some12fat2move wrote:Well if you really want to try necromutation, you should probably worship kiku and ask for the necronomicon, that way you don't run the risk of not finding necromutation.
True, although alternately, since it is only a late game spell, you could go Sif, pick up some necro and transmutation skill levels in mid game, and be reasonably sure that you'll get it by the time it would actually make sense to cast it. Also with Sif you will actually be guaranteed to make good use of the spell, because hilarious channeling abuse is (IMO) the main draw of the spell, with torment/miasma immunities and the other random buffs also being very helpful of course.
Anyway: OP, if trying out necromutation is what you want to do, go for it, but I will throw out a few disclaimers.
Necromutation has a very large opportunity cost, and carries significant drawbacks, not least of which being that you can't use Death's Door or Revivification (both of which also appear in Necronomicon) while you are in lich-form. For most characters that have access to necromutation and could reasonably make use of that spell, at all, either B.'s Rev or DD is a better choice.
To really take full advantage of Necromutation and make it worthwhile, you need to be doing extended, and you need to have clarity, a wand of heal wounds, some scrolls of recharge (preferably with conservation), and some method of abusable channeling on a character who can really make use of quick mana recharge (generally, either blaster- or summoning-heavy builds). So Necromutation is a
very narrow spell. It can have a very large impact on your game, so in that sense I suppose it is "powerful," but it is very far from necessary even for 15-rune.
A lot of very good (better than me) players disdain it, because it is basically this really expensive way to 1.) cheese channeling and 2.) make extended more like the rest of the game, rather than adapting your play style to some of the threats that are much more significant in extended than regular game. (Also some people / guides vastly overestimate the usefulness of the spell, when in fact getting it is a textbook example of false economy on
most characters.) In my experience, lich-form also tends to be pretty tedious, and going for necromutate late game on more than a couple of characters will get old very quick. That being said, I don't think there's anything wrong with trying it out, and I have undeniably had fun taking some ridiculous lich-form casters through ziggurats before. But that's the kind of spell it is—it is not something to shoot for in (overwhelmingly) the majority of games you'll play. Also, you could have an otherwise perfect character for the spell, ready to go, but no wand of heal wounds drops, which would make using the spell a lot extremely risky for most characters. So aside from everything else, it is also a finicky spell.
But, if you want to do this, my advice would be to build up a good character, with emphasis on either conjurations or summoning, and just completely ignore that necromutation exists for nearly all of the game. Use some very late game experience to get Necromutation online (like Zot 1 to 4, Vaults:5, plus Slime will probably do it) and then go into extended. Don't bother with this unless you have all those things I listed above (wand of heal wounds etc. etc.). Also note that in many cases your character will get much better returns putting all that experience somewhere else, as even in a best-case scenario necromutation is only going to really pan out for you (if at all) a good long while after you start pumping the relevant skills and get it castable.
Since you are already setting this up to be a bit of a scumming-type game by going for necromutation in first place, something like Kiku --> Ash (get necronomicon, switch to ash for skill boosts, also guaranteed clarity) or Kiku --> Sif (for powerful channeling) might be your best shot. In the latter case you could get pain brand on Kiku and gamble on Sif for necromutation, that might be a bit risky but should be fine so long as you make the switch before you are too late in the game and you raised your necro skill level a good amount under kiku (as you should do, anyway).
Again, none of the above is the sort of thing I'd recommend actually doing in general. I only offer that advice in this specific context, for a case where wanting to try out necromutation is more important than winning, or maximizing your chances of survival, or building a really strong and well-rounded character.
Sunday, 17th November 2013, 19:29 
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