportation Translocation 1 j - a book of Callings Spells Type Level Summon Small Mammal Summoning 1 *Call Imp Summoning 2 Call Canine Familiar Summoning 3 *Summon Scorpions Summoning/Poison 4 Summon Ice Beast Ice/Summoning 4 P - a book of Minor Magic Spells Type Level Magic Dart Conjuration 1 *Blink Translocation 2 *Call Imp Summoning 2 *Repel Missiles Charms/Air 2 Slow Hexes 2 Conjure Flame Conjuration/Fire 3 *Mephitic Cloud Conjuration/Poison/Air 3 Q - a book of Wizardry Spells Type Level Summon Elemental Summoning 4 Agony Necromancy 5 Force Lance Conjuration 5 *Fireball Conjuration/Fire 5 Haste Charms 6 Invisibility Hexes 6 Skills: - Level 4.0 Fighting - Level 1.4 Maces & Flails - Level 7.0 Dodging - Level 2.0 Stealth - Level 0.4 Unarmed Combat - Level 5.3 Spellcasting + Level 5.0 Conjurations - Level 7.0 Summonings + Level 3.9 Fire Magic - Level 6.6 Poison Magic You have one spell level left. You know the following spells: Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger a - Blink Tloc N/A 8% 2 None b - Call Imp Summ ####...... 1% 2 None c - Summon Scorpions Summ/Pois ####...... 3% 4 ####... d - Repel Missiles Chrm/Air #......... 8% 2 None e - Fireball Conj/Fire ###....... 32% 5 #####.. f - Mephitic Cloud Conj/Pois/Air ###..... 3% 3 ###.... Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations Branches: Dungeon (11/27) Temple (1/1) D:7 Orc (0/4) D:7 Lair (0/8) D:11 Altars: Ashenzari Cheibriados Elyvilon Fedhas Kikubaaqudgha Makhleb Nemelex Xobeh Okawaru Sif Muna Trog Vehumet Xom Yredelemnul Zin the Shining One Message History an uncursed elven short sword; an uncursed elven bow; 18 arrows; an elf corpse You start butchering the elf corpse with your knife. You continue butchering the corpse. You finish chopping the elf corpse into pieces. Your pack is full. Things that are here: an uncursed elven short sword; an uncursed elven bow; 18 arrows; 2 chunks of elf flesh You can't carry that many items. You drop a dagger of chaos {Psyche}. Your possessions no longer seem quite so burdensome. Okay, then. You are being weighed down by all of your possessions. G - 2 chunks of elf flesh You can't carry that many items. You drop 5 arrows. w - a dagger of chaos {Psyche} You are feeling hungry. Char dumped to 'C:/Users/Owen/AppData/Roaming/crawl/morgue/Malak.txt'. Unknown command. Saving game... please wait. ...............#.#... .................... #########....#.#.## ...............# # ######.%f..f..#.# ##P....P....## #...P.P.P....# ##.......PP.P.# #..Pf.ff.f...P. #.PfP.####...$ ########P.f.f#@># .PP. #.......%....#ss# .P.. #.######...fP#(##.P.f.# #...PP..P.f....# ##..fP.(.P.f..## #.....Pf.....# ##....P.f...## ###.P....### .....### ####### You can see 2 friendly scorpions. Vanquished Creatures Maurice (D:9) A hippogriff (D:10) A phantom (D:9) 4 centaurs A crocodile (D:11) A killer bee (D:9) A goliath beetle (D:10) An orc wizard (D:6) 3 hounds 3 iguanas A worker ant (D:10) 18 scorpions A hound skeleton (D:4) An adder (D:7) 2 gnolls (D:9) 2 giant mites An inept item mimic (D:9) 2 worms 2 giant eyeballs An ooze (D:2) 22 orcs 22 bats A bat skeleton (D:4) A bat zombie (D:6) 10 giant cockroaches 11 goblins 5 hobgoblins 4 jackals (D:1) 9 kobolds 3 quokkas 3 giant geckos 5 giant newts A goblin skeleton (D:4) A hobgoblin skeleton (D:4) A jackal skeleton (D:4) 16 rats 6 ballistomycetes (D:10) 169 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (collateral kills) Psyche (D:8) A wraith (D:10) A griffon skeleton (D:8) A hill giant zombie (D:10) Grum (D:8) 5 yaks A hippogriff (D:8) A hungry ghost (D:8) A deep elf fighter (D:11) 3 wolves (D:8) A manticore (D:10) 5 orc warriors 3 black bears A phantom (D:9) An ice beast (D:8) 6 ogres 2 sky beasts A yellow wasp (D:10) 3 centaurs Sigmund (D:3) Duvessa (D:8) A big kobold (D:9) A gnoll sergeant (D:9) A water moccasin (D:8) 2 wyvern zombies 3 giant frogs A manticore zombie (D:9) A hippogriff skeleton (D:8) 4 wights (D:10) Dowan (D:8) 2 hounds 4 crimson imps 2 jellies 9 orc wizards 4 orc priests A giant frog zombie (D:9) 13 scorpions 7 worker ants A killer bee zombie (D:9) A quasit (D:8) A