YAVP Captain Pants SpVM 15 Runes

[lazylink]

Captain Pants is my first 15 rune char. He killed every unique monster he faced and fully explored every area except for Hell (obviously), ziggurat 11 (see why below) and a few pandemonium levels that had a few too many pit fiends.

There were three moments in the crawl when I was very near death.

The first occurred during my first dive into Pandemonium, it was an Angel level. It is was especially difficult because there's almost no information in the knowledge bots or on the wiki about monsters appearing here. Overall, the monsters here are much tougher than those in standard pandemonium levels, none of them died to a single Poison Arrow. Many also have shields and block magic projectiles. The most dangerous monsters were those golden angels with smite, who were practically invincible against projectiles and the only way to kill them was with summons. I had to spam summons like a mad man into order to win and I burned lots of consumables. The up side is that I found a whopping 4 potions of cure mutations.

The second was a Pandemonium level with an island of Hellions and a Pan lord with Fire Storm, they brought me down to 7 HP... yikes. I killed them by using Freezing Cloud and running away.

The third was Tomb 2, somewhere I've never been before. By then I had summon dragon but the sheer number of summons and curses overwhelmed me and I had to kite around the whole room in order to not die, I ran out of charges on my wand of healing.

In Pan, Hell, and Abyss I did not have Summon Dragon and relied instead on Summon Horrible Things (SHT). Only in the ziggurat did I see the limit of SHT, on zigg 10. I faced deep dwarves and they put up a hard fight that I barely held off. If I had Dragons I'm pretty sure I could have delved deeper. The problem with SHT was the intelligence drain, which really hurt if you kept spamming that spell, I even ran out of restore abilities potions when I left Hell.

I have a hunch that having both SHT and Summon Dragon would be incredibly powerful, as both spells complement each other greatly.

All the hard bosses were killed by spamming summons, except for Cerebov, for whom I used OoD, LCS and lots of running.

For single target damage spells I had Poison Arrow, OoD, and LCS. Each of these spells compliments the others and if you have all three you will always have the best damage option in any situation.

Poison Arrow has excellent range but poor (relative) damage
OoD should only be used in open areas and at long range
LCS has poor range but excellent damage

For items I was lucky in three respects: early staff of conjuration, early amulet of clarity, early access to all the spells wanted except for summon dragon and necromutation. Other than that my items were bad. In order to maximize a single resistance I had to give up a lot, only until I found I found a ring with rC++ in Hell did I feel safe, and then only in lich form.

I relied heavily on orb of energy, which let me spam summons and damage spells. The only miscast I feared was the one that drained all my mana. If that happened I used a scroll of blinking or a potion of magic.

For my next character I'm going to try something similar except instead of memorizing PA, OoD and LCS, I will memorize only PA and really try to pump up its damage (I'm thinking Conjurations, Poison Magic at 20) and then after that I will transition into summoning and necromutation. This will free up a lot of spell slots and hopefully be more efficient with experience points.

Lastly I'd like mention the most important thing I learned this crawl: giant eyeballs can paralyze even when you're wearing an amulet of clarity. I don't know if it is a bug, or if it only happens to spriggans or if it only happens in the Slime Pits, but it definitely happened, and this is not mentioned in the wiki or knowledge bots.

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.10.2 character file.

7435021 Captain Pants the Archmage (level 27, 157/157 (163) HPs)
             Began as a Spriggan Venom Mage on Apr 16, 2012.
             Was the Champion of Vehumet.
             Escaped with the Orb
             ... and 15 runes on Apr 22, 2012!
             
             The game lasted 19:37:24 (243438 turns).

Captain Pants the Archmage (Spriggan Venom Mage)  Turns: 243438, Time: 19:37:24

HP 157/157 (163) AC 15     Str 10      XL: 27
MP  44/50        EV 34     Int 35      God: Vehumet [******]
Gold 5438        SH  0     Dex 22      Spells: 15 memorised,  0 levels left

