YASD getting a little closer (GhNe)

[PostmodernBrony]

"Play a Ghoul," the wiki said, "If you don't like having to deal with player ghosts. Undead don't leave ghosts, and ghouls are easier than mummies or vampires," the wiki said.

And so i played a ghoul. And then i went farther than i had on my past thirty tries or so, lost only due to a spot of very bad luck and am overall feeling pretty chuffed about the whole thing.

  Code:

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.11.0 (tiles) character file.

3639 Discord the Grappler (level 10, -9/67 (69) HPs)
             Began as a Ghoul Necromancer on Feb 8, 2013.
             Was a Believer of Kikubaaqudgha.
             Mangled by a skeletal warrior
             ... wielding a +2,+0 hand axe
              (13 damage)
             ... in the Abyss on Feb 10, 2013.
             The game lasted 01:20:06 (12699 turns).

Discord the Grappler (Ghoul Necromancer)           Turns: 12699, Time: 01:20:06

HP  -9/67 (69)   AC 11     Str 13      XL: 10   Next:  0%
MP  23/23        EV  8     Int 13      God: Kikubaaqudgha [**....]
Gold 356         SH  0     Dex  9      Spells:  4 memorised,  5 levels left

Res.Fire  : + + .   See Invis. : .     - Unarmed
Res.Cold  : + . .   Warding    : .   e - +2 ring mail {rF+}
Life Prot.: + + +   Conserve   : .   (no shield)
Res.Poison: +       Res.Corr.  : .   H - +0 helmet
Res.Elec. : .       Clarity    : .   k - +2 cloak (curse)
Sust.Abil.: . .     Spirit.Shd : .   (no gloves)
Res.Mut.  : .       Stasis     : .   (no boots)
Res.Rott. : +       Ctrl.Telep.: x   (no amulet)
Saprovore : + + +   Levitation : .   g - ring of protection from fire
                    Ctrl.Flight: .   a - ring of magical power

@: about to teleport, rotting, slowed, very slow, somewhat resistant to hostile
enchantments, very unstealthy
A: rotting body, claws 1, carnivore 3, cold resistance 1, life protection 3,
poison resistance, saprovore 3, slow healing 1, torment resistance, unbreathing
a: Receive Corpses, Renounce Religion


You were in the Abyss.
You worshipped Kikubaaqudgha.
Kikubaaqudgha was most pleased with you.
You were not hungry.

You visited 2 branches of the dungeon, and saw 10 of its levels.
You visited the Abyss 1 time.

You collected 336 gold pieces.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 r - a +1,+0 dagger of returning
Missiles
 z - 7 poisoned darts (quivered)
Armour
 e - a +2 ring mail of fire resistance (worn)
 k - a cursed +2 cloak (worn)
 H - a +0 helmet (worn)
Magical devices
 o - a wand of cold (9)
 s - a wand of teleportation (1)
 u - a wand of enslavement (1)
 A - a wand of paralysis (0)
Comestibles
 i - a cheese
 t - 2 slices of pizza
 v - 3 meat rations
Scrolls
 b - 4 scrolls of identify
 d - 7 scrolls of remove curse
 w - a scroll of amnesia
Jewellery
 a - a ring of magical power (left claw)
 g - a ring of protection from fire (right claw)
 n - an uncursed ring of teleportation
 y - an uncursed ring of ice
 B - an uncursed amulet of rage
Potions
 f - 3 potions of curing
 l - a potion of restore abilities
 m - a potion of magic
 q - a potion of brilliance
 x - a potion of resistance
Books
 D - a book of Fire   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   Fire Brand                         Charms/Fire                  2
   Ignite Poison                      Fire/Transmutation           5
   Fireball                           Conjuration/Fire             5
   Bolt of Fire                       Conjuration/Fire             6
   Delayed Fireball                   Conjuration/Fire             7
   Ring of Flames                     Charms/Fire                  7
   Dragon Form                        Fire/Transmutation           7
Magical staves
 j - an uncursed staff of fire


   Skills:
 - Level 1.7 Dodging
 - Level 2.2 Stealth
 + Level 10.6 Unarmed Combat
 - Level 2.0 Spellcasting
 - Level 9.0 Necromancy


You had 5 spell levels left.
You knew the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Pain                  Necr           ####.        1%          1    ##.....
b - Vampiric Draining     Necr           ####......   6%          3    ####...
c - Corpse Rot            Necr           N/A          2%          2    ###....
d - Sublimation of Blood  Necr           ####......   2%          2    ###....


