How OOD is OOD?

[whelen]

I'm currently playing a naga air elementalist, and my facial twitch went into overdrive when I found a pack of skeleton warriors on dlvl 10; I currently see two, but with these guys I just know there's two or three more lurking around a corner.

That said, I don't have anything to take these guys down, and I won't have anything until I score a wand of fire or two or a spellbook with Iskenderuns or something. My only option is to dive deeper.

Anyway, what's the craziest encounter you've had with an out of depth monster?

[tormodpwns]

Yep skeleton warriors are pretty crazy enemies that stop becoming super tough only around D:20 or so.

Once on D:2, I was playing a level 3 TrPa (strange combo yes I know) and suddenly a crocodile appeared. I wasn't even spending an abnormally long time on the floor, it was my normal speed. Either way it spawned, and I only had 2 Unarmed Combat skill because I had started as a paladin. Luckily I had an Amulet of Rage. I activated it, killed the crocodile, and gained levels 4 and 5. That game overall turned out great because of that amulet, but I fell to a two-headed Ogre on D:9 or so because it was right at the staircase and I couldn't survive 2 turns to lead it upstairs to D:8.

[mageykun]

Offhand, the first one that comes to mind is a few weeks ago when my MuIE found a frigging cyclops right after the temple. It was one of those wide open floors too. As I recall, I somehow managed not to die even though he exhausted his supply of large rocks into my face and was moving in for mele before my icicles took him down.

  Code:

13010 | D:7     | Noticed a cyclops
13037 | D:7     | Defeated a cyclops
13037 | D:7     | Reached XP level 9. HP: 25/56 MP: 8/20

Slightly less dangerous, but I've also been seeing hill giants earlier than they usually crop up.

...everyone sees out OOD monsters, but unless they killed you, it's kinda hard to get the right depth in the retelling. Mostly you just remember the fear.

[Zicher]

I recall meeting an ogre right on D:1, fully equipped with a GSC for good measure.

Bad news for the ogre - I was playing an SpVM that game .

[Sealer]

Well I too found an Ogre on d:1. somehow he managed to die, I was playing a MuNe. Other fun encounters include Centaurs on D:2 and orc warrior on D:2.

[Sealer]

titan on D: 14 is not that abnormal. And orc is famous for generating Giants and Trolls OOD there. It's getting worse with new vaults in orc:4 (they have a vault in every orc:4 now) I found an ogre pack there, died to an ogre mage .

[TwilightPhoenix]

I don't remember which it is since it was a long time ago, but one of my mummy characters found a hill or stone giant zombie on D1. I was a summoner, so I threw every spammal I had at it, but to no avail. I ran away and then died later for reasons I don't remember. I'm not even sure which Morgue file of mine to pop open to figure out what it was.

Another one, also a long, long time ago when I started playing, I had my first encounter with Yaks ever on a Minotaur Monk. They were OOD, but I didn't know it. I thought "Oh hey, they're Yaks, they can't be that tough, right? They're just animals." Guess how that ended?

I've also had Sigmund on D1 on a couple of occasions, though that hasn't happened in a very long time. Maybe it was a bug since I've never seen uniques generate on that floor?

[Kate]

I've also had Sigmund on D1 on a couple of occasions, though that hasn't happened in a very long time. Maybe it was a bug since I've never seen uniques generate on that floor?

Uniques don't spawn on D:1, so that'd be a bug.

[Curio]

Shadow freaking Dragon on 13th level

[Lawman 0]

I had a stone giant appear on D:5 in one my recent CDO games.

[tcjsavannah]

A centaur on D:2 is a lousy kick in the teeth. Because, unlike Sigmund on D:2, you think you've got a chance...

[TwilightPhoenix]

Uniques don't spawn on D:1, so that'd be a bug.

My thoughts exactly. Has happened since 0.5.0 or whatever version it was when I first started playing.




Anyway, today I had a mini-vault full of Jellies pop up on D1 in trunk. I ran while they ate everything.

[Sealer]

A centaur on D:2 is a lousy kick in the teeth. Because, unlike Sigmund on D:2, you think you've got a chance...

