Cip - DECj of Vehumet

[Lyrick]

  Code:

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.14-a0-2682-g5763165 (console) character file.

Drake the Thaumaturge (Deep Elf Conjurer)          Turns: 17235, Time: 00:54:05

HP  55/60 (64)   AC  9     Str  8      XL: 12   Next: 53%
MP  36/36        EV 15     Int 23      God: Vehumet [****..]
Gold 1037        SH  7     Dex 12      Spells: 12 memorised,  2 levels left

rFire  . . .     SeeInvis .     (no weapon)
rCold  . . .     Clarity  .     D - +2 robe {rN+} (curse)
rNeg   + . .     Conserve .     B - +1 buckler
rPois  .         rCorr    .     (no helmet)
rElec  .         rRot     .     (no cloak)
SustAb . .       Spirit   .     h - +0 pair of gloves
rMut   .         Warding  .     (no boots)
Saprov . . .     Stasis   .     E - amulet of rage
MR     +....                    m - ring of sustenance
                                M - ring of invisibility

@: somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, fairly stealthy
A: rough black scales 1, blurry vision 1, clumsy 1, spit poison 2, wild magic 1
a: Spit Poison, Renounce Religion, Evoke Berserk Rage, Evoke Invisibility


You are on level 6 of the Lair of Beasts.
You worship Vehumet.
Vehumet is greatly pleased with you.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 3 branches of the dungeon, and seen 16 of its levels.

You have collected 1037 gold pieces.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 a - a +3,+2 cutlass
 A - a +0,+2 orcish dagger of holy wrath
Missiles
 q - 31 darts (quivered)
Armour
 h - a +0 pair of gloves (worn)
 B - a +1 buckler (worn)
 D - a cursed +2 robe of positive energy (worn)
Magical devices
 c - a wand of paralysis (9)
 u - a wand of lightning {zapped: 1}
 w - a wand of digging {zapped: 1}
 H - a wand of fire (9)
Comestibles
 k - a chunk of hound flesh
 s - 3 meat rations
Scrolls
 b - 2 scrolls of teleportation
 e - 5 scrolls of remove curse
 i - a scroll of fog
 j - 4 scrolls of magic mapping
 n - 9 scrolls of identify
 o - a scroll of enchant weapon I
 y - a scroll of enchant armour
 G - a scroll of recharging
Jewellery
 l - an uncursed ring of protection from magic
 m - a ring of sustenance (right hand)
 E - an amulet of rage (around neck)
 K - an uncursed ring of protection from fire
 M - a ring of invisibility (left hand)
Potions
 d - 4 potions of agility
 f - 3 potions of invisibility
 g - 7 potions of curing
 p - 3 potions of speed
 v - a potion of flight
 C - 5 potions of heal wounds
Books
 x - a book of Geomancy   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   Sandblast                          Earth                        1
   Stoneskin                          Transmutation/Earth          2
   Passwall                           Transmutation/Earth          3
   *Stone Arrow                       Conjuration/Earth            3
   *Petrify                           Transmutation/Earth          4
   *Lee's Rapid Deconstruction        Earth                        5
 J - a book of the Tempests   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   Static Discharge                   Conjuration/Air              3
   Lightning Bolt                     Conjuration/Air              5
   *Fireball                          Conjuration/Fire             5
   Tornado                            Air                          9
   Shatter                            Earth                        9
Magical staves
 r - an uncursed staff of earth


   Skills:
 - Level 3.0 Fighting
 - Level 8.0 Short Blades
 - Level 9.0 Dodging
 - Level 2.4 Stealth
 - Level 14.0 Spellcasting
 + Level 9.9 Conjurations
 - Level 7.1 Charms
 - Level 3.1 Necromancy
 - Level 5.1 Transmutations
 - Level 7.1 Fire Magic
 - Level 6.1 Earth Magic


You have 2 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Magic Dart            Conj           ####         1%          1    None
b - Fireball              Conj/Fire      ######....   2%          5    ##.....
c - Iskenderun's Battles  Conj/Chrm      ######..     1%          4    None
d - Iskenderun's Mystic   Conj           #######.     1%          4    None
e - Stone Arrow           Conj/Erth      ######       1%          3    None
f - Sublimation of Blood  Necr           #####.....   5%          2    None
g - Mephitic Cloud        Conj/Pois/Air  #####...     3%          3    None
h - Lee's Rapid Deconstr  Erth           ######....   6%          5    ##.....
i - Repel Missiles        Chrm/Air       #####.       4%          2    None
j - Inner Flame           Hex/Fire       #####...     2%          3    None
k - Petrify               Trmt/Erth      ######..     11%         4    None
l - Sting                 Conj/Pois      ####         1%          1    None


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (9/16)             Temple (1/1) D:4            Lair (6/8) D:9
 Shoals (0/5) Lair:3       Spider (0/5) Lair:5        Slime (0/6) Lair:6
   Orc: D:9-12     

Altars:
Ashenzari
Cheibriados
Dithmenos
Elyvilon
Makhleb
Nemelex Xobeh
Okawaru
Sif Muna
Trog
Vehumet
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin


Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You are partially covered in rough black scales (AC +4, Dex -1).
Your vision is a little blurry.
You are clumsy. (Dex -2)
You can spit moderately strong poison.
Your spells are a little harder to cast, but a little more powerful.


Message History

Aim: an ooze (severely wounded)
The magic dart hits the ooze.
The ooze is almost dead.
Your battlesphere fires!
The barrage of energy hits the ooze.
You kill the ooze!
Vehumet accepts your kill.
You feel your power returning.
You start resting.
Magic restored.
The wall burns you!
Save game and exit?
[Y]es or [N]o only, please.
Save game and exit?
Okay, then.
Unknown command.
Save game and exit?
Welcome back, Drake the Deep Elf Conjurer.
Vehumet says: Let it end in hellfire!
Press ? for a list of commands and other information.

