Best race to worship Okawaru?

[tasonir]

I'm looking to do a more general melee character instead of a trog follower, and want to try getting some armor gifts for them. I'm somewhat interested in doing unarmed combat, although it does seem to be harder to start out with. All of the really good unarmed classes seem to be unable to use most armor, ie, trolls. Draconians could be good if I wanted to mix in some spellcasting, but aren't really that good at melee combat. Minotaurs are fairly boring and have a helmet restriction, but I could still use caps. They just seem a bit bland to me. Maybe I should try ghouls more? I've only made a few who didn't last too long, but they are certainly more interesting then minotaurs...

[ldierk]

You could also try Nagas(High HP, Poision Spit, Naga Barding, but slow) or DemonSpawns (Cool mutations). When you only need to train 4 Skills a high apt in Unarmed is not that important. Remember to focus on getting high unarmed skill in the beginning. Hero helps with balancing out the delayed development of the armour skill (and also raises unarmed). Don't be shy on using whenever you may need it.

[TehDruid]

Trolls of Okawaru are a great bet actually for melee + unarmed, since they have low aptitudes on everything, even physical skills and Heroism patches that (it's a very cheap ability too). Also, he doesn't gift armour you can't wear so your Trolls are bound to get robes or some sort of dragon armour or miscellaneous stuff (cloak, cap only). And a good shield obviously. Only problem, like with Trog is that you have to manage your eating. Other races good for Okawaru obviously include Hill Orc/Minotaur, High Elf and anything that doesn't need to consume many corpses (mummies, spriggans). But even if you don't sacrifice a lot, you'll get most of your piety through kill anyway. I had my first win with a HOFi of Okawaru. Heroism is very underused by people I think. It's not a huge piety hit and with higher Inv you don't have to recast it a billion times during a single big fight. And you can dabble into Spells with Okawaru unlike with Trog. Also you get an ability that resembles Haste (only for attacks though, not movement) and you don't have to learn Haste (but still since you can cast spells it's a great idea)...

Transmuters/Skalds work with him very well. Since you'll be pumping your spells up to get Blade Hands/Regeneration/whathaveyou online you'll appreciate the boost to your low UC/Fighting/Dodging/Armour/Shields etc. Okawaru is a very "generic" god imo that can be used by anything except for pure casters, I guess. Primarily cause of the "kill everything for piety" conduct and the fact he allows spellcasting despite being a god of warriors. And the armour/weapon gifts (yes, they can be lackluster, I know. But they can be awesome too. Although in the end RANDOM gifts aren't the reason you should pick a god.). Also, picking that scimitar of flaming from Erica to chop a hydra's heads on your Troll (who multiplies heads with his claws if he attacks) is much easier with that +5 to long blades from Heroism.

[JeffQyzt]

You could also try...DemonSpawns..

In terms of "best race to worship Okawaru", I'd say DemonSpawn ranks near the bottom, due to their potential to gain the demonic guardian mutation, thus ensuring that Okie gets pissed at you for your demonic protectors taking the hit whenever the going gets rough (i.e. when you are most likely to want your divine benefits.)

[TwilightPhoenix]

Oka is useful for anyone and everyone who doesn't rely on allies. Or Demonic Guardian Demonspawn.

[TehDruid]

Ah yeah, of course Centaurs expect more. Besides heroism medicates their low apts to dodging/armour and mediocre melee in general.

[Jeremiah]

The only races I would not recommend for Okawaru are: Demonspawn (demonic guardian as mentioned above,) Octopode and Felid (equipment restrictions mean you won't get much out of gifts) and Deep Dwarf (lack of ways to heal.)

I'd also think twice about Deep Elves and Mummies, as they probably won't be fighting much so Heroism and Finesse are of limited use, but really he is good for any species that uses equipment. I'd say centaurs and nagas do benefit particularly as they each have an equipment slot that is normally difficult to find anything for.

[Konebred]

I always liked Sludge Elves of Oka if you aren't going transmuter. Their fighting stats are below average, so the heroism bonus helps a lot. It seems to work decent for hybrids since they have pretty good casting stats.

[TwilightPhoenix]

The only races I would not recommend for Okawaru are: Demonspawn (demonic guardian as mentioned above,) Octopode and Felid (equipment restrictions mean you won't get much out of gifts) and Deep Dwarf (lack of ways to heal.)

I'd also think twice about Deep Elves and Mummies, as they probably won't be fighting much so Heroism and Finesse are of limited use, but really he is good for any species that uses equipment. I'd say centaurs and nagas do benefit particularly as they each have an equipment slot that is normally difficult to find anything for.

DE and Mu benefit a lot from Heroism, even if they're going pure casters since it boosts your defensive stats as well. They can also make use of the equipment as well as any other species. Fe with their Carnivore and Slow Metabolism can abuse the heck out of Heroism and Finesse and they don't have to worry about keeping very high piety for gifts. DD can start as a Necromancer and learn Vampiric Draining to ensure they have a way to heal and Heroism helps prevent them from getting hurt to begin with. Not to mention there's always a shot at Vampiric weapons too. Octopodes... no comment, I don't play trunk right now.

[tasonir]

Tried a troll who I got up to around level 15 before dying in the elven halls. I probably should have switched back to lair after finding a flaming long sword in elven halls, but I didn't. But of the 5 god gifts I got, two were weapons which weren't helpful and I got 3 cap/wizard helms. Two were +0 and had no stat/resist, and the last was +1 wizard hat of intelligence. I was pretty underwhelmed in general - are his gifts usually that weak? Is it rare to get randart helm/cloaks/boots etc? Perhaps my run wasn't long enough and I would have better luck on a full game, but still, kind of disappointed.

I think I might give centaurs a shot next.

[TehDruid]

I think god gifting and acquirement work this way; If you have nothing equipped in a slot or haven't yet found a specific type of ring/necklace yet you're bound to get something to fill that gap. It must just be me, I don't know, I just notice that when I lack certain pieces of gear I get those and when it comes to armour they're pretty much always crap when that happens.

There's no guarantees when it comes to acquirement/god gifts. This goes for randarts mostly (they're as likely to be crap as to not be), not simple glowing/runed stuff (which most of the time doesn't carry maluses).

[Yet Another Stupid Noob]

I've gotten more cloaks of proctection (the rcorr and cons one) from the games I played okra then every other game I have played togeather.

[tormodpwns]

Right, everyone seems to hate on Okie's gifts but I actually find them to be quite good. I do occasionally get plain caps and stuff but that usually only happens when I have nothing in the slot, so it's not bad. I consistently get cloaks of preservation and boots of running by the time I reach Vaults. His randart body armour tends to be pretty crappy, so you're better off with a robe of resistance (which he will undoubtedly gift to you!) or a plain plate armour. I've never been gifted a dragon armour from him, although people seem to say he does gift them.

[TehDruid]

@Tormodpwns Just go make a character in wizard mode and use god gifting.