YASD 27 SpVM Death in Dis (webtiles)

[lazylink]

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.10.0-14-ga75c42d character file.

686452 enemyfighter the Archmage (level 27, -8/133 HPs)
             Began as a Spriggan Venom Mage on Mar 4, 2012.
             Was the Champion of Vehumet.
             Mangled by a reaper
             ... wielding a +1,+6 scythe of protection
             ... created by the effects of Hell
              (16 damage)
             ... while paralysed by the effects of Hell
             ... on Level 3 of the Iron City of Dis on Mar 8, 2012.
             The game lasted 21:49:16 (172730 turns).

enemyfighter the Archmage (Spriggan Venom Mage)   Turns: 172730, Time: 21:49:16

HP  -8/133       AC 12     Str  7      XL: 27
MP  36/50        EV  4     Int 29      God: Vehumet [******]
Gold 4743        SH  0     Dex 19      Spells: 16 memorised,  4 levels left

Res.Fire  : + + +   See Invis. : +    p - +7 mace "Trivveowk" {venom, rC+ Str+2 Int+
Res.Cold  : + + +   Warding    : . .  B - +2 robe {Archmagi} (curse)
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : +    j - +0 buckler {rC+ rF+}
Res.Acid. : + . .   Res.Corr.  : +    G - +2 hat of the Alchemist {rElec rF+ rC+ MR}
Res.Poison: .       Clarity    : .    s - +2 cloak {rCorr, Cons}
Res.Elec. : +       Spirit.Shd : .    (gloves unavailable)
Sust.Abil.: + .     Stasis     : .    (boots unavailable)
Res.Mut.  : +       Ctrl.Telep.: .    l - cursed amulet of resist mutation
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : .    f - ring of Dapos {rF+ AC+3}
Saprovore : . . .   Ctrl.Flight: .    a - cursed ring of sustain abilities

@: paralysed, very quick, incredibly resistant to hostile enchantments, very
stealthy
A: unfitting armour, see invisible, herbivore 3, speed 3, slow metabolism 3
a: Renounce Religion
}: 4/15 runes: decaying, serpentine, slimy, silver


You were on level 3 of the Iron City of Dis.
You worshipped Vehumet.
Vehumet was exalted by your worship.
You were very full.

You visited 14 branches of the dungeon, and saw 83 of its levels.
You visited 1 Labyrinth.
You visited 1 bazaar.
You visited 4 portal chambers: volcano, ice cave, wizlab, trove.

You collected 9292 gold pieces.
You spent 4569 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 p - the +7,+7 mace "Trivveowk" (weapon) {venom, rC+ Str+2 Int+3}
   (You found it on level 26 of the Dungeon)   
   
   It poisons the flesh of those it strikes.
   
   It affects your strength (+2).
   It affects your intelligence (+3).
   It protects you from cold.
Armour
 j - a +0 buckler of resistance (worn)
 s - a +2 cloak of preservation (worn)
 B - a cursed +2 robe of the Archmagi (worn)
 G - the +2 hat of the Alchemist (worn) {rElec rF+ rC+ MR}
   (You bought it in a shop in a bazaar)   
   
   It protects you from fire.
   It protects you from cold.
   It insulates you from electricity.
   It increases your resistance to enchantments.
Magical devices
 h - a wand of digging (5)
 C - a wand of teleportation (6)
Scrolls
 c - a scroll of recharging
 g - 2 scrolls of remove curse
 i - 3 scrolls of identify
 m - a scroll of blinking
 o - 2 scrolls of teleportation
Jewellery
 a - a cursed ring of sustain abilities (left hand)
 f - the ring of Dapos (right hand) {rF+ AC+3}
   (You found it in a treasure trove)   
   
   [ring of protection]
   It affects your AC (+3).
   
