YASD: MuCj of Sif, are you pondering what I'm pondering?

[Hurkyl]

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.13.0 (tiles) character file.

Kelly the Conjurer (Mummy Conjurer)                Turns: 34547, Time: 02:13:37

HP  74/74        AC 10     Str 11      XL: 12   Next:  8%
MP  36/36        EV  9     Int 23      God: Sif Muna [*****.]
Gold 534         SH 25     Dex 12      Spells:  6 memorised,  6 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : .   a - +3 rod of inaccuracy (curse) (9/9)
Res.Cold  : + . .   Warding    : .   D - +2 leather armour {rN+}
Life Prot.: + + +   Conserve   : .   v - +3 dwarf shield
Res.Poison: +       Res.Corr.  : .   u - +3 hat of Pondering {ponderous, MR+ MP+10 Int+5}
Res.Elec. : .       Clarity    : .   f - +0 cloak
Sust.Abil.: . .     Spirit.Shd : .   (no gloves)
Res.Mut.  : .       Stasis     : .   m - +0 pair of boots (curse)
Res.Rott. : +       Flight     : .   b - cursed amulet of rage
Saprovore : . . .                    n - cursed ring of invisibility
                                     l - ring of protection from fire

@: studying Shields, slow, very resistant to hostile enchantments, unstealthy
A: no food or potions, fire vulnerability, restore body, cold resistance 1, life
protection 3, poison resistance, torment resistance, unbreathing
a: Channel Energy, Forget Spell, Renounce Religion, Evoke Berserk Rage, Evoke
Invisibility


You are in the Ecumenical Temple.
You worship Sif Muna.
Sif Muna is extremely pleased with you.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 2 branches of the dungeon, and seen 12 of its levels.
You have also visited: Ossuary and Bailey.

You have collected 514 gold pieces.

Inventory:

Armour
 f - a +0 cloak (worn)
 m - a cursed +0 pair of boots (worn)
 u - the +3 hat of Pondering (worn) {ponderous, MR+ MP+10 Int+5}
   (You found it on level 6 of the Dungeon)   
   
   It affects your intelligence (+5).
   It affects your resistance to hostile enchantments.
   It affects your magic capacity (+10).
 v - a +3 dwarven shield (worn)
 D - a +2 leather armour of positive energy (worn)
Magical devices
 e - a wand of random effects {zapped: 1}
 s - a wand of teleportation {zapped: 2}
 z - a long wooden wand
 C - a wand of magic darts {zapped: 1}
Scrolls
 i - 3 scrolls of teleportation
Jewellery
 b - a cursed amulet of rage (around neck)
 k - a cursed ring of protection from cold
 l - a ring of protection from fire (left hand)
 n - a cursed ring of invisibility (right hand)
 p - an uncursed ring of teleportation
 y - a runed sapphire amulet
 E - an uncursed ring of flight
 O - a ring of protection from fire
Books
 c - a book of Conjurations   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   *Magic Dart                        Conjuration                  1
   *Searing Ray                       Conjuration                  2
   *Dazzling Spray                    Conjuration/Hexes            3
   *Iskenderun's Mystic Blast         Conjuration                  4
   *Iskenderun's Battlesphere         Conjuration/Charms           4
   Fulminant Prism                    Conjuration/Hexes            5
 g - a book of Changes   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   Beastly Appendage                  Transmutation                1
   Sticks to Snakes                   Transmutation                2
   Spider Form                        Transmutation/Poison         3
   Ice Form                           Ice/Transmutation            4
   Blade Hands                        Transmutation                5
 o - a manual of Shields
 q - a book of Wizardry   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   Summon Elemental                   Summoning                    4
   Agony                              Necromancy                   5
   *Force Lance                       Conjuration                  5
   Fireball                           Conjuration/Fire             5
   Haste                              Charms                       6
   Invisibility                       Hexes                        6
 r - a manual of Shields
 x - a book of Annihilations   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   Poison Arrow                       Conjuration/Poison           6
   Orb of Destruction                 Conjuration                  7
   Chain Lightning                    Conjuration/Air              8
   Lehudib's Crystal Spear            Conjuration/Earth            8
   Ice Storm                          Conjuration/Ice              9
   Fire Storm                         Conjuration/Fire             9
Rods
 a - a cursed +3 rod of inaccuracy (9/9) (weapon)
   (You found it on level 8 of the Dungeon)


   Skills:
 - Level 1.5 Dodging
 - Level 1.5 Stealth
 * Level 9.5 Shields
 + Level 7.1 Spellcasting
 * Level 11.9 Conjurations
 - Level 3.0 Charms
 * Level 4.9 Invocations
 - Level 4.0 Evocations


