Sandman's difficulty patch is hilarious

[tasonir]

So I already PM'ed him, but I thought this was funny and figured I'd share it more widely. In order to make crawl more difficult, you can set monster hp up to 1000%, or ten times normal health. Sure, I'm up for a challenge, let's crank this thing up to the max. And since we'll need a ton of damage right from turn 0, troll monk - can't go wrong with claws 3 and level 4 UC from the start.

Turns out, monster hp is one of the more prominent variables in how much exp those monsters gives you, so in addition to tons of hp, they give you tons of exp. You'll reach level 5 by the end of d:1, gain two levels of unarmed combat skill off one giant frog (really was something like 7.8 -> 9.1, but the message says it gains 2 levels), and of course this (spoilered large screenshot):

Spoiler: show

I had to kite the ogre back because it took so many hits to kill, ended up finding a teleport trap and made my stand before it, then leveled up and raised 3 skills at once

So I'm not really sure if this is easier or harder in the long run, but it certainly is interesting!

[WingedEspeon]

So would SpEn be EASIER with monsters at 1000% HP because stabs deal way overkill damage and you get more exp?

[Sandman25]

There is no overkill, I couldn't one-shot stab monsters with 150% HP.
I am working on new option "monster_xp_difficulty" to give player control wrt XP from kills.

[Sandman25]

It's still harder than normal crawl in both short and long run because you will not get 150% HP/MP from 150% XP and monsters do have 150% HP (when monster_hp_difficulty = 150)

Edit. My TrMo has XL 17 after Lair+Orc at 300%, why didn't I notice the problem at 150%

[tasonir]

Eh, it's easy to miss when it's not so extreme. I always like to push things to the extreme though, so there was no doubt I'd use 1000. If you had set a higher limit (say, 100000) it might have been a harder choice

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.17.20150612-2-gb8d65e1 (tiles) character file.

Tasonir1000 the Brawler (Troll Monk)               Turns: 16888, Time: 01:02:59

Health: 89/143     AC: 10    Str: 33    XL:     15   Next: 72%
Magic:  21/21      EV: 25    Int: 18    God:    Cheibriados [****..]
Gold:   741        SH: 13    Dex: 25    Spells: 2 memorised, 10 levels left

rFire  . . .     SeeInvis .       - Unarmed
rCold  . . .     Clarity  .     B - +2 robe {MR+}
rNeg   + . .     SustAt   .     W - +0 shield
rPois  .         Gourm    +     J - +2 hat
rElec  .         Spirit   .     p - +0 cloak
rCorr  .         Warding  +     (gloves unavailable)
rMut   .         Stasis   .     (boots unavailable)
MR     ++...                    I - amulet of warding
Stlth  ++........               H - +5 ring of slaying
                                i - +4 ring of evasion

@: very slow, very resistant to hostile enchantments, unstealthy
A: unfitting armour, antennae 1, claws 3, fast metabolism 3, gourmand, sense
surroundings 1, regeneration 2, shaggy fur 1, tough skin 2
a: Bend Time, Temporal Distortion, Slouch, Renounce Religion


You are on level 13 of the Dungeon.
You worship Cheibriados.
Cheibriados is greatly pleased with you.
You are full.

You have visited 3 branches of the dungeon, and seen 15 of its levels.

You have collected 741 gold pieces.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 G - a +2 blowgun
Missiles
 e - 390 stones
 v - 5 throwing nets
 w - 47 poisoned needles
 y - 14 large rocks (quivered)
Armour
 a - a +0 robe
 p - a +0 cloak (worn)
 u - a +0 robe of fire resistance
 B - a +2 robe of magic resistance (worn)
 J - a +2 hat (worn)
 W - a +0 shield (worn)
Jewellery
 i - a +4 ring of evasion (left claw)
 l - an uncursed ring of flight
 m - an uncursed ring of protection from magic
 n - a ring of positive energy
 s - a ring of protection from magic
 A - an uncursed ring of sustain attributes
 E - an uncursed ring of stealth
 F - an uncursed ring of positive energy
 H - a +5 ring of slaying (right claw)
 I - an amulet of warding (around neck)
 M - an uncursed ring of magical power
 S - a ring of positive energy
 V - a +4 ring of strength
Magical devices
 f - a wand of cold {zapped: 2}
 T - a wand of magic darts
Scrolls
 d - 2 scrolls of blinking
 g - 3 scrolls of immolation
 j - a scroll labeled QAGOUB MOIFFO
 k - 5 scrolls of remove curse
 D - 2 scrolls labeled TEXUPU BATTUS
 K - 2 scrolls of fear
 U - a scroll labeled ZUEFAX XOMIGHOL
 Y - a scroll labeled UGUEVV URGHITH
Potions
 r - a puce potion
 x - 2 potions of heal wounds
 z - a bubbling green potion
 C - a sedimented inky potion
 N - a green potion
 O - 4 fuming inky potions
 P - a smoky emerald potion
 Q - 2 silvery potions
 R - a blue potion
Books
 q - a Fen Folio   
   
    Spells                             Type                      Level
    a - Corpse Rot                   Necromancy                    2
    b - Stone Arrow                  Conjuration/Earth             3
    c - Leda's Liquefaction          Hexes/Earth                   4
    d - Summon Forest                Summoning/Translocation       5
    e - Hydra Form                   Transmutation                 6
    f - Summon Hydra                 Summoning                     7
 X - a book of Death   
   
    Spells                             Type                      Level
    a - Corpse Rot                   Necromancy                    2
    b - Sublimation of Blood         Necromancy                    2
    c - Agony                        Necromancy                    5
    d - Dispel Undead                Necromancy                    5
    e - Excruciating Wounds          Charms/Necromancy             5
    f - Bolt of Draining             Conjuration/Necromancy        5
Miscellaneous
 L - a phantom mirror
Comestibles
 b - 10 bread rations
 c - 10 beef jerkies
 o - 6 meat rations
 t - 3 slices of pizza


   Skills:
 - Level 8.3 Fighting
 - Level 6.7 Throwing
 - Level 10.9 Dodging
 - Level 1.1 Stealth
 - Level 9.0 Shields
 - Level 15.6 Unarmed Combat
 + Level 4.0 Charms
 + Level 5.2 Necromancy
 - Level 9.3 Invocations


You have 10 spell levels left.
You know the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Regeneration          Chrm/Necr      ###.......   12%         3    ####...
b - Apportation           Tloc           #.........   21%         1    ##.....


