DEFE stat increases?

[Ezekiel]

I was thinking about running a good ole' DEFE of Veh, but I'm having trouble deciding what to increase. I know that before I do post-endgame, I'll need to raise my STR so I don't get stat death. I had been increasing STR to 8 before I began increasing INT, but I feel like I need a little extra "oomph" to my spells early on. Do you think I can get away with just increasing my STR to six, then focusing INT until I get up a few higher levels? I won't start having to worry about stat death for a while, and I might be able to find a ring of strength or sustain abilities or something before I start encountering too many strength-drainers.

[Deimos]

I think a lot of it has to do with what armor you want endgame. Chances are, if you want anything other then robes or leather armor, you will want more STR. However, as minmay said, there really isnt a problem with having low stats anymore. Just have a restab pot ready.

[Ezekiel]

So, should I just ignore STR entirely?

[One-Eyed Jack]

Very low strength is pretty annoying because of carrying capacity. I like to get it to at least 6. DE have ridiculous int anyway

[TehDruid]

You can always wear mottled dragon armour which needs just 3 str and grants rStickyFlame. Or steam dragon armour which needs no str.

[Blade]

I tend to prefer raising str to 7-8, not to avoid statdeath, but because it's really obnoxious to manage inventory constantly. which you have to do with low strength.

[BlackSheep]

I do that too out of habit of avoiding stat death. I'm experimenting with low stat characters to see how the earlier Int boosts improve things.

[smock]

On a DEFE, str is probably just for carrying stuff. I suppose getting str to 9 for an endgame fire/ice/pearl dragon armour might be a good idea but keeping firestorm castable is probably better.

You could get more "oomph" for your spells by raising int but keeping you skill training tightly focused would likely have a bigger effect. Raise str just enough to avoid tedium. If you find an early ring of strength you could use it and later figure out whether you want to raise strength.

Most items can be very safely dropped on cleared floors because jellies no longer spawn. It was relatively safe in previous versions; now it's very safe. So you only have to carry around consumables that you need. If you don't need them, they're safer on the ground anyway. No real need to bring everything back to your temple/lair stash. I used to get str to 9, but now even 7 feels OK now that I don't worry about hoarding every item in my stash in lair.

Flight is also a giant effective strength boost because when you're flying you can carry more weight. It's annoying to keep flight up continuously, but useful for hauling some heavy stuff up a level or back to a stash, if need be. The XP for a few levels of air magic are probably less valuable than a point of int. If you worship Sif, you'll get flight soon enough.

[Deimos]

How about skill training? I usually ignore Conjurations in favor of Fire Magic, keeping on Spellcasting until ~9 until later on.

[defen]

Early on, your conjurations should be raised to equal your fire magic. They contribute equally to all the relevant FE starting spells and your apts are the same, so train whichever is lower (and thus cheaper). Don't get more early spellcasting than you need to learn both conjure and sticky flame at appropriate levels.