Funny, I don't Unless I'm a berserker... which I don't play lately.

I just had an ogre on D:1 and an ogre on D:2. I decided to go downstairs early because of the D:1 ogre (KeVM xlvl 2). I gained a level or 2 and killed them both.

Also, almost died in an extra-hard bailey with 3 orc knights, having to find 2 of them at a time. I ran back to the entrace, but I went for the wrong one (the entrance instead of the exit), and only survived by reading a random scroll, it was fear and it managed to scare the orc knight and his lackeys away.

Phew.

[Zicher]

I just had an ogre on D:1 and an ogre on D:2. I decided to go downstairs early because of the D:1 ogre (KeVM xlvl 2).

Why so? Sting is a perfect way to deal with ogres - I suppose you were not able to keep your distance from it?

[Sealer]

I just had an ogre on D:1 and an ogre on D:2. I decided to go downstairs early because of the D:1 ogre (KeVM xlvl 2).

Why so? Sting is a perfect way to deal with ogres - I suppose you were not able to keep your distance from it?

Unless I was a centaur or a spriggan, then indeed I couldn't keep my distance from it. xlvl 2 Kenkus with no fighting have 12 hp, so even if the ogre would be unarmed he could one shot me.

And most importantly: sting was at way too low power and way too easy to miscast to kill it reliably.

[punpun]

Ice dragon on d:9. Died before I ever got to go back and find out what was in the vault =(
My last game had a cyclops, 5 skeleton warriors, nessos, and a queen bee+killer bees, slimes+swamp drake, electric eels, and a centaur pack scattered across the wide open level at around d:13. Now alot of those aren't exactly ood at that point, but together that was such a miserable floor.

[tormodpwns]

I just had a YASD with a TrCK of Makhleb where I was cheap and decided not to summon a greater demon while fighting Frederick (his Iron Shot hit me for 70+ damage and he had a demon whip of distortion).

Anyways, when I found the entrance to the Vaults on that game on D:17, there was a cool spirally vault right next to it (and it turned out to be almost exactly like one of the four corners of Vaults:8): Two spirally arms had assorted packs of random creatures that usually appear in a pack of similar creatuers such as Yaktaurs, Orc Knights, and Ogres. One of the other arms had a Shadow Dragon and a Tentacled Monstrosity and the last arm had a Quiksilver Dragon. I managed to take them all down just because Trolls are so darn powerful. And to top it off there was awesome loot as well: there were 4 treasure rooms. Three were absolutely filled with randarts and ego weapons among other items such as a legendary deck of defence, and one was chock full of gold.

Another OOD encounter I like to recall was on my best game ever, a HOPr that fell in Zot:5. On D:14 there were two connected rooms. The first contained a Shadow Dragon and a Deep Troll and the second contained 2 Shadow Dragons. My army of orc knights and warriors actually managed to defeat everything, and I don't think I lost a single ally. I did, however, retreat because I had fallen to 1 HP at one point.

[tcjsavannah]

Ok, not one, but TWO Guardian Serpents on D:10. WTF?

[Sealer]

Shapeshifters?

[Curio]

Shapeshifters?

Simultaneously in the same form?
They, like, was having kinky role-playing sex or what?

[tcjsavannah]

Never really had a chance to find out if they were shapeshifters. The first one, I used a wand of polymorph on and turned it into a spriggan. The second one spit poison at me so I hightailed it out of there. It's still wandering around down there. I don't want to go back and find out.

[Kate]

There's some really early vaults that contain Guardian Serpents. I think they're patrolling, though, so if you teleport away they'll go back to their position rather than hunt you down and kill you horribly.

[tcjsavannah]

That must be it. It had a green-crystal pathway where in the middle was the Captain's Cutlass fixedart.

Just wish that was a long blade instead of a short blade.. still a pretty good weapon to get me through until I took a scimitar of speed off of Maud.

[Curio]

Orc Warrior on a D2.
Seriously. WTF?

[Grimm]

That just means Crawl loves you.

[Zicher]

Orc Warrior on a D2.
Seriously. WTF?

Either free XP, or a lesson to get the f**k away.

[Curio]

Orc Warrior on a D2.
Seriously. WTF?