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (9/27)             Temple (1/1) D:4         
   Orc: D:6-11        Lair: D:8-13     

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

Shops:
D:7: (

Annotations
D:9 Erolcha


Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

Your body is rotting away.
You have sharp fingernails.
You are carnivorous and can eat meat at any time.
Your flesh is cold resistant.
You are immune to negative energy.
Your system is resistant to poisons.
You thrive on rotten meat.
You heal slowly.
You are immune to unholy pain and torment.
You can survive without breathing.


Message History

You enter the shallow water.
Moving in this stuff is going to be slow.
The guardian serpent hits you but does no damage.
The guardian serpent hits you!
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
The guardian serpent hits you!
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
The skeletal warrior barely misses you.
Found 34 gold pieces and an encrusted steel ring.
You feel a little less agile now.
The guardian serpent casts a spell at you.
You feel yourself slow down.
The skeletal warrior splashes around in the water.
You feel better.
The guardian serpent hits you but does no damage.
The guardian serpent barely misses you. The guardian serpent hits you!
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
The skeletal warrior hits you with a hand axe!
You die...
Kikubaaqudgha rasps: "You have failed me! Welcome... oblivion!"

 ~.......
.........
........#
#.......##
 #....$..###
 #..=......#
 #..#.....#~~#
    ##...##
    ##Sz##
    #~@##
    #~.#
   #~###
   #.
   .
  ..
 ..
  .


You could see a skeletal warrior and a guardian serpent.

Vanquished Creatures
  Pikel (D:7)
  An item mimic (D:7)
  A merfolk (D:7)
  An ice beast (D:6)
  An orc warrior (D:8)
  2 sky beasts
  4 ogres
  3 centaurs
  A crocodile (D:9)
  A big kobold (D:7)
  6 giant frogs
  6 wights (D:8)
  A goliath beetle (D:7)
  2 crimson imps
  3 hounds
  2 orc priests
  A big fish (D:4)
  2 scorpions
  A hound skeleton (D:9)
  2 worker ants
  4 orc wizards
  4 jellies
  Ijyb (D:7)
  7 gnolls
  An iguana zombie (D:5)
  11 adders
  A scorpion zombie (D:8)
  4 worms
  3 giant eyeballs
  An ooze (D:3)
  20 orcs
  3 giant cockroaches
  13 hobgoblins
  2 jackals (D:6)
  16 kobolds
  2 quokkas
  A ball python (D:4)
  10 bats
  6 giant geckos
  10 giant newts
  A giant spore (D:8)
  12 goblins
  A jackal skeleton (D:6)
  14 rats
  A fungus (Temple)
191 creatures vanquished.

Vanquished Creatures (others)
  2 orcs (D:7)
  A goblin (D:3)
  A kobold (D:1)
4 creatures vanquished.

