CIP: DECj level 11, stuck

Tuesday, 7th June 2011, 00:29 by iks

This is my best yet, actually started from a hints-mode char. I'm still using magic missile a lot, so I feel like I'm really underplaying my character, but then again none of my books are very useful either. The only fire magic I have is a wand of flame, and my mainstays (Mephitic Cloud + frost attacks) are starting to hit waves of resistive creatures. Should I switch to more Necromancy? Should I attempt the Orcish Mines (the wiki says most players put that off until after Lair)?

As you can tell, I'm really green!

Code:: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.8.0 character file. Iks the Conjurer (Deep Elf Conjurer) Turns: 19642, Time: 03:01:56 HP 52/52 AC 10 Str 11 Exp: 11/13824 (1), need: 7805 MP 30/30 EV 14 Int 24 God: Vehumet [*****.] Gold 497 SH 0 Dex 15 Spells: 5 memorised, 11 levels left Res.Fire : . . . See Invis. : . i - +1,+0 sabre (protect) Res.Cold : . . . Warding : . . R - +1 orc robe Life Prot.: . . . Conserve : . (no shield) Res.Acid. : . . . Res.Corr. : . (no helmet) Res.Poison: . Clarity : . G - +0 cloak Res.Elec. : . Spirit.Shd : . (no gloves) Sust.Abil.: . . Stasis : . t - +0 pair of boots Res.Mut. : . Ctrl.Telep.: . a - amulet of the gourmand Res.Rott. : . Levitation : . z - +6 ring of strength Gourmand : + Ctrl.Flight: . (no ring) @: somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, stealthy A: no striking features a: Renounce Religion You are on level 11 of the Dungeon. You worship Vehumet. Vehumet is extremely pleased with you. You are not hungry. You have visited 3 branches of the dungeon, and seen 13 of its levels. You have visited 1 portal chamber: sewer. You have collected 477 gold pieces. Inventory: Hand weapons f - an uncursed dagger of venom (quivered) i - a +1,+0 sabre of protection (weapon) Armour t - a +0 pair of boots (worn) G - a +0 cloak (worn) R - a +1 orcish robe (worn) Magical devices E - a wand of flame (12) M - a wand of digging (5) Comestibles b - 2 bread rations s - 3 meat rations Scrolls g - a scroll labeled BLEROTW ETYSY {tried} k - 4 scrolls of detect curse l - 2 scrolls of remove curse m - a scroll labeled MAVEAW NATTOUG n - 2 scrolls labeled KEELOV KELLI p - a scroll of blinking q - 2 scrolls of fog u - a scroll labeled BLOCOO GEFIFF y - a scroll of identify F - a scroll labeled MOQOATWUXAU H - a scroll labeled SKIUCANT IJAUSCH K - a scroll labeled SHROHAFEONK Jewellery a - an amulet of the gourmand (around neck) z - a +6 ring of strength (right hand) T - a granite ring V - a shiny iron ring Potions d - a potion of speed j - 3 potions of heal wounds r - an inky potion w - 2 potions of healing x - 3 potions of brilliance A - a glowing red potion B - a yellow potion L - 2 viscous inky potions N - a pink potion P - a potion of invisibility Books c - a book of Conjurations [ice+air] Spells Type Level *Magic Dart Conjuration 1 *Throw Frost Conjuration/Ice 2 *Mephitic Cloud Conjuration/Poison/Air 3 Static Discharge Conjuration/Air 4 *Lightning Bolt Conjuration/Air 5 Bolt of Cold Conjuration/Ice 6 e - a book of Death Spells Type Level Corpse Rot Necromancy 2 Sublimation of Blood Necromancy 2 Agony Necromancy 5 Excruciating Wounds Charms/Necromancy 5 *Bolt of Draining Conjuration/Necromancy 6 v - a book of War Chants Spells Type Level Fire Brand Charms/Fire 2 Freezing Aura Charms/Ice 2 Repel Missiles Charms/Air 2 Berserker Rage Charms 3 Regeneration Charms/Necromancy 3 Silence Charms/Air 5 W - a book of Ice Spells Type Level Freezing Aura Charms/Ice 2 Ensorcelled Hibernation Hexes/Ice 2 Condensation Shield Ice/Transmutation 4 Ozocubu's Refrigeration Ice 5 Bolt of Cold Conjuration/Ice 6 Simulacrum Ice/Necromancy 6 Metabolic Englaciation Hexes/Ice 7 You have 1 experience left. Skills: + Level 1 Fighting + Level 1 Short Blades + Level 1 