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (13/15)            Temple (1/1) D:6            Lair (1/8) D:10
   Orc: D:9-12      Vaults: D:13-14     

Altars:
Ashenzari
Cheibriados
Dithmenos
Gozag
Kikubaaqudgha
Makhleb
Okawaru
Qazlal
Trog
Vehumet
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin
The Shining One

Shops:
D:4 (   D:6 }

Annotations:
D:12 Frances


Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You are too large for most types of armour.
You have claws for hands.
Your metabolism is lightning-fast.
You like to eat raw meat.
You heal very quickly.
You are covered in fur (AC +1).
You have very tough skin (AC +2).
You have a pair of small antennae on your head.
You passively map a small area around you.


Message History

A raging storm of fire appears! The great blast of fire engulfs you!
You hear a bark! x3
You hear a bellow! x4
You are engulfed in roaring flames.
You take 23 damage from cloud: roaring flames.
The salamander stormcaller begins to chant a fire storm spell!
There is a stone staircase leading down here.
The salamander stormcaller begins to chant a fire storm spell!
There is a stone staircase leading down here.
You climb downwards.
Found a fuming inky potion and a book of Necromancy.
There is a stone staircase leading up here.
O - 4 fuming inky potions (gained 1)
There is a stone staircase leading up here.
Char dumped to '/Users/stevenwarkentin/Library/Application Support/Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup/morgue/Tasonir1000.txt'.
Saving game... please wait.
Welcome back, Tasonir1000 the Troll Monk.
Cheibriados says: Take it easy.
Press ? for a list of commands and other information.
Saving game... please wait.

  **


#......#
#......##   *
#........
#......., ,
#......#**
#......#    ,
#......#     ,
#....@.#
######.#      ,
     #:#
     #.#
     #.#     ,
     #.#*  *
     #..  ,
     #..     ,
     #..   ,
         , ,  ,*


There are no monsters in sight!

Vanquished Creatures
  A yaktaur captain (D:12)
  Harold (D:10)
  A salamander stormcaller (D:12)
  Erolcha (D:8)
  A fire crab (D:12)
  2 hill giants
  Pikel (D:5)
  An orc knight (D:12)
  A cyclops (D:11)
  An octopode (shapeshifter) (D:12)
  Joseph (D:7)
  4 trolls
  5 slime creatures
  2 two-headed ogres
  Sigmund (D:4)
  A hungry ghost (D:9)
  19 yaks
  A blink frog (D:10)
  2 deep elf magi (D:12)
  A wraith (D:12)
  3 shadows
  5 vampire mosquitoes
  A wyvern (D:12)
  Edmund (D:6)
  Menkaure (D:4)
  A water moccasin (D:9)
  2 sky beasts
  3 porcupines (D:9)
  3 phantoms
  A slave (D:5)
  8 ogres
  2 necrophages
  6 orc warriors
  A black bear (D:10)
  7 centaurs
  6 ice beasts
  4 ugly things
  A wasp (D:11)
  A crocodile (D:10)
  9 giant frogs
  A centaur skeleton (D:12)
  7 scorpions
  3 wights
  2 electric eels (D:11)
  22 killer bees
  9 crimson imps
  A quasit (D:9)
  2 jellies (D:12)
  10 iguanas
  8 orc priests
  Natasha (thrice) (D:4)
  8 hounds
  12 worker ants
  9 orc wizards
  3 wyvern zombies
  2 river rats
  4 gnolls (D:6)
  2 wyvern skeletons
  5 shadow imps
  16 adders
  2 centaur zombies
  3 oozes
  4 giant frog skeletons
  A worm (D:4)
  A hound zombie (D:8)
  46 orcs
  A hound skeleton (D:7)
  6 giant geckos
  A ball python (D:6)
  8 jackals
  18 bats
  11 goblins
  4 giant cockroaches
  17 hobgoblins
  23 kobolds
  An adder skeleton (D:8)
  3 giant newts
  6 quokkas
  A bat skeleton (D:5)
  A bat zombie (D:7)
  A giant gecko zombie (D:5)
  17 rats
419 creatures vanquished.

Vanquished Creatures (others)
  A slave (D:6)
  An iguana (D:6)
  A jelly (D:12)
  An adder (D:12)
  An orc (D:12)
  A hobgoblin (D:6)
6 creatures vanquished.

