Invis and Silence?

[prozacelf]

Is it a good idea to cast Inv then Silence on a stabber? I'm using Sif, so I guess I can just learn Silence and forget it if I don't like it, but if anyone's got input before I try it, I'd appreciate it.

E: I've already got 20.9 stealth if that affects anything.

[mrbobbyg]

Silence kills stealth. Don't cast silence to improve your stealth.

From the bots: Stealth value is modified as follows:
/2 when encumbered, /5 when overloaded, /3 when confused; +20 elven cloak, +20 elven boots, +50 boots of stealth, +80 shadow card effect, +-artefact modifiers, -6*EVP^2 for armour with an EVP, +10 when in air, +50 if you swim, /2 if you can't, -10 hooves, -50 silence.

[prozacelf]

Huh. Sort of counter-intuitive. But I won't bother in that case.

[dpeg]

prozacelf: Yes, it is. But there is an explanation -- check the spell description. It should say something about *unnatural* silence, and this is what supposedly alerts everyone.

[Tiber]

If you want it purely for stabbing, don't bother. However, note that if a monster detects you because of silence, it can't exactly alert anyone else if it's in the field. If your character is also decent in physical combat, silence is an absolutely awesome spell against many magical threats and uniques, in my opinion.

[BlackSheep]

If you're sneaking up on an ancient lich, and it wakes up, Silence can be very useful.

[mrbobbyg]

Totally agree that silence is a super useful spell, but not one I would recommend casting when you're trying to sneak up on that lich. Cast it if the lich notices you after you fail to sneak up on it.

[prozacelf]

prozacelf: Yes, it is. But there is an explanation -- check the spell description. It should say something about *unnatural* silence, and this is what supposedly alerts everyone.

I did check that out. And it does make sense that if everything around you suddenly goes silent you might be looking out for something unusual anyway.

Thanks for the input everyone. Silence shouldn't affect bat form anyway, should it? That would make it a great escape tool against casters as well....

[BlackSheep]

If you can't kill a caster that is silenced, you've got bigger problems.

[prozacelf]

Good point. I recently used it to good effect against some orc sorcerers. I still had to flee and repeat the process because they were screened by a bunch of statues and hollered to wake up an orc knight and some giants with their stupid sInv. But I can see the utility. It'd be even cooler if you could target someone else with the spell, but at the very least it'd have to be more than a Lv 5 spell to justify that I'm sure.

[Frelus]

Btw: Does silence also block abilities, like orc priest's smite or the player's item evocations/divine abilites/stuff like breathe fire?

[prozacelf]

Depends. It'll block an orc's smite, since they have to pray to Beogh to use it. Stuff like wands and fire breath and the like are fine though.

[BlackSheep]

Notably, it does not block spells by demons.

[prozacelf]

Or anything else with !sil in the description, presumably.

[some12fat2move]

Yeah, orbs of fire cast when silenced and they aren't demonic AFAIK.

[Galefury]

Same for dragons.

Anything that does not need to make noises to do something can usually also do it while silenced. For some monsters, like dragons, this is obvious. For other monsters, like orbs of fire, it is not. Reading messages will usually offer some hints.

[Frelus]

Ok, thanks for that!

[ZoFy]

Invis + Silence can actually be a good tactic if you don't want one shouting/casting dude to ruin your day. For example, with the help of Silence (Darkness is desireable too) it's possible to sleepstab about half of the guards on Vaults:5 instead of being instantly spotted by all of them.