YASD - SpBe 0 : Electric Eel 1

[Jenx]

Man, Spriggan Berserkers are a ton of fun! This one did pretty well I guess, although the beginning was rough. At first Trog was being kind of weird. Despite me having 6-7 levels in Small Blades his first gifts included a shitty quarterstaff, a trident and a sling that was so amazingly bad I just left it where it was.

After that things started to pick up, with the sling I have with me being pretty much the best one he gave me. Got a whole bunch of swords, some good, some bad, some so-so. In the end I mostly just used my katana because it dealt nice damage and was pretty damn fast.

After clearning Lair and Orc, finding the entrance to the Vaults and the Elven Halls I was lost as to what to do. I've cleared the hive with a randart short sword which gave poison resistance so I decided to use the one I have here and try to clean up the snake pit a bit. Got wasted by an electric eel on the very first level, because I decided to melee the thing instead of sending a Brother at it. It did show I was probably not ready for the rest of the Snake Pit though, considering the trouble I had on the very first level.

Other Lair branches were kind of lousy too - I got Shoals and Slime Pit. no way I'm going near the slimes, and the Shoals weren't all that fun either.

It was a nice run I guess. One of my top 3.

  Code:

89488 Angriest Pixie the Spry (level 15, -2/86 HPs)
             Began as a Spriggan Berserker on Jan 16, 2011.
             Was a High Priest of Trog.
             Killed from afar by an electric eel (7 damage)
             ... with a bolt of electricity
             
             ... on Level 1 of the Snake Pit.
             The game lasted 01:18:04 (39790 turns).

Angriest Pixie the Spry (Spriggan Berserker)                       Turns: 39790, Time: 01:18:04

HP  -2/86        AC  9     Str 18      Exp: 15/123990 (2), need: 13159
MP  25/25        EV 37     Int 11      God: Trog [*****.]
Gold 2695        SH  0     Dex 20      Spells:  0 memorised, 16 levels left

Res.Fire  : + . .   See Invis. : +   a - +8 short sword "Zieschero" {god gift, slic
Res.Cold  : + + .   Warding    : .   r - +2 animal skin {rF+}
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .   (shield restricted)
Res.Acid. : . . .   Res.Corr.  : .   Y - +2 wizard hat
Res.Poison: +       Clarity    : .   L - +2 cloak {MR}
Res.Elec. : .       Spirit.Shd : .   (gloves unavailable)
Sust.Abil.: . .     Stasis     : .   (boots unavailable)
Res.Mut.  : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .   T - amulet of rage
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : .   t - +4 ring of strength
Saprovore : . . .   Ctrl.Flight: .   J - +4 ring of evasion

@: very quick, extremely resistant to hostile enchantments, quite stealthy
A: unfitting armour, see invisible, herbivore 3, speed 3, slow metabolism 3, Int +1
a: Burn Spellbooks, Berserk, Trog's Hand, Brothers in Arms, Renounce Religion, Evoke Blink,
Evoke Berserk Rage


You were on level 1 of the Snake Pit.
You worshipped Trog.
Trog was exalted by your worship.
You were not hungry.

You visited 10 branches of the dungeon, and saw 38 of its levels.
You visited 3 portal chambers: sewer, volcano, ice cave.

You collected 3249 gold pieces.
You spent 574 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 a - the +8,+8 short sword "Zieschero" (weapon) {god gift, slice, Hunger +Blink rPois rC++}
   (Trog gifted it to you on level 2 of the Hive)   
   It inflicts extra damage upon your enemies.
   It greatly protects you from cold.
   It protects you from poison.
   It lets you blink.
   It speeds your metabolism.
 b - the +3,+2 sling of the Harvest {speed, -CAST MR Dex+2}
   (You found it on level 6 of the Dungeon)   
   Attacks with this weapon take half as long as usual.
   It affects your dexterity (+2).
   It increases your resistance to enchantments.
   It prevents spellcasting.
 Z - a +3,+6 katana {god gift}
Missiles
 k - 13 steel +1 sling bullets {god gift}
 p - 6 exploding +0 darts (quivered)
 y - 29 +1 sling bullets of flame {god gift}
 A - 29 poisoned +0 sling bullets {god gift}
 N - 2 +0 sling bullets of flame {god gift}
 V - 32 silver +1 sling bullets {god gift}
Armour
 r - a +2 animal skin of fire resistance (worn)
 L - a +2 cloak of magic resistance (worn)
 Y - a +2 wizard hat (worn)
Magical devices
 s - a wand of teleportation (11)
 v - a wand of paralysis (11)
 C - a wand of polymorph other (8)
 E - a wand of polymorph other (6)
 G - a wand of disintegration (5)
 I - a wand of fire (1)
 K - a wand of fire (4)
 P - a wand of draining (7)
 Q - a wand of digging (7)
 U - a wand of fireball (0)
 X - a wand of draining (5)
Comestibles
 F - 5 bread rations
Scrolls
 e - 3 scrolls of fear
 h - 11 scrolls of remove curse
 l - a scroll of fog
 n - 13 scrolls of teleportation
 o - 5 scrolls of recharging
 B - 3 scrolls of holy word
 H - a scroll of enchant armour
 M - 7 scrolls of blinking
Jewellery
 c - an uncursed ring of magical power
 i - an uncursed ring of protection from fire
 m - an uncursed ring of protection from fire
 t - a +4 ring of strength (right hand)
 u - the ring "Veitecaj" {unknown, rElec Dex+1 SInv}
   (You found it in an ice cave)   
   [ring of dexterity]
   It affects your dexterity (+1).
   It insulates you from electricity.
   It enhances your eyesight.
 D - a +4 ring of intelligence
 J - a +4 ring of evasion (left hand)
 O - an uncursed ring of levitation
 R - an uncursed ring of life protection
 T - an amulet of rage (around neck)
Potions
 d - a potion of agility
 f - 2 potions of mutation
 g - a potion of berserk rage
 q - 4 potions of speed
 w - a potion of resistance
 x - a potion of levitation
 z - a potion of might
 S - 7 potions of healing
 W - 2 potions of invisibility
Miscellaneous
 j - a lamp of fire


