Using /random effect to cure rot

[Jabberwocky]

Can be eVoked to obtain the effect of a Wand of random effects. Yes, indefinitely.

That would be OP.

[palin]

Can be eVoked to obtain the effect of a Wand of random effects. Yes, indefinitely.

That would be OP.

I don't think so. The weapon is so weak (except maybe for the first levels) that you'd want to move on. The fact that it's not dependable makes it a nice Xom item, but no more I think.

[jejorda2]

It means you can cast it at yourself to cure any amount of rot, and rest off any damaging effects. It's especially useful for undead who get rotted by mutating attacks. I guess adding a rot (or mutation) effect to the wand of random effects would make that less of a problem. That, or have the staff pick a random target on evoke and never pick the wielder.

[KoboldLord]

It means you can cast it at yourself to cure any amount of rot, and rest off any damaging effects. It's especially useful for undead who get rotted by mutating attacks. I guess adding a rot (or mutation) effect to the wand of random effects would make that less of a problem. That, or have the staff pick a random target on evoke and never pick the wielder.

I don't think it is possible to have a level of rot sufficiently debilitating to make it worth the real-time it would take to burn it off with wands of random effects. If somebody actually does this sort of stupid pudding-farming behavior, it would be better to remove the rot-curing side effect from the wand of heal wounds than it would to mess with the wand of random effects.

[jejorda2]

I wouldn't have thought of it without the learndb, entry 4 for rot:
http://crawl.develz.org/info/inline.php?q=rot

Wands of random effect can occasionally act as wands of healing, so they can be used to heal rot. Just make sure you can survive the harmful effect and no monster can take advantage of a temporary paralysis or confusion. Drop your potions and scrolls, too. And have rN+++, ideally.

[KoboldLord]

The learndb also has an entry for Rupert Farming. Just because it's on henzell doesn't mean it isn't dumb.

[crate]

If I had an infinite wand of random effects I would use it to cure rot (and I have used /RE to cure rot in some of my games). You can argue that healing should be removed from /RE if you want, but I don't think that making /RE healing different from /healing or !hw makes sense, nor do I think that !hw should stop restoring rot.

Infinite /RE is problematic in other ways anyway though, at least if you get it early in the game (which is sometimes when Yiuf appears). If it's not clear why I'm saying this I suggest you go play a few artificers and figure out how to make your starting /RE useful.

[KoboldLord]

If I had an infinite wand of random effects I would use it to cure rot (and I have used /RE to cure rot in some of my games). You can argue that healing should be removed from /RE if you want, but I don't think that making /RE healing different from /healing or !hw makes sense, nor do I think that !hw should stop restoring rot.

Infinite /RE is problematic in other ways anyway though, at least if you get it early in the game (which is sometimes when Yiuf appears). If it's not clear why I'm saying this I suggest you go play a few artificers and figure out how to make your starting /RE useful.

My comments were specifically limited to farming heal wounds for rot removal from wands of random effects. I stand by my opinion that this particular quirk of the system is tedious, spoilery, and not especially useful since rot isn't normally all that bothersome in the first place.

My comments do not apply to the practice of using random effects for threat management in the early game, where it's actually a fairly powerful option for dealing with a number of early-game threats. For example, training a melee brute that is too strong to handle in combat towards a stairwell, where it can be obliterated with a lucky roll with retreat upstairs in reserve in case of an unlucky roll.

Infinite random effects would certainly be a powerful early-game tool, but it isn't like it would be superior to an early drop of a good rod, which would even continue to be useful throughout the game.

[KoboldLord]

Infinite random effects would also give you unlimited hastes before crossing staircases.

So does training charms. And it only requires two keystrokes to activate reliably!

[palin]

So does training charms. And it only requires two keystrokes to activate reliably!

Don't argue. It's a clear case of not understanding why infinite monkeys could write Shakespeare in an infinite time, but don't.

It would be a very, very lucky finding while worshipping Xom...

[Lasty]

If you're really concerned about healscumming off /RE, add /poly as one of the possible effects of /RE. No one will ever intentionally point it at themselves again.

[galehar]

If you're really concerned about healscumming off /RE, add /poly as one of the possible effects of /RE. No one will ever intentionally point it at themselves again.

It's already the case. But for some reason, poly other is special cased to have no effect in case of self targeting. It called polymorph other. Not sure why though.

[njvack]

But for some reason, poly other is special cased to have no effect in case of self targeting. It called polymorph other. Not sure why though.

Mutation Roulette is overpowered?

This has always seemed a little odd to me, too.

[BlackSheep]

Wasn't there an Alter Self spell? Why was that removed? I would imagine the same reasoning applies to polymorph wands.

[njvack]

Alter Self would have been unlimited; polywands at least have a limit.