Slime Squisher
Posts: 406
Joined: Thursday, 16th June 2011, 18:36
Tuesday, 28th February 2012, 22:47
CIP: Sludge Elf Transmuter of Chei
I just got back into Crawl again a few days ago, and decided to give Chei another try. I'd gone with him once before as a crusader type and just got mobbed to death. This time I decided to get maximum utility out of his stat bonuses and play as a Sludge Elf Transmuter (neither a race nor a background I'd played before).
Oo, lots of fun. After a dozen or so early deaths not even making it to the Temple, an early artifact ring put my current character over the hump. Hat of Pondering from Gastronok has doubled down on the "swarm me so I can squish you" game. By the end of Lair I had 3 artifact rings giving me a choice of resistances, +acc/+dam, and +5+8 AC. Jewelry: usable in all forms!
+15 to all stats makes Unarmed in forms fearsome against single targets, and my piety gain is fast enough I can Slouch out of most dangerous situations. Now having cleared Snake, Shoals, and Vault 1-7 mostly in Dragon Form I've just gotten access to Statue Form and 90% reliable Controlled Blink, and am pausing for breath.
I do have a crazy curiosity-killed-the-cat streak that tries to kill me in Crawl. I don't play cautiously all the time. I need to *feel* the danger in order for caution to kick in. So when I'm flattening any single target in 1-2 hits, and all the Slime Monsters in front of me merge into a Titanic Slime Monster, I try hitting it to find out if I'm really that powerful. I take off 1/4 of its health, and it takes me from 112/112 to 2/112 in one hit. Danger felt! Lesson learned! I blinked and wanded it down.
Then there was this vault with mutagenic gas, transparent stone walls, and a stash with a ? in the back corner indicating multiple items. Ooo you vault designers sure know how to hook me. I try hard to use the UI to remote-examine what's under the top item. I think the answer is that I can only do that if I have "seen" the other items in the stash by some other means, eg by having stood on top of it and examined it in the past. I have to get the yummy item(s) that they must have put behind all that badness, yet I do not have rMut. But, Controlled Blink is at 75% at this point and I have a couple Cure Mutation pots stashed, and hey, half the possible mutations are good anyway, I could come out ahead.
After a few blinks I make it to the stash with 5 bad mutations. By the time I teleport out I have 2 more bad mutations, and manage to sleep off the yellow glow without getting anything more. Research subsequently confirms that mutagenic clouds mostly give bad mutations -- despite their rainbowey glittery allure. I drink one of my CM pots and decide to live with the remaining 3 bad mutations since two of them are suppressed in forms. This is how we train that part of my brain that really, there are prices that are too high to pay to find out what is behind door #2.
So yes, this character is both very lucky in getting artifacts that match his play strategy and in not being dead or horribly deranged from the poor guidance I have given him. Now I'm going to spend some time thinking about my gear, spells, skill training, and Statue Form before I get near any other shiny things that will try to hurt me. I'll post a dump later today.
Oh yeah -- the mystery item from the mutagenic vault was a plain deck of cards.
Oo, lots of fun. After a dozen or so early deaths not even making it to the Temple, an early artifact ring put my current character over the hump. Hat of Pondering from Gastronok has doubled down on the "swarm me so I can squish you" game. By the end of Lair I had 3 artifact rings giving me a choice of resistances, +acc/+dam, and +5+8 AC. Jewelry: usable in all forms!
+15 to all stats makes Unarmed in forms fearsome against single targets, and my piety gain is fast enough I can Slouch out of most dangerous situations. Now having cleared Snake, Shoals, and Vault 1-7 mostly in Dragon Form I've just gotten access to Statue Form and 90% reliable Controlled Blink, and am pausing for breath.
I do have a crazy curiosity-killed-the-cat streak that tries to kill me in Crawl. I don't play cautiously all the time. I need to *feel* the danger in order for caution to kick in. So when I'm flattening any single target in 1-2 hits, and all the Slime Monsters in front of me merge into a Titanic Slime Monster, I try hitting it to find out if I'm really that powerful. I take off 1/4 of its health, and it takes me from 112/112 to 2/112 in one hit. Danger felt! Lesson learned! I blinked and wanded it down.
Then there was this vault with mutagenic gas, transparent stone walls, and a stash with a ? in the back corner indicating multiple items. Ooo you vault designers sure know how to hook me. I try hard to use the UI to remote-examine what's under the top item. I think the answer is that I can only do that if I have "seen" the other items in the stash by some other means, eg by having stood on top of it and examined it in the past. I have to get the yummy item(s) that they must have put behind all that badness, yet I do not have rMut. But, Controlled Blink is at 75% at this point and I have a couple Cure Mutation pots stashed, and hey, half the possible mutations are good anyway, I could come out ahead.
After a few blinks I make it to the stash with 5 bad mutations. By the time I teleport out I have 2 more bad mutations, and manage to sleep off the yellow glow without getting anything more. Research subsequently confirms that mutagenic clouds mostly give bad mutations -- despite their rainbowey glittery allure. I drink one of my CM pots and decide to live with the remaining 3 bad mutations since two of them are suppressed in forms. This is how we train that part of my brain that really, there are prices that are too high to pay to find out what is behind door #2.
So yes, this character is both very lucky in getting artifacts that match his play strategy and in not being dead or horribly deranged from the poor guidance I have given him. Now I'm going to spend some time thinking about my gear, spells, skill training, and Statue Form before I get near any other shiny things that will try to hurt me. I'll post a dump later today.
Oh yeah -- the mystery item from the mutagenic vault was a plain deck of cards.
Won with: KeAE^Sif, NaWz^Sif, NaTm^Chei, SpEn^Nmlx, GrEE^Qaz, HOFE^Veh, MiBe^Trog, DrFE^Hep, FoFi^Zin, CeHu^Oka, DjFE^Ash, DrIE^Ru, FeSu^Jiy, GnCA^Usk.
In Progress:
Long-term goal: complete the pantheon.
In Progress:
Long-term goal: complete the pantheon.