New Ashenzari

[galehar]

Ashenzari has been changed significantly. CDO and windows build are updated with it. Feedback is welcome.

[tcjsavannah]

Interesting. I only tried "old" Ashenzari once but I endorse these changes.

[pratamawirya]

Not bad.

[Jenx]

Sounds cool.

[galehar]

Glad you like it, but when I said feedback, I was thinking of actual play-testing

[rabidweasel]

I noticed the low-level skill boosts weren't showing up in the skill window (latest tiles trunk) which is kind of counterintuitive, especially since the boosts to skills from being bound were shown. I am assuming that it's a bug.

I have a MDEE with 21 earth skill, 17 armour, 15 axes, 8 fighting after clearing Lair and no other branches; being able to cast midlevel spells in plate so early on, on top of being perfectly capable of dealing with most threats in melee, feels like a huge departure from how weak armoured casting has been since the various nerfs. The skill boosts on top of the detection abilities feel very strong but the curse requirement is quite a large drawback. There's a lot of nice synergy between ash and EEs but I thought I'd go for a strong combo first of all

[galehar]

I noticed the low-level skill boosts weren't showing up in the skill window (latest tiles trunk)

Low level skill boost is only active when you don't wear any uncursed item. I know, it's not very obvious from the in-game descriptions.

The skill boosts on top of the detection abilities feel very strong but the curse requirement is quite a large drawback.

Well, that's exactly what we're aiming for

[smock]

Looking good!

In reskilling, after selecting the source skill, the latter skills in the list are relettered.

So if short blades are (a), long blades are (b) and throwing is (c), once I select to reskill from short blades, long blades becomes (a) and throwing becomes (b). The letters should probably stay the same.

(Should specifics like this go on Mantis?)

[galehar]

Looking good!

In reskilling, after selecting the source skill, the latter skills in the list are relettered.

So if short blades are (a), long blades are (b) and throwing is (c), once I select to reskill from short blades, long blades becomes (a) and throwing becomes (b). The letters should probably stay the same.

(Should specifics like this go on Mantis?)

It has always been this way, it's not related to the recent changes. I'm not sure it's worth fixing, because there are a few cases where a skill can be selected in one menu and not the other.

[rabidweasel]

Quick suggestion for an issue that cropped up in a recent game: Ash should allow his worshippers to curse weapons of holy wrath. Unless it goes strongly against flavour, I suppose.

[joellercoaster]

If you don't wear any uncursed item, Ash will boost all your known skills up to piety_rank (number of stars).

I really liked this kind of mechanic for Cheibriados, and I like it for Ash too!

[Megabass]

You also get a free butcher ability, to make it a bit easier to experiment with the staff skill boost. This is temporary. The plan is to allow Ashenzarites to butcher with their knife even if holding a cursed blunt weapon.

Perfect!

[smock]

In reskilling, after selecting the source skill, the latter skills in the list are relettered.

It has always been this way, it's not related to the recent changes. I'm not sure it's worth fixing, because there are a few cases where a skill can be selected in one menu and not the other.

It's not a big deal, but then probably some letters that are available for one reskilling menu but not the other should be skipped on the menu in which they are not available. I'm not the most astute person, but I have mis-skilled a few times because of this. I note that I want to reskill from a to c, and so I hit "a c" and I end up having to cancel the reskilling. Changing this would prevent silly people from doing silly things, but would certainly be lower priority at best.

[galehar]

If you don't wear any uncursed item, Ash will boost all your known skills up to piety_rank (number of stars).

I really liked this kind of mechanic for Cheibriados, and I like it for Ash too!

Except this specific Ash power doesn't work like Chei. Instead of giving a boost if you wear cursed items, it does if you don't wear uncursed items. In fact I don't like this conduct. It's akward and unintuitive as shown by the fact that already 2 people misunderstood it. So I might remove it and instead give a greater skill boost for wearing cursed items, as I've suggested on the wiki.

[smock]

Except this specific Ash power doesn't work like Chei. Instead of giving a boost if you wear cursed items, it does if you don't wear uncursed items. In fact I don't like this conduct. It's akward and unintuitive as shown by the fact that already 2 people misunderstood it. So I might remove it and instead give a greater skill boost for wearing cursed items, as I've suggested on the wiki.