Armour + Level 4 Dodging + Level 4 Stealth + Level 9 Spellcasting + Level 14 Conjurations + Level 2 Necromancy + Level 5 Ice Magic + Level 3 Air Magic + Level 3 Poison Magic You have 11 spell levels left. You know the following spells: Your Spells Type Power Success Level Hunger a - Magic Dart Conj ##### Excellent 1 None b - Throw Frost Ice/Conj ####### Excellent 2 None c - Mephitic Cloud Pois/Air/Conj ######.... Excellent 3 None d - Lightning Bolt Air/Conj #######... Excellent 5 Honeycomb e - Bolt of Draining Conj/Necr ######.... Very Good 6 Honeycomb Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations Branches: Dungeon (11/27) Temple (1/1) D:7 Orc (1/4) D:8 Lair: D:8-13 Hive: D:11-16 Altars: Ashenzari Cheibriados Elyvilon Fedhas Kikubaaqudgha Makhleb Nemelex Xobeh Okawaru Sif Muna The Shining One Trog Vehumet Xom Yredelemnul Zin Annotations D:10 exclusion: oklob plant Message History You are somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments. You feel stealthy. Char dumped to 'C:/Users/Iks/AppData/Roaming/crawl/morgue/Iks.txt'. You climb downwards. There is a stone staircase leading up here. You see here an arrow. Unknown command. ??????? ????????????????????????????????? ??????? ?????????? ??? ??????? ???????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????? ??? ???????????????????????????? ??? ??>????? ??? ??????? ??? ???????? ??? ?????????? ??? ???????? ??? ?????????? ??? ???????? ??? ?????[???? ??? ????(??? ?????????[?????? ??? ???????? ???????????????? ??? ??????@? ???????????[???? ??? ???????? ???????????????? ??? ???????????? ???????????????? ??? ?????????????????????????????????? ??? ????????????????????????????[????? ??? ?????????????????????????????????? ??? ?????????????????????????????????? ??? ?????????????????????????????????? ??? ???????????????????????????????????????? ??? ?????>?????????????????????????????????? ??? ???????????????????????????????????????? ??? ??? ?????????????????????????????????? ??? ???????????????????????????????????????? There are no monsters in sight! Vanquished Creatures A hill giant (D:10) Joseph (D:10) Pikel (D:8) A griffon zombie (D:10) A trapdoor spider (D:11) The ghost of Iks the Conjurer, an experienced HEWz (D:6) 2 trolls 2 giant toads A wyvern (D:10) Edmund (D:8) Eustachio (D:7) A wood golem (D:11) A blink frog skeleton (D:10) A hippogriff (D:8) 4 war dogs (D:9) A hungry ghost (D:11) 6 yaks (D:10) A necrophage (D:10) A phantom (D:7) A mottled dragon (D:11) Purgy (Port) 4 orc warriors An ice beast (D:6) A yellow wasp (D:10) 6 ogres 4 sky beasts Duvessa (D:7) 6 centaurs 4 giant frogs A big kobold (D:10) 2 water moccasins A centaur zombie (D:6) A water moccasin skeleton (D:11) A killer bee zombie (D:6) 3 goliath beetles 2 shadows (D:8) Dowan (D:6) 9 imps 2 wights (D:11) A quasit (D:8) Crazy Yiuf (D:4) 6 orc priests 12 orc wizards 3 scorpions A big fish (D:3) 3 hounds 6 iguanas 6 worker ants 3 jellies 11 snakes 7 green rats (D:8) A midge (D:6) An iguana skeleton (D:11) A shadow imp (D:8) A snake skeleton (D:6) A giant mite (D:7) 2 worms 16 grey rats (D:8) 2 giant eyeballs A megabat skeleton (D:6) 4 giant geckos An ooze (D:4) 40 orcs 5 giant cockroaches 17 goblins 12 hobgoblins 8 jackals A quokka (D:11) 2 small snakes (D:4) 9 giant newts 2 giant spores 28 kobolds 16 megabats 35 rats 2 rat skeletons (D:5) 40 ballistomycetes 6 toadstools 395 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (collateral kills) A yak (D:10) An orc priest (D:8) 3 orcs A giant newt (D:6) 6 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (others) Erolcha (D:9) Grum (D:9) A slave (D:8) 2 wights (D:10) 2 ufetubi (D:6) An orc (D:11) A hobgoblin (D:9) 3 jackals (D:7) A megabat (D:9) 2 quokkas 22 giant spores 2 goblins An orc zombie (D:9) A rat (D:6) 3 ballistomycetes 3 butterflies (D:6) 12 toadstools 59 creatures vanquished. Grand Total: 460 creatures vanquished Notes Turn | Place | Note -------------------------------------------------------------- 0 | D:1 | Iks, the Deep Elf Conjurer, began the quest for the Orb. 0 | D:1 | Reached XP level 1. HP: 8/8 MP: 4/4 244 | D:1 | Reached skill level 5 in Conjurations 259 | D:1 | Reached XP level 2. HP: 12/12 MP: 1/7 270 | D:1 | Learned a level 2 spell: Throw Frost 1643 | D:2 | Found a radiant altar of Vehumet. 