[CIP] Very first char ever, need a lot of advice! (DeCj)

Monday, 7th April 2014, 14:17 by Berlioz

Hello,

this is my first game of crawl ever, so expect a lot of dumb questions and many mistakes.
I did play some nethack back in the days, so I know the basics of roguelikes.

Starting the game I immediately recognized that it has a lot of buttons, so I reverted to the wiki for some advice. To make learning easier I use MistyMan's Guide to DeCj so I can get a feeling for character development and actually see something of the dungeon instead of just dying. On that note the start seems to be considerably easier than in nethack or I'm just very lucky.

I do have some specific questions, but all advice is appreciated, especially if it includes the reasoning behind it, so I can gain some in-depth knowledge of the game's mechanics.

Code:: Incanus the Conjurer (Deep Elf Conjurer) Turns: 10048, Time: 03:46:06 HP 55/55 AC 9 Str 8 XL: 10 Next: 44% MP 27/30 EV 14 Int 21 God: Vehumet [**....] Gold 356 SH 0 Dex 15 Spells: 7 memorised, 16 levels left Res.Fire : + . . See Invis. : . y - orc dagger (venom) Res.Cold : + . . Warding : . O - +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts {rF+ rN+} Life Prot.: + . . Conserve : . (no shield) Res.Poison: . Res.Corr. : . Y - +0 helmet Res.Elec. : . Clarity : . M - +0 cloak Sust.Abil.: . . Spirit.Shd : . (no gloves) Res.Mut. : . Stasis : . S - +0 pair of boots Res.Rott. : . Flight : . (no amulet) Saprovore : . . . E - +1 ring of protection q - ring of protection from cold @: somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, fairly stealthy A: no striking features a: Renounce Religion You are on level 1 of the Lair of Beasts. You worship Vehumet. Vehumet is pleased with you. You are not hungry. You have visited 3 branches of the dungeon, and seen 12 of its levels. You have collected 336 gold pieces. Inventory: Hand weapons y - an uncursed orcish dagger of venom (weapon) Missiles I - 5 poisoned darts (quivered) Armour M - a +0 cloak (worn) O - the +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts (worn) {rF+ rN+} (You found it on level 5 of the Dungeon) It protects you from fire. It protects you from negative energy. S - a +0 pair of boots (worn) Y - a +0 helmet (worn) Magical devices g - a wand of fire {zapped: 1} r - a wand of flame {zapped: 1} Comestibles b - 7 bread rations c - a chunk of giant frog flesh h - a choko L - a pear Scrolls m - a scroll labeled OLOKLU TOMMO o - 2 scrolls of amnesia p - 2 scrolls labeled YCREICEUDDU t - a scroll labeled SCHEAN ACA v - 6 scrolls of teleportation x - 2 scrolls labeled ATU SAJOIZIVO z - 6 scrolls of remove curse A - a scroll labeled BLIPIN BRYUCZOQIU D - 2 scrolls of identify G - a scroll labeled STRAYBR REMOCO J - 2 scrolls labeled STEZIR TRUMIC V - a scroll labeled SHRURA PNYIMY Jewellery q - a ring of protection from cold (left hand) E - a +1 ring of protection (right hand) Potions a - 2 viscous orange potions d - 2 blue potions e - a metallic pink potion f - a potion of curing j - a potion of brilliance l - a yellow potion n - 3 bubbling cyan potions s - a silvery potion w - a gluggy brown potion B - 3 black potions H - 3 fuming pink potions K - an oily red potion N - a white potion P - 2 glowing red potions Q - an inky potion R - a red potion Books i - a book of Geomancy Spells Type Level Sandblast Earth 1 Stoneskin Transmutation/Earth 2 Passwall Transmutation/Earth 3 Stone Arrow Conjuration/Earth 3 Petrify Transmutation/Earth 4 Lee's Rapid Deconstruction Earth 5 Skills: * Level 5,3 Fighting - Level 6,0 Dodging - Level 2,5 Stealth - Level 10,0 Spellcasting * Level 11,6 Conjurations - Level 6,0 Charms - Level 1,2 Summonings - Level 1,0 Necromancy You have 16 spell levels left. You know the following spells: Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger a - Magic Dart Conj #### 1% 1 None b - Searing Ray Conj ###### 1% 2 None c - Animate Skeleton Necr N/A 4% 1 None d - Iskenderun's Battles Conj/Chrm #####... 1% 4 ##..... e - Summon Small Mammal Summ ###. 4% 1 None f - Apportation Tloc ##........ 8% 1 None g - Mephitic Cloud Conj/Pois/Air ####.... 4% 3 None Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations Branches: Dungeon (10/27) Temple (1/1) D:6 Orc (0/4) D:7 Lair (1/8) D:8 Altars: Fedhas Kikubaaqudgha Nemelex Xobeh Okawaru Trog Vehumet Xom Yredelemnul Zin the Shining One Message History Your battlesphere fires! The barrage of energy hits the hound. The hound is severely wounded. Aiming: Magic Dart Press: ? - help, Shift-Dir - straight line, f/p - hound Aim: a hound (severely wounded) The magic dart hits the hound. You kill the hound! Vehumet accepts your kill. You feel your power returning. Your battlesphere fires! Found 18 bolts. You see here a giant frog corpse. You attempt to give life to the dead... Before your eyes, flesh is ripped from the corpse! The dead are hopping! c - 2 chunks of giant frog flesh This raw flesh tastes terrible. You continue eating. Saving game... please wait. # ####.#### .........######## ..(..>..@*z...<.# ..#P####.#..#..## #.......# #.#.##P.# .........# ########### You can see a friendly giant frog skeleton.

Questions:
1. Id: I got a lot of un-ided stuff and I wasted some scrolls figuring out the glowing/runic/etc. descriptions on weapons and armor. Identifying seems to be more straight forward than in nethack, but how should I proceed here? Just read scrolls/drink potions? Wands I just zap at enemies near walls without standing in the way of a possible reflection.
2. Equipment: I didn't find much so far I think. I want to drop the armor, but it seems nice and doesn't interfere with my spell casting probabilities. Does it reduce the spellpower? And if yes by how much? I did find a robe+1 as an alternative, which would improve EV by 2. What should I look for in armor? +Int and +r* seems obvious, but what else?
3. Spells: The starting skills work well and Vehumet just gave me Meph (worrying about the noise though). According to the guide I will branch into fire if I get a fire spell. I did find this nice geo book, is anything of it worth learning? Blowing up the dungeon with LRD sounds like a lot of fun!
4. Skills: My skill progress is mostly based on the guide. Right now I get fighting up for the hp bonus and then I will get more dodge for an enhanced defence, while still getting conj up for more firepower. The single points in necro and summ are to get the skeleton and the critter on a higher probability. I really do like the skeleton spell, fast chopping up of corpses plus a nice damage buffer. I have 10 points in spellcasting to fight the hunger from the orb. It's down to 40 food per casting which is comfortably manageable. How should I proceed in the future? Especially how much should I put into fighting and dodging?
5. Weapon: For now I have no weapon and the guide says nothing about that. So what can you recommend? Is some melee power as backup useful? Or maybe a ranged weapon if I run low on mp? Or maybe a staff to enhance spellcasting? I do have Pikel's fire whip and some very big two-hand weapons from various uniques. I was thinking 1H + buckler, since it would add some AC which I miss on the account of my weak armor. Does a shield restrict spellcasting much? Oh and then I would need to train the appropriate weapon skill and shield, right?

Monday, 7th April 2014, 14:36 by Sar

First thing's first: I don't like that guide very much. If you read further, you'll probably see why!

1. Read scrolls, use ID scrolls on potions, zap wands. If you play trunk (0.14), you can just zap wands in the air and they will ID. Later in the game, when you have surplus ID scrolls, you might want to scroll-ID wands (in case it's one of great ones) and maybe scrolls.
2. This armour seems okay. Generally, what are you looking for on armour is AC. Mottled dragon armour would probably be the best armour for this character. Also, armour doesn't reduce spellpower (unless it has -Int), only success. Also if you get any enchant armour scrolls, you might want to enchants your boots, helmet, gloves - branded are rare and extra AC is extra AC.
3. With DECj you can branch into whatever magic school. One nice thing is that Battlesphere + IMB will carry you a long way, so once you have those working you can think about defensive skills, melee skill and such.w
4. Getting Fighting and Dodging seems like a good idea. Something like ~20 EV is a good thing to aim for late Lair, and later you'll want more. I usually only train skills I want now, though - so I probably wouldn't also train Conj while training Dodging or Fighting.
5. Enhancer staves can be a pretty good melee weapons if you find one. Also, demon weapons are good, lajatangs are good (but require two hand), weapons of electrocution are good. Shields don't give AC in Crawl, unless they are protection-branded, they give SH, which is somewhat worse. There's more info about skill requirements here
https://loom.shalott.org/learndb.html#shield
This is a pretty alright source of info, by the way, you might want to bookmark it. It beats wiki, at least.

Monday, 7th April 2014, 14:50 by Berlioz

Thank you very much, that helps!
I will read through your link.
Looks like a shield is not that useful for this character, but maybe I'll find a good one.

Monday, 7th April 2014, 14:50 by rchandra

1. I use ID scrolls on potions, and mostly use other things. Certainly always use weapons/armour that you're interested in rather than using scrolls on them.
2. Armour can reduce your success chance but not the spellpower, and leather has very little effect - usually anybody can use leather no matter what spells they have. The most important armour attribute is AC and encumbrance, your leather is +2 so decent enough with its resistances.
3. This guide, like most guides (and much else) on the wiki, is pretty bad. At least it states its assumption that you are worshipping Vehumet and insisting on Fire, but using what you find is much better than forcing that. Your starting book is sufficient for a very long time, so just stick with it and try out whatever spells sound fun from vehumet - then pick a school and stick with it. Certainly you could use the book of geomancy and train a lot of earth for stoneskin/LRD. I would get the other spells from the starting book, though.
4. You have a lot of spare spellcasting - don't worry about hunger unless its actually causing you serious trouble (non-purple monsters are safe to eat, the game won't let you do anything foolish like nethack there). You'll find use of the spell levels eventually so it's not awful, but something to watch out for in future. More Fighting and Dodging is fine, or Hexes to support the Dazzling Spray/Fulminant Prism.
5. Having a weapon is useful, you can use it without training for a while until you find something you like. Until you have more experience, fast weapons like your dagger of venom are easier to use untrained since enemies won't get double attacks on you as often. If you get a buckler, 5 shields skill will eliminate its penalty. 2-handed weapons are fine too, especially quarterstaves.

You are doing insanely well for your first game, I guess it's that nethack experience.

Monday, 7th April 2014, 14:54 by Sar

Well a buckler is a shield to and 5 skill is cheap so you might as well get it, if you aren't using two-handers. You have a reasonable chance of running into a branded one later.
And that link is more of a info base which you can search to clarify some stuff; no need to read through all of it now.

Monday, 7th April 2014, 14:56 by nago

That guide isn't very good (not the worst I've read but still...), you shouldn't rely too much on a plan when playing but adapt on what you find.

1. In 0.14 wand are identified on the first zap - it's better to try them immediately. You shouldn't quaff id potions because you could waste extremely valuable consumables (namely, haste, might, agility, heal wounds) or get bad malmutated. So, you should start reading scrolls which is kinda fine (at least outisde combat, because you can get bad effect like torment or silence or magic vulnerability) - usually the largest stack you have is identify or remove curse. If you have a very big number of identify, using it on other scrolls isn't a bad idea (because you can save your first blinking and fear). Anyway, prioritize potions.

2 A "mage" De should use leather armour or robe (archimagi is the best robes' ego for your char), eventually upgrading to a steam/mottled dragon armour (butcher the relative dragon corpse to get one hide - usually you can find at least one in the Lair) . You want the armour with the highest AC enchantment bonus - try all leather and robe you find (they can get up to +3 and +2 even if they aren't glowing!). Having at least 1 remove curse is nice.

3. That is one of various errors in that guide - branching in one school doesn't guarantee Vehumet will gift any relative spell - if I remember the code you only get a very low decrease in probability to have gifted spells in the opposite school! Again you should rely on what you get rather than a sticked plan - if you get some good ice spell you go ice magic, or like in your case, having found that book you may go earth route - lrd is a very powerful spell, useful in many circumstances.
4. For the first part, that guide ins't so bad - my rule of thumb is to get online the 4/5 lv. spell in the starting book (or whatever I've found), then start training dodging and fighting at least to 10ish. After that is up to you - my general advice is to get online at least one lv.6 spell online, then training more fighting/dodging if you feel too squishy, or get other spell if you find them (prioritize the training of haste after you've get some lv4/6 conjuration spell).
The only thing I strongly advice against is to train up getting firestorm castable, at least until you get 15ish fighting/dodging/ good utulities spells (repel missiles, haste, sublimation of blood, phase shift, blink) and min delay with a good weapon. Even with a De of Vehumet, firestorm means a lot of experience, while a 3 rune game can be easily won with only lv. 6 spell - all that experience is wasted and you can easily use better in other places (like defences and so on).
5. DCSS isn't D&d, you're supposed to run at some point out of mana when facing enemies and there's no rule that forbid any background to get a good melee weapon properly usable - actually a "mage" who can also hit things well with a stick is far more powerful and strong than a "mage" able only to cast spells. Again, the rule is to adapt on what you find: for a DE good weapon are a fire/cold/earth staff (its damage depend on the relative magic skill) - in that case you'll need 14 in staves and 8 in evoc to have the best damage output - or a good demonic weapon (d. whip/blade/trident) or a lajatang or a good long blade. Keep in mind that you can kill a lot of stuff even with 0 lv. in the relative weapon skill - as long as you remember in that case you spend more than 1 turn for each attack. Usually I stick with a short blade/whip/whatever of elec/venom/draining until Lair, then I upgrade to the best weapon avaiable.

Monday, 7th April 2014, 15:00 by Sar

Enhancer staves need 12 skill for min delay, IIRC.

Monday, 7th April 2014, 15:05 by nago

Whups right!

Monday, 7th April 2014, 16:51 by Berlioz

So much help, thank you all!
I should have mentioned the version I'm using, a quick check revealed that apt-get install washed 0.13.1 ashore.

The guide may not be the best, but for a total beginner without any clue it does show a path to get past the first few levels and gain some experience with the game to learn on ones own. It certainly helped me. I will not follow it further, being flexible and using what I find sounds like a very good strategy, albeit one that requires more knowledge of the game.
For now I'll stick with the venom dagger or the whip and see what I find, same with shields.
The earth stuff looks enticing, but right now it would take too much xp to put it to good use, I'll wait for more spell options.

The hunger actually did trouble me. Being new I tread very carefully and advance slowly, so it takes me a lot of time, ergo food. My nethack experience may have a part in that, too. Plus I look in every corner of the dungeon so not to miss anything (especially the temple took me some time to find). That is why I increased spellcasting.

I'm sure more questions will arise soon.

Edit: Oh and is it normal not to find any shops?

Monday, 7th April 2014, 17:55 by vulsuck

Berlioz wrote:So much help, thank you all!
The hunger actually did trouble me. Being new I tread very carefully and advance slowly, so it takes me a lot of time, ergo food. My nethack experience may have a part in that, too. Plus I look in every corner of the dungeon so not to miss anything (especially the temple took me some time to find). That is why I increased spellcasting.

Especially with vehemut, you can just cut up every corpse and carry around chunks until you need to eat. If you run out of chunks, eat some bread.

Berlioz wrote:Edit: Oh and is it normal not to find any shops?

Completely normal. The only guaranteed shops are the 4 at the bottom of Orc:4

Edit: If you survive, you'll probably find plenty of shops anyway.

