Discussion about Mara

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And what "tiny rational kernel" does this one have?

As I said, if your clone spawns with a bread ration in hand, it does do *less* damage, noticeably so, and Siegurt just posted the actual numbers. So there's the rational kernel. None of that changes the fact that doing it is a bad idea.

I doubt that wielding the bread ration "on the approach" helps a lot, but it is probably (relatively) harmless to do it. Although since Mara really likes to blink, does this mean you keep switching to a bread ration every time before you start walking toward him? If it is "optimal" to do it on the first approach, presumably it is optimal to keep doing it?

Also, do people really get to Mara-level depths with a melee character who doesn't have a ranged option? Longbows and crossbows are plentiful and really good...

At any rate, wielding a ration while *waiting* for Mara to clone you (not "on the approach"), on the other hand, is advice that is really likely to just straight-up get characters killed, especially newbies who haven't encountered Mara very often. (And they are the ones most likely to actively seek out help, not realizing that some of the "help" on offer is, wittingly or not, basically trolling them.)

Three blink-happy, bolt-of-fire slinging Maras getting hits on you is probably worse than taking the chance that an Ettin spawns onscreen, which, if you are a buff melee dude with little or no spellcasting, is all that your clone is—an Ettin. Mara is more dangerous. Mara's ability to clone your character, on the other hand, is VERY scary if you are a high-level mage. Also if you are Naga or octopode, I believe your clone can constrict you. But neither of those things can be solved by wielding food.

[ackack]

Three blink-happy, bolt-of-fire slinging Maras getting hits on you is probably worse than taking the chance that an Ettin spawns onscreen, which, if you are a buff melee dude with little or no spellcasting, is all that your clone is—an Ettin.

Well, presumably an ettin with considerably more hp and better defenses than an orb of fire, which is a big step up in danger.

I'm sure somebody mentioned it earlier, but probably the best way to deal with the clone is to just bail on the fight if you can't finish Mara off quickly and try again (or not at all!) later.

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Well, presumably an ettin with considerably more hp and better defenses than an orb of fire, which is a big step up in danger

Yes, but also one that eventually times out and dies, like all summons. So the only consideration is its ability to kill you. So long as you do not die, it will eventually die. (Granted it is very durably summoned.) This is why trying to kill your clone while Mara is still kicking is a bad idea, just kill Mara and teleport away, or quaff speed and get to some stairs. Your clone has none of your consumables and is kind of stupid (it is the AI after all).

I'm sure somebody mentioned it earlier, but probably the best way to deal with the clone is to just bail on the fight if you can't finish Mara off quickly and try again (or not at all!) later.

Yes, exactly.

[Siegurt]

You're right he is male, I just thought of him as female for a long time, I only recently looked at the description so I still have a tendency to use the wrong pronoun for him

[Amnesiac]

Personally, I have my character throw a snozzcumber over his right shoulder whenever I run into Boris

I was talking about this part

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Personally, I have my character throw a snozzcumber over his right shoulder whenever I run into Boris

I was talking about this part

Oh, I see. I beg your pardon, that was just a joke. I can see why that was unclear, as I switched from joking to serious-posting really quickly. As usual the tone-deaf medium of the Internet makes what I wrote read differently than it sounded in my head.

[mikee]

The clone's base melee damage is capped at 1d50. This is roughly equivalent to a stone giant (1d45).

[rebthor]

It can be bad if he doesn't duplicate you quickly, but he generally does, and I'm not going to be able to melee him from 6 tiles away, so I might as well wield a ration while walking towards him/casting buff spells. If he doesn't duplicate me and I manage to lose too much health from fire I'd just run away anyways, holding a ration won't impede that.

Or you could, you know, walk the other direction away from Mara, break LOS and wait for him to come to you while you buff up and stuff. This way you're not taking bolts of fire to the face and getting misled and cloned and having him clone himself.