1709 | D:2 | Reached XP level 3. HP: 16/16 MP: 6/10 2324 | D:2 | Became a worshipper of Vehumet 2610 | D:3 | Reached skill level 6 in Conjurations 2699 | D:3 | Found a shattered altar of Ashenzari. 2911 | D:3 | Reached XP level 4. HP: 20/20 MP: 11/13 3376 | D:3 | Found a glowing drain. 3395 | sewer | Entered the sewers 3554 | sewer | Noticed Purgy 3556 | sewer | Reached skill level 7 in Conjurations 3570 | sewer | Defeated Purgy 3570 | sewer | Reached XP level 5. HP: 16/25 MP: 2/17 3743 | D:4 | Reached skill level 1 in Ice Magic 3908 | D:4 | Reached XP level 6. HP: 28/28 MP: 10/19 3991 | D:4 | Learned a level 3 spell: Mephitic Cloud 3994 | D:4 | Reached skill level 8 in Conjurations 3998 | D:4 | Reached skill level 5 in Spellcasting 4241 | D:4 | Acquired Vehumet's first power 4476 | D:4 | Reached skill level 9 in Conjurations 4752 | D:4 | Noticed Crazy Yiuf 4760 | D:4 | Defeated Crazy Yiuf 4893 | D:4 | Found a deep blue altar of Sif Muna. 4940 | D:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon 5189 | D:5 | Found a radiant altar of Vehumet. 5287 | D:5 | Reached XP level 7. HP: 33/33 MP: 5/22 5642 | D:5 | Reached skill level 10 in Conjurations 6231 | D:5 | Reached skill level 1 in Air Magic 6271 | D:5 | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas. 6360 | D:6 | Learned a level 5 spell: Lightning Bolt 6402 | D:6 | Reached XP level 8. HP: 37/37 MP: 5/24 6463 | D:6 | Reached skill level 11 in Conjurations 6494 | D:6 | Noticed Iks's ghost (experienced HEWz) 6513 | D:6 | Reached skill level 1 in Armour 6646 | D:6 | Acquired Vehumet's second power 7039 | D:6 | Noticed a centaur zombie 7159 | D:6 | Defeated a centaur zombie 7229 | D:6 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 4 turns 7640 | D:6 | Defeated Iks's ghost 7829 | D:7 | Noticed Eustachio 7837 | D:7 | Reached skill level 12 in Conjurations 7837 | D:7 | Reached skill level 1 in Poison Magic 8186 | D:7 | Found a white marble altar of Elyvilon. 8360 | D:7 | Reached XP level 9. HP: 41/41 MP: 7/26 8527 | D:7 | Defeated Eustachio 8562 | D:7 | Reached skill level 1 in Short Blades 8754 | D:7 | Acquired Vehumet's third power 9089 | D:7 | Noticed Duvessa 9264 | D:7 | Defeated Duvessa 9267 | D:7 | Noticed Dowan 9274 | D:6 | Defeated Dowan 9931 | D:8 | Noticed Edmund 9948 | D:8 | Defeated Edmund 10168 | D:8 | Found a staircase to the Orcish Mines. 10477 | D:8 | Reached skill level 13 in Conjurations 10489 | D:8 | Acquired Vehumet's fourth power 10883 | D:7 | Found a staircase to the Ecumenical Temple. 10894 | Temple | Entered the Ecumenical Temple 11803 | D:8 | Reached XP level 10. HP: 45/45 MP: 25/28 12030 | D:9 | Noticed Pikel 12187 | D:8 | Learned a level 6 spell: Bolt of Draining 12198 | D:9 | Noticed Grum 12295 | Orc:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Orcish Mines 12342 | D:8 | Reached skill level 1 in Necromancy 12344 | D:8 | Defeated Pikel 13096 | D:9 | Defeated Grum 13479 | D:9 | Noticed Erolcha 13496 | D:9 | Defeated Erolcha 13673 | D:8 | Reached skill level 14 in Conjurations 14111 | D:10 | Entered Level 10 of the Dungeon 14148 | D:10 | Noticed Joseph 14170 | D:10 | Defeated Joseph 15680 | D:10 | Found a radiant altar of Vehumet. 15890 | D:10 | Reached XP level 11. HP: 50/50 MP: 21/30 16263 | D:10 | Reached skill level 1 in Fighting 17487 | D:11 | Noticed an ice dragon 18800 | D:11 | Reached skill level 5 in Ice Magic