Grand Total: 425 creatures vanquished

Notes
Turn   | Place    | Note
--------------------------------------------------------------
     0 | D:1      | Tasonir1000 the Troll Monk began the quest for the Orb.
     0 | D:1      | Reached XP level 1. HP: 22/22 MP: 0/0
    33 | D:1      | Reached XP level 2. HP: 29/29 MP: 1/1
   265 | D:1      | Reached skill level 5 in Unarmed Combat
   265 | D:1      | Reached XP level 3. HP: 11/36 MP: 2/2
   633 | D:1      | Reached XP level 4. HP: 40/44 MP: 3/3
   757 | D:1      | Reached skill level 6 in Unarmed Combat
  1001 | D:1      | Reached XP level 5. HP: 26/50 MP: 4/4
  1151 | D:2      | Reached skill level 7 in Unarmed Combat
  1368 | D:2      | Reached XP level 6. HP: 57/59 MP: 5/5
  1593 | D:2      | Found a basalt altar of Yredelemnul.
  1756 | D:2      | Found a shadowy altar of Dithmenos.
  1962 | D:3      | Reached skill level 9 in Unarmed Combat
  1962 | D:3      | Reached XP level 7. HP: 16/66 MP: 6/6
  2102 | D:3      | Found a faded altar to an unknown god.
  2313 | D:3      | Reached skill level 10 in Unarmed Combat
  2313 | D:3      | Reached XP level 8. HP: 31/75 MP: 7/7
  2613 | D:4      | Noticed Menkaure
  2891 | D:4      | Noticed Natasha
  3200 | D:4      | Found Voama's Weapon Shoppe.
  3202 | D:4      | Noticed Sigmund
  3219 | D:5      | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon
  3325 | D:5      | Reached skill level 5 in Dodging
  3325 | D:5      | Reached XP level 9. HP: 68/84 MP: 8/8
  3446 | D:5      | Reached skill level 11 in Unarmed Combat
  3526 | D:5      | Found a radiant altar of Vehumet.
  3990 | D:5      | Found a stormy altar of Qazlal.
  4007 | D:5      | Found a glowing silver altar of Zin.
  4081 | D:5      | Reached skill level 5 in Fighting
  4241 | D:5      | Reached XP level 10. HP: 70/96 MP: 9/9
  4493 | D:5      | Found a radiant altar of Vehumet.
  4494 | D:5      | Found an iron altar of Okawaru.
  4592 | D:5      | Reached skill level 12 in Unarmed Combat
  5090 | D:6      | Found a glowing golden altar of the Shining One.
  5099 | D:6      | Found Ydass's Gadget Shoppe.
  5413 | D:6      | Reached XP level 11. HP: 103/105 MP: 10/10
  5688 | D:6      | Noticed Pikel
  5810 | D:5      | Killed Pikel
  5810 | D:5      | Reached skill level 13 in Unarmed Combat
  6032 | D:6      | Found a staircase to the Ecumenical Temple.
  6046 | Temple   | Entered the Ecumenical Temple
  6054 | Temple   | Became a worshipper of Cheibriados the Contemplative
  6054 | Temple   | Acquired Cheibriados's first power
  6080 | D:6      | Noticed Edmund
  6107 | D:6      | Killed Edmund
  6285 | D:6      | Learned a level 3 spell: Regeneration
  6296 | D:6      | Noticed a brown ugly thing
  6305 | D:6      | Killed a brown ugly thing
  6802 | D:4      | Reached skill level 10 in Dodging
  6828 | D:4      | Killed Sigmund
  6875 | D:4      | Killed Menkaure
  6875 | D:4      | Reached XP level 12. HP: 118/118 MP: 11/11
  7276 | D:4      | Acquired Cheibriados's second power
  7427 | D:4      | Killed Natasha
  7559 | D:4      | Noticed Natasha
  7562 | D:4      | Killed Natasha
  7602 | D:4      | Noticed Natasha
  7609 | D:4      | Killed Natasha
  7691 | D:4      | Reached skill level 1 in Throwing
  7873 | D:7      | Noticed Joseph
  7906 | D:7      | Killed Joseph
  7962 | D:7      | Reached skill level 5 in Throwing
  8375 | D:7      | Gained mutation: You have a pair of small antennae on your head. [mutagenic meat]
  8376 | D:7      | Gained mutation: You passively map a small area around you. [mutagenic meat]
  8829 | D:8      | Acquired Cheibriados's third power
  8903 | D:8      | Reached skill level 1 in Invocations
  9401 | D:8      | You fall through a shaft!
  9474 | D:8      | Reached skill level 5 in Invocations
  9687 | D:9      | Acquired Cheibriados's fourth power
  9707 | D:9      | Reached XP level 13. HP: 105/124 MP: 16/16
 10979 | D:8      | Noticed Erolcha
 11010 | D:8      | Killed Erolcha
 11010 | D:8      | Reached skill level 14 in Unarmed Combat
 11892 | D:10     | Entered Level 10 of the Dungeon
 12170 | D:9      | Reached skill level 15 in Unarmed Combat
 12170 | D:9      | Reached XP level 14. HP: 100/136 MP: 20/20
 12376 | D:10     | Found a staircase to the Lair.
 12456 | D:10     | Noticed Harold
 12510 | D:10     | Killed Harold
 12613 | D:10     | Reached skill level 1 in Shields
 12628 | D:10     | Learned a level 1 spell: Apportation
 12959 | D:10     | Found a bloodstained altar of Trog.
 13778 | D:11     | Reached skill level 5 in Shields
 14519 | Lair:1   | Entered Level 1 of the Lair of Beasts
 14760 | D:11     | Reached XP level 15. HP: 131/143 MP: 21/21
 15729 | D:12     | Noticed Frances
 15946 | D:11     | Reached skill level 1 in Necromancy
 15986 | D:12     | Reached skill level 1 in Charms
 16713 | D:12     | Reached skill level 5 in Necromancy


Action                   |  1- 3 |  4- 6 |  7- 9 | 10-12 | 13-15 || total
-------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------++-------
Melee: Unarmed           |   160 |   328 |   485 |  1519 |  1971 ||  4463
 Fire: Blowgun           |       |       |    15 |       |       ||    15
Throw: Stone             |       |     1 |    10 |     2 |     3 ||    16
       Large rock        |       |       |     1 |    16 |    22 ||    39
 Cast: Regeneration      |       |       |       |       |     8 ||     8
Invok: Slouch            |       |       |       |       |    12 ||    12
       Temporal Distorti |       |       |       |       |     2 ||     2
Evoke: Wand              |       |       |       |       |     1 ||     1
  Use: Scroll            |       |       |     3 |     4 |     9 ||    16
       Potion            |       |       |       |       |     3 ||     3
 Stab: Sleeping          |     1 |     1 |     3 |    10 |     5 ||    20
       Distracted        |       |       |       |       |     2 ||     2
       Invisible         |       |       |       |       |     9 ||     9
  Eat: Chunk             |     6 |    13 |    18 |    47 |    50 ||   134



Even with all of the bonus exp, there are still things I definitely don't want to fight. There was a 4 headed hydra right by the stairs into lair, and I exited lair immediately. Don't really want to go back with only 10 ac. At the time I had 5 rocks so I couldn't kill it with throwing, although now I have 14 large rocks, so I might be able to. Got regen started, may learn transmutations for hydra form, which would be another way to take out the hydra, if I can get it castable (running orc and the rest of dungeon might do that with all the exp monsters give). Probably best to just train another 5 levels of throwing and then throw + slouch while regenerating.