Either free XP, or a lesson to get the f**k away.

Lesson learned. Got away. Twice.
Came back few levels later specifically to hunt him down with my MiMo with a stave.
He killed me with spare hp left. Turns out he was wearing plate mail.
Another lesson: Avoid overconfidence

[Zicher]

Another lesson: Avoid overconfidence

Henzell bot has a well-fitting entry on overconfidence:

Avoid, or meet your future.

The "your future" entry is more than appropriate then:

Death!

[calebnoble]

My level-15 Centaur Monk discovered a hidden door and blundered into this. (Notice the turn it took me to realize I should be freaking out.)

67536 | D:15 | Noticed a stone giant
67536 | D:15 | Noticed a stone giant
67536 | D:15 | Noticed a stone giant
67536 | D:15 | Noticed a shadow dragon
67537 | D:15 | Noticed a stone giant
67537 | D:15 | Noticed a stone giant
67537 | D:15 | Noticed a deep elf high priest
67537 | D:15 | Noticed a golden dragon

Got the hell out of there and later fell to a yaktaur captain while worshipping Elyvilon with 5 stars and praying. Odd game.

[Zicher]

Perhaps these were guarding the Vaults' staircase?

[calebnoble]

Perhaps these were guarding the Vaults' staircase?

The Vaults were further down. From what I could tell it was just a small empty square room packed with horrible monsters. I think they were all generated asleep, and there were no unhidden doors.

[vintermann]

Orc Warrior on a D2.
Seriously. WTF?

Try orc wizard, with retinue of three orcs, on D:1.

[hxy]

I just found a portal to Hell at Lair:8, with lots of hellwings, orange & sun demons, hairy & red devils, etc
Does it usually appear there?
I was looking for treasure chambers!

[mageykun]

I just found a portal to Hell at Lair:8, with lots of hellwings, orange & sun demons, hairy & red devils, etc
Does it usually appear there?
I was looking for treasure chambers!

Yup, that happens. Nothing OOD, one of the lair ends is a portal to hell guarded by a bunch of demons. Not much in the way of loot there, unfortunately.

[danr]

Yeah, I also find the Swamp ends unsatisfying. Sure, you get a rune, but NO other loot?

[tcjsavannah]

Well, it is a decaying rune.. so all the other good loot has already decayed.

[danr]

Well, it is a decaying rune.. so all the other good loot has already decayed.

Not if they were artefacts! Ah ha! Got you!!

Seriously though, even just a bit of cash would be cool.

[KoboldLord]

Yeah, the wiki says Swamp is the most desirable Lair branch to get in the roulette, but I'm always disappointed when I see its entrance. It's just as demanding preparation-wise as the other two, but at the end I have little to show for it other than some xp and floor trash I could have gotten anywhere. Unlike both of the other two, the Swamp never has shops. Naga and merfolk both have better equipment drops than the non-sentient monsters in Swamp. And honestly, I have never felt that super-fast hydra and crocodile packs were particularly less threatening than anacondas or harpies.

[gb]

Unlike both of the other two, the Swamp never has shops.

true, i used to get excited about the swamp because you could count on some shops there, now it's quite bland

[danr]

I do at least like the new pattern for swamp, it's a lot less patchy than it used to be and it seems less annoying to explore now.

[Curio]

Also it have new cool mangrove trees! *wink*

[mageykun]

More fun out of depth-ness. I just found a deep elf soldier on d8. Blinking + MR makes those much more dangerous than the arrow launches you actually expect at that depth.

[Jenx]

Troll on D:4. Then a five headed hydra right around the corner from the upstairs on Lair:1. Too bad for them I'm a spriggan berserker.

Berserking Iron Troll: 1
Five-headed Hydra: 0

[Tiber]

The troll might be OOD, but lair is hydra central. And I've mostly stopped fearing hydras ever since learning that conjure flame, a level 3 spell, makes short work of them (and playing wizards lately helps). It's sad that a rat is smart enough not to walk into fire, but a multi-headed giant lizard is not.

[Grimm]

Hydras aren't dumb, just overconfident.

[danr]

Reptiles are not known for their brains either though.