Alphaeus wrote:So, I'm running my Gno Mo o' Cheibro again. Doing really well (largely thanks to a +6 ring of slaying, amulet of regen, and having 28 EV before I even found Lair).
My inventory is mostly full right now -- bare minimum armor with only 2 items I plan to use for swaps (1 armor with rF, and a scarf of Rep Missels). Scrolls are all identified and really useful, same with potions (and even a few useful ones have been dumped because they just didn't make the cut, like potions of flight and scrolls of fog). I have several spell books, but they're all containing useful spells for me like Statue Form etc (well, my book of Conjurations I'll probably chunk -- have better conjurations from other books).
At very least drop your books, just go back to them wherever they are when you are ready to memorize a spell from them, control-F "name of spell" will find the book and selecting it will auto-travel to it. Posting a character dump would let us give you more specific advice (both about what to drop and how to proceed)
Alphaeus wrote:I feel guilty about holding on to a staff of air and staff of earth (EDIT: Just found a staff of wizardry, so same questions about this), though. I know both of them make decent weapons with high enough Evocations/(XYZ Magic School) skills due to the electrocution/crushing effects (unless I'm mistaken??...). That said, after I clear out swamp I'll be clearing out the Orcish Mines, so I know I'll find better weapons.
If your primary weapon is spells, the corresponding ice/fire/cold/earth staff helps damage-wise with them (more significantly at mid level skill) to be decent melee weapons you need staves, evocation, and the corresponding spell skill, for most spell-slingers they aren't going to want to invest much extra XP in that direction, obviously gnolls don't care. As melee weapons they are above average, but not best-possible, if you have the skill points, they are also one handed, and provide the corresponding resistance.
Alphaeus wrote:My big question is if keeping these staffs is worth it. Will I ever get suitable damage out of them, and do they provide boosts that are useful enough to be worthwhile?
The boosts are pretty decent, the damage is also decent, However micromanaging swapping to them for blasting then swapping back for killing with a weapon sounds like a hassle that isn't worth it to me.
Alphaeus wrote:Moving on, what about creating "stashes"? I've heard that using places like Lair 3 to dump your gear works as a way of storing items for later retrieval...is this viable? I feel like I'd just end up forgetting about that.
Stashes are a waste of time, it used to be the case that you had to worry about Jelly's appearing and eating your stuff, or monsters picking up your extra stuff and using it against you. Lair:2-3 didn't ever generate Jellies and didn't ever generate intelligent monsters capable of picking things u, so back then it was a good place to drop stuff that you wanted to come back for later (With some question of whether it was worth the time to travel back and forth to drop things there). Jellies no longer eat stuff, Monsters no longer pick up and use things you've seen/dropped, and Control-F lets you find anything you want anywhere in the dungeon and auto travel to it whever it is, so just leave things you aren't going to be using wherever, and go get them when you want them. Making stashes is a waste of time.
Alphaeus wrote:Also, found the Macabre Finger Necklace. Since most of my resistance-giving items thus far are rings (rF, rC, rCorr, rN) and I am NOT taking off my ring of slaying (or my ring of evasion), I figure the extra slot and rN might be useful to have.
The Macabre Finger Neclace is pretty good, *sometimes* the benefits of a specific amulet outweigh the free rn+ and ring slot, but not frequently
Alphaeus wrote:Next, I found a Fen Folio. I know Hydra Form is way too low on defenses to be worth bothering with, and Leda's Liq just seems blegh, what's the opinion on Summon Hyrda, Summon Forest, and Corpse Rot? Corpse Rot I'd probably skip, and Summon Hydra sounds powerful enough for quick offense (but hydra are so squishy...). Summon Forest seems like it'd be fun to pair with my Bolt of Fire.
Corpse rot is really really powerful for a level 2 spell, without knowing where you are in the game, I don't know if it's *still* useful, but it's pretty damn good. Summons are generally powerful, Hydra's are better offense than defense (But really if the critter is attacking you and your hydra is attacking it, it's just a ton of free offense), and Summon forest is weird, you have to be very careful you don't light yourself and your area on fire if you're using bolt of fire (or fireball, or lightning bolt) when using it, but it's pretty powerful as long as you know how to work around it's drawbacks.
Leda's is very meh, very rarely useful if you're standing still and want to pelt things with ranged attacks without wanting to be able to walk away/escape yourself, generally I skip Leda's.
Alphaeus wrote:Anyhow, would like advice on this.