Res.Fire  : + + +   See Invis. : +    n - staff of conjuration
Res.Cold  : + . .   Warding    : . .  I - +4 robe "Zuicodat" {rPois rF++ Int+3 Dam-2
Life Prot.: + + +   Conserve   : +    (shield restricted)
Res.Acid. : + . .   Res.Corr.  : +    o - +1 cap of Okawaru's Fury {+Blink MR Int+2
Res.Poison: +       Clarity    : +    a - +1 cloak {rCorr, Cons}
Res.Elec. : .       Spirit.Shd : .    (gloves unavailable)
Sust.Abil.: . .     Stasis     : .    (boots unavailable)
Res.Mut.  : .       Ctrl.Telep.: x    g - amulet of clarity
Res.Rott. : +       Levitation : .    G - ring "Klus" {Wiz Str+2 Int+3}
Saprovore : . . .   Ctrl.Flight: .    E - ring "Zumn" {rF+ Str+1 Dex+3}

@: lich-form (expires), very quick, uncannily resistant to hostile enchantments,
fairly stealthy
A: unfitting armour, see invisible, herbivore 3, speed 3, slow healing 1, slow
metabolism 3
a: End Transformation, Renounce Religion, Evoke Blink
}: 15/15 runes: decaying, serpentine, slimy, silver, golden, iron, obsidian,
icy, bone, abyssal, demonic, glowing, magical, fiery, dark


You escaped.
You worshipped Vehumet.
Vehumet was exalted by your worship.
You were very full.

You were in lich-form.

You visited 17 branches of the dungeon, and saw 111 of its levels.
You visited Pandemonium 4 times, and saw 26 of its levels.
You visited the Abyss 1 time.
You visited 1 Labyrinth.
You visited 1 bazaar.
You visited 1 Ziggurat, and saw 10 of its levels.
You visited 2 portal chambers: ossuary, ice cave.

You collected 15941 gold pieces.
You spent 6893 gold pieces at shops.
You used 3630 gold pieces for miscellaneous purposes.

Inventory:

Armour
 a - a +1 cloak of preservation (worn)
 o - the +1 cap of Okawaru's Fury (worn) {+Blink MR Int+2 Acc-2}
   (You found it on level 7 of the Iron City of Dis)   
   
   It affects your intelligence (+2).
   It affects your accuracy (-2).
   It increases your resistance to enchantments.
   It lets you blink.
 I - the +4 robe "Zuicodat" (worn) {rPois rF++ Int+3 Dam-2}
   (You found it on level 2 of the Realm of Zot)   
   
   It affects your intelligence (+3).
   It affects your damage-dealing abilities (-2).
   It greatly protects you from fire.
   It protects you from poison.
Magical devices
 b - a wand of digging (13)
 d - a wand of teleportation (8)
 t - a wand of heal wounds (9)
Comestibles
 f - a honeycomb
Scrolls
 j - 2 scrolls of remove curse
 l - 2 scrolls of teleportation
 y - 2 scrolls of blinking
 z - a scroll of identify
Jewellery
 c - the ring of Waog {Hunger +Rage rC++}
   (You found it on level 7 of Tartarus)   
   
   [ring of hunger]
   
   It greatly protects you from cold.
   It lets you go berserk.
 g - an amulet of clarity (around neck)
 k - an uncursed ring of protection from cold
 m - the amulet "Ewneasis" {rMut rC+}
   (You found it in Pandemonium)   
   
   [amulet of resist mutation]
   
   It protects you from cold.
 B - the amulet of Cekugob {Ward -TELE Hunger rElec rPois rN+ AC+1 EV+1}
   (You found it on level 8 of the Lair of Beasts)   
   
   [amulet of warding]
   
   It affects your AC (+1).
   It affects your evasion (+1).
   It insulates you from electricity.
   It protects you from poison.
   It protects you from negative energy.
   It prevents most forms of teleportation.
   It speeds your metabolism.
 E - the ring "Zumn" (left hand) {rF+ Str+1 Dex+3}
   (You found it in Pandemonium)   
   
   [ring of protection from fire]
   
   It affects your strength (+1).
   It affects your dexterity (+3).
 G - the ring "Klus" (right hand) {Wiz Str+2 Int+3}
   (You found it in Pandemonium)   
   
   [ring of wizardry]
   
   It affects your strength (+2).
   It affects your intelligence (+3).
Potions
 e - a potion of resistance
 p - a potion of curing
 u - a potion of magic
 x - a potion of heal wounds
Magical staves
 i - a staff of summoning
 n - a staff of conjuration (weapon)
 r - a staff of channeling
Orbs of Power
 q - the Orb of Zot
Miscellaneous
 h - a crystal ball of energy