Monday, 7th April 2014, 19:23 by Berlioz

Update
I took your advise and identified most of my potions and read the scrolls, dropping the bad ones at L:2.
Exploring the lair I get mixed messages, Vehumet gave me sticky flames, but I found an ice ring. Does training fire reduces my ice skill and vice versa? I don't know how this cross-stuff works exactly.
Hunger does seem to trouble me less, so I won't increase spellcasting for a while, plus I got hunger- on a ring.
The volcano had an efreet, so now I got a flaming scimitar. How cool is that!? I got a message that sulphur is starting to rise, so I panicked and jumped out.
Now I get icy messages on L:4, but can't seem to find the entrance to the ice caves. Am I strong enough to venture in it? I got rC++ (by switching rings).
Full report:

Code:: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.13.1 (tiles) character file. Incanus the Conjurer (Deep Elf Conjurer) Turns: 12732, Time: 05:01:39 HP 47/62 AC 10 Str 8 XL: 11 Next: 79% MP 15/31 EV 17 Int 21 God: Vehumet [****..] Gold 548 SH 0 Dex 15 Spells: 8 memorised, 13 levels left Res.Fire : + . . See Invis. : . i - scimitar (flame) Res.Cold : + . . Warding : . O - +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts {rF+ rN+} Life Prot.: + + . Conserve : . (no shield) Res.Poison: . Res.Corr. : . Y - +0 helmet Res.Elec. : . Clarity : . T - +1 cloak Sust.Abil.: . . Spirit.Shd : . (no gloves) Res.Mut. : + Stasis : . S - +0 pair of boots Res.Rott. : . Flight : . m - amulet of resist mutation Saprovore : . . . u - ring "Siwnomudu" {Hunger- +Inv rC+ rN+} E - +1 ring of protection @: somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, fairly stealthy A: no striking features a: Renounce Religion, Evoke Invisibility You are on level 4 of the Lair of Beasts. You worship Vehumet. Vehumet is greatly pleased with you. You are not hungry. You have visited 3 branches of the dungeon, and seen 15 of its levels. You have also visited: Volcano. You have collected 528 gold pieces. Inventory: Hand weapons b - an elven sabre i - an uncursed scimitar of flaming (weapon) Missiles I - 5 poisoned darts (quivered) Armour O - the +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts (worn) {rF+ rN+} (You found it on level 5 of the Dungeon) It protects you from fire. It protects you from negative energy. S - a +0 pair of boots (worn) T - a +1 cloak (worn) Y - a +0 helmet (worn) Magical devices c - a wand of random effects {zapped: 1} g - a wand of fire {zapped: 1} s - a blackened silver wand {zapped: 1} {tried} Comestibles h - 2 chokos r - 2 chunks of polar bear flesh t - an apple C - 5 bread rations Scrolls o - 3 scrolls of amnesia p - a scroll of magic mapping v - 5 scrolls of teleportation x - a scroll of fear y - a scroll labeled NATUAF TULA z - 3 scrolls of remove curse G - a scroll of blinking J - a scroll of fog Jewellery k - an uncursed ring of ice m - an amulet of resist mutation (around neck) q - an uncursed ring of protection from cold u - the ring "Siwnomudu" (right hand) {Hunger- +Inv rC+ rN+} (You found it on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts) [ring of sustenance] It protects you from cold. It protects you from negative energy. It lets you turn invisible. E - a +1 ring of protection (left hand) Potions a - a potion of might d - 2 potions of speed e - a metallic pink potion f - 2 potions of curing j - a potion of brilliance l - a yellow potion n - 2 potions of restore abilities w - a gluggy brown potion B - 2 potions of heal wounds K - an oily red potion N - a white potion Q - an inky potion Skills: * Level 7,9 Fighting * Level 10,0 Dodging - Level 2,5 Stealth - Level 10,0 Spellcasting - Level 13,0 Conjurations - Level 6,0 Charms - Level 1,2 Summonings - Level 1,0 Necromancy You have 13 spell levels left. You know the following spells: Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger a - Magic Dart Conj #### 1% 1 None b - Searing Ray Conj ###### 1% 2 None c - Animate Skeleton Necr N/A 4% 1 None d - Iskenderun's Battles Conj/Chrm ######.. 1% 4 ##..... e - Summon Small Mammal Summ ###. 4% 1 None f - Apportation Tloc ##........ 8% 1 None g - Mephitic Cloud Conj/Pois/Air ####.... 1% 3 None h - Sticky Flame Conj/Fire #####... 1% 4 ##..... Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations Branches: Dungeon (10/27) Temple (1/1) D:6 Orc (0/4) D:7 Lair (4/8) D:8 Spider (0/5) Lair:3 Swamp: Lair:3-6 Shoals: Lair:3-6 Snake: Lair:3-6 Altars: Fedhas Kikubaaqudgha Nemelex Xobeh Okawaru Trog Vehumet Xom Yredelemnul Zin the Shining One Message History Your polar bear skeleton barely misses something. Your polar bear skeleton claws it but does no damage. The sheep bellows! The sheep burns! A sheep catches fire! The sheep panics and turns to flee. The sheep burns! A sheep catches fire! The sheep bleats in terror. The sheep burns! The sheep bites you but does no damage. The sheep burns! A sheep catches fire! The sheep is struck with panic! You kill the sheep! Vehumet accepts your kill. You feel your power returning. The sheep burns! You kill the sheep! Vehumet accepts your kill. You feel your power returning. The sheep burns! The sheep burns! The sheep burns! Saving game... please wait. ... .......... #...#....... ... #...#........ ?..... ..##...##.#....## ......##...##............# ...>..##................# ......##...P..P.#..P....# ...........##.P..@..Y...# ............#.#$.Zz..#..# .........#..P.#.#.Z#..# ....f....#......#.....Y.. .........#..........%f..Y# ..#.......P.....##...f..## ....P....PP........#.P...# ..........>.............# f#.#.###.#.###.f.####..# ###### ##### ###.# ## You can see 3 sheep, a friendly water moccasin skeleton, a friendly crocodile skeleton and a friendly polar bear skeleton. Vanquished Creatures A hydra (Lair:4) Pikel (D:6) 2 spiny frogs 5 black mambas A feature mimic (Volcano) An efreet (Volcano) A polar bear (Lair:4) 2 komodo dragons An ugly thing (Volcano) A shark (Lair:4) 7 yaks A hill giant zombie (D:8) 3 hippogriffs A toenail golem (Volcano) A necrophage (D:7) Edmund (D:7) Menkaure (D:5) 2 porcupines 2 phantoms 2 orc warriors A giant goldfish (Lair:4) 2 sky beasts 4 centaurs 3 ice beasts 2 ogres 12 big kobolds 10 giant frogs 4 water moccasins A giant slug (Lair:1) 4 crocodiles An earth elemental (Volcano) A lava fish (Volcano) 2 electric eels (Lair:4) 2 fire bats (Volcano) 5 wights (D:6) 2 lava snakes (Volcano) 8 spiders (Lair:3) 4 crimson imps A goliath beetle (D:9) 6 orc priests A jelly (D:8) A centaur zombie (D:9) A giant frog skeleton (Lair:1) A centaur skeleton (D:6) 2 iguanas 10 orc wizards 5 worker ants 9 hounds 4 scorpions 13 sheep Ijyb (D:6) An ogre zombie (D:5) A crocodile skeleton (D:8) A hound skeleton (D:5) 11 adders A giant centipede (Lair:2) An inept feature mimic (D:3) 5 giant mites 4 worms 11 giant geckos An ooze (D:2) 32 orcs 7 giant cockroaches 14 goblins 18 hobgoblins 21 jackals 30 kobolds 7 quokkas 15 bats 4 giant newts 2 giant spores (D:8) A goblin skeleton (D:4) A jackal skeleton (D:8) An orc skeleton (D:7) 14 rats A rat skeleton (D:4) 5 ballistomycetes (D:8) 370 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (collateral kills) 4 yaks (Lair:1) A slave (D:6) A black bear skeleton (D:9) An ogre zombie (D:6) An orc (D:7) A giant cockroach (D:6) A goblin (D:9) A hobgoblin (D:4) A quokka (D:5) 2 kobolds (D:8) 2 rats A fungus (Lair:1) 17 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (others) 2 crimson imps (D:6) A giant frog skeleton (D:6) A big kobold skeleton (D:8) 2 electric eel skeletons (Lair:4) A goblin skeleton (D:6) 7 orc skeletons A bat (D:8) A bat skeleton (D:5) 2 giant gecko skeletons (D:5) A giant spore (D:8) 2 hobgoblin skeletons 2 jackal skeletons A kobold skeleton (D:8) 24 creatures vanquished. Grand Total: 411 creatures vanquished Notes Turn | Place | Note -------------------------------------------------------------- 0 | D:1 | Incanus, the Deep Elf Conjurer, began the quest for the Orb. 0 | D:1 | Reached XP level 1. HP: 10/10 MP: 4/4 292 | D:1 | Reached XP level 2. HP: 15/15 MP: 3/6 521 | D:1 | Reached skill level 5 in Conjurations 921 | D:2 | Reached XP level 3. HP: 19/19 MP: 1/9 1044 | D:3 | Reached skill level 6 in Conjurations 1044 | D:3 | Reached XP level 4. HP: 6/24 MP: 0/11 1611 | D:2 | Reached XP level 5. HP: 28/28 MP: 9/13 1662 | D:2 | Reached skill level 7 in Conjurations 1781 | D:2 | Learned a level 2 spell: Searing Ray 2148 | D:4 | Noticed an ogre 2156 | D:4 | Killed an ogre 2226 | D:3 | Reached XP level 6. HP: 32/32 MP: 9/16 2588 | D:3 | Reached skill level 8 in Conjurations 2669 | D:3 | Found a glowing golden altar of the Shining One. 2853 | D:4 | Noticed a phantom 2870 | D:4 | Killed a phantom 2953 | D:4 | Learned a level 1 spell: Animate Skeleton 3189 | D:4 | Noticed a hippogriff 3547 | D:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon 3557 | D:5 | Reached skill level 9 in Conjurations 3632 | D:5 | Reached XP level 7. HP: 24/36 MP: 6/18 4030 | D:5 | Reached skill level 10 in Conjurations 4065 | D:5 | Learned a level 4 spell: Iskenderun's Battlesphere 4098 | D:5 | Reached skill level 1 in Charms 4288 | D:5 | Got a twisted leather armour 4297 | D:5 | Identified the cursed +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts {rF+ rN+} (You found it on level 5 of the Dungeon) 4467 | D:6 | Reached XP level 8. HP: 41/41 MP: 14/22 4521 | D:5 | Noticed Menkaure 4524 | D:5 | Killed Menkaure 4524 | D:5 | Reached skill level 1 in Fighting 4567 | D:5 | Learned a level 1 spell: Summon Small Mammal 4573 | D:5 | Reached skill level 5 in Spellcasting 4869 | D:6 | Noticed Ijyb 4873 | D:6 | Killed Ijyb 5676 | D:8 | Found a staircase to the Lair. 5707 | D:7 | Found a staircase to the Orcish Mines. 5771 | D:7 | Reached XP level 9. HP: 39/48 MP: 18/26 5928 | D:6 | Your ally Ijyb died 6066 | D:6 | Noticed Pikel 6072 | D:6 | Killed Pikel 6072 | D:6 | Reached skill level 5 in Dodging 6072 | D:6 | Reached skill level 5 in Charms 6354 | D:6 | Found a staircase to the Ecumenical Temple. 6604 | Temple | Entered the Ecumenical Temple 6613 | Temple | Became a worshipper of Vehumet 6984 | Temple | Learned a level 1 spell: Apportation 7189 | D:7 | Got a crude short sword 7190 | D:7 | Identified the cursed short sword of Spontaneous Combustion {flame, rC-} (You found it on level 7 of the Dungeon) 7295 | D:7 | Reached skill level 1 in Summonings 7295 | D:7 | Reached skill level 1 in Necromancy 7632 | D:10 | Entered Level 10 of the Dungeon 7637 | D:9 | Found a bloodstained altar of Trog. 7677 | D:9 | Acquired Vehumet's first power 7677 | D:9 | Offered knowledge of Flame Tongue by Vehumet. 7920 | D:9 | Found a sparkling altar of Nemelex Xobeh. 7920 | D:9 | Found an ancient bone altar of Kikubaaqudgha. 8436 | D:9 | Reached XP level 10. HP: 22/55 MP: 16/29 8621 | D:8 | Reached skill level 11 in Conjurations 8654 | D:8 | Offered knowledge of Sting by Vehumet. 8915 | D:7 | Reached skill level 5 in Fighting 8992 | D:7 | Noticed Edmund 9000 | D:7 | Killed Edmund 9036 | D:7 | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas. 9739 | D:8 | Offered knowledge of Mephitic Cloud by Vehumet. 9749 | D:8 | Learned a level 3 spell: Mephitic Cloud 10031 | Lair:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Lair of Beasts 10034 | Lair:1 | Reached skill level 10 in Spellcasting 10099 | Lair:1 | Acquired Vehumet's second power 10156 | Lair:1 | Noticed a black mamba 10159 | Lair:1 | Killed a black mamba 10159 | Lair:1 | Reached skill level 12 in Conjurations 10294 | Lair:1 | Found a dark tunnel. 10337 | Volcano | Entered a volcano 10494 | Volcano | Reached XP level 11. HP: 53/60 MP: 5/31 10686 | Lair:1 | Offered knowledge of Sticky Flame by Vehumet. 10692 | Lair:1 | Learned a level 4 spell: Sticky Flame 10967 | Lair:2 | Noticed a black mamba 10976 | Lair:1 | Killed a black mamba 11271 | Lair:2 | Got a glittering copper ring 11274 | Lair:2 | Identified the ring "Siwnomudu" {Hunger- +Inv rC+ rN+} (You found it on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts) 11283 | Lair:2 | Noticed a black mamba 11286 | Lair:2 | Killed a black mamba 11521 | Lair:2 | Acquired Vehumet's third power 12090 | Lair:3 | Reached skill level 13 in Conjurations 12175 | Lair:3 | Offered knowledge of Static Discharge by Vehumet. 12178 | Lair:3 | Found a hole to the Spider Nest. 12389 | Lair:4 | Noticed a seven-headed hydra 12632 | Lair:4 | Killed a seven-headed hydra 12716 | Lair:4 | Reached skill level 10 in Dodging Action | 1- 3 | 4- 6 | 7- 9 | 10-12 || total -------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------++------- Melee: Unarmed | 1 | | | || 1 Short sword | | | 3 | || 3 Scimitar | | | | 4 || 4 Throw: Dart | 1 | | | || 1 Cast: Magic Dart | 61 | 120 | 217 | 185 || 583 Searing Ray | | 10 | 33 | 60 || 103 Animate Skeleton | | 4 | 22 | 21 || 47 Iskenderun's Batt | | | 50 | 63 || 113 Summon Small Mamm | | | 1 | 2 || 3 Sticky Flame | | | | 16 || 16 Mephitic Cloud | | | | 4 || 4 Evoke: Wand | | 1 | | 4 || 5 Use: Scroll | | 4 | 9 | 17 || 30 Potion | | | 3 | || 3 Stab: Sleeping | | | | 2 || 2

Blowing up sheep is fun!

Monday, 7th April 2014, 20:47 by nago

Training fire magic gives you a -4 apt penality to ice magic as long as the latter isn't higher to the former. E.g. you train fire magic to 10, you'll have effectively -3 to ice magic (+1 of DE -4 of malus) until it get to 10.1.
Be aware that training multiple elemental school to high level isn't a thing you really want because all kills things fine. So for example, it's fine to train a lot conjuration and fire magic (like 20ish and 15ish) to get bolt of fire to high spellpower and a bit poison magic (like 10ish) to have also poison arrow and p. cloud, but there's no point to also add ice magic in the mix (because it does pretty much the same)

Sulphur rising means that a some point fire clouds will appear near lava, but they aren't really deadly with rf+. A scimitar of flaming is a nice one-hander you could start to train long blades, planning to switch to a demon blade when you'll find one (you've high probabilities to find some hell knights in dephts)

Ice cave are quite dangerous vault, but with rc++ and a bit of care should be at least partially doable, especially because sticky flames will kill most of foes safely - anyway in the end there could be a really dangerous enemy (ice fiend, cold giant) who you can't realistically beat now - but often there's a bunch of good loot scattered around before the ending so it's always worthy to check it out - just run to the entrance if things are too hard.

Monday, 7th April 2014, 21:08 by Berlioz

Oh, I should have stayed in the volcano, hadn't much trouble with the monsters. Learned something.

I will stick with one elemental school then, but for now I'm fine with only conjuration, so I'll wait a little bit longer.
I don't manage to hit much with the scimitar, but it saves on mp.

I entered the ice caves and immediately got attacked by 4 simulacra, including a death yak, but they melted fairly quickly. The freezing wraith hordes (13 so far) gave me a little headache, since they tend to resist my sticky flames, but I had enough room to kite them. Rested a lot though.
Ice fiends and frost giants sound terrifying, I will run if I see them.
Although maybe I can take on the frost giant with a speed and brilliance potion if I manage to confuse it with meph. The wand of fire should take it out fairly quickly.

I found an altar to Kiku, but I don't think I should meddle with switching gods in my first game. If I die I think I'll go ice/necro, sounds like an entertaining combination.

Edit: Found two ice books in the caves and I got the ice ring, so maybe I really should go ice.

Monday, 7th April 2014, 21:18 by tasonir

Frost giant and ice fiends are both dangerous, but I just want to add that ice fiends are on an entirely higher level than frost giants. Torment is nasty, their melee is stronger, and bolt of cold is even slightly more powerful. With rC++, there isn't too much a frost giant can do at range (be very wary of being in melee range), but an ice fiend can always cut your hp in half at range. You actually have rN++, so you'll only lose 40%, but that's still a lot.

Monday, 7th April 2014, 21:28 by Sar

This is sort of off-topic (but not really, since OP is curious about following Kiku), but last time I got Ice Fiend ending I was following Kiku, so I just pressed aa a bunch (first Kiku's power, summons various corpses depending on branch and your Necro skill - I got yaks and polar bears), animated them into zombies and let them annihilate the fiend outside of my line of sight.