Here's D:11, with an ice dragon in the top right blocking my exploring. Had to use a scroll of blinking to get away the first time (almost two-shot me).

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The only active benefit Vehumet has given me (I realize he's a passive deity, I guess I just thought it was funny) is if I wear my ring of teleportation, I can invoke teleport. Oh, come to think of it, I have a wand of polymorph other stashed in Temple, would that be useful against an ice dragon? I've only seen maybe five identify scrolls this game, so my gear is pretty bad... Any tips/suggestions?

Sorry for all the questions!

Tuesday, 7th June 2011, 01:24 by Galefury

You can always evoke rings of teleportation, Vehumet has nothing to do with that.

Polymorph could help with the ice dragon, but what will help even more is leaving it alone until you can safely deal with it.

Lightning bolt should deal with cold resistant monsters just fine. Remember that you can bounce the bolt off walls to double hit enemies. Be careful not to hit yourself. You have gourmand, so feel free to spam it. The food cost should not bother you, and if you can doublehit (or even trizap) an enemy it's much more efficient than your other spells. It also goes through enemies, so retreat into corridors, then shoot through whole groups.

Learn Sublimation of Blood ASAP. It makes so many dangerous situations fairly trivial, it's not even funny. Wield chunk, cast it, have more mana. Repeat as necessary. You can use it on all chunks, even rotting or mutagenic ones. Always try to carry some chunks with you, that way if you run out of mana you can quickly refill it and keep casting. Vehumet also helps with mana problems by providing mana on kills, but at a cost of only two slots sublimation is still one of the best things you could learn. Not just among the spells in your books, but among all spells in the game. It's just awesome for blasting sturdy uniques or branch ends with lots of strong enemies.

Other good support spells are regeneration and repel missiles. Try to learn these as soon as possible, and cast them as soon as you take some damage or see a ranged enemy. Gourmand means the food cost of regeneration is irrelevant.

As soon as you get cold resistance you should probably learn Ozocubu's Refrigeration, it's one of the best spells in the game. It damages everything in line of sight, including yourself, which is why you need cold resistance. It will also often destroy potions. But since it will usually kill all nonresistant enemies on screen in a few casts it's worth using anyway. Just don't carry many potions. It trivializes many branches, and is one of the best offensive spells all throughout the game.