            ..
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             ..    #.f .
              .####.##..
             ##..#..f.f.
           ###...........
           #f...@........
   #########%..*..#.#....
####.##P#...#............
.!......................
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#.##..####.....#.......
#######  ###..........
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There are no monsters in sight!


I usually go with Kikubaaqudgha but dlvl 2 had an altar to Vehumet, so I thought I'd give it a try.
Today I've gotten lucky and obtained the book of Geomancy, and also found a lucky Fireball. Petrify and LRD is working well with the pack creatures. I've also located the Book of Tempests, and since I've got some Earth magic under my belt should I use Shatter? Or just wait til Vehumet offers me Fire Storm?

[and into]

Personally: I'd forget inner flame (unless you are really into that spell), and I'd learn stone skin, and possibly passwall. Don't carry around scrolls of recharging, enchant weapon I, and enchant armor. Don't need to carry around that much identify either, for example.

You should be wearing your ring of protection from magic and your ring of protection from fire over sustenance and invisibility.

Raise dodging for higher EV, once EV is in the mid-20s or so, train some more Earth. Then get a bit of evocations and staves for staff of the earth. A bit more necromancy to make sublimation of blood better would not go amiss either, though not highest priority. Then staves to 12 and fighting.

Once you've gotten some good defensive and back up spells, HP above 150, plenty of EV and good AC, some more earth skill and iron shot, 12 staves, and maybe 8 or so evocations so your staff of earth is firing on every hit... That would be the time to consider going for Shatter.

Fire storm would be a bad choice for this character for a number of reasons.

[and into]

Oh yeah, use that scroll of enchant armor on your gloves, actually. Also keep an eye out for better armor. A +2 or +3 leather armor with a resistance isn't too uncommon. MR is most useful, particularly at this stage of the game.

[kartng]

Fire storm would be a bad choice for this character for a number of reasons.

And into and I have already had this conversation, but I don't see his reasoning here. Vehumet will guarantee access to Fire Storm and will significantly reduce the EXP you have to pour into it to make it castable. It would be a late game priority after you've found a ring of Wizardry AND a staff of energy, but I would personally go for it. Fireball and Bolt of Fire at very high power is a delightful consequence of your pursuit of it, which will carry you through the mid-game. He's certainly right to suggest you get things like Haste, Deflect Missiles, and such online first.

I disagree with the recommendations to train fighting to ~150 hp and to go with Staves. You certainly need to train some fighting, but if you have good AC/EV, I don't think you need quite that much. I also never train any weapon skills on my DE casters (or at least, not until I'm closing in on extended and need a way to deal with silence-inflicting enemies).

Now, if you want to play more of a hybrid Earth-Mage (which I think is where and into's suggestion is pointing you), then Fire Storm is certainly a bad idea - you'll be leveling too many things at once and end up too weak at all of them.

[Magipi]

Fire storm would be a bad choice for this character for a number of reasons.

I'm curious.

[and into]

Someone with staff of earth should probably get the extremely powerful level 9 spell that is only a single school rather than the dual school level 9 conj/fire spell, and plan accordingly, especially since Vehumet is *not* guaranteed to give fire storm and the OP already has access to shatter!

In any case level 9 spells should not be your concern when you are level 12. But if/when it does make sense for OP to get a super strong spell, shatter is obviously a better choice for him. You guys' focus on fire storm is blinkering you here.

Also if you have staff of earth getting 12 staves and 8 evocations is unbelievably cheap in mid/late game and gives an extremely powerful melee option, the cost/benefit ratio there is strongly advantageous. Yes if you have some irrational dislike of melee in Crawl then don't do it, but if you are mainly interested in winning it is a good idea.

[Magipi]

f you have staff of earth getting 12 staves and 8 evocations is unbelievably cheap in mid/late game and gives an extremely powerful melee option, the cost/benefit ratio there is strongly advantageous.

I absolutely agree with this. So the short term plan is clear, but why decide on the long term plan right now? On the next dungeon level there might be a staff of fire (or it might have been found already, but not picked up).

Also, I think firestom is a much better spell for killing stuff than shatter.

[and into]

Yes, fire storm is better nuke if you ignore experience costs, but it also requires considerable investment (even with Veh's help) in two schools rather than just one. And if you went fire storm, any conjurations beyond what is needed to cast orb of destruction (assuming you want to use that spell) wouldn't be helping you much, until you get fire storm castable, because unlike earth and air, there aren't any level 8 conj + fire spells that you might want. Whereas if you want to get more earth, you don't need to raise conj, and can still cast iron shot and even LCS just from conjuration you have now and lots of earth. And every skill level of earth also increases staff of earth damage. So you'd be investing a lot of experience, but getting great returns at every point. As opposed to going for fire storm, which requires more experience and gives less returns until you actually get it castable. Sure fire storm is arguably better but both are incredibly strong nukes, and LCS is the best answer to OoFs for conjuration-centric characters that exists in the game. (I don't believe you have access to LCS, but you also don't yet have fire storm, either, so my suggestion to consider greater investment in earth makes no greater assumptions than does hoping for fire storm.)

So long as you don't neglect your defenses, then by all means get fire storm if and when it makes sense, instead of shatter, if that is what you really want to get. You are right—don't concern yourself with what might or might not make sense thousands of turns from now. However, if we are going to make predictions, then based on what you have now, shatter is much more likely to be a sensible end game goal than fire storm, in my opinion.