You have 6 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Searing Ray           Conj           ######       1%          2    N/A
b - Iskenderun's Battles  Conj/Chrm      #####...     10%         4    N/A
f - Magic Dart            Conj           ####         1%          1    N/A
g - Iskenderun's Mystic   Conj           ######..     1%          4    N/A
h - Dazzling Spray        Conj/Hex       #####...     4%          3    N/A
n - Force Lance           Conj           ######..     3%          5    N/A


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (11/27)            Temple (1/1) D:4             Orc (0/4) D:11
  Lair: D:8-13     


Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You do not eat or drink.
Your flesh is vulnerable to fire.
Your flesh is cold resistant.
You are immune to negative energy.
Your system is resistant to poisons.
You are immune to unholy pain and torment.
You can survive without breathing.


Action                   |  1- 3 |  4- 6 |  7- 9 | 10-12 || total
-------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------++-------
Melee: Dagger            |       |     1 |       |       ||     1
       Unarmed           |       |       |     1 |       ||     1
       Rod               |       |       |       |     1 ||     1
Throw: Dagger            |     1 |       |       |       ||     1
 Cast: Magic Dart        |   106 |   133 |   128 |   175 ||   542
       Searing Ray       |     9 |    41 |    44 |    10 ||   104
       Iskenderun's Myst |       |       |   100 |   138 ||   238
       Iskenderun's Batt |       |       |     2 |    91 ||    93
       Dazzling Spray    |       |       |     2 |     2 ||     4
       Force Lance       |       |       |       |    27 ||    27
Invok: Channel Energy    |       |       |   228 |   434 ||   662
       Forget Spell      |       |       |       |     2 ||     2
 Abil: Evoke Flight      |       |       |       |     4 ||     4
       Evoke Invisibilit |       |       |       |     4 ||     4
       Turn Visible      |       |       |       |     3 ||     3
       Stop Flying       |       |       |       |     1 ||     1
       Evoke Teleportati |       |       |       |     1 ||     1
Evoke: Wand              |       |     1 |     2 |     1 ||     4
       Rod               |       |       |     6 |    35 ||    41
  Use: Scroll            |       |     6 |    10 |     3 ||    19


I decided to take a break from SpEn, and roll with a mummy! I've normally tried wizards, but I figured this time I'd go conjurer, to have access to better nukes, and to see what I think about Searing Ray.

Getting started was a little tricky -- my first enemy was a Gnoll with a spear. Thankfully, Xom came to my rescue, with an altar surrounded by a nice collection of teleport traps I could use to get it off my tail.

I honestly did not mean to spend 10,000 turns on D:1. While I did play a patient game -- e,g, rather than peek around corners, I would often shout, back up, then hit '5' to see if anything came -- I expected only a few thousand turns. I'm not even sure how I managed to waste so much time!

Anyways, the start stabilized, and I found a ring of invisibility on D:4. I have a nagging feeling in the back of my head that it's optimal play to always put Invisibility up before going into any new area, then retreat to a safe area to wait off contamination. I haven't had the patience to even try at that, though.

The game has thrown a few other items at me to make the early game feel weird too:

• a +3 rod of Inaccuracy (9/9) on D:8
• the +3 hat of Pondering {ponderous, MR+ MP+10 Int+5}
• a +0 bucker, a +3 dwarven shield, and a +1 shield of protection (481 gold)
• 2 manuals of shields

This is the first time I've really used the rod of inaccuracy. It seems pretty nice; hopefully it will be a good solution to hydras when I get to lair. I've trained evocations up to 4 to speed up the recharge: I think from wiki I'm getting one point every 4 turns? Maybe I should train some more so I can get 4 shots in a longer combat.

The hat of Pondering is an annoying dilemma. While the big bonus to MP is nice (and the int too), I have no escape spells. I have three sources of teleport, though (ring, scrolls, wand), but it would be nice if I had something safer and more immediate....

The shields were odd too. Normally I wouldn't have trained shields for some time, or maybe just up to 5 to get the buckler going. But with the manuals, Shields is the only skill I have positive aptitude for! And the shield of protection looks like a nice find. I have a short sword of protection to use too: together they'd give me another +8 to my AC. Alas, my rod is cursed and I have no remove curse scrolls. (I have a staff of poison I could use too)

There's also the +4 steam dragon armour "Nyanyg Edy" {rC+ SInv} in a shop. I'm going to have a surprising amount of defense once I get a big enough pile of gold.