   Skills:
 - Level 22.9 Fighting
 - Level 16.0 Dodging
 - Level 10.0 Stealth
 + Level 26.0 Traps & Doors
 O Level 27 Spellcasting
 - Level 18.8 Conjurations
 - Level 13.0 Charms
 O Level 27 Summonings
 - Level 13.9 Necromancy
 - Level 14.0 Translocations
 - Level 19.5 Transmutations
 - Level 4.2 Ice Magic
 - Level 5.0 Air Magic
 - Level 19.0 Earth Magic
 - Level 8.1 Poison Magic
 O Level 27 Evocations


You couldn't memorise any spells.
You knew the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
b - Necromutation         Trmt/Necr      #########.   1%          8    N/A
c - Summon Dragon         Summ           #########.   1%          9    N/A
d - Flight                Air/Chrm       ########..   1%          3    N/A
e - Poison Arrow          Pois/Conj      #########.   1%          6    N/A
f - Fulsome Distillation  Trmt/Necr      N/A          0%          1    N/A
g - Orb of Destruction    Conj           #########.   1%          7    N/A
h - Freezing Cloud        Ice/Air/Conj   #########.   1%          6    N/A
i - Bolt of Magma         Fire/Erth/Conj #########.   1%          5    N/A
j - Abjuration            Summ           #########.   0%          3    N/A
k - Haste                 Chrm           ########.    1%          6    N/A
l - Lehudib's Crystal Sp  Erth/Conj      #########.   1%          8    N/A
m - Deflect Missiles      Air/Chrm       ########..   1%          6    N/A
n - Controlled Blink      Tloc           N/A          1%          7    N/A
o - Apportation           Tloc           ########..   0%          1    N/A
q - Animate Dead          Necr           N/A          0%          4    N/A


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:3
  Slime (6/6) Lair:6        Snake (5/5) Lair:6        Vault (8/8) D:18
  Blade (0/1) Vault:6       Crypt (5/5) Vault:2        Tomb (3/3) Crypt:3
   Hell (1/1)                 Dis (7/7) Hell            Geh (7/7) Hell
    Coc (7/7) Hell            Tar (7/7) Hell            Zot (5/5) D:27

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

Shops:
D:12: ?%[  D:15: ?*/*  D:17: +  Orc:4: [%=(  Elf:2: %  Elf:4: /
Vault:1: /  Vault:3: *  Vault:5: *[*  Vault:6: %  Vault:8: /

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

Annotations
D:26 exclusion: door
Dis:7 exclusion: 3 doors


                    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.
You heal slowly.


[Blade]

Clarity doesn't affect paralysis; it only affects confusion.
Also, as a minor note, the standard abbreviation for Summon Horrible Things is XXX.

There is very little reason to have more than one of PArrow, IOOD, and LCS; there is a huge investment needed to get all three and you will always be better served by picking up some utility spells.

All that said, congratulations on your win.

[rchandra]

paralysis is not blocked by clarity - you need stasis, which has its own drawbacks of course.

Thanks for the writeup and congratulations on the win! How heavily do you prioritize Spellcasting during development?

[BlackSheep]

Double ninja'd, so I'll just add that clarity also prevents unintended berserking.

[lazylink]

I can't believe I thought amulet of clarity and amulet of stasis were the same thing, oh wait, it's because I never found amulet of stasis in the entire game... that sucks.

Here's a quick skilling order I wrote up as I was building this character:

spellcasting 3
venom bolt 5%
Fighting 3
Stealth 5
Dodging 8
Evocation 3
Spellcasting until Venom Bolt hungerless (12-15 I forget)
Traps 5
If you have animate dead, raise necromancy to about 6
Conjurations/Spellcasting 2:1 until Poison Arrow and OOD 5%
Fighting 5
Stealth 7
Dodging 10
Train utility spells if have them (air magic no larger than 3)
Conjurations/Spellcasting until Freezing Cloud 5%
Fighting 7
Stealth 9
Dodging 12
Spellcasting until Poison Arrow has no hunger
Translocation until Controlled Blink at 5%
Fighting 9
Stealth 10
Dodging 14
Traps 7
Earth Magic until Crystal Spear at 5%
turn on Evocations for rest of game
Fighting 14
Dodging 16
Traps 12
Spellcasting 27
Summoning 20
Necromutation to reliable
Summing 27
Train fighting, traps and Conjurations

With this skilling order you should just finish getting summoning to 20 when you finish zot: 4

[jacksonjk]

"The trouble with common sense is that it's not too common !"