Monday, 7th April 2014, 21:49 by Berlioz

Nice!
I only got a lousy necromancer who fell victim to a meph cloud. Now I have 3 identical ice books. Well they have different colours...
The rest of the loot wasn't that good either, a naga barding, an rC+ helm, an artifact ice book and a ring of wizardry. Found a funny looking disc in the lair though.

Code:: Incanus the Conjurer (Deep Elf Conjurer) Turns: 15211, Time: 05:50:15 HP 63/68 AC 11 Str 8 XL: 12 Next: 24% MP 32/32 EV 17 Int 23 God: Vehumet [****..] Gold 625 SH 0 Dex 15 Spells: 8 memorised, 14 levels left Res.Fire : + . . See Invis. : . i - scimitar (flame) Res.Cold : + + . Warding : . O - +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts {rF+ rN+} Life Prot.: + + . Conserve : . (no shield) Res.Poison: . Res.Corr. : . r - +2 orc helmet {rC+} Res.Elec. : . Clarity : . T - +1 cloak Sust.Abil.: . . Spirit.Shd : . (no gloves) Res.Mut. : + Stasis : . S - +0 pair of boots Res.Rott. : . Flight : . m - amulet of resist mutation Saprovore : . . . u - ring "Siwnomudu" {Hunger- +Inv rC+ rN+} d - ring of wizardry @: somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, fairly stealthy A: no striking features a: Renounce Religion, Evoke Invisibility You are on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts. You worship Vehumet. Vehumet is greatly pleased with you. You are not hungry. You have visited 3 branches of the dungeon, and seen 15 of its levels. You have also visited: Ice Cave and Volcano. You have collected 605 gold pieces. Inventory: Hand weapons i - an uncursed scimitar of flaming (weapon) Missiles R - 16 darts of flame (quivered) Armour n - a naga barding of cold resistance r - a +2 orcish helmet of cold resistance (worn) O - the +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts (worn) {rF+ rN+} (You found it on level 5 of the Dungeon) It protects you from fire. It protects you from negative energy. S - a +0 pair of boots (worn) T - a +1 cloak (worn) Magical devices b - a wand of flame {zapped: 1} c - a wand of random effects {zapped: 1} s - a blackened silver wand {zapped: 1} {tried} Comestibles g - a pear C - 6 bread rations Scrolls a - 2 scrolls labeled QUJAIN OXAODA h - a scroll of identify o - 3 scrolls of amnesia p - a scroll of magic mapping v - 5 scrolls of teleportation x - a scroll of fear y - a scroll labeled NATUAF TULA z - 4 scrolls of remove curse G - a scroll of blinking J - a scroll of fog U - a scroll labeled SCHEAN ACA {tried} Jewellery d - a ring of wizardry (left hand) k - an uncursed ring of ice m - an amulet of resist mutation (around neck) q - an uncursed ring of protection from cold u - the ring "Siwnomudu" (right hand) {Hunger- +Inv rC+ rN+} (You found it on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts) [ring of sustenance] It protects you from cold. It protects you from negative energy. It lets you turn invisible. E - a +1 ring of protection Potions t - 2 potions of restore abilities w - a gluggy brown potion A - a yellow potion B - 2 potions of heal wounds D - a potion of brilliance F - 2 potions of curing H - a metallic pink potion K - an oily red potion L - 2 potions of speed M - a potion of might N - a white potion Q - an inky potion Books e - Sif Muna's Handbook of the Destructive Frostbite (You found it in an ice cave) Spells Type Level Freeze Ice 1 Freezing Aura Charms/Ice 2 Throw Frost Conjuration/Ice 2 Condensation Shield Ice 4 Freezing Cloud Conjuration/Ice/Air 6 Simulacrum Ice/Necromancy 6 f - a book of Geomancy Spells Type Level Sandblast Earth 1 Stoneskin Transmutation/Earth 2 Passwall Transmutation/Earth 3 Stone Arrow Conjuration/Earth 3 Petrify Transmutation/Earth 4 Lee's Rapid Deconstruction Earth 5 j - a book of Ice Spells Type Level Freezing Aura Charms/Ice 2 Ensorcelled Hibernation Hexes/Ice 2 Ozocubu's Refrigeration Ice 6 Bolt of Cold Conjuration/Ice 6 Freezing Cloud Conjuration/Ice/Air 6 Metabolic Englaciation Hexes/Ice 6 Simulacrum Ice/Necromancy 6 l - a book of Ice Spells Type Level Freezing Aura Charms/Ice 2 Ensorcelled Hibernation Hexes/Ice 2 Ozocubu's Refrigeration Ice 6 Bolt of Cold Conjuration/Ice 6 Freezing Cloud Conjuration/Ice/Air 6 Metabolic Englaciation Hexes/Ice 6 Simulacrum Ice/Necromancy 6 I - a book of Ice Spells Type Level Freezing Aura Charms/Ice 2 Ensorcelled Hibernation Hexes/Ice 2 Ozocubu's Refrigeration Ice 6 Bolt of Cold Conjuration/Ice 6 Freezing Cloud Conjuration/Ice/Air 6 Metabolic Englaciation Hexes/Ice 6 Simulacrum Ice/Necromancy 6 Miscellaneous V - a disc of storms Skills: - Level 8,0 Fighting * Level 11,0 Dodging - Level 2,5 Stealth - Level 10,0 Spellcasting * Level 14,0 Conjurations - Level 6,0 Charms - Level 1,2 Summonings - Level 1,0 Necromancy You have 14 spell levels left. You know the following spells: Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger a - Magic Dart Conj #### 0% 1 None b - Searing Ray Conj ###### 1% 2 None c - Animate Skeleton Necr N/A 1% 1 None d - Iskenderun's Battles Conj/Chrm ######.. 1% 4 #...... e - Summon Small Mammal Summ ###. 1% 1 None f - Apportation Tloc ##........ 2% 1 None g - Mephitic Cloud Conj/Pois/Air ####.... 1% 3 None h - Sticky Flame Conj/Fire #####... 1% 4 #...... Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations Branches: Dungeon (10/27) Temple (1/1) D:6 Orc (0/4) D:7 Lair (4/8) D:8 Spider (0/5) Lair:3 Swamp: Lair:3-6 Shoals: Lair:3-6 Snake: Lair:3-6

Vehumet offers ingnite poison right now.
The question is whether to wait longer, start learning earth for the petrify/lrd combo or go ice with an ice ring and the ice books I found in the cave!?
Oh and is it useful to invest in evocation? I got the invi ring and the disc.

Monday, 7th April 2014, 22:19 by TeshiAlair

Hot damn you're doing well. Nice work! And welcome to the Tavern!

Monday, 7th April 2014, 22:30 by nago

I wouldn't train invo - invis isn't useful for you and disc of storm albeit being very powerful is dangerous to use without relec.
The helmet of rc+ is actually a good loot: you can't get resistance on secondary slot (except randart), and base ego is usually not so good (e.g. for helm is see invis, int +3 or spirit shield), so getting a free pip of resistance on those slot is nice.

About spells: bolt of cold, ozocubu's Refrigeration and Freezing Cloud will kill 99% of monsters in the game fast, while mystic blast will take care of the few immune to ice for long time. I wouldn't delay more to train ice magic, just check on the bot how the three spells work, especially Refrigeration has strange behaviour.
Oh, remember ice ring give rf vulnerability (which is a very good way to die), so don't use it unless you have at least a good rf+ (your ego armour is good for now).

Monday, 7th April 2014, 23:16 by Berlioz

TeshiAlair wrote:Hot damn you're doing well. Nice work! And welcome to the Tavern!

Thank you, I am surprised myself. It has probably to do with crawl being somewhat similar to nethack with a more balanced difficulty. In nethack you usually die on the first few floors, after that it becomes easier. Haven't played nethack for a long time though and only got 2 or 3 ascensions.

Okay, the ice spells sound good, I will start training them. For now the wizard ring is better, but if I get ice up the ice ring should add additional power and give me the third rC pip.
I am worried about my potions though. I should be able to aim freezing cloud properly in most situations, but what is with Ozocubu's refrigeration? How often does one of my potions freeze and how much does conservation help?
Oh and metabolic englaciation seems very good, too. Slowing everything in sight adds a lot of flexibility, but it doesn't seem to work well on the more dangerous monsters.

Condensation shield looks nice, especially when combined with a staff of cold.

Tuesday, 8th April 2014, 08:18 by nago

Refrigeration is very bad for your potions, unless you have conservation. I usually only carry pots of curing when I use the spell, and I always drop before casting it. It's an hassle, but the spell is so strong it's worthy to do so.

Condensation shield isn't that great, just use a normal buckler

Tuesday, 8th April 2014, 08:22 by Sar

I once died an extremely dumb death because I wanted to fridge O:4 ogre ending ,and of course I dropped my curing potions like an idiot, and of course I got confused by an ogre mage... On other hand, fridge without conservation and potion micromanagement is a huge annoyance (last time I used it like that I popped most of my heal wounds pots and a bunch of others). I guess it's a way to balance it, but I don't like it much.

Tuesday, 8th April 2014, 09:13 by Patashu

(GDD: What if fridging gave a temporary 'you can't drink potions' status?)

Tuesday, 8th April 2014, 10:45 by Berlioz

nago wrote:Refrigeration is very bad for your potions, unless you have conservation. I usually only carry pots of curing when I use the spell, and I always drop before casting it. It's an hassle, but the spell is so strong it's worthy to do so.

Condensation shield isn't that great, just use a normal buckler

Alright, I will stay away from Ozocubu's refrigeration until I can protect my potions.
Since I do not have any kind of shield I will use condensation for now. I'm still very paranoid!

I trained ice to 10 and increased dodging, too. When throwing around some frosty death my food levels dropped drastically, so I increased spellcasting a little bit further.
Descending deeper into the lair I didn't encounter much resistance, some hydras, basilisks, manticores and the odd death yak herd here and there. Fannar only had a second ice ring, sadly no staff of cold. On L:7 I found an air book, yay!
Now I activated charm training for all the goodies I can learn. This will improve my defences and flexibility a lot!

Back at my stash on L:2 I put everything interesting in my inventory so it will show up in the dump.