hound zombie (D:7) A sky beast zombie (D:11) Terence (D:3) 10 adders 4 gnolls (D:9) 2 green rats (D:11) A giant mite (D:9) 4 worms An iguana zombie (D:8) 3 giant geckos 21 orcs 11 bats A giant cockroach (D:2) 3 goblins 5 hobgoblins 2 jackals (D:4) 11 kobolds 2 quokkas A ball python (D:6) A giant newt (D:1) 5 rats A ballistomycete (D:10) A fungus (D:11) 193 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (others) 53 crimson imps 3 iron imps 113 scorpions 17 shadow imps 35 white imps A bat (D:1) A quokka (D:7) A giant spore (D:10) 2 rats 226 creatures vanquished. Grand Total: 588 creatures vanquished Notes Turn | Place | Note -------------------------------------------------------------- 0 | D:1 | Malak, the Human Summoner, began the quest for the Orb. 0 | D:1 | Reached XP level 1. HP: 13/13 MP: 3/3 484 | D:1 | Reached XP level 2. HP: 14/19 MP: 4/4 488 | D:1 | Learned a level 2 spell: Call Imp 1287 | D:1 | Reached XP level 3. HP: 24/24 MP: 5/5 2106 | D:2 | Reached XP level 4. HP: 17/30 MP: 2/7 3287 | D:2 | Found a deep blue altar of Sif Muna. 3302 | D:2 | Reached skill level 5 in Summonings 4079 | D:2 | Reached XP level 5. HP: 35/35 MP: 4/8 5149 | D:3 | Noticed Sigmund 5150 | D:3 | Noticed Terence 5249 | D:3 | Killed Sigmund 5277 | D:3 | Killed Terence 5508 | D:3 | Reached skill level 6 in Summonings 5791 | D:3 | Reached XP level 6. HP: 39/41 MP: 9/9 5797 | D:3 | Learned a level 4 spell: Summon Scorpions 6707 | D:4 | Reached skill level 1 in Poison Magic 7736 | D:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon 7923 | D:5 | Reached XP level 7. HP: 40/46 MP: 10/10 9756 | D:6 | Reached skill level 5 in Poison Magic 10402 | D:6 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 10416 | D:6 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 4 turns 10646 | D:7 | Found a staircase to the Orcish Mines. 10734 | D:7 | Reached XP level 8. HP: 52/52 MP: 6/12 12093 | D:7 | Reached skill level 7 in Summonings 12275 | D:7 | Found a staircase to the Ecumenical Temple. 12561 | Temple | Entered the Ecumenical Temple 12871 | D:8 | Noticed Psyche 12931 | D:8 | Noticed Duvessa 12931 | D:8 | Noticed Dowan 13685 | D:6 | Found a radiant altar of Vehumet. 13685 | D:6 | Found a white marble altar of Elyvilon. 13855 | D:6 | Became a worshipper of Vehumet 14258 | D:8 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 14667 | D:8 | Found an ancient bone altar of Kikubaaqudgha. 14705 | D:8 | Killed Psyche 14705 | D:8 | Reached XP level 9. HP: 57/57 MP: 18/18 14755 | D:8 | Killed Dowan 14902 | D:8 | Killed Duvessa 15051 | D:8 | Noticed Grum 15067 | D:8 | Reached skill level 1 in Fighting 15345 | D:8 | HP: 2/59 [orc warrior/orcish long sword (17)] 15609 | D:8 | Killed Grum 15681 | D:8 | Reached skill level 5 in Dodging 16932 | D:9 | Reached skill level 1 in Maces & Flails 17539 | D:9 | Learned a level 2 spell: Blink 17542 | D:9 | Learned a level 2 spell: Repel Missiles 17546 | D:9 | Learned a level 3 spell: Conjure Flame 17550 | D:9 | Learned a level 3 spell: Mephitic Cloud 17629 | D:9 | Reached skill level 1 in Conjurations 18150 | D:9 | Noticed Maurice 18893 | D:9 | Reached XP level 10. HP: 62/68 MP: 20/20 19495 | D:9 | Killed Maurice 19602 | D:10 | Entered Level 10 of the Dungeon 19672 | D:9 | Reached skill level 5 in Spellcasting 20519 | D:10 | Learned a level 5 spell: Fireball 20793 | D:10 | Reached skill level 1 in Fire Magic 22035 | D:11 | Reached skill level 5 in Conjurations 22042 | D:11 | Found a staircase to the Lair. Action | 1- 3 | 4- 6 | 7- 9 | 10-12 || total -------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------++------- Melee: Unarmed | 37 | | | || 37 Short sword | 71 | 163 | | || 234 Whip | | 87 | 259 | 217 || 563 Quarterstaff | | 10 | | || 10 Cast: Summon Small Mamm | 6 | | 3 | || 9 Call Imp | 14 | 58 | 149 | 48 || 269 Summon Scorpions | | 1 | 74 | 44 || 119 Mephitic Cloud | | | 5 | 8 || 13 Repel Missiles | | | 2 | 2 || 4 Conjure Flame | | | | 5 || 5 Blink | | | | 4 || 4 Evoke: Wand | | | 3 | 1 || 4 Use: Scroll | | | 16 | 1 || 17 Potion | | | 3 | || 3 Stab: Sleeping | 3 | 4 | | || 7 Distracted | | | 2 | 1 || 3