I also ran from frances, I don't want to go through a long fight with something that summons. Most other uniques haven't scared me too much. Also packs of slime creatures cannot be fought together, you really have to stairdance them into one creature at a time. I still haven't ID'ed teleportation scrolls, but have used about 4 blinking so far, which have been very nice to have. My good rings have also been a nice help.

[Sandman25]

I killed 300% hydra with lignification, later another died to rod of clouds, freezing cloud deals up to 28 damage per turn and I went invisible and was passing turns. Not sure about 1000%, it would probably be a suicide, as the second hydra got me down to 50%.
I am going to quit my character, it's not fun knowing I got unfair advantage.

[Sandman25]

I modified https://github.com/Sandman25DCSS/difficulty, now it has new option

1a) monster_xp_difficulty=100

Possible values are 1-1000. Allows to control XP from killing monsters. XP part which depends on max HP is calculated as maxHP*100/monster_xp_difficulty. If you want to get the same XP as before, it should have the same value as monster_hp_difficulty. For example: monster_xp_difficulty = 200 monster_hp_difficulty = 200 and you will have monster with 200% HP but the same XP as normal monsters.
Windows executable from my signature was changed too.

[savageorange]

So, is the game winnable with monster_hp_difficulty = 1 and monster_xp_difficulty = 1?
(I would guess a spriggan stabber of Dith would work pretty well for that..)

Another question: looking at this code, it seems that if you specify only monster_hp_difficulty, then monster_xp_difficulty will remain at the default of 100. Is that what is intended?

@tasonir: setting a higher limit is actually easy -- You can see here : https://github.com/Sandman25DCSS/diffic ... b5098a6e4b that it's just a single line, around line 3456 in initfile.cc, that specifies the name of the option and its limits.
You should probably exercise some caution, though, because experience value is stored in a standard 32bit integer meaning that xp value will overflow* if a value higher than 2 billion is set, and other multipliers (HD and 'difficulty estimation' (including a difficulty modifier assigned per monster type) are involved. Probably, we can guess these other multipliers at a maximum of 1000, and account for crawl's fixed-point arithmetic with a further divisor of 50, leaving a maximum xp modifier of about (2^31) / 50000 == 42949 .

* I'm not sure precisely what would happen here, other than the monster would give you negative XP. I wonder if you could be levelled-down like that?

[Sandman25]

So, is the game winnable with monster_hp_difficulty = 1 and monster_xp_difficulty = 1?
(I would guess a spriggan stabber of Dith would work pretty well for that..)

I doubt it is winnable as even 1 HP stone giants throw normal damage rocks.

Another question: looking at this code, it seems that if you specify only monster_hp_difficulty, then monster_xp_difficulty will remain at the default of 100. Is that what is intended?

Yes, it is intended. Some players wanted to get less XP while keeping normal HP monsters, now they have a way to do it. Also now players can choose to have 300% HP monsters which give 100% XP (or 50% XP, or 1000% XP)). monster_hp_difficulty and monster_xp_difficulty are completely independent of each other.

[emikaela]

is there an easy way to also control the amount of monsters? half as many monsters with twice as much hp and xp seems like a game i'd like to play.

[Sandman25]

is there an easy way to also control the amount of monsters? half as many monsters with twice as much hp and xp seems like a game i'd like to play.

No, sorry, there is no easy way. I am not even sure how it can be implemented, ignoring request to create every second monster probably. It would require lots of changes everywhere where monsters are created.

By the way I am not sure how HP work with summons (never tested), probably summons have modified HP too so perhaps a summoner is the easiest background to deal with high HP monsters.

[tasonir]

As an update, the troll in the above dump finally met his end in a labyrinth - Minotaurs with x10 health are hard to bring down, and made the mistake of rapidly tabbing until I was around 1/3 life, and THEN noticing that it was wearing a randart crystal plate armor. It also equipped a rod of shadows, but that only summoned one troll, which wasn't as major of a problem as the CPA and x10 health. I was pretty low on consumables having to run from x10 health ettins, and eventually decided to just go down in a blaze of glory.

While it's certainly going to be possible to win a x10 health game, I think I'm going to reverse course and say that for extreme health games, Chei is considerably worse than for normal health games. The usual trick of slouching to clear bad situations hardly makes a dent anymore, and I was chronically low on piety from overusing god abilities. The point where your damage becomes absolutely absurd is only after high level transmutations are online (statue form, blade hands, dragon form), which is a bit longer than my consumables were able to last. I was training transmutations as I had found hydra form, but it wasn't yet castable for the fight with the minotaur. Had I lasted about 2-3 more floors, I could have had it online (there was a wiz ring in a shop I was only ~150g short of).

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.17.20150612-2-gb8d65e1 (tiles) character file.

165497 Tasonir1000 the Brawler (level 17, 0/163 HPs)
             Began as a Troll Monk on June 19, 2015.
             Was a High Priest of Cheibriados.
             Slain by a minotaur
             ... wielding a +1 rod of shadows (5/9)
              (12 damage)
             ... in a labyrinth on June 22, 2015.
             The game lasted 01:20:06 (20090 turns).

Tasonir1000 the Brawler (Troll Monk)               Turns: 20090, Time: 01:20:06

Health: 0/163      AC: 12    Str: 36    XL:     17   Next: 27%
Magic:  20/23      EV: 26    Int: 21    God:    Cheibriados [*****.]
Gold:   560        SH: 14    Dex: 28    Spells: 3 memorised, 6 levels left

rFire  . . .     SeeInvis .     G - +2 blowgun
rCold  . . .     Clarity  .     B - +2 robe {MR+}
rNeg   . . .     SustAt   .     W - +0 shield
rPois  .         Gourm    +     J - +2 hat
rElec  .         Spirit   .     p - +2 cloak
rCorr  .         Warding  .     (gloves unavailable)
rMut   .         Stasis   .     (boots unavailable)
MR     ++...                    a - amulet of regeneration
Stlth  ++........               H - +5 ring of slaying
                                i - +4 ring of evasion

@: starving, regenerating, very slow, very resistant to hostile enchantments,
unstealthy
A: unfitting armour, antennae 1, claws 3, fast metabolism 3, gourmand, sense
surroundings 1, regeneration 2, shaggy fur 1, tough skin 2
a: Bend Time, Temporal Distortion, Slouch, Step From Time, Renounce Religion


You were in a labyrinth.
You worshipped Cheibriados.
Cheibriados was extremely pleased with you.
You were starving.