Code:: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.13.1 (tiles) character file. Incanus the Conjurer (Deep Elf Conjurer) Turns: 19811, Time: 07:41:15 HP 73/73 AC 11 Str 8 XL: 13 Next: 92% MP 36/36 EV 19 Int 23 God: Vehumet [*****.] Gold 923 SH 0 Dex 15 Spells: 11 memorised, 7 levels left Res.Fire : + . . See Invis. : . i - scimitar (flame) Res.Cold : + + . Warding : . O - +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts {rF+ rN+} Life Prot.: + + . Conserve : . (no shield) Res.Poison: . Res.Corr. : . r - +2 orc helmet {rC+} Res.Elec. : . Clarity : . T - +1 cloak Sust.Abil.: . . Spirit.Shd : . (no gloves) Res.Mut. : + Stasis : . S - +0 pair of boots Res.Rott. : . Flight : . m - amulet of resist mutation Saprovore : . . . u - ring "Siwnomudu" {Hunger- +Inv rC+ rN+} d - ring of wizardry @: overloaded, very slow, somewhat resistant to hostile enchantments, very unstealthy A: no striking features a: Renounce Religion, Evoke Invisibility You are on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts. You worship Vehumet. Vehumet is extremely pleased with you. You are overloaded with stuff. You are not hungry. You have visited 3 branches of the dungeon, and seen 18 of its levels. You have also visited: Ice Cave and Volcano. You have collected 903 gold pieces. Inventory: Hand weapons i - an uncursed scimitar of flaming (weapon) W - a quarterstaff of freezing Armour r - a +2 orcish helmet of cold resistance (worn) O - the +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts (worn) {rF+ rN+} (You found it on level 5 of the Dungeon) It protects you from fire. It protects you from negative energy. S - a +0 pair of boots (worn) T - a +1 cloak (worn) X - a +1 elven robe of cold resistance Magical devices g - a wand of random effects {zapped: 1} s - a blackened silver wand {zapped: 1} {tried} I - a runed iron wand {zapped: 1} {tried} Comestibles C - 7 bread rations Scrolls c - a scroll of magic mapping h - a scroll of silence n - a scroll of identify o - 2 scrolls of amnesia v - 4 scrolls of teleportation x - 2 scrolls of fear z - 5 scrolls of remove curse G - a scroll of blinking J - 4 scrolls of fog Jewellery b - an uncursed ring of ice d - a ring of wizardry (left hand) j - a +0,+7 ring of slaying k - an uncursed ring of ice l - an uncursed ring of slaying {was cursed} m - an amulet of resist mutation (around neck) q - an uncursed ring of protection from cold u - the ring "Siwnomudu" (right hand) {Hunger- +Inv rC+ rN+} (You found it on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts) [ring of sustenance] It protects you from cold. It protects you from negative energy. It lets you turn invisible. E - a +1 ring of protection Potions a - an oily cyan potion e - a potion of might f - a murky orange potion t - 3 potions of restore abilities w - 3 gluggy brown potions A - a yellow potion B - 3 potions of heal wounds D - a potion of brilliance F - 5 potions of curing K - an oily red potion L - 2 potions of speed N - 3 potions of resistance Q - an inky potion Books p - a book of Air Spells Type Level Shock Conjuration/Air 1 Swiftness Charms/Air 2 Repel Missiles Charms/Air 2 Flight Charms/Air 3 Static Discharge Conjuration/Air 3 Lightning Bolt Conjuration/Air 5 y - Sif Muna's Handbook of the Destructive Frostbite (You found it in an ice cave) Spells Type Level Freeze Ice 1 Freezing Aura Charms/Ice 2 Throw Frost Conjuration/Ice 2 *Condensation Shield Ice 4 *Freezing Cloud Conjuration/Ice/Air 6 Simulacrum Ice/Necromancy 6 H - a book of Cantrips Spells Type Level Confusing Touch Hexes 1 *Animate Skeleton Necromancy 1 *Summon Small Mammal Summoning 1 *Apportation Translocation 1 M - a book of Conjurations Spells Type Level *Magic Dart Conjuration 1 *Searing Ray Conjuration 2 Dazzling Spray Conjuration/Hexes 3 Iskenderun's Mystic Blast Conjuration 4 *Iskenderun's Battlesphere Conjuration/Charms 4 Fulminant Prism Conjuration/Hexes 5 P - a book of Geomancy Spells Type Level Sandblast Earth 1 Stoneskin Transmutation/Earth 2 Passwall Transmutation/Earth 3 Stone Arrow Conjuration/Earth 3 Petrify Transmutation/Earth 4 Lee's Rapid Deconstruction Earth 5 R - a book of Ice Spells Type Level Freezing Aura Charms/Ice 2 Ensorcelled Hibernation Hexes/Ice 2 Ozocubu's Refrigeration Ice 6 *Bolt of Cold Conjuration/Ice 6 *Freezing Cloud Conjuration/Ice/Air 6 Metabolic Englaciation Hexes/Ice 6 Simulacrum Ice/Necromancy 6 Magical staves U - an uncursed staff of earth Miscellaneous V - a disc of storms Skills: - Level 8,0 Fighting - Level 13,0 Dodging - Level 2,5 Stealth - Level 14,0 Spellcasting - Level 14,2 Conjurations + Level 6,0 Charms - Level 1,2 Summonings - Level 1,0 Necromancy - Level 10,0 Ice Magic You have 7 spell levels left. You know the following spells: Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger a - Magic Dart Conj #### 0% 1 None b - Searing Ray Conj ###### 0% 2 None c - Animate Skeleton Necr N/A 1% 1 None d - Iskenderun's Battles Conj/Chrm ######.. 1% 4 None e - Summon Small Mammal Summ ###. 1% 1 None f - Apportation Tloc ###....... 1% 1 None g - Mephitic Cloud Conj/Pois/Air #####... 1% 3 None h - Sticky Flame Conj/Fire #####... 1% 4 None i - Bolt of Cold Conj/Ice ######.... 1% 6 #####.. j - Freezing Cloud Conj/Ice/Air ######.... 2% 6 #####.. k - Condensation Shield Ice ######.... 1% 4 None Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations Branches: Dungeon (10/27) Temple (1/1) D:6 Orc (0/4) D:7 Lair (7/8) D:8 Shoals (0/5) Lair:4 Spider (0/5) Lair:3 Slime (0/6) Lair:6 Altars: Fedhas Kikubaaqudgha Nemelex Xobeh Okawaru Trog Vehumet Xom Yredelemnul Zin the Shining One Message History You drop a pear. You drop 18 poisoned needles. j - a +0,+7 ring of slaying l - an uncursed ring of slaying {was cursed} b - an uncursed ring of ice q - an uncursed ring of protection from cold E - a +1 ring of protection g - a wand of random effects {zapped: 1} y - Sif Muna's Handbook of the Destructive Frostbite H - a book of Cantrips M - a book of Conjurations P - a book of Geomancy R - a book of Ice You are being weighed down by all of your possessions. U - an uncursed staff of earth V - a disc of storms W - a quarterstaff of freezing You are being crushed by all of your possessions. X - a +1 elven robe of cold resistance Saving game... please wait. ###.................... ###...................... #.#...................... ##........P.........#.... ##........###.......####.. ####..........#........## ### #P#.....................####. ###......#..................#.. #f#....###..................%.. #......####.....>.............. ##......#.#..................... ###........#...................... #.......##.##..................... ..>....##.........z............... ...%...#........<@................ .............#...(................ ............##.................... ........#......................... .................................. .........#P....................... P#....f####PP..............<...... ###....#####...................... #.....##........................ ###............................. #.#...........................# ##.#..........................# ###.......####................ ##f....####*#............... ###....#.###.......##.%.... You can see a friendly jackal skeleton. Vanquished Creatures Fannar (Lair:3) 6 hydras 8 death yaks (Lair:6) An ice statue (IceCv) 2 giant amoebae (Lair:6) Pikel (D:6) A necromancer (IceCv) A griffon (Lair:4) 10 elephants 5 spiny frogs 5 black mambas A feature mimic (Volcano) An efreet (Volcano) 2 fire drakes A polar bear (Lair:4) Prince Ribbit (Lair:3) 2 blink frogs (Lair:3) 4 komodo dragons A snapping turtle (Lair:4) A brown ooze (Lair:6) A basilisk (Lair:5) An ugly thing (Volcano) A shark (Lair:4) 18 yaks A grizzly bear (Lair:7) A hill giant zombie (D:8) 2 death yak simulacra (IceCv) 13 hippogriffs A toenail golem (Volcano) A merfolk (Lair:4) A necrophage (D:7) Edmund (D:7) Menkaure (D:5) 5 manticores (Lair:5) 4 porcupines 14 freezing wraiths (IceCv) 2 phantoms 2 orc warriors A giant goldfish (Lair:4) 2 sky beasts 4 centaurs 13 ice beasts 2 ogres 12 big kobolds 14 giant frogs 9 water moccasins 4 giant slugs 3 agate snails 10 crocodiles An earth elemental (Volcano) A lava fish (Volcano) 2 electric eels (Lair:4) 2 fire bats (Volcano) 5 wights (D:6) 2 lava snakes (Volcano) 8 spiders (Lair:3) 4 crimson imps A goliath beetle (D:9) 3 draconian simulacra (IceCv) 6 orc priests A jelly (D:8) A centaur zombie (D:9) A giant frog skeleton (Lair:1) A centaur skeleton (D:6) 4 iguanas 10 orc wizards 6 worker ants 11 hounds 2 polar bear simulacra (IceCv) 7 troll simulacra (IceCv) 4 scorpions 3 centaur simulacra (IceCv) 51 sheep Ijyb (D:6) An ogre zombie (D:5) A crocodile skeleton (D:8) A hound skeleton (D:5) 13 adders An ogre simulacrum (IceCv) A giant centipede (Lair:2) 13 green rats An inept feature mimic (D:3) 12 white imps (IceCv) 5 giant mites 6 naga simulacra (IceCv) 4 worms 12 giant geckos An ooze (D:2) 32 orcs 7 giant cockroaches 14 goblins 18 hobgoblins 30 jackals 31 kobolds 7 quokkas 17 bats 4 giant newts 2 giant spores (D:8) A goblin skeleton (D:4) A jackal skeleton (D:8) An orc skeleton (D:7) 17 rats A rat skeleton (D:4) 5 ballistomycetes (D:8) 2 fungi (Lair:6) 599 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (collateral kills) 3 death yaks A giant amoeba (Lair:6) 4 elephants (Lair:6) 2 spiny frogs (Lair:5) A fire drake (Lair:5) A basilisk (Lair:5) 4 yaks (Lair:1) A porcupine (Lair:6) A slave (D:6) A giant goldfish (Lair:4) A black bear skeleton (D:9) A sheep (Lair:6) An ogre zombie (D:6) 5 green rats (Lair:6) A giant mite (Lair:6) A giant gecko (Lair:6) An orc (D:7) A giant cockroach (D:6) A goblin (D:9) A hobgoblin (D:4) A quokka (D:5) A bat (Lair:6) 2 kobolds (D:8) 2 rats A fungus (Lair:1) 40 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (others) A hydra skeleton (Lair:5) A spiny frog skeleton (Lair:4) 2 elephant skeletons (Lair:5) A fire drake skeleton (Lair:4) 2 yak skeletons A polar bear skeleton (Lair:4) 2 crimson imps (D:6) 2 hippogriff skeletons (Lair:5) 2 giant frog skeletons A water moccasin skeleton (Lair:4) A big kobold skeleton (D:8) A crocodile skeleton (Lair:4) A hound skeleton (Lair:4) 2 sheep skeletons 2 electric eel skeletons (Lair:4) A goblin skeleton (D:6) 7 orc skeletons A bat (D:8) A bat skeleton (D:5) 2 giant gecko skeletons (D:5) A giant spore (D:8) 2 hobgoblin skeletons 2 jackal skeletons A kobold skeleton (D:8) A fungus (Lair:6) 41 creatures vanquished. Grand Total: 680 creatures vanquished Notes Turn | Place | Note -------------------------------------------------------------- 0 | D:1 | Incanus, the Deep Elf Conjurer, began the quest for the Orb. 0 | D:1 | Reached XP level 1. HP: 10/10 MP: 4/4 292 | D:1 | Reached XP level 2. HP: 15/15 MP: 3/6 521 | D:1 | Reached skill level 5 in Conjurations 921 | D:2 | Reached XP level 3. HP: 19/19 MP: 1/9 1044 | D:3 | Reached skill level 6 in Conjurations 1044 | D:3 | Reached XP level 4. HP: 6/24 MP: 0/11 1611 | D:2 | Reached XP level 5. HP: 28/28 MP: 9/13 1662 | D:2 | Reached skill level 7 in Conjurations 1781 | D:2 | Learned a level 2 spell: Searing Ray 2148 | D:4 | Noticed an ogre 2156 | D:4 | Killed an ogre 2226 | D:3 | Reached XP level 6. HP: 32/32 MP: 9/16 2588 | D:3 | Reached skill level 8 in Conjurations 2669 | D:3 | Found a glowing golden altar of the Shining One. 2853 | D:4 | Noticed a phantom 2870 | D:4 | Killed a phantom 2953 | D:4 | Learned a level 1 spell: Animate Skeleton 3189 | D:4 | Noticed a hippogriff 3547 | D:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon 3557 | D:5 | Reached skill level 9 in Conjurations 3632 | D:5 | Reached XP level 7. HP: 24/36 MP: 6/18 4030 | D:5 | Reached skill level 10 in Conjurations 4065 | D:5 | Learned a level 4 spell: Iskenderun's Battlesphere 4098 | D:5 | Reached skill level 1 in Charms 4288 | D:5 | Got a twisted leather armour 4297 | D:5 | Identified the cursed +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts {rF+ rN+} (You found it on level 5 of the Dungeon) 4467 | D:6 | Reached XP level 8. HP: 41/41 MP: 14/22 4521 | D:5 | Noticed Menkaure 4524 | D:5 | Killed Menkaure 4524 | D:5 | Reached skill level 1 in Fighting 4567 | D:5 | Learned a level 1 spell: Summon Small Mammal 4573 | D:5 | Reached skill level 5 in Spellcasting 4869 | D:6 | Noticed Ijyb 4873 | D:6 | Killed Ijyb 5676 | D:8 | Found a staircase to the Lair. 5707 | D:7 | Found a staircase to the Orcish Mines. 5771 | D:7 | Reached XP level 9. HP: 39/48 MP: 18/26 5928 | D:6 | Your ally Ijyb died 6066 | D:6 | Noticed Pikel 6072 | D:6 | Killed Pikel 6072 | D:6 | Reached skill level 5 in Dodging 6072 | D:6 | Reached skill level 5 in Charms 6354 | D:6 | Found a staircase to the Ecumenical Temple. 6604 | Temple | Entered the Ecumenical Temple 6613 | Temple | Became a worshipper of Vehumet 6984 | Temple | Learned a level 1 spell: Apportation 7189 | D:7 | Got a crude short sword 7190 | D:7 | Identified the cursed short sword of Spontaneous Combustion {flame, rC-} (You found it on level 7 of the Dungeon) 7295 | D:7 | Reached skill level 1 in Summonings 7295 | D:7 | Reached skill level 1 in Necromancy 7632 | D:10 | Entered Level 10 of the Dungeon 7637 | D:9 | Found a bloodstained altar of Trog. 7677 | D:9 | Acquired Vehumet's first power 7677 | D:9 | Offered knowledge of Flame Tongue by Vehumet. 7920 | D:9 | Found a sparkling altar of Nemelex Xobeh. 7920 | D:9 | Found an ancient bone altar of Kikubaaqudgha. 8436 | D:9 | Reached XP level 10. HP: 22/55 MP: 16/29 8621 | D:8 | Reached skill level 11 in Conjurations 8654 | D:8 | Offered knowledge of Sting by Vehumet. 8915 | D:7 | Reached skill level 5 in Fighting 8992 | D:7 | Noticed Edmund 9000 | D:7 | Killed Edmund 9036 | D:7 | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas. 9739 | D:8 | Offered knowledge of Mephitic Cloud by Vehumet. 9749 | D:8 | Learned a level 3 spell: Mephitic Cloud 10031 | Lair:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Lair of Beasts 10034 | Lair:1 | Reached skill level 10 in Spellcasting 10099 | Lair:1 | Acquired Vehumet's second power 10156 | Lair:1 | Noticed a black mamba 10159 | Lair:1 | Killed a black mamba 10159 | Lair:1 | Reached skill level 12 in Conjurations 10294 | Lair:1 | Found a dark tunnel. 10337 | Volcano | Entered a volcano 10494 | Volcano | Reached XP level 11. HP: 53/60 MP: 5/31 10686 | Lair:1 | Offered knowledge of Sticky Flame by Vehumet. 10692 | Lair:1 | Learned a level 4 spell: Sticky Flame 10967 | Lair:2 | Noticed a black mamba 10976 | Lair:1 | Killed a black mamba 11271 | Lair:2 | Got a glittering copper ring 11274 | Lair:2 | Identified the ring "Siwnomudu" {Hunger- +Inv rC+ rN+} (You found it on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts) 11283 | Lair:2 | Noticed a black mamba 11286 | Lair:2 | Killed a black mamba 11521 | Lair:2 | Acquired Vehumet's third power 12090 | Lair:3 | Reached skill level 13 in Conjurations 12175 | Lair:3 | Offered knowledge of Static Discharge by Vehumet. 12178 | Lair:3 | Found a hole to the Spider Nest. 12389 | Lair:4 | Noticed a seven-headed hydra 12632 | Lair:4 | Killed a seven-headed hydra 12716 | Lair:4 | Reached skill level 10 in Dodging 12815 | Lair:4 | Found a frozen archway. 12910 | IceCv | Entered an ice cave 12919 | IceCv | Offered knowledge of Ignite Poison by Vehumet. 13607 | IceCv | Reached XP level 12. HP: 61/68 MP: 0/32 14246 | IceCv | Found an ancient bone altar of Kikubaaqudgha. 14472 | IceCv | Identified Sif Muna's Handbook of the Destructive Frostbite 14530 | IceCv | Noticed an ice statue 14548 | IceCv | Killed an ice statue 14640 | IceCv | Noticed a necromancer 14782 | IceCv | Killed a necromancer 14998 | Lair:4 | Reached skill level 14 in Conjurations 15222 | Lair:2 | Learned a level 6 spell: Bolt of Cold 15583 | Lair:3 | Noticed Fannar 15591 | Lair:3 | Noticed Prince Ribbit 15601 | Lair:3 | Reached skill level 1 in Ice Magic 15614 | Lair:3 | Killed Fannar 15711 | Lair:3 | Killed Prince Ribbit 15975 | Lair:4 | Found a staircase to the Shoals. 16108 | Lair:5 | Reached skill level 5 in Ice Magic 16392 | Lair:5 | Noticed a five-headed hydra 16397 | Lair:5 | Killed a five-headed hydra 16523 | Lair:5 | Noticed a seven-headed hydra 16533 | Lair:5 | Killed a seven-headed hydra 17397 | Lair:5 | Reached XP level 13. HP: 57/73 MP: 4/33 17479 | Lair:5 | Learned a level 6 spell: Freezing Cloud 17484 | Lair:5 | Learned a level 4 spell: Condensation Shield 17550 | Lair:5 | Noticed a seven-headed hydra 17555 | Lair:5 | Killed a seven-headed hydra 18599 | Lair:6 | Found a staircase to the Slime Pits. 18617 | Lair:6 | Offered knowledge of Poison Arrow by Vehumet. 19299 | Lair:7 | Reached skill level 10 in Ice Magic Action | 1- 3 | 4- 6 | 7- 9 | 10-12 | 13-15 || total -------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------++------- Melee: Unarmed | 1 | | | | || 1 Short sword | | | 3 | | || 3 Scimitar | | | | 19 | 19 || 38 Throw: Dart | 1 | | | | || 1 Cast: Magic Dart | 61 | 120 | 217 | 277 | 76 || 751 Searing Ray | | 10 | 33 | 153 | 46 || 242 Animate Skeleton | | 4 | 22 | 36 | 17 || 79 Iskenderun's Batt | | | 50 | 126 | 35 || 211 Summon Small Mamm | | | 1 | 2 | || 3 Sticky Flame | | | | 68 | 11 || 79 Mephitic Cloud | | | | 9 | 3 || 12 Bolt of Cold | | | | 13 | 9 || 22 Freezing Cloud | | | | | 7 || 7 Condensation Shie | | | | | 6 || 6 Evoke: Wand | | 1 | | 5 | 1 || 7 Use: Scroll | | 4 | 9 | 21 | 4 || 38 Potion | | | 3 | | || 3 Stab: Sleeping | | | | 2 | || 2

So how should I proceed now? I'm thinking of learning repel missiles, flight and swiftness, while increasing charms to about 10 (I have +4 aptitude). Then increase fighting and conjuration.
The branches in the lair look dangerous, so I am thinking of taking a look in the mines, hopefully finding some poison resistance.
Soon I can switch to the ice ring I think or would it be too reckless to venture on without fire protection?
Anything else I should be aware of or helpful tips for the mine?

Tuesday, 8th April 2014, 11:16 by Patashu

#1 tip for the mine:

-Don't underestimate orc packs, you never know if they will have multiple orc priests, a high priest, a sorceror, a knight or warlord, etc. just beyond what you see of them. Break them up by hitting them with any ranged attack if they haven't seen you yet (this makes them aware of you but not shout and warn their friends, a nice loophole in Crawl AI

) and then fleeing about 8 steps so even if their friends are concerned and wandering around, they won't see where you are and thus won't be able to follow. Then kill the ones that did see you and repeat.

-Don't underestimate orc:4. Depending on the ending choice it'll either have huge amounts of dangerous orcs or ogre packs and ogre magi. Ogre magi can know LCS (short ranged high damage nonelemental spell), banishment (casts you to the abyss!) and some other not-fun spells. If you're going to fight an ogre magi you want lots of pips of MR, and if you can't get extra MR, stay out of its line of fire (banishment can't hit you if a goblin is between you and the ogre magi, for example!) Whenever you see what's probably the dense pack of the level, use the same luring/splitting up technique I described before - if you just stand and fight, the pack will slowly all come to you (the ones just out of range will be alerted by noise, step toward you, shout, then the ones just beyond THEM will also be alerted and come towards the shout, see you, shout, etc. Don't be this adventurer, run away as early as possible to prevent orcish resonance cascades!)

Btw, you should never have ID scrolls free if you have un-ID'd potions. ID potions until there's no potions left to ID, that is optimal. Then use ID scrolls on other scrolls, then finally they're free to use as you please (by this point you will have so much remove curse and identify will keep streaming in that you can basically do whatever now)

Tuesday, 8th April 2014, 14:01 by rchandra

I'd use the ring of ice over "Siwnomudu", since you'll still be neutral to fire - you can always take it off when getting burned (though often the better choice will simply be to unleash chilly death).
Since your aptitudes are so good it doesn't really matter, but I'd get some air instead of charms for those spells - it'll be cheaper (low level skills are much cheaper than high level) and will help freezing cloud as well.
In addition to identifying potions, you can identify the other ring of slaying (and then drop it, it's almost certainly negative since it was cursed).
If the "tried" wands were tested on monsters, or empty space, go ahead and hit yourself with them in a safe place.

Tuesday, 8th April 2014, 14:23 by Sar

I once found a cursed ring of slaying that was +7; not terribly common, but it happens!

Tuesday, 8th April 2014, 21:20 by Berlioz

rchandra wrote:I'd use the ring of ice over "Siwnomudu", since you'll still be neutral to fire - you can always take it off when getting burned (though often the better choice will simply be to unleash chilly death).
Since your aptitudes are so good it doesn't really matter, but I'd get some air instead of charms for those spells - it'll be cheaper (low level skills are much cheaper than high level) and will help freezing cloud as well.
In addition to identifying potions, you can identify the other ring of slaying (and then drop it, it's almost certainly negative since it was cursed).
If the "tried" wands were tested on monsters, or empty space, go ahead and hit yourself with them in a safe place.

