CIP: Weird, unfocused MfWp. Angered Fedhas. Now what?

[The Ferret]

Pastebin of character dump. I'm in Snake right now; cleared Swamp down to level 4, Lair to 7, Orc.

So, in a huge derp moment, I invoked a disc of storms, blasted my mushrooms, and really pissed off Fedhas ("godly wrath is upon you!"). I've cleared a couple floors and prayed pretty much every corpse, and just managed to bring it down to "you've transgressed heavily! Be penitent." Given that it's going to take quite a while to work off Fedhas' wrath, my piety will be low by the time Fedhas is mollified, and Fedhas isn't incredibly useful at this point anyways, I figure I should just go ahead and convert to another god, yes? (I wasn't planning to convert unless I wanted to do extended, but that plan is out the window.)

I've only ever done the "standard" conversion to TSO for extended, so I'm not quite sure how to approach this. Any advice? My character is strangely unfocused, though is killing dudes just fine thanks to elite equipment finds. (I'm quite aware that my skilling is wildly sub-optimal, but it works... for now.)

Key equipment:

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Weapons
the +11 quarterstaff of Ruination {venom, rC+ MR- SInv Stlth+}
the +3 Elemental Staff {rElec rF++ rC++ MR++ AC+5}

Armour
the +0 cloak "Kosoetuxu" {Int+4}
the +2 pair of gloves of the Rose {MR++ Regen+ Dex+3}

Books
2x manual of Ice Magic

The quarterstaff of Ruination was a pretty awesome find early on, but I'm very quickly approaching the point where venom is less helpful and MR- is actively harmful, so I figure I'll switch to the Elemental Staff unless I find an awesome artifact lajatang or polearm... Elemental Staff kind of implies that I should go in the direct-damage caster direction (the resistances free up slots for enhancer rings and +Int equipment), but I'd have to learn that from scratch, which is fine, I suppose.

All altars except Lugonu should be available. (I didn't actually enter Temple, but we can assume it's probably not corrupted, since there weren't a boatload of overflow altars.) I'm considering:

• Kiku - learn necromancy from scratch, eventually get myself a trident/demon trident of pain? But by that point pain is less useful of a brand...
• Vehumet - learn conjurations from scratch, get help with it. Probably the best choice?
• Sif Muna - hmm. Vehumet is probably better in this situation.
• Nemelex - lol... but Evocations does synergize with Elemental Staff, and I already have some levels in Evocations so decks are an option. I'm actually seriously considering this for the fun factor.
• Am I missing an obvious choice here?

Interesting event: I had the best start ever. Literally the first time I pressed 'o':

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    67 | D:1      | You fall through a shaft!
    67 | D:2      | Found a shattered altar of Ashenzari.
    67 | D:2      | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas.

Thanks for the help!

edit: yeah it should be MfWr, looks like I have to do some IRL penance too

[Sandman25]

Fedhas' piety does not decay, don't worry about taking too much time.
Jiyva could be a natural choice if you want to abandon Fedhas (it provides rCorr) but I don't see Jiyva's altar in Lair. I would probably stay with Fedhas. If you have problems with surviving, you can join Trog for berserk. I don't see how other gods can really help to survive (Lugonu is not available)

[Sar]

Elemental Staff is a pretty good weapon with 10-15 Evocations. Doesn't work on orbs on fire but you won't be seeing one in a while.

[bcadren]

I generally don't recommend leaving Fedhas; she's my second favorite goddess (after Cheibriados); but in your situation...Uhh you already have Ozo's Armour, from what book? O_O; It really depends on what spells you already have which god I'd recommend going to. Mostly I'd recommend being a Staff Gladiator with Ozo's Armour for a bit; then going into Conjurations though. Whether you do that via Vehumet; Sif or Ashenzari (curse Elemental Staff to your Hands when you are done with the Venom staff) is really up to you. Ash probably isn't a bad choice since you did switch weapon schools (never underestimate reskill) and are more spread out; (Cursing would boost all spellschools, staves, etc.) You should probably get a couple levels of Armour; you are in a Leather, not a robe and there's no reason not to get the cheaper levels.

But yea; to me the later game gods (save going TSO for a Holy Weapon) are Chei, Ash and Sif; I'd pick one of those. the +MP effect on Vehu makes it pretty easy to do a Ziggurrat; but isn't much of a help in normal situations (where there aren't SO MANY enemies).