Maybe the current behavior could be maintained if made clearer with a new power ("Ash boosts your skills if all your worn items are cursed" or maybe "Ash boosts your skills if you wear no uncursed items") and additional description text ("Ash supports skills corresponding to worn cursed items and gives additional support when you wear only cursed items.) This text is not flavorful so don't take it literally.

(Or did I miss the current power or these being described in Ash's description?)

[njvack]

You also get a free butcher ability, to make it a bit easier to experiment with the staff skill boost. This is temporary. The plan is to allow Ashenzarites to butcher with their knife even if holding a cursed blunt weapon.

If you're going unarmed and use an uncursed butchering tool instead of the ability, it ticks Ash off. Intended?

[njvack]

And on the same line, the 'Butcher' ability doesn't count as an "I already have a butchering tool" trigger, so autopickup makes sure I have a least on butchering tool still.

[galehar]

Combine the two. Cursed items increase the skill boost, uncursed items decrease it, unused slots do nothing. So a naked player wouldn't get anything, and a player with one cursed slot would get more than a player with one cursed slot and one uncursed slot.

Problem is that you can get an instant skill boost just by removing a piece of jewellery or unwielding your weapon. That kind of defeat the "no flexibility" design of the god. So I'd rather keep the boost only for cursed items.

In reskilling, after selecting the source skill, the latter skills in the list are relettered.

Fixed.

Quick suggestion for an issue that cropped up in a recent game: Ash should allow his worshippers to curse weapons of holy wrath. Unless it goes strongly against flavour, I suppose.

Why not, but there's a little problem. Now that weapons are melded on transform, what would happen if you wield a cursed weapon of holy wrath and cast necromutation? I suggest we put a warning, and if the player goes with it, he'll take holy damage every turn. Having a weapon of holy wrath melded into your lich body must be painful.

If you're going unarmed and use an uncursed butchering tool instead of the ability, it ticks Ash off. Intended?

Not really. Same problem if you switch between 2 uncursed weapons. There's no penalty, it's just message spam. But as this conduct may go, I didn't bother fixing it yet.

And on the same line, the 'Butcher' ability doesn't count as an "I already have a butchering tool" trigger, so autopickup makes sure I have a least on butchering tool still.

The ability is temporary, I'll remove it as soon as I allowed Ashenzarites to butcher while wielding cursed blunt weapon. So I won't bother fixing small details like that.

[njvack]

The ability is temporary, I'll remove it as soon as I allowed Ashenzarites to butcher while wielding cursed blunt weapon. So I won't bother fixing small details like that.

So we'll still need to carry an edged weapon to butcher?

[rabidweasel]

I noticed that 'fake' skill levels in fighting from the low level skill boost don't give HP. WAD? (I can see why you wouldn't want to give heavy casters any more boosts as Ash seems very strong for them currently)

[galehar]

I noticed that 'fake' skill levels in fighting from the low level skill boost don't give HP. WAD? (I can see why you wouldn't want to give heavy casters any more boosts as Ash seems very strong for them currently)

How does being more knowledgeable about fighting would make you tougher exactly? It would fit the flavour of heroism, but even there it doesn't apply. Would be too strong I guess.

[pratamawirya]

Why not, but there's a little problem. Now that weapons are melded on transform, what would happen if you wield a cursed weapon of holy wrath and cast necromutation? I suggest we put a warning, and if the player goes with it, he'll take holy damage every turn. Having a weapon of holy wrath melded into your lich body must be painful.

Haha, sounds fun.

[Kate]

I really don't like the idea of adding even more Ashenzari special-cases (like allowing cursing holy wrath weapons or pearl dragon armour). If players want to use these items, they'll just have to not curse them (likewise for unarmed combatants). The current skill boost is problematic with this since it doesn't allow wearing any uncursed gear at all, but that should change as galehar said to disallow players getting round it by just removing their gloves or whatever, anyway.

