CIP: Minotaur hunter. Need advice.

[nordetsa]

  Code:

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.12-a0-2375-gaa31237 (tiles) character file.

Cleaver the Sharpshooter (Minotaur Hunter)          Turns: 9772, Time: 01:06:03

HP  79/79        AC 11     Str 18 (19) XL: 11   Next: 28%
MP   3/3         EV 11     Int  8      God: Okawaru [*****.]
Gold 192         SH  0     Dex 13      Spells:  0 memorised, 10 levels left

Res.Fire  : + . .   See Invis. : .   b - +1 crossbow
Res.Cold  : . . .   Warding    : .   E - +3 leather armour {rF+}
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .   (no shield)
Res.Poison: +       Res.Corr.  : .   (helmet restricted)
Res.Elec. : .       Clarity    : .   G - +0 cloak {MR}
Sust.Abil.: . .     Spirit.Shd : .   (no gloves)
Res.Mut.  : .       Stasis     : .   F - +2 pair of boots
Res.Rott. : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .   (no amulet)
Saprovore : . . .   Flight     : .   A - ring of poison resistance
                                     C - ring of regeneration

@: quite resistant to hostile enchantments, unstealthy
A: retaliatory headbutt, horns 2, Str +1
a: Heroism, Finesse, Renounce Religion


You are on level 11 of the Dungeon.
You worship Okawaru.
Okawaru is exalted by your worship.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 2 branches of the dungeon, and seen 12 of its levels.

You have collected 452 gold pieces.
You have spent 280 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 b - a +1,+1 crossbow (weapon)
 x - an uncursed falchion of protection
Missiles
 c - 15 bolts
 d - 8 bolts of penetration {god gift}
 g - 14 bolts of frost {god gift}
 j - 58 stones
 k - 7 silver bolts {god gift}
 s - 30 bolts of flame {god gift}
 v - 59 poisoned bolts (quivered)
Armour
 E - a +3 leather armour of fire resistance (worn)
 F - a +2 pair of boots (worn)
 G - a +0 cloak of magic resistance (worn)
Magical devices
 i - a wand of slowing {zapped: 9}
 p - a wand of cold {zapped: 2}
 q - a wand of draining {empty}
 H - a wand of frost {zapped: 1}
 K - a wand of fire {zapped: 4}
Comestibles
 f - 9 bread rations
 h - 2 grapes
 m - a chunk of giant frog flesh
 o - 7 meat rations
 r - a rotting chunk of hound flesh
 L - a pear
Scrolls
 t - 5 scrolls of remove curse
 u - a scroll of magic mapping
 w - 4 scrolls of teleportation
 y - a scroll of fog
Jewellery
 a - an uncursed amulet of stasis
 l - an uncursed ring of protection from cold
 A - a ring of poison resistance (right hand)
 C - a ring of regeneration (left hand)
 J - an uncursed ring of sustain abilities
Potions
 e - 3 potions of speed
 n - 8 potions of curing
 D - a potion of heal wounds
 I - a potion of brilliance
 M - a potion of magic
Books
 B - a thick papyrus book


   Skills:
 - Level 1.2 Fighting
   Level 2.5 Short Blades
 - Level 7.3 Long Blades
 - Level 16.6 Crossbows
 - Level 1.2 Throwing
 * Level 7.7 Armour
 - Level 2.1 Dodging
 - Level 0.7 Stealth
 - Level 0.4 Invocations


You have 10 spell levels left.
You don't know any spells.

Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (11/27)            Temple (1/1) D:4             Orc (0/4) D:8
   Lair (0/8) D:9         

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

Shops:
D:6: ===  D:8: %  D:9: =  D:10: +


Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You reflexively headbutt those who attack you in melee.
You have a pair of horns on your head.
Your muscles are strong (Str +1).


Finally started playing range character with weapons, and am a loss at how to proceed. These are the some concerns I have right now:

1. Dealing multiple monsters
Should I keep shooting or move so that I don't get in melee? And if I do get in melee with monster like ogre or stone giant, what should I do? Keep shooting?

2. Skills? I'm training armor right now. Should I train crossbow to make my dmg higher? I have no idea how crossbow skill works. Does higher crossbow skill reduce weapon speed? Or EV because wearing heavy armor will impede with my shooting?

3. Armor. On that matter, what armor can I wear without seriously undermining my crossbow firing skill? Is wearing buckler okay?

[Siegurt]

1. Multiple creatures are what bolts of penetration are for, get them in a line and fire through them all. Moving is sometimes useful, either in the case where you're trying to get a line of critters to use bolts of penetration on, or when it's something nasty you don't want to get toe-to-toe with. For monsters that you don't want to get into melee with, load up poison bolts fire until they're two spaces away, and back up, occasionally you'll get an extra square between you and it, use the opportunity to fire again. Do *not* back up into unexplored space, ideally you'll back up in a square around an already explored area so you don't risk running into another creature.
Also if you are feeling overwhelmed don't be afraid to cut and run, come at it from another direction, and don't forget about heroism and finesse for boosting your damage output.
Just don't blow all your bolts of penetration on wimpy easy critters that pose no threat.
2. Crossbow skill both increases the damage per shot and reduces the time taken per shot (less than slings or bows, but still significant) More damage is always good, and with a primarily ranged attacker, you are hopefully not going to be in melee combat much at all, and if you kill things faster,they can't hurt you. It takes a lot more skill points to reach min delay with a ranged weapon than a melee weapon. Higher str and dex also increase your attack speed and damage. (Crossbows happen to favor Str over Dex by a fairly large margin) To hit min delay by Crossbows:27 you'd need at least Str:20/Dex:13, obviously with more points in Str/Dex, you can get less points in Crossbows and still max out the speed.
3. The *worst* thing you can do to your attack speed is use any kind of shield. You can reduce the penalty in half by maxing your shield skill (Which is a terrible way to spend your XP). But even a buckler is a significant penalty. Body armor on the other hand doesn't effect your attack speed at all,, so wear what you'd like (keeping in mind that spellcasting is ultimately VERY handy for ranged weapon users, and much more difficult in heavy armor)

[Psieye]

On the caveat I play missile/melee hybrids a lot: don't try to hit min.delay on a ranged weapon ASAP. 16 is a good place to stop crossbow training for now - so long as you're shooting at <= 1.0 aut delay, it's serviceable. Get your defences up (wear heavy armour) and then get some melee weapon to hit weak things with. Ideally you don't want to even shoot at trivial enemies. Against big threats, keep shooting even at melee range if you haven't trained for a big 2h melee.