OpTm - What god?

[delarado]

What god works well with OpTm?

I was thinking Okawaru; But ive only really played with Trog and Vehumet. Any others that I should think of?

[Amnesiac]

I don't have any experience with this, but I think Jiyva might be a great god for a OpTm. Before you find Jiyva you could use some hybrid god like Ash or Chei, maybe, but let's see some more competent opinions. As for Oka, I think he's a really weak god for an OpTm, as you can only use gifts of hats and he doesn't boost your magic. Makhleb is probably an ok god, too.

[Klown]

Would you need 8 rings to be fully bound for Ash?

How about...

Fedhas Madash: Water Stealth boost + Rain, for a little synergy; and his other abilities.
Nemelex Xobeh: 2 Evo apt, add some ranged card attacks to your repertoire.

[and into]

I don't have any experience with this, but I think Jiyva might be a great god for a OpTm. Before you find Jiyva you could use some hybrid god like Ash or Chei, maybe, but let's see some more competent opinions. As for Oka, I think he's a really weak god for an OpTm, as you can only use gifts of hats and he doesn't boost your magic. Makhleb is probably an ok god, too.

Ash can be hard to get rolling because as Tm you can't curse weapon for easy piety early on, and it may take a long time to get enough rings for boundedness in jewelry. On the other hand, if you find an early cap and/or buckler, Ash is an appealing option. Otherwise it is a gamble cause you will have a very frustrating time raising piety.

Makhleb is great. Okawaru is a great god for OpTm, he's not weak for Tm at all.

Okawaru gifting is not the main reason to go for him, on any character, because the gifts are unreliable. However, I will say that (somewhat counter-intuitively) Okie's gifting actually works better and is more powerful for species with weird armor restrictions. (Not Felids, obviously, but yes octopodes.)

Okie's gifting is hard-coded so that he absolutely will not give you something you can't use due to species limitations. If you roll an armor gift on your octopode, it is going to be a hat or shield, and as an OpTm, you really really want a good variety of each. Having Okie only gift two types of things means that you can actually *somewhat* expect to have a good hat and shield by mid-game, whereas on a lot of characters you'll just have a stockpile of armor types you aren't using (because there are so many types to draw from). Yes, on an infinite time line a character with full body slots will benefit most from Okawaru, but that is not the case in practice. Since OpTm do not have a lot of armor, it is extremely important that you DO fill the two slots you have with very good things, and Okawaru helps.

If you want a challenge go Chei, otherwise Okawaru or Makhleb. As Klown pointed out, Fedhas is a very solid option too, and Nemelex is extremely powerful but some people find playing him tedious. (Worth trying Nemelex at least once though, to see if you like him.)

EDIT: Going Jivya is fine too but his altar is rarely forthcoming, and delaying religion until late lair (or planning to incur wrath in the mid-game for a switch) is a challenge-run kind of thing. It is fine to do for fun but isn't the best strategy if you just want to win, or at least get very far with, an OpTm.

DOUBLE EDIT: Going Yred is a good recommendation too IMO, as others have suggested.

[Amnesiac]

Well, you might be right about Oka being ok for an OpTm, but it's a bit boring choice, nontheless.

[mopl]

I would say Oka too...
If you want to change of a classic melee fighter, I think that Sif Muna is also a viable option...

[Rapigel]

I've won a few 3-rune OpTm with Yred. OpTm is all about surviving the early game, so while heroism is nice, the zombie army does that much more to add to early survivability.

[zugundertherug]

I'd say either Oka or Chei. If you want to try Chei then I'd recommend choosing an OpMo and go for transmutations much later, with the aim being statue form in the late game. The instant ** piety makes surviving the rough Chei early game much easier.

[and into]

Well, you might be right about Oka being ok for an OpTm, but it's a bit boring choice, nontheless.

Okawaru may be boring, but he's a *strong* (not just ok) choice for any transmuter.

Plenty of the other solid gods will work too, of course, Makhleb and Yred and Nemelex are strong options for almost any character.

Chei's stat boost is impressive for transmuters and I sometimes find the movement constraint to be a fun challenge, but there's a really rough patch before Chei's invocations start up that is very hard to weather. This didn't so much use to be a problem back in older versions when you ponderized your equipment, as you could better control when and how much Chei slowed you down. (It also made spider form hilariously abusable for Chei devotees.) Now that's no longer the case I can't in good conscience recommend Chei for people trying to branch into a new type of play style, because he hurts your survivability most EXACTLY during the period when you are very vulnerable and don't have a whole lot of options.

The transmuter starting book is very versatile though and can mesh well with a lot of different god choices, including ones that are geared more towards further hybridization. Kiku wouldn't be a bad choice for instance, despite the fact that the pain brand is redundant when you are going unarmed. Okawaru, Yred, and Fedhas probably offer the strongest *immediate* boosts to survivability, though, which is especially important for octopodes.

EDIT: Of course, at the end of the day, go with whatever you think you'll have the most fun with. All my advice is being given from the standpoint of what (IMO) gives you the greatest chance of getting an OpTm on its feet (er... tentacles). But the only point to Crawl is having fun. Sometimes winning is a means to that end, because it is usually more fun to at least make it at least to mid-game rather than dying early to something stupid, but not always. If you are following advice about "optimal play" but find that you are worshiping a god you find boring or tedious to play, do something else, obviously.

[Rapigel]

And if you just want to win: go Ely.