[galehar]

The holy wrath exception isn't really needed. The ones that are needed are butchering with blunt weapon, ring switching with cursed gloves and armour switching with cursed cloak. All those restrictions are just annoying with Ash. Let's allow them and add this to Ash's description: "Having been shackled for centuries, Ashenzari has learned a few tricks to deal with curses.".

[galehar]

I've updated the wiki. The skill boost has been reverted for now, it's too immature for 0.8 release. So back to XP gain for now, we'll test the skill boost after 0.8 release.

[TGW]

I think that rather than introducing flavour kludges, entirely removing layered curses and requiring a blade to butcher would be preferable. I don't think either of these are particularly interesting mechanics.

[vintermann]

Hey, looks like I started a game right before you reverted... anyway, I have an Ash sneaky halfling wandered who gets boost to skills when he only wears cursed EQ. I observe:

• The bonus requires both that you are "fully bound" (magic, weapon, armour) and that you don't wear any uncursed items.
• Two cursed rings is enough for "bound in magic"

... with the consequence that to get the skill boost, I need to swap off my great randart amulet (which has inaccuracy as its base, even! It was red, so I thought it was cursed already). It's a bit counterintuitive that it goes from no effect to full effect based on taking off one item.

Suggestion: The skill bonus, info blessings and to a lesser extent piety gain*, should be based on (number of slot types you have fully cursed) * 2 - (number of slot types your species can use). Whether a slot type is empty or with an uncursed item shouldn't matter to Ash - it encourages swapping off, which is antithetical to Ash. Slots should be :

• Body armour
• Hat
• Boots/Barding
• Cloak
• Rings
• Gloves
• Amulet
• Main hand
• Off hand

So you need both rings to be cursed for that slot to count as cursed. This is because swapping isn't really all that hampered by one cursed ring compared to two. Cursed two-handers should count as both hand slots, one-hander and shield count for main and off hand slots respectively.

So,
Human, elf, most races: 9 slots, needs 5 cursed to start seeing skill boosts
demonspawn with full hooves mutation: 8 slots, needs 5 cursed to start seeing skill boosts
Ogre, draconian, spriggan, troll: 7 slots, needs 4 cursed to start seeing skill boosts
Felid: 2 slots, need both cursed to see a modest minimum skill of 2...

I'd cap skill boost at piety + 1. That leaves all races but Felids able to reach the highest level.

Ash is fun for wanderers. That starting polearm skill on my halfling turned into a good deal of stealth.

* Piety gain is IMO too slow at low levels of curse, too fast at high. Same goes for Chei.

[galehar]

... with the consequence that to get the skill boost, I need to swap off my great randart amulet (which has inaccuracy as its base, even! It was red, so I thought it was cursed already). It's a bit counterintuitive that it goes from no effect to full effect based on taking off one item.

I agree, that's why the plan for 0.9 is to boost skills only based on cursed items.

[dolphin]

FWIW, I agree that piety for Ash and Chei is too slow at low levels, and too fast at high. However, that could just be that I tend to play conservatively, and don't use abilities enough...

[galehar]

For piety, the gain has been reduced from x2, x4, x6 to x2, x3, x4 (depending on bondage level). I think it's ok that it's slow if you don't bind yourself. Also, there's only 2 abilities which use piety for Ash: scrying (cost about 5) and reskilling (cost increased from 10 to 25).

[vintermann]

I'm not sure I like the plan for 0.9. Minimum competence in all skills you have is a lot more interesting than boosting the stuff you're already focusing on, IMO. True, it's going to be best for casters/hybrids, but it makes sense that knowledge mostly helps with spellcasting.

I'll certainly delay updating right now. One more curse jewelry scroll, and my wanderer-thief is going to have access to a treasure trove of useful low-level spells

[galehar]

I'm not sure I like the plan for 0.9. Minimum competence in all skills you have is a lot more interesting than boosting the stuff you're already focusing on, IMO.

But it's also much weaker. Raising any skill to level 6 is quite cheap. 4 levels of a high skill is worth more than 5 skills raised from 0 to 6. We can keep a boost to low level skills, but we have to tie it to cursed slots and piety, not uncursed gear. And it would be useful only for magic skills I guess.

[JeffQyzt]

I'm not sure I like the plan for 0.9. Minimum competence in all skills you have is a lot more interesting than boosting the stuff you're already focusing on, IMO.

