Finds that make your character

[danr]

One of my favourite moments in Crawl is when you find that item or two that lets you breathe a sigh of relief, where you realize your character is now survivable. The neat thing is that it can be something different every game - a dagger of venom, some steel bullets, a randart robe, whatever.

My current HaCr find a +6 ring of evasion and a +6 ring of intelligence by D:3, so now I know that I've got a good head start on defense and spellcasting.

[mageykun]

Any kind of short blade with poison increases your odds of survial by a bunch. A d:1 or d:2 blade of electrocution is awesome though. Those explosions of sparks make mele possible against all kinds of early game enders.

[7hm]

Captain's cutlass on a SpBe or KoBe (you know it's coming eventually).

For myself this game there hasn't been any one thing, but the sword of jihad I found in elf makes me more confident for the endgame (i still hate torment) and the hat of pondering has been pretty solid as well.

[joellercoaster]

Of the two characters I have going at the moment, the Nemelecite SpAr found an amulet of faith and a short sword of flaming that allowed him to clear Lair without breaking a sweat, and the SEEE of Vehumet found an amulet of the gourmand that was completely game-changing! He's now XL27 and having a run at the post-endgame, still wearing it (until he gets Necromutation going, due any second now).

Like danr, I love how it's always something different: I've had tight games broken wide open by something as simple as a robe of poison resistance allowing entry to the Hive, or a Book of Earth for a SETm. You get a long way and think "wow, how did I ever survive other games without X?". But Crawl is all about running with what you get and exploiting the advantages you come across. The fact that there are so few games where you get to the middle and haven't found some kind of angle is, IMO, perhaps the greatest thing about it.

[Zicher]

A pretty lucky, but awesome early combo of an amulet of guardian spirit and a ring of magical power for a SpBe.

In the early game, this combination effectively doubles your HP.

[szanth]

A pretty lucky, but awesome early combo of an amulet of guardian spirit and a ring of magical power for a SpBe.

In the early game, this combination effectively doubles your HP.

Indeed, and when he's berserk he has even more IIRC.

[danr]

Well, that same HaCr with the +6 EV ring also just found the brooch of shielding (+4 EV +4 AC Warding), a randart ring with +2 AC +2 Int +2 Dex, and Oz. Armour. With all that and Heroism he's got something like AC 24, EV 41 - at XL 13!

[Dustbin]

- the +6,+9 crossbow "Hellfire" (weapon) {flame, rF++ rC- MR} On D:5
Then a staff of energy coupled with a book of clouds but a few floors later.

My NaVM went from pure caster, to a Quickloader of Okawaru, a steel bolt slinging monster now with added poison clouds covering the whole screen.

[Jk]

Slightly off topic in that it isn't an item, but when my demonspawn's first mutation is "demonic guardian", I let out that same sigh of relief.

[KoboldLord]

My current wizard found a D5 Book of Frost. Maybe I'm just jaded, but I was actually kind of disappointed to see it because it meant that all my problems were solved until the late midgame. That combination of two spellbooks is ridiculously comprehensive, and easily enough to get to Zot even without any other spells at all. Took some of the fun out of the game when I knew I'd be able to brute force my way through for quite some time.

Then I cleared an ice cavern and picked up three pieces of peripheral armor, all branded with cold resistance. And Sif Muna gifted Ozocubu's Refrigeration.

Why, Crawl, why?

[joellercoaster]

Excuse me, I seem to have misplaced my Very Tiny Violin.

[jejorda2]

The wand of digging on D6 really helped. It let my berserker's brothers get at the angel with the holy scourge up on D3.