Nature abhors a Naga Warper

[Psiweapon]

Seriuosly. What do?

I want to play a Naga Warper of Cheibriados, but besides the fact that Chei altars become mysteriously rare, nevermind how hard I try this is just becoming a string of YASDs before even getting to make the combo.

I guess I just need to try harder

[Nordon]

Blink and spit poison. they go awesome together. At least I remember destroying Sig anf tge earpy game that way.

[Jarlyk]

I tried this a few times (not the Chei part, though) and I wasn't able to adapt successfully to the slow speed. The inability to run away or maneuver tactically while at close range means that you need to be exceptionally careful about how you approach the fight. Blink helps, but it's not guaranteed to put you in a better place than you were standing before. The poison spit helps a lot early on, but early Centaurs are a real pain. You don't start with Deflect Missiles, you're too slow to directly charge into melee or maneuver around corners reliably and your poison spit has a cooldown longer than it takes a few Centaurs to turn you into a pincushion and get themselves some new snakeskin gloves. On top of all that, your early AC is pretty bad (unless you get a lucky early barding) and your aptitude for Dodging is -2.

Poison spit can carry you quite a ways, but I think you need some luck if you're going to survive the awkward period where ranged packs and poison resistant monsters start showing up regularly.I've never made it past that period personally, so I'm not sure how things progress beyond that.

[and into]

Seriuosly. What do?

I want to play a Naga Warper of Cheibriados, but besides the fact that Chei altars become mysteriously rare, nevermind how hard I try this is just becoming a string of YASDs before even getting to make the combo.

I guess I just need to try harder

Are you married to the idea of worshiping Chei, or more interested in playing a Naga warper? If you are having trouble at the start with this background, Chei is only going to extend and deepen that period of early game pain. Going with Oka, Makhleb, Fedhas, Kiku, or Ash (or atheist, frankly) will give you a much easier time. Aside from the slower movement (which is the main concern of course), warpers in particular need to train weapon skills right off the bat, then they have a very good book for spell training for a good time after that, and you need to get some defenses like every other character, so trying to jam in the invocations necessary to make Chei actually do something for you is going to be particularly difficult for NaWr. So the drawbacks hit you extra hard as a Naga, but you don't get much of the benefits from Chei either, for quite some time.

As for general advice for a NaWr (regardless of god): Pick up a melee weapon early on and train that. Maces and flails are always a safe bet, but use the first decent thing you come across (you can switch a couple of floors later if something better pops up). Pick up anything you can throw and chuck them at enemies as they approach. Use poison spit liberally. Get some killing power and (as a Naga) some stealth skill before you start learning those escape spells, though once you have a bit of weapon skill (maybe around 8 or something) and some extra stealth under your belt, quickly getting some more translocations and a bit of charms so that shroud of golubria and portal projectile (and thus blink, by extension) are castable, is probably a good idea. Then immediately switch back to training your weapon. You probably won't be training spellcasting at all for a long time, the spell slots you get from leveling up should cover you, and you care *even less* about spell hunger than any other caster, which is really saying something. Use your darts of dispersal wisely. Once you feel your character is fairly good in the fighting and not dying department, start developing the other spells in your starting book.

[duvessa]

The biggest problem here might be that naga of Chei is actually one of the worst possible race/god combinations. The only worse ones I can think of include either mummies, or Chei again.
This is because:
1. Naga has a pretty bad early game compared to most races. Taking Chei also gives you a really bad early game. What do you think combining the two will give you?
2. Later on, your move delay is 28 aut. This means it takes almost three full "turns" to move, compared to just two for a human of Chei. Not only does this make moving in combat incredibly hard, it means that you can press o and then get shot three times by yaktaurs before getting another action.
3. You don't even get that much from the stat boost since nagas already have good int and only 2 less dex than a human.

No, the slight increases in piety gain and slouch damage do not make up for it. The best race for Chei is probably troll (you have a good early game and greatly benefit from the int/dex).

Also, while I can see how Wr could be tempting because of blink, IMO if you want a Chei character you are better off taking a background with a spellbook that actually benefits from a lot of spellpower (the main effect of the int boost). In other words, one of the elementalists.

[dirtywick]

I think wizard would be better than warper because you still get blink and a lot more utility to survive with. Meph cloud is a good counter versus centaurs and conjure flame/imps can help block corridors if you feel like you have to run. Eventually with a naga of chei you'll have so much hp, AC, SH, and ability to cast that there's no need to run from anything. Until extended when movement is even more critical and it sucks again.

[Nelagend]

If you want a blinking Naga of Cheibriados, I'd really recommend Wz rather than Wr, like the above poster. Naga of Chei tends to get porcupined bad by assorted 'taurs, and really wants a shield and/or Repel Missiles online fast to avoid frustrating deaths. Wz gives you Repel Missiles, and you still get Blink.

[Psiweapon]

...Believe it or not, nagas of cheibriados were the first characters with which I was able to clear a couple of branches.

But I have given up on the "warper" part, the spells are much too useless. I'm trying now with a wizard, the game keeps throwing unbelievable shenanigans at me, but hey, it was never easy to begin with.

[pickled_heretic]

I think NaFi of chei was my first win. For 3 runes it was really easy, I pretty much tabbed my way through the whole game. Bind poison spit to a macro and spam it. Once you get constriction you are OP. Don't ever move, ever, get a sling to kill ranged stuff instead. Oh and use a shield, you need it for the survival, and constricting is plenty damage anyway. (You can constrict pan lords too). Note that constriction damage relies heavily on str and is unaffected by haste so you are uniquely positioned as a chei worshipper to take full advantage of it.

[Sandman25]

If we are talking about Na and Chei, NaVm of Chei was my first (and only) character who cleared a zig without using any spells.

[Sar]

"I'm having problems with this kind of character in the early game."
"Well I cleared Zigs with it."

[Sandman25]

"I'm having problems with this kind of character in the early game."
"Well I cleared Zigs with it."

sorry for OT