But it's also much weaker. Raising any skill to level 6 is quite cheap. 4 levels of a high skill is worth more than 5 skills raised from 0 to 6. We can keep a boost to low level skills, but we have to tie it to cursed slots and piety, not uncursed gear. And it would be useful only for magic skills I guess.

Hrm...it's not weaker when you're trying to add a new skill. For instance, I'd dearly love a minor boost in Shield level just after I've pickup my first buckler to push it past the first skill level hurdle. Later on, shield 10 --> 15 is nice, but not as much of a game changer. Armor level boost can have similar benefits for light/med armor casters. Not having to worry about miscasts nearly as much while picking up a new spell school is also rather nice, I admit.

The minor boost is great for hybrids/dabblers, while still being a tangible benefit for those with more focused repertoires. I hope it finds its way back in.

[TGW]

What if Ashenzari let you choose which appropriate skill to boost instead of the old two boosts? This would let people use it to increase their highest skill as well as for picking up new skills if they want. Let the player change the boosted skill for a piety cost.

[galehar]

What if Ashenzari let you choose which appropriate skill to boost instead of the old two boosts? This would let people use it to increase their highest skill as well as for picking up new skills if they want. Let the player change the boosted skill for a piety cost.

I don't like this idea. If you can choose which skill to boost, then why would you make the sacrifice of reskilling?
Here is another idea. For armour and jewellery, instead of just boosting the highest skill, Ash's boost all corresponding skills by piety_rank - skill_level/3. If fully bounded, the bonus is piety_rank + 2 - skill_level / 4. So big boost to low skills, and smaller one to high skills. Here is a chart to see how it looks.

[roguelikedev]

Very cool changes; I was glad to hear the 'butcher w/cursed blunt weapon' in particular. Once current Ashenzarite wins or dies I'll D/L new version.

[smock]

For armour and jewellery, instead of just boosting the highest skill, Ash's boost all corresponding skills by piety_rank - skill_level/3. If fully bounded, the bonus is piety_rank + 2 - skill_level / 4. So big boost to low skills, and smaller one to high skills. Here is a chart to see how it looks.

I like that! Is 0.8 dropping too soon to test a scheme like this? I think would clarify what Ash is about and be pretty well balanced.

[galehar]

For armour and jewellery, instead of just boosting the highest skill, Ash's boost all corresponding skills by piety_rank - skill_level/3. If fully bounded, the bonus is piety_rank + 2 - skill_level / 4. So big boost to low skills, and smaller one to high skills. Here is a chart to see how it looks.

I like that! Is 0.8 dropping too soon to test a scheme like this? I think would clarify what Ash is about and be pretty well balanced.

0.8 code freeze is upon us, there's no time to test the skill boost. It will be released with the XP boost which is bland, but at least somewhat balanced and has been play-tested for several months.
So we have some time to brainstorm the skill boost. Feel free to experiment by tweaking numbers and formula, but any proposal must meet the following goals:

• permanent passive boost. No activated ability, we want to keep the passive play-style of the god.
• force the player to bind himself to benefit from the skill boost.
• Can't choose the boosted skill (overlaps with reskilling).
• boost depends on piety. Abusing scrying and reskilling will reduce the bonus.

[galehar]

I've updated my skill boost proposal. Here's the formula:

• Partial bound: piety_rank - skill/5
• Full bound: piety_rank +1 - skill/6

You can see the resulting skill levels for the 2 bonuses at max piety in the first 2 columns of this chart. The rest is the bonus at the various piety levels.

[The Mantis]

The Ashenzari player is ultimately rewarded for being bound, and if there is an unnatural spike like in the equations, it's like breaking free of chains.

I feel the numbers should be under a gentle gradient, like would be represented by the power of the devoted expanding irrespective of the chain- this is the same thing I was thinking in terms of the skill boost, that at the last rank the devoted of Ashenzari would 'transcend' their chains and the power that was building within them would be released, like Anima's Oblivion.

