The Tavern

Mainly when you are at level 1 and have run out of MP trying to use your starter spell. Is it better to run away trying to recover MP or to use 0 skill UC?

Generally I back up to regain mana, unless I have some extra damage for my melee attacks (aux attacks or claws), or I am unusually well off defensively.

Usually I will start as soon as I see one jackal by backing up preferably into a choke point, hopefully around a corner from where I saw it (with a little luck, a few points of stealth, and good positioning less than the entire pak will chase me)

Sometimes if I do damage to one and it is not dead, I give it a melee attack or two to save the mana for the others in the pack.

Typically I can kill two jackals with starting mp and starting skills equipment this way with no problems (although there is always the possibility of bad rolls), killing a third usually either involves backing up a lot to regain mana and hoping I don't die or whacking on it with untrained uc and hoping I don't die.
It usually comes down in my favor either way I choose, but rarely I die to the process, encountering another critter while killing the jackals without resting is likely to be really bad for me, which is why pulling the fight back at the outset to a cleared area is so important.

I'm asking because I randomed into a HuFE and was unable to kill a single jackel by backing up trying to regain mana.

Does this matter? Having better defenses shouldn't affect whether you lose less HP by trying unarmed combat or by running and regaining MP.

I suppose your motivation is that if you're not in mortal danger, you want to spend the extra HP to reduce the likelihood of running into something else.

There is some strategy to it. e.g. if the jackal is unharmed, you might be better off regaining 2 MP or 3 MP rather than attacking every time you get back up to 1 MP.

Hit Ctrl+Q to regenerate all MP!

When playing a mage background I tend to pick up the first dagger or short sword I find mostly because of jackals. Backing up to a choke point right off the bat is very important as well.
Edit: spelling

The main thing is to avoid waking up the whole pack if possible, one jackal is unlikely to kill you (unless you're some terrible start like a mummy or something). So be absolutely sure to back up once you wake one up.

Also remember that doors are your friends and if you can close a door between you and the pack, the jackals will start wandering again.

SO I guess I was just unlucky. I got killed by a jackel 1v1 as a HuFE before finding a single item.

On D1, especially your first encounter, there's a lot of room for the RNG to screw you. It's not terribly unusual to miss or miscast your 3 flame tongues, and then you're forced to pillar dance with a jackal nipping at your heels. Obviously this is bad enough with just 1 jackal, but much worse with each additional one.

I think you were unlucky, but fast high EV monsters really suck on D1. Even a lizard can get some lucky rolls and kill you, since it's faster than you there's nothing you can do if the RNG goes really against you.

I think starting mages with a dagger would go a long way. A little more starting MP might be nice, but then, who wants to re-jigger the whole MP formula just to help out level 1 mages.

If you avoid autoexploring on D:1 you will basically never need to fight multiple jackals even with 0 stealth. It sucks that autoexplore is so much more dangerous than manual exploration in the first place, of course.

I didn't fight multiple jackals. A single jakal was enough to kill me, which sucked because I was on a streak...

I wonder what the next variation might be.

For the record, I am dyslexic and I can't spell.