You visited 3 branches of the dungeon, and saw 17 of its levels.
You also visited: Labyrinth.

You collected 1010 gold pieces.
You spent 450 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 G - a +2 blowgun (weapon)
Missiles
 e - 437 stones
 v - 4 throwing nets
 w - 36 poisoned needles (quivered)
 y - 20 large rocks
 Z - 4 silver javelins
Armour
 p - a +2 cloak (worn)
 u - a +0 robe of fire resistance
 B - a +2 robe of magic resistance (worn)
 J - a +2 hat (worn)
 W - a +0 shield (worn)
Jewellery
 a - an amulet of regeneration (around neck)
 i - a +4 ring of evasion (left claw)
 l - an uncursed ring of flight
 m - an uncursed ring of protection from magic
 n - an uncursed ring of positive energy
 A - an uncursed ring of sustain attributes
 D - an uncursed ring of wizardry {unknown}
 E - an uncursed ring of stealth
 F - an uncursed ring of positive energy
 H - a +5 ring of slaying (right claw)
 I - an uncursed amulet of warding
 M - an uncursed ring of magical power
 T - an uncursed amulet of faith {unknown}
 V - a +4 ring of strength
Magical devices
 f - a wand of cold (2)
 s - a wand of paralysis (8)
 K - a wand of fireball (12)
 L - a wand of draining (2)
Scrolls
 d - a scroll of fear
 g - 3 scrolls of immolation
 h - a scroll of identify
 j - a scroll of amnesia {unknown}
 k - 6 scrolls of remove curse
 S - 2 scrolls of enchant armour
 U - a scroll of fog
 Y - a scroll of teleportation {unknown}
Potions
 r - a potion of cure mutation {unknown}
 z - a potion of flight {unknown}
 C - a potion of resistance {unknown}
 N - a potion of magic {unknown}
 O - a potion of curing
 P - a potion of agility {unknown}
 Q - 2 potions of might {unknown}
 R - a potion of poison {unknown}
Books
 q - a Fen Folio   
   
    Spells                             Type                      Level
    a - Corpse Rot                   Necromancy                    2
    b - Stone Arrow                  Conjuration/Earth             3
    c - Leda's Liquefaction          Hexes/Earth                   4
    d - Summon Forest                Summoning/Translocation       5
    e - Hydra Form                   Transmutation                 6
    f - Summon Hydra                 Summoning                     7
 X - a book of Death   
   
    Spells                             Type                      Level
    a - Corpse Rot                   Necromancy                    2
    b - Sublimation of Blood         Necromancy                    2
    c - Agony                        Necromancy                    5
    d - Dispel Undead                Necromancy                    5
    e - Excruciating Wounds          Charms/Necromancy             5
    f - Bolt of Draining             Conjuration/Necromancy        5
Comestibles
 b - 12 bread rations
 c - 11 beef jerkies
 o - 9 meat rations
 t - 2 slices of pizza


   Skills:
 - Level 9.2 Fighting
 - Level 6.7 Throwing
 - Level 10.9 Dodging
 - Level 1.1 Stealth
 - Level 9.0 Shields
 - Level 16.4 Unarmed Combat
 - Level 4.9 Charms
 - Level 6.0 Necromancy
 + Level 9.2 Transmutations
 - Level 9.3 Invocations


You had 6 spell levels left.
You knew the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Regeneration          Chrm/Necr      ###.......   6%          3    ####...
b - Apportation           Tloc           #.........   17%         1    ##.....
c - Hydra Form            Trmt           #####.....   71%         6    #######


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (15/15)            Temple (1/1) D:6            Lair (1/8) D:10
 Vaults (0/5) D:13       
   Orc: D:9-12      Depths: D:15       

Altars:
Ashenzari
Cheibriados
Dithmenos
Gozag
Kikubaaqudgha
Makhleb
Okawaru
Qazlal
Trog
Vehumet
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin
The Shining One

Shops:
D:4 (   D:6 }   D:14 ===[

Annotations:
D:12 Frances


Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You are too large for most types of armour.
You have claws for hands.
Your metabolism is lightning-fast.
You like to eat raw meat.
You heal very quickly.
You are covered in fur (AC +1).
You have very tough skin (AC +2).
You have a pair of small antennae on your head.
You passively map a small area around you.


Message History

You shoot a poisoned needle.
The poisoned needle barely misses the minotaur.
The poisoned needle hits the troll!(damage 11)
The troll looks even sicker.
Drink which item? (? for menu, Esc to quit)
You feel better.
The minotaur hits you with a rod of shadows!!
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
The minotaur completely misses you.
Read which item? (? for menu, Esc to quit)
Okay, then.
Unknown command.
Use which ability? (? or * to list)
You're too hungry.
Drink which item? (? for menu, Esc to quit)
You feel better. You block the minotaur's attack. The minotaur gores you!
* * * LOW HITPOINT WARNING * * *
Drink which item? (? for menu, Esc to quit)
You feel better. You block the minotaur's attack. The minotaur gores you!
You die...

          #
          #.
          #   #
           ...
             . ##
             . .
            #.# # #
#            .#  .
#...#########.###
  #(.TH@........ ...#
  #.#.#.#..#### ##  #
    # ..# .....  . .#
    #####.####### #
      #.  ..  ..#    .
      # ##. ###.## .
      # .... .# #. .#
        #  ##   #.#
            #.# #..
             #    #
                  #
           ## # ###


You could see a minotaur and a troll.