Grand Total: 195 creatures vanquished

Notes
Turn   | Place    | Note
--------------------------------------------------------------
     0 | D:1      | Discord, the Ghoul Necromancer, began the quest for the Orb.
     0 | D:1      | Reached XP level 1. HP: 14/14 MP: 3/3
   132 | D:1      | Reached XP level 2. HP: 18/20 MP: 2/4
   582 | D:1      | Found a glowing golden altar of the Shining One.
  1580 | D:2      | Reached XP level 3. HP: 25/25 MP: 4/6
  1926 | D:2      | Noticed a moth of wrath
  1928 | D:2      | Found a bloodstained altar of Trog.
  2740 | D:3      | Reached XP level 4. HP: 31/31 MP: 4/7
  2835 | D:3      | Reached skill level 5 in Necromancy
  2840 | D:3      | Learned a level 3 spell: Vampiric Draining
  4287 | D:3      | Reached XP level 5. HP: 38/38 MP: 5/8
  4640 | D:4      | Found a staircase to the Ecumenical Temple.
  4655 | D:4      | Reached skill level 6 in Necromancy
  4681 | Temple   | Entered the Ecumenical Temple
  4843 | Temple   | Became a worshipper of Kikubaaqudgha
  5070 | D:4      | Paralysed by a potion of paralysis for 3 turns
  5201 | D:4      | Found a snail-covered altar of Cheibriados.
  5370 | D:4      | Reached XP level 6. HP: 6/39 MP: 0/10
  5840 | D:5      | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon
  6724 | D:5      | Reached skill level 7 in Necromancy
  6766 | D:5      | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 4 turns
  6999 | D:6      | Reached XP level 7. HP: 47/50 MP: 2/10
  7404 | D:6      | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 3 turns
  7427 | D:6      | Reached skill level 8 in Necromancy
  7920 | D:6      | Acquired Kikubaaqudgha's first power
  7920 | D:6      | Received a gift from Kikubaaqudgha
  7921 | D:6      | Got an engraved book {god gift}
  7943 | D:5      | Identified Kikubaaqudgha's Compendium of Black Rites {god gift} (Kikubaaqudgha gifted it to you on level 6 of the Dungeon)
  7946 | D:5      | Learned a level 2 spell: Corpse Rot
  7949 | D:5      | Learned a level 2 spell: Sublimation of Blood
  8021 | D:6      | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 4 turns
  8081 | D:6      | Reached skill level 9 in Necromancy
  8094 | D:6      | Reached skill level 1 in Unarmed Combat
  8182 | D:6      | Reached XP level 8. HP: 57/57 MP: 12/12
  8692 | D:7      | Noticed Ijyb
  8701 | D:7      | Killed Ijyb
  9684 | D:7      | Reached skill level 5 in Unarmed Combat
  9746 | D:7      | Killed a potion mimic
  9791 | D:7      | Reached XP level 9. HP: 35/62 MP: 9/13
  9832 | D:7      | Noticed Pikel
  9842 | D:7      | Killed Pikel
  9900 | D:7      | Found a sparkling altar of Nemelex Xobeh.
 10005 | D:7      | Your ally Lacsonta died
 10009 | D:7      | Found Grai's Antique Weapon Shoppe.
 10012 | D:7      | Your ally Huukhleb died
 10306 | D:8      | Found a white marble altar of Elyvilon.
 10441 | D:8      | Acquired Kikubaaqudgha's second power
 11092 | D:8      | Reached skill level 10 in Unarmed Combat
 12228 | D:9      | Found a radiant altar of Vehumet.
 12304 | D:9      | Reached XP level 10. HP: 63/69 MP: 14/14
 12311 | D:9      | Noticed Erolcha
 12311 | D:9      | Cast into the Abyss (Erolcha)
 12553 | Abyss    | Noticed a large abomination
 12604 | Abyss    | Noticed a shadow demon
 12614 | Abyss    | Noticed a skeletal warrior
 12622 | Abyss    | Noticed a skeletal warrior
 12623 | Abyss    | Noticed a large abomination
 12632 | Abyss    | Noticed a bone dragon
 12639 | Abyss    | Noticed an eidolon
 12694 | Abyss    | Noticed a guardian serpent
 12694 | Abyss    | Noticed a skeletal warrior
 12699 | Abyss    | Mangled by a skeletal warrior



Of course, i'm always happy to hear help and suggestions - given that i haven't beaten the game yet, i'm still probably doing something wrong. Currently, i've been training:

-Spellcasting (if i'm wearing robes) or Necromancy (if i'm wearing something with an evasion penalty) until pain and vampiric draining have a =<10% failure rate or so. Granted, the other spells in the spellbook are useful - but i can cast them out of combat and can afford a little unreliability. Pain and VD i can *only* use in combat, so i want them to work when i tell them to - it's usually pretty important that they do.
-Relevant spell skills, if i can obtain other spellbooks, until combat spells can again be cast at =<10% failure rate.
-Unarmed combat, for dealing with stuff my spells can't. (Normally, this seems to be undead - skeletons, zombies and the like)
-Not sure what after this - fighting? dodging? didn't get that far, probably need advice about the thing.

I think part of why i did so well was lucking out on the initial armor drop - +2 fire-resistant ring mail made my spells less reliable, but mostly meant i had to train spells a little to compensate. In return, my survivability went wayyyy up, and fire (which i normally expect to hurt me a LOT) was much less of a challenge. Or am i overrating fire-resistance? i don't know, i seem to have a fair amount of problems with flaming arrows in this game. Damn centaurs.

I went with kiku as my god this iteration, but i might change that up next time - getting extra spells was nice, but i've got three ranks of life protection and immunity to torment anyway. Necronomicon seems really nice, but slightly less good than normal (since i wouldn't need necromutation, anyway). What other gods should i consider?

I'm sorry if my thoughts are so scatterbrained - this was my first time playing a ghoul, and i wasn't expecting to like it nearly as much as i did. Between the ways to deal with rotting, the lack of food issues (so far) and the pretty terrifying Unarmed Combat capability, i felt pretty dang tough until Erolcha abyss'd me into oblivion. Certainly, i think i'm gonna try playing them some more.

[BlackSheep]

Choosing Kiku after starting as a necromancer isn't the best arrangement, but you seem to have figured that out. Makhleb is generally useful, as is Nemelex. If you want to branch into Conjurations later, Vehumet is the way to go. Ashenzari's skill boosts are great, but gaining piety can be difficult when you're fighting unarmed. If you can survive to the point where Cheibriados starts boosting your stats through the roof, you can become a very tough caster while still wearing heavy armor.

Or you could choose a different background and select Kiku when you find her altar. Either Ice or Earth elementalist if you want to focus on casting, or monk if you want to primarily fight unarmed.