   It protects you from fire.
 l - a cursed amulet of resist mutation (around neck)
Potions
 b - 3 potions of curing
 d - a potion of restore abilities
 n - 3 potions of heal wounds


   Skills:
 - Level 10,2 Fighting
 - Level 21,4 Dodging
 - Level 8,0 Stealth
 - Level 9,1 Shields
 - Level 12,0 Traps & Doors
 O Level 27 Spellcasting
 - Level 20,0 Conjurations
 - Level 7,7 Charms
 - Level 4,2 Summonings
 - Level 16,1 Necromancy
 - Level 16,6 Transmutations
 - Level 18,5 Fire Magic
 - Level 3,0 Ice Magic
 - Level 3,7 Air Magic
 - Level 9,0 Poison Magic
 + Level 7,3 Evocations


You had 4 spell levels left.
You knew the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Sting                 Pois/Conj      #####        0%          1    None
b - Iskenderun's Mystic   Conj           #########    0%          4    None
c - Alistair's Intoxicat  Pois/Trmt      #########    1%          4    None
d - Venom Bolt            Pois/Conj      #########.   1%          5    None
e - Poison Arrow          Pois/Conj      #########.   1%          6    None
f - Dispel Undead         Necr           #########    1%          5    None
g - Flight                Air/Chrm       ########..   1%          3    None
h - Regeneration          Chrm/Necr      #########.   0%          3    None
i - Abjuration            Summ           #######...   1%          3    None
j - Orb of Destruction    Conj           #########.   1%          7    None
k - Freezing Cloud        Ice/Air/Conj   ########..   1%          6    None
l - Fire Storm            Fire/Conj      #########.   6%          9    Honeycomb
m - Haste                 Chrm           ########.    6%          6    None
n - Necromutation         Trmt/Necr      #########.   6%          8    Choko
q - Animate Dead          Necr           N/A          0%          4    None
w - Repel Missiles        Air/Chrm       ########..   1%          2    None


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (27/27)            Temple (1/1) D:5             Orc (4/4) D:11
    Elf (5/5) Orc:4          Lair (8/8) D:12          Swamp (5/5) Lair:4
  Slime (6/6) Lair:8        Snake (5/5) Lair:5        Vault (8/8) D:17
  Blade (1/1) Vault:5       Crypt (5/5) Vault:2        Tomb (0/3) Crypt:2
   Hell (1/1)                 Dis (3/7) Hell            Geh (0/7) Hell
    Tar (0/7) Hell            Zot (4/5) D:27       
   Coc: Hell:1     

Altars:
Ashenzari
Cheibriados
Elyvilon
Fedhas
Kikubaaqudgha
Makhleb
Nemelex Xobeh
Okawaru
Sif Muna
The Shining One
Trog
Vehumet
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin
Jiyva

Shops:
D:4: +  D:21: /  Orc:4: *%(?  Snake:1: %  Snake:2: !  Snake:5: =
Vault:1: ?  Vault:3: *  Vault:6: (

Portals:
Hell: D:21 D:22 D:23 D:24 D:25 D:26 D:27
Abyss: D:23 D:24 D:25 D:26 D:27
Pan: D:23 D:24 D:27


                    Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You are tiny and cannot use many weapons and most armour.
You have supernaturally acute eyesight.
You are a herbivore.
You cover ground extremely quickly.*
You need consume almost no food.


Message History

You sense an ancient evil watching you...
You suddenly lose the ability to move!
A soul eater comes into view.
A reaper comes into view. It is wielding a glowing scythe.
The soul eater hits you!
The reaper hits you from afar with a glowing scythe.
The soul eater hits you! You feel drained.
The soul eater hits you.
The reaper hits you from afar with a glowing scythe!
The soul eater completely misses you.
The reaper hits you from afar with a glowing scythe!
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
The soul eater hits you.
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
The soul eater hits you!
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
You feel drained.
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
The reaper hits you from afar with a glowing scythe!
You die...

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You could see a reaper and a soul eater.



This is my most powerful character so far. He easily cleared Snake Pit, Swamp and Vault. Freezing Cloud and Animate Dead made most difficult fights trivial for him. Only problem in the mid game was no clarity amulet until D25, which let me use Alistair's Intoxication for V8.

