Now YASD:OgHu. Skill management so confusing.

[nordetsa]

I actually started playing OgHu right now, and trained throwing up to 8. I'm looking to go melee+throwing and then hopefully magic spells for extended, but right now I don't know how to proceed. If I want to get more dmg on rocks, I should train more throwing...or not? What about armors and evasion? Mace? I feel I should train mace right now, but I really don't know what to do. And when should I hope to raise int? So far I raised 2 dex to get more EV.

  Code:

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.12-a0-1014-g82bdfc1 (tiles) character file.

Norther the Basher (Ogre Hunter)                    Turns: 5591, Time: 00:28:31

HP  67/74        AC  5     Str 15 (18) XL: 8   Next: 92%
MP   7/7         EV 10     Int 10      God: Okawaru [*.....]
Gold 277         SH  0     Dex 12      Spells:  1 memorised,  5 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : .   x - +1,+2 flail (crush)
Res.Cold  : . . .   Warding    : .   m - +1 robe
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .   (shield restricted)
Res.Poison: .       Res.Corr.  : .   (helmet restricted)
Res.Elec. : .       Clarity    : .   q - +0 cloak
Sust.Abil.: . .     Spirit.Shd : .   (gloves unavailable)
Res.Mut.  : .       Stasis     : .   (boots unavailable)
Res.Rott. : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .   (no amulet)
Saprovore : + . .   Flight     : .   (no ring)
                                     (no ring)

@: somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, unstealthy
A: unfitting armour, fast metabolism 1, saprovore 1, tough skin 1
a: Heroism, Renounce Religion


You are on level 6 of the Dungeon.
You worship Okawaru.
Okawaru is most pleased with you.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 2 branches of the dungeon, and seen 7 of its levels.

You have collected 257 gold pieces.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 w - a quarterstaff of chaos
 x - a +1,+2 flail of crushing (weapon)
 C - a +1,+2 orcish morningstar of protection
 D - a +0,+0 giant spiked club
Missiles
 c - a throwing net [frayed]
 l - 8 darts
 o - 36 stones (quivered)
 r - a throwing net [falling apart]
 s - a javelin
 y - 5 large rocks
 A - 3 poisoned needles
Armour
 m - a +1 robe (worn)
 q - a +0 cloak (worn)
Magical devices
 a - a wand of flame {zapped: 3}
 d - a wand of magic darts {zapped: 1}
 n - a lead wand
 B - a short brass wand {zapped: 2} {tried}
 G - a wand of fire {zapped: 1}
 K - a wand of draining {zapped: 1}
Comestibles
 b - a chunk of ogre flesh
 f - a meat ration
 g - 6 bread rations
 F - a pear
Scrolls
 h - a scroll of fog
 i - 4 scrolls of remove curse
 j - a scroll of magic mapping
 k - a scroll of enchant weapon I
 p - a scroll labeled MEL LEHEBY
 t - a scroll labeled PIRCHU SIESELUIB
Jewellery
 z - an uncursed square ivory amulet {tried}
Potions
 e - 2 potions of speed
 E - a potion of magic


   Skills:
 - Level 2.6 Fighting
   Level 0.5 Short Blades
 - Level 10.0 Maces & Flails
 - Level 8.6 Throwing
 * Level 1.8 Dodging
 - Level 0.7 Stealth
 - Level 0.2 Invocations
 - Level 0.1 Evocations

[Blyxx]

I'd get your GSC to min delay next, after that depends on what you find. I'd raise int on level-ups. Fighting would be my next skill to raise if you don't find any useful spells or armour by the time you've got min delay with your tree trunk.

[nordetsa]

So throwing at 8 be okay? I mean, would it be enough to leave it like that, at least to till the lair (and then I should train more to get more dmg)?

[BlackSheep]

You can stop training throwing entirely. Focus on M&F till you reach 22. Invocations for Oka's abilities, Dodging and Fighting can come after that. Especially with Heroism active, large rocks will destroy nearly everything.

[Styro]

For Oka, you probably should have stopped training throwing before 8. If you have a missile skill at 8 or higher, Oka will gift you missiles or ammo. Unless you want lots of darts and javelins, in which case 8 is good. But either way I wouldn't worry about getting it any higher for now.

Follow BlackSheep's advice on skill training. If you find a spellbook with a good low-level utility spell (like Repel Missiles) then I would probably interrupt training dodging/etc to get it castable.

[nordetsa]

Accidently quaffed a mutation potion which removed my antenna (don't know how I got that in the first place) and gave me fast metabolism

And the game is very stingy on books with low-level utility spells (like swiftness), so I've been just gotten swamp dragon armor (it's better than robe I think) and going pretty standard melee. Rocks weigh too much and I can't carry more than 4, and they seem to miss awfully a lot towards certain monsters (blink frog, hydra, etc.) Maybe it has to do something with their EV?

In terms of item the glowing cloak I found at labyrinth was rPois...the artefact ring was rPois with +9mp. Not much luck there also unfortunately. Haven't found any other branded cloaks.

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.12-a0-1014-g82bdfc1 (tiles) character file.