Pairing ice spells with bolt of draining is not the best idea because undead strongly resist both. Bolt of draining is generally not that great because all demons and undead are immune to it. Replace it with bolt of cold when you find a scroll of amnesia if you can reliably cast it.

Read ID all those scrolls. Do it on a cleared level or on upstairs so teleport wont screw you. Go up the stairs if you get a tele scroll, that way the teleport will trigger on the cleared level. Use the ID scrolls on either potions or jewelry. Probably on potions.

Tuesday, 7th June 2011, 01:42 by KoboldLord

iks wrote:I'm still using magic missile a lot, so I feel like I'm really underplaying my character, but then again none of my books are very useful either. The only fire magic I have is a wand of flame, and my mainstays (Mephitic Cloud + frost attacks) are starting to hit waves of resistive creatures.

This will always be a problem, and it probably isn't worth trying to bypass so early on. If the monster is only mildly cold-resistant, you can just shoot it twice as much to kill it. If the monster is immune, then you'll either need to run away or pull out some backup way to kill it. Realistically, ice beasts and wight packs are the only problem monsters you should be encountering right now. Skeletons and zombies might hit hard, but they never heal so Magic Dart will chip them to re-death eventually. Once the Vehumet gifts start rolling in, you can get Mystic Blast off the first book she gifts and never worry about resistances ever again.

Anyway, you have an amulet of the gourmand. This is HUGE. You should be butchering and eating every monster you find. You no longer have to wait until you're hungry to eat raw meat, which means the effective length of your hunger bar TRIPLES. Pick up Bolt of Cold, eat yaks whole until you are engorged, and then spam those Bolts of Cold like no tomorrow because you can just eat a couple whole corpses once everything is dead. Gourmand alone is enough to basically solve the early game for a conjuror, with moderately skilled play.

Lightning Bolt is a good alternative to Bolt of Cold if you want to use the exceedingly powerful air magic instead of ice magic, but you have a really nice non-guaranteed ice book on hand with Ozocubu's Refrigeration, which is possibly the best ice magic spell in the game. You'll want some cold resistance before you start using it, but once you can take a little self-inflicted cold damage you can use it to deal heavy damage to everything on the board at once, without breaking stealth. Air vs. cold is pretty much an either-or proposition; there's very little reason to invest heavily in the other once you've chosen one as your primary.

As far as the other spells to pick up, Repel Missiles is a big deal defensively. It only works against ranged attacks, but centaur and yaktaur packs will continue to plague you for the rest of the game. It even has a good chance to block the breath weapon of dragons, although you should probably find some cold resistance before you tangle with that ice dragon, just to be safe. Regeneration and Sublimation of Blood are definitely worth picking up eventually, but they're lower priority for now than getting Repel Missiles and shoring up your big attacks.

iks wrote:Should I attempt the Orcish Mines (the wiki says most players put that off until after Lair)?

Going for Lair first isn't actually good advice in general. Whether you should go Orc or Lair first depends on your current character and the resources available for that character. You want to go where you'll get the best benefits for the least possible risk. Orc provides less xp, but it gives your character good Vehumet piety and will probably provide good weapons and armor for any character. Lair provides more xp, but very little treasure. Monsters in Orc tend to be glass cannons, dealing high damage to you but going down in only a couple hits. Monsters in Lair tend to be massive bruisers that can take quite a bit of punishment and simply won't leave you alone. You can probably handle either with your high-level spells, so you might as well snag the easy piety and armor from Orc before you start soaking up xp in Lair. There's no need to finish Orc once you have what you want; you can always come back later. Orc 4 and Lair 8 are much harder than the other levels in the same branch, so be warned.

iks wrote:he only active benefit Vehumet has given me (I realize he's a passive deity, I guess I just thought it was funny) is if I wear my ring of teleportation, I can invoke teleport.

That's a property of the ring, not of Vehumet. Vehumet is an extremely powerful goddess for exactly your kind of character, but you need to be using your big blasts to get the benefits. You also need to kill LOTS of things, she's very demanding that way. Your best bet for the last shot of piety to take you up to ******-level, where she starts gifting, is the Orcish Mines. There are lots of fragile orcs down there that are easy to kill with Mephitic Cloud, Throw Frost, Bolt of Cold, according to threat presented, and you have the tools to take down almost everything down there. If you see a warlord, stone giant, sorceror, or other high-end threat you just run away and leave the Mines for later. Stay off the fourth and last level, because that's where the really bad stuff tends to hang out.

iks wrote:Oh, come to think of it, I have a wand of polymorph other stashed in Temple, would that be useful against an ice dragon?

