CIP OgWi god choice

[PostmodernBrony]

Hey, again. I know it's probably not a good choice since i haven't beaten the game before, but i decided to play as a ogre this time around and haven't died yet. My plan is to level M&F to 22, then train spellcasting/fighting - i want to be able to cast some of the better low-level spells, eventually, even if ogres don't get great stats for them.

My question is: I'm sitting in the middle of the Ecumenical Temple right now, and i don't know which god to choose. I tried looking through some other playthroughs and the wiki, but there's no guide for OgWi, and most of the gods people talked about i either feel squeamish about or don't have.

My choice are:
-Chei. The stats boosts would have good synergy, slouch seems like a nice AoE and SFT has saved my bacon in the past before - but getting to be really slow SUCKS, and i've heard his wrath can get you killed.
-Mahkleb. I think i'm leaning towards him, because HP regen is always nice, casting from HP isn't a problem for me because ogre, and the summons are damn useful. Plus, i could eventually drop him for...
-TSO. Late game option, i know, but he's there, and that could influence who i grab. Holy Wrath spiked club + angels seems like it'll make the crypt easier.
-Ashenzari. skill boosts are helpful...i think? but none of my equipment is worth bonding to me right now, it's pretty crap. and i've heard his wrath can bone you over, too.
-Kiku. I don't intend on learning necromancy unless someone makes a good case for it.
-Trog. Lots of people seemed to like trog, but i *do* want to be able to cast some spells in the future. And his wrath seems nasty.
-Nemelex. Kind of random; i don't think i've got the right feel for him yet. Plus, my evocations are no great shakes, unlike other species out there.
-Evylion. I've...never really gotten the point of Evy.

I think there might have been a Sif Muna alter i passed up on an earlier level, but i didn't want to commit until after i had seen the temple.

Guys, i'm kind of torn. Which god do i pick?

(Note: I know that # dumps a character to a morgue file, but i haven't figured out where the morgue file IS. i'm running a mac OSX, version 10.6. If anyone knows how i can find the morgue folder and display it on here, i'd be grateful)

[byrel]

So far as the case for necromancy goes:
For a high HP race, self-sublimation is very effective.
Regen. Excellent spell, especially for Abyss+Hells.
Animate Skeleton. Good for when your GSC gets cursed by a mummy. (very common spell though; no point going Kiku for this alone.)
Animate Dead. Instant meat shields for a squishy Ogre.
+Almost all the lategame emergency buttons: DD, Borg, etc.

Necromancy is great for hybrids in general, so Kiku's a good choice, but not overpowering.

Personally I'd probably take Ashenzari, as I find her skill boosts add tremendously to mid-game survivability, and transfer experience adds greatly to late-game adaptability. One of the few gods really good from midgame through extended.

Mahkleb or Trog could be dropped for TSO later on, much more easily than Ash, who's utterly nasty to leave. I can't think of any set of circumstanes other than extremely early abyss that would make me switch gods from Ash.

I wouldn't do Chei, TSO, Nemelex, or Evy: too underpowered; very weak early-mid game; overly complex, though powerful; a good god, and hence annoying.

This post is laden down with my preferences though.

[Psieye]

Mahkleb. Awesome 'startup' god with options for summons and nukes. His wrath is also pretty easy to survive by the time you've cleared out the living branches and want to switch to TSO for the undead/demonic branches.

As much as Kiku is practically my 'default' god these days, if you're not enthused for Necromancy then I wouldn't suggest you learn why it's awesome while playing an Ogre. You've got enough to worry about.

[KoboldLord]

Why are those deities on your list? As an ogre, you picked a pretty weak species with mostly-bad magic aptitudes, and as a wizard you picked a background where you have a lot of low-level spells in unrelated skills. Most combos pick a deity that accentuates their strong points, but as an ogre wizard you don't have any strong points. You'd be better off serving a deity that provides you with at least one strong point all by herself.

Take Fedhas, for instance. You're terrible, but she'll let you run behind a wall of Death Mushrooms whenever you meet something that's too nasty to handle, which will be often. Good thing Fedhas minions are functionally limitless! You can also cheese many enemies with sun or rain, and by the time you get through Lair and Orc you should have enough xp to earn a strong point of your very own, without depending on divine assistance.

Or Yredelemnul. You may be kind of terrible, but there aren't many problems that can't be solved by throwing enough zombies at them. Later on, that undefeatable opponent that kills you in three turns will die in two due to its own reflected damage, and once you have a good posse of stair-using undead you have the freedom to get your skills to wherever you need them to be to continue once your stair-using undead posse starts having unfortunate accidents.

[PostmodernBrony]

Why are those deities on your list?

Because those are the deities in the Temple? Hurr.

I'm interested in trying out necromantic builds in the future - kiku's benefits look highly useful, f'rinstance - but i'm not necessarily sure i want to pick the necromancer class in order to do it. Not that the spells aren't useful, but i've had difficulty with running into early-game undead with them - pain and vampiric touch don't work against skeletons, and necromancers don't seem to start with great melee attributes. If you know a species/class/both that works well with picking up necromancy with kiku, i might give that a try on one of my next playthroughs.

I think i'm gonna go with Makhelb - i'll keep ash in mind, but i just haven't been able to find *any* good equipment so far, certainly nothing i'd want stuck on myself any longer than it takes me to find a Remove Curse scroll. Probably i'll switch to TSO for the crypt, if i get that far.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

[Psieye]

Because those are the deities in the Temple? Hurr.

KoboldLord does have a point - the best option might have been to ignore everything in the temple and wait for another altar.

The default for trying out anything to do with magic is DEWz. A very good choice for Kiku, whose only requirement is "can you spare some spell slots for the books I will give you?" to use Necromancy. I'll pick Kiku with nearly anyone though if I want to have a Necromancy-complimented game - DrTm, DrGl, VpEn to name a few from my recent games.