 You had 2 experience left.

   Skills:
 + Level 8 Fighting
 + Level 13 Short Blades
 + Level 14 Long Blades
 - Level 2 Axes
 + Level 12 Slings
 - Level 1 Throwing
 + Level 16 Dodging
 - Level 10 Stealth
 + Level 12 Stabbing
 + Level 4 Traps & Doors
 - Level 1 Spellcasting
 + Level 2 Evocations

[colma]

SPBe seem to be flavour of the month. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a SPCu be better in just about every way? They even get the 'zerker rage spell from their starter book. I also prefer the summons of Makhleb to Trog's.

[Jenx]

Could be, but after several tries I've learned I fuckin' hate Crusaders with a passion. Or maybe I just suck at them, I dunno.

[mageykun]

Nah. SpBe's aren't about 'zerking, or the summons, though Trog's are nice (and unlike Makhleb's, they're always friendly). The whole point of the build, as I see it, is the endless Trog gifts from all the offered corpses. You're pretty much guaranteed a nice blade eventually, and endless ammo is always useful. You wouldn't get that with a SpCu Mahlebite.

The other, perhaps counter-intuitive plus about this build is the food. Spellcasting spriggans lose hunger training spell skills, but unless you're 'zerking, the SpBe might as well be undead. Your metabolism is downright glacial.

@ Jenx:

Yeah, Trog gifts are a little erratic. For a little while my SpBe was using an axe, and a crossbow, because I didn't have anything else!

In your place, I would have left stealth turned on, and turned off weapon skills, and probably stabbing too. They were good enough already. Evasion, stealth, and fighting are your best friends with this build- cut down on the chance of being hit, and of increase your odds of surviving if you are. I found investing in shields to help too- but the -2 penalty is a bit of a pain to get past initially. But anything to protect your spriggan frailty is worth it.

[Jenx]

Nah. SpBe's aren't about 'zerking, or the summons, though Trog's are nice (and unlike Makhleb's, they're always friendly). The whole point of the build, as I see it, is the endless Trog gifts from all the offered corpses. You're pretty much guaranteed a nice blade eventually, and endless ammo is always useful. You wouldn't get that with a SpCu Mahlebite.

The other, perhaps counter-intuitive plus about this build is the food. Spellcasting spriggans lose hunger training spell skills, but unless you're 'zerking, the SpBe might as well be undead. Your metabolism is downright glacial.

@ Jenx:

Yeah, Trog gifts are a little erratic. For a little while my SpBe was using an axe, and a crossbow, because I didn't have anything else!

In your place, I would have left stealth turned on, and turned off weapon skills, and probably stabbing too. They were good enough already. Evasion, stealth, and fighting are your best friends with this build- cut down on the chance of being hit, and of increase your odds of surviving if you are. I found investing in shields to help too- but the -2 penalty is a bit of a pain to get past initially. But anything to protect your spriggan frailty is worth it.

@gifts - Yup, that's pretty much it. I only went berserk during the first several dungeon levels, to make sure I survive. Summoning Brothers does help tough, and I try to do it when I run into huge mobs of monsters with lots of open space around. Those iron trolls do wonders. (I usually just run away, then go back and follow a long string of bodies to where my troll had ran off to)

@food - Even if I was a spellcaster, by the time of my death I had around 20 honeycombs stashed in the Lair and over 30 honeycombs and around 15 royal jellies in my back-up stash at the Hive. I could have casted Firestorms at every giant bat I ran into and still wouldn't have a food problem.

@skills - I turned stealth on since I saw I have it at +4, so I assume it would just level itself up anyway. Also I was thinking of maybe getting my weapons (Small Blades, Long Blades and Slings) to around level 15 or something, and just turning them off then, same with Stabbing. Then I'd just leave Fighting, dodging, stealth and traps on.