I wish there was some sort of story-like reward for visiting the Altars of Ashenzari throughout the dungeon and healing them. And that Cursed items could have negative bonuses reversed temporarily at higher levels of Piety, and that losing Piety made the negative bonuses higher, and ... lots of things really. In short, Ashenzari fascinates me. I have a lot of ideas for the number progression, but I just wanted to make some minor points here, so I registered here.

[smock]

I wish there was some sort of story-like reward for visiting the Altars of Ashenzari throughout the dungeon and healing them.

I like the idea of a full-piety avatar of Ash fixing an Ash altar. Not sure how it would play but the flavor is wonderful.

[galehar]

What about a skill boost that has a gentle gradient that spikes dramatically towards the final ranks that is amplified by being full bound? I don't like the idea of having a numerical bonus to piety rank calculation, really. You should think about it as though you're playing as the character itself. What would be most interesting/logical for an Ashenzari player from a personal perspective?

I don't understand what you mean. Under my proposal, the player is encouraged to bind himself and keep piety high. Isn't that what you're suggesting too? What do you mean by "no numerical bonus to piety rank calculation"?

[roguelikedev]

Is the "supports low skills" ability active in build 6061? Full piety, fully bounded, every possible slot cursed save shield (wasn't wearing one), no apparent effects.

Also, the change to 25 piety for transfer knowledge seemed about right...? I might be singing a different tune if I hadn't cursed so much stuff onto that character, but keeping TK active roughly 50-75% of the time had me bouncing between 5 and 6 stars piety. Compare to previous build, in which an equivalent rate of use would very occasionally drop me to 5 stars, usually if several consecutive uses targeted skills too low to run out the timer.

[dpeg]

I've updated my skill boost proposal. Here's the formula:

• Partial bound: piety_rank - skill/5
• Full bound: piety_rank +1 - skill/6

You can see the resulting skill levels for the 2 bonuses at max piety in the first 2 columns of this chart. The rest is the bonus at the various piety levels.

I like the idea of the skill boost fading out, but I think it will already be useful if the numbers are smaller. As someone posted upthread, I also believe that the very first version (where skills would go to at most 6) is useful. In my opinion, there is no need to boost skills beyond 20, for example. But all of these are just numerical tweaks, of course.
The difference between partial and full is more relevant. In my opinion, it could be more emphasised.

[galehar]

Thanks for the feedback dpeg. I agree that they look a bit high. However, I don't think we should make the difference between partial and full boundage too high. If we do, we either end up with partial being underpowered, or full being overpowered. We want to encourage players to go fully bounded, but we don't want to force them to. Because as kilobyte said on c-r-d, that would lead to tedious gameplay. Thus, I think increasing the bonus by 1 or 2 is enough. And maybe also make it fade slower, so it's a bit more effective with high skills.

Edit: I've reduced the bonus and updated the chart

* Partial bound: piety_rank - skill/4
* Full bound: piety_rank +1 - skill/5

[rabidweasel]

Is this intended to replace both of the skill boosts that were in earlier versions of trunk or will there be a 'boosted skills based on bound aspects' bonus as well?

[galehar]

Yes, it's intented to replace both bonus that have been tested briefly. I've update the full proposal on the wiki.

[RangerC]

Here's a win morgue with 'new' Ash (actually at this point, old 'new' Ash:

  Code:

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.8.0-a0-5941-g5831c72 character file.

1192822 Combatomancer the Conqueror (level 27, 274/274 (282) HPs)
             Began as a Centaur Venom Mage on Mar 25, 2011.
             Was the Champion of Ashenzari.
             Escaped with the Orb
             ... and 3 runes (of 3 types) on Apr 2, 2011!
             
             The game lasted 10:57:02 (158081 turns).

