Mines Malingerer
Posts: 48
Joined: Thursday, 24th November 2016, 18:25
top gods for Zealot backgrounds
2) Xom. Creates a uniquely challenging start, exaggerating the already precarious early floors. Showcases iconic Crawl god. Lets players let off steam with a crazy game from the very start.
3) Vehumet. Vastly changes the nature of Vehumet's early gifts. Starting with magic dart is acceptable because even if you end up spamming some purely elemental "destructive" spell, like Freeze or Shatter, you still want some conj with Vehumet, for other spells.
4) Jiyva. Very different from worshiping Jiyva later, even if "later" means a rare early altar. Starting with Jiyva means that you don't get to pick the point when you think "I feel comfortable with jellies trying to eat items, time to convert". Eliminates putting up with atheism or an odd god just so you get easy/nonexistent penance converting to Jiyva. Eliminates going back to explored dungeon floors and twiddling your thumbs to get piety. Alters "Request Jelly" from a pure "sacrifice item" hack to an actually useful summon. Reduces chance of accidental irreversible deicide.
5) Ash. This is another god whom you don't just pick up and continue playing. You pick Ash, then do a whole bunch of stuff, and only then continue playing. Having Ash from the start would make Ash play smoother: you wouldn't suddenly halt to peruse your inventory, ctrl-f the dungeon, and plan your cursing strategy. You would treat early dungeon loot differently and use-ID more, since you wouldn't be afraid of accidentally getting cursed. You would also be committed to the ?rc RNG from the start. As a typical player who's thinking of going Ash, you're incentivized to check your ?rc stock before joining. Ash is near useless with no ?rc. No other god is this discouraging - in the worst case, you might have to give up a nice find or some wasted skill, but not with Ash. By committing from turn 1, you are spared this dispiriting moment, because you have no choice. The great variance of ?rc availability can be leavened by starting Ash zealots with a scroll of remove curse, which I would likely use on the first found 2-handed weapon. Ashenzari is special, in how a bookless start can be appropriate: Ash tends to reward spellcasters, and provides a unique way to reasonably transition from melee to major casting via Transfer Knowledge. (At least, if Transfer Knowledge is not unduly wasteful and expensive, which I hear it is.)
6) Kiku. Not because it's such a great idea, but because it's obvious what gear a Kiku zealot should get - a book of necromancy. Most gods can be played almost any way, and giving Zealots gear that doesn't make them seem unfairly niche is challenging if not impossible. But Kiku is niche, so making a niche Kiku background is appropriate.
7) Trog. In general, a bookless Zealot start is something that needlessly discourages spellcasting. Most gods are played virtually spell-less a large percentage of the time. Trog bumps this percentage to 100%, thus it is relatively forgivable to make Trog the god of a bookless Zealot. (I'm assuming that no background is allowed to have a choice of book.) Berserker is still bad. You take berserker because Trog is strong (and not a pain like Fedhas) rather than to enjoy the intricacies of berserk and fast allies, leading to overexposure of Trog's narrow peculiarities when you keep taking the easy option.
well those are my two cents what are yours