CIP: OpMo

[torrenera]

Hi everybody,

so I started this Octopode Monk decided to hug everybody I'd meet in my trip to the Orb and on level 4 or 5 of the dungeon I've found a book of transfiguration. Octopode and Statue form?!?!!? LOOOOOOOVE.
Problem is I've always had this issue with what comes first. What shall I do now, at level 7, with roughly 10 points in unarmed and 1 point in transmutation? Shall I pump unarmed first in order to have a strong melee attack and then, reached 20 points, go for stoneskin/statue form or shall I move toward the spellcasting abilities first and then, when i can statue freely, come back to the melee skill? Or none of the two ?
I think i'll choose Makled as god, Chei frustrate me too much.
Thank you,

m.

[Eyesburn]

Well keep UC turned on all the time, and train 1 or 2 skills more. Learn Stoneskin; as you are XL 7 dont expect to be able to cast statue freely soon.
This is cool advice from tedric about skilling:

General advice is to train one or two skills at a time, focusing on things that will help you right now and swapping to lower-level skills when certain thresholds are met -- such as hitting mindelay on your weapon, or getting that main conjuration spell down to an acceptable failure rate. Generally that means: first, your primary way to kill things (main spell school OR melee skill); second, your primary way to avoid being killed (armour OR dodging); third, other survival skills (fighting, spellcasting, stealth, secondary spell schools, etc. depending on the build); fourth, returning to steps 1 and 2 as needed to upgrade your equipment and/or spell set.

[torrenera]

Thanks for the answer.
Tedric advice is usually what I do in all my Crawl game, problem is sometimes, with some characters, I don't know what should come first, like in this case.
If I had a MiFi I wouldn't have any doubt
Anyway the poor Octopode died to my own stupidity tabbing an hill giant skeleton.
Thanks again,

m.

[tasonir]

OpMo's are a very, very challenging combo. I wish you the best of luck with them, they are some of favorite characters as well, they're just brutal.

Statue form is amazing for them, but you can't cast it quickly at level 7. Doing something extreme like worshipping Chei will speed it up a lot, as well as 1-2 wiz rings, but even then it is a lot of work to get castable. I'd keep working on your unarmed/defenses for a while, generally speaking. You don't need unarmed much past 15 or so, but probably need a lot of fighting/dodging/shields/invocations etc. Get the rest of your skills prepared, then dive into earth/transmutations. If you can, raise earth a lot more than transmutations, but be aware of the exp cost of doing this.

This is why I tended to play a lot of OpEE's. Easier ranged start (you get a book!), and you have a perfectly valid reason to train earth to 15. When you suddenly find statue form and you already have 15 earth, it is a LOT easier to suddenly train for statue form. And you get to start with stoneskin, too.