Norther the Shatterer (Ogre Hunter)                Turns: 25366, Time: 02:30:18

HP 136/136       AC 13     Str 20      XL: 14   Next: 56%
MP  21/21        EV 11     Int 12      God: Okawaru [*****.]
Gold 1411        SH  0     Dex 12      Spells:  1 memorised, 11 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : .   D - +0 giant spiked club (crush)
Res.Cold  : . . .   Warding    : .   d - +0 swamp dragon armour
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .   (shield restricted)
Res.Poison: +       Res.Corr.  : .   (helmet restricted)
Res.Elec. : .       Clarity    : .   U - +1 cloak {rPois}
Sust.Abil.: . .     Spirit.Shd : .   (gloves unavailable)
Res.Mut.  : .       Stasis     : .   (boots unavailable)
Res.Rott. : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .   (no amulet)
Saprovore : + . .   Flight     : .   x - ring of protection from magic
                                     R - +3 ring of evasion

@: very resistant to hostile enchantments, very unstealthy
A: unfitting armour, fast metabolism 2, saprovore 1, tough skin 1
a: Heroism, Finesse, Renounce Religion


You are on level 2 of the Orcish Mines.
You worship Okawaru.
Okawaru is exalted by your worship.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 4 branches of the dungeon, and seen 26 of its levels.
You have also visited: Labyrinth and Ice Cave.

You have collected 1391 gold pieces.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 D - a +0,+0 giant spiked club of crushing (weapon)
Missiles
 l - 11 darts
 s - 3 steel javelins {god gift}
 y - 4 large rocks (quivered)
 T - 6 javelins of penetration {god gift}
Armour
 d - a +0 swamp dragon armour (worn)
 U - a +1 cloak of poison resistance (worn)
Magical devices
 a - a wand of fire {recharged}
 e - a wand of polymorph other
 h - a wand of digging {zapped: 3}
 k - a wand of teleportation (3)
 n - a wand of fireball (1)
 v - a wand of hasting (1)
 C - a wand of lightning (2)
 N - a wand of disintegration {zapped: 2}
 O - a wand of digging (4)
Comestibles
 b - 3 chokos
 f - 2 meat rations
 g - 5 bread rations
 o - 3 chunks of orc flesh
 J - a banana
Scrolls
 i - 9 scrolls of remove curse
 j - a scroll of recharging
 m - a scroll of fear
 q - 2 scrolls of magic mapping
 t - 3 scrolls of teleportation
 A - a scroll of vulnerability
 F - a scroll of blinking
 Y - 2 scrolls of fog
Jewellery
 u - an uncursed dented fluorescent amulet {tried}
 w - an uncursed ring of protection from fire
 x - a ring of protection from magic (right hand)
 z - an uncursed amulet of stasis
 B - an uncursed ring of protection from cold
 R - a +3 ring of evasion (left hand)
Potions
 c - a potion of might
 p - 2 potions of speed
 H - 6 potions of curing
 L - 2 potions of heal wounds
 P - a potion of resistance
Books
 G - a book of the Sky   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   Flight                             Charms/Air                   3
   Airstrike                          Air                          4
   Silence                            Hexes/Air                    5
   Deflect Missiles                   Charms/Air                   6
   Conjure Ball Lightning             Conjuration/Air              7
   Tornado                            Air                          9


   Skills:
 - Level 10.0 Fighting
   Level 0.5 Short Blades
 - Level 22.0 Maces & Flails
 - Level 8.6 Throwing
 - Level 10.4 Armour
 - Level 1.8 Dodging
 - Level 0.7 Stealth
 * Level 9.4 Traps
 - Level 5.1 Invocations
 - Level 0.1 Evocations


You have 11 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Fire Brand            Chrm/Fire      #.........   86%         2    ###....


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (15/27)            Temple (1/1) D:5             Orc (2/4) D:8
   Lair (8/8) D:13          Swamp (0/5) Lair:3       Spider (0/5) Lair:3
 Slime: Lair:6-8    Vaults: D:15-20     

Altars:
Ashenzari
Elyvilon
Fedhas
Kikubaaqudgha
Makhleb
Nemelex Xobeh
Okawaru
Sif Muna
Trog
Vehumet
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin
Beogh

Shops:
D:9: (

Annotations
Lair:8 exclusion: oklob plant


Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You are too large for most types of armour.
You have a very fast metabolism.
You can tolerate rotten meat.
You have tough skin (AC +1).

[nordetsa]

Also, for ogre, what is better, training spellcasting or spell school to cast spells? I'm wearing swamp dragon armor-would that hamper my spellcasting? Should I just focus on armor instead (I already have 22 on mace so weapon skill is fine)?

[rchandra]

swamp dragon armour will impede spell success a bit. Training spell skills is still the fastest way to deal with it but do train Armour later for the extra AC, especially if you upgrade armours.

With Ogres you do have extra value in training spellcasting, especially if you have a wide variety of schools. It's possible to work out exactly when to train which, (use the aptitude calculations and the wiki page on skill costs by level, hope it's right) but you can just estimate "this skill is taking forever to raise further, let's raise spellcasting instead". You could also kill two identical monsters in succession, putting xp from one into spellcasting and the other into the spell skill, see how much effect it had. I've never felt the need to do either of those, estimating is fine.

[nordetsa]

GG, character died rather stupidly to a wolf spider (should've used heroism-have a bad habit of thinking everything in terms of MiFi wearing plate armor).

And I now realize why training throwing up to 8 was a bad idea-Okawaru's gift was mostly ammos. I wanted to get some decent armor/weapon...

Gonna try OgHu again to see how it goes. What I'm hoping to see is sorta hybrid between melee, magic and range. I would train throwing maybe up to 7 and then stop , raise Int on every level up so that I can cast spells more easily, try to acquire some armor that Ogre can wear and then get GSC with relevant mace skill asap. My idea is whenever I see enemy I would throw rocks to soften them up, cast spell if necessary, and then go melee. Is this viable?

[Psieye]

Well, there was that TrWr of Chei guide some time ago which did essentially that but with portal projectile.