I also got to use Fire Storm for the first time. Overall it's rather unimpressive. The only fight for which it proved invaluable was the Royal Jelly, and I have to admit it made that fight ridiculously easy. I made the mistake of using it in V8, which resulted endless hoards of monsters coming to the stairs, which would have been fine if I had the mana to fend them off. But I have to admit it is a really good feeling to cast Fire Storm and see it's carnage, even if it's horribly inefficient for most situations.

I never went into Vestibule before, and it was a pretty hard fight because I tried to Fire Storm against Geryon, which was ineffective so I switched to Poison Arrow and killed him in 4 hits, keep in mind my Fire Magic is at 18 and my Poison Magic is at 9.

I then went to Dis where I died. I was really worried about Torment so I learned Necromutation, however Torment was not the problem. The problem was mana and Hell curse summons. After a typical fight I had less that 50% mana. I could either sit and rest, which invited the Hell curse, or I could keep going which lead to regular monsters. In either case my mana pool steadily waned. The only strategy I could come up with was clearing out a path until I was out of mana, then return to Vestibule, resting, and following that same path. Necromutation was largely useless and Evocations would have proven invaluable.

In the end I died to two Tier 3 Demons and a Hell curse paralyze, rather anticlimactic.

My items were incredible, both artefacts and regular magic items, here is a list of the highlights:

the +7,+7 mace "Trivveowk" (weapon) {venom, rC+ Str+2 Int+3}
buckler of resistance
+2 cloak of preservation
+2 robe of the Archmagi
robe of resistance
the +2 hat of the Alchemist (worn) {rElec rF+ rC+ MR}
randart Hammer {rElec rF+ rC++}
Mace of Brilliance

Jewelry was unimpressive compared to these items, but it still was average. As you can see I could mix and match items from different slots and still have maximum resistances.

The only unlucky thing was I had no Dispel Missiles despite asking for books 3 times from scrolls of acquirement.

My next SpVM will not get Fire Storm at all and will get Necromutation much later. He will instead go Summon Dragon first, then Evocations, and finally Necromutation. I was also thinking about dipping into Earth Magic for Crystal Spear as orb of Destruction is poor in close range. This means that his only area spells will be Freezing Cloud, but I think I will be fine if I summon enough dragons. Thoughts?

Also, I don't want to brag, but I think have a pretty good strategy for getting through the early game as a SpVM. I also know how to do a basic 3 rune run with relative ease. Although there is already a guide for SpVM on the wiki:

http://crawl.chaosforge.org/index.php?t ... Mage_guide

that I myself found very useful, it is still quite old (before the skill system revamp in .9). I was wondering if anybody would be interested if I wrote another guide which would deal with early-mid game as well as completing a 3 rune run.

[Happy Corner]

Fire Storm becomes more impressive (and cost effective) when you're also using a staff of fire and/or ring of fire to enhance it. Cold vulnerability from the ring is a downside, but you can easily slip off the ring when you don't need a peak Fire Storm. I'm surprised Vehumet (who is also excellent to combine with Fire Storm) didn't help more with the MP loss, but a staff of channeling can also help if you're really struggling with that.

Summon Dragon is a great endgame spell, or so I've read on this forum. (I don't really like summoners, so I've never seen the endgame of that particular strategy.)

And please write your guide! There are never enough (or current enough) guides for this game.

[ebarrett]

I stopped reading when you said firestorm is underwhelming and inefficient. A very quick glance at the rest revealed a link to the chaosforge wiki, which tells me I probably made the right decision.

[Happy Corner]

I stopped reading when you said firestorm is underwhelming and inefficient. A very quick glance at the rest revealed a link to the chaosforge wiki, which tells me I probably made the right decision.

Just out of curiosity, was there some reason you had to phrase that in such an insulting manner?

Seriously, you're on a forum devoted to a game from an extremely niche genre that the rest of the gaming industry left behind decades ago. Waving around your massive e-penis counts for very little here.

[slowcar]

necromutation is golden together with a staff of channeling, especially on a spriggan. if you don't find one regeneration+sublimation are helpful, but sublimation can also be hard to find.
resting in hells is really not advisable, but becoming paralyzed and getting inbound and even summoned enemies: bad luck.
I lost a character to paralyzed+eldritch tentacle, it is very rare to get them so close together, but it seems to happen. In my opinion a point that could be improved.

