Abyss Ambulator
Posts: 1194
Joined: Friday, 18th April 2014, 01:41
Re: Demigods
kuniqs wrote:Demigod's shtick (I suspect) is supposed to be adaptation to whatever equipment they find. It doesn't work in practice because of the bad aptitudes. If Demigods had +1 in all skills then I could believe it. If there's no practical difference between -+1 apts, then giving Demigods +1 apts all across the board should not change the balance of power.
About 'adaptation' - because you're not guaranteed anything, almost every Demigod game follows the same pattern: train Fighting and Dodging constantly until level 20-22, train Staves so you have greater chance of acquiring one later (or you'll find one sooner or later), train Evocations so you can take advantage of one of the zillion stupid magic items and wands and train Armour / spells skills depending on whenever you'll find a good heavier armour or good spellbooks. Raise Dex to 20-24. Put rest into Str/Int depending on what spells you find. Eventually get a fire dragon armour and enchant it.
Maybe some of you like playing characters which are basically the same.
One reason I think book backgrounds are preferable for Dg's is that, for other races, your god provides a lot more relative value to a warrior/warrior-mage than it does to a straight mage, unless you are using vehumet, sif, ash, or maybe Kiku. Think about it:
Ash: Very weak early on, but most helpful to characters starting with a book
Beogh: Very useful for warriors w/ polearms. I don't think you can fire through your orc followers.
Chei: Best with heavily armored characters. Retreating is too important on a mage, on a warrior you can simply tab everything provided you don't randomly die on D:6 or whatever.
Dith: He is bad in general, maybe provides a bit more value to mages due to shadow-casting but I think this is basically a meme.
Ely: Probably best with warrior characters.
Fedhas: Good for everyone. Firing through plants is useful for mages, but sunlight is also useful for warriors who have poor accuracy in the early game.
Gozag: Much more useful for warriors to fill out armor slots and power through dangerous, fast enemies.
Hep: I tried him with an AE and a Battlemage aly, and it was pretty bad compared to a Gl with a hexer ally. Maybe the hexer is just much better.
Jiyva: Slimify is most useful for warriors.
Kiku: Useful for everyone, characters with higher starting int will probably get more out of his spellbooks though. Meleeing alongside zombie allies is useful, with a pain weapon. I think he's especially good for warrior-mage backgrounds.
Lugonu: Not really applicable since AK is basically a melee start.
Makhleb: The HP restoration is most useful for warriors.
Nemelex: Good for everyone, but mage characters already have ranged attacks, and fighting alongside summons is better than sitting behind them if you can do it.
Oka: Obviously better for warriors
Qaz: Worse than nothing, but less bad for warriors.
Ru: I don't like to play him that much, but you can get a decent amount of piety by sacrificing magic schools for little real loss on your part.
Trog: Nothing needs to be said here.
Usk: I can't see how this would be useful to a conjurer.
Yred: I don't remember if you can shoot through your allies with him. See what I wrote about Kiku.
TSO, Zin: Nearly useless for everyone outside of extended.
As a Demigod you obviously can't worship so book backgrounds will make it easier for you to get through the early game and lair.