I worry that I've strayed too far from my core competence of blowing stuff up, though. While battlesphere is really nice, I'm a tad worried about spiny frogs and black mambas. And maybe hydras. I hope I have enough killing power.... I haven't figured out what my next spell target should be: the obvious options are, I think,

• Fulminant Prism -- I lack AoE
• Orb of Destruction -- big kill power, and I can stick to conjurations. But I'll need a lot of conjurations.
• Poison Arrow -- because it's really strong. And I think training poison will help convince Sif to give me Mephitic Cloud and Poison Cloud
• Agony -- I've not really used necromancy much. But this might be pretty nice to use on a blaster, and I think I'll get a bonus to casting it once I reach XL 13?
• Haste -- since I have no food concerns, I could use this very liberally. In particular, this would (?) more than make up for Ponderous, making "run away" and "retreat to better terrain" much more plausible options

I have two enchant armour scrolls. I suppose I really ought to use them ASAP, even though I have plain armours at the moment. Especially since the steam dragon armour suggests I probably won't need to use a bunch on body armour.

[Hurkyl]

Got the Staff of Olgreb. I suppose that means that Poison Arrow is the way to go. Too bad I went for Haste. Oh well, PA is next! I've picked up a Rod of the Swarm too... maybe it's time to train more Evocations? Hrm. Probably want PA first, then do that.

Got a robe of resistance off of Psyche. I'm still probably going to go with the steam dragon armour once I get the cash (the mines weren't very rich this game), due to the SInv. Also have to decide between buckler of fire resistance and shield of protection (and +3 shield).

I had thought I needed 15 Shields skill to eliminate spellcasting penalties. But at 12.5 skill, I seem to have already eliminated them. I get the feeling that I trained way more shields than I needed to... especially if I decide that the buckler is the better option....

[duvessa]

Other than that, not wearing the hat of pondering would've been a good idea.

Personally I wouldn't wear the hat of pondering

The fixedart hats are all really nice (except pondering).

To be fair, I would rather choke on the Hat of Pondering than wear it

If you have to ask if you should wear hat of pondering the answer is no you shouldn't.

But anyway, you were wearing the hat of pondering. You'd have died for that anyway

If you ever find hat of pondering again, don't wear it

Unlike hat of pondering, black knight barding is actually a good item in most cases.

so is the hat any good or what?

almost always no

Tip of the Day: Don't wear the goddamn Hat of Pondering.

No, don't use hat of pondering

The hat of pondering is definitely not worth it.

You might want to take off the hat of pondering

Don't wear hat of pondering; it is terrible.

[Hurkyl]

So... should I wear the hat of pondering?

My evaluation so far is that the extra MP and int has honestly been a great help in clearing Orc, giving me just enough blasting power that I didn't have to start alternate channeling/blasting to finish things off, and the loss of movement speed hasn't yet caused problems. And Haste is nearly online, which gives me a way to escape the "moving slower than normal" penalty.

[Hurkyl]

Now that I have time for a more thorough reply... the hat addresses multiple things I was worried about: AC, MP, and spell power/success. Ability to move away at normal speed was lower on the things I felt were important... especially since the hat seemed to bump me up to the point where in most situations, blasting is just as easy as running away at normal speed.

But if I had a do-over -- it does go against the way I intend to play a mummy, even if I do wind up doing it because I lose patience/focus, and probably would not have worn it.

But when haste is available, I think the hat becomes a good choice again, if I have the discipline to haste up before I might need to consider running away.

[Sandman25]

I used hat of pondering for 3 characters. One of them stopped wearing it after barely escaping some dangerous monsters, another was killed because of the hat, the third one was Na of Chei so it enjoyed the hat until very end (3.0 vs 2.8 turn per move makes almost no difference). So I think the hat is very tricky to use: when it helps much (early game) it can kill you easily, when it cannot kill you (because you have Haste or are just very powerful) you don't need it that much.

[Hurkyl]

This run ended due to banishment. A wretched star got some good blasts in, which led to a long series of battles after which I had found myself a corner to heal up, and was gradually nearing full health... but after a dozen or so battles I learned that Executioners appear in Abyss:1. Teleport didn't kick in in time.

After the fact, I realize I might have gotten an extra turn to get away if I had disintegrated the walls of my corner. Oh well.

[Sandman25]

This run ended due to banishment. A wretched star got some good blasts in, which led to a long series of battles after which I had found myself a corner to heal up, and was gradually nearing full health... but after a dozen or so battles I learned that Executioners appear in Abyss:1. Teleport didn't kick in in time.

After the fact, I realize I might have gotten an extra turn to get away if I had disintegrated the walls of my corner. Oh well.

Hat of pondering was actually useful to you, it decreased odds of banishment. Executioners are tough, I try to spend more time near water/lava if I have flight.

[Hurkyl]

Hrm. I had a ring of flight, so that could have worked too. I'll keep that in mind next time.

I recall now that I had a fan of gales: that definitely would have bought be another turn. Somehow I missed it when reviewing what my options were.