I took your advice and switched Siwnomudu with an ice ring. I didn't want to train air since I like iron bolt and crystal spear, so I might get some earth. Besides charm is good for regeneration and haste, too.
The wands were resisted, turned out to be confuse and poly.

Okay, here another update: To my complete astonishment I'm still alive and kicking! Cleared the mines and only got one good shop (jewellery). Then did a few more main dungeon levels, but those pesky unseen horrors kept harassing me. Should I switch to the trident for SInv? With the jewellery from the mines I have rPoison, so I went to the spider lair.
All in all I got a lot of stuff and books, but I don't really know what to use, especially in the weapon department. Got the usual glowing stuff in all varieties, a whip of reach, normal lajatang and an artifact trident. I really have no idea what to use. Oh and I didn't find any shield.
With all my nice books I think it is time to wonder which spells to use, so I can advance my skills accordingly. Ice spells should have priority, but I'm unsure on the buffs. Haste and regeneration look nice. The flight spell seems dangerous if it stops working over water or lave. I like summons, too, standing in the background and letting them do the work sounds like a good way of survival.
I'm still a little unsure on the jewellery, too.

This is getting exceedingly complicated, please help!

Code:: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.13.1 (tiles) character file. Incanus the Eclecticist (Deep Elf Conjurer) Turns: 33854, Time: 12:41:07 HP 96/96 AC 17 Str 8 XL: 15 Next: 66% MP 39/39 EV 22 Int 27 God: Vehumet [******] Gold 47 SH 0 Dex 18 Spells: 14 memorised, 4 levels left Res.Fire : . . . See Invis. : . g - orc flail (protect) Res.Cold : + + . Warding : . O - +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts {rF+ rN+} Life Prot.: + + . Conserve : + (no shield) Res.Poison: + Res.Corr. : + o - +2 wizard hat {Int+3} Res.Elec. : + Clarity : . R - +2 cloak {rCorr, Cons} Sust.Abil.: . . Spirit.Shd : . t - +0 pair of elf gauntlets Res.Mut. : + Stasis : . S - +0 pair of boots Res.Rott. : . Flight : . k - amulet "Quryor" {rMut +Blink rPois rN+} Saprovore : . . . b - ring of ice i - ring of Nihilism {rElec EV+1 Dex+3} @: quite resistant to hostile enchantments, stealthy A: cold resistance 1, +10% hp a: Renounce Religion, Evoke Blink You are on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts. You worship Vehumet. Vehumet is exalted by your worship. You are not hungry. You have visited 5 branches of the dungeon, and seen 30 of its levels. You have also visited: Ice Cave and Volcano. You have collected 2475 gold pieces. You have spent 2448 gold pieces at shops. Inventory: Hand weapons g - an uncursed orcish flail of protection (weapon) C - a lajatang E - an uncursed orcish dagger of holy wrath (quivered) V - the +7,+5 trident "Vyrphe Zihi" {venom, Contam rElec rN+ Str+3 Int+2 SInv} (You found it on level 11 of the Dungeon) It poisons the flesh of those it strikes. It affects your strength (+3). It affects your intelligence (+2). It insulates you from electricity. It protects you from negative energy. It enhances your eyesight. It causes magical contamination when unequipped. Armour o - a +2 wizard hat of intelligence (worn) t - a +0 pair of elven gauntlets (worn) O - the +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts (worn) {rF+ rN+} (You found it on level 5 of the Dungeon) It protects you from fire. It protects you from negative energy. R - a +2 cloak of preservation (worn) S - a +0 pair of boots (worn) Magical devices p - a tapered glass wand I - a wand of draining {zapped: 1} Scrolls a - 4 scrolls of amnesia h - a scroll of recharging n - a scroll of summoning q - a scroll of holy word v - 5 scrolls of teleportation z - 4 scrolls of remove curse G - 3 scrolls of blinking J - 2 scrolls of fog Jewellery b - a ring of ice (right hand) c - an uncursed ring of fire i - the ring of Nihilism (left hand) {rElec EV+1 Dex+3} (You bought it in a shop on level 4 of the Orcish Mines) [ring of evasion] It affects your evasion (+1). It affects your dexterity (+3). It insulates you from electricity. k - the amulet "Quryor" (around neck) {rMut +Blink rPois rN+} (You bought it in a shop on level 4 of the Orcish Mines) [amulet of resist mutation] It protects you from poison. It protects you from negative energy. It lets you blink. l - an uncursed ring of flight m - an uncursed amulet of stasis r - a dented steel amulet s - an uncursed ring of wizardry u - the ring "Siwnomudu" {Hunger- +Inv rC+ rN+} (You found it on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts) [ring of sustenance] It protects you from cold. It protects you from negative energy. It lets you turn invisible. w - an uncursed ring of ice x - a +0,+7 ring of slaying A - an uncursed ring of protection from fire M - an opal ring Potions d - a potion of magic e - 2 potions of restore abilities f - a potion of agility B - 2 potions of heal wounds D - a potion of brilliance F - 4 potions of curing L - 2 potions of speed N - a potion of resistance Books y - a book of Annihilations 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 H - a book of Beasts Spells Type Level *Summon Butterflies Summoning 1 Sticks to Snakes Transmutation 2 Call Canine Familiar Summoning 3 Ice Form Ice/Transmutation 4 Summon Ice Beast Ice/Summoning 4 Summon Hydra Summoning 7 K - a book of Hinderance Spells Type Level Confusing Touch Hexes 1 Slow Hexes 2 Confuse Hexes 3 Petrify Transmutation/Earth 4 Leda's Liquefaction Hexes/Earth 4 Metabolic Englaciation Hexes/Ice 6 P - Sif Muna's Handbook of the Destructive Frostbite (You found it in an ice cave) Spells Type Level Freeze Ice 1 Freezing Aura Charms/Ice 2 Throw Frost Conjuration/Ice 2 Condensation Shield Ice 4 *Freezing Cloud Conjuration/Ice/Air 6 Simulacrum Ice/Necromancy 6 Q - a book of Conjurations Spells Type Level *Magic Dart Conjuration 1 *Searing Ray Conjuration 2 Dazzling Spray Conjuration/Hexes 3 Iskenderun's Mystic Blast Conjuration 4 *Iskenderun's Battlesphere Conjuration/Charms 4 Fulminant Prism Conjuration/Hexes 5 T - a book of Geomancy Spells Type Level Sandblast Earth 1 Stoneskin Transmutation/Earth 2 Passwall Transmutation/Earth 3 Stone Arrow Conjuration/Earth 3 Petrify Transmutation/Earth 4 Lee's Rapid Deconstruction Earth 5 U - a book of Wizardry Spells Type Level Summon Elemental Summoning 4 Agony Necromancy 5 Force Lance Conjuration 5 Fireball Conjuration/Fire 5 Haste Charms 6 Invisibility Hexes 6 W - a book of Necromancy Spells Type Level Pain Necromancy 1 *Animate Skeleton Necromancy 1 Lethal Infusion Charms/Necromancy 2 Vampiric Draining Necromancy 3 Regeneration Charms/Necromancy 3 Animate Dead Necromancy 4 Control Undead Necromancy 4 X - a book of Air Spells Type Level Shock Conjuration/Air 1 *Swiftness Charms/Air 2 *Repel Missiles Charms/Air 2 *Flight Charms/Air 3 Static Discharge Conjuration/Air 3 Lightning Bolt Conjuration/Air 5 Z - a book of Ice Spells Type Level Freezing Aura Charms/Ice 2 Ensorcelled Hibernation Hexes/Ice 2 Ozocubu's Refrigeration Ice 6 *Bolt of Cold Conjuration/Ice 6 *Freezing Cloud Conjuration/Ice/Air 6 Metabolic Englaciation Hexes/Ice 6 Simulacrum Ice/Necromancy 6 Magical staves Y - an uncursed staff of earth Skills: - Level 11,0 Fighting - Level 13,0 Dodging - Level 2,5 Stealth - Level 16,1 Spellcasting + Level 16,1 Conjurations - Level 10,0 Charms - Level 1,2 Summonings - Level 1,0 Necromancy - Level 10,0 Ice Magic - Level 2,0 Earth Magic - Level 2,0 Evocations You have 4 spell levels left. You know the following spells: Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger a - Magic Dart Conj #### 0% 1 None b - Searing Ray Conj ###### 0% 2 None c - Animate Skeleton Necr N/A 1% 1 None d - Iskenderun's Battles Conj/Chrm #######. 1% 4 None e - Iron Shot Conj/Erth ######.... 2% 6 ###.... f - Apportation Tloc ###....... 1% 1 None g - Mephitic Cloud Conj/Pois/Air ######.. 1% 3 None h - Sticky Flame Conj/Fire ####.... 1% 4 None i - Bolt of Cold Conj/Ice #######... 1% 6 ###.... j - Freezing Cloud Conj/Ice/Air #######... 3% 6 ###.... k - Summon Butterflies Summ ####.... 1% 1 None l - Repel Missiles Chrm/Air #####..... 1% 2 None m - Swiftness Chrm/Air #####..... 1% 2 None n - Flight Chrm/Air #####..... 1% 3 None Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations Branches: Dungeon (14/27) Temple (1/1) D:6 Orc (4/4) D:7 Elf (0/3) Orc:3 Lair (7/8) D:8 Shoals (0/5) Lair:4 Spider (4/5) Lair:3 Slime (0/6) Lair:6 Altars: Fedhas Kikubaaqudgha Nemelex Xobeh Okawaru Trog Vehumet Xom Yredelemnul Zin the Shining One Shops: Orc:1 * Orc:3 ? Orc:4 ?%== Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations Your flesh is cold resistant. You are robust (+10% HP).

Tuesday, 8th April 2014, 22:46 by Patashu

Crawl is smart and will warn you as soon as you need to get away from deep water/lava because your flight spell is running out. It will even calculate how far you'd need to move to get to safety and warn you when you have that much time left! (And I think the spell version can be renewed while it's still active, but don't quote me on that)
Haste and regeneration are SUPER nice spells.
Unseen horrors can't hit very hard, so sInv is not necessary to deal with them. Just go to the nearest corridor and shoot down the corridor until you kill something invisible. If you have a source of it sure, lug it around but you don't need to keep it on.

Tuesday, 8th April 2014, 22:57 by Arrhythmia

Patashu wrote:Crawl is smart and will warn you as soon as you need to get away from deep water/lava because your flight spell is running out. It will even calculate how far you'd need to move to get to safety and warn you when you have that much time left!

It does not do this. Rather, it warns you when you have just enough time to read and have a teleport activate (which will always dump you over land). You can easily test this in wizmode by making a character, hauling him off to shoals, casting flight, waiting in the most different corner of the land until you get the warning, and then working your way back to land. You'll die. You may be thinking of Brogue, which does work how you think it works.

Tuesday, 8th April 2014, 23:17 by nago

Berlioz wrote:normal lajatang [...]I really have no idea what to use. Oh and I didn't find any shield.

That's a clue. Even a plain lajatang hit hard at this point of the game - and you can temporarily brand if with freezing aura spell (very good brand) or permanently with a brand scroll. And what's more, if you'll ever find a staff of cold you'll have already trained the relative skill to hit things with! Anyway, train charms for haste first.

With all my nice books I think it is time to wonder which spells to use, so I can advance my skills accordingly. Ice spells should have priority, but I'm unsure on the buffs. Haste and regeneration look nice. The flight spell seems dangerous if it stops working over water or lave. I like summons, too, standing in the background and letting them do the work sounds like a good way of survival.
I'm still a little unsure on the jewellery, too.

Get haste, then I'd learn poison arrow too (and 5/10 ish of poison magic) because it's the best conjuration spell in a 3 rune game and will make explode anything who hasn't rpois (and does nice damage against things resistant too, but you've already iron shot so whatever). Then you have all the spell you need to win so do whatever you want- surely I'd raise fighting and dodging to 20ish and at least conjuration to 20ish and ice magic to 15ish and earth magic to 10ish, because your spellpower (for being a DE) is quite low - but this isn't so urgent right now.

Patashu wrote:Unseen horrors can't hit very hard, so sInv is not necessary to deal with them. Just go to the nearest corridor and shoot down the corridor until you kill something invisible. If you have a source of it sure, lug it around but you don't need to keep it on.

Well, unseen horrors hit hard when you have 15 ac and 100hp, so you must be careful approaching them. That said, that strategy is quite viable - especially if you fill the corridor with f. cloud - but also shooting bolt of cold until is dead is fine. For extra fun, you can try to anticipate his move and light on fire with sticky flames (which will make them visible!)

Wednesday, 9th April 2014, 11:21 by Berlioz

I went with haste, but without poison arrow. I already have iron shot and the icy one.
Cleared the spider's lair, but can't find the rune. Is there something I have to do, activate a lever or find a hidden door? Or maybe I can see it because it's in a web or in shallow water?

Spoiler: show

Wednesday, 9th April 2014, 11:29 by cerebovssquire

Press } to see if it auto-pickuped. If not, ctrl-f "gossamer". It isn't hidden (secret doors don't exist anymore in crawl).

Wednesday, 9th April 2014, 11:30 by Sar

See the south-east corner of the vault? Other corners looks exactly like that, and one of them should have a rune. If auto-explore doesn't take you there, it's a bug!

Wednesday, 9th April 2014, 11:36 by Berlioz

Sar wrote:See the south-east corner of the vault? Other corners looks exactly like that, and one of them should have a rune. If auto-explore doesn't take you there, it's a bug!

Yeah, saw it when looking on my screenshot. It was sitting in one of the little compartments guarded by a ghost moth.
My first rune!

Wednesday, 9th April 2014, 15:57 by nago

Berlioz wrote:I went with haste, but without poison arrow. I already have iron shot and the icy one.

Perfectly legit choice, but p.arrow deal much damage to not rpois enemies than iron shot and bolt of cold (by experience I'd say around crystal spear damage); anyway the biggest advantage over Iron Shot is that with Vehument it has full LOS range - which is a very big difference.
I routinely learn it with every caster who find it - along with a penetrating bolt (bolt of fire/cold), and I switch/add iron shot only when I enter Zot's Realm, because there are non living enemies almost onmiresistant who need to be killed fast (orbs of fire and electric golems)

That said, iron shot alone is enough to clear a 15 runes game, so you can happily forget about p.arrow

Wednesday, 9th April 2014, 17:00 by Berlioz

Oooh, max range is awesome, I still use magic dart from time to time because of the range. I could replace iron shot with Lehudib's crystal spear, if there isn't a big drawback.
The only monsters that trouble me are undead, because of their ice and poison resistance. Bolting them works though.