Combatomancer the Conqueror (Centaur Venom Mage)                  Turns: 158081, Time: 10:57:02

HP 274/274 (282) AC 36     Str 11 (12) Exp: 27/1192743 (19582)
MP  38/38        EV  5     Int 26 (27) God: Ashenzari [******]
Gold 5102        SH 12     Dex 13      Spells: 16 memorised,  6 levels left

Res.Fire  : + + .   See Invis. : +    s - +6 demon blade of Tyev {flame, rElec}
Res.Cold  : + + .   Warding    : . .  v - +2 ice dragon armour (curse)
Life Prot.: . . .   Conserve   : .    i - -3 elf buckler {rF+} (curse)
Res.Acid. : . . .   Res.Corr.  : .    P - +1 helmet of the Good {rF+ Int+4}
Res.Poison: +       Clarity    : +    S - -1 dwarf cloak (curse)
Res.Elec. : +       Spirit.Shd : .    x - +3 pair of gauntlets of War {Acc+3 Dam+3}
Sust.Abil.: . .     Stasis     : .    e - +4 centaur barding (curse)
Res.Mut.  : +       Ctrl.Telep.: .    w - cursed amulet of resist mutation
Res.Rott. : .       Levitation : .    E - cursed ring of protection from magic
Saprovore : . . .   Ctrl.Flight: .    X - cursed ring "Thriepew" {rPois rF+}

@: very quick, extremely resistant to hostile enchantments, unstealthy
A: hooves 3, deformed body 1, deterioration 2, speed 2, fast metabolism 2, -10% mp, spit poison
1, tough skin 3
a: Spit Poison, Butcher, Scrying, Transfer Knowledge, Renounce Religion


You escaped.
You worshipped Ashenzari.
Ashenzari was exalted by your worship.
You were hungry.

You visited 12 branches of the dungeon, and saw 76 of its levels.
You visited the Abyss 1 time.
You visited 1 Labyrinth.
You visited 4 portal chambers: sewer, ossuary, spiders nest, wizlab.

You collected 8965 gold pieces.
You spent 3883 gold pieces at shops.

Inventory:

Hand weapons
 s - the cursed +6,+6 demon blade of Tyev (weapon) {flame, rElec}
   (You found it on level 2 of the Hive)   
   It emits flame when wielded, causing extra injury to most foes and up to
   double damage against particularly susceptible opponents. Big, fiery blades
   are also staple armaments of hydra-hunters.
   It insulates you from electricity.
   It has a curse placed upon it.
 U - the +6,+6 Lehudib's crystal spear (quivered) {return, Int+3}
   (You found it on level 2 of the Swamp)   
   A skilled user can throw it in such a way that it will return to its owner.
   It affects your intelligence (+3).
   Presumably this relic led to the invention of the famous spell, or maybe
   the other way around.
Missiles
 b - 2 curare-tipped +0 needles
 m - 4 curare-tipped +4 needles
Armour
 e - a cursed +4 centaur barding (worn)
 i - a cursed -3 elven buckler of fire resistance (worn)
 v - a cursed +2 ice dragon armour (worn)
 x - the cursed +3 pair of gauntlets of War (worn) {Acc+3 Dam+3}
   (You found it on level 22 of the Dungeon)   
   It affects your accuracy (+3).
   It affects your damage-dealing abilities (+3).
   It has a curse placed upon it.
 P - the cursed +1 helmet of the Good (worn) {rF+ Int+4}
   (You found it on level 5 of the Crypt)   
   It affects your intelligence (+4).
   It protects you from fire.
   It has a curse placed upon it.
 S - a cursed -1 dwarven cloak (worn)
Magical devices
 a - a wand of slowing (7)
 c - a wand of draining (12)
 d - a wand of invisibility (2)
 g - a wand of teleportation (0)
 h - a wand of digging (7)
 j - a wand of hasting (0)
 p - a wand of teleportation (4)
 u - a wand of teleportation (5)
 A - a wand of healing (0)
 B - a wand of disintegration (3)
 F - a wand of lightning (0)
 J - a wand of hasting (1)
 N - a wand of teleportation (9)
 O - a wand of disintegration (7)
Comestibles
 l - 3 royal jellies
Scrolls
 I - a scroll of curse weapon
 T - 2 scrolls of remove curse
Jewellery
 f - an uncursed ring of teleport control
 r - the ring "Furoa" {rPois Str+4 Int+4}
   (You found it on level 4 of the Swamp)   
   [ring of poison resistance]
   It affects your strength (+4).
   It affects your intelligence (+4).
 t - an uncursed ring of sustain abilities
 w - a cursed amulet of resist mutation (around neck)
 C - the cursed necklace of Bloodlust {*Rage +Rage MR Str+2 Int-2 Dam+3 Stlth- Curse}
   (You bought it in a shop on level 6 of the Vaults)   
   [amulet of rage]
   It affects your strength (+2).
   It affects your intelligence (-2).
   It affects your damage-dealing abilities (+3).
   It increases your resistance to enchantments.
   It makes you angry.
   It may recurse itself.
   It makes you less stealthy.
   It has a curse placed upon it.
 E - a cursed ring of protection from magic (right hand)
 L - the amulet of Ploem {Spirit Stlth++}
   (You found it on level 8 of the Vaults)   
   [amulet of guardian spirit]
   It makes you much more stealthy.
 M - the ring "Bahemy" {AC+3 Stlth++}
   (You found it on level 5 of the Crypt)   
   [ring of protection]
   It affects your AC (+3).
   It makes you much more stealthy.
 X - the cursed ring "Thriepew" (left hand) {rPois rF+}
   (You found it on level 8 of the Vaults)   
   [ring of poison resistance]
   It protects you from fire.
   It has a curse placed upon it.
Potions
 q - 8 potions of healing
 z - a potion of magic
 G - a potion of brilliance
 H - a potion of resistance
Books
 K - a book of Annihilations   
   WARNING: If you fail in an attempt to memorise a spell from this book, the
   book will lash out at you.
   Spells                             Type                      Level
   *Poison Arrow                      Conjuration/Poison           6
   Orb of Destruction                 Conjuration                  7
   Chain Lightning                    Conjuration/Air              8
   Lehudib's Crystal Spear            Conjuration/Earth            8
   Ice Storm                          Conjuration/Ice              9
   Fire Storm                         Conjuration/Fire             9
   