Vanquished Creatures
  Agnes (D:14)
  A yaktaur captain (D:12)
  Josephine (D:14)
  Harold (D:10)
  5 centaur warriors
  A salamander stormcaller (D:12)
  Erolcha (D:8)
  Urug (D:13)
  A fire crab (D:12)
  3 hill giants
  Pikel (D:5)
  An orc knight (D:12)
  3 cyclopes
  A manticore (D:13)
  An octopode (shapeshifter) (D:12)
  Maurice (D:13)
  Joseph (D:7)
  A kobold demonologist (D:14)
  A freezing wraith (D:13)
  4 trolls
  5 slime creatures
  4 two-headed ogres
  Sigmund (D:4)
  5 hungry ghosts
  30 yaks
  A blink frog (D:10)
  2 deep elf magi (D:12)
  5 wraiths
  3 shadows
  7 vampire mosquitoes
  A wyvern (D:12)
  Edmund (D:6)
  Menkaure (D:4)
  A water moccasin (D:9)
  A mottled dragon (D:13)
  2 sky beasts
  3 porcupines (D:9)
  4 phantoms
  A slave (D:5)
  8 ogres
  2 necrophages
  7 orc warriors
  A black bear (D:10)
  23 centaurs
  A big kobold (D:14)
  6 ice beasts
  12 ugly things
  A wasp (D:11)
  A crocodile (D:10)
  11 giant frogs
  A centaur skeleton (D:12)
  9 scorpions
  7 wights
  A minotaur skeleton (Lab)
  2 electric eels (D:11)
  22 killer bees
  A centaur simulacrum (D:14)
  9 crimson imps
  A quasit (D:9)
  2 jellies (D:12)
  10 iguanas
  9 orc priests
  Natasha (thrice) (D:4)
  10 hounds
  13 worker ants
  9 orc wizards
  3 sheep (D:13)
  3 wyvern zombies
  2 river rats
  4 gnolls (D:6)
  3 wyvern skeletons
  6 shadow imps
  16 adders
  A troll skeleton (Lab)
  4 centaur zombies
  3 oozes
  4 giant frog skeletons
  A worm (D:4)
  A hound zombie (D:8)
  49 orcs
  A hound skeleton (D:7)
  6 giant geckos
  A ball python (D:6)
  8 jackals
  18 bats
  11 goblins
  4 giant cockroaches
  17 hobgoblins
  26 kobolds
  An adder skeleton (D:8)
  3 giant newts
  6 quokkas
  A bat skeleton (D:5)
  A bat zombie (D:7)
  A giant gecko zombie (D:5)
  17 rats
513 creatures vanquished.

Vanquished Creatures (others)
  A slave (D:6)
  An iguana (D:6)
  A jelly (D:12)
  An adder (D:12)
  An orc (D:12)
  A hobgoblin (D:6)
6 creatures vanquished.

