Strategy- Spell book burning

[sigfried von murdock]

- Spell book burning for Trog gives some nice immediate piety bonuses, but have any of you tried using spell books as a means to trap, escape or incinerate creatures? I can think of quite a few times when I find myself running away for my life, but dropping a book or two in a tight hallway might allow for some offense escaping means. I don't see many orcs, ogres, or many other lower level creatures that can dive through a wall of flame and give much chase.

Any thoughts, personal experience?

[christhawk]

Usually I just burn them, but once there was a conveniently placed one right in front of a OOD ice bear - I just waited until he stepped on it and let fly. Very much fun, very much piety.

[sigfried von murdock]

I Piety' the foo!

[tcjsavannah]

I've done so for fun, but never as a serious strategy. Usually I drop 'em in Lair and watch random animals burn, or sometimes I'd use them to clog up a bunch of Ugly Things.

[smeej]

Yeah, I'll use spellbooks as a land mine for the first few levels of the game to snag something stupid/OOD, but it's not very useful later on. Def. worth holding onto them for a little while though. Better to be prepared and you can always burn them for piety later. Just don't find yourself sitting on a pile of 20 spellbooks you'll never use.

[Megabass]

I'll carry them around for a long while as an escape mechanism against intelligent monsters. Light one up in a corridor and book it in the other direction while it blocks their path.

[sigfried von murdock]

20 could light a whole hallway one fire... Hehehehehe.

Ok so holding onto it for a little while as a little fire mine seems to be a good consensus. Maybe not hydra slaying material, but has low level roasting potential.

[blackhatbarry]

I've toyed with this before, and I think it was Duvessa (not sure) that I blocked and then ranged attacked. It was amusing, but not something I was in a rush to do all the time. What Trog follower can be bothered hefting all those heavy stupid books around? My question is whether it does the same damage as conjure flame.

[Volgon]

1. Trog tell me to carry all evil books.
2. Trog tell me to drop evil books when evil books heavy.
3. Trog tell me to bring all evil books to Vault 7.
4. Trog tell me to surround down staircase with evil books.
5. Trog tell me to go down, get nine enemies.
6. Trog tell me to go up.
7. Trog tell me to Burn evil books. Burn! BURN!!!
8. Trog tell me to Kill them all.

[mikee]

For some reason this is not a popular strategy, but it is very effective at making a difficult fight easier almost all game. The best thing to use book burning on is probably ice statues, but there's rarely a case when burning a book under something would not be worth it.

[Stormfox]

I use book burning to help with oklobs if I can get a good approach in (like those cases where an oklob spawns along with the plants surrounding the Lair entrance). Remember that you can fling a book one space, and that unlike Conjure Flame, you can toss it at an occupied space.

Damage is comparable to Conjure Flame, but the duration is shorter (or comparable to low levels of power on that spell).

[vintermann]

20 could light a whole hallway one fire... Hehehehehe.

Ok so holding onto it for a little while as a little fire mine seems to be a good consensus. Maybe not hydra slaying material, but has low level roasting potential.

In fact, they have pretty good hydra-killing potential. The stupid things will rush straight into flaming clouds, meaning you aren't limited to detonating it when they're standing on it... if you set up three in a corridor, that should be enough to take 'em out, if not directly then with a whack or two as they stand in the last one.

[rjrrt]

I've had a specific book required for entry into a treasure trove. Sucks if that's one that got burned burned up.

[FlyingPants]

A berserker in reasonable armor shouldn't have any trouble with hydras.

I'd rather not burn the books, you might want them. You get more then enough piety anyways.

[ekiM]

I'd rather get Brothers in Arms online as soon as possible.