Orbs of Power
 k - the Orb of Zot
Miscellaneous
 y - a serpentine rune of Zot
 Q - a decaying rune of Zot
 R - a silver rune of Zot


 You had 19582 experience left.

   Skills:
 * Level 27 Fighting
 - Level 2 Short Blades
 + Level 16 Long Blades
 - Level 2 Throwing
 + Level 14 Armour
 - Level 6 Dodging
 - Level 3 Stealth
 - Level 2 Stabbing
 - Level 4 Shields
 - Level 4 Traps & Doors
 + Level 14 Unarmed Combat
 + Level 16 Spellcasting
 - Level 11 Conjurations
 - Level 1 Charms
 - Level 2 Summonings
 + Level 2 Necromancy
 - Level 1 Translocations
 - Level 3 Transmutations
 - Level 4 Fire Magic
 - Level 5 Air Magic
 - Level 4 Earth Magic
 - Level 6 Poison Magic
 - Level 3 Evocations


You had 6 spell levels left.
You knew the following spells:

 Your Spells              Type           Power        Success   Level  Hunger
a - Ignite Poison         Fire/Trmt      #######...   Very Good   5    None
b - Mephitic Cloud        Pois/Air/Conj  #######...   Excellent   3    None
c - Stone Arrow           Erth/Conj      #######      Excellent   3    None
d - Poisonous Cloud       Pois/Air/Conj  #######...   Excellent   5    None
e - Conjure Flame         Fire/Conj      #######..    Excellent   3    None
f - Bolt of Magma         Fire/Erth/Conj #######...   Excellent   5    None
g - Alistair's Intoxicat  Pois/Trmt      N/A          Great       4    None
h - Stoneskin             Erth/Trmt      #######...   Excellent   2    None
i - Poison Arrow          Pois/Conj      #######...   Very Good   6    Honeycomb
j - Blink                 Tloc           N/A          Excellent   2    None
k - Summon Butterflies    Summ           #######..    Excellent   1    None
l - Apportation           Tloc           #######...   Excellent   1    None
m - Olgreb's Toxic Radia  Pois           N/A          Great       4    None
n - Abjuration            Summ           #######...   Excellent   3    None
o - Repel Missiles        Air/Chrm       #######...   Excellent   2    None
p - Regeneration          Chrm/Necr      #######...   Excellent   3    None


Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations

Branches:
Dungeon (27/27)            Temple (1/1) D:4             Orc (4/4) D:9
    Elf (5/5) Orc:4          Lair (8/8) D:11          Swamp (5/5) Lair:3
  Slime (0/6) Lair:6        Snake (5/5) Lair:6         Hive (2/2) D:11
  Vault (8/8) D:15          Blade (1/1) Vault:6       Crypt (5/5) Vault:4
    Zot (5/5) D:27       
  Tomb: Crypt:2-3   

Altars:
Ashenzari
Cheibriados
Elyvilon
Fedhas
Kikubaaqudgha
Makhleb
Okawaru
Sif Muna
The Shining One
Trog
Xom
Yredelemnul
Zin
Jiyva

Shops:
D:10: /  Orc:3: *  Orc:4: %((  Elf:1: ((*=  Elf:2: (  Elf:3: (  Elf:4: *  Snake:5: *
Vault:2: *  Vault:3: +([  Vault:4: =  Vault:5: ?  Vault:6: =  Vault:7: =  Vault:8: ?!!

Portals:
Hell: D:14 D:21 D:22 D:23 D:24 D:25 D:27
Abyss: D:22 D:25
Pan: D:24
Trove: D:15 (give +2 gold dragon armour)

Annotations
D:14 exclusion: door
Elf:1 exclusion: 2 statues
Lair:8 exclusion: oklob plant
Crypt:2 exclusion: curse skull
Crypt:4 exclusion: 2 curse skulls
Crypt:5 exclusion: curse skull


                    Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations

You have hooves in place of feet.
Armour fits poorly on your unusually shaped body.
You cover ground very quickly.
You have a very fast metabolism.
You have extremely tough skin (AC +3).
Your body is deteriorating.
Your magical capacity is low (-10% MP).
You can spit poison.


Message History

The magic dart hits you!
There is a staircase leading out of the dungeon here.
You feel weakened.
Helpless, you fail to dodge Sigmund's attack.
Sigmund hits you but does no damage.
Are you sure you want to leave the Dungeon?
You have escaped!

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You could see Sigmund (invisible).

Some thoughts:
- the boost to level 6 is basically useless to builds like MDFi or DECj where you have great aptitudes in the skills you want to train, and you want to train most of your skills above level 6 anyway). For an awkward combo like CeVM, it's really great early on and useful for the whole game. I actually liked the idea of wearing all cursed gear to get the boost, as it was a real tradeoff (no ring/weapon/amulet swapping at all in return for skills) but I can see why it was changed. The new proposed system looks to keep much of the same ideas, except it's now impossible to boost Stealth, T&D (big deal), Stabbing, Throwing, and only one of Weapon Skill/Spellcasting/Evocations. I think that's OK, but losing the ability to boost Stealth is a loss to some builds. Maybe 'light' armour (robe/leather) boosts Stealth/Dodging and 'heavy armour' (the rest) boosts Armour/Dodging?

- The weapon boost was extremely underwhelming, especially once the speed cap got close. Keeping hands unbound is probably better in almost all situations/builds (now that full cursing isn't required). Also, I can't see ever wanting to bind a rod for a measly +4 in Evocations(make it +8 or +10, then you might have a decision). Getting +10 on a two-handed weapon might be interesting, though (MfCr could use a bardiche early, for example). Same thing with the boost to top spell school (though that is now gone anyway) - barely noticeable. I like that the most powerful boost (+6 to spell schools) requires full bondage of jewelery (giving up tactical swaps); it's a balanced trade-off.

- Reskilling away levels in Dodging and Stealth (which you pick up whether you like it or not), for races like Trolls, Centaurs, and Ogres, into viable skills (while keeping a 6 level baseline in these skills) seemed a little broken. In this game, being able to pull XP from Stealth and bump Spellcasting was great, since I kept 6 levels in Stealth whether I had 1 or 6 anyway. It's a no-brainer BUT the increased piety cost of reskilling (and the real consequence of losing a level in like 10 skills because you lost a * of piety) made it something you couldn't do constantly.

Anyway, the 'new' skill-boost idea for Ash was MUCH more interesting and fun than a boring XP boost and I think the 0.9 proposed system is even better. Can't wait to try it out.