Which way to take this Spriggan Assassin

[danr]

I've been experimenting with Spriggan Assassins as a non-magic-using build for Spriggans, so I've got this guy on the go now, doing okay so far - that blowgun is a big help, and I just attained the "Heroism" ability with Okawaru. I'm able to stab a lot of stuff purely by stealth. The trouble is, not nearly everything. And now I've found the book of maledictions in a shop and wonder if it would be good to pick it up to add EH and Confuse to my toolkit, or does that start spreading my skills too far? And will it defeat the purpose of having started as an Assassin?

How do others play their SpAS's if they play them?

  Code:

 Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.11-b1-120-g0ce5a57 (tiles) character file.

Spasok the Covert (Spriggan Assassin)              Turns: 11044, Time: 00:49:49

HP  50/50 (51)   AC  6     Str  7      XL: 10   Next:  3%
MP  18/18        EV 27     Int 14      God: Okawaru [*.....]
Gold 592         SH  0     Dex 20      Spells:  0 memorised,  9 levels left

Res.Fire  : . . .   See Invis. : +   a - elf dagger (venom)
Res.Cold  : . . .   Warding    : .   c - +0 robe
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .   (shield restricted)
Res.Poison: .       Res.Corr.  : .   (helmet restricted)
Res.Elec. : .       Clarity    : +   d - +1 cloak
Sust.Abil.: . .     Spirit.Shd : .   (gloves unavailable)
Res.Mut.  : .       Stasis     : .   (boots unavailable)
Res.Rott. : .       Ctrl.Telep.: .   k - amulet of clarity
Saprovore : . . .   Levitation : .   (no ring)
                    Ctrl.Flight: .   f - +2 ring of protection

@: very quick, quite resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely stealthy
A: unfitting armour, see invisible, herbivore 3, speed 3, slow metabolism 2
a: Heroism, Renounce Religion


You are on level 8 of the Dungeon.
You worship Okawaru.
Okawaru is most pleased with you.
You are not hungry.

You have visited 2 branches of the dungeon, and seen 9 of its levels.

You have collected 542 gold pieces.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 a - an uncursed elven dagger of venom (weapon)
 b - a +0 blowgun
 y - an uncursed sabre
Missiles
 e - 21 poisoned needles
 h - 20 stones (quivered)
 o - 4 darts of frost
 p - 5 darts of flame
 D - 5 curare-tipped needles
Armour
 c - a +0 robe (worn)
 d - a +1 cloak (worn)
Magical devices
 v - a wand of enslavement {zapped: 7}
 I - a gold wand
Comestibles
 q - 6 bread rations
Scrolls
 m - 5 scrolls of remove curse
 n - a scroll of identify
 s - 6 scrolls of teleportation
 w - a scroll of magic mapping
 C - 3 scrolls of enchant weapon I
 F - a scroll of fog
Jewellery
 f - a +2 ring of protection (left hand)
 g - an uncursed amulet of rage
 k - an amulet of clarity (around neck)
 r - an uncursed ring of teleportation
Potions
 i - a potion of agility
 j - a potion of curing
 l - 3 potions of brilliance
 u - 2 potions of might
 z - a potion of resistance
 A - a potion of restore abilities
 J - a potion of invisibility
Books
 x - a book of Enchantments   
   
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   Tukima's Dance                     Hexes                        3
   See Invisible                      Charms                       4
   Cause Fear                         Hexes                        4
   Silence                            Hexes/Air                    5
   Deflect Missiles                   Charms/Air                   6
   Haste                              Charms                       6


   Skills:
 + Level 7.3 Fighting
 - Level 2.1 Short Blades
 - Level 2.1 Throwing
 - Level 10.0 Dodging
 - Level 11.7 Stealth
 - Level 5.1 Stabbing


You have 9 spell levels left.
You don't know any spells.

Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (8/27)             Temple (1/1) D:7             Orc (0/4) D:6
  Lair: D:8-13     

Altars:
Ashenzari
Cheibriados
Elyvilon
Fedhas
Kikubaaqudgha
Makhleb
Nemelex Xobeh
Okawaru
Sif Muna
Trog
Vehumet
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin
the Shining One
Lugonu

Shops:
D:5: ++(=+  D:6: ([  D:8: (


Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You are tiny and cannot use many weapons and most armour.
You have supernaturally acute eyesight.
You are a herbivore.
You cover ground extremely quickly.
You need consume almost no food.


[cerebovssquire]

You should definitely get EH, Confuse and Invisibility sooner rather than later. Think of a SpAs of non-Trog as a SpEn who swapped his book of Maledictions for a blowgun, if you want to play it with an easy strategy. Trog, who is also a great god for SpAs, is more for the melee-needlestabbing stealth type of SpAs.

[danr]

Thanks.

I actually found a Trog altar on D:2 but didn't do it because of the high hunger cost of berserking.

[BlackSheep]

You would rely on Trog more for needle gifts and Brothers in Arms as a SpAs than you would berserk. Berserk can still be a handy panic button, but with spriggan speed and stealth, you shouldn't need panic buttons nearly as often.

[Konebred]

NeedleStab builds can be fun. Like Blacksheep said, you don't use Trog for berzerk as a SpAs. His brothers in arms ability is amazing for spriggans when you need to powerhouse through some tough baddies. You need to level throwing though to hit the higher level creatures. the last character like this I made, I stabbed Mennas to death while he was fluttering around confused. It was a good feeling.