The ice dragon has enough magic resistance to be nearly immune, and if you do manage to polymorph it successfully odds are pretty good you'll get something MUCH worse. There are only a handful of monsters in the game that are good to polymorph; mostly it's a dangerous wand that you don't want monsters pointing at you.

iks wrote:I've only seen maybe five identify scrolls this game, so my gear is pretty bad... Any tips/suggestions?

Read-identify your scrolls and stash any that you don't plan to use immediately. An unidentified scroll might as well not exist, for all the good it's doing you. Store the excess potions somewhere, too; they're safer on the floor than they are in your possession, and you've already identified the important ones (healing, heal wounds, and speed for your character). Detect curses on those rings, and see if you can get them to autoidentify. They're the most important thing to burn identify scrolls on for now.

Odds are pretty good you can find some branded orcish robes or leather armor in the first three levels of the Orcish Mines. If you go there, look out for any that have a special adjective like 'embroidered', 'runed', etc. They'll be blue text, too. Anyway, gather up all of them that you can find, detect curses on them, and try the non-cursed ones on one-by-one. Robes of resistance are the best possible find, but leather armor of poison resistance or any light armor of cold resistance would be exceptionally good, too. Magic resistance, fire resistance, and life protection are also possible and desirable.

Tuesday, 7th June 2011, 02:02 by KoboldLord

minmay wrote:Orcish Mines has shops, gold, and orcish equipment drops, but no normal item generation at all. Lair has 8 big levels with the usual random items, plus some (admittedly, usually crappy) loot in the final level's vault, but aside from the occasional unique nothing will drop items other than corpses.

Orcish equipment drops are often exactly what you need at this point in the game. It isn't unusual to get down that far without any upgrades to your starting weapon and armor, and in Orc that problem is nearly guaranteed to be fixed. In the case at hand, I see an unbranded set of +1 robes being worn. Odds of getting better body armor in Orc is very high, and the risk in getting it is minimal. Odds of getting an immediately-useful permanent item in Lair is lower, because floor trash isn't weighted towards being useful.

I'm not counting the Orc 4 shops or the Lair 8 trove at all, because if you're still at the point in the game where Orc vs. Lair is a question worth asking, you can't handle either one.

Additionally, the portal vaults that spawn in Orc tend to be much easier to clear than the death trap Spiders' Nests that show up in Lair. Random shops can spawn in Orc but not Lair, and a single jewelry or book shop is usually better for a caster than multiple cumulative levels of random floor items.

Tuesday, 7th June 2011, 06:04 by Shade

KoboldLord wrote:
minmay wrote:Orcish Mines has shops, gold, and orcish equipment drops, but no normal item generation at all. Lair has 8 big levels with the usual random items, plus some (admittedly, usually crappy) loot in the final level's vault, but aside from the occasional unique nothing will drop items other than corpses.

Orcish equipment drops are often exactly what you need at this point in the game. It isn't unusual to get down that far without any upgrades to your starting weapon and armor, and in Orc that problem is nearly guaranteed to be fixed. In the case at hand, I see an unbranded set of +1 robes being worn. Odds of getting better body armor in Orc is very high, and the risk in getting it is minimal. Odds of getting an immediately-useful permanent item in Lair is lower, because floor trash isn't weighted towards being useful.

I'm not counting the Orc 4 shops or the Lair 8 trove at all, because if you're still at the point in the game where Orc vs. Lair is a question worth asking, you can't handle either one.

Additionally, the portal vaults that spawn in Orc tend to be much easier to clear than the death trap Spiders' Nests that show up in Lair. Random shops can spawn in Orc but not Lair, and a single jewelry or book shop is usually better for a caster than multiple cumulative levels of random floor items.