I think, I'm getting the hang of this, but new questions have arisen.
Posting the current setup with relevant items in the inventory:

Code:: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.13.1 (tiles) character file. Incanus the Destroyer (Deep Elf Conjurer) Turns: 52164, Time: 17:41:26 HP 117/117 AC 12 Str 11 XL: 18 Next: 23% MP 42/42 EV 23 Int 31 God: Vehumet [******] Gold 3 SH 13 Dex 18 Spells: 15 memorised, 4 levels left Res.Fire : + . . See Invis. : + V - +7,+5 trident "Vyrphe Zihi" {venom, Contam rElec rN+ Str+3 Int+2 SInv} Res.Cold : + + + Warding : . O - +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts {rF+ rN+} Life Prot.: + + + Conserve : + N - +2 buckler {rC+ rF+} Res.Poison: + Res.Corr. : + o - +2 wizard hat {Int+3} Res.Elec. : + Clarity : . R - +2 cloak {rCorr, Cons} Sust.Abil.: . . Spirit.Shd : . t - +0 pair of elf gauntlets Res.Mut. : + Stasis : . S - +0 pair of boots Res.Rott. : . Flight : . k - amulet "Quryor" {rMut +Blink rPois rN+} Saprovore : . . . b - ring of ice i - ring of Nihilism {rElec EV+1 Dex+3} @: very slightly contaminated, quite resistant to hostile enchantments, stealthy A: cold resistance 1, regeneration 1, +10% hp a: Renounce Religion, Evoke Blink }: 1/15 runes: gossamer You are on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts. You worship Vehumet. Vehumet is exalted by your worship. You are hungry. You have visited 5 branches of the dungeon, and seen 37 of its levels. You have also visited: Ice Cave and Volcano. You have collected 3331 gold pieces. You have spent 3348 gold pieces at shops. Inventory: Hand weapons B - an uncursed orcish flail of protection C - a lajatang V - the +7,+5 trident "Vyrphe Zihi" (weapon) {venom, Contam rElec rN+ Str+3 Int+2 SInv} (You found it on level 11 of the Dungeon) It poisons the flesh of those it strikes. It affects your strength (+3). It affects your intelligence (+2). It insulates you from electricity. It protects you from negative energy. It enhances your eyesight. It causes magical contamination when unequipped. Armour o - a +2 wizard hat of intelligence (worn) t - a +0 pair of elven gauntlets (worn) D - a mottled dragon hide N - a +2 buckler of resistance (worn) O - the +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts (worn) {rF+ rN+} (You found it on level 5 of the Dungeon) It protects you from fire. It protects you from negative energy. R - a +2 cloak of preservation (worn) S - a +0 pair of boots (worn) Magical devices p - a wand of teleportation {zapped: 2} H - a wand of digging {zapped: 1} I - a wand of draining {zapped: 1} K - a wand of fireball {zapped: 1} U - a wand of lightning Scrolls a - 3 scrolls of enchant weapon I c - 6 scrolls of amnesia j - 3 scrolls of enchant weapon II l - a scroll of acquirement y - a scroll of brand weapon Jewellery b - a ring of ice (right hand) i - the ring of Nihilism (left hand) {rElec EV+1 Dex+3} (You bought it in a shop on level 4 of the Orcish Mines) [ring of evasion] It affects your evasion (+1). It affects your dexterity (+3). It insulates you from electricity. k - the amulet "Quryor" (around neck) {rMut +Blink rPois rN+} (You bought it in a shop on level 4 of the Orcish Mines) [amulet of resist mutation] It protects you from poison. It protects you from negative energy. It lets you blink. m - an uncursed amulet of stasis u - the ring "Siwnomudu" {Hunger- +Inv rC+ rN+} (You found it on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts) [ring of sustenance] It protects you from cold. It protects you from negative energy. It lets you turn invisible. x - a +0,+7 ring of slaying A - an uncursed ring of protection from fire P - an uncursed ring of protection from magic Potions E - a potion of experience Books e - a book of Wizardry Spells Type Level Summon Elemental Summoning 4 Agony Necromancy 5 Force Lance Conjuration 5 Fireball Conjuration/Fire 5 *Haste Charms 6 Invisibility Hexes 6 f - a book of the Earth Spells Type Level Dig Earth 4 Leda's Liquefaction Hexes/Earth 4 Bolt of Magma Conjuration/Fire/Earth 5 Statue Form Transmutation/Earth 6 *Iron Shot Conjuration/Earth 6 Shatter Earth 9 g - Sif Muna's Handbook of the Destructive Frostbite (You found it in an ice cave) Spells Type Level Freeze Ice 1 Freezing Aura Charms/Ice 2 Throw Frost Conjuration/Ice 2 Condensation Shield Ice 4 *Freezing Cloud Conjuration/Ice/Air 6 Simulacrum Ice/Necromancy 6 h - a book of Hinderance Spells Type Level Confusing Touch Hexes 1 Slow Hexes 2 Confuse Hexes 3 Petrify Transmutation/Earth 4 Leda's Liquefaction Hexes/Earth 4 Metabolic Englaciation Hexes/Ice 6 n - a book of Beasts Spells Type Level *Summon Butterflies Summoning 1 Sticks to Snakes Transmutation 2 Call Canine Familiar Summoning 3 Ice Form Ice/Transmutation 4 Summon Ice Beast Ice/Summoning 4 Summon Hydra Summoning 7 q - a book of Annihilations 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 r - a book of Air Spells Type Level Shock Conjuration/Air 1 Swiftness Charms/Air 2 *Repel Missiles Charms/Air 2 *Flight Charms/Air 3 Static Discharge Conjuration/Air 3 Lightning Bolt Conjuration/Air 5 s - a book of Necromancy Spells Type Level Pain Necromancy 1 *Animate Skeleton Necromancy 1 Lethal Infusion Charms/Necromancy 2 Vampiric Draining Necromancy 3 *Regeneration Charms/Necromancy 3 Animate Dead Necromancy 4 Control Undead Necromancy 4 v - a book of Wizardry Spells Type Level Summon Elemental Summoning 4 Agony Necromancy 5 Force Lance Conjuration 5 Fireball Conjuration/Fire 5 *Haste Charms 6 Invisibility Hexes 6 w - a book of Ice Spells Type Level Freezing Aura Charms/Ice 2 Ensorcelled Hibernation Hexes/Ice 2 Ozocubu's Refrigeration Ice 6 *Bolt of Cold Conjuration/Ice 6 *Freezing Cloud Conjuration/Ice/Air 6 Metabolic Englaciation Hexes/Ice 6 Simulacrum Ice/Necromancy 6 Q - a book of Conjurations Spells Type Level *Magic Dart Conjuration 1 *Searing Ray Conjuration 2 Dazzling Spray Conjuration/Hexes 3 Iskenderun's Mystic Blast Conjuration 4 *Iskenderun's Battlesphere Conjuration/Charms 4 Fulminant Prism Conjuration/Hexes 5 T - a book of Geomancy Spells Type Level Sandblast Earth 1 Stoneskin Transmutation/Earth 2 Passwall Transmutation/Earth 3 Stone Arrow Conjuration/Earth 3 Petrify Transmutation/Earth 4 Lee's Rapid Deconstruction Earth 5 X - a book of Maledictions Spells Type Level Corona Hexes 1 Sure Blade Hexes/Charms 2 Ensorcelled Hibernation Hexes/Ice 2 Confuse Hexes 3 Enslavement Hexes 4 Invisibility Hexes 6 Magical staves z - a cursed staff of summoning Y - an uncursed staff of earth Z - a cursed staff of cold Miscellaneous d - a disc of storms M - a bottled efreet W - a stone of tremors Skills: - Level 12,0 Fighting - Level 14,0 Dodging - Level 2,5 Stealth - Level 3,2 Shields - Level 18,1 Spellcasting - Level 19,3 Conjurations - Level 12,0 Charms - Level 1,2 Summonings - Level 1,0 Necromancy - Level 13,0 Ice Magic + Level 5,0 Earth Magic - Level 2,0 Evocations You have 4 spell levels left. You know the following spells: Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger a - Magic Dart Conj #### 0% 1 None b - Searing Ray Conj ###### 0% 2 None c - Animate Skeleton Necr N/A 1% 1 None d - Iskenderun's Battles Conj/Chrm #######. 1% 4 None e - Iron Shot Conj/Erth #######... 1% 6 None f - Apportation Tloc ####...... 1% 1 None g - Mephitic Cloud Conj/Pois/Air ######.. 1% 3 None h - Sticky Flame Conj/Fire #####... 1% 4 None i - Bolt of Cold Conj/Ice ########.. 1% 6 None j - Freezing Cloud Conj/Ice/Air #######... 1% 6 None k - Summon Butterflies Summ #####... 1% 1 None l - Repel Missiles Chrm/Air ######.... 1% 2 None m - Haste Chrm #######. 1% 6 None n - Flight Chrm/Air ######.... 1% 3 None o - Regeneration Chrm/Necr ######.... 1% 3 None Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations Branches: Dungeon (19/27) Temple (1/1) D:6 Orc (4/4) D:7 Elf (0/3) Orc:3 Lair (8/8) D:8 Shoals (0/5) Lair:4 Spider (5/5) Lair:3 Slime (0/6) Lair:6 Vaults (0/5) D:17 Altars: Cheibriados Fedhas Kikubaaqudgha Nemelex Xobeh Okawaru Trog Vehumet Xom Yredelemnul Zin the Shining One Shops: D:15 ! D:19 + Orc:1 * Orc:3 ? Orc:4 ?%== Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations Your flesh is cold resistant. Your natural rate of healing is unusually fast. You are robust (+10% HP). Message History f - a book of the Earth g - Sif Muna's Handbook of the Destructive Frostbite h - a book of Hinderance n - a book of Beasts q - a book of Annihilations r - a book of Air s - a book of Necromancy T - a book of Geomancy v - a book of Wizardry Q - a book of Conjurations w - a book of Ice z - a cursed staff of summoning Z - a cursed staff of cold Y - an uncursed staff of earth B - an uncursed orcish flail of protection D - a mottled dragon hide Items here: !!!!!!! %% ?????????? Items here: !!!!! " %%%%%%% ( ))))) ////////////// ======= ????? [[ }}} E - a potion of experience Saving game... please wait. ###.................... ###...................... #.#...................... ##........P.........#.... ##........###.......####.. ####..........#........## ### #P#.....................####. ###......#..................#.. #f#....###..................%.. #......####.....>.............. ##......#.#..................... ###........#...................... #.......##.##..................... ..>....##......................... .......#........<@%............... .............#...)................ ............##.................... ........#......................... .................................. .........#P....................... P#....f####PP..............<...... ###....#####...................... #.....##........................ ###............................. #.#...........................# ##.#..........................# ###.......####................ ##f....####*#............... ###....#.###.......##.%.... There are no monsters in sight! Vanquished Creatures 2 sphinxes (D:19) Agnes (Spider:2) Roxanne (D:16) A fire giant (D:17) 4 emperor scorpions 2 ghost moths (Spider:5) An orc warlord (D:17) A frost giant (D:17) Gastronok (D:10) Jorgrun (Spider:2) 2 stone giants (D:19) 2 spriggan air magi (D:17) A black draconian (D:17) 4 yaktaur captains Fannar (Lair:3) Harold (D:12) 9 hydras Nessos (D:17) 4 ogre magi Erica (Spider:1) 2 deep troll shamans 11 death yaks 5 orc high priests 4 vampire magi (D:17) Urug (D:12) A naga warrior (D:17) 10 centaur warriors A fire crab (D:18) A hell knight (D:17) Nergalle (D:12) 2 deep elf knights (D:17) A catoblepas (Lair:8) 6 skeletal warriors 2 deep trolls (D:17) A flayed ghost (D:19) 6 unseen horrors An ice statue (IceCv) 3 giant amoebae Pikel (D:6) A wizard (D:17) 7 hill giants 2 necromancers 12 orc knights A wolf spider zombie (D:14) 2 phantasmal warriors (D:17) 3 deep elf conjurers (D:17) 38 wolf spiders 4 orc sorcerers 3 griffons 10 cyclopes 2 stone giant zombies 13 elephants A sphinx skeleton (D:17) 12 red wasps A black mamba (shapeshifter) (D:16) 2 fire giant skeletons A spiny worm (D:19) A stone giant skeleton (D:19) A guardian serpent (D:17) 7 spiny frogs 5 black mambas A feature mimic (Volcano) 2 eyes of devastation 18 demonic crawlers 2 efreet A guardian mummy (D:17) 3 fire drakes 15 trolls 2 naga magi (D:17) 15 orb spiders A polar bear (Lair:4) A hydra zombie (D:13) 8 yaktaurs A spriggan (D:17) Sonja (Orc:2) 38 slime creatures 4 wandering mushrooms (D:14) A red wasp zombie (D:17) Prince Ribbit (Lair:3) A giant firefly (D:17) 39 jumping spiders 2 two-headed ogres 2 blink frogs (Lair:3) 7 komodo dragons A snapping turtle (Lair:4) A shadow (D:18) 2 griffon skeletons A brown ooze (Lair:6) A dragon skeleton (D:19) 2 basilisks 26 tarantellas 21 trapdoor spiders 34 ugly things A shark (Lair:4) 25 yaks 2 grizzly bears 18 redbacks 3 hill giant zombies A vampire (D:17) 2 death yak simulacra (IceCv) A spiny worm zombie (D:19) 21 hippogriffs A toenail golem (Volcano) 2 hungry ghosts Grum (D:10) 15 vampire mosquitoes A neqoxec (Orc:4) 6 wraiths A merfolk (Lair:4) 3 rock worms 2 necrophages Edmund (D:7) Menkaure (D:5) 7 wolves 6 manticores 3 soldier ants 3 mottled dragons 4 porcupines 2 agate snail zombies A deep troll zombie (D:19) 16 freezing wraiths 4 yellow wasps 4 phantoms 27 orc warriors 2 black bears An elf zombie (D:17) A giant goldfish (Lair:4) 3 sky beasts 26 centaurs 14 ice beasts A kobold demonologist (D:17) 23 ogres 5 wargs A boring beetle (Spider:2) 13 big kobolds 19 giant frogs 12 water moccasins A brain worm (Spider:5) A yaktaur zombie (D:18) 4 giant slugs A giant slug zombie (D:18) A gnoll sergeant (D:12) Blork the orc (Orc:1) 3 agate snails A cyclops zombie (D:17) 13 crocodiles A yaktaur skeleton (D:18) A manticore skeleton (D:12) An earth elemental (Volcano) A cyclops skeleton (D:18) A troll zombie (D:14) A lava fish (Volcano) 2 oklob saplings (D:14) 2 jellyfish (Spider:5) 5 killer bees (D:12) 4 electric eels 2 fire bats (Volcano) 5 wights (D:6) 2 yak skeletons 2 lava snakes (Volcano) 38 spiders A two-headed ogre zombie (D:11) 9 crimson imps A yellow wasp zombie (D:12) 4 goliath beetles 3 draconian simulacra (IceCv) 24 orc priests 2 jellies A centaur zombie (D:9) 2 giant frog skeletons 3 centaur skeletons A quasit (D:11) 5 iguanas 3 spectral orcs (D:12) 38 orc wizards 13 worker ants 15 hounds 2 polar bear simulacra (IceCv) 7 troll simulacra (IceCv) 9 scorpions 3 centaur simulacra (IceCv) 2 mottled dragon zombies (D:12) 65 sheep Ijyb (D:6) A big kobold skeleton (D:14) 2 ogre zombies A crocodile skeleton (D:8) 8 boggarts 3 mummies A hound skeleton (D:5) 16 adders An ogre simulacrum (IceCv) 5 giant centipedes 10 gnolls 13 green rats An inept feature mimic (D:3) 13 white imps 6 giant mites 6 naga simulacra (IceCv) A shadow imp (Orc:4) 6 worms An adder skeleton (D:12) A giant eyeball (D:11) 12 giant geckos An ooze (D:2) 182 orcs 8 giant cockroaches 23 goblins 21 hobgoblins 30 jackals 37 kobolds 7 quokkas 18 bats 4 giant newts 4 giant spores A goblin skeleton (D:4) A jackal skeleton (D:8) 7 orc skeletons 17 rats A rat skeleton (D:4) 10 ballistomycetes A bush (Lair:8) 2 fungi (Lair:6) A plant (Lair:8) 1583 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (collateral kills) 3 death yaks A slime creature (D:17) A hill giant (D:12) A giant amoeba (Lair:6) 2 orc knights A stone giant zombie (D:18) 5 elephants 2 spiny frogs (Lair:5) A fire drake (Lair:5) A yaktaur (D:17) An octopode (D:17) A basilisk (Lair:5) A trapdoor spider (D:17) 5 yaks 3 wolves A hungry ghost (D:13) 3 vampire mosquitoes (D:17) A porcupine (Lair:6) An orc warrior (Orc:4) A centaur (D:11) A slave (D:6) A giant goldfish (Lair:4) A crocodile (Lair:8) A crimson imp (Orc:4) A black bear skeleton (D:9) 4 sheep A worker ant (D:10) An ogre zombie (D:6) A mummy (D:12) 5 green rats (Lair:6) A giant centipede (Lair:2) A giant mite (Lair:6) A giant