[The Ferret]

Thanks for the advice!

bcadren - Ozo's Armour and Condensation Shield are from a book of Frost found in an ice cave (along with the manuals and two rings of ice). Other books available: Death, Geomancy, Power, the Tempests, Party Tricks, Summonings. I was kind of thinking merfolk + Frost book + manuals of Ice Magic + 2x ring of ice = learn some ice conjurations?

Random question - is Fedhas penance supposed to keep your wandering mushrooms allied to you?

edit: and I'm still seriously tempted to convert to Nemelex for the amusement factor. How quickly does Nemelex piety rise now? I haven't played it much since its piety system was changed.

edit2: thanks for suggesting Ashenzari, bcarden - I'd overlooked him and the fact that binding the Elemental Staff boosts magic skills, not Staves.

[Sar]

binding the Elemental Staff boosts magic skills, not Staves

I don't know how it actually works, but it should probably boost Staves as Ele Staff is a melee weapon, not an enhancer.

[bcadren]

bcadren - Ozo's Armour and Condensation Shield are from a book of Frost found in an ice cave (along with the manuals and two rings of ice). Other books available: Death, Geomancy, Power, the Tempests, Party Tricks, Summonings. I was kind of thinking merfolk + Frost book + manuals of Ice Magic + 2x ring of ice = learn some ice conjurations?

Don't wear both rings. They also give rF- and though the Elemental Staff will cancel that; you don't need both and that would leave you with a rank of rC above the max (no use) and no rF. Ice Gladiator for a while could be really cool for you; though. (Ozo's Armour; Condensation Shield; Melee character). You have a lot of Skill in Invo and Polearms to just waste it though. Reskill would really help you not waste that; but you can't leave Ashenzari; so if you go that way; you have to keep him. Fortunately his passive mapping works really well with Warping (as does Passwall; btw, if you get nothing else from Geomancy; get that, excellent escape/sneak spell).

[The Ferret]

Thanks, bcadren! I decided to go with Ashenzari and the ice gladiator concept.

Fortunately Polearms cross-trains with Staves, so that skill hasn't been entirely wasted.

I don't know how it actually works, but it should probably boost Staves as Ele Staff is a melee weapon, not an enhancer.

I'll report back what it enhances. I went off wiki and learnDB, which claim that a non-school staff boosts Spellcasting. Maybe Elemental Staff is special-cased as a weapon, though.

Speaking of which - I guess Ashenzari scrying and skill boost were swapped in trunk as suggested in the Ash thread in GDD, since ** is giving me scrying but no skill boost. Interesting.

[Sar]

I think learndb means staffs of energy and power. Ele staff is neither, it's just an unique artefact with an unique base type (there used to be "staff" staves, but they are no more).

[The Ferret]

I think learndb means staffs of energy and power. Ele staff is neither, it's just an unique artefact with an unique base type (there used to be "staff" staves, but they are no more).

I checked the source; Elemental Staff should boost Evocations and Staves equally. Oh well.

The logic, from godpassive.cc:

• Is the weapon slot a non-staff? If so, boost the weapon's attack skill at bondage level.
• Does the staff use evocations to deal melee damage? If so, boost Evocations and Staves at 1 weight apiece.
• Is it a weapon with an evocable ability (rod, staff) but no melee effect? If so, boost Evocations at 2 weight.
• Otherwise, boost Spellcasting ability at 2 weight.

So according to that logic, here's the Ash/staff interactions:

• Staff of fire, cold, poison, death, air, earth, Elemental Staff, Staff of Olgreb: boost Evocations and Staves.
• All rods, Staff of Dispater, Sceptre of Asmodeus: boost Evocations.
• Staff of conjuration, summoning (!), wizardry, energy, power, Staff of Wucad Mu: boost Spellcasting.

[The Ferret]

Splatted

Aizul is difficult for this character to handle for some reason. Went a bit too far in combat with him, popped a teleport with ~40 HP and strong poison, landed next to a greater naga, quaffed curing, hit the naga (if this were a chess transcript, that move would get a ???), its bolt of poison hit the high end of damage and instakilled me.

It was a fun ride though!