Not to mention that Mephitic Cloud can make Orc 1 - 3 trivial minus the odd strong Orc.

Working from memory, the OPs skill management could be a little more proactive:
-Consider turning Short Blades off, but keep Fighting on even with it's horrible aptitude.
-You Magic Darted you way to a high Conjurations. I'd consider tuning most of your spell skills off, minus Spellcasting, Charms, and one other school (probably Ice or Air in your case). Your Conjurations could possibly use some active management. I'd flick it off for a while and try to dump XP into Spellcasting, Charms, and that aforementioned 'one other school'. Once Spelllcasting and that 'one other school' start to catch up to your Conjurations you can flick it back on.
-I can't remember your Traps & Doors skill, but I'd very much consider trying to start dumping some XP on that to get it up to about 5 or so. Then turn it off.
-Unless you're planning on Stabbing or Throwing I'd turn those off as well.
-If you get a point in Armour, turn that off as well.

You really want your XP to concentrate on what you're good at.

While you're at it, some combination of swiftness, repel missiles, and blink all at 'excellent' are the basic save your bacon toolkit. Bonus points for levitate / fly, apportation, and haste later on. Since you should probably concentrate on 'one other school' once you pick that school and turn the other spell schools off (minus the few points needed for your utility spells) you really want to focus on that 'one other school' and pure Conj spells like your Magic Dart, Mystic Blast, and Orb of destruction. 'One other School' + 'Pure Conj Spells' + 'Utility Spells' = 'win'.

I'd also very much consider a Staff (or Rod), as it has good potential to be replaced by better later and you have an OK apt for that (But I'd turn it off after a handful of points until you have XP to burn). I'd also grab the first buckler you find (turn it off after a few points given the bad apts).

That's my .02 anyway.

edit: Also, stay the heck away from Lair unless you have a level 3 or preferably 4 'zap spell' at excellent. With your Conj you should be able to bring down an Ice Beast at maximum range with magic dart and good nerves. Anything heavier than that will eat you.

Sunday, 12th June 2011, 00:47 by iks

Wow, thanks for all the replies!

Guess I goofed a bit with skill management; Short Blades is 95% to level 2. Traps & Doors isn't accessible to me, is there a precursor requirement (I guess technically it's unknown)? Same with Charms (though I memorized Repel Missiles and have cast it). I'll have to keep a closer eye on these things.

If I have Fighting turned on but Short Blades turned off, and I use a dagger in combat, does the experience go toward Fighting?

Sunday, 12th June 2011, 01:09 by KoboldLord

iks wrote:Traps & Doors isn't accessible to me, is there a precursor requirement (I guess technically it's unknown)? Same with Charms (though I memorized Repel Missiles and have cast it). I'll have to keep a closer eye on these things.

Skills that are still at 0 don't get a place at the table, but they still exist. If you disarm a trap (Ctrl + arrow key when standing next to the trap) or cast a charms spell with xp in your pool, you'll train the relevant skill even though you can't see it on your skills screen. You simply don't have the option of turning it off until you hit level 1.

iks wrote:If I have Fighting turned on but Short Blades turned off, and I use a dagger in combat, does the experience go toward Fighting?

Your xp will go to one of several sources when you're stabbing rats. The act of hitting the rat with the dagger will attempt to train fighting and short blades if you successfully deal at least one point of damage. Getting hit by the rat back will attempt to train dodging, shields, or armor depending on your equipment. Passive skills like stealth and traps & doors will still potentially trigger if there's a relevant trigger around when you're trying to stab rats.

Turning off short blades will cause less to go into short blades. Roughly 25% as much per unit time, assuming a completely non-threatening punching bag that can't hit back, like an agate snail that you can pillar dance with. Some of the xp that does not go to short blades will go to fighting, but in most actual-game situations quite a bit of it will go elsewhere, too.

CIP: DECj level 11, stuck

CIP: DECj level 11, stuck

Re: CIP: DECj level 11, stuck

Re: CIP: DECj level 11, stuck

Re: CIP: DECj level 11, stuck

Re: CIP: DECj level 11, stuck

Re: CIP: DECj level 11, stuck

Re: CIP: DECj level 11, stuck

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