What should the gameplan be with my current situation? Any and all advice is welcome, from skill training to spell/gear selection to tactics and strategy as a summoner/conjurer of Vehumet.

I'm thinking the Lair may be just what I need as far as where to go next. Plentiful corpses, a (generally) easier time than the dungeon, hopefully some permafood and enough experience to get the character rounded out.

Wednesday, 22nd January 2014, 05:17 by and into

Well, Vehumet isn't really helping you much, except for MP on kills. Many other gods would be much better for you, but what is done, is done. On the bright side you really don't need to worry about gaining Vehumet piety, because the only ability he gives you that actually helps you right now is MP on kills which is available at *, if I am not mistaken. So don't sweat it.

Book of Wizardry may or may not help you down the line but it doesn't do crap for you right now. What *will* help you (a little) right now is wearing that buckler!

You don't have any food right now? — Well the most important thing is don't panic. Chop up as much as you can and eventually your luck will turn around. If you don't have any other food I guess I would in this case stop training everything else but spell casting, and get three or so more levels of that. If you do have rations squirreled away somewhere go get those and forget about training spell casting.

Read one of those eight scrolls, I almost guarantee you that it is ?remove curse, this will get rid of your weapon curse. If by some miracle it isn't remove curse then use one of your enchant weapon scrolls, that will also get rid of the weapon curse. The reason to do this is so that you can actually use that blowgun and curare needles, which are really extremely strong. Use you scroll of identify on your potions. Then drop all things that don't help in battle (like the scrolls of enchant weapon).

Use that scroll in inventory slot y that says "tried on +0 cloak" and select your empty wand of hasting. It will give it some new charges, giving you extra uses of haste which is really really helpful. Use those charges for tough fights.

