CiP: VSWn of Ash

[dornbeast]

edit: Never mind. Too many spiny frogs, not enough choke points.

...well, so much for posting a character dump. crawl.s-z.org just decided to be unavailable to me. (I can ping it, but I can't load the page.)

In any case, I've been killing VSWn for a while now, although some have survived longer than others. The current one is an unarmed combat/transmutations sort with Stealth. I picked Ashenzari on impulse.

I partially bound armour and shields (including a Swamp Dragon armour I found on D:1), brought my Shields up to 5 with Ash's help (couldn't resist the Buckler of Protection), and I was working my way through the lair when things went south.

Questions:
How much Unarmed Combat and Stealth is enough? I know I should start focusing on some other skills sooner or later, but I'm not sure when. (Currently UC and Stealth are getting most of the xp, but Transmutations and Ice are getting a little.)

Do I need Spider Form at this point? I memorized Ice Form and Blade Hands with the help of a !Brilliance, with intent to bring Ice Form to a decent percentage. I haven't brought in Spider Form. If I don't need it, I'd rather save the spell slots (or !amnesia) in case I need them later.

How far can I reasonably go on a hungerless Beastly Appendage? (I'm inclined to think I'm pushing the limit right now.) How much hunger is acceptable on Ice Form or Blade Hands?

Should I just dump the !branding?

[GlassGo]

For Lair as a VSTm all you will need Ice Form. It's enough for all treats except death yak, and maybe catoblepas.
To get to Lair you'll need Spider Form. If you can do it without Spider Form - skip it.
For Lair you will need 11 Unarmed, maybe 16.5 or 17 if you can afford it.
You don't need more than 10 Stealth, 15 at maximum.
Beastly Appendage need only to get Spider Form. )

Also - try Transmuters of Chei. It's have it's own bright sides.

[Lyrick]

For transmutations spells, hunger doesn't really matter; you're usually casting them once per fight, after which you can eat a few chunks and be not hungry again.

Spider form grants great evasion and poison brand, but melds your armor and weapon. Its quite decent in early dungeon and lair, but later on the 2 AC can become a liability; if you have a decent amount of AC you probably don't need spider form. Although, it also lets you cling, so it acts kind of like flight.

Drop the scroll of branding somewhere safe, just in case a +12 quick blade shows up or something.

[GlassGo]

Spider Form doesn't give cling now.

[Lyrick]

Spider Form doesn't give cling now.

HUH, when'd that happen?

[notcluie]

a couple months ago when cling was removed for the greater good
e: also don't play tm^chei, if you really want a nonstandard god Ru is pretty good

[GlassGo]

Don't listen notcluie, worship Chei and pick Tm.

[notcluie]

GODS BETTER THAN CHEI FOR TM:
Oka gets you through early game with heroism and consistently gives you an edge on melee skills so you can reach for better tmut spells earlier
Fedhas is the best god in the game with the best 1* so it helps when Tm is weak
Jiyva can instant kill things and gets you a free rune
Lucy gives you great escape options but is a pain to worship, this might be worse than Chei since you have to get abyssed
Ely gives you unlimited triple heal wounds and insta kills
TSO is probably worse, but he at least gives you halo for when your accuracy sucks and doesn't trash your movespeed (also summon A is ridiculous)
you can't go wrong with Trog
Ash is okay i guess, skill boost is okay but it is slow to gain piety since you can't curse your fists
Q gives you free resists for hydra form and a strong smite attack
G gives pots at least, not amazing though
Ru is really really good for a lot of reasons i can't be bothered to go through

So yeah about half the pantheon does more than chei
CHEI: +15 str (you don't need this unless you use dragon form) int (lol, not needed much at all on Tm) dex (good)
also ruins your positioning abilities and has a worse escape ability than most of the other gods, and does nothing in the early game
Oh, and learndb's opinion:
"transmuter gods"
ones that aren't chei

[Siegurt]

I would argue that trog is worse for a tm, but only because he forbids spells and hence transmutations

[notcluie]

who says a transmuter needs to transmute

[Siegurt]

Well if you aren't going to transmute, then why play a transmuter, it's like a crappy monk at that point.

[duvessa]

qazlal is actually more harmful than chei imo, unless you just pretend that monsters out of los don't exist

[dornbeast]

Ash is okay i guess, skill boost is okay but it is slow to gain piety since you can't curse your fists

I can't argue that; if I hadn't had a cloak, boots, and gloves to go with the armour, things would have been really slow - only a buckler for partial binding on the hands.

I was still looking for a decent set of jewelry when I made my fatal error.