gecko (Lair:6) 5 orcs A giant cockroach (D:6) A goblin (D:9) A hobgoblin (D:4) A quokka (D:5) 2 bats 2 kobolds (D:8) 2 rats A fungus (Lair:1) 72 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (others) A frost giant skeleton (D:17) Maurice (D:11) 2 yaktaur skeletons (D:19) A hydra skeleton (Lair:5) 4 ugly thing skeletons A guardian serpent skeleton (D:17) A hill giant skeleton (D:17) A spriggan skeleton (D:17) A deep troll skeleton (D:17) A spiny frog skeleton (Lair:4) 2 elf skeletons (D:17) 2 elephant skeletons (Lair:5) 2 human skeletons A fire drake skeleton (Lair:4) 2 cyclops skeletons 2 troll skeletons (D:17) 2 yak skeletons A polar bear skeleton (Lair:4) 2 crimson imps (D:6) 2 hippogriff skeletons (Lair:5) A wolf skeleton (D:10) 5 centaur skeletons 2 giant frog skeletons An orc priest (Orc:4) A water moccasin skeleton (Lair:4) A black bear skeleton (Lair:8) A warg skeleton (Orc:4) A necrophage skeleton (D:11) A big kobold skeleton (D:8) A crocodile skeleton (Lair:4) 2 mottled dragon skeletons 3 hound skeletons 2 sheep skeletons 2 electric eel skeletons (Lair:4) 3 goblin skeletons 52 orc skeletons A bat (D:8) A bat skeleton (D:5) 2 giant gecko skeletons (D:5) A giant spore (D:8) A gnoll skeleton (Lair:8) 2 hobgoblin skeletons 2 jackal skeletons 2 kobold skeletons A rat skeleton (Orc:4) A fungus (Lair:6) 2 plants (D:19) 127 creatures vanquished. Grand Total: 1782 creatures vanquished Notes Turn | Place | Note -------------------------------------------------------------- 0 | D:1 | Incanus, the Deep Elf Conjurer, began the quest for the Orb. 0 | D:1 | Reached XP level 1. HP: 10/10 MP: 4/4 292 | D:1 | Reached XP level 2. HP: 15/15 MP: 3/6 521 | D:1 | Reached skill level 5 in Conjurations 921 | D:2 | Reached XP level 3. HP: 19/19 MP: 1/9 1044 | D:3 | Reached skill level 6 in Conjurations 1044 | D:3 | Reached XP level 4. HP: 6/24 MP: 0/11 1611 | D:2 | Reached XP level 5. HP: 28/28 MP: 9/13 1662 | D:2 | Reached skill level 7 in Conjurations 1781 | D:2 | Learned a level 2 spell: Searing Ray 2148 | D:4 | Noticed an ogre 2156 | D:4 | Killed an ogre 2226 | D:3 | Reached XP level 6. HP: 32/32 MP: 9/16 2588 | D:3 | Reached skill level 8 in Conjurations 2669 | D:3 | Found a glowing golden altar of the Shining One. 2853 | D:4 | Noticed a phantom 2870 | D:4 | Killed a phantom 2953 | D:4 | Learned a level 1 spell: Animate Skeleton 3189 | D:4 | Noticed a hippogriff 3547 | D:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon 3557 | D:5 | Reached skill level 9 in Conjurations 3632 | D:5 | Reached XP level 7. HP: 24/36 MP: 6/18 4030 | D:5 | Reached skill level 10 in Conjurations 4065 | D:5 | Learned a level 4 spell: Iskenderun's Battlesphere 4098 | D:5 | Reached skill level 1 in Charms 4288 | D:5 | Got a twisted leather armour 4297 | D:5 | Identified the cursed +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts {rF+ rN+} (You found it on level 5 of the Dungeon) 4467 | D:6 | Reached XP level 8. HP: 41/41 MP: 14/22 4521 | D:5 | Noticed Menkaure 4524 | D:5 | Killed Menkaure 4524 | D:5 | Reached skill level 1 in Fighting 4567 | D:5 | Learned a level 1 spell: Summon Small Mammal 4573 | D:5 | Reached skill level 5 in Spellcasting 4869 | D:6 | Noticed Ijyb 4873 | D:6 | Killed Ijyb 5676 | D:8 | Found a staircase to the Lair. 5707 | D:7 | Found a staircase to the Orcish Mines. 5771 | D:7 | Reached XP level 9. HP: 39/48 MP: 18/26 5928 | D:6 | Your ally Ijyb died 6066 | D:6 | Noticed Pikel 6072 | D:6 | Killed Pikel 6072 | D:6 | Reached skill level 5 in Dodging 6072 | D:6 | Reached skill level 5 in Charms 6354 | D:6 | Found a staircase to the Ecumenical Temple. 6604 | Temple | Entered the Ecumenical Temple 6613 | Temple | Became a worshipper of Vehumet 6984 | Temple | Learned a level 1 spell: Apportation 7189 | D:7 | Got a crude short sword 7190 | D:7 | Identified the cursed short sword of Spontaneous Combustion {flame, rC-} (You found it on level 7 of the Dungeon) 7295 | D:7 | Reached skill level 1 in Summonings 7295 | D:7 | Reached skill level 1 in Necromancy 7632 | D:10 | Entered Level 10 of the Dungeon 7637 | D:9 | Found a bloodstained altar of Trog. 7677 | D:9 | Acquired Vehumet's first power 7677 | D:9 | Offered knowledge of Flame Tongue by Vehumet. 7920 | D:9 | Found a sparkling altar of Nemelex Xobeh. 7920 | D:9 | Found an ancient bone altar of Kikubaaqudgha. 8436 | D:9 | Reached XP level 10. HP: 22/55 MP: 16/29 8621 | D:8 | Reached skill level 11 in Conjurations 8654 | D:8 | Offered knowledge of Sting by Vehumet. 8915 | D:7 | Reached skill level 5 in Fighting 8992 | D:7 | Noticed Edmund 9000 | D:7 | Killed Edmund 9036 | D:7 | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas. 9739 | D:8 | Offered knowledge of Mephitic Cloud by Vehumet. 9749 | D:8 | Learned a level 3 spell: Mephitic Cloud 10031 | Lair:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Lair of Beasts 10034 | Lair:1 | Reached skill level 10 in Spellcasting 10099 | Lair:1 | Acquired Vehumet's second power 10156 | Lair:1 | Noticed a black mamba 10159 | Lair:1 | Killed a black mamba 10159 | Lair:1 | Reached skill level 12 in Conjurations 10294 | Lair:1 | Found a dark tunnel. 10337 | Volcano | Entered a volcano 10494 | Volcano | Reached XP level 11. HP: 53/60 MP: 5/31 10686 | Lair:1 | Offered knowledge of Sticky Flame by Vehumet. 10692 | Lair:1 | Learned a level 4 spell: Sticky Flame 10967 | Lair:2 | Noticed a black mamba 10976 | Lair:1 | Killed a black mamba 11271 | Lair:2 | Got a glittering copper ring 11274 | Lair:2 | Identified the ring "Siwnomudu" {Hunger- +Inv rC+ rN+} (You found it on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts) 11283 | Lair:2 | Noticed a black mamba 11286 | Lair:2 | Killed a black mamba 11521 | Lair:2 | Acquired Vehumet's third power 12090 | Lair:3 | Reached skill level 13 in Conjurations 12175 | Lair:3 | Offered knowledge of Static Discharge by Vehumet. 12178 | Lair:3 | Found a hole to the Spider Nest. 12389 | Lair:4 | Noticed a seven-headed hydra 12632 | Lair:4 | Killed a seven-headed hydra 12716 | Lair:4 | Reached skill level 10 in Dodging 12815 | Lair:4 | Found a frozen archway. 12910 | IceCv | Entered an ice cave 12919 | IceCv | Offered knowledge of Ignite Poison by Vehumet. 13607 | IceCv | Reached XP level 12. HP: 61/68 MP: 0/32 14246 | IceCv | Found an ancient bone altar of Kikubaaqudgha. 14472 | IceCv | Identified Sif Muna's Handbook of the Destructive Frostbite 14530 | IceCv | Noticed an ice statue 14548 | IceCv | Killed an ice statue 14640 | IceCv | Noticed a necromancer 14782 | IceCv | Killed a necromancer 14998 | Lair:4 | Reached skill level 14 in Conjurations 15222 | Lair:2 | Learned a level 6 spell: Bolt of Cold 15583 | Lair:3 | Noticed Fannar 15591 | Lair:3 | Noticed Prince Ribbit 15601 | Lair:3 | Reached skill level 1 in Ice Magic 15614 | Lair:3 | Killed Fannar 15711 | Lair:3 | Killed Prince Ribbit 15975 | Lair:4 | Found a staircase to the Shoals. 16108 | Lair:5 | Reached skill level 5 in Ice Magic 16392 | Lair:5 | Noticed a five-headed hydra 16397 | Lair:5 | Killed a five-headed hydra 16523 | Lair:5 | Noticed a seven-headed hydra 16533 | Lair:5 | Killed a seven-headed hydra 17397 | Lair:5 | Reached XP level 13. HP: 57/73 MP: 4/33 17479 | Lair:5 | Learned a level 6 spell: Freezing Cloud 17484 | Lair:5 | Learned a level 4 spell: Condensation Shield 17550 | Lair:5 | Noticed a seven-headed hydra 17555 | Lair:5 | Killed a seven-headed hydra 18599 | Lair:6 | Found a staircase to the Slime Pits. 18617 | Lair:6 | Offered knowledge of Poison Arrow by Vehumet. 19299 | Lair:7 | Reached skill level 10 in Ice Magic 19835 | Lair:2 | Learned a level 2 spell: Repel Missiles 19838 | Lair:2 | Learned a level 2 spell: Swiftness 19842 | Lair:2 | Learned a level 3 spell: Flight 19901 | Orc:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Orcish Mines 19991 | Orc:1 | Noticed Blork the orc 20004 | Orc:1 | Killed Blork the orc 20786 | Orc:4 | Entered Level 4 of the Orcish Mines 20920 | Orc:4 | Reached XP level 14. HP: 79/79 MP: 21/37 21210 | Orc:4 | Offered knowledge of Conjure Ball Lightning by Vehumet. 21897 | Orc:4 | Reached skill level 10 in Charms 21933 | Orc:4 | Found Ciej's Magic Scroll Boutique. 21933 | Orc:4 | Found Esustru's Jewellery Emporium. 21936 | Orc:4 | Found Twelem's Food Boutique. 21936 | Orc:4 | Found Ihiupt's Jewellery Emporium. 21976 | Orc:4 | Bought the amulet "Quryor" {rMut +Blink rPois rN+} for 799 gold pieces 22493 | Orc:3 | Found Kioz's Magic Scroll Emporium. 22516 | Orc:3 | Found a staircase to the Elven Halls. 22641 | Orc:4 | Bought the ring of Nihilism {rElec EV+1 Dex+3} for 523 gold pieces 22809 | Orc:2 | Noticed Sonja 22816 | Orc:2 | Killed Sonja 23096 | Orc:2 | Offered knowledge of Iron Shot by Vehumet. 23455 | Orc:3 | Bought a scroll of identify for 28 gold pieces 23455 | Orc:3 | Bought a scroll of identify for 28 gold pieces 23455 | Orc:3 | Bought a scroll of enchant armour for 77 gold pieces 23528 | Orc:4 | Bought a scroll of enchant weapon II for 82 gold pieces 23528 | Orc:4 | Bought a scroll of summoning for 142 gold pieces 23528 | Orc:4 | Bought a scroll of holy word for 112 gold pieces 23595 | Orc:2 | Learned a level 6 spell: Iron Shot 23600 | Orc:1 | Found Qiebiz's General Store. 24213 | Orc:4 | Bought a scroll of identify for 30 gold pieces 24213 | Orc:4 | Bought a scroll of identify for 30 gold pieces 24213 | Orc:4 | Bought a scroll of identify for 30 gold pieces 24263 | Orc:3 | Bought a scroll of blinking for 77 gold pieces 24409 | Lair:2 | Gained mutation: Your flesh is cold resistant. [potion of beneficial mutation] 24504 | Spider:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Spider Nest 24569 | Spider:1 | Noticed Erica 24574 | Spider:1 | Killed Erica 24645 | Spider:1 | Offered knowledge of Bolt of Draining by Vehumet. 24646 | Spider:1 | Your ally Erica died 24892 | Spider:1 | Reached skill level 15 in Spellcasting 25212 | D:10 | Noticed a hill giant 25215 | D:10 | Killed a hill giant 25258 | D:10 | Learned a level 1 spell: Summon Butterflies 25537 | D:10 | Identified a +2 rod of striking (6/6) (You found it on level 10 of the Dungeon) 25557 | D:10 | Noticed Gastronok 25562 | D:10 | Killed Gastronok 25563 | D:10 | Noticed Grum 25569 | D:10 | Killed Grum 26245 | D:12 | Noticed Urug 26249 | D:12 | Killed Urug 26340 | D:12 | Noticed Harold 26342 | D:12 | Killed Harold 26342 | D:12 | Reached skill level 16 in Spellcasting 26399 | D:12 | Noticed Nergalle 26580 | D:12 | Reached skill level 15 in Conjurations 26711 | D:12 | Reached skill level 1 in Evocations 27089 | D:12 | Reached skill level 1 in Earth Magic 27293 | D:12 | Killed Nergalle 27819 | D:14 | Entered Level 14 of the Dungeon 28243 | D:11 | Offered knowledge of Poisonous Cloud by Vehumet. 28300 | D:11 | Noticed Maurice 28303 | D:11 | Killed Maurice 28387 | D:11 | Identified a +2 cloak of preservation (You found it on level 11 of the Dungeon) 28391 | D:11 | Got a bloodstained trident 28992 | D:11 | Gained mutation: You are robust (+10% HP). [potion of beneficial mutation] 29254 | D:13 | Reached XP level 15. HP: 65/92 MP: 9/39 30399 | Lair:2 | Identified the +7,+5 trident "Vyrphe Zihi" {venom, Contam rElec rN+ Str+3 Int+2 SInv} (You found it on level 11 of the Dungeon) 30500 | Spider:2 | Noticed Agnes 30504 | Spider:2 | Killed Agnes 30518 | Spider:2 | Noticed Jorgrun 30709 | Spider:2 | Killed Jorgrun 32217 | Spider:2 | Offered knowledge of Orb of Destruction by Vehumet. 32345 | Spider:3 | Reached skill level 10 in Fighting 32657 | Spider:3 | Gained mutation: You evolve. [potion of beneficial mutation] 33004 | Spider:2 | Lost mutation: You evolve. [evolution] 33693 | Orc:4 | Bought an uncursed ring of flight for 210 gold pieces 33696 | Orc:4 | Bought an uncursed amulet of stasis for 280 gold pieces 33863 | Lair:2 | Learned a level 6 spell: Haste 34110 | Lair:8 | Entered Level 8 of the Lair of Beasts 35656 | Spider:4 | Offered knowledge of Shatter by Vehumet. 35656 | Spider:4 | Offered knowledge of Chain Lightning by Vehumet. 35656 | Spider:4 | Offered knowledge of Tornado by Vehumet. 36327 | Spider:4 | Reached XP level 16. HP: 103/103 MP: 27/40 36561 | Spider:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Spider Nest 36563 | Spider:5 | Reached skill level 17 in Spellcasting 37681 | Spider:5 | Reached skill level 18 in Spellcasting 38026 | Spider:5 | Reached skill level 5 in Earth Magic 40168 | Spider:5 | Got a gossamer rune of Zot 40340 | Lair:2 | Learned a level 3 spell: Regeneration 41163 | D:14 | Identified a scroll of acquirement 41390 | D:14 | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas. 41670 | D:15 | Entered Level 15 of the Dungeon 41671 | D:15 | Found Plauvakk's Distillery. 41898 | D:15 | Found a snail-covered altar of Cheibriados. 42881 | D:16 | Noticed Roxanne 43048 | D:16 | Killed Roxanne 43048 | D:16 | Reached XP level 17. HP: 108/108 MP: 31/41 43738 | Lair:2 | Gained mutation: Your natural rate of healing is unusually fast. [potion of beneficial mutation] 45491 | D:17 | Found a staircase to the Vaults. 47166 | D:17 | Noticed Nessos 47175 | D:17 | Killed Nessos 48030 | D:17 | Reached skill level 19 in Conjurations 48202 | D:17 | Got an ancient scale mail 48214 | D:17 | Identified the +7 scale mail of Dackelai {rC+ Acc-2} (You took it off an orc high priest on level 17 of the Dungeon) 48974 | D:18 | Reached skill level 1 in Shields 50534 | D:19 | Reached XP level 18. HP: 75/115 MP: 27/42 51065 | D:19 | Found Ymouclaow's Book Emporium. 51808 | D:15 | Bought a potion of experience for 900 gold pieces Action | 1- 3 | 4- 6 | 7- 9 | 10-12 | 13-15 | 16-18 || total -------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------++------- Melee: Unarmed | 1 | | | | | || 1 Short sword | | | 3 | | | || 3 Scimitar | | | | 19 | 20 | || 39 Flail | | | | | 40 | || 40 Whip | | | | | 8 | || 8 Trident | | | | | 8 | 21 || 29 Throw: Dart | 1 | | | | | || 1 Cast: Magic Dart | 61 | 120 | 217 | 277 | 516 | 252 || 1443 Searing Ray | | 10 | 33 | 153 | 239 | 81 || 516 Animate Skeleton | | 4 | 22 | 36 | 125 | 72 || 259 Iskenderun's Batt | | | 50 | 126 | 223 | 135 || 534 Summon Small Mamm | | | 1 | 2 | | || 3 Sticky Flame | | | | 68 | 121 | 48 || 237 Mephitic Cloud | | | | 9 | 10 | || 19 Bolt of Cold | | | | 13 | 71 | 160 || 244 Freezing Cloud | | | | | 58 | 115 || 173 Condensation Shie | | | | | 14 | || 14 Repel Missiles | | | | | 38 | 87 || 125 Swiftness | | | | | 93 | || 93 Iron Shot | | | | | 51 | 91 || 142 Apportation | | | | | 4 | || 4 Summon Butterflie | | | | | 1 | || 1 Haste | | | | | 1 | 36 || 37 Regeneration | | | | | | 4 || 4 Evoke: Wand | | 1 | | 5 | 6 | 6 || 18 Use: Scroll | | 4 | 9 | 21 | 28 | 7 || 69 Potion | | | 3 | | 6 | 3 || 12 Stab: Sleeping | | | | 2 | 2 | || 4 Confused | | | | | 2 | || 2