Your skills are already all over the place, you are training up conjurations and fire magic for fireball when you have 7 levels in summoning and a good early-game weapon. Also training fire magic is hurting your ability to get summon ice beasts. (Anti-crosstraining with fire school.)

The best way to play a summoner is to use your minions as backup while you hit guys. Venom is actually a good brand for this, you can back up a bit if it gets too difficult and let your summons + the poison work away at guys.

Okay, so skill training: After getting some spell casting skill if needed, my suggestion would be to amnesia fireball, and learn summon ice beasts. Get a bit more summoning magic and then some ice (even with the -4 to aptitude) so that summon ice beasts is cartable, shouldn't take a lot though with that ring of wizardry (which unlike Vehumet or book of wizardry is going to be the thing that actually saves this character, if anything does). Then I'd focus on dodging until it is between 12 and 14, then I'd get some weapon skill (staves to use that lajatang, personally) and then fighting skill.

Ice beasts are very good in Lair while scorpions, though still good, are a bit lackluster in comparison IMO. (You can use either to great effect but summon ice beast is maybe more straightforward and useful here.)

Tactics:

When you see a dude, either 1.) summon one or two ice beasts depending on how tough it is; or 2.) cast summon scorpions. A few imps thrown in every now and then can serve as back up. By this time the dude you have seen has approached you, and you engage it in melee with all your summons. As soon as you attack it or it attacks you, your summons will automatically swarm in without you wasting a turn using "t" to tell them to attack. It is pretty effective. Just be really careful in melee until you have your dodging up more. Fortunately humans are fairly robust overall so that will help.

Also you have mephitic cloud and repel missiles, those are really helpful. Beware of the noise that mephitic cloud makes, though.

Wednesday, 22nd January 2014, 05:22 by Tiktacy

You should be using summon ice beasts instead of scorpions, I believe it is currently the superior spell(at least until later on).

In my experience, summon ice beasts kicks ass and you will rarely find yourself needing anything more. It will probably remain awesome all the way up until vaults.

Also, why be a summoner of vehumet? I mean, as long as summoning kills regenerates mp it sounds fine, but vehumet focuses on conjurations, which summons can often get in huge way of. It would be better to start training weapons or something.

E: ninjad!

Wednesday, 22nd January 2014, 13:29 by DracheReborn

Note that Veh doesn't give piety for ally kills. But he does give MP-on-kills for those. Yay for consistency

But yeah, probably not the best god choice here.

I'm curious why you've forgotten Spammals already, which would still be a good defensive spell for you. CCF isn't a bad spell either, if you had stuck with training summoning I think you can regularly get a wolf by now.

Anyway yeah, your skills are kind of scattered, so best is probably to refocus on one path, either conjurations or summoning, with melee as backup. Lajatang is good, even at zero weapon skill. In fact, I'd suggest putting your EW scrolls into it now.

Wednesday, 22nd January 2014, 13:56 by Magipi

I think next time you should start as a wizard or as a conjurer. Those backgrounds are much better for your game plan (summoner/conjurer of Vehumet).

Wednesday, 22nd January 2014, 17:59 by AzuredreamsXT

Magipi wrote:I think next time you should start as a wizard or as a conjurer. Those backgrounds are much better for your game plan (summoner/conjurer of Vehumet).

I wanted to make sure I got at least one summoning book, that's why I started as a summoner. I figured Veh guarantees conjugation spells so I was covered on both accounts.

Thanks for the advice guys, I forgot spammals and never learned ice beast because I like to stick to roughly predefined character roles, even when that is a suboptimal choice given what's available to my character. This is likely to get me killed, and often, but I find it fun :p

Wednesday, 22nd January 2014, 21:35 by Moanerette

Walking around burdened is liable to get you killed; it slows movement and other actions.

CIP: HuSu - Please help me keep this character alive!

CIP: HuSu - Please help me keep this character alive!

Re: CIP: Please help me keep this character alive!

Re: CIP: HuSu - Please help me keep this character alive!

Re: CIP: HuSu - Please help me keep this character alive!

Re: CIP: HuSu - Please help me keep this character alive!

Re: CIP: HuSu - Please help me keep this character alive!

Re: CIP: HuSu - Please help me keep this character alive!

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