[sir_laser]

I stopped reading when you said firestorm is underwhelming and inefficient. A very quick glance at the rest revealed a link to the chaosforge wiki, which tells me I probably made the right decision.

Just out of curiosity, was there some reason you had to phrase that in such an insulting manner?

Seriously, you're on a forum devoted to a game from an extremely niche genre that the rest of the gaming industry left behind decades ago. Waving around your massive e-penis counts for very little here.

Word.
Besides, the Chaosforge Wiki contains useful things; they just have to be differentiated from the non-useful things. That is to say, it is of no use to the inexperienced player.

[lazylink]

I find that the wiki is accurate for the most part, but sometimes it simply misses information. For example, for the Vestibule it suggest high AC and EV in order to handle yaktaurs. So, I promptly removed my rN items and replaced them with items that boosted my defenses. Naturally when I descended to Hell I was immediately met by two necromancers, and of course, zero yaktaurs.

[TehDruid]

I find that the wiki is accurate for the most part, but sometimes it simply misses information. For example, for the Vestibule it suggest high AC and EV in order to handle yaktaurs. So, I promptly removed my rN items and replaced them with items that boosted my defenses. Naturally when I descended to Hell I was immediately met by two necromancers, and of course, zero yaktaurs.

I lol'ed.

[ebarrett]

I stopped reading when you said firestorm is underwhelming and inefficient. A very quick glance at the rest revealed a link to the chaosforge wiki, which tells me I probably made the right decision.

Just out of curiosity, was there some reason you had to phrase that in such an insulting manner?

Seriously, you're on a forum devoted to a game from an extremely niche genre that the rest of the gaming industry left behind decades ago. Waving around your massive e-penis counts for very little here.

What.

[Happy Corner]

What.

I was just saying "Dude, not funny". He may have come off as noobish to you, but there's no reason to be rude to him.

[ebarrett]

Still not sure how I supposedly being rude to him gives you the right to spew a lot of gratuitous hostilities at me.

[Happy Corner]

"Supposedly" being rude?

So, you being condescending to the OP and being all like "You wrote something ignorant, so I won't even bother reading your post... no, wait, I skimmed it and found even more reasons to ignore you!" was polite, but me asking why you had to be like that and pointing out that it's not even worth it was gratuitous hostility?

Now it's my turn to say "What."

[ebarrett]

"Supposedly" being rude?

So, you being condescending to the OP and being all like "You wrote something ignorant, so I won't even bother reading your post... no, wait, I skimmed it and found even more reasons to ignore you!" was polite, but me asking why you had to be like that and pointing out that it's not even worth it was gratuitous hostility?

Now it's my turn to say "What."

The difference is that firestorm is the last thing that's underwhelming or inefficient, the chaosforge wiki is a repository of gross misinformation (and a link does stand out even when you're just scrolling down), and then out of nowhere you accused me of "waving my e-peen" through some nonsensical claim which I can't even begin to comprehend. What in the fuck does the genre's popularity has to do with the OP having made a funny comment? How is "Waving around your massive e-penis counts for very little here" not an outright aggression?

[Grimm]

Speaking as a mod, would both of you please just drop it.

[tormodpwns]

To the OP:

That really was a very unfortunate, hardly preventable death. Paralysis as a Hell Effect is extremely rare and a single occurrence at the wrong time can easily result in death.

As for your mana problems, I've only taken melee characters to the post-endgame but I would think that there aren't too many fights to be had in the Hells. You're basically just auto-exploring, fighting off what you must, and looking for the downstairs. There's no loot on the levels so there's no real point in exploration. The only floor to clear is the bottom 7th floor.

[slowcar]

Just as a handy tip: If you do one of the harder hells (ice, fire) scrolls of magic mapping come in very handy. I usually do hells last (just before tomb), and if i have some of them mapping scrolls i use them.
With my last SpEn i was able to avoid nearly all combats in hell