* I finally found a buckler and it's not bad by the looks of it. How much shield training is useful?
* I got a scroll of aquirement and a potion of experience. Not sure when to use those and for what. Any suggestions?
* Got a ton of spellbooks and could aquire deflect missiles for 650 gold. Repel is working fine so far. I'm thinking of increasing earth and learn stoneskin as well as Lee's rapid deconstruction for added protection and flexibility. Or should I concentrate to get one of the ultra spells from the book of annihilations online?
* I'm heading for the shoals now, it looks easier than the vaults, slime pits and elven halls. Any pointers?

(Sidenotes:
Got a mottled dragon hide, but no scrolls of enchant armor. I would prefer pearl or fire anyways. The weapon question is still open, I switched to the trident for +Int and +SInv for now, but found a few scrolls to improve the lajatang. The only brand I can cast is ice and seeing as this is my main spell damage I would prefer fire or electricity. I have whips, falchions and a greatsword with those.)

Wednesday, 9th April 2014, 17:04 by cerebovssquire

Shields 5 negates all buckler penalties. More Shields isn't useful until you have no other useful skills to invest in. That is the best buckler you can get besides lucky artefacts, by the way.
Always use !experience when you find it. More Dodging skill would be useful. Generally you want to use ?acquirement on wands (other ones that are useful are armour, weapon and staff, depending on if you need any of these - doesn't look like it to me).
The high-level spells from Annihilations aren't that great for a 3-rune game due to exp investement. Your current offensive spells are all you will ever need. That being said, you have one of the best character types to try level 9 spells out, so it wouldn't be a terrible idea; it's simply not necessary.
In Shoals, watch out for missiles, otherwise you should be fine. Always keep rMsl up. Or get DMsl if you can spare the slots, but that isn't needed either.

Wednesday, 9th April 2014, 17:33 by Berlioz

cerebovssquire wrote:Shields 5 negates all buckler penalties. More Shields isn't useful until you have no other useful skills to invest in. That is the best buckler you can get besides lucky artefacts, by the way.
Always use !experience when you find it. More Dodging skill would be useful. Generally you want to use ?acquirement on wands (other ones that are useful are armour, weapon and staff, depending on if you need any of these - doesn't look like it to me).
The high-level spells from Annihilations aren't that great for a 3-rune game due to investement. Your current offensive spells are all you will ever need. That being said, you have one of the best character types to try level 9 spells out, so it wouldn't be a terrible idea; it's simply not necessary.
In Shoals, watch out for missiles, otherwise you should be fine. Always keep rMsl up. Or get DMsl if you can spare the slots, but that isn't needed either.

I seem to be very lucky! (Especially when reading other threads in the tavern.)
What wands can the scroll of acquirement give me? And are they that useful? Haven't used wands much so far. I was thinking armor to replace the boots or gloves.
I don't need to go full destruction, my objective is to gain maximum survivability, because I will inevitably make horrible newbie mistakes. Having increased defences, hp and some arcane overkill on my side may help me live through these.
In this spirit I will increase dodging and think hard about stoneskin. The upgrade from repel to deflect missiles is something I have to think about hard, too. When I got the gold.

Wednesday, 9th April 2014, 17:53 by Sar

Wand acquirement is weighted towards 3 good ones (heal wounds, hasting, teleport), especially if you haven't seen them yet.

Edit:

Berlioz wrote:I don't need to go full destruction, my objective is to gain maximum survivability, because I will inevitably make horrible newbie mistakes. Having increased defences, hp and some arcane overkill on my side may help me live through these.

I think your success wasn't as much a matter of luck as a matter of careful and smart play.

Thursday, 10th April 2014, 03:29 by Berlioz

The Shoals were a breeze, turned it into a huge ice rink. Sadly Xtahua didn't leave his hide.
Got an evocations manual, not that useful for me.
There was a book shop with the book of the warp, controlled blink and phase shift look nice, but I lack gold.

With 2 runes in my bag the question is where to turn next? There is the vault, elf halls and the slime pit. What can you recommend?

Thursday, 10th April 2014, 03:54 by Patashu

Berlioz wrote:The Shoals were a breeze, turned it into a huge ice rink. Sadly Xtahua didn't leave his hide.
Got an evocations manual, not that useful for me.
There was a book shop with the book of the warp, controlled blink and phase shift look nice, but I lack gold.

With 2 runes in my bag the question is where to turn next? There is the vault, elf halls and the slime pit. What can you recommend?

Since you have rCorr, rC+ (put on for azure jellies) and rMut (put on for shining eyes) you could do slime if you like.
Some notes:
-Golden Eyes appear in packs and will very easily confuse you, so bring clarity or lots of !curing or avoid.
-The Royal Jelly is perma-hasted so put on haste whenever fighting. Try trapping her in a freezing cloud.
-Unless you can find more sources of MR don't do Elf:3. Elf sorcerers can banish you and that's not fun at all

Thursday, 10th April 2014, 03:57 by tasonir

The vault would be next. However the vault is a bit different from the lair runes, you can easily clear vault:1-4 at this point, but do NOT go into vault:5. The stairs are always surrounded, and while the surrounding monsters aren't that strong (vault guards) the rest of the floor has a wide range of very nasty things. So people clear just 1-4, and then it's typical to go do things like either depths, or crypt (which is a sub branch of vaults itself), or maybe elf (only with high MR). Elf:3 is a fairly dangerous ending vault, so some people avoid it all together - there is no rune, just loot. Go back to Vault:5 after you've powered up a bit, and then you'll have 3 runes and can enter zot.

I would not do slime before you have 3 runes. It's one of the easier non-standard runes (standard 3 rune is 2 lair branches and vault) but it's still quite a bit harder than the standard three.

Thursday, 10th April 2014, 04:36 by rchandra

Tasonir's advice is mostly fine, but replace "Depths" with "rest of Dungeon".

With careful play and freezing cloud, Elf:3 is not much threat to you even without extra MR. Do be aware that blademasters and master archers are very fast and hit hard, though. I feel you have the player and character skills to handle that.

Thursday, 10th April 2014, 09:24 by nago

Berlioz wrote:The Shoals were a breeze, turned it into a huge ice rink. Sadly Xtahua didn't leave his hide.
Got an evocations manual, not that useful for me.
There was a book shop with the book of the warp, controlled blink and phase shift look nice, but I lack gold.

With 2 runes in my bag the question is where to turn next? There is the vault, elf halls and the slime pit. What can you recommend?

While elf should be easily doable by a char like yours, I suggest not not enter: facing things like DE Annihilator isn't wise, especially because you don't actually need any loot present there (you've already spells, enhancer staff, great buckler and so on).
If you haven't cleared Vault 1-4 do it, then depths (slowly, you can easily be overwhelmed by the semi unlimited amount of giants/trolls present there) and then vault 5 or slimes.
For vault 5 ambush party (a ring of vault guard) you could use refrigeration: 2-4 cast of that spell and everything near the stairs dies. Then you can go into a corner of the outer rim and starting to clear the four quadrants slowly.
If you prefer slimes, dive to the last floor (no point to clear the other five) and try to fight the RJ into the central vault made of stone, because it spawns high tier jellies when hurt and you won't to be killed by that trash.

Thursday, 10th April 2014, 10:17 by Berlioz

Thank you all very much for the advice, heading to the vault now.
I learned Lee's rapid deconstruction, it's just so much fun! I'd like a summon spell as well, since I usually rely on my skeletons to block harmfull spells and slow enemies, but sometimes those aren't available. It's just... the all sound kinda weak. I got the butterflies though.
Oh and on D:20 I stumbled upon the wizard's dream:

So many choices!

Thursday, 10th April 2014, 10:23 by cerebovssquire

Book of the Warp has Controlled Blink and that is one of the best skills in the game (if not the best). Buy that ASAP. Otherwise, Shadow Creatures is a great summoning spell for low exp investment, but butterfies are enough.

Thursday, 10th April 2014, 10:53 by nago

Well, if you want powerful summon considering you have ice high magic, you may learn some necromancy to try simulacrum: a posse of giant/dragon simulacra annihilate everything in the game, except maybe oof - plus they have great synergy with f. Cloud and bolt of cold, because they're immune to cold.
(keep in mind they're temporary, unlike skeleton - but you can first raise skeletons then use simulacrum)
(to double the fun, do you know you can lrd your own skeleton minions?)

Friday, 11th April 2014, 17:44 by tasonir

LRD is one of my favorite spells and you should definitely use it - but I just wanted to say a word of warning in that it makes a lot of noise, so be careful if you're near a lot of unexplored territory, it will attract more monsters.

Sunday, 13th April 2014, 23:00 by Berlioz

I hadn't much time playing the last few days, but I'm back now and thanks to all your excellent advice my character is still alive!

Code:: Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.13.1 (tiles) character file. Incanus the Sorcerer (Deep Elf Conjurer) Turns: 84149, Time: 1, 04:06:23 HP 159/159 AC 14 Str 11 XL: 24 Next: 5% MP 49/49 EV 25 Int 35 God: Vehumet [******] Gold 390 SH 15 Dex 18 Spells: 16 memorised, 4 levels left Res.Fire : + . . See Invis. : + V - +7,+5 trident "Vyrphe Zihi" {venom, Contam rElec rN+ Str+3 Int+2 SInv} Res.Cold : + + + Warding : . O - +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts {rF+ rN+} Life Prot.: + + + Conserve : + N - +3 buckler {rC+ rF+} Res.Poison: + Res.Corr. : + o - +2 wizard hat {Int+3} Res.Elec. : + Clarity : . R - +2 cloak {rCorr, Cons} Sust.Abil.: . . Spirit.Shd : . s - +2 pair of gauntlets Res.Mut. : + Stasis : . w - +0 pair of boots Res.Rott. : . Flight : . k - amulet "Quryor" {rMut +Blink rPois rN+} Saprovore : . . . b - ring of ice i - ring of Nihilism {rElec EV+1 Dex+3} @: very resistant to hostile enchantments, fairly stealthy A: cold resistance 1, mutation resistance 1, regeneration 1, +10% hp a: Renounce Religion, Evoke Blink }: 2/15 runes: barnacled, gossamer You are on level 4 of the Pits of Slime. You worship Vehumet. Vehumet is exalted by your worship. You are not hungry. You have visited 8 branches of the dungeon, and seen 58 of its levels. You have visited 1 bazaar. You have also visited: Ice Cave, Volcano and Wizlab. You have collected 6203 gold pieces. You have spent 5833 gold pieces at shops. Inventory: Hand weapons V - the +7,+5 trident "Vyrphe Zihi" (weapon) {venom, Contam rElec rN+ Str+3 Int+2 SInv} (You found it on level 11 of the Dungeon) It poisons the flesh of those it strikes. It affects your strength (+3). It affects your intelligence (+2). It insulates you from electricity. It protects you from negative energy. It enhances your eyesight. It causes magical contamination when unequipped. Armour o - a +2 wizard hat of intelligence (worn) s - a +2 pair of gauntlets (worn) w - a +0 pair of boots (worn) N - a +3 buckler of resistance (worn) O - the +2 leather armour of the Lair of Beasts (worn) {rF+ rN+} (You found it on level 5 of the Dungeon) It protects you from fire. It protects you from negative energy. R - a +2 cloak of preservation (worn) Magical devices c - a wand of teleportation {zapped: 2} d - a wand of heal wounds (6) r - a wand of disintegration (20) y - a wand of draining H - a wand of digging {zapped: 1} Comestibles h - 3 chunks of giant amoeba flesh P - 4 bread rations Scrolls a - a scroll of immolation m - 4 scrolls of recharging p - a scroll of magic mapping x - 2 scrolls of fear z - 4 scrolls of remove curse G - 3 scrolls of blinking K - 3 scrolls of identify Jewellery b - a ring of ice (right hand) e - an uncursed ring of protection from magic f - an uncursed ring of sustain abilities g - an uncursed amulet of stasis i - the ring of Nihilism (left hand) {rElec EV+1 Dex+3} (You bought it in a shop on level 4 of the Orcish Mines) [ring of evasion] It affects your evasion (+1). It affects your dexterity (+3). It insulates you from electricity. k - the amulet "Quryor" (around neck) {rMut +Blink rPois rN+} (You bought it in a shop on level 4 of the Orcish Mines) [amulet of resist mutation] It protects you from poison. It protects you from negative energy. It lets you blink. A - an uncursed ring of protection from fire Potions j - 3 potions of restore abilities B - 4 potions of heal wounds D - a potion of agility F - 3 potions of curing J - a potion of brilliance Skills: - Level 14,0 Fighting - Level 16,0 Dodging - Level 2,5 Stealth - Level 5,0 Shields - Level 26,0 Spellcasting - Level 20,0 Conjurations - Level 13,0 Charms - Level 1,2 Summonings - Level 4,0 Necromancy - Level 12,0 Translocations + Level 16,5 Ice Magic - Level 12,0 Earth Magic - Level 5,0 Evocations You have 4 spell levels left. You know the following spells: Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger a - Ozocubu's Refrigerat Ice ########.. 1% 6 None b - Phase Shift Tloc #######... 1% 5 None c - Animate Skeleton Necr N/A 1% 1 None d - Lehudib's Crystal Sp Conj/Erth ########.. 1% 8 None e - Ice Storm Conj/Ice ########.. 6% 9 ###.... f - Apportation Tloc #######... 0% 1 None g - Controlled Blink Tloc N/A 2% 7 None i - Bolt of Cold Conj/Ice ########.. 1% 6 None k - Summon Butterflies Summ ######.. 1% 1 None l - Deflect Missiles Chrm/Air ######.... 6% 6 None m - Haste Chrm #######. 1% 6 None n - Flight Chrm/Air ######.... 1% 3 None o - Regeneration Chrm/Necr #######... 1% 3 None p - Stoneskin Trmt/Erth ######.... 1% 2 None q - Lee's Rapid Deconstr Erth #######... 1% 5 None r - Sublimation of Blood Necr ######.... 1% 2 None Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations Branches: Dungeon (27/27) Temple (1/1) D:6 Orc (4/4) D:7 Elf (0/3) Orc:3 Lair (8/8) D:8 Shoals (5/5) Lair:4 Spider (5/5) Lair:3 Slime (4/6) Lair:6 Vaults (4/5) D:17 Blade (0/1) Vaults:4 Crypt (0/5) Vaults:2 Zot (0/5) D:27 Altars: Cheibriados Fedhas Kikubaaqudgha Nemelex Xobeh Okawaru Trog Vehumet Xom Yredelemnul Zin the Shining One Jiyva Shops: D:15 ! D:19 + D:20 !!*+! D:26 ( Orc:1 * Orc:3 ? Orc:4 ?%== Shoals:3 + Vaults:2 [ Vaults:4 ! Portals: Hell: D:21 D:22 D:23 D:24 D:25 D:26 D:27 Abyss: D:23 D:24 D:25 D:27 Pandemonium: D:22 D:24 D:26 Annotations: D:27 Mennas Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations Your flesh is cold resistant. You are somewhat resistant to further mutation. Your natural rate of healing is unusually fast. You are robust (+10% HP). Message History Your skin hardens. You draw magical energy from your own body! You draw magical energy from your own body! The giant amoeba jiggles. The giant amoeba misses you. Aiming: Lehudib's Crystal Spear Press: ? - help, Shift-Dir - straight line, f - giant amoeba Aim: a giant amoeba The crystal spear hits the giant amoeba. You kill the giant amoeba! Vehumet accepts your kill. You feel your power returning. Your skin is crawling a little less now. HP restored. Your skin stops crawling. Magic restored. There is a stone staircase leading down here. Your skin feels tender. There is a stone staircase leading down here. Saving game... please wait. #..###...........#. ...###............ #..#####.#......#. ## #...##...........# ####.#### #................ ## ##.#...#.###......##........ ##.# #.....#...##.....###.......# #...##....##..........##......... #.#.#....#...............##..... ##............................... #.......................^........ ##.#....#.....................#.. ###...................##....#### ##......................##...# ## #...............@........#..####. ##..###..................#...# #.. #....#.......................###.. .......<......................#... #.....^......................##... ##....................#..#........ #...........#..................... ##...#.....#....#................. ##.###....#...........#.......... ## ##..........#.#.#........... #.......................... ##.........#............... #####......#........>..... ##.....##............. #.......#............. There are no monsters in sight! Vanquished Creatures Saint Roka (D:26) Margery (D:20) Xtahua (Shoals:5) Frederick (D:26) Nikola (Vaults:3) A Shadow Fiend (D:24) 8 acid blobs 3 krakens (Shoals:5) 2 storm dragons 5 liches 5 tengu reavers 3 sphinxes Agnes (Spider:2) Frances (D:27) A shadow dragon (Vaults:2) Roxanne (D:16)

I played carefully and cleared V1-4, now trying my luck with the slimes. Haven't found any new equipment, but a wand of disintegration in the bazaar and the soa gave me a wand of healing.
Cleared the dungeon as well, but skipped Mennas, that guy looks really ugly. Any tips how to kill him with a squishy caster?

I did rearrange my spell repertoire, took ice storm just for fun. Hunger is low, the crystal spear is hungerless. I have 4 slots left, but sadly no access to abjuration or dispel evil. Maybe I'll check the book shops again. I bought the book of the warp though. If I cannot find anything else I'll go with the recommended simulacrum.

I found some demon weapons, but then I'd need another source of SInv and lose a lot of int (on the cap and the trident).

Monday, 14th April 2014, 05:59 by rchandra

If you're looking for a spell, you can press ctrl-f then the spell name to find it.

it's very important to not get 27 Spellcasting, since you can get a cooler title by putting some other skill there first, like Ice :)