Grand Total: 519 creatures vanquished

Notes
Turn   | Place    | Note
--------------------------------------------------------------
     0 | D:1      | Tasonir1000 the Troll Monk began the quest for the Orb.
     0 | D:1      | Reached XP level 1. HP: 22/22 MP: 0/0
    33 | D:1      | Reached XP level 2. HP: 29/29 MP: 1/1
   265 | D:1      | Reached skill level 5 in Unarmed Combat
   265 | D:1      | Reached XP level 3. HP: 11/36 MP: 2/2
   633 | D:1      | Reached XP level 4. HP: 40/44 MP: 3/3
   757 | D:1      | Reached skill level 6 in Unarmed Combat
  1001 | D:1      | Reached XP level 5. HP: 26/50 MP: 4/4
  1151 | D:2      | Reached skill level 7 in Unarmed Combat
  1368 | D:2      | Reached XP level 6. HP: 57/59 MP: 5/5
  1593 | D:2      | Found a basalt altar of Yredelemnul.
  1756 | D:2      | Found a shadowy altar of Dithmenos.
  1962 | D:3      | Reached skill level 9 in Unarmed Combat
  1962 | D:3      | Reached XP level 7. HP: 16/66 MP: 6/6
  2102 | D:3      | Found a faded altar to an unknown god.
  2313 | D:3      | Reached skill level 10 in Unarmed Combat
  2313 | D:3      | Reached XP level 8. HP: 31/75 MP: 7/7
  2613 | D:4      | Noticed Menkaure
  2891 | D:4      | Noticed Natasha
  3200 | D:4      | Found Voama's Weapon Shoppe.
  3202 | D:4      | Noticed Sigmund
  3219 | D:5      | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon
  3325 | D:5      | Reached skill level 5 in Dodging
  3325 | D:5      | Reached XP level 9. HP: 68/84 MP: 8/8
  3446 | D:5      | Reached skill level 11 in Unarmed Combat
  3526 | D:5      | Found a radiant altar of Vehumet.
  3990 | D:5      | Found a stormy altar of Qazlal.
  4007 | D:5      | Found a glowing silver altar of Zin.
  4081 | D:5      | Reached skill level 5 in Fighting
  4241 | D:5      | Reached XP level 10. HP: 70/96 MP: 9/9
  4493 | D:5      | Found a radiant altar of Vehumet.
  4494 | D:5      | Found an iron altar of Okawaru.
  4592 | D:5      | Reached skill level 12 in Unarmed Combat
  5090 | D:6      | Found a glowing golden altar of the Shining One.
  5099 | D:6      | Found Ydass's Gadget Shoppe.
  5413 | D:6      | Reached XP level 11. HP: 103/105 MP: 10/10
  5688 | D:6      | Noticed Pikel
  5810 | D:5      | Killed Pikel
  5810 | D:5      | Reached skill level 13 in Unarmed Combat
  6032 | D:6      | Found a staircase to the Ecumenical Temple.
  6046 | Temple   | Entered the Ecumenical Temple
  6054 | Temple   | Became a worshipper of Cheibriados the Contemplative
  6054 | Temple   | Acquired Cheibriados's first power
  6080 | D:6      | Noticed Edmund
  6107 | D:6      | Killed Edmund
  6285 | D:6      | Learned a level 3 spell: Regeneration
  6296 | D:6      | Noticed a brown ugly thing
  6305 | D:6      | Killed a brown ugly thing
  6802 | D:4      | Reached skill level 10 in Dodging
  6828 | D:4      | Killed Sigmund
  6875 | D:4      | Killed Menkaure
  6875 | D:4      | Reached XP level 12. HP: 118/118 MP: 11/11
  7276 | D:4      | Acquired Cheibriados's second power
  7427 | D:4      | Killed Natasha
  7559 | D:4      | Noticed Natasha
  7562 | D:4      | Killed Natasha
  7602 | D:4      | Noticed Natasha
  7609 | D:4      | Killed Natasha
  7691 | D:4      | Reached skill level 1 in Throwing
  7873 | D:7      | Noticed Joseph
  7906 | D:7      | Killed Joseph
  7962 | D:7      | Reached skill level 5 in Throwing
  8375 | D:7      | Gained mutation: You have a pair of small antennae on your head. [mutagenic meat]
  8376 | D:7      | Gained mutation: You passively map a small area around you. [mutagenic meat]
  8829 | D:8      | Acquired Cheibriados's third power
  8903 | D:8      | Reached skill level 1 in Invocations
  9401 | D:8      | You fall through a shaft!
  9474 | D:8      | Reached skill level 5 in Invocations
  9687 | D:9      | Acquired Cheibriados's fourth power
  9707 | D:9      | Reached XP level 13. HP: 105/124 MP: 16/16
 10979 | D:8      | Noticed Erolcha
 11010 | D:8      | Killed Erolcha
 11010 | D:8      | Reached skill level 14 in Unarmed Combat
 11892 | D:10     | Entered Level 10 of the Dungeon
 12170 | D:9      | Reached skill level 15 in Unarmed Combat
 12170 | D:9      | Reached XP level 14. HP: 100/136 MP: 20/20
 12376 | D:10     | Found a staircase to the Lair.
 12456 | D:10     | Noticed Harold
 12510 | D:10     | Killed Harold
 12613 | D:10     | Reached skill level 1 in Shields
 12628 | D:10     | Learned a level 1 spell: Apportation
 12959 | D:10     | Found a bloodstained altar of Trog.
 13778 | D:11     | Reached skill level 5 in Shields
 14519 | Lair:1   | Entered Level 1 of the Lair of Beasts
 14760 | D:11     | Reached XP level 15. HP: 131/143 MP: 21/21
 15729 | D:12     | Noticed Frances
 15946 | D:11     | Reached skill level 1 in Necromancy
 15986 | D:12     | Reached skill level 1 in Charms
 16713 | D:12     | Reached skill level 5 in Necromancy
 17243 | D:13     | Learned a level 6 spell: Hydra Form
 17278 | D:13     | Noticed Maurice
 17280 | D:13     | Noticed Urug
 17352 | D:13     | Killed Urug
 17352 | D:13     | Reached XP level 16. HP: 33/153 MP: 10/22
 17421 | D:13     | Killed Maurice
 17564 | D:13     | Reached skill level 16 in Unarmed Combat
 17902 | D:14     | Found Rili's Antique Armour Boutique.
 17971 | D:14     | Noticed Josephine
 18138 | D:13     | Found a gate to the Vaults.
 18652 | D:14     | Found Asatilum's Distillery.
 18686 | D:14     | Reached skill level 5 in Transmutations
 19021 | D:14     | Killed Josephine
 19171 | D:14     | Found Zickex's Jewellery Shop.
 19175 | D:14     | Bought an uncursed amulet of regeneration for 450 gold pieces
 19290 | D:14     | Found Jeurchetz's Jewellery Shop.
 19345 | D:14     | Reached XP level 17. HP: 137/163 MP: 23/23
 19581 | D:14     | Noticed Agnes
 19618 | D:14     | Killed Agnes
 19635 | D:14     | Found Atokk's Jewellery Shop.
 19744 | D:15     | Entered Level 15 of the Dungeon
 19836 | D:15     | Found a labyrinth entrance.
 19842 | Lab      | Entered a labyrinth
 20088 | Lab      | HP: 8/163 [minotaur/rod of shadows (31)]
 20089 | Lab      | HP: 3/163 [minotaur/rod of shadows (14)]
 20090 | Lab      | Identified a +1 rod of shadows (5/9)
 20090 | Lab      | Slain by a minotaur


Action                   |  1- 3 |  4- 6 |  7- 9 | 10-12 | 13-15 | 16-18 || total
-------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------++-------
Melee: Unarmed           |   160 |   328 |   485 |  1519 |  2272 |   940 ||  5704
 Fire: Blowgun           |       |       |    15 |       |       |    11 ||    26
Throw: Stone             |       |     1 |    10 |     2 |     3 |       ||    16
       Large rock        |       |       |     1 |    16 |    22 |     3 ||    42
       Throwing net      |       |       |       |       |     2 |       ||     2
 Cast: Regeneration      |       |       |       |       |    15 |    30 ||    45
Invok: Slouch            |       |       |       |       |    14 |       ||    14
       Temporal Distorti |       |       |       |       |     2 |     1 ||     3
Evoke: Wand              |       |       |       |       |     1 |       ||     1
       Phantom mirror    |       |       |       |       |       |     1 ||     1
  Use: Scroll            |       |       |     3 |     4 |    10 |     8 ||    25
       Potion            |       |       |       |       |     4 |     4 ||     8
 Stab: Sleeping          |     1 |     1 |     3 |    10 |     5 |       ||    20
       Distracted        |       |       |       |       |     2 |       ||     2
       Invisible         |       |       |       |       |     9 |       ||     9
       Held in net/web   |       |       |       |       |     4 |       ||     4
  Eat: Chunk             |     6 |    13 |    18 |    47 |    53 |    20 ||   157
       Pizza             |       |       |       |       |       |     1 ||     1



A severe lack of teleportation scrolls was also very frustrating this game - never identified them, I had one unknown after clearing 17 levels.

[Sandman25]

I am surprised you got this far, well played. I agree that Chei is very bad here, especially for Tr who has regen++.

[Rast]

I bet summoners are real good in this variant.

[Sandman25]

Yes, most likely (I haven't used any summoning spells yet). Scroll of summoning can be very useful too I guess.

[tasonir]

The closest I got to summoning was phantom mirroring an ettin when I was getting very low on health. Didn't work out too well because I was in fairly open space and the ettin chased after me rather than fighting his clone, and I couldn't block the hostile ettin in. Still had to use a blink scroll to escape, so a waste of the mirror in the end. But I believe all friendly monsters generated would have the same buffed hp.

[johlstei]

I bet agony is a really good spell in this variant, and at the very least there's more reason to use sceptre of torment.

[pickled_heretic]

I bet summoners are real good in this variant.

probably more viable than usual, but they would be maddeningly tedious.

[johlstei]

Summoning might actually have a food liability in this one - presumably the ratio of summons cast per monster would stay the same since both amounts of hp increase by the same factor, but the fights would be a lot longer due to the damage not increasing. This is true even moreso if you're the "stand back and wait" school of summoner as opposed to standing in the front lines.

[Sandman25]

Yes, hunger can be a serious issue. SpAK with daggers of electro/distortion made it clear.

[Siegurt]

Summoning might actually have a food liability in this one - presumably the ratio of summons cast per monster would stay the same since both amounts of hp increase by the same factor, but the fights would be a lot longer due to the damage not increasing. This is true even moreso if you're the "stand back and wait" school of summoner as opposed to standing in the front lines.

Actually I imagine for many fights the ratio of summons per fight would increase, because many summons expire not because of a lack of hps, but because of a lack of duration, so you'd end up in some cases re-casting your summons because they'd expire before the fight ended, even if they never got hit (This happens to me sometimes without increased hps, I can only imagine that more prolonged fights would have it happen more often)

[pickled_heretic]

I want to try the mod just to try a musu that has a weird difficulty curve, but I know i'll just hate myself after like 30 minutes.

[Sandman25]

I want to try the mod just to try a musu that has a weird difficulty curve, but I know i'll just hate myself after like 30 minutes.

You can change difficulty any time, just be aware that it does not affect monsters which are already created.
So you can play with normal (or easy) difficulty on early floors and then switch to harder difficulty later (or do the opposite).

[pickled_heretic]

less to do with your mod, and more to do with poor gameplay of a summoner that i don't enjoy.

I guess with more experience as well, it might let mummy summoner branch out enough to be somewhat entertaining to play.

[Sandman25]

less to do with your mod, and more to do with poor gameplay of a summoner that i don't enjoy.

I guess with more experience as well, it might let mummy summoner branch out enough to be somewhat entertaining to play.

So you want to play a summoner who attacks along with summons? Then probably Mu is not optimal, Te has better aptitudes.

[tasonir]

I did notice hunger issues on my troll, but that isn't really surprising, since I would generally have to find a good position and then just hold tab for 50-100 turns to claw through 4-5 yaks. Fortunately once you did get 2-3 corpses to drop, you could eat your way back up to full, but yes, longer fights will definitely impact hunger.

It was kind of funny watching my hp bar animate up and down, as it would bounce a pretty fair amount. Healing was pretty high with regen amulet/troll + regen spell, and then it would get chopped back down.

[Sandman25]

Is there any interest in displaying rolls? It can be very useful for choosing spells.
For example, my current character has 3 spells at seemingly the same spell power.

  Code:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Failure   Level  Hunger
a - Magic Dart            Conj           ###.         3%          1    #......
c - Conjure Flame         Conj/Fire      ###.....     12%         3    ###....
z - Flame Tongue          Conj/Fire      ###..        3%          1    #......

Yet the damage is really different:

  Code:

Aiming: Magic Dart
Press: ? - help, Shift-Dir - straight line, f - hobgoblin
Aim: a hobgoblin
Rolled 5 for 1d6
The magic dart hits the hobgoblin.(damage 4)
The hobgoblin is almost dead.
Casting: Magic Dart
Confirm with . or Enter, or press ? or * to list all spells.
Aiming: Flame Tongue
Press: ? - help, Shift-Dir - straight line, f/p - hobgoblin
Aim: a hobgoblin (almost dead, chance 72%)
Rolled 4 for 1d11
The flame tongue hits the hobgoblin.(damage 4)
You kill the hobgoblin!
Aiming: Conjure Flame
Press: ? - help, Dir - move target cursor
The fire roars!
The hound skeleton is engulfed in roaring flames.
The hound skeleton takes 10 damage from cloud: roaring flames.
The hound skeleton barely misses you.
The hound skeleton is engulfed in roaring flames.
The hound skeleton takes 13 damage from cloud: roaring flames.
You destroy the hound skeleton!

[Sandman25]

The mod can display AC/EV/MR as numbers, something like this:

Use display_numbers = true

[Sandman25]

If you are interested to know how Ozocubu's Refrigeration works.

  Code:

The heat is drained from your surroundings.
Rolled 21 for 3d11
You feel very cold. The orcs are frozen.
Rolled 16 for 3d11
You kill the orc!
Rolled 16 for 3d11
You kill the orc!
Rolled 22 for 3d11
You kill the orc!
Rolled 14 for 3d11
You kill the orc!
Damage: -18%(-21hp)   hp: 82%(90hp)

so it looks like monsters get the same damage as player does. Using the spell without rC+ is a bad idea especially vs a single monster.

[graffen69]

When I want to try out a new, often hard race/class combo, I always play it first on Sandmans Crawl patch version and I adjust the #´s to be a tad easier.
I wish something like this was available in the regular DCSS so players can adjust it to their liking and also eventually make and adjust their own species (without the requirement to be a programmer).

Sandman; any plans to release a more up to date patch? As much as I play and enjoy the 0.17 Crawl version you made, it would be awesome to use same patch with the new DCSS features in the 0.20. version

//Cheers

(edit: I know it´s over a year old post but the patch is so gawd dam good and it´s actually how I introduce friends and new players to the game - without them turning away from the game like they used to anymore cuz "its way too hard". They all love Sandmans version of the game and some of them even came back after retrying his version.)

[VeryAngryFelid]

I am glad you and your friends like it.
Sorry, I don't plan to work on my version.
Fortunately there is another fork which displays damage numbers, it is even available online!
See viewtopic.php?f=17&t=21527 by Hellmonk
Unfortunately it does not support difficulty levels so probably it will not be that good for new players, it's harder because there is no Lair. I'll